After hanging up the call with the President, a trace of cold light flashed in Shiller's eyes. He pulled up the soaking Natasha and said, "I'll make a few more trips to get you to the nearby island. To avoid alerting the enemy, there won't be a large-scale rescue. You can leave with the party crowd the next day."
The agents didn't complain either. When on a field mission, you can encounter all sorts of absurd situations. This time it wasn't too bad. At least Shiller arrived quickly, and they weren't in the water for too long.
Shiller first drove the speedboat to send Natasha back to the shores of Metropolis. Others could wait until the next morning, but not her. The Central Intelligence Agency had a task here.
"So it destroyed my plane just to use me to hold you back, preventing you from contacting Doom and Stark?"
"Yes. Though these two scientists are important, they are relatively safe staying in the Batcave for the time being. You, however, are different. The President will choose to rescue you first. No one else can, it has to be me. This way, at least tonight, there's no way I can get back to Gotham to find those two scientists."
"But why tonight? What's happening at the Batcave?"
"It's unclear at the moment. Batman might be in contact with them, but I guess these two guys might have actively engaged with the electronic life, maybe even done something to it."
"But what does that have to do with you?"
"I'm the only one connecting with them. Whatever they lack, I have to buy and deliver it. If I'm held up, at least for tonight, nothing can be delivered, which can delay their research progress by one night. Maybe the electronic life can take advantage of this gap to iterate some exposed weaknesses."
"Are they really that capable?" Natasha frowned and said, "They've spotted the other's weak points in such a short time?"
"You might think that Batman has been working hard for so long without results, while they achieved results in just days. But don't forget, Batman has a lot on his plate and can't focus solely on technology. Together, Doom and Stark hold nearly half of their universe's intellectual essence. It's not that difficult to deal with an electronic life."
"So it seems it will be resolved soon?"
"It's not that optimistic. The key is that the electronic life has evolved into a wave creature. Capturing this thing is not easy. To completely eliminate it is even more of a fantasy. Perhaps this time they acted just to gather more information."
"True. But it seems the electronic life hasn't gained much either; maybe choosing to hold you up was its last resort."
"When it shifts from us stalling for time to it stalling for time, it proves the situation is starting to reverse. I think not only in our universe but other universes may start to improve once they gain support from heroes of another world."
"The Captain and Steven went to their Prime Universe together. I'll send a message to inquire, just hope there are no more mishaps... What? Shiller also crashed?"
In the Prime Universe, Shiller was standing on the airplane's wing, looking at the endless Atlantic, and sighed silently.
A day ago, standing in the center of the Batcave and looking at the Globe, Strange sighed and said, "Choosing completely hidden pillars is doable, but the construction difficulty and subsequent concealment and maintenance are not on the same level as an ordinary temple. Are you sure you want to do it this way?"
"You can't expect all countries to be of one mind," the Primary Universe Batman said, "In fact, it's a miracle that your temples haven't been attacked by senseless anti-government armies. In our case, it's definitely not feasible."
"You talk as if you're still fighting World War II."
"That war never ended," Primary Universe Batman shook his head and said, "The world situation is unstable, smaller countries are even more chaotic. It's better to make them unaware than to try to deter them from attacking the temple."
Strange could only sigh and say, "Well, your universe, your rules. But if it's just me, there's no way to complete such a massive project in a short time. Even if you have enough energy to cast the Concealment Magic, someone still has to execute it. Gather the mages in your universe."
He turned his head to look at the Primary Universe Batman, and the Primary Universe Batman also looked at him. The two stared at each other, eyes wide. Strange slapped his forehead and said, "Oh, right, your universe doesn't have any decent mage organizations yet. What about those scattered individual mages? Surely you can find a few willing and competent ones to work for you?"
"This has to be handled by Constantine," the Primary Universe Batman turned and said, "I don't know where that guy has run off to recently. Hang on, I'll get back to you soon."
In front of Kazisova 125, the Primary Universe Batman knocked on the door. Soon the door was opened. Shiller stepped aside to let Batman in, then asked him, "How's it going? The progress of the Magic Defense Network setup is going well, right?"
Primary Universe Batman shook his head and said, "I can't communicate with various governments like in your universe and establish an official temple, as there will definitely be obstacles. To establish the magic defense network pillars, they must be hidden, but require too many hands. I wanted to ask if you know where Constantine is."
Shiller shook his head and said, "If nothing unexpected happens, you should be able to find him in the Ghost Record Prison. But the problem is that no one knows how to get in there. He probably never intended for anyone to find him."
"Alright. Let me think about which other mages we can contact. Miss Zatara probably won't work; she's always traveling the world and doing street performances, so it's hard to track her down quickly."
"I have an idea," Shiller said, "Have you heard of the Master of the Dark Night?"
The Primary Universe Batman nodded and then said, "Are you saying we go to the Forgotten Bar to find them?"
"Yes. Although the Master of the Dark Night isn't a formal mage, he can travel to the Maya World, where there are many magical creatures that might be able to help."
"I remember now, the inner world of Gotham in your universe was built with the help of magical creatures, right?"
"Sort of," Shiller thought for a moment and said, "Perhaps they have a way to contact Constantine."
"I have no doubt about the caliber of mages Constantine can gather, but as for his character..."
"He won't cause any trouble at this time," Shiller shook his head and said, "The construction of the Magic Defense Network is beneficial to him; at least his creditors can't find him as wantonly as before. If he makes any trouble outside, he only needs to return to Earth, and they can only watch in vain. So as long as he knows about this, he will definitely introduce you to reliable mages and won't let them cause random trouble."
"Are you sure he won't add a bit of his own ideas into the Magic Defense Network?"
"He would need the skill level for that," Shiller said, "As far as I know, most Constantines' research on defense magic is next to none. He isn't the kind of person who defends himself by stacking shields; otherwise, he wouldn't always find himself neither human nor ghost. Moreover, the magical defense network technology held by Strange is by no means as simple as you think. If it weren't for the special status of your universe, he wouldn't have come personally. The magic defense network of your Earth could potentially be the strongest among all Multiverses."
The Primary Universe Batman sighed softly and said, "Of course. But special status comes with greater responsibility. I have to resolve the trouble here quickly and then go support the Dark Multiverse. The Spider-Men might be able to save people, but they are unlikely to end the chaos completely. I must hurry."
Shiller nodded. He knew that the Batmen ultimately decided to let the Spider-Men assist the dark universe mainly because they each had a pure and kind heart. They were almost impervious to dark powers, and even if they couldn't help much, they could at least save some people.
However, there are quite a few dark universes, and even splitting the Spider-Men, one universe doesn't get many. Rescuing people is enough to keep them busy, and they hardly have the time to trace back to the root of the problem. To kill the origin of the competition, it still has to be Batman.
"I'll take a trip to England," Shiller said, "I'm rather ashamed that I haven't been much help before. Since you can't leave, I'll go to England to find the Master of the Dark Night. He should be willing to help."
"That would be great, Doctor," the Primary Universe Batman said, "But don't talk about being ashamed and the like; your presence here has already provided me with a lot of confidence."
So, Shiller set off. He first returned Nemocine to Gordon, gathered some of his personal belongings, bought a plane ticket, and flew to England.
He did consider that the Electronic Lifeform could manipulate the plane, but the Electronic Lifeform didn't have any motivation against him and had always done nothing to him. Shiller really didn't expect that just to delay his journey, the Electronic Lifeform would directly throw the plane into the Atlantic.
Fortunately, it didn't seem to want to kill Shiller, merely forcing the plane to make an emergency landing in the middle of the Atlantic. Everyone efficiently slid down from the chute and was now sitting on a lifeboat.
Taking advantage of the flight crew's inattention, Shiller got to the main body of the plane from the lifeboat closest to it. Although he was no longer allergic to the sea, he still wished to stay as far away from it as possible.
The crash didn't happen long ago, and the plane hadn't sunk yet. Shiller could take this opportunity to look around. If after some time no rescue comes, he would have to call Lucifer.
As Shiller hesitated about whether to call Lucifer earlier lest he complained later, saying, "You didn't call me first to rescue you," he suddenly noticed that a moon had risen in the clear sky during the daytime.
A faint moonlight spilled down, and as Shiller slightly raised his head, he saw a face identical to his own. A hooded figure seemed to be stepping on an entirely inverted plane, hanging upside down while watching him.
Shiller reached to pull the hood, but the figure seemed like an illusion in the moonlight, disappearing the moment he touched it. Becoming disoriented for a moment, Shiller found himself on top of a building in London, facing layer upon layer of rooftops.
Shiller descended the nearby stairs, called a taxi, and headed to the street where the Forgotten Bar was located. After he left, a moon-white, blurry figure appeared in the place he had been standing, the robe falling like a watery screen in London's gentle rain.