"Yes, Barry, I will help you, but first, we need to secure Earth -11; otherwise, no one can stand firm."
Su Ming raised his glass and clinked it with Barry's. Compared to Cindy and Briss beside him, it seemed like the two men had already become new friends.
He deliberately chose words that Barry liked to hear, making the innocent Barry feel like he had found a kindred spirit.
"Briss and I did some preparation, but unfortunately, Earth 11 hasn't found any N Metal. If Barbatos and the Dark Knight Order arrive, we won't even have weapons."
"Then let's not let them come!" Su Ming said bluntly: "The Dark Multiverse not only has 52 formed worlds but countless unformed ones, like floating debris in space without life or environment. Those worlds were originally destined for destruction. Barbatos deceived the Dark Knight Order, those Batmans; their world was actually destroyed by themselves or by Barbatos."
Barry rotated the teacup, suddenly realizing, "Is that how it is? I've always had a similar guess, but I couldn't prove it."
"We will prove it, trust me." Su Ming was actually also speculating, but once he reached the Main World, the space he had to maneuver would be much larger: "Earth -11 currently doesn't show anything that could attract Barbatos' attention. As long as we eliminate the Owl Court and remove the war threat from the Amazons and Atlanteans, Earth -11 can survive under Barbatos' nose, just like other dark worlds, hidden in an inconspicuous Dark Blood Domain."
At least this way, Barbatos might choose other Earths, not here. As long as you don't stand out, the chance of being selected is not actually high.
Barry agreed after listening, "Maybe because I came from the future, I know the Dark Knights number seven. But currently, Barbatos is unaware or doesn't care whether there are six or seven under him; he considers himself a god, dismissing any mortal."
"Uh, actually, it is indeed a god; that's correct... But it's a Dark God, not a God of Time; it hasn't seen the future, while we have, which gives us the confidence to save Earth -11 and the entire Bright Multiverse."
Su Ming didn't really think so; the Dark Knight Order had seven members, actually arranged by the Laughing Bat to correspond with each member of the Justice League, assigning each one an opponent similar to themselves as part of his plan.
But Su Ming only wanted to save Earth -11 and keep himself alive. He didn't care which other Dark Universe had to take the fall.
So he didn't correct Barry; instead, he replaced "I" with "we," with a speech that made Barry nod repeatedly.
"Just a pity for the other Bruces, maybe other universes can still be saved." Barry started to daydream again.
Su Ming quickly interrupted him; the Divine Speed wasn't for such use. As long as he lived on, he didn't care about the other crazy bats.
"Stop, you came to this point in time on Earth -11 entirely by accident and luck. Do you want to bring the Flashpoint Paradox to the Dark Multiverse? Miracles don't repeat."
Barry sighed, sitting dejectedly on the armrest of the sofa: "Yes, you're right, being able to reduce an enemy means I'm lucky."
"Once Cindy and Briss are done talking, we can move on to the next step, eliminating threats sooner rather than later."
Su Ming immediately decided that the next target would be the Owl Court. As the dark minions of Barbatos, they must be eradicated; otherwise, problems will inevitably arise.
They must be dealt with before they notify Barbatos of this difference. The Dark God doesn't care about its human followers; as long as they don't report proactively, Barbatos never asks about their situation.
Secretly taking out the Owl Court would make Earth -11 safer, despite Barry being the fastest, he never kills, making things tricky.
"Wait, when you say eliminate threats..." Sure enough, Barry showed a puzzled expression.
"Just as it says, eliminate." Su Ming calmly answered, sheathing the long knife on the table back behind him: "Maybe you cultural folks prefer other words—murder? Annihilation? Taking out the trash?"
"I won't help you kill." Barry shook his head like a rattle, never having killed, always just running, giving a push, then running again.
Of course, Su Ming knew that and wouldn't force it; these superheroes had incredibly firm wills, their principles not changeable by a few words.
"We could model after the Justice League. Who used to kill? Sea King? Diana? I'll give you an address, drop me off, then you can smoke or grab a pizza, come back to pick me up."
Barry was somewhat speechless at the mention of the Justice League model, as the rules stated the Justice League doesn't kill.
However, for warriors like Diana and Sea King, when their blood boils, they sometimes can't stop. What to do?
Diana's credo is to use deadly force when there's no choice, for justice's sake even if the sky falls. Sea King, even worse, being Atlantean, didn't consider killing humans killing kin.
Since they're Justice League comrades, they would explain away a killing as accidental or unavoidable, what more could be done? Start a civil war?
Just accept the apology, have a meeting to reflect on shortcomings, self-examine, then everyone returns home to eat and sleep.
"I...don't smoke..." Barry could only weakly say this.
Su Ming smiled, patting Barry on the shoulder affectionately: "You're a forensic expert, and you studied physics, so you must know about Schrödinger's Cat. Now they're Schrödinger's people."
"People..." Barry seemed to understand something, an odd expression on his face.
"Yes, you know there are people in the house, but before you enter the house and see them dead with your own eyes, they're actually in a superposition state. As long as you don't open the door to see, they'll eternally be neither dead nor alive, but not dead, right?"
"Emmm..." Barry instinctively felt something was off, but it did seem true; without seeing Deathstroke kill, how could he confirm they were killed?
Su Ming saw Barry was almost bewildered by the "folk science" explanation, immediately putting a cup in his hand, filling it with strong liquor, warmly taking his hand to toast.
"Come, celebrate our consensus, cheers... By the way, have you and Briss been to Egypt?"
"Oh..." Barry was pushed by Su Ming to the drink, only able to down it, talking business, he forgot about Schrödinger: "Yes, we've been to several places. Amazons only ruled this world for 600 years; before that, there were still various nations. We started from the Pyramid of the Pharaoh of the First Dynasty of Ancient Egypt, searching almost everywhere, but found no N Metal we wanted."
"N Metal is limited in its effect, and seems to be absent from the Dark Multiverse; we can discuss it more after leaving here, but I did find this..."
He took out a small flashlight emitting a black light, placing it on the coffee table. The black glow was profoundly deep yet all-encompassing.
Like a miniature black hole, it devoured the fireplace's light, the room filled with a chilling tension.
"Black Lantern!"
Barry immediately recognized it, the impression it left on him too deep.
When Black Lanterns wreaked havoc in the Main World, countless former comrades had crawled from graves, becoming zombies under the Black Death Emperor, wanting to eat his flesh and brain, it was simply a nightmare.