After playing with them for a while as if he didn't take these matters to heart, the Laughing Bat strode confidently towards Barbatos, humming a light tune.
A few minutes later, he arrived beneath the Cosmic Tuning Fork. Here, Steel Bone was fixed upside down on an operating table, and the Killing Machine immediately continued its previous work, attempting to separate the Mother Box inside Steel Bone using mental stimulation.
Once he possessed the Mother Box, he could travel anywhere in the cosmos using the sonic boom passage. At the same time, he could also gain massive computational abilities, doubling the operation speed of the Tuning Fork, and draw the world into darkness even faster.
The Drowned showed no interest in these technological gadgets, simply walking quietly to the side, sitting atop a pile of corpses, spitting out a mouthful of dirty water, and playing with it continuously in his hand.
The Sea King of the Main World had already been defeated by him and was now hanging on the nearby Tuning Fork.
The ordinary people of the city were all hanging on the Dark Tower, while the so-called superheroes, due to their stronger willpower which provided more energy, were directly put onto the Tuning Fork.
Because the Cosmic Tuning Fork looked more like a huge golden tree with countless branches, Su Ming referred to the process of the heroes being hung up as "going up the tree."
"Mad Laugh, did you discover anything?"
Barbatos turned his gaze towards them. Under its grand black cape was darkness, only revealing eyes that emitted a purple glow and a wide mouth, wrapping around the Tuning Fork, collecting dark energy.
"Hehehe, my great master, everything is proceeding according to plan. Although a few worthless ones have died, the world is in our grasp, hahaha." The Laughing Bat spread his arms, very politely bowing to Barbatos.
"It had better be so, I've noticed the opposing magic power has increased. You take people to solve this problem, those little worms are hiding in the Spirit Thin Prison, someone reported their location to me."
Barbatos's voice was like thunder, echoing on the high mountaintop. All those trapped in nightmares showed expressions of fear on their faces.
"As you command, my master, I will offer you all the worlds, hahaha."
The Laughing Man turned and went down the mountain, waving over the Drowned and the Tyrant, and whistled, immediately bringing over the well-fed Robins, who handed over their dog chains to him.
"Good, good, let's go, let me think, how should we play this game... hehe..."
He grabbed the iron chain, leading them into a newly opened passage.
..............
On Su Ming's side, they had crossed the Bering Strait to Siberia, now in a vast uninhabited region, surrounded by endless coniferous forests and tundra, desolate and uninhabited.
It wasn't like there weren't any creatures; in just a brief moment, he detected traces of bears and rabbits having been active nearby.
He could determine the prey's size and passing time from the animal paths, determine the prey's weight and direction of movement from footprints, and calculate the degree of tooth wear from chewed grass blades to determine the prey's age.
But unfortunately, this time it wasn't a hunting trip.
"Our action has certainly been discovered by the Dark Knight Order. It's no longer possible to break them apart individually, so activate Plan B, meet up with Batman and Superman as quickly as possible, find the X Metal, and engage the enemy in a decisive battle."
Su Ming leaned against a giant pine tree, picking up a pine cone from the ground and tossing it in his hand. This was a Siberian larch, a common plant here, characterized by its height, in contrast to the more common landscape pines of the Celestial Dynasty, appearing slender and tall, reaching over ten meters.
Watching Diana and Barry check Hal's injuries, he calmly communicated his plan to them.
"Hal's injury is too severe; he must receive immediate treatment and will need time to recuperate."
Diana roughly checked his bones, realizing that if the injury had happened to an ordinary person, they would definitely be dead by now. It was sheer willpower keeping Hal conscious and speaking.
"It's a pity the Teen Titans have gone missing, otherwise finding Wally would quickly heal his injuries."
Barry pulled back his hood, gasping for air, looking at Hal lying on the ground, continuously spitting blood, knowing he had completely lost his combat ability.
Though the Dawn Deceit Lantern was at least severely wounded, they had also lost a member.
"Damian and Nightwing along with a few others should be following Green Arrow in the Gotham sewers as a guerrilla force, while Raven should now be on Black Hawk Island. The other Teen Titans are all hanging on that Christmas tree of his emitting black light."
Su Ming immediately answered Barry's question. Even though the story had been altered by him, and the intelligence from the comics might not be accurate anymore, the heroes previously hung on the Tuning Fork weren't going to come down on their own.
This major event was yet another heart-wrenching journey for Green Arrow Hero; outside of the Seven Giants, the Justice League actually had another frequently appearing extra member, and that person was Green Arrow Hero.
During the P52 period, he was a Justice League Elder, but after N52, he became more of a marginalized figure, mainly because as an ordinary person, he didn't have a particularly suitable role within the Justice League.
Not as intelligent as the Master, not as capable as Superman, not as fierce as Wonder Woman in killing, and as a mascot, even Barry was better, leaving his situation somewhat tragic.
Consequently, during the N52 period, the editors elevated Steel Bone, who originally played a supportive role in the Teen Titans, to the Justice League, while Green Arrow was abandoned, though he was of the same generation as an uncle. Now, he could only lead Damian, Nightwing, and a few kids in Gotham conducting underground hide and seek.
Sinestro pointed his ring at Hal, a ball of yellow light enveloped the two, gradually lifting them from the ground.
"I will take him away from Earth for treatment. The rest of the matters you solve yourselves."
"Goodbye, Hal. Wishing you a speedy recovery!"
Su Ming waved his hand, but his action only drew Hal's listless gaze.
Sinestro handled matters cleanly and efficiently, saying it and doing it, immediately elevating and taking Hal, disappearing into the sky.
Barry rubbed his face, looking at Su Ming and Diana, a complex expression on his face: "Hal won't run into any problems, right? Will Sinestro take him back to Oa Star? But that's the Green Lantern's headquarters; those little green aliens really hate the Little Yellow Men."
Su Ming tugged at the hole in his chest armor: "Going to Oa is out of the question, Sinestro will never return to Oa to do good deeds in this lifetime. Chances are, he'll take Hal to the Antimatter Universe, to the Yellow Lantern Corps' home on Kovad Star."
Well, now Diana and Barry didn't know what to say, only able to pray for Hal's good fortune...
Nevertheless, Su Ming knew Sinestro was very proud, and Hal was one of the few he acknowledged. Sinestro wanted to see Hal submit to his power and fear power, absolutely wouldn't allow others to kill Hal.
Hal was seriously injured now; Sinestro would definitely save him.
Despite inevitably getting a dose of sarcasm and persuasion, it would likely be the usual mantra of how superior the Yellow Lantern is and how lousy the Green Lantern is, to which Hal had long been immune.
Su Ming glanced in the direction where they disappeared, organized his weaponry and equipment, taking a look at the dazed Diana, indeed finding this armor looked much better on its original owner, as the previous Hero was too much of an eyesore.
"???" Diana was bewildered, why did Deathstroke look at her with a weird expression? Also, Barry had been acting strange lately, like he didn't dare look at her at all.
However, Su Ming quickly shifted his gaze, speaking to Barry again: "Now immediately take us to Black Hawk Island, we don't have much time."
"Uh, aren't we going to rescue the Sea King?"
Barry saw a squirrel passing overhead, nibbling on something.
"No time, he must have gone up the tree by now."
Su Ming had already deduced the outcome, when they arrived at Binhai City, Hal was already almost taken away. Under the assault of the Drowned's Dead Water Army, the Sea King's situation wouldn't be much better than when Hal was surrounded by nightmares.
Diana flicked her hair, crossing her arms and listening to Su Ming: "Then what's at Black Hawk Island? Barry already told me about the N Metal, that thing is of limited use and cannot deal with Barbatos. I can't figure out what else could be of value on Black Hawk Island."
"Do you think what the Blackhawk Squadron showed you is all there is? Haven't you learned anything from Bruce?" Su Ming raised his hand, gesturing Barry to start running, saying these matters on the go: "Everybody thinks the Blackhawk Squadron is a hero team; do you know who they are working for?"
Seeing Diana had no objections, Barry picked up the two and entered Divine Speed.