Looking at the ochre planet in front of him, Su Ming stroked his chin thoughtfully.
The group was currently on the Moon in the Third Dimension, and apart from Su Ming, Crush, and a few others who could move in a vacuum, everyone else was wearing spacesuits, with expressions of utter hopelessness.
Green Arrow had brought the spacesuits, but they were from the Cold War era, and the suits had a strange smell, as if someone had vomited vodka inside.
Little Fortune Ape, sneaky like a thief, glanced around before approaching Su Ming. He knocked on Su Ming's leg armor as if knocking on a door, speaking in a purposely lowered voice that sounded eerie through the intercom.
"Batman asked you to assist the Seven Heroes in the Sixth Dimension, but you brought us to the Third Dimension instead. Is that really okay?"
Su Ming looked at Bo Bo behind the glass, adjusting his throat mic: "In terms of dimensions and parallel worlds, Batman's intel currently isn't as reliable as mine. What we need to do now is erase the Third Dimension, which serves as Papetua's troop source, before she wakes up."
It's said that woman intends to overturn the Fourth Dimension to reveal the true essence of the Third Dimension and turn the entire Multiverse into a weapon.
So Su Ming simply intends to swap the iron embryo she has prepared; when Papetua plans to swing her hammer, she'll find wood on the anvil instead of metal.
Even if it isn't cutting the ground beneath her feet, it will definitely cause her trouble.
This work can only be done now; once she wakes up, the difficulty will greatly increase.
"You're saying the Xida People have occupied the Third Dimension, and then you're leading our group of twenty to deal with a planet of people..." He bared his teeth; it made his teeth ache.
"Heh, don't panic. They have no means of deep space travel, at most only getting close to the Moon. It's tough to defend against them when they attack the Main Dimension, but when we invade them, they can't stop us either."
Su Ming laughed as he spoke to the ape, knowing Bo Bo was fishing for information, which he could certainly share.
"Your plan is..." The ape furrowed his brow.
"Erase this place first, so humanity gains the upper hand before the real war begins." Su Ming shrugged, responding nonchalantly.
"But what if Papetua creates them anew, does this action have any meaning?"
Bo Bo expressed his intel while searching Deathstroke with an inquisitive gaze, knowing that his detective instincts were acting up again.
Su Ming gazed at the yellow dusty sphere before him, realizing this Earth was nearly completely desertified, a world under Xida people's rule.
They only know destruction and slaughter, having no concept of environmental protection, consuming all resources like locusts across all planets and parallel universes, enduring difficult survival thereafter.
Su Ming glanced at others not far away and said to Bo Bo:
"Biological evolution is always a lengthy process. Even for Papetua, it took millions of years of selecting and cultivating these creatures like raising venomous insects. She still couldn't replace the work of Red of All Beings, and let's not even mention that entropy is chaos and disorder—a randomness that can't be controlled."
"Immature weapons in a battle are more prone to problems... In that case, if the time stream discrepancy isn't too large, maybe we can delay a few days."
Bo Bo rubbed his chin, looking just like an ordinary ape now, with a particularly thick lower lip.
"More optimistically, she's just waking up after being trapped inside the Origin Wall for 20 billion years; she won't recover quickly." Su Ming sighed, then shook his head, "Never mind about the future; think about yourself. Can you scarf down a row of bananas immediately after waking up from sleep?"
Bo Bo leaned in closer, his tone turning urgent: "I understand your thoughts and strategy, but do you think these kids will support your decision to destroy an Earth? Besides, I hate eating bananas."
"That's a simple matter. Just show them this so-called Earth, and they'll likely hope I do just that." Su Ming grinned, raising a hand to open the Teleportation Gate, gesturing to the crowd to begin: "When you have time, get someone to cultivate super serum bananas for you, and you'll surely think they taste wonderful."
......
"Is this Earth?"
Damian removed his spacesuit helmet. Even with his steadfast mind and training, he opted to remove it after confirming the breathable environment outside, fleeing the stench of urine in the spacesuit.
Standing on what was called Earth, all there was around him was a barren landscape of peculiar rocky formations, nothing else in sight.
The eternally blowing gale had sculpted unique erosive landscapes; the solitary rock pillars dotted the wilderness like remnants of an ancient civilization.
The young members of the Teen Titans behind him displayed similar looks of puzzled intrigue, their eyes filled with curiosity as they surveyed their surroundings.
"I get it. This is just like the 'Fallout' series of games; it's a post-apocalyptic wasteland." Black Wally nudged the Blue Fatty beside him. The two game enthusiasts immediately recognized the characteristics of this world.
As for the others, Charise said nothing, and the Humiliation Squad had no opinion. The Shadow Contract Team, on the other hand, was used to this. Their identity associated with the Magic Realm allowed them to travel to many planes, and although not as vast as dimensions, such desolate environments were not new to them.
For example, the Shadow Plane of Night Shadow was almost the same as here, except without sunlight.
"You guys are right; this is indeed a post-apocalyptic wasteland, but it's not because of nuclear bombs or biohazards, nor climate change or comet impacts. This place looks the way it does now because it was consumed."
Su Ming joined their conversation, simultaneously explaining to everyone the cause of the current scenery.
Damian looked around, and apart from yellow soil and small stones, there wasn't even a blade of grass. The wind sounded like wailing ghosts, and the tiny grains of earth hitting their bodies made a rustling noise.
"You mean there are still living beings here?"
"Let me tell you, your encounters with the Magic Realm might not be frequent, so you may not know that in another dimension, there's a distant human relative known as the Xida People. Their greatest hobbies are eating and evolving. Created by Papetua as biological weapons, they use a little magic and can travel from one Earth to another parallel world Earth, like prairie dogs."
Under Su Ming's instruction, Bo Bo explained to everyone, though his knowledge was limited. However, having battled the Xida People for hundreds of years, he knew a thing or two.
It's not that the Xida People have only existed for a few hundred years, but they discovered dimensional travel only a few hundred years ago. They use something called a "Father's Box" to open a wormhole, allowing them to enter the Earth of the Fourth Dimension.
In the universe, there are several Father's Boxes, mostly controlled by the New Gods as alternatives to the Mother Box.
The Father's Box in the Third Dimension is different. It more closely resembles Pandora's Box, a tool for cross-dimensional teleportation.
The last battle's outcome saw the Magic Realm defeat the Xida People's army, kill their king, and seize the Father's Box in his possession, closing the passage between the two dimensions.
Currently, that Father's Box is still in the hands of the Witch Child. Mr. Miracle, one of the Seven Heroes, also holds a Father's Box, though his was merely acquired from the New Genesis Star as a computer.
Hearing Bo Bo's prairie dog analogy, the young people showed obvious interest, while Harley yawned, and Ivy tried to see if she could grow a cactus here.
Bo Bo couldn't care less about these people, the gorilla took off his flowery hat, wiped his sweat, and continued: "But these prairie dogs eat humans. They come to our world to eat humans. All biological plants are on their menu, as if they're still living in the primitive era of eating raw meat and drinking blood."
"So this planet has been devoured by them?" Damian asked calmly.
Bo Bo looked at Su Ming, who naturally picked up the topic: "There's still a giant floating city of the Xida People on this Earth called Miracle Cliff. It has a large bell, and when it tolls, the Xida People swarm out, riding their spiders or hornets to hunt for various creatures."
Black Wally thought about it, and like a good student, raised his hand to ask: "But if their route to our world is cut off, shouldn't they have starved to death by now? Honestly, there's not even a beetle on this desert."
"They're not as primitive as you think. Although savage and wild, they have the physique similar to Mars People and human-like creativity. Their technology and magic are about the level of humans during the Middle Ages, so they have a good grasp on agriculture."
Su Ming answered Wally almost without thinking, with a mysterious smile on his face.
Although seeing Deathstroke smile this way made Wally uneasy, he still asked: "What are they farming? Two-headed cows?"
"Unfortunately, the Third Dimension is much darker than the Radiation World. They breed humans and their kind in their castles." Su Ming shook his head, gazing at everyone: "The last time the Xida People invaded our dimension, about a hundred thousand people were abducted from Earth. Even though humans ultimately won, those very 'resources' were taken back to the Third Dimension."
"They're raising humans?" Damian furrowed his brows, connecting what Deathstroke had said about the Xida People's diet and agriculture...
Damian thought of a terrifying possibility.
"It looks like you've figured it out. Yes, just as you imagined, humans and their kind are their food. And after their king died, the former Queen Glorina became the Queen. They found a sustainable method for raising..." Su Ming spread his hands.
"They also stole human knowledge." Blue Fatty put away his phone, only frowning.
Su Ming tapped his cigarette box, flicking out a cigarette: "Who knows? Maybe it was the captured humans who became meat pigs who gave her the idea, only in hopes of living a few days longer."
"Truly pathetic."
Damian's expression remained unchanged.
Su Ming said nothing more, merely pointing to the distant sky. At the edge of the skyline was a very inconspicuous little black dot, and that was Miracle Cliff.