Chapter 2947: When Night Falls (29)

There are about 7 billion people on Earth now, and assuming they were all turned into vampires, that would mean a daily need for 7 billion humans to feed on. So, where would we find 7 billion humans?

If the vampires were a bit smarter, they could convert 3 billion of their kind and keep the remaining 3 billion humans as a food source.

But we're still faced with the problem that Batman pointed out, with a population of 7 billion, there would only be an increase of three or four hundred thousand people a day. With only 3 billion left, that would mean an increase of just over a hundred thousand a day. The birth rate could never keep up with the consumption rate, and we'd still end up starving to death.

"I estimate that there is a threshold for the number of vampires," Batman began. "There's a finite number of vampires that Earth can perfectly sustain, and once that number is exceeded, the mutual destruction of both humans and vampires is inevitable."

The Martian Manhunter felt somewhat terrified and asked, "Do you think we've already exceeded that number?"

"I'm afraid we've not just exceeded it, we're far above that number," Batman sighed. "This foolish guy has never thought about this matter. He doesn't understand the basic laws of carbon-based social operations, the principles of social resource allocation, and lacks any experience in leading large-scale organizations. He's acting on whims, thinking it will be like some video games where the more troops produced, the better."

"I think he might be very young," Martian Manhunter conjectured. "Suddenly, he has obtained an organization and leads it solely based on his superficial understanding, without contemplating any in-depth issues. It's a real problem."

Martian Manhunter thought for a moment and then asked, "Do you think there is still a way to rectify the situation?"

Batman shook his head, "The truth is, I've nearly given up. Otherwise, I wouldn't have agreed to lock everyone in here to catch a traitor. I let the vampires expand outside merely because they are on a path to self-destruction."

"But there are still so many humans on Earth," Martian Manhunter said. "Batman, you can't give up, even if they all become vampires, we can't just stand by and watch them starve to death!"

"In fact, I don't have a good method to prevent the mass expansion of vampires; who can stop exponential growth?"

Martian Manhunter also sighed, he certainly understood the significance. One person turns four, four can turn sixteen, sixteen can transform two hundred and fifty-six, and two hundred and fifty-six can directly transform over sixty thousand. How could that possibly be stopped?

"But from Superman's description, I didn't get the sense that they were expanding that fast," Martian Manhunter raised another doubt. "By that logic, in a few days, the entire global population would become vampires, but most are still ordinary humans at this point."

"On one hand, vampires can't be active during the day, which happens to be when normal humans are active, so that might slow down their transformation rate. On the other hand, I suspect there are conditions to the Initial Embrace, at least vampire's own blood isn't infinite."

"Moreover, the newly created vampires are somewhat weak," Martian Manhunter said. "They are afraid of crosses, Holy Water, garlic, sunlight, and they hardly know any magic. There ought to be a substantial number of casualties."

Wonder Woman soon patted Batman's shoulder and said, "What are you guys talking about? It's time to switch shifts."

Batman turned to her and asked, "Who is your partner?"

"Of course, it's Superman. In fact, we can all take over for the second half of the night, since we don't need to sleep."

"Let's not. Have the twins take over in two hours."

"No problem, you go and rest."

Lying on the ground, Batman turned over, his lips slightly raised. By now, that inside man probably couldn't sleep at all.

Although Batman intentionally said it for the traitor to hear, he was also speaking the truth; the so-called King of Vampires was but a greenhorn.

You should know, many people get flustered doing group assignments with just five or six people, so the average person's leadership ability probably ends there. Without any formal training, one who can lead 50 people without creating a mess is as rare as a comet.

Even those with professional management training, the ones who can effectively manage 500 people are few and far between, not to mention the ability to delegate tasks correctly as if it were second nature.

The biggest reason why the world is like a muddled drama troupe is that the need for leadership ability in humans far exceeds the leadership capacity that humans can provide to each other. 99.9% of people managing themselves properly is already good, how could you not expect chaos if you ask them to manage others?

So, the situation the King of Vampires faced was probably that one day, suddenly, an organization of thousands or tens of thousands of people fell into his lap, and he was totally ignorant about the organization's affairs, had no short-term goals, nor any direction for development.

Therefore, he could only propose a fantastical goal of blocking out the sun to hoodwink other brainless youngsters like himself, but anyone who has ever worked for a couple of days knows such an organization won't get far.

But none of the members of the Justice League is like that. They've witnessed the world's most formidable leader, Batman. They know what the core of an excellent team should be like. In comparison, the King of Vampires is as immature as an infant.

Actually, management isn't even Batman's specialty; overseeing management is a skill he acquired offhandedly. But alas, his baseline attributes are too high, and he has plenty of skill points, so even casual efforts surpass most humans.

Whenever Batman devises plans for the Justice League, he sets both short-term goals and long-term strategic plans, specific enough to assign individual tasks yet flexible enough for adjustments. He can maximize each person's strengths while also ensuring his own powerful abilities as a safety net.

With such a leader, who wouldn't be content?

So, after comparing the abilities of the greenhorn King of Vampires and Batman, could the traitor not be furious?

On one side, an organization run entirely on whims, on the other, a powerful organization with ample scope to turn the tides even in dire situations, challenging Batman-led Justice League? Not a chance.

Batman was aiming for this effect. Starting from the closed meeting room, everything he did and every word he said was to put pressure on the inside man, to push him to emotional collapse, to make an irreparable fatal mistake.

Batman never planned to use the details in verbal exchanges as evidence to root out the traitor. Indeed, that could show his strength, but his power didn't need proof anymore.

He wanted the traitor to self-destruct under the dual pressures of physiology and emotion, to commit some foolish mistakes. This would prove that the so-called higher life form status of vampires over humans was completely a joke.

In fact, when the vampires began to expand, this kind of argument already had a certain market because there really were no shortage of collaborators among the human race, who would welcome invading aliens intent on destroying humanity with open arms.

Because such people existed, the stance of superheroes against vampires could waver, especially for superheroes like Superman. No number of vampires could defeat him, but if a part of humanity were to tell him to mind his own business, he might start to hesitate.

Batman knew all too well that the heaviest wounds Superman had ever received were always from within. He didn't expect those he saved to be grateful to him, or even understand him, but if they were to stand against him one day, wanting to kill him, then he would truly be heartbroken and dispirited.

Batman wanted to show superheroes like Superman that allowing this swarm of vermin to rule Earth was no different from letting Earth be destroyed.

He believed that Superman must have heard what he had just said. Superman's super brain, although a passive skill, would provide him with enough reason to convince himself, if he remembered these words when faced with such a choice one day, that letting vampires rule Earth was no different from letting Earth be destroyed. Therefore, these collaborators would be accomplices to Earth's destruction, and he would be able to strike them down with a clear conscience.

Having accomplished a small goal, Batman closed his eyes. He could clearly hear the whispers of Superman and Wonder Woman beside him, which quickly lulled him into sleep.

Before long, it was time for the change of watch, and the sound of the Magic Twins' footsteps woke Batman up.

The siblings moved to one side of the room, clearly whispering to each other. Jenna wanted to speak in their mother tongue with her brother, but Zan said, "You really need to practice your English. It gave me a headache listening to you tell stories today."

Jenna stuck out her tongue and said, "I get like this when I'm sleepy. Who asked them to make me tell stories during my usual sleeping hours?"

"Why have you suddenly started sleeping so early?"

"How did you know I've been staying up late secretly?... Alright, I knew I couldn't hide it from you. Who do you think the traitor is?"

"I don't know, but I have a feeling Batman already does," Zan said. "I'm a bit hungry. Do you think if we sneak out to grab a sandwich now, they'll notice?"

"Stop it, they'll definitely hear the noise of you opening the packaging," Jenna whispered even lower, adding, "Doing anything right now might make Batman suspicious, let's just stay put."

"It's just a sandwich. Do vampires even like sandwiches?"

"It's hard to say, if Batman thinks you're slipping away to feed, that would be bad."

"Feed on what? The sandwich? Can I at least go grab a soda?"

"Get me one too, sugar-free."

Batman heard Zan's footsteps move to the other side of the room, where the food was kept. He could hear the rustling as Zan grabbed a bunch of snacks and sat down.

Sure enough, Jenna's exclamation soon followed.

"Why did you grab so many snacks?!"

"They don't eat them anyway. Look at this, this chip flavor is new."

"Have you not had chips in a while? This flavor has been around for a year. Give me that spicy pack; I want that one."

Crunch, crunch, crunch... Crunch, crunch, crunch... Fizz—thump, thump, thump, fizz—thump, thump, thump.

Batman sighed resignedly, tiptoed over, and patted Jenna on the head. She jumped in fright and then, somewhat embarrassed, hugged her chips and said, "Keeping watch is so boring, I was afraid we might fall asleep, so I thought we'd have some snacks..."

"Go to sleep," Batman said in a low voice. "There's still a while till dawn, go back to sleep for a bit."

"Thanks, but won't that be too hard for you?"

Hearing Zan's words, Batman paused, then shook his head and replied, "Go on."

After the Magic Twins left, it wasn't long before the next round of people came for the shift change, this time it was Green Lantern and Aquaman.

"Didn't sleep, Batman?" Aquaman sat down next to him, casually grabbed a bag of chips, and said, "Those kids were eating so deliciously, it made me hungry. Pass me that sandwich."

With a flash of green light, the sandwich was tossed into Aquaman's lap. Green Lantern sat down on the other side of Batman, arms folded, and remarked, "I was sleeping fine, but then I got woken up too."

"How's Barry doing?" Batman inquired.

"He's sleeping soundly," Green Lantern replied. "No fever tonight means the wound isn't getting worse, which is the best news."

"Do you think there was something off about their stories during the day?" Aquaman looked at Batman and added, "I'm very alert now. I'll come first thing in the morning, okay?"

"You went off the grid; won't your wife worry about you?" Batman asked.

Aquaman waved his hand dismissively, "Pirates hardly get affected by this disaster. Although she's not too fond of you land-dwellers, for my sake, she won't cause trouble for the Justice League."

"That's good. I don't suspect any of them from today. What about you?"