UGB Chapter 853 Hero Mentor: First Lantern Knight, We'll Meet Again Eventually
Chapter 853 Hero Mentor: First Lantern Knight, We'll Meet Again Eventually
Chapter 853 Hero Mentor: First Lantern Knight, We Finally Meet Again
Chen Tao now deeply realizes one thing:
Mortals are vulnerable when facing a sixth-dimensional deity like the World Maker.
Everything mortals do is like building sandcastles on the ground; they crumble at the slightest push.
One or two successes are meaningless in the face of a sixth-dimensional deity, who can overwrite reality at any time and then cut your success off halfway.
Our DC multiverse is a multiverse with a super-time flow. The past and the future are relative concepts. It's just a matter of how difficult it is to modify them, not that they are impossible to modify.
The counter-surveillance agents wrote a perfect script for Chen Tao, and Chen Tao's task was simple: dance within the script, gain the protection of the counter-surveillance agents, and at the same time find the key to breaking the deadlock.
The counter-surveillance agents have already prepared the script for Chen Tao's intrusion into the multi-faceted fusion, and what Chen Tao needs to do is—
Iguru—
What happened?
The whole world is stretching out, and the newly constructed concrete roads are collapsing.
After a brief moment of stunned silence, Chen Tao found himself standing in the same spot again, holding the cement he hadn't yet splashed onto the roadbed.
He had unconsciously reversed a small segment of the trans-temporal flow, and he heard the heroes of the Heroes of the Day and the dark multiverse residing in the metallic supernatural space within his body asking questions:
"Didn't we say we wanted to move towards diversification and integration?"
This is... this is what he just experienced, just a few minutes ago. But he has temporarily reversed it all...
Then Chen Tao felt the riddle teller pat him on the shoulder.
"Just a few minutes ago, my friend," he said, "you tried to take me back, and now that I'm gone, you're trying to get me back... Who am I?"
"time."
Chen Tao frowned.
"Yes, Time, my friend. This is a small lesson." The Riddler gave a somewhat exaggerated bow and said, "Your Excellency Bat-King, this is a gift from Lord Mobius the Anti-Monitor, to you in relation to his brother, the World-Forger."
"From now on, you may freely borrow the power of the Anti-Monitor to reshape and disturb the reality of the trans-time flow... until this reality solidifies like a concrete road."
The Riddler said, "This is also the only way for you, as a mortal, to fight against the World Forger."
Bat King?
This somewhat strange title bothered Chen Tao, but he quickly put the issue aside for the time being.
He mindlessly repeated what he had just said, and when he came to the conclusion of searching for the first Genie again, he stood there lost in thought.
Chen Tao had already realized that he had witnessed the death of the first Lantern Knight that day. But before the first Lantern Knight died, he had already traveled through the time flow at least twice.
And now, the first Lantern Knight's journey through the super-time flow of history is solidifying like concrete, becoming a reality.
The first Lantern Knight is currently in a bizarre state where "according to the normal course of history, you are going to die, but since this history has only just begun, you can still struggle. If someone can change history, you can live!" However, Chen Tao is not sure whether the idea that "changing history will allow you to live" is precisely what led to the death of the first Lantern Knight.
But regardless, the current First Lantern Knight is incredibly important to Chen Tao, not only because he possesses the method to enter the Multiverse Fusion, but also for an even more important reason:
He held a sword in his hand, a sword made of metal.
This sword was once taken by the first Lantern Man to cleave the connection between universes. After his failure and death, it returned to Chen Tao's hands. Chen Tao then deliberately had the main universe's Batman take the sword back and return it to the World Crafters.
But now, the first Genie has traveled through time, bringing this sword from the past to Chen Tao's front.
Therefore, for Chen Tao, the sword in the hands of the first Lantern Knight forms a very simple cause-and-effect relationship with the sword in the hands of the World Forger.
Whatever Chen Tao does to this sword, whether he wears it down or destroys it, the consequences will be synchronized in the timeline onto the sword in the hands of the world's forger.
The moment Chen Tao saw the first Lantern Knight, he immediately realized all of this, and he felt that this cause-and-effect relationship would definitely be helpful.
While Chen Tao was thinking this, the Lantern Horror also found the exact location of the first Lantern.
"He is..."
"Tell me, where is he?"
Chen Tao asked.
"He is on Earth 3 before the Crisis on Infinite Earths".
"Well……"
"You mean Earth 3 before Crisis on Infinite Earths... Crime Syndicate?"
"Yes, bats."
……
……
……
Earth 3.
Of course, this was before the Crisis on Infinite Earths.
The crime syndicate of this era is still very... primitive. It has a kind of old-fashioned feel to it.
Ultimate Man, also known as Superman in later timelines, is a burly man with an inverted triangle shape and a light-colored "U" on his chest.
And Night Owl... no, let's call him Owlman before Crisis on Infinite Earths, he put on an almost completely lifelike brown owl headgear.
They are all people we know, but they are the oldest versions.
During this period, the DC multiverse explicitly tells us that the Crime Syndicate will become extremely powerful in its own universe, even capable of defeating the Justice League from the main universe that comes from across the universe.
However, when they travel across the universe to wreak havoc in the main universe, they become weaker and are easily defeated by the Justice League of the main universe.
They possess a manifest destiny in their own universe, and their world operates under rules completely opposite to those of the main universe, where "heroes will always win."
Chen Tao appeared here... He took all his teammates into the metal supernatural space within his body.
But no matter what, everything in front of me was completely unfamiliar.
Superman is the center of the DC multiverse, and each time he is reborn, the previous universe is kept upstream in the timeline and completely loses the possibility of new story development.
Therefore, the Earth-3 we see here is exactly like America in the last century, except that villains are rampant. But the worst villains here are nothing compared to the bad guys in the future DC multiverse.
Chen Tao had no interest in the historical development of this universe; he came here with a purpose.
He soon appeared at the door of a small tavern.
This is the metropolis, the lair of the Ultimate Man.
"Historically, very soon, at least in a dozen minutes, this city will be uprooted by Brainiac and stuffed into the multicultural syndicate. He deliberately chose a day when the pre-crisis version of the crime syndicate was meeting so that he could wipe out all the members of the syndicate in one fell swoop."
Chen Tao overheard the Riddler observing the outside world with his permission, and then told Chen Tao, "The first Lantern Knight must have some way of deceiving the World Founders so that he won't be discovered when entering the Multiverse Fusion."
"I understand," Chen Tao said.
Guided by the emotional spectrum energy provided by the Lantern Horror, the Lantern Evolution, the target he was looking for, was temporarily staying in the small tavern in front of him.
Squeak.
Chen Tao pushed open the door.
Everything looked very old-fashioned, Chen Tao thought to himself.
He went to an ancient era to visit an ancient person, in a very ancient way.
The first Lantern Knight became an ordinary civilian.
When Chen Tao walked in, he saw the other person sitting next to the bar.
When he saw Chen Tao's face, a look of sudden realization appeared on his face.
"I see……"
He suddenly stood up and then called out.
Chen Tao, who had spent a long time organizing his thoughts and trying to persuade the other party, was somewhat bewildered by their approach.
"Uh... what do you understand?"
"The cycle of history."
Chen Tao heard the first Lantern Knight say.
It's this kind of thing again. Chen Tao dislikes situations where he doesn't understand them the most.
This so-called future time loop makes the help he is receiving now feel like it's slipping out of his control.
"Wait, wait, let's first confirm when exactly you were the first Lantern Knight?"
For a moment, Chen Tao even thought he had made a mistake, but soon he saw the first Lantern Knight take out a sword from his hand and wave it in front of Chen Tao.
Alright, now we know the exact timeframe: it's when he left Chen Tao and entered that trans-time vortex. He even had the sword in his hand, so Chen Tao hadn't made a mistake.
But to be honest, this was too strange. The other party's attitude towards Chen Tao was unexpectedly good, while his impression of the first Lantern Knight was that he was not very emotional most of the time, and he would shout at him to fight or kill, or he would shout inexplicably and incoherently.
"Come sit here." The first Genie shifted his position to make room for Chen Tao. Chen Tao felt even more awkward. He had prepared himself to persuade the first Genie, and had even rehearsed his points, but now the other party…
"Don't overthink it. My experience with time travel and super-time flow is far richer than yours. You'll always encounter things that you can't understand right now."
The First Lantern seemed to sense Chen Tao's hesitation. As a seasoned time traveler, he was all too familiar with this mindset, having experienced it himself. Chen Tao's current thoughts were exactly what the First Lantern had once thought.
On this point alone, even Chen Tao could not hide it from the First Lantern Knight who had experienced all of this.
The first Lantern Man changed the subject.
"You know what? This is Earth 3. In this place, kindness can never thrive."
"The first Lantern Man said."
"Before getting down to business, I took a short trip around this planet. It's been a long time since I've had time to do anything for a complete planet. I'm always busy traveling between universes, desperately searching for ways to settle down. There are very few places where I can temporarily stay, and I rarely have the leisure to do so."
"How did your travels go?"
Chen Tao didn't rush to talk to the first Lantern Knight about the integration of multiple cultures. He knew he couldn't provoke the other party and needed to go along with what the other party was saying.
"Compared to the downstream of the timeline, even the villains in this era aren't that evil; they're still terrible. I'm starting to understand why Superman is so determined to return to this era. But in my opinion, even the most harmless criminal is still a criminal."
"Even if this isn't as bloody as the downstream of the Hypertime Stream, it's pointless to compare two pieces of garbage."
He said, "There is no kindness or justice here; the crime syndicate has always ensured that."
"Remember Foolish Owl?" He almost completely ignored Chen Tao, and just said to himself, "The Owlman of this era, let me give you a vivid example, the champagne he drank was worth $2000 a bottle, a bribe from the prime minister of some poor little country, just to ensure that the criminal syndicate wouldn't tear his family to pieces."
He shrugged. "Of course, that didn't stop the criminal syndicate from doing it, except that the Owlmen ransacked his wine cellar after work."
"The Ultimate Man massacres a US Army squadron, establishes an evil dictatorship in Metropolis, and the Super Queen kills US Army Colonel Steve Trevor..."
"The entire universe was born to be filled with evil and terror. This sordid nature has remained unchanged even as the universe has been reborn and destroyed countless times, and I am quite certain that it will not change in the future."
"What a filthy, evil universe."
Chen Tao heard the first Lantern Knight sigh, "My home is far more beautiful than this universe."
"But even such a filthy and evil universe still has a chance to survive. It still exists downstream in the hypertime stream, doesn't it? Both you and I know this very well."
"The first-generation Night Owlman died in a crisis caused by the Anti-Watcher. After the collapse of the multiverse, his planet was reshaped into a new generation of crime syndicates in the antimatter universe."
(Note: This refers to Earth-3 being destroyed by the Anti-Monitor before the Infinite Earth Crisis.)
This led to the creation of a second version of the Night Owlman.
After the original Earth-3 last survivors investigated a crisis-level event and recreated the multiverse, reshaping it into the current 52 universes, the world of the Night Owls once again fell apart.
(Note: This refers to the official return of the Crime Syndicate from Earth-3 after Infinite Crisis, which incorporates the settings from the original Earth-3 and Antimatter Universe eras.)
"Time and time again... With the birth of other New 52 Earths, after the third generation of Night Owlman appeared in his world and was destroyed by the resurrected Anti-Monitor, he helped lead an invasion against the Overworld... until he was killed again."
"After so many long histories and stories, Earth-3 keeps being reborn, under all sorts of names."
"But why, why my universe..."
"No chance of survival?"
(End of this chapter)