Days as a Spiritual Mentor in American Comics-Chapter 4561 - 3643: Edge of Tomorrow (52)

Brainiac was feeling very frustrated.

In the comic setting, Brainiac is a purely logical being, devoid of emotions. However, in reality, if he truly possesses Level 12 Wisdom, he should be fully capable of understanding and simulating emotions. freeweɓnovēl.coɱ

While there's not usually a need for this, if he wants to understand the behavioral logic of emotional intelligent life forms, he inevitably has to consider the impact of emotions. Therefore, he knows that if he were to use human emotional vocabulary to describe his current predicament, it would probably be frustration.

And if he were to describe the Justice League, who put him in this predicament, he wouldn't hesitate to use those angry, emotionally charged, insulting words that he previously deemed meaningless. He even feels that human vocabulary is too limited to adequately describe this organization.

But frustration is frustration, cursing is cursing. He still needs to come up with a solution, or else he'll let those bastards succeed.

The first solution Brainiac thought of certainly wasn't following the Justice League's plan. He wanted to solve the problem fundamentally, which meant breaking free from this time loop.

Unfortunately, no Brainiac in any universe possesses the ability to manipulate time. To be precise, he is part of the third generation of creations, far removed from rules and origin.

The god Lao of Krypton created the Kryptonians, and the Kryptonians created Brainiac. By the time it reached the Kryptonians, they were already far from origin power; by the time of Brainiac, it was even more distant.

What's the closest source of origin and rule power to him? It's the Mother Box.

Mother Box is essentially just a supercomputer, not necessarily as advanced as Brainiac. But the difference is, Mother Box is closer to the cosmos origin, allowing Brainiac to get closer to cosmic origin. And compared to carbon-based organisms, Brainiac, who is also silicon-based, can better utilize the Mother Box.

After discovering that the Mother Box might be lost on Earth, he made great efforts to infiltrate Earth, wanting to find the whereabouts of the divine artifact here. And then he fell right into the Justice League's trap.

The problem now is: he wants to break free from the trap, he needs to find the Mother Box; he wants to find the Mother Box, he must infiltrate Earth; he wants to infiltrate Earth, he will encounter the trap—Isn't this an endless cycle?

Moreover, he doesn't feel that if he doesn't infiltrate Earth, the Justice League would let him go. He seems to have realized that these evil Earthlings have been holding back for a long time, and given the chance to catch a sheep, they will not let go until it's completely sheared.

After several attempts, Brainiac discovered that he had no means to break free from the control of the time flow before the time rewind node. He could neither find the Mother Box nor forcibly escape. This path was entirely unworkable.

If outmatched, then admit defeat. However, admitting defeat isn't easy; just lowering your head and surrendering won't make them let you go. Brainiac understands that they are specifically targeting him for torment.

After numerous demonstrations and calculations, Brainiac concluded that if he continued according to the original process, he couldn't possibly defeat the invaders recruited by the Justice League within a month.

Hundreds of millions, or even trillions, of possible predictions, all with a 0% success rate. Numerous pathways, not a single one viable.

So Brainiac still chose to admit defeat because, at least this way, he could buy himself a bit of time. The Darkseid Legion and Yellow Lantern Corps were both recruited by the Justice League, meaning that their timing of arrival essentially depends on the Justice League. As long as he could get the Justice League to relax and step back, allowing them to arrive a little later, he would have some maneuvering space.

When Brainiac contacted the Justice League, they were in the middle of a review meeting. It was through this meeting that Brainiac learned about their entire plan.

The reset timeline's current moment was about a day ago, right after dealing with Hai'er. Clark then went to find his brother.

The other was lying in a life support pod, encased in a layer of ice outside. Although this safety measure was useless for this Super Kryptonian, the Justice League was simply for good luck and didn't intend to truly trap him.

In fact, for someone who could travel through time, nothing could really trap him. He stayed here purely because Clark was here—Hai'er wouldn't refuse the chance to see him.

Clark pushed the door open and walked in, immediately feeling a scorching gaze upon him. Hai'er's eyes glowed scarlet, staring straight at Clark with an expression more complex than ever.

Clark walked to the life support pod and stared back at him. Hai'er was covered in scars, even his face wasn't spared, and the S-shaped emblem on his chest was even carved into him, silently revealing moments of the tragic dramas he had encountered.

"You resemble Joe very much," Hai'er said. Surprisingly, his English was very fluent, with not a hint of foreign accent.

"Is that so? I thought our temperaments were different," Clark smiled and said, "He seems like the kind to go to the library every day in college, whereas me? I'm just a small-town kid."

"In that aspect, indeed, not alike," Hai'er said. "He's a scientist. So are both of them. Most of the time, very rigorous, but sometimes clueless, making a mess of many things."

"It seems you love them a lot," Clark sighed and said, "So you don't believe that they foresaw Krypton's destruction but did nothing to stop it."

Hai'er placed One Hand on the surface of the Life Support Pod, his fingers slightly tightening, and said, "That planet was already rotten before I left. I don't care if they perished; I'm just angry they destroyed themselves."

"I don't know if I should say this, but for them, death doesn't mean the end," Clark gently shook his head and said, "They might be more willing to see it as an entirely new and better beginning."

"You really are their child," Hai'er said, gazing at Clark.

"Let's not talk about the past," Clark continued, "What did Brainiac say to you?"

"Zod." Hai'er sighed and said, "When I returned, I couldn't find them and learned about the Kryptonians' extinction. I couldn't accept this fact, so I started looking for clues to understand what happened. In the data control center, I found signal records from a Kryptonian ship, showing a recent time, and the signal originated from a planet in the Solar System."

"I looked up the information on this ship and discovered it belonged to the former Krypton General Zod. Zod and Joe were not on good terms; to be precise, they were completely different kinds of people. And Zod is a madman; I thought he destroyed everything. I lost my mind and followed the signal to the Solar System. I wanted to drag out this damned bastard immediately, so I blasted that big light sphere."

"Didn't you know it was a planet?"

"I thought it was some kind of artificial construct," Hai'er said, "It obviously wasn't a naturally formed planet in the cosmos; I thought it was Zod's fortress."

Clark sighed—being too advanced was also a mistake. The equipment obtained from another universe, combined with the modifications by the Green Lanterns, made Mercury barely recognizable from its original appearance. The enraged Hai'er thought it was made by Zod and punched it to pieces.

"Of course, my mind started to become unclear, and I didn't know what was going on. I've always had mental issues; I just didn't expect them to erupt at this time."

Clark could see it too. The rational Hai'er was normal, not an emotional berserker. So it might have just been due to a provocation at the time.

"Let's not talk about this," Clark pressed the button beside him, thawing the ice on the Life Support Pod and opening the hatch, then extended his hand to Hai'er, saying, "You're my parents' adopted son, my brother. But I'm sorry, reminiscing might have to wait a bit; now we face another problem."

"You mean that artificial intelligence?" Hai'er placed his hand on Clark's and jumped out of the Life Support Pod, saying, "When Father and Mother were still alive, I heard them talk about the mechanization transformation plan. It wasn't a secret on Krypton, but at the time, I didn't have the ability to get involved.

"From the moment he showed you Zod's ship signal, it was clear he had malicious intent. According to our investigation, although it was tolerated by my parents, he was definitely the culprit of the Kryptonians' demise," Clark said.

"You want to deal with him?" Hai'er slightly frowned, walked over to a nearby seat, sat down, and shook his head, saying, "I'm afraid it's very difficult. The civilization on this planet under your feet is pathetically weak, much weaker than the late Kryptonian civilization. That artificial intelligence has inherited all of Krypton's virtual legacy and has completed a thorough evolution. Even if you could defeat him, the cost would be terrifying."

"Of course, if they rely on themselves alone, they definitely can't do it, but we are here too. In fact, we already have a plan. If it succeeds, not only can we defeat him, but we might also take down another guy who led to Krypton's destruction," Clark said.

"Another one?"

Clark simply explained to him what happened during the great war. In short, because of the war for the Mother Box, Darkseid's Apocalypse Star and the Kryptonian Star Alliance became enemies, which eventually led to the Kryptonians' destruction.

After the Kryptonians were destroyed, Darkseid was still uneasy and colluded with members of the Krypton Council, setting up a genetic trap for the Kryptonians, which ultimately led to Krypton's demise. Although Brainiac was the one who acted, the genetic virus deployed by Darkseid destined Krypton's destruction, making him one of the culprits.

Hai'er's face turned somewhat somber, seemingly pondering something. After a while, he looked at Clark and asked, "What do you want to do?"

"I heard from Barry that your ability in terms of time is on par with his?"

"That kid is troublesome," Hai'er admitted, "He traverses time differently from me. If you want that kind of speed, I'm afraid I can't do it."

"No, this time the focus is on time."

Hai'er heard certain dangerous elements in Clark's tone. He looked at Clark and asked, "What exactly do you want to do?"

"We want to reverse the entire cosmos' time."