darknovel Chapter 354 Superb, hurry up and become an idiot!
Chapter 354 Superb, hurry up and become an idiot!
Chapter 354 Superb, hurry up and become an idiot!
Superb has never fought such a wasteful battle in his life.
In his Earth 3, he had almost consumed all the kryptonite, turning it into a precious energy source. He was like a coal-burning train driven by kryptonite. He knew very well that without those little green stones to act as "coal," he would be a weak and sickly person. This was also the reason why he never gave it his all.
Because if he overexerts himself and consumes too much energy, and lacks the replenishment of kryptonite, his weakness will be exposed to his allies without reservation, which could easily cause them to have some strange thoughts.
The Crime Syndicate is no place of humility and friendship. Night Owl, Super Queen, and even Death Storm and Johnny Quick below them are not kind people.
As for the Divine Power Ring...
Superpower automatically excluded him.
What big things can a coward do?
But this time is different.
The rain of kryptonite falling from the sky nourished Superpower's body, a massive boost that he couldn't get even after consuming artificial kryptonite for so long. Superpower looked at the kryptonite dust that fell to the ground and couldn't be absorbed, and his heart ached so much that he couldn't breathe.
"Stop it! Don't let it rain anymore!"
He was wearing Wonder Woman's outfit, which made him look somewhat out of place.
He swung his shield and smashed it into Eclipse's face. This evil version of Superman from a parallel universe didn't know any techniques for using a shield; he just used brute force to smash it randomly.
"You asked me to help you deal with your enemies, and I did, so now stop wasting kryptonite."
"Every single kryptonite that doesn't end up in my mouth is a huge waste!"
Actually, at the beginning, Superba did try to suck the rainwater into his stomach. Just now when it started raining, he even took a deep breath and shoved the rainwater into his mouth.
But the problem is that his stomach isn't a black hole. With so much rainwater, even if the kryptonite concentration is high, he can't drink all of it, even just the water.
Although he could absorb these kryptonites while they were in his body, it was still not as effective as eating them directly.
"The rain has already started." Amidst the torrential downpour, Chen Tao spoke, "It's practically impossible for it to stop now. Unless…"
"Unless what?"
"Unless you can resolve the eclipse quickly in a short time." Chen Tao took out a weather wand from his belt.
This thing was a technological creation that the Weather Wizard used to control the weather before he gained superpowers. However, as the Weather Wizard became a superpowered person, this equipment, along with Captain Cold's freeze gun, Heatwave's flame gun, Mirror Master's mirror gun, and other weapons, was shelved.
As the entire Rogue Gang transformed into superheroes, Chen Tao naturally acquired these weapons. At this moment, he held the Weather Wand in one hand and the Mirror Gun in the other, secretly manipulating something, while continuing to say:
"I can use this equipment to temporarily stop the rain from falling completely. You can absorb it slowly after you defeat the Eclipse. You should have absorbed enough Kryptonite by now, which should be enough to maintain your combat power."
But you should know that using equipment to forcibly control an already formed rain cloud from raining is equivalent to violating Earth's gravity, and can only postpone the rain for a very short time. So…”
Superpower charged toward Eclipse as if it had been injected with adrenaline.
Chen Tao waved his weather wand behind him, temporarily stopping the rain from falling. He squinted, watching the Superb rush off.
Instead of rushing up and forcing him to use the Weather Wand to get the Kryptonite to absorb first, the opponent actually obeyed and attacked Eclipse. Chen Tao was a little surprised by this. He had prepared countermeasures for this situation, such as causing Superpower to have a brain hemorrhage or something. But it seems that he won't need to use them now.
This shows that his prior preparations were effective.
For someone like Super Power, all he needs to do is fight; he doesn't need brains. A Super Power without brains is the best Super Power. That's why Chen Tao added a lot of heavy metal impurities to the artificial kryptonite he provided to Super Power.
Indeed, Chen Tao knew very well that, given Superpower's personality, he would never have the patience to wait for his criminal syndicate to slowly collect raw materials to make Kryptonite for him. Accepting the batch of artificial Kryptonite that he was provided with was inevitable.
Of course, Chen Tao wouldn't be foolish enough to add nanobots to those artificial kryptonites—Superpower's X-ray and microscopic vision weren't just for show, and he had that basic level of vigilance. But that didn't mean Chen Tao wouldn't tamper with those artificial kryptonites.
For example, adding heavy metals—
It's not an excessive amount of heavy metals, but rather within the normal range. If you just look at it, you might think it's a technical problem during synthesis, rather than an intentional addition.
But the Superpower consumes just too much artificial Kryptonite.
In fact, the human body is not completely without the ability to excrete heavy metals, and with Super Ba's physique, excreting that amount of heavy metals is even easier. However, if Chen Tao deliberately uses the Metal Spirit to trap those heavy metals in his body, that would be a completely different story.
Those heavy metals will unusually bypass the metabolism that might excrete them, and instead enter Superba's brain through the bloodstream, deliberately damaging his nerve cells.
To this end, Chen Tao spent half a day performing magic on the heavy metals that were about to be mixed into the artificial kryptonite, to ensure that they could be precisely controlled through the spirit of metal.
Yes, he needs to become stupid.
Chen Tao doesn't need to control Superba. The main reason is that, given Superba's physical characteristics—who knows what it's immune to—controlling it would inevitably involve a lot of trial and error: nanobots, drug control, even telepathy...
Superman is from a completely different parallel universe. Superman's physical data is completely irrelevant to him. If Superman discovers these tricks of controlling people even once, their cooperation will end.
So why not change our approach and just turn Superpower into an idiot?
Frankly speaking, as a fighter, Superb thinks too much, which is actually a very bad sign.
A tool person specifically chosen to fight should be able to swing their fists, smash all the enemies designated by Chen Tao, and then happily collect their kryptonite rewards—simple and brutal, rather than trying to run away when frustrated.
"The Owl from the parallel universe didn't train Superman well," Chen Tao shook his head.
What's up, bro? Isn't taming Superman an essential skill for the Bat family?
In short, excessively high intelligence brings enormous uncertainty. For example, right now, if Superpower's intelligence were even slightly higher, he would realize that if he could cooperate with Eclipse, Eclipse would be an ally that he could easily control.
His extremely high resistance to magic naturally counters his opponent, while Eclipse's powerful abilities somewhat suppress Batman.
If Chen Tao were Superpower, he would definitely try to cooperate with Eclipse. Eclipse is practically an excellent trump card for him to use against Batman. One can never be too careful. Even though he has formed an alliance with Batman now, what if he doesn't in the future…?
But if Superpower becomes an idiot, all this troublesome stuff will be solved.
Because Superb would never have thought of that.
His declining IQ has made his thinking more simplistic and his actions more rigid. Superba wasn't particularly smart to begin with, and now he's even dumber.
This means that Chen Tao doesn't need to directly manipulate him; he can use his intellectual advantage to trick him into working for him, thus achieving the goal of indirect manipulation.
For example:
"Hit him! Hit him hard! Haven't you eaten? What's that sword for, a sewing needle?"
Superb held down Eclipse, and no matter how much the other struggled, he couldn't stop himself from being finely shredded into mincemeat by Superb.
Various kinds of magical lightning were poured onto Superpower without restraint, and under the continuous bombardment, blood spurted from Superpower's mouth and nose.
Even the highest magic resistance doesn't mean magic immunity; the only Superman truly immune to magic is Super Junior. Superman will ultimately be injured when facing Eclipse.
If a Superpower with normal intelligence were subjected to such a huge drain, he should have given up immediately, just like he did at the very beginning.
However, after his IQ was affected, Chen Tao used the excuse of "I'll give you kryptonite after we defeat the Eclipse" to easily get him to obediently fight the Eclipse. No matter how much he consumed, he didn't feel anything was wrong.
Look, doesn't this look like what kindergarten teachers often say: "If you take a good nap now, I'll give you a red star sticker"?
Of course, afterwards, Chen Tao had to use Kryptonite to help Superman replenish all his energy, and even let him absorb more Kryptonite to further enhance his strength. Otherwise, even if Superman wasn't thinking very well and was in pain all over, he would realize that helping Batman had resulted in him getting injured all over.
Even if he's stupid, he can still deduce that something's not right; I'm not the kind of person who blindly helps others.
That would be disastrous.
However, if Chen Tao helps Superba replenish its energy afterward, it's equivalent to completing a Pavlovian dog-like conditioned reflex training, which will definitely make it easier to use next time.
(Note: Pavlov's dogs, the famous experiment on conditioned reflexes, where dogs were given food when a bell was rung.)
Eclipse was so badly beaten by the rampaging Superpower that it couldn't utter a single word.
Superpower's intelligence was affected, but Eclipse's was not. Chen Tao could think of the idea of him teaming up with Superpower, and Eclipse could naturally think of it too.
But he didn't even have a chance to speak. Superpower recklessly endured his various magical attacks, and the body he possessed was torn to pieces before it could even utter a word. Before it could recover, it was torn to pieces again.
I can't understand eclipses.
He just couldn't understand it!
Is Superb an idiot?
Batman's promise to give the other party Kryptonite if they destroyed Eclipse just left Eclipse completely dumbfounded.
Is it really that simple?
You just obeyed orders that easily?
what?
Although he didn't know Superbar, he could roughly tell from Superbar's appearance and conversation with Batman that their relationship was nothing more than that of an employee and an ally.
In that situation, a normal person's thought shouldn't be, "Hey, hand over the kryptonite first, or I won't work."
But what's going on now?
Superpower is clearly not Batman's dog, so why does he just listen to whatever he says?
That's way too honest!
He has lived from ancient times to the present and has never seen any allies who are so honest.
Moreover, this guy is incredibly tough and hard. From the moment he arrived until now, Tian Shi has used no less than seven or eight different spells to deal with Chao Ba, including lightning strikes, fire burns, and even ice magic. There are also some curses that any magician would call bizarre. As a legendary figure in the magic world, these are all trivial tricks that Tian Shi can easily master.
But it was useless, utterly useless. Superpower's body rejected all fancy tricks; even the most powerful magical attacks only made him spit out a couple of mouthfuls of blood. After spitting them out, he wiped his nose and swung his little fists even more enthusiastically.
Now it wasn't just Eclipse's head anymore; his entire body was being massaged by Superpower's fists. Violent shockwaves exploded from his body, and even though he was possessing someone else, the intense pain felt incredibly real.
Ouch!
After having his heart pierced by Superpower's punch once again, Eclipse finally made a decision.
This idiot called Superba is completely insane, recklessly fighting me head-on. This can't go on.
Of course, eclipses are not unprepared.
A purplish-black light shone from his eyes:
"If anyone comes into contact with even the slightest bit of the Heart of Darkness, as long as they possess even the slightest trace of darkness, I can amplify it infinitely and easily control others to wield my powerful magical abilities, thereby..."
boom!
In the real world, there's no such thing as being immune to attacks while delivering lines; Eclipse's head was blown apart by Superpower's shield. Strangely enough, although Superpower wields a sword, he clearly prefers to smash people with the edge of his round shield; someone unfamiliar with the situation might almost mistake him for Captain America.
But even under such attacks, the eclipse did not stop speaking:
"...Neither humans nor gods can truly possess a completely pure and flawless heart. As long as one possesses a heart, it is impossible to resist the temptation of the eclipse!"
"Therefore, Batman, you'd better stop this mad dog, or else..."
"Otherwise, you'll expand your control, bringing countless civilians dozens of kilometers away under your control and making them your hostages, right?"
Chen Tao said, "So, here's a very simple question:"
"Why don't I join forces with Superpower?"
Chen Tao raised the Mirror Gun in his hand, the exclusive weapon of the Mirror Master, capable of creating countless mirror images and producing all sorts of effects, including, of course…
"Making prisms."
Chen Tao said, "It's a prism that can convert heat vision into yellow sunlight. I've been busy adjusting the prism. I don't know enough about Super Power yet, so it probably took a while."
"Therefore now..."
He looked at Eclipse: "If you perish, then all those spells you use to control others will be meaningless."
(End of this chapter)