bookbashuk Chapter 231 Who is he?
Chapter 231 Who is he?
Chapter 231 Who is he?
"Don't get in my way!"
Uriah roared, and his massive scythe slashed down at the shadowy figure.
The expected scenario of parts falling apart and the machine scattering did not occur. The dark figure raised its right arm, accompanied by a burst of intense heat, and three red-hot barbs popped out from its forearm.
Ding!
It was as if a firework had burst open in the alley, the brilliant sparks dispelling the surrounding darkness and deeply imprinting the figure of the newcomer into Dick's eyes.
It was an exquisitely crafted humanoid machine. Its head, filled with parts, chips, and circuits, was covered by a transparent, acrylic-like shell. Lightweight carbon fiber armor covered its entire body, and smooth, shiny metal bones were exposed at its movable joints.
Unlike those clumsy or anthropomorphic robots that can be seen everywhere, its long limbs give its mechanical devices a simple and primitive beauty.
In particular, its legs, which resemble the hind feet of a cheetah, have exposed hydraulic devices that act as Achilles tendons, ensuring sufficient strength in its lower limbs. This allows it to unleash tremendous power without having to accumulate energy or twist its hips like a human.
This was not Dick's conjecture. The instant he caught Yuria's scythe, the hydraulic device suddenly spewed out a burst of gas, and then, without any warning, Yuria was thrust into the chest by a brute force.
The robot kicked Shen in the chest, sending the rogue Ya flying into the shop window across the street.
Its moves have no pre-animation or stiffness, which makes it impossible for martial arts master Yuria to discern its true intentions through micro-movements.
However, the robots' pursuit will not end there.
"Scan complete. No signs of life found at the lower level except for the target. Firepower coverage mode authorized."
As soon as it finished speaking, its chest and shoulder armor flipped open to the outside, unleashing a barrage of small grenades and lasers that hurtled towards the opposite street.
Yuria tried to break out of the ruins, but the overwhelming firepower from all sides pushed her back.
Bang bang bang—!
A horrific explosion rocked Uriah's body, burning his wide cloak and revealing his true face to the public for the first time.
Beneath the uneven, bluish-gray skin, dark purple blood vessels were clearly visible. A few wispy strands of curly blond hair drooped from the top of his head, and his face constantly changed expressions as the pustules floated beneath his skin.
Aside from barely maintaining a human form, this guy was practically a walking malignant tumor.
Cancer cells, the secret to immortality, have always been hidden in the human body, and the Dionysus factor merely catalyzes their effects.
Immortality is both a blessing and a curse. If the other claws lie dormant in ice coffins under duress from the court, then Uriah had no other choice.
The cold can suppress the Dionysian factor, and once removed from the ice coffin, the cancer cells in the body will proliferate and divide in a short period of time, turning it into a monster that is neither human nor ghost.
The explosion of the grenade and the laser blasted this hideous body into countless holes, but in the blink of an eye, the spreading cancer cells filled the bloody wounds.
Yuria crouched low and swooped down toward the robot, which jumped back to create distance and prepare to fight.
Just as he was about to make contact with the robot, Yuria suddenly changed his pace, swiftly dodged to the side, and bared his fangs at Dick behind him.
The immortal's goal was never to retaliate. As a watchdog, he knew very well that to reshape the court, he had to rescue the barn owl controlled by Dick.
After forcing Dick back with a flying kick, he grabbed the owl by the collar and nimbly vaulted over the wall.
The robot was still thinking of giving chase, but the rapidly approaching, chaotic footsteps at the street corner made it abandon the idea.
The patrolling soldiers were alerted by the explosion; it was time to evacuate.
Before leaving, it gave Dick a meaningful look.
"Tell that man I'm back, and that the city no longer needs him."
A dull, synthesized electronic sound echoed through the alley. The robot leaped into the air, its back spewing out scorching flames as it propelled itself into the sky with the powerful thrust.
The massive fighter jet circled overhead once before disappearing into the faint dawn in the east.
The loud noise not only attracted the stationed soldiers, but also Night Owl and Red Hood, two guys who coveted the title of Judgment Knight. When they met by chance on the rooftop of the high-rise building, the three guys, all dressed in black, did not recognize each other at first glance.
They cautiously spread out, drew their weapons, and pointed them at each other, forming an equilateral triangle.
"Who are you!"
"And who are you?"
"Who the hell are you?!"
Judging from their irritable tone, the three were clearly about to fight. Jason was the first to recognize Dick's voice and ripped off his hood.
"Dick?! Didn't you fucking leave?"
"Damn it, Jason, didn't you say you were going back to the East Side?"
"It seems the teacher was right; neither of you is being honest. Are all adults like this, saying one thing and meaning another, full of ulterior motives?"
"Ahem—what just happened?"
Night Owl coughed deliberately, trying to steer the conversation away from the hypocrisy of adults and onto serious matters.
"Yeah, Dick! You should have arrived before us. Tell us what happened!"
Jason quickly chimed in, since he had gone the furthest of the three, even donning the Batsuit. This behavior was essentially no different from "a ten-year-old kid wearing his father's suit and drawing a beard in front of the mirror," and getting caught would be a disaster.
Dick shook his head; he was utterly speechless at these two clowns.
But the information still needed to be shared, so the two were informed of what had just happened, and Night Owl was the first to react.
"A spaceship? Bruce once told me that a spaceship saved him when he fell into the sea from the sewers and was about to drown."
Night Owl's expression was not good. He had always regarded Gotham as his private property, and now not only were two juniors trying to seize "law enforcement power," but there was also a guy hiding in the shadows who knew the whole situation.
However, he was able to grasp some details from Dick's description, especially the appearance of the spaceship, which was exactly the same as the batch developed by the court.
He didn't believe that Lucius, as the chief designer of the spaceship, would know nothing.
Then, recalling the robot's inexplicable remark and Lucius's act of uploading Bruce Wayne's memories to the cloud and giving them to Alfred—
The Night Owl was clever and possessed a wealth of clues, which allowed him to easily deduce the answer—the flesh and blood were weak, and the machinery ascended.
This result was not unexpected. In fact, before Wei arrived, he was mentally preparing himself to "hug a cyber brother".
But with his rebellious little brother Will, does he really need another Bruce?
The other party's statement, "This city will no longer need him," in particular made Isaiah Thomas feel threatened.
Just then, all of their phones rang at the same time.
It was a group message from Tim, a very short sentence, but it gave the group a jolt.
"He's back and asked us to meet him at the Eastern Senate."
"Mr. Wei? Wasn't he taken away by Superman? It's only been a few hours—"
Dick's tone was a mixture of surprise and delight. He looked up and asked his companions, but both of them shook their heads.
Thomas was just as surprised as Dick.
As a ruthless executioner of the night, he had studied Superman carefully for quite some time, and in his eyes, the other man was a dull and boring guy who was disgusting.
Look at the superheroes active around the world today. Under the oppression of the slogans of freedom, equality and human rights promoted by American thinking, not one of them dares to kill criminals.
All of this is because of Superman, whose existence has single-handedly raised the bar for superheroes and the required moral standards.
Would someone who adheres to the bottom line of the law let his own brother go?
Isaiah Thomas expressed strong skepticism.
"Mr. Thomas Wayne, let's go together."
"You all go ahead, I still have some things to take care of."
Jason invited Night Owl to join him, but the latter declined.
The reasons for doing this are simple: firstly, Thomas was afraid that Superman would set a trap and capture them all; secondly, he wanted to find the robot by following the clues before the jet's trail disappeared.
After watching the two leave, Night Owl dialed Lucius's number.
"I need your help to investigate the flight records over the Diamond Zone and find information on that unregistered aircraft."
"Mr. Wayne, what you've asked me to do is far beyond my capabilities," Lucius's voice came from the other end of the phone.
"Really? I remember you've always maintained a close relationship with Mr. Lex Luthor. You must have played a big part in the Brother Eye system, right?" Thomas said with a sinister smile, his words full of threat.
"Perhaps you could just tell me where Alfrey is hiding. You said you haven't seen your old buddy for a year and a half, and I think that's probably not true."
"I'm open to whichever way you want to tell me."
There was a long silence on the other end of the phone, then Lucius let out a heavy sigh.
Perhaps considering that the courthouse had collapsed, after much deliberation, he still sent the address to the other party's mobile phone.
"Actually, you don't need to go looking for him. The biggest threat has already disappeared, Alfred—"
Before Lucius could finish speaking, the phone went dead.
It was precisely because Lucius was loyal to Wayne Enterprises that he could tolerate Thomas's bad temper, but if given a choice, he would rather serve Bruce Wayne.
Meanwhile, Dr. Reed, having finished his business with Derek Powers, walked out of the Jewish Union Foundation building surrounded by security personnel.
In this city-wide riot, only the headquarters of the United Consortium remained unscathed. Of course, this was not because the Gotham mob bullied the weak and feared the strong; after all, the Tower of Wayne had attracted most of the firepower, and the United Consortium's building was indeed difficult to attack.
Look at the mountain of corpses piled up on the street corner. They too had fought hard for this cause, but in the end, they were all executed one by one by the security personnel with their backs to the castle.
Getting back to the main point, Dr. Reed originally came to sell the court's immortality technology to Derek, but after learning that Derek had sent an ordinary human to carry out the mission of "assassinating Bruce," he immediately changed his plans.
Not only did he sell off immortality and technological advancements at extremely low prices, but he also sold off his shares in several Gotham Companies at a bargain price through contracts.
Yes, after being threatened by Qin Wei and finding no way to retaliate, Daniel decided to escape Gotham.
This was undoubtedly an extremely wise move, while Derek, who had never faced a bat head-on, was still mocking Daniel's cowardice.
"High profits come from risk, my friend! If you're scared out of your wits by a single sentence from an enemy, you're unlikely to succeed."
"I have succeeded, successfully extricated myself from that damned cult. As for what you said, I completely agree, but as you said, high profits come from risk, not from certain death."
"I believe Bruce Wayne will exact a furious revenge after his release from prison, and all I can do is go into hiding, away from this city, and even this country."
Daniel signed his name on the document with a flourish, and now all he had to do was wait for the stock exchange to open so he could complete the final step.
At that time, 80 billion yuan in liquid funds will be deposited into 105 accounts under his name.
After leaving the building lobby and returning to his aircraft, Dr. Reed glanced at his watch.
It's 9:26 AM now, and there are only 4 minutes left before the trading starts. If he can just endure these long 4 minutes, he can finally escape his misery.
Daniel rubbed his bruised lip, which had been beaten by Wei, and flipped open the flap on the hatch to check his injuries.
But in the mirror's reflection, a despairing owl mask appeared.
"Daniel Reed, no, great Creator! I've finally found you!"
The barn owl in the back row chuckled in a low voice, and at his instruction, Uriah's menacing hands reached around the back of the chair and grabbed Dr. Reed by the throat.
However, the immortal did not immediately kill, but gradually increased the force of his blows.
He was waiting to hear what this traitor from the court would say.
"Wait, wait! Even if you kill me, you won't get anything!" Dr. Reed really wanted to know how the other party had approached him, but time didn't allow him to ask such pointless questions.
You must use the fewest words possible to save your life.
"I have money, a total of 10 billion, hidden in my eight bank accounts. As soon as the transaction is completed at 9:30, the money will be credited to my account immediately!"
"Is that all the court is worth to you?!"
A clone of the barn owl Bruce, but implanted in his brain are the altered memories of Thomas Elliott.
This clone remained loyal to the court from beginning to end.
"Not just 10 billion, it's 80 billion! All the accounts are on the phone!" At this moment, Dr. Reed knew that if he continued to hide it, he would surely die. Wealth was just an external thing; preserving his life was the key.
Sure enough, the huge sum of money moved the barn owl.
While not enough to restore the entire courtroom, the money is enough to rebuild its outline.
After taking the phone from Dr. Reed, the owl connected it to its own phone. After verifying its identity and changing the cardholder information, the life-or-death transaction was complete.
Dr. Reed breathed a sigh of relief. He had set the personalities of these clones himself. To prevent them from being purged after turning against him, their personalities were set to be almost pathologically loyal to the contract.
In other words, once the transaction is completed, his life will be basically saved.
But soon, reality slapped Dr. Reed in the face.
My phone started vibrating like crazy, accompanied by a series of failed transaction notifications, and then it overheated and went black.
Immediately afterwards, the Robin Hood logo, featuring a feathered hat, took over the screen.
Amidst a burst of shrill laughter, Dr. Reed's face turned extremely ugly.