Thomas didn't give Bruce a friendly look, glaring at him first, but then Martha glared at him back. Thomas cleared his throat and walked over to pat Bruce on the shoulder, "Don't do that next time. Otherwise, your mom and I won't be able to take you away."
Bruce didn't argue, just smiled at him. Thomas said, "Considering that the Justice League in the multiverse hasn't been too keen to see you lately, you'd better not go to the real world. Stay in your mom's mental realm; she'll take good care of you."
"Of course, I definitely want to," Bruce said, holding Martha's hand. "But I can't stay in mom's mental realm for too long, my thoughts would drain her spirit. Let's go to Battleworld instead."
"Can a spirit body enter Battleworld?"
"Normally, it shouldn't be possible, but aren't there familiar faces in Battleworld?"
So Thomas and Martha went to the Battleworld transporter. They entered the transporter. And when they arrived at Battleworld, Bruce revealed his form. Martha went over to try to hold his hand but touched nothing.
"Oh, don't worry, I'm in spirit form now. It's basically an illusion, with no physical presence, but I can sort of function," Bruce explained.
"Is this really okay?" Martha asked worriedly. "Or maybe we should..."
"It's alright, mom, you and dad should head back first. I need to check in with some old friends in the office; I'll be there shortly," Bruce reassured her.
Martha reluctantly left. Shiller then arrived at the Battleworld administrator's office. As soon as he entered, the whole office erupted in cheers, and many paper balls and paper airplanes were thrown his way.
"What should I call you? The biggest crisis of the multiverse?" the Transcendent shouted. "You've really caused a mess this time!"
"Not bigger than the ones you all have caused," Bruce said while turning his head to look at the wall beside him. On that wall was a circular area that was obviously a different color from the surrounding walls.
"Don't look at it. That's also the work of the multiverse's biggest crisis," the Transcendent said with annoyance. "The Creator just thought the administrator's job was too easy, so they created you two."
"Where's Greed?"
"He'll be here soon," the Transcendent said while shaking his head and sitting down. It wasn't long before Greed came in. But he didn't use Shiller's body; instead, he was using Naog Sokhup's.
"Oh my gosh, you have no idea how hard it was to escape from Charles' clutches!" Greed almost immediately started complaining. "I had to try every way, even bringing up Erik, and several other big names..."
"You snuck out?"
"Of course. I can't let the other personality traits find out, or they won't stay in the tower," Greed shook his head. "Are you alright?"
"What could have happened to me?" Bruce said. "But I really did catch a big fish outside the Origin Wall."
"What's the deal? Who did you catch?"
The two of them leaned forward, elbows on the desk. Bruce glanced around subtly and said in a conspiratorial tone, "The Creator Goddess Papetua!"
"Really?!" Greed said in shock. "Directly the Creator Goddess? Didn't you run into the Inverted Man?"
"No, I thought it would be the Inverted Man, since I've dealt with him before. But unexpectedly, something much bigger showed up," Bruce said.
"Wow, you've got your work cut out for you," Greed remarked. "But be careful, that entity is strong. I'll send you the intel later."
"What are you two scheming about?" the Transcendent asked. "Have you guys been plotting something all along?"
"Not really," Bruce responded. "This time, we genuinely didn't plan anything, but we've always wanted to take a look beyond the Origin Wall. He even provided me with intelligence about what's beyond before; otherwise, I wouldn't have found the Inverted Man."
"But what's your motivation?" the Transcendent asked. "Just to give the neighboring universe's admin something to do?"
"How could that be? Our two universes are interlinked, sharing in each other's fortunes and woes. It's not enough for just me to develop here; Arrogance remains unmoving. What else can I do but consult with Bruce?"
"I'm skeptical of the word 'develop'," the Transcendent remarked, once again taking a seat.
"Alright then, let's discuss this Creator Goddess business," Greed said. "Leaning on her power is like making a deal with the devil, but in our line of work..."
Greed suddenly stopped, and Bruce flipped his hand, gesturing for him to continue. Greed abruptly changed course: "But in our line of work, it's essential to continuously learn lessons and learn from our predecessors..."
Bruce noticed Greed was staring straight past him. Turning around, he saw a pair of blue eyes.
"Continue, what about the Creator Goddess?" Anatoli asked, arms crossed. "What plans do you have?"
"This... plan, there isn't one. But, um... a little bit of budget might be nice..." Greed began to stammer.
Bruce watched as Anatoli walked into the room and sat down, puzzled, he asked, "Who is this?"
Only then did Greed remember that the faces of doctors and nurses in his memory were deliberately blurred to prevent those with mind-reading abilities from seeing them directly. Bruce might know of their existence but wouldn't recognize their appearances. While the multiverse was abuzz with gossip about Lucifer and Anatoli, Bruce and Earth were still stuck on the wall. He missed out on that drama completely.
Greed felt a bit regretful for him. He gave Bruce a knowing look, and the two of them walked over to the coffee machine. Just as Bruce was about to speak, Greed shook his head, tapped him with gray mist, and sent him a compressed file.
This compressed file is the complete version, without deleting parts related to Shiller. Thus, it's particularly long and extremely complex. Even at Bruce's reading speed, it takes him half a day.
But he doesn't have time to finish reading. Because at this moment, the office door was slammed open. Lucifer stormed in, angrily flapping his wings.
"Anatoli!!! How dare you say I've been drinking with Lucifer?! What's going on with Reed?! Why does he know about you and me..."
"What happened between me and you?" Anatoli asked.
This completely interrupted Lucifer's chant. He slammed the desk forcefully: "You clearly tricked me, but you use Constantine to accuse me. And you've made new friends during this process. Even Reed Richards! He almost blasted a cannon at my wings!"
"Not because of me." Anatoli responded casually.
Everyone present was stunned. The Transcendent stared wide-eyed at Anatoli. Greed was also in disbelief. Bruce, who had just digested that massive amount of information, was about to exclaim but was covered by Greed.
Now everyone was feeling just one thing—how dare you?!
Greed no longer had the mind to watch the drama. He took a deep breath, walked over, and dragged Anatoli outside the door: "Are you crazy? How can you..."
"How can I what?"
"Hurt his feelings like this." Greed's expression turned serious. "You clearly know..."
"A Zhi. That's why I didn't want him to know I've come back." Anatoli's expression also turned serious. "Because if he knows, I must push him away in this way."
"Then why on earth did you..."
"You deleted the memories, so you don't know." Anatoli said, looking into Greed's eyes. "You can't know either."
Greed took a sharp breath. He shook his head and said: "No matter what plan we're in, it definitely won't include this. You would never agree to do anything at the cost of hurting your friend's feelings."
"This is already the gentlest way I could use." Anatoli looked a bit helpless. "I didn't even bring up the old matters in hell."
"Old matters?!"
"Why would you think that when Lucifer, representing arrogance, and I first met, the commotion would be smaller than Bruce's and Arrogance's? How do you think hell was emptied?"
Greed was dumbfounded. He knew full well the commotion Bruce and Arrogance caused. But come to think of it, Lucifer is the arrogance among arrogances, the word was created just for him. But Anatoli is not Batman; he has strength and means. When these two collide, even God would be troubled, wouldn't he?
Greed went over the timeline again. When Anatoli first met Lucifer physically, he was full of resentment because of the Soviet Union's collapse, and he plucked one of Lucifer's feathers.
This is the known information so far. But another known piece of information is that Lucifer's temper is indeed very big.
If he were someone who could tolerate, he wouldn't have quarreled with God till now. In other words, he and God are true father and son to have quarreled like this. Facing someone who plucked his feather, what good face could he possibly show?
Greed then thought of the Sleep Demon's story, where his lover Gana was imprisoned by Lucifer in hell. But these two had no grudges before, Lucifer did it purely for fun.
Also, the comic said that when Lucifer first went to hell, he initiated a hell war. It was dark and cloudy, with day and night indistinguishable. He did this without any other purpose, not even for the Satan title, just for fun. Shows how malicious this guy is. Would he really forgive the person who plucked his feather?
How guilty must someone be to be scolded without retort like this? Greed kept glancing into the room, why did he feel more and more that Lucifer might deserve it?
Bruce, after going through the entire timeline, naturally deduced this. He pulled Lucifer aside and said: "What did you do?"
"What do you mean what did I do? Why don't you ask him..."
"I know you." Bruce had a look of "don't make a fuss" on his face. "If you weren't guilty, would you endure this grievance?"
Lucifer opened his mouth, found himself unable to refute, and then angered, pushed Bruce away, leaned against the wall, and said nothing.
Greed, walking over, signaled to Bruce. Bruce went to find Anatoli. Anatoli was evidently very satisfied with him because, after all, Bruce was the Batman he saved in Gotham.
Bruce was not too sure about his attitude. But soon, Anatoli walked over, patted his shoulder, and said: "Hanging those guys on the Origin Wall is a good idea. But the process was a bit crude. You should know some cosmic structuring, right? Actually, you didn't need to use the Dark Domain passage. That's a bit too dangerous. There's a better way..."
Greed grabbed the incoming Lucifer, squinted at him, and said: "I advise you to confess sooner, or else don't blame me for making a big fuss."
"Hmph, your methods won't work on me..."
"I know where Gabriel is."
Lucifer closed his eyes tightly: "What's he got to do with me? He can be wherever he wants to be."
"Admit it, Lucifer. Everyone in your life is drifting away from you. You always struggle to hold onto them." Greed looked at him and said. "Anatoli tricked you, but ultimately, he came back to you. Didn't he?"