Chapter 240: The Watchmen Universe and the DC World Make Contact
Communication between deities is simple and swift. The content exchanged in a single moment is often the sum total of all information a billion mortals could receive in their entire lifetime.
As countless divine consciousnesses concealed themselves one after another and vanished, the various deities located in the Main Universe departed in succession.
All who coveted the God of Xenomorphs returned in disappointment.
"The God of Xenomorphs is easy to deal with. He isn't a conquest-obsessed madman and has no intention of controlling the Multiverse for now."
"I think it won't be long before we see him in the Sphere of the Gods."
This allowed many of the deities to breathe a sigh of relief. They were genuinely worried that a second Barbatos would emerge.
Barbatos controls the Dark Multiverse, and the long-dead Anti-Monitor had controlled the Anti-Matter Universe for years. If Du Wa were to firmly plant himself in the Multiverse, it would be a colossal problem.
"These guys talk about breaking through the Origin Wall, yet they know it's impossible. So, while they reside in the Sphere of the Gods, they remain fixated on every little stir in the Multiverse, especially the Main Universe."
Du Wa shook his head. Powerless to expand outward, they could only awkwardly turn to compete amongst themselves.
But this phenomenon wouldn't last long. A development that would startle even these ancient beings was bound to occur, because Du Wa was going to make his move.
"This farce should come to an end. The Main Universe is not a place for the likes of you to cause trouble."
Du Wa first looked towards Black Hand.
"You are merely the personification of a part of the Emotional Spectrum. Now, there is no longer a place for you here."
Du Wa acted directly, destroying Black Hand. But as long as the Emotional Spectrum existed, it wouldn't be long before Black Hand reappeared.
Until he could completely wield Volthoom and elevate his own parasitic tier, Du Wa had no intention of exhausting himself trying to kill a god of death.
"Such a dangerous individual, after his promotion to an even more powerful deity, will bring greater risk to this world."
Main Universe Superman glanced at Black Lantern Hal, who was dissipating along with Black Hand, and let out a sigh.
This was truly terrible. He had already used his super-brain to process a massive amount of information. He knew that the recent series of events in the Main Universe, including the Third Army created by the Guardians and the escape of Volthoom, had all been exploited by Du Wa, becoming stepping stones for Du Wa's ascension.
Because of this, he was even more worried. How could the Justice League possibly deal with a deity who possessed both strength and intellect?
The key was that this deity was not alone; under his command was a large group of powerful and intelligent followers.
He also possessed the unstoppable ability to parasitize countless ordinary people at will. Main Universe Superman suspected that if they were to confront Du Wa, he and his subordinates wouldn't even need to lift a finger. With a single move—remote parasitism—the Justice League would first be plunged into a brutal civil war.
Main Universe Superman was even worried whether he had the ability to stop Du Wa, a being of a multiversal tier, from forcibly parasitizing him. Du Wa's ability determined that, unless it was a last resort, no one would be willing to stand against him.
At this time, Main Universe Superman was far from fully developing his strength. The great power to shatter a high-dimensional multiverse with a single punch was a level of power he couldn't even imagine.
As the Third Army fell silent throughout the entire universe, Xenomorphs of all forms successively came under Du Wa's command. The great chaos that had ravaged the Main Universe thus came to a close.
The total population of life in the entire Main Universe had been sharply reduced by 43% in just over a month, but everyone knew this was already a blessing.
"The Main Universe is truly a place of endless disasters. During the Blackest Night, almost all life was wiped out. If I hadn't interfered, the Third Army created by the Guardians would have spread across the entire universe in three months, and ninety-nine percent of all life forms would have been converted into soldiers."
Du Wa gazed out with a perception far beyond any he'd had in the past, easily piercing through all dimensions of spacetime and instantly analyzing the rules of the universe. Under Du Wa's watch, the Main Universe held almost no secrets.
Any major event from the Main Universe would be destructive if it occurred in other universes.
Before long, news of what had happened on Earth spread rapidly to all the factions throughout the entire universe.
Having just occupied Oa and planning to head to Earth to kill the Guardians, White Lantern Kyle listened to the information coming from his White Lantern Ring, completely baffled.
"What? An unbelievably terrifying deity was born on Earth? The God of Xenomorphs? He expelled Black Hand and killed the Guardians?" Kyle looked at the vast planet of Oa before him, and at the Lanterns with their varied expressions, not knowing what to say.
Atrocitus, the leader of the Red Lantern Corps, was furious, a red light flashing in his eyes. "I unearthed my most painful memories and joined forces with the First Legion and the Green Lantern Corps, all to destroy the Guardians and that ridiculous Third Army! And now that I've prepared everything, it's already over? This is absurd!"
Years ago, the Guardians created a group of Manhunters to serve as tools for maintaining peace in the universe. But their programming was secretly modified by another Guardian, Krona, causing them to go rogue and slaughter everyone on Atrocitus's homeworld. This was what made Atrocitus so furious and gave him the opportunity to come into contact with the power of the Red Light of Rage.
According to Atrocitus's plan, he would use his Red Lantern Ring to control the soldiers of the First Legion that he had buried and sealed away years ago, unite with the Second Legion—the Green Lantern Corps—and then join with the other various Spectrum Lantern Corps to besiege the Third Army.
But as it turned out, the God of Xenomorphs and his Xenomorph Legion had quelled everything. Even Volthoom had been captured alive and imprisoned.
"Things have taken an unexpected turn. Earth is already the territory of that God of Xenomorphs. The many deities from the Sphere of the Gods don't dare to start a conflict with him. We cannot rashly travel to Earth."
White Lantern Kyle looked at the Lanterns from different Corps. "This is an unprecedented situation. The Justice League has warned us to lie low for a while. They will try to find a solution."
"I really don't see how lying low will help us defeat a deity who is suspected to be on par with a multiversal tier. Why don't you just say it plainly: Earth will become a forbidden zone in the universe. Perhaps before long, every single planet in the Main Universe will become a forbidden zone for people like us, until every one of us has been absorbed into the Xenomorph sequence," Atrocitus sneered.
Kyle said nothing. Even with the Green Light of Will, he felt a sense of dejection. If even the Justice League couldn't do it, what could he possibly do? Lie low? It might be a slow suicide, but there was no other choice.
They could only hope that some new event would occur in the future, diverting the power Du Wa had invested in the Main Universe and giving them an opportunity.
...
Earth.
Sentient life is a forgetful species. After experiencing horrific trauma, they will deliberately focus their attention and throw themselves wholeheartedly into the new order, enjoying the hard-won stability.
The ruins in various places were cleared away, cities gradually returned to their former prosperity, and Earth began to develop at a speed that surpassed the rate before the disaster.
Everyone knew what was happening. The vast number of humans who had undergone parasitism now possessed physical strength and brain computing power far beyond their past selves, allowing them to work with unprecedented efficiency.
Originally, there was a group of ordinary people holding demonstrations, shouting about free will and so on—many thought these people were courting death, protesting against a god—but gradually, the market for free will dwindled.
Not many ordinary people could resist longevity and power. One after another, they prayed to Du Wa and joined the ranks of the Xenomorphs. The moment they opened their mouths to praise Du Wa, his power arrived in an instant, fulfilling their wishes.
When the Xenomorph became a part of them—or vice versa—they obtained what they had dreamed of, and from then on would live as vassals.
"In the face of more important, personal interests, free will is simply worthless. The people of this world are desperately deceiving themselves."
In an archive room, a blond man in strange attire was rapidly scrolling through information on the internet: "This world is far larger than we imagined. They've even identified many parallel universes."
"What are you trying to prove, Adrian? Trying to tell me that slaughtering millions in our universe to create a common enemy for the whole world was the right thing to do?" a man wearing a Rorschach mask sneered.
In the darkness, these two outsiders once again clashed over their ideologies.
That's right. These two had come from the Watchmen Universe. Like The Endless, they had also taken advantage of the massive impact of the Flashpoint event on the history of the DC World to successfully transmigrate here.
However, after passing through the time stream, they arrived at the current time node.
Adrian Veidt, and the Second Generation Rorschach wearing the Rorschach mask, of course did not know their connection to the Flashpoint event. They would only naturally assume that their risky journey across universes had succeeded and that they had normally arrived at the present time node. It was that simple.
"People are only willing to believe what they want to believe, trapped in their information cocoons, unable to extricate themselves. The peace I created with lies allowed everyone to indulge in the utopia of their own perception. I created a powerful enemy for the nations of the world, Doctor Manhattan, an enemy that could not be fought, eliminating war between countries and uniting the entire world. There was nothing wrong with that."
A morbid smile appeared on Adrian's face. "Just tell me, did I or did I not make our Earth peaceful? Never in human history has there been such peace."
"The peace you built on millions of lives is nothing but an illusion, the calm before a storm that is brewing for an even greater war," the Second Generation Rorschach said coldly.
"But this world, a world teeming with superhumans, a world where deities who can destroy galaxies and traverse the universe frequently appear, has a similar individual who has walked the same path as me. And he is a god," Adrian said, pointing to the information on the computer screen.
In the dim archive room, scattered papers littered the floor. Only the flickering light from the computer screen faintly illuminated their blurry figures.
"Are you comparing yourself to a deity?"
"No, I am not a god. The reason I'm not is that I lack his absolute power, nor his incredible ability of parasitism. Otherwise, I could have brought peace to our world in a much simpler fashion."
Adrian didn't even dare to repeat Du Wa's name too many times in his mind. He used his powerful and cold will to forcibly control his thoughts, but his sense of approval for Du Wa was far beyond what an anti-hero like Rorschach could imagine.
To achieve peace, what could be more wonderful than manipulating all of humanity, yet allowing every human to possess consciousness for autonomous action and freedom within a certain range?
Using the Xenomorph as a "super-virus" that exists in the shadows, present in every living person, and then having a god at the source maintain this all-encompassing great net... it's simply a genius idea.
As for the fragmented images displayed on the computer, supplemented by 3D animations, which showed the cataclysmic scenes of past major events where the universe was nearly annihilated, Adrian was at most astonished.
Indeed, this universe was teeming with superhumans. Many of these superhumans were fictional characters created in the Watchmen Universe.
This universe even had many powerful and terrifying deities that had been documented. This was also remarkable, but as for deities, it wasn't as if Adrian and Rorschach hadn't seen one before.
Doctor Manhattan.
He was practically omnipotent, in no way inferior to the deities of this world.
"If you admire this god so much, you could shout his name. Just like this so-called Zansha, one shout and you can gain power," Rorschach said sarcastically.
Adrian gave Rorschach a disappointed look.
This Rorschach was still too young. In some ways, the first Rorschach was more detestable and more paranoid, but at least communicating with him didn't feel so out of sync.
"The primary goal now is still to find Doctor Manhattan. He is hidden somewhere in this vast world, but what method should we use to find him?" Adrian changed the subject.
"We've been here for several hours," Rorschach said. "The worst-case scenario is that we've already fallen into that god's field of vision, and he simply doesn't care about us."
Adrian fell into deep thought. He agreed with Du Wa's actions, but that didn't mean he was willing to become a Xenomorph. Before saving his own world, Ozymandias would not submit to anyone, not even a god.
The Doctor Manhattan they were desperately searching for, having sensed that the two of them had also arrived in the DC World and that the situation in the Main Universe had subsided, felt the time was right to communicate with this world.
In a dark alley on Earth, the unclothed Doctor Manhattan casually strolled about, watching a robbery—an already extremely rare event in this day and age—and personally witnessed the ordinary person being robbed praise Du Wa and, in an instant, become a superhuman, successfully turning the tables on his attacker.
"I was wondering when you would make your move, but I didn't expect you to still focus your attention on ordinary people... You might be moved by the baby in an ordinary woman's womb, but what will you think when you see the Xenomorph appearing inside a civilian's body?"
In the pupils of Doctor Manhattan, Du Wa's figure was reflected.
This was the first contact between the gods of two worlds.
(end of chapter)