Chapter 224: Dammit, It's All My Fault!
Damn, what a jarring shift in style. It was as if an indescribable element had appeared out of three-dimensional reality. Jeff's thoughts ran wild, his mind a complete mess.
What was happening right now had truly exceeded his wildest expectations!
Even as a renowned editor in the DC Editorial Department, he never would have expected that after seriously drawing a picture, a hand would emerge from it!
"Maybe I should record this scene as a comic. It would surely be popular with readers—if I can survive this guy."
Jeff was grabbed by the collar, not daring to move a muscle, drenched in sweat. But at the same time, his mind was also running wild.
Those who could break the Fourth Wall were all extremely difficult to deal with, like the unrebooted Alexander Luthor, or the Silver Age Superman who could perceive the Fourth Wall's existence.
But now, there was clearly one more of these troublesome characters, and he was someone that even the most knowledgeable and imaginative editors could never have conceived of.
"The God of Xenomorphs, Du Wa?" Jeff took a deep breath, trying to calm his racing heart, and spoke with difficulty.
Just those few words nearly exhausted all his strength.
"A pleasure to meet you, Geoff Johns." A voice emanated from the Xenomorph image on the drawing board.
Immediately after, a human—well, let's call him human for now—emerged bit by bit from the Xenomorph image, like a mass of matter that didn't belong to this reality, passing through a portal to arrive in this world.
"You... you know me? How is that possible? Don't tell me you've known about our existence for a long time?" Jeff was stunned, sweat pouring from his forehead.
"Strictly speaking, without such long-term scheming, I wouldn't have been able to break the Fourth Wall... The existence of this damn thing is too ethereal and illusory. Using conventional methods, it's impossible to even detect its existence, let alone break through it to enter Prime Earth."
Before Jeff stood a young man in dark clothes. He looked polite and courteous. He even released his grip and earnestly smoothed out the wrinkles on Jeff's collar. "I'm trying my best to control my strength to ensure I don't hurt you."
"Oh, thank you."
"You're welcome."
Jeff was dumbfounded. He had no idea how to deal with this uninvited guest, because no one in the entire DC Editorial Department had any similar experience.
What's that? You're asking about Superboy-Prime? That guy has never understood the meaning of politeness. He would just furiously smash his way in, breaking through doors and walls to wreak havoc on the DC Editorial Department.
Besides, Superboy-Prime was a native of Prime Earth to begin with. He traveled from Prime Earth into the DC Multiverse, not the other way around like Du Wa.
As for Alexander Luthor, who also came to Prime Earth during the recent Blackest Night, to put it bluntly, he entered as a Black Lantern zombie. He was only there for Superboy-Prime and had absolutely no interest in the editors or any other ordinary person.
Going back even further, there were the times Prime Earth was blown to smithereens during one crisis after another, only to be inexplicably restored. Or there was Superboy-Prime's rampage across the Multiverse, destroying the Paradise Dimension and others, attempting to reshape Prime Earth into the version he imagined—a Prime Earth from a specific historical period. Superboy-Prime only wanted the world to return to a time he found comfortable; he despised the present-day Prime Earth.
Only Du Wa, who had been laying low and developing from who-knows-where, had ascended to godhood in a corner unnoticed by the editors. He had secretly corroded an unknown number of universes before finally entering the view of the 52 main universes, triggering a massive change.
And now, he had vanished into thin air during the "Alien War," not even bothering with Black Hand anymore.
"Dammit, it's all my fault."
Jeff collapsed to the floor. Du Wa reacted with lightning speed, thoughtfully pulling a chair over so Jeff wouldn't have to sit on the ground.
"A mortal's body is very fragile. You have to be more careful."
"Are you saying I should get hit with a Xenomorph? That would make me a superhuman too."
"A fine idea. This universe will no longer have just one superhuman named Clark Kent."
"You even know that?" Jeff's heart turned completely cold.
Based on his understanding of Du Wa, this was an extremely quick-witted deity with unpredictable movements. If every action he'd taken since appearing in public had all been for the sake of entering Prime Earth...
"Dammit, it's all my fault! If I hadn't drawn the Xenomorph, you wouldn't have had the opportunity to come here," Jeff broke down.
"Correct. But you merely accelerated the process. If you hadn't acted, other editors would have. Sooner or later, they would have tried to create works about Xenomorphs. The moment one of you put pen to paper, an opportunity was created for a Concept God such as myself."
Du Wa glanced around the standard senior editor's private office. He picked up a kettle, and the cold water inside instantly came to a boil. After pouring Jeff a cup of boiling water, he lifted the kettle and chugged the rest himself.
Of course he knew Geoff Johns. This guy specialized in stories about the Lanterns. Classics like the War of the Seven Lights and Blackest Night were all his creations.
In fact, no matter which editor he saw, he wouldn't have been surprised. This was an inevitable outcome; it was only a matter of time.
However, being able to cross the Fourth Wall at such a critical juncture and successfully arrive on Prime Earth was wonderful. This put Du Wa in a very pleasant mood.
Jeff wailed in despair, "I have a question. If I hadn't drawn this Xenomorph image—no, if I hadn't even gathered information on you and had prevented others from researching and discussing Xenomorphs, how would you have expelled Black Hand? Universe 3 doesn't have the Entity of Existence. Even if you expelled Black Hand, how would you have faced the out-of-control Thanoseid?"
"In that case, I would have been quite troubled. My only option would have been to start with Volthoom and bring the war to Universe 0. That would have coincided with the critical moment when Universe 0 was reclaiming its status as the Main Universe. If handled well, that would have been an opportunity too."
Du Wa smiled at the old man. "Since you've researched my past, and as an editor, you can observe my words and actions from beyond the Fourth Wall—you can even learn my inner thoughts and the objective logic of my actions through the 'narration'—you must be well aware that when I launch a major operation, I tend to prepare many contingency plans. Of course, that includes a plan for being unable to reach the Prime Universe."
"What do you plan to do? Corrode the Main Universe, turn countless people and gods into Xenomorphs, and then infect the other universes of the Multiverse to increase your strength?"
"That's the general idea, but it can't be that crude," Du Wa shook his head.
If he really acted so rashly, putting everything else aside, even if he succeeded in establishing an advantage in the Main Universe, The Spectre, as the Spirit of Vengeance, would charge into the Main Universe without a second thought to fight him to the death.
Although The Spectre is essentially the Spirit of Vengeance and not the Spirit of Rage, the angrier he gets, the stronger he becomes. His power would skyrocket. There's no doubt about that. Du Wa could not be a match for The Spectre at full firepower.
The Spectre might ignore the fate of a peripheral universe like the DCEU, but he would absolutely not tolerate the Multiverse's core universe being occupied by Du Wa.
Taking a step back, even without a troublesome deity like The Spectre interfering, if Du Wa only had to face Earth's superheroes, the odds of a clean and decisive victory would still be very low.
This is because the Main Universe's Superman is the sole core of the entire DC world. This is the truth of the entire DC world. It means that as long as Superman's will and resolve reach a certain intensity—for example, if he were pushed into a corner by Du Wa and swore to defeat him—he could unleash multiverse-level combat power.
Yes, according to normal developments, the multiverse that the World Forger painstakingly built in the Sixth Dimension was punched out of existence just like that by an enraged Main Universe Superman.
The World Forger personally tried to stop him but was completely unable to, and could only watch with a shattered mentality as his billions of years of hard work went down the drain in an instant.
In the end, DC's Main Universe is vastly different from Marvel's Main Universe. The DC Main Universe is the true, absolute core, and it also has Superman as an anchor point that maintains the very existence of the DC world.
As for the even more difficult task of pushing the two Main Universes to fight each other...
"Jeff, I need your help," Du Wa said.
"Do you need me to spread the Xenomorphs for you? I can give it a try. I could create a comic where your Xenomorphs spread due to some coincidence, like a Xenomorph accidentally falling into a newly activated space-time travel machine while fighting superheroes..."
"Not enough. Far from enough. I need you to create my unknown history, to make my concept exist innately in every world of the Multiverse," said Du Wa.
"What???"
Jeff was stunned and jumped to his feet. "You want me to change your origin?? You're actually scheming to do this! I get it, I get it all now! No wonder you went to such great lengths to come to our world. You want to use the Editorial Department, from right here on Prime Earth, to alter your very position within the Multiverse!!"
This was too crazy! Superboy-Prime had similar ideas, but he never actually did it!
Du Wa was definitely the first person to think of this and prepare to do it—holding an editor's head down and demanding they write an origin story!
The most terrifying part was that the information Du Wa had revealed so far was, on the whole, not much. How he was born, where he came from, how he grew, the dynamic between the God of Xenomorphs and ordinary Xenomorphs... There were too many unknown blanks. This meant there was too much room to maneuver when modifying content about the Multiverse from the Editorial Department.
How many stories could be created in between all that? Jeff couldn't even imagine.
"Impossi—"
"Don't be so quick to refuse. You don't want Prime Earth to be overrun with Xenomorphs, do you? Just imagine it: an ordinary, two-meter-tall Xenomorph walking upright, carrying a grocery basket to the market... You don't want things to turn out like that, do you?"
Du Wa gently patted Jeff's shoulder, coaxing him, "And taking a step back, I could just tamper with you editors directly. If you all became Xenomorphs, it would be much more convenient for me. The only reason I haven't is my concern about causing additional trouble."
"Your arrival is already creating trouble! Before long, the news that you emerged from my drawing board and successfully entered Prime Earth will be published in some comic issue. This very conversation between us will also be seen by the audience, word for word."
Jeff clutched his head in pain. "Clark found out that Prime Earth was affected by the Blackest Night by reading a comic! He'd specifically sought out the latest issue to check on the event's progress, only to see the comic version of himself also reading a comic... and then fighting Black Lantern zombies. Soon after, in reality, he really did end up fighting the zombies."
"I don't care."
"Everyone, including Superboy-Prime, will know you're here."
"I don't care."
Du Wa spoke the coldest words in the gentlest tone.
His primary goal for coming to the DC world was now within reach. No matter what consequences it triggered, he would bear them.
Besides, provoking Prime Earth was no big deal to Du Wa. Not considering his ultimate goal, even launching a full-scale attack on the Main Universe wouldn't be a problem for him.
Jeff had no choice and immediately began to create.
With every comic panel he created, Du Wa would make a request. The dialogue in every single panel was influenced by Du Wa.
The story of *Green Lantern vs. Alien* was freshly created. Under the strange gazes of the other editors, the work was quickly published.
"'The Xenomorph is a creature that exists widely throughout the Multiverse? Innately able to adapt to all kinds of extreme environments?'"
"'Sigh, it looks like Jeff was backed into a corner. But he didn't go too overboard with the drawing. If he had claimed from the start that Xenomorphs had the ability to travel between universes, I would have suspected that they were actually the Monitors in disguise...'"
"'Forcibly adding such an outrageous setting would trigger a negative reaction from the Multiverse. Such a severely distorted story could never come into being.'"
The Multiverse was, after all, not a plaything of the Editorial Department. It wasn't a place where an editor could just casually wave their pen and effortlessly create something that breaks all the rules. That would violate basic logic.
Editors sighed one after another, but they soon got busy with their own work.
The Editorial Department returned to its usual hustle and bustle. But it wouldn't be long before Du Wa used this method to add little bits to the origin-related settings, bit by bit establishing the existence of the Xenomorph as a natural phenomenon in numerous universes. At that point...
...Du Wa would be able to ascend to a multiversal tier. This process would be very, very fast, and it was a method that only a Concept God like Du Wa could use.
"'What? Prime Earth has been invaded by someone from the Multiverse?! Bastard! I won't allow a second Alexander Luthor to appear!!'"
Superboy-Prime was lying on the sofa, casually flipping through the latest issue. But after studying it closely, he instantly exploded with rage.
(end of chapter)