The Joker bowed his head and touched the small plastic flower on his chest, which was filled with the strongest acid and magneto-fluid he could find.
He had planned to use this flower to burn through Luthor's head and carve a smiley face on his brain that only Superman could see.
The Joker showed a sorrowful expression as he described to Luthor how he originally planned to kill him.
But Luthor released the Mad Laugh, and it made the Joker lose his mood for the game.
"This was my lovely, perfect plan, boohoo, now it's all for nothing."
The Joker lowered his head, closed his eyes in anguish, truly feeling sorry that Luthor couldn't enjoy such a peak moment of death.
The story was no longer perfect, as if the Joker accidentally gave the Batman statue a smile while sculpting it.
Everything went wrong, everything before was wasted, only abandonment remained.
Luthor betrayed him, no longer worthy of such a glorious death.
"Compared to what the Laughing Bat will do to you, you missed a chance to die sober," the Joker stepped away from Luthor heading toward the door: "Killing you now is too easy, you must face the consequences of what you caused."
The Joker walked wobblingly towards the door, placing the Door Handle of Destruction on the round table surface, he didn't need it.
"Goodbye, Lex."
The Joker pulled out a big button with a smiley face drawn on it, lightly pressed it with his finger, then turned to leave.
The vents in the conference room sprayed many green fumes again, wrapping everyone like light gauze.
"Strange, the effect of the Laughing Gas has weakened." Cheetah, with good physical strength, was the first to recover, rubbing her stiff cat face hard.
"It's good, my mouth was already torn from smiling too widely." Mr. Freeze was still wearing his helmet, unable to rub his face if he wanted to.
Luthor, seeing them return to normal, impatiently shouted: "Hurry and let me down."
Black Ape Grundy still had a bit of a smile on his face but obeyed as he came over: "Got it, why shout so loud, my head hurts like a hangover right now."
As he was unlocking Luthor's chains, Luthor saw the other villains starting to leave.
"Where are you going?"
"We're dropping out of the selection." The Riddler turned his head to wave his question-mark cane at Luthor: "I didn't travel across the universe just to infuriate the Joker, I could have done that at home."
"Hmph." Luthor snorted disdainfully, he knew those Gotham guys wouldn't dare to provoke that madman.
"Good luck, your plan sounds quite good."
The Riddler courteously said a few words then bolted away.
"Uh... what should we do?" Cheetah looked at the empty conference room as the people who had come in droves now left in droves: "We've lost Manta Ray and the Joker, now we have five people while the Justice League over there has so many, I've lost count."
Luthor patted his white coat, wiping the blood off his bald head:
"I've said before, we already have enough manpower."
"But after this incident, we only seem weak and vulnerable." Cheetah felt continuous pain in her abdomen, the recent Mad Laugh tore open her wound again, reminding her of her fragility.
Luthor picked up the Door Handle from the table, growling fiercely: "Wrong! Dr. Minerva, the Totality is in our hands, we're going to win!"
He swiftly walked to the edge of the table, where he had prepared a backup plan.
"I recruited the Joker because I believed he was the best representation of human intelligence, devoid of ambition, lacking any curiosity, embodying the entropy of human nature itself, but even without him, I have better!"
The Joker's betrayal instead woke Luthor up, he realized releasing the Laughing Bat was indeed wrong.
He was merely caught up in the frenzy of curiosity, yet he released a genuine monster, now causing trouble for everyone in the Multiverse.
Previously, when the Dark Knight Order tied people to the Dark Tower and the Cosmic Tuning Fork, they didn't care if you were a hero or villain.
People = vibrant spirit and flesh = energy, their calculation was that simple.
The Laughing Bat came to the Main Universe not to play games or achieve some ideal, he came to win.
For the Laughing Bat's own victory.
Luthor pressed the table which immediately activated as a control panel: "Computer, contact Omega Base, find Dr. IVO, if we want to survive the upcoming world, the Destruction Legion needs Brainiac!"
At an unknown location in the cosmos, a very hidden laboratory, a scientist whose skin looked like wrinkled walnuts received the order.
In dim light, he donned his monocle, lowered his head to hasten his work, before him on the assembly table lay a mechanical body, the 'old friend' of everyone, a super intelligent entity originally meant to be annihilated in the explosion on Kro planet.
Brainiac I.
...........
Almost simultaneously, the squad of Mars Hunter, Hawk Woman, and Green Lantern Hero John headed for Senagang Star, completely ensnared by the enthusiastic populace there.
The Mars Elder they sought was allegedly dead, plans fell through, coincidentally they were dragged to join the month-long Senagang Star independence carnival, absolutely not allowed to leave.
Mars Hunter and his team had no choice, surrounded by a bunch of winged beauties, as they tried to leave, these aliens would cry, make a scene, and threaten, they could only stay.
Moreover, John seemed to be enjoying himself, with the beauties' fiery red lips constantly kissing his dark face, Green Lantern Hero was so enamored he lost direction, could only grin foolishly and boast about his cosmic peacekeeping achievements daily.
............
Steel Bone was equally unsuccessful, his team included Starfire and Death Angels, all sent by Batman. On their way to the Ghost Star Domain, they encountered the patrolling Green Lantern Hero beauty, Jessica Cruz, at the border of the Ghost Star Domain.
```
The four of them traveled together, but after entering the Ghost Star Domain, they found themselves trapped in a strange space, and their spaceship became wrecked, making it impossible to leave or return.
An entirely unknown Ghost Universe, not recorded anywhere, where worlds on the brink of extinction exist, and the people on these planets struggle on the edge of death every day.
There are tens of thousands of such worlds...
Oddly enough, Steel Bone, Starfire, and Death Angels are worshipped like gods here, not because of their abilities. It's because the people on these planets have been worshipping them for ten thousand years.
Throughout these planets, statues of the three are everywhere, and the aliens call them Old Gods.
They call Steel Bone 'Steel God', and seeing him, they rush over like wild dogs to kiss his feet. How could Steel Bone not feel obliged to help them?
What's worse is that they encountered Darkseid here; the four of them together couldn't withstand even a glance from Darkseid.
Steel Bone finally remembered the taste of the Omega Beam, it was fiery hot.
However, Darkseid didn't kill them but told them a series of bizarre things, leaving them to find the answers themselves, then he disappeared.
Steel Bone thinks it will take them years before they can return to Earth.
.................
At this time, Su Ming had already returned to Earth with Harley and Ivy.
In Brooklyn, New York, Harley had a building here. She wanted to return, so Su Ming let her go; at least next time he needs to find these two women, he knows where to look.
The Alien Fleet had retreated completely and returned to Earth's outer orbit.
Meanwhile, the ocean had gradually receded over time, and Arthur and Nu Tao had completed the detoxification of Earth's seawater.
As for compensation matters, let the Justice League and the Sea God deal with that.
The spaceship landed on the rooftop, though it was still somewhat damp, at least the rooftop was above the water.
"Ah, my fridge, my TV, they're surely ruined." Harley had intended to go downstairs to check, but when she opened the rooftop door, she saw it was all water below, so she could only lean helplessly against the wall.
On the rooftop, there was a catapult, which Harley used to throw trash. With this toy, she could launch cat litter bags several kilometers away.
That's why Harley didn't pay garbage disposal fees; all the building's trash would be launched into the ocean.
Ivy was fairly satisfied with the current outcome, as most plants would survive due to the ocean receding, and she naturally had ways to handle the rising soil salinity.
"So you're planning to leave now?" she asked Deathstroke.
Su Ming was fiddling with the 'poop catapult', this cat feces launcher that Harley had previously used to launch people during New York's biohazard crisis.
"Yes, Luthor gained the Totality from this operation but also suffered some losses, so he will definitely remain quiet for a while. I have a few tasks that require handling."
"Ah? Leaving already? Actually, you could wait for the water to recede, we can have a farewell party before you leave." Harley raised her head, thinking of something: "I could introduce some tenants to you, like the dwarf doorman 'Big Tony', he's not just an inventor, but also deals in arms. Hmm, Mrs. Pings downstairs is a drug dealer, her son is a killer, you'd like them."
"A killer? Do they kill more than me?" Su Ming laughed and shook his head; though they sounded like interesting people, he had business to attend to.
"Naturally, not as much as you, but isn't it more thrilling for ordinary people to kill ordinary people? Hehe..." Harley licked her lips, grinning.
"You're the landlord, right?"
Harley thought for a bit and nodded: "Yes, legally so."
"Then I'll rent a single room, one without windows, facing away from the sun." Su Ming took a handful of cash from his backpack; with Earth facing calamities every few days, buying a house could wait, renting from Harley would suffice for now.
Harley grabbed the money, didn't even count it before slipping it into her pocket.
"No singles, but you could stay with me and Ivy, our suite can spare a bedroom."
"Harley?!" Ivy used her gaze to stop the muddle-headed Harley.
Harley replied with a look, but her eyes had more '$' signs.
Not taking money? That would be foolish.
One bedroom in exchange for a handful of money, at least thousands of US Dollars, is quite good, those tenants downstairs always delay rent payments, someone wealthy like Deathstroke is an ideal tenant.
Harley didn't want to live with Ivy in the Great Forest, sleeping on vine hammocks; she required a home with walls and a roof.
But every month this home required payments for water bills, electricity bills, gas bills, insurance, property management fees, among a long list of expenses; even though Harley managed to evade the garbage disposal fee, the number hadn't decreased much.
She had quit, feeling short on cash; she couldn't just rob banks again. Before, she took part in underground skating clubs, organized circuses, went incognito as a doctor at hospitals—all for money.
Now that she had Deathstroke, those activities weren't necessary; she could just stay at home every day, browse the internet, play games, and order takeout.
Being a proper landlady, isn't that delightful?
"Alright, it's settled then." Su Ming turned to board the flight: "I have business, heading out first, will return when the water recedes."
"Oh, bye-bye, come back early, maybe make it for the party." Harley waved her hand, watching the flight activate invisibility and vanish.
"Harley!"
"Huh? What's up, Little Red?"
"We only have one bed!"
Harley tilted her head; was that even a problem?