northernbook Chapter 349 The Justice League is Laughing Maniacally
Chapter 349 The Justice League is Laughing Maniacally
Chapter 349 The Justice League is Laughing Maniacally
Let’s talk about the conclusion first:
First, Chen Tao believes that the magic control of the Eclipse is actually a form of enhancement.
That's right...
In front of Chen Tao, the Flash, whose face was half covered by blue-purple scale-like wrinkles, roared to the sky like a zombie. He was controlled by Maxwell Lord, and half of his body was trembling at a high frequency. Then, in front of Chen Tao, he performed a high-frequency trembling hand chop.
This is also one of the classic skills of speedsters; their constantly trembling palms can cut matter like tofu at the molecular level.
Chen Tao used it when synchronizing with Red Death, and he had seen Reverse-Flash use it more than once. The Flash didn't know it at first, but he gradually learned it later.
But Chen Tao had never seen The Flash use both hands so skillfully at the same time; at least, he didn't recall ever seeing it.
"Drink! Drink! Ha! Drink!"
Under Maxwell Lord's control, the Flash kept shouting and swinging his trembling hands around his head, creating a blur of motion.
He lightly touched the wall next to him, and immediately a small section of the wall was completely swallowed up by the Flash's two constantly rotating and swinging arms, leaving a smooth, round crater.
Wow! That's amazing!
With its indestructible high-frequency hand strikes and the accelerated arm rotation speed amplified by the Speed Force, it's a complete meat grinder. It kills without batting an eye, leaving victims speechless even after death.
Chen Tao's eyes lit up when he saw it.
In addition, and more importantly, Chen Tao, who had synchronized with a portion of the Bat Mage, could clearly feel that after being completely eroded by the magic energy of the Eclipse, the Flash felt that his physical abilities had improved slightly, and even his movements seemed to have become a little faster.
Ah, don't misunderstand, Chen Tao didn't intend to use Eclipse to forcibly control his teammates and do something when needed, because there are two main difficulties in doing so:
First, a super evil sorcerer like Eclipse won't obediently follow orders. Second, Eclipse's dark abilities might distort the Flash's mind, causing psychological trauma to his teammates.
So, as long as we solve these two...
Pshaw, I have no intention of doing that, so there's no need to solve those two problems at all!
Chen Tao shook his head slightly, bringing his wandering thoughts back.
However, this is the only thing he truly thinks this way.
He always believed that Barry the Flash's potential was far greater than he thought. Early on, he realized he had taken too much of Barry's potential away from his character's development.
The loss of Gorilla Grodd has made Barry less adept at dealing with telepaths; the loss of Turtle Man has left Barry bewildered whenever he encounters someone who can slow him down; and without the Rogues, a well-coordinated villainous team, Barry is now gradually losing his skills in dealing with groups of enemies.
Oh, right, there's also Reverse-Flash. His position among the villains in The Flash is equivalent to Lex Luthor's to Superman, or Bane's to Batman, and Chen Tao directly sent him to the Speed Force.
The main villains in the entire Flash series are either used as expendable material by him or become salaried security guards. What else is there?
Steelbeam? Tar Pit? These two are among the Flash's remaining villains with some strength. Oh, according to their confession, they were working for outsiders of the Crime Syndicate when they got into a fight with Reverse-Flash. Steelbeam was blown up, and Tar Pit sank into the sea. It took them a long time to resurrect and return. They haven't fought the Flash in a long time.
If you remove those two, what villains does The Flash have left?
The Rainbow Thief? A Monocle? Or the King of Condiments?
Are you suggesting the Flash spar with the King of Condiments? Spar about what? Dodging ketchup?
It's not that you can't throw the Flash into the training ground, but there's still a difference between sparring in the training ground and actually fighting a villain.
Even against adversaries like the Rogues and the Flash, whose rivalry isn't particularly serious, the intensity of their actual confrontations is several times greater than what they train for.
In the comics, it's worth noting that because Bart Allen's speed was stolen by the supervillain Inertia, the Rogues even accidentally killed him during their regular confrontation.
(Note: Bart Allen, the future grandson of the Flash Barry Allen, codenamed Impulse, was the fourth Flash. He was later betrayed by his clone, Inertia, and died at the hands of the Rogues. The Rogues later realized they had been used by Inertia to kill Bart, so they killed Inertia to avenge Bart Allen. This is one of the Rogues' well-known feats in killing speedsters.)
Captain Cold's exact words were, "His speed would have allowed him to dodge such an attack, but because he slowed down, we didn't realize it, which led to this tragedy."
Even the relatively milder villains like the Rogues could accidentally kill a Speedster, let alone the more aggressive superheroes and villains.
Therefore, Chen Tao always understood why the Flash performed so poorly. Because, in terms of the Flash alone, Chen Tao had inadvertently turned him into someone else entirely like Earth 51.
That Earth was a parallel universe that existed during the final crisis countdown. Roughly speaking, after the second Robin, Jason Todd, was killed by the Joker with a crowbar, Batman did not choose to continue adhering to the no-kill rule like in the main universe. Instead, he went on a killing spree, slaughtering all the villains on the entire Earth.
—Batman was already very strong, but when he decided to abandon his principles, he became a cheat code. Arkham Asylum was a bloodbath, not a single chicken was left alive. Even Superman's villains, Lex Luthor, Parasite, and all sorts of other monsters were all killed by Batman from that universe.
Batman wielded his sword without batting an eye, and as the killing progressed, he became so skilled that he didn't even spare his old flame, Catwoman.
He kept killing, and no one could stop him. Eventually, he wiped out all the villains on Earth.
Such heinous behavior led to...
This led to the Justice League in that universe and all the superheroes on Earth retiring early, going home to get married, have kids, and raise children...
Of course, that universe didn't end well. Since the villains were gone, the superheroes had been living comfortably for too long, and their strength had regressed instead of improved, turning them into weaklings.
Therefore, when the supervillain "Emperor" invaded, they were killed before they could even react. And this universe was ultimately destroyed by Superman Supreme.
And that's exactly what the Flash is like right now. Without anyone to fight, he's just like those superheroes on Earth-51 who were essentially rendered useless after all the villains were killed.
He clearly had the ability and potential to do many things, but Barry failed to unleash that potential and instead became weaker and weaker. Even now, the state he was in under the control of Eclipse was stronger than his normal state.
This is a joke. As we all know, any control over a superhero will only make them weaker. No matter how perfect the control, it is impossible to bring out 100% of the superhero's full strength. But now, the Flash under Eclipse's control is stronger than usual. What does this mean?
This means that Barry under the control of Eclipse can only exert about 60 to 70% of the strength of this body, but when he controls himself, he cannot reach that level!
One of the important reasons for this is probably that Barry doesn't really think he can achieve that "60-70%", such as using high-frequency hand slashes with both hands simultaneously.
So Chen Tao was thinking, if he could prove to Barry that he could do it, would that help Barry regain his confidence, gradually improve himself, and then find him some opponents...
However, these are all things to be addressed later. Chen Tao's current preferred successor is still Green Lantern Hal, but making the Flash stronger is also one of his goals, and the two are not mutually exclusive.
As for Wonder Woman...
After observing for a while, Chen Tao felt that Diana in her Eclipse state was not much different from his usual state, with basically no fluctuation in strength, which was much better than the Flash's situation.
After all, Wonder Woman was already a well-trained and powerful warrior when she left Paradise Island. Although she lost some training after arriving in the "men's society" due to Chen Tao's interference, the loss was small and did not affect the overall situation.
Chen Tao stood there lost in thought, while Amanda Waller, seeing that he remained silent, spoke first:
"Maxwell Lord, that diamond, it will influence you, making you believe that everything you think is a misunderstanding."
"We are all chosen ones, Amanda."
Maxwell Lord, whose face was also covered in blue-purple scales and wrinkles, said:
"We all understand that someone has to sacrifice for the greater good. I need the Justice League to help me build a utopian world that everyone longs for, even if I have to force them."
Chen Tao remained silent. He watched as Maxwell Lord snapped his fingers, and several purple magic portals appeared beside him.
Soon, with a zombie-like roar, Martian Manhunter, whose green face had turned completely blue, appeared first. After him came Aquaman, with an orange body and a blue face, and finally Shazam, whose body was wrapped in lightning.
The Justice League now has all of its most capable main fighters besides Batman, except for Green Lantern Hal Jordan who is far away in OA.
"roar……"
Maxwell Lord said, "Come on, Amanda...please."
His eyes, which had turned red, darted toward Chen Tao:
"And you, Batman, did you really think I wouldn't take any protective measures?"
He lifted his shirt, and Chen Tao saw that his body was covered with inscriptions, and there was a symbol of the sun and moon intertwined on his chest.
"I forced the high priest of Devil's Island to brand me with a holy symbol to free me from the control of the Dark Heart. For years I've barely managed to control others with my abilities, but now that I have the Dark Heart, I can make people do anything."
"Maxwell, throughout history, the Heart of Darkness has been documented in the darkest moments of human history."
Amanda Waller kept talking to Maxwell Lord, and Chen Tao saw her gesturing in Morse code towards him from behind, the meaning of which was...
How is it? Is there a solution?
Chen Tao did not reply to her.
"The Black Death, the witch trials, the Inquisition..."
Amanda Waller earnestly stated, "Our researchers have even discovered records of the Heart of Darkness in the Thessaloniki Massacre..."
Throughout her speech, Maxwell Lord did not utter a single word in response, except when she mentioned the Holocaust…
A smile involuntarily crept onto Maxwell Lord's lips.
"Yes, their screams were like a requiem..."
"You...what? What did you just say?"
Amanda Waller was startled.
"What... what did I just say? Oh, right... hehehehehehehe..."
Maxwell Lord said, "Why are you so worried, Amanda? You've sent your men to their deaths for America's security, you've sacrificed so many men, but I can achieve what you've always wanted with minimal bloodshed. You can finally sleep soundly, you've seen the world in the hands of good people. Hahahaha..."
Maxwell Lord smiled; a wonderful world and a bright future seemed to beckon to him.
Then he heard another laugh in his ear:
"Pfft, hehe..."
Maxwell turned his head sharply and saw the Flash suddenly cover his mouth and let out a low laugh.
"What's wrong with you?"
Maxwell Lord frowned. Even while being corrupted by the Eclipse, he still retained his consciousness, as did the Flash and the others. The Eclipse could stir up the darkest evil within humanity, rather than simply turning them into puppets.
"It's nothing, I'm just thinking about happy things," the Flash said. "I'm genuinely happy that we're finally doing the right thing."
"Hahahahahaha..."
Maxwell Lord frowned again. He forced himself to continue, "America is just the beginning, Amanda."
"Pfft!" Maxwell Lord turned his head again, and this time it was Wonder Woman's turn to laugh.
A distorted smile appeared on her face, half of which was covered in blue-purple, making her look somewhat terrifying.
"You continue," she said.
Maxwell Lord checked again to make sure his telepathic abilities hadn't failed.
That's right, his abilities have been enhanced by the Dark Heart, and his "Super Persuasion" mind control ability has reached a new level. At this moment, Wonder Woman's mental state is completely under his persuasion, and there are no problems at all.
Every mentally sound person can be persuaded, and the entire Justice League has fully endorsed its claims through the mental connection established by Eclipse.
They genuinely believed that he, Maxwell Lord, was right. Lord confirmed once again that Wonder Woman still thought he was correct.
So he continued speaking.
"I want to share these gifts with the world, and in the end, all of humanity will see something they never thought was possible."
He continued his speech to Amanda Waller and the others:
"But I know that if I can do what I want, I can bring peace to the world!"
"Pfft!"
"Hehehehehe..."
"Hahahaha..."
But before Maxwell Lord could finish speaking, the entire Justice League couldn't stop laughing. They burst into hysterical laughter, their mouths stretched to their ears, and then they laughed so hard that tears streamed down their faces.
"Hahaha, hahaha, hahahaha—"
(End of this chapter)