With the help of food, the combat meeting went smoothly. They seemed to have a lot to discuss, but the key points were few. The most important was how to stop the expansion of the Nightmare Domain and how to defeat Nightmare Darkseid.
The former is somewhat manageable. During the Primary Universe Batman's time on Apocalypse Star, he acquired shield technology from there. This technology can create large-scale shields, and if the energy is sufficient, it could even encase the entire Milky Way in a shield.
However, since it's not complete technology, and the Milky Way itself doesn't have the independence like the Apocalypse Domain, it's not possible at the moment; even encasing the Solar System in a shield would be quite an achievement.
But even so, it's considered a significant progress. After all, with the advancement of technology, near-Earth space is no longer sufficient, and even the Solar System is getting crowded. The human race has vast assets deployed in the Solar System. Earth can run, but if the Solar System can't run, it's still vulnerable to losses. Having a shield would be much better.
As for the technology, energy is indeed plentiful. Local mages haven't suffered much in terms of manpower. After eating, Strange led a group of mages and students from the magical school to the construction site. It's conservatively estimated that they will have it set up in a few days.
In fact, once the Solar System shield is in place, it doesn't really matter if the Nightmare Domain spreads. After all, the human race only has this bit of industry, as long as these are protected, it doesn't matter what happens to other civilizations, if many die, it just makes room for humans.
In reality, the infinite spread of the Nightmare Domain harms the Three Great Empires the most, which is also considered revenge for the two empires' attack on Asgard.
The next step was to figure out how to defeat Nightmare Darkseid. In just a dozen or so hours, bad news was spreading across the Multiverse, with some universes already finding evidence of Nightmare Power's existence.
Nightmare Darkseid's primary focus is still on the Primary Universe Batman, however, Nightmare Power still disturbs other universes. Many superheroes find themselves having nightmares frequently, and some are even trapped in nightmares they can't wake from.
Every superhero group is discussing this issue. They all know it's a legacy of the Multiverse War, and they're cursing it one after another, but there's nothing they can do. War doesn't follow logic.
No one can control when a Multiverse disaster will occur, in what form it will appear, or who it will affect. If they don't take the initiative, they can only accept passively. Many Multiverse superheroes who did not participate in the war gradually realize this.
If you don't actively participate in Multiverse activities, when disaster strikes, you won't even hear a hint of it and can only take the hit passively. No one wants to take the hit, so hiding at home is definitely not an option. The luck mentality they previously held onto has been completely shattered by the influence of the Nightmare Power.
Whether voluntary or not, they can only actively contact their counterparts, wanting to ask about what happened, hoping to get help from other affected universes. Some are also preparing to come over and jointly fight against Nightmare Darkseid.
The Primary Universe Batman also realized that this is exactly Greed's goal. No wonder when this world was recruiting, Greed didn't voice any opinions; it seemed as if coming or not was fine, but actually, they had no choice.
The people from the Primary Universe expended a lot of effort to bring reinforcements, but in the end, the number they actually got wasn't many. But when Greed made a move, it was truly fanfare, with fireworks, red flags fluttering, and a sea of people...
No matter why they came, or if they were cursing along the way, they all arrived in the end.
And because of the disturbance of Nightmare Power, they've been able to conduct more research into this entirely new power. In places with Nightmare Power, people are drawn into their most feared nightmares. This is a power akin to a rule, and no one is immune, not even Batman.
However, people with strong willpower can break free from nightmares on their own. Those outside can also attempt to awaken them, but whether they can awaken mainly depends on the will of the person in the dream.
After waking up, there's a brief period of clarity during which they won't be drawn into a dream again. But this period is short, about only one or two hours, then they will be frequently disturbed by nightmares again.
Additionally, a peculiar rule was discovered: nightmares cannot repeat. Once all feared things are compiled into nightmares and broken free from, then re-entering the Nightmare Power won't lead to harassment again. In other words, the more fears a person has, the more nightmares they must endure; the fewer mental weaknesses a person has, the fewer nightmares they face.
However, this immunity from nightmare exhaustion is not permanent and only applies to the current entry; if they exit and enter again, the process repeats.
This discovery gave everyone hope of eradicating Nightmare Darkseid. After all, aggregating the two worlds together, they can always find people with no mental flaws, and those people could form a team to pass through the Nightmare Domain and confront Darkseid.
But this is actually not very stable. After all, during the nightmare experience, the body doesn't move, so if Darkseid were to attack at that time, they would be utterly defenseless. Therefore, they need to control time, so that everyone wakes and dreams in alternating phases, leaving outposts to prevent Darkseid from succeeding.
It's easy to say but hard to do, especially finding people without significant mental weaknesses. Even though someone like Batman has strong willpower, his mental weaknesses are well known. Conversely, some seemingly unremarkable heroes lead happy lives without noticeable mental weaknesses. So, a screening process is necessary.
In theory, this task would be best done by Professor X, who could scan and perceive in a glance. But unfortunately, Professor X has been entirely wiped out, and the only living Charles is too weak to handle this task.
Thus, everyone turned their attention to another very professional psychiatrist. When Shiller received the notification, he was still eating, having just served fried rice onto a plate, when he got this distressing task.
"You mean to say, in three days, I have to conduct psychological evaluations on these hundreds of superheroes and determine who among them is the most mentally sound?" Shiller turned to look at the Primary Universe Batman and said, "I'm a doctor, not God. I've seen at most six patients in a day and was already very busy, and now you want me to see 60 patients in a day?!"
"You can do it," the Primary Universe Batman said, "After all, you're unscrupulous but definitely not a quack."
"It's not about being incompetent or not, you can't just use me like Batman!" Shiller raised his voice and said, "This is simply impossible!"
"I'm not asking you to do it alone," the Primary Universe Batman said nonchalantly, "Aren't there other versions of you?"
"Uh..." Shiller was taken aback. He hadn't considered that, but he still said, "But the others aren't doctors, and they don't have prescribing rights. Isn't this illegal medical practice?"
"Please apply your medical ethics where they're needed more," the Primary Universe Batman turned away, walking out as he said, "This is a mission."
Watching his back, Shiller let out a deep sigh. He definitely didn't mistake it; the Primary Universe Batman carried an aura of schadenfreude. So in the end, this whole mess fell on his shoulders.
Ten minutes later, a figure in a black suit sat in the office chair. Arrogant looked down at the list in his hand and said, "I don't remember if I've told you, but my highest record for seeing patients is two in a day."
"That's because you're so slow," Greed said from the island platform while eating fried rice, "Half an hour of polite chit-chat, half an hour to introduce the topic, another half hour for random talk, half an hour for art appreciation, and then another half hour for goodbyes. And with that, you still manage two patients, which means you guys really know how to chat."
"My situation is different from yours," Arrogant said at an unhurried pace, "You can't expect Gotham's patients to open up as soon as they enter. They're very picky. If you can't get them to acknowledge your taste and knowledge, they might not make another appointment."
"Then the Primary Universe Batman really shouldn't have misunderstood me like that. Three days is really too short, how could it be possible?"
"Who else did you call?" Arrogant asked again.
"I've called everyone I could, even including Morbid," Greed sighed, "Even Black Pharaoh, he at least knows some mind reading technique."
"I could help you get Brand over," Arrogant said, "Although that bunch who study pathology aren't trustworthy, he's still a Nya. Jason and Harley could help too."
"We don't have many people on our side," Shiller shook his head, "There are quite a few with mind-reading abilities, but most of them can only read thoughts, maybe some memories at best. However, without professional psychological knowledge, it's really hard to analyze and judge, talk about a hassle."
"Don't waste time now," Arrogant stood up, "The sooner we finish, the sooner we can get off work. I haven't even prepared the final exam papers."
Greed wiped his mouth and said, "Alright, I'll go have a word with Nick, let him assign us a few offices, then call in the order of the list."
Nick's efficiency was quite high. After deciding on the general plan of action, he had already found offices, each Shiller had a room, but they were still too few in number.
The agent was quite bewildered when pulled in. He looked at the Primary Universe Batman and said, "You're not expecting me to be a psychiatrist, are you?"
"Don't you think it's a good job?"
"Can you guess why I don't get along with other personality traits."
"It's time to prove that behavioral analysis method is as good as psychoanalysis method," the Primary Universe Batman said, "or you can use interrogation techniques, as long as you can get answers, even if it leaves a psychological shadow, the other versions of you can always treat it, can't they?"
"Of course not. I'm a field agent, not proficient in interrogation. But your psychology level should be decent, why don't you do it?"
"Because I have more important things to do. If you really don't want to go, help out the other versions of you, I just want results."
"I think they might not really want to see me."
"Why?"
"No reason."
A few minutes later, the already overwhelmed Greed saw the agent holding a cup of coffee, carrying a bag of donuts, leaning on the doorframe, drinking coffee, eating donuts, and smiling at him.
"Batman!" Greed roared, "Get him out!!"