From the sunny yet war-torn Dream Country, suddenly returning to rain-soaked, dark Gotham, the dizziness brought on by teleportation seemed even more intense.
Even with the aid of the Inverted Man's power, teleporting through unstable space posed some risk for Su Ming.
The rain, smelling of chemicals, pelted against his armor, and the cold air hung thick with dampness. Barry flashed to his side, steadying the somewhat shaky Su Ming.
"What's wrong, buddy? You seem a bit weak."
Su Ming patted his hand, signaling he could let go of his arm: "I'm fine, just a bit immersed in a dream, and waking up here feels a bit like coming out of a deep slumber."
"Oh, that's good, but where did you find such an old-school anti-toxic mask? I quite liked your original helmet." Barry pointed to his face.
Indeed, the Master of Dreams' crown had been 'borrowed' by Su Ming, as it was still needed for current affairs, a tool capable of discerning fantasies across dimensions.
"I went to find Daniel, but he wasn't home, so I borrowed his mask from the butler. It will help us."
"Alright, I thought you'd been to some biochemical battlefield, but we have some leads on our mission, right?" Barry asked with a cheeky smile.
Su Ming motioned for everyone to gather around: "Of course, we've found some clues, mostly about what's happening with Papetua, but I have some insights; the issues here are quite solvable."
"Let's hear it, I never thought my mother's death would bring so many kinds of risks to Bruce, but Wonder Woman just briefed me about the Dark Knight Order and Barbatos."
Thomas, gripping his gun handle, is hidden in the darkness along with his Bat Cloak, his tone containing more emotion than Bruce's.
He seemed more like a person rather than Gotham's totem.
Su Ming glanced at the few people watching him expectantly. Their location was in a dark alleyway, specifically Crime Alley, upon Thomas's request to revisit and take a look.
Considering that the Mad Laugh might come here, everyone stayed in ambush, but traps don't always catch prey.
"I saw those crazy angels in Dream Country again, Diana, you know, like the ones we encountered in Hell. They're forcing Dream Country residents to 'join or die' in a bandit-like manner. Meanwhile, others we've encountered in the Main World have also invaded there, seeming to slip through the sky fissures."
"I saw that terrifying scene in the sky during my brief visit to Dream Country last time. It was like reality tearing apart a beautiful dream." Diana now had a new understanding of nightmares; she used to think she wasn't afraid of them.
"Yes, the angels hail from the 'Seventh Heaven,' God's old home, a realm of the highest dimension, allowing them to 'fall seamlessly' into the lower-dimensional Dream Country. What about the others? A rabbit told me all fantasy beings need their own Dream Country, so where is their 'Dream Country'? Note that to easily fall into Dream Country, the place they live should be of a higher dimension than Dream Country."
Diana got more confused the more she listened. Dimensions? What did the rabbit say?
Crucial moments still relied on Oliver. Even though Su Ming didn't see him upon returning, the man cloaked in deep green was never far behind him.
At this moment, he spoke with a Robin Hood-like accent: "I know about the Endless Clan, each having their own domain, like 'Garden of Destiny,' 'Land of Death,' 'House of Desire,' and so on, which are high-level independent planes outside the entire Multiverse."
"Your intelligence surpasses even Batman's. It's clear he has too many helpers and leaves affairs of the Magic Realm to Batwoman, Kate, right?"
Su Ming shot him a look of newfound respect, albeit blocked by the anti-toxic mask, leaving only cloudy glass that obscured his eyes.
Oliver couldn't help but smile wryly. If his Green Arrow Clan members weren't so unhelpful, would he have to handle everything personally? He, too, wished for an easier life!
So he returned Deathstroke's look with a helpless gaze and surveyed the others present, saying, "As far as I know, there aren't many places with a higher plane level than these."
Su Ming and Barry had their arms around each other, with The Flash's neck seemingly magnetic, feeling comfortable only with an arm draped over it: "For instance, the Divine Speed Plane. If Barry finds the right path, dares to risk it all, and doesn't care about the consequences, he could rush straight into the Endless Clan's domain from there...."
"Wait, why would I rush in there?"
"Just an example, and you're the only one who can do it. Wally and the others can't because you generate Divine Speed when you step, you're like a power plant, while Wally and the others are appliances, consuming Divine Speed."
"... Are you saying the Black Death God is a version of myself who once entered the Land of Death...? "
A few sentences sunk Barry into deep thought. After all these years, he still hadn't figured out what Divine Speed really was.
"Besides the Divine Speed Plane?" Diana decided it was easier to ask directly.
"God's old rival, the Giant Ferocious Beast's lair, the Sea of Darkness, is at a plane level almost akin to Heaven, but I don't think the Giant Ferocious Beast has a good temper. Its behavior can be summed up in four words: God hates humanity."
Su Ming first mentioned a possibility, then negated it himself, which made Diana feel like he was teasing her. So she pretended to be angry and glared at him.
"Can you just say what's possible directly?"
"Alright, the answer is Hell, the Hell created by Lucifer after falling from Heaven, having the same high level as Heaven. Although his existence is tacitly approved by God, his power is actually on the second tier under God, undoubtedly higher than that of the Endless Clan."
Su Ming looked at her small hand twisting the corner of her cloak, seemingly ready to move onto his waist at any moment. He brushed away the idea of keeping her in suspense and stated what he believed was the answer.
But this answer seemed somewhat baffling. Many of the people present had been to Hell, and there didn't seem to be anything special there, apart from the smoky and fiery sulfur smell, it was as messy as a market, filled with stinking, dirty little demons running wild on the streets.
Diana took a deep breath, and the skin under her neck visibly fluctuated: "I don't know if what you say is true or not, but it's hard to connect this with the Dark Knight Order."
"Simple, just let a Batman create a Hell Plane." Su Ming answered with a smile, isn't this question easy to explain?
The DC World, although not as expansive as Marvel at this stage, it isn't difficult to create a plane hanging on the Multiverse with enough power.
As for how to acquire such a power.... Batman always has a way, doesn't he?
Whether it's upgrading a certain world to Hell, turning himself into a demon to snatch someone else's territory, or at worst finding a Female Demon King to serve as her concubine, or undergo a transformation to cozy up to a Male Demon King...
Without much thought, Su Ming could come up with a whole bunch of ways; if Batman became interested in Mysticism, he would soon think of numerous plans as well.
Oliver shivered, feeling that Deathstroke seemed to be contemplating some particularly dark thoughts amidst the night rain?
But the rain was too heavy, the lenses of the anti-toxic mask on the other's face were covered with raindrops, rendering him blind, attributing the earlier unease to an illusion.
Thomas had been quietly listening all along, only now did he ask a question: "So you're saying, in the Dark Multiverse, there's a Bruce who, through unknown means, became a lord of a Hell Plane and thus invaded our Multiverse."
"Only this possibility, because of certain features of 'them', like being summoned, blood sacrifice rituals, worship by followers, and those self-healing abilities and stinky blood, they don't seem like hybrid vampires and werewolves, but rather like demons..."
"So someone has left us with false knowledge." Oliver frowned, wondering when he had come to know about them being hybrid vampires and werewolves?
Obviously, he had never seen such monsters in the Main World; how did their knowledge enter his mind?
And Diana and others also realized this terrifying fact because Thomas clearly wasn't aware of anything about them. If they indeed existed as ancient as claimed, the Flashpoint World's Thomas certainly should know, because he is Batman!
Su Ming stood in the rain with his weapon, allowing cold raindrops to slide off his body.
"No need to blame yourself, because I've fallen for it too. Their intelligence and my past memory have been confused; that's precisely why they attacked Dream Country, through dreams, they modified all our perceptions, and this is what's terrifying about dreams."
"So if Dr. Wayne falls asleep now, when he wakes, those memories will just appear in his mind, as if he already knew them?"
Diana understood, modifying memories within dreams, what a terrifying ability?
Once a villain possesses such abilities, he could turn everyone in the Multiverse into lunatics overnight; it's much more potent than the Anti-Life Equation.
For brainwashing tools, the Justice League is most familiar with Darkseid's Anti-Life Equation, which is a device to fundamentally alter a creature's perception.
The Life Equation studied by the Celestial Father shares similar principles.
Thinking of this, Diana again recalled the White Light and Lantern Rings, it's rumored the seven-colored Lantern Rings united are the Life Equation, hence...
She looked at Deathstroke with a delighted expression.
Su Ming shook his head with a bitter smile, he had only slept once after coming back to DC, and it was with Diana...supposedly it was at that time he fell for it, even though it was on an overwritten Earth.
Even though he couldn't recognize it at the time, the Ten-Colored Lantern Ring was still phase-transferred onto his hand, yet it turned out to be useless, fooled nonetheless.
Now he can't even trust his own memory, what a headache.
Luckily, everyone around him has been busy all along, no one taking a rest or sleep, surely the Justice League's main squad is the same, right? Hmm, even the Hall of Justice exploded, who would have the leisure to sleep?