"You asked me." Luke scratched his thin, dry hair in his seat with a headache. "I was created solely to maintain and upgrade this city. If you ask me what this city's functions are? What can it do? What are its strengths and weaknesses, and its positioning? I can give you an accurate answer, because all of this is within my scope of responsibility.
But the question you asked is not my responsibility! "
"What do you mean?" Hal was a little confused. "Aren't you Luke?"
"I'm Luke, but so what?" Luke gave him a strange look. "Didn't I make myself clear enough? I'm just a creation, an avatar, a Maker Luke with a defined scope of responsibility. You shouldn't be asking me those questions."
"Who should we ask then?" Hal and the others stared at Luke and asked.
"You should ask the real Luke in the lab," Luke said naturally. "Of course, if he doesn't have time to see you, you can go see Capitalist Luke. But how he'll manage you and your universe is anyone's guess."
"I was only away for a while, but why does it feel like a century has passed? I can't quite understand what you're saying anymore." The captain was also having a headache. His memory of Luke was still that of the one and only Luke, but upon returning, he found everything so messed up.
"Do you want to talk to him? Then leave it to him from now on. Anyway, my mission is to take the captain home. I have done what I should do." Old Luke said, and his whole body fell into a ball of misty light rising behind him, and then disappeared.
Everyone present was silent for a moment, and then they all looked at the captain.
"Don't look at me, he was still normal when I left, I promise!" Seeing everyone's gaze, Captain Steve raised his hand.
"Let me see, new leeks, no, customers!"
An enthusiastic voice suddenly rang out, and then a ball of distorted light printed out a very friendly middle-aged man in front of everyone. He had a kind smile on his face and looked at Wayne and the others as if they were friends.
"Have you seen the old man? It seems you have. Look, how could he be so rude to the guests? He even restricted your power. That's too much!" The middle-aged man complained while waving his hand to free Hal and the others from the incompatible state field.
Wayne regains control of the Batsuit.
Clark felt the power of his Kryptonian blood surge within him.
Diana also regained her sense of divine power and control over artifacts such as the Lasso of Truth.
Hal's ring, John's bloodline, and Barry's speed were all recovered and reappeared in their bodies. It was as if their previous disappearance and silence were an illusion.
The power they relied on returned to their bodies, but no one felt any sense of security. Instead, they thought it was a warning and a warning.
Remind them that the power they rely on is worthless.
Middle-aged Luke clapped his hands and continued with a smile, "Please allow me to introduce myself. I'm Luke the Streetlight Man. Of course, some people also call me Capitalist Luke. Actually, I'm just an ordinary businessman, Luke. I'm the avatar of the intelligent system that serves the Energy Bank. I'm the Energy Bank's intelligent system, but I'm not the Energy Bank's intelligent system.
My responsibilities are to expand business and handle commercial disputes. Just before you arrived, I reviewed some information from your universe, and I find it very valuable. I'd like your universe to accept our spiritual energy and become a client of our energy bank. What are your thoughts?
Wayne and the others were somewhat bewildered by the enthusiastic, middle-aged Luke. Wayne, Diana, John, and the others were fine; they had either traveled the world and seen a lot, or lived long enough to meet many people, or had experienced life, death, and destruction. While Luke's strangeness was somewhat puzzling to them, it wasn't enough to shock them to the point of being at a loss.
"What if we choose to refuse?" John and Wayne looked at each other and asked tentatively.
"This is not a good choice." The enthusiasm on the face of middle-aged Luke subsided a little, and his tone became more serious.
"Isn't business about mutual choice? If there is only one choice, isn't that forced buying and selling?" Carol said.
"We never force anyone to buy or sell. I know that you are the darlings of that universe and this period of time, the children of destiny, and the spokespersons chosen by various forces. If you don't want to, you can indeed cause us some trouble, but that is just trouble. I think you need to think about it again." Middle-aged Luke said, waving his hand, and Hal and the others seemed to be in a trance, standing still.
"They?" The captain looked at Luke.
"Don't worry, it's just a mental illusion. I haven't congratulated you yet, you are finally home, Captain. Do you know how much trouble and chaos your disappearance has caused us? We even had to invite you from another universe. Your return will make many people jump for excitement." Middle-aged Luke waved his hand, indicating that they don't need to worry about Hal and the others who were trapped in the mental illusion, but stepped forward and said eagerly to the captain.
"Thank you." The captain was a little embarrassed. He felt that the Luke before him was very different from the Luke he remembered. He didn't know whose template Luke was based on, but it definitely wasn't Luke himself.
"You're welcome. Do you want to go home? I understand that you are anxious to go back to see your lover and friends, and to deal with some accumulated affairs. I can understand your urgency at the moment. But there is something I must remind you." Middle-aged Luke rubbed his hands with a smile on his face.
"What's the matter?" The captain saw the smile on Luke's face and instinctively felt something was wrong.
"You need to settle your debt list." Luke smiled and pulled out a long list in the air. The final unified amount made the captain's scalp tingle just by looking at it!
"Wait, I don't remember owing so much debt!" the captain shouted.
"You don't think that rescuing you with all the effort you put in is free, do you?" Middle-aged Luke looked at him in surprise.
"Isn't it?" the captain asked in a lost voice.
"Of course not! I don't care about anything now. He handed the business affairs to me, so I need to be responsible for the interests of many shareholders! The Energy Bank spent a lot of money to find you and bring you home. If you don't pay it back, won't the money become a bad debt?" Middle-aged Luke said confidently, waving the bill.
"But this is too much!" The captain's moral composure led him to agree with Luke's words, but the amount of the bill made him want to shatter his moral composure. If he accepted this debt, he might have to pay it off for the rest of his life, the next, and the next.
Who was the last person to be inexplicably burdened with huge debt?
It was Nick Fury, who was tormented by debt! In Nick's words when chatting with him, what he wanted most was to pay off the Energy Bank, or Luke's debt, when he retired, even if this goal seemed a bit grand and unrealistic.
"Don't worry, as a friend, I have prepared a series of reductions and repayment procedures for you. As long as you follow them, you will be able to pay it off quickly." Middle-aged Luke answered the captain enthusiastically.
"Luke, Stark, and the others chipped in to cover your rescue costs. While it may not seem like much compared to the debt, it's actually quite a large amount. This can offset some of the cost."
The universe we found to rescue you has, after a simple assessment, great development value, which will be rewarded with a bonus, which can also be used to repay debts. Although the bonus amount has been greatly reduced due to your inaction and even a bit of dragging your feet in that universe, it is still better than nothing.
This can already waive a large part of the debt. As for the rest, as long as you work hard, such as 996 or 007 for decades, you will definitely be able to pay it off in time.
Of course, if you're willing to join the development team for the new universe, as long as you can bring benefits and profits to the Energy Bank, the shareholders will certainly not hesitate to offer you a generous salary and bonus. This will greatly help you pay off your debts as soon as possible! How about it? I'm taking care of you, right?
"Are you a devil?" The captain covered his eyes. He didn't want to see the face of middle-aged Luke.
"How could I be a devil? Although part of my body does come from the life map of the bank president Mephisto, my greed, stinginess, and meanness have absolutely nothing to do with him! At least I wouldn't do something like working without getting paid!
The demons under his command worked for free out of their own pockets, even handing over their gains to Mephisto as a form of back pay, a practice that was quite outrageous throughout the Energy Bank. I've always felt that he'd be hung up on the streetlights by those demons sooner or later. But at least for now, those lovely demons have saved the Energy Bank a ton of money, haven't they? After all, it's early days, and money is always scarce. "Middle-aged Luke looked envious. If it weren't for the bottom line set by the deity, he really would have wanted to emulate Mephisto. That's a true role model!"
As for being hung on a street light?
Do you think he is afraid?
Even if one capitalist Luke falls, there will be thousands more capitalist Lukes standing up! As long as he's alive, what's he afraid of? He's just an emotionless tool used by the shareholders to meet their KPIs!
Life is incomplete without the capitalist Luke who was hung on the street lamp!
The captain was stunned into silence for a moment. He felt that the current Luke was a bit like the Luke in his memory.
"Invading other people's universes is an immoral and unjust act." Steve said.
"Why is it an invasion? We are going to serve them and help them move closer to a higher civilization!" Middle-aged Luke looked at Steve strangely and corrected him.
"Is there any difference?" The captain thought seriously.
Middle-aged Luke looked thoughtful, as if he hadn't expected the captain to ask him this question. He pondered for a moment and asked tentatively, "Would it sound better?"
The captain was silent again.
"It's true that high moral standards are difficult to accept. Do you want me to filter and cleanse the influence of your ring? The filtering and cleaning package is very popular among the Supreme Sorcerer lineage recently. Your spiritual development is a bit wrong!" Middle-aged Luke frowned: "Think about it this way, we are not the only predators in the universe. The worlds targeted by those dimensional demons are mostly devoured without leaving even a single bone. At least we don't eat in such a bad way, right? We eat meat, and they can drink soup, and even develop and grow with us. We don't swallow their universes whole and become nutrients for our own dimensional worlds, right? If it's not us, then it's other demons."
"They are very stubborn," the captain said softly.
"There are many people who are unwilling to accept reality, and there are also many who want to change reality. Some become heroes, and some become cowards, but the general trend cannot be changed by personal will. Even if they are dimensional demons, they are just adding a rechargeable battery to the data dimension. What's more, I believe they will make the right choice. Even if they don't want to, there will be someone to help them make the right choice." Middle-aged Luke's face was a little cold.
"What do you want to do?" The captain looked at Luke's panicked face.
Luke smiled and waved his hand to pull out a virtual light and shadow. In the light and shadow, Wayne and others were struggling in a sea of insects. They were covered in white light and wrapped in the power of the white ring. Each of them was in their strongest state when fighting against Thanos. However, in the overwhelming sea of insects, their struggle still seemed so powerless.
Their killing power on the Zerg Sea is constantly weakening, and the Zerg Sea is constantly evolving. In just a short period of time, the Zerg Sea has evolved itself for at least two generations, and Wayne and others have been resurrected at least once.
"What is this?" The captain looked at the picture in the light and shadow, and suddenly turned his head to look at Luke beside him.
"Mind illusion. They are under attack from the third generation of the Brud Zerg subspecies. If they cannot find the key to control the subspecies, they will be trapped in the mind illusion forever unless someone releases them. But I certainly won't, right?" Middle-aged Luke looked at the mental picture with shining eyes.
"Found the key?" The captain frowned.
"They will eventually find it. When they have exhausted all their means, they will think of the energy that belongs to us that they have not used." Luke said happily.
"Our energy?" The captain looked at Luke and asked tentatively, "Could it be that this is the key to defeating those Zerg?"
"Your understanding is correct." Luke nodded. "The third-generation Brud Zerg subspecies is a biological weapon developed for deployment in other worlds and universes. They possess excellent resistance to and the ability to devour and evolve against any known energy, except Luke's psychic energy. Tell me, if this specially bred Brud Zerg were released into their universe, what would they do?"
If they don't want their universe to be devoured and their civilization to be destroyed, they can only choose to join our energy system, actively integrate into us, and become a part of us. They have precedents for this, don't they?
What's that saying? Use magic to defeat magic?
I love that quote!