redvbooks Chapter 336 I'm sure I have a perfect retirement plan
Chapter 336 I'm sure I have a perfect retirement plan
Chapter 336 I'm convinced I have the perfect retirement plan...
"It's actually because Diana's personality is more like that of a warrior than a leader."
This was an absolutely brilliant summary for Diana.
It's actually quite ridiculous that Wonder Woman is the only one of the Big Three who kills without batting an eye, even though her specific killing creed is "never use lethal force unless absolutely necessary."
However, this does not mean that Diana was ruthless. Or rather, her ruthlessness was only reflected in dealing with enemies, such as decisively snapping Maxwell Lord's neck in a certain timeline.
(Note: A Justice League villain with extremely powerful telepathic abilities, he once misled Superman into believing he was fighting his nemesis, when in reality he was beating up Batman and Wonder Woman. After barely escaping Superman's attack, Wonder Woman confronted him and, for the sake of humanity, decisively killed him. However, Lord, foreseeing his own death, broadcast the scene of Wonder Woman killing him live to the world, ruining Wonder Woman's reputation. This incident, like "Death in the Family" and "Emerald Twilight," became one of the important pieces of evidence that led Superman Jr. to believe that the world was beyond saving.)
However, she wasn't so decisive when it came to those whom Wonder Woman considered "friends."
For example, Barbara Minerva, the Cheetah, was always considered a good friend by Diana. Diana believed Minerva's descent into evil was due to a curse that turned her into a cheetah, a curse brought on by a magical dagger. Therefore, their long-standing conflict was always conducted in the guise of "I'm going to save my best friend," but in reality…
Barbara Minerva is an alias. She approached Wonder Woman in order to infiltrate Amanda Waller's SWAT team, obtain the magical dagger "Godslayer," and transform herself into a super-powered, magical leopard-headed man.
She didn't turn evil by accepting the power of the Leopard God; she was inherently sinister.
In short, Wonder Woman is an excellent executor and task leader, but not a leader.
She lacks the courage to sacrifice others, and in that respect, she's no different from The Flash.
But Chen Tao was different; he knew, and he was always prepared…
For example, the time when they used the entire Justice League as batteries.
Oh, of course, of course. Chen Tao wasn't referring to him sacrificing Green Lantern Hal's free will to manipulate his mind, but rather that Killer Croc had been standing by the Justice League's charging batteries, ready to act.
Standby.
To be specific.
Killer Croc can pull a Rogue's magician off the "circuit" when he's about to die, let him rest, and even feed him a bat sandwich. He can also forcefully hang the weakened magician back on and burn him to ashes after Mist Mite, Gorilla Grod, and Turtle Man have all died—if there is no other choice.
Okay, this may sound a bit dark, and it's something that would only be done if even the "Wandering Earth" project couldn't be carried out, but that doesn't mean such a contingency plan doesn't exist.
But can you imagine Diana creating such a final plan? Obviously not.
Chen Tao always prioritized this kind of sacrifice over all other options. In the previous incident where the Flash fought Johnny Quick, in addition to preparing his own clone to deal with the speedster, Chen Tao also arranged for Wonder Woman to go to the battlefield in Barry to stand by. This is why Wonder Woman did not appear with him at Superpower's place.
Perhaps these things gave Wonder Woman and the others the illusion that Batman would never sacrifice anyone, but this was only because Chen Tao had the power to handle things with ease at the time.
After managing to fool Wonder Woman with a few words, Chen Tao turned to look at Luther.
"Diana will soon realize that I'm deliberately getting rid of him. When she comes back, help me get rid of her. You have that kind of eloquence."
"..." Luther remained silent.
"Come on, Luther, haven't you made up your mind yet?"
"Think about it. You've already been involved in the Justice League's affairs, so you know very well what the League does."
Chen Tao stood up. This was a physical gesture of "invading the other party's territory".
He looked down at Luther from his high vantage point.
"Allow me to ask a somewhat impolite question: What have you done to make the world a better place?"
"You see, some people are actually doing things, while others do nothing but criticize those who are doing them. If you look up your past statements online, you should quickly realize that you used to be the latter."
Luther wanted to say something, but Chen Tao grabbed his shoulder:
"Therefore, I was very pleased, Lex, when you told me you were going to join the Justice League, I approved without hesitation. You are a genius, a real genius, and I am pleased that you genuinely intend to do something for humanity, rather than wasting your brilliant mind trapped in a twisted jealousy."
"But you waste your time stripping away powers that are useless to you. I have to admit your genius is unparalleled. I guess you've already used the Justice League platform to recruit a large number of superhumans, and you're also very close to the official members. In addition, you have a thorough understanding of the Justice League's facilities, locations, and many other contact points with the government, and..."
Chen Tao revealed a long list of things Lex Luthor had done, which made Lex Luthor's expression somewhat gloomy.
Chen Tao then continued:
"Please don't misunderstand, knowing these things doesn't mean I've retaliated against what you've done. You've done very well; as a usurper, you've got everything in place, but this isn't what the leader of the Justice League should be doing."
"You've misused your amazing intelligence; you're too obsessed with power, and you're aware of it yourself. But your way of stopping yourself from becoming obsessed with power is to leave the Justice League?"
"What an idiotic and short-sighted idea! The Justice League isn't a place to seize power; you've turned it into a playground where everyone wants to have a little more power each day. And now you're blaming everything on your participation in the Justice League?"
His tone softened slightly:
"Look at the world we live in. A boat carrying hundreds of people capsized off the coast of Indonesia, and an earthquake in the South Pacific leveled an entire island."
"From the horrific individual acts of violence committed by a single armed person to the bloodshed that sweeps across a nation, peace is fragile, and we face countless threats, including discrimination, disease, terrorism, bullying, pollution, and famine. Whether on a school playground or a battlefield, natural disasters or man-made weapons of mass destruction, the threats we face are endless."
"Listen, Luthor. I know you're a normal human, you don't have superpowers, but I'm pretty sure you'd never say, 'I'm not Superman or Batman, how could I possibly help?' because your name is Lex Luthor, you'd only say:"
"Where should I begin?"
"I'll tell you where to start now."
Chen Tao stared at the bald man. His gaze traveled from his blue hospital gown to the brace around his neck, and finally to his eyes.
He met his blue-green eyes.
"Start with what you can do, because no matter how small the act, whether it's out of kindness and generosity or simply positivity, it will make the world a better place."
"Similarly, there are indeed ways to make even greater changes. In this world that fosters a false moral compass, you must set aside your arrogance!"
"Because the world does not belong to any one of us, but to all of us."
……
……
……
Chen Tao left the hospital with light steps.
Luther agreed not to leave the Justice League, and Chen Tao believed that he would now focus all his attention on developing experimental projects to enhance the Crime Syndicate.
He also needs to arrange for Lucius, Cyborg's father Dr. Silas Stone, and Luthor to join him later... The three of them working together would be more efficient and would also be able to keep an eye on Luthor.
He can then take over the superpowered individuals that Luthor recruited for the Justice League.
To be honest, there are two important reasons why this verbal sparring was successful. Luthor wanted to leave the Justice League, partly because he felt that the League's affairs were taking up his energy. But Chen Tao thought it was probably more because the longer Luthor stayed in the Justice League, the more he would realize that no matter what he did, he couldn't possibly oust Batman and take his place. The final result would be like an 80-year-old emperor with his 60-year-old crown prince, so he decided to give up.
Chen Tao's long speech was more eloquent than his singing, a barrage of motivational platitudes about the world being ours, but in reality, it conveyed only one message:
"Dude, if you can really handle this league, why not be the boss yourself?"
This is essentially a promise that goes something like, "As long as the Crown Prince can govern without worry, what's wrong with me becoming the Retired Emperor?"
So Luther continued to work without worry not because he was particularly kind, but simply because the exchange of benefits had been completed.
However, Chen Tao didn't really intend to entrust the entire Justice League to Luther. The bald guy's moral standards were just too low; he had no bottom line at all, which is why he was always a villain.
Although Chen Tao is sometimes inhuman, he still has a bottom line. People like Luther have a dark history of hiring people to capture innocent homeless people on the street for human experiments when there aren't enough death row inmates. Chen Tao must put someone in the Justice League who can balance the other side.
And this person is Hal Jordan. He is the only one among the remaining members of the Justice League with leadership qualities.
As Chen Tao pondered, he began to think about it in his mind:
Luthor is in charge of devising the plan, Hal is in charge of setting the moral bottom line, Wonder Woman is in charge of execution, Martian Manhunter is in charge of balancing the relationships among League members and with the government, The Flash is in charge of running errands, Aquaman is in charge of acting as a human shield, Batman is in charge of retiring, Shazam is in charge of being the kid, and Superboy is in charge of assisting. Perfect!
My God, how can there be such a perfect structure in the world? I'm so moved I cried.
cough cough.
However, Hal is still staying on Oa Star and won't come back, so we'll have to wait until Hal returns to discuss these matters.
It's still early, but the general framework is set.
Moreover, Chen Tao had already decided that Hal would stay on Earth and serve as the leader of the Justice League. As for the daily affairs of the Green Lantern Corps, he would find a way to get more Green Lantern Rings and bring out John Stewart, Guy Gardner, Kyle Reyner, Simon Buzz, and so on. Would he still be afraid of the Green Lantern Corps coming after Hal?
(Note: The long list of names mentioned are all Earthlings who are Green Lanterns, and all of them are Hal's successors.)
But honestly, why was Hal so angry? It was just a little manipulation of his brain to prevent it from having any thoughts that disobeyed his orders, and he had even tricked the other party into agreeing beforehand.
As a result, Hal still doesn't want to talk to me at all and doesn't give any response.
That's a bit too much.
Chen Tao shook his head.
Never mind, he has something more important to deal with:
Regarding Talia and Damian.
The mother and son had been waiting for him for a long time.
Chen Tao plans to send Damian to the Teen Titans...
There's a whole bunch of things to do now.
……
……
……
"What's going on with the Divine Power Ring?"
In a corner, at the base of a crime syndicate.
Superpower slammed his hand on the table, crunching the Kryptonite in his mouth with a loud cracking sound. The poor table couldn't withstand the Kryptonian's superhuman strength and snapped in two with a loud creak.
Not far away, Johnny Quick was covered in blood, with two bones broken. Night Owl stood silently not far away, while Supergirl restrained Atom, who was about to pounce on her lover.
Superb wiped the blood off his fist.
"He said he was going to do something on that planet called Oa in this world, and I approved it. Now he's not planning to come back? Are you kidding me?"
A fierce glint appeared in his eyes: "Perhaps the new world has made you all too wild, and you've forgotten who the real heroes are..."
"To be precise, we've lost contact, Superb."
Martian Guest tells Super Overbearing:
"Moreover, it's not that the Divine Power Ring doesn't want to. We all know his situation; he's just a puppet completely controlled by the ring. That ring doesn't even allow him to carry a communicator; he has to communicate through the ring itself. This loss of contact is probably another instance of that ring going mad and preventing him from returning."
"Did he tell us what he was doing before he lost contact? He told me that the ring told him that he would be able to increase his power as long as he got to Oa Star, which is why I sent him there."
"Yes, Superpower, the Divine Ring told us what he was doing before we lost contact."
"What is he doing? Tell me."
"He is attacking O'A Xing."
……
……
……
"Loser!!!"
Wonder Woman stormed back to Luthor's hospital room.
"He was just fooling me! Where is he now?"
A helpless, fake smile appeared on Luther's face, which was as white as a boiled egg.
"I know you're in a hurry, but please don't rush..."
Damn, why do I always feel like I'm cleaning up Batman's mess?
(End of this chapter)