Chapter 2359: Gotham Music Festival (61)_1

The Atlantean's brief statement contained a deluge of information, but Batman's ability to process information was much faster than that of ordinary people. The moment he heard about Batwoman and the Queen of the Sea, he knew he had arrived in an unfamiliar universe and that the situation here was unfavorable.

The last point had no solid evidence to back it, just Batman's intuition. If he had to find a reason, it was that he had neither seen nor heard of said Queen of the Sea or Batwoman in Battleworld, which likely meant their situation was dire and prevented them from participating in the game.

This universe made Batman feel extremely endangered. He also observed the conditions of Clark and Hal; both seemed visibly uncomfortable, clearly under the influence of some mysterious power that caused them to feel bound and weakened.

Instinctively, Batman gave Clark a look, signaling to take them down immediately.

All of a sudden, the water surged violently, but the weapons in the Atlanteans' hands remained still. Clark and Batman charged out at speeds too fast to see, creating waves sharp enough to be considered water knives. If not for the protection of Hal's green lantern energy shield, the aftermath alone could have shattered Batman to pieces.

In two encounters, the three Atlantean warriors were taken down; Clark knocked out two of them while Hal immediately restrained all three with bands manifested from his green lantern energy.

What's happening? Batman thought. Did Clark understand his signal?

Despite his doubts, Batman did not show it. He silently approached and observed the Atlantean warriors with an air of confidence.

Not until Clark joined him did Batman casually ask, "Did you catch the signal I sent you just now?"

"Actually, no."

Clark's response was a relief to Batman.

He then heard Clark say, "Although I don't recognize these guys, from what they said, their people from the sea are planning to wage war on those on land, and the East Coast is surely doomed. If Gotham gets submerged, who knows what a crazed Batman might do, so it was best to knock them out first and ask questions later."

Batman was stunned. He turned to look at Clark with the precision of the most sophisticated scanner, examining him from head to toe, seemingly just now aware that he was in the presence of a mysterious alien from a far-off strange planet.

Made uneasy by his gaze, Clark sidestepped Batman and walked over to Hal, beginning to question the one Atlantean who hadn't been knocked out about their actual intentions.

Hal's Lantern ring came with a universal translation feature, but since Atlanteans were merely a native civilization of Earth, the ring could only translate based on human language, resulting in an awkward, literal translation that made communication between the two completely disjointed.

At this moment, Atlanna stepped forward and, with a stern face, spoke to the other in the ancient Atlantean language. It didn't take long before the Atlantean was deceived into thinking Atlanna was an ally and began to blab everything he knew.

Atlanna's expression grew increasingly grave, his face darkening by the end. Hal seemed to just wait for the outcome, while Clark appeared thoughtful.

"It seems they're saying that the queen who currently rules this underwater civilization plans to wage war with the mightiest hero on land."

"How do you know?" Hal asked, puzzled.

"The language isn't complex," Clark shook his head. "You understand it if you listen enough."

"Listened enough? But you've only heard a few dozen sentences at most."

"That's quite enough," Clark shrugged. "You don't need to know too much about an alien's intelligence."

Batman stood behind the two, listening to their conversation and observing their condition, his face full of uncertainty.

By then, Atlanna had already approached them. He addressed the still cautious Clark and Hal, "Regardless of whatever conspiracy you land folks have or how you brought me here, I suggest we head back immediately; this place is no longer safe."

"What's going on?" Hal asked, frowning.

"It's complicated," Atlanna replied without impatience. The King clearly had good breeding, especially when not facing the culprits who stole his powers. He continued, "The current queen of Atlantis, Atlanna II, plans to negotiate with the land's mightiest hero, Batwoman."

"Wait, is Atlanna II Arthur's sister? So in this universe, Arthur didn't inherit the throne?"

"There are no princes in this universe's Atlantis, it seems Atlanna had also just inquired about this. He said there are only two princesses; the Grand Princess is the daughter of the previous queen and the head of her guard, who has currently left Atlantis and gone missing. The Second Princess has taken the throne and is the current Queen of the Sea."

"Then what's this about Batwoman?"

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"I don't know, this guy is clueless about matters on land," Atlanna said with a look of disdain as she glanced at the Atlantean warrior and added, "But according to him, Batwoman is the strongest human on land, the most formidable hero in the entire world."

"What are they going to talk about?"

"What else?" Atlanna snorted coldly before continuing, "The city where Batwoman is located has been discharging sewage into the ocean, and it's a mysterious kind, causing immense harm to the sea and injuring or killing countless Atlanteans."

"The Queen of the Sea, for the lives and future of her people, believes she must speak with Batwoman, but it seems she thinks the chances of solving the problem through negotiation are slim, so she's also prepared for war."

"These guys were on their way to the troop station when they ran into us," Atlanna pointed to the three people tied up and said, "Before leaving, the queen held a rally, and they believe this is their great war to defend their homeland—they can only win, not lose."

"Something's not right," Clark said, "Batman is already the greatest superhero in the world, how could he not manage a city's sewage discharge? This shouldn't be a difficult problem to solve."

"Furthermore, even if Aquaman controls all the seas, Batman only has the waters around Gotham, so if Gotham's sewage is polluting the surrounding seas, Batman should be more anxious than Aquaman."

Atlanna and Hal nodded in agreement with Clark's reasoning, sensing that something was fishy about the whole situation.

Batman, still immersed in shock, roared in his mind, "A Superman! With a super brain!"

Clark seemed to have noticed Batman's unusual condition, and while Atlanna and Hal were deeply discussing the matter, he drifted over and scrutinized Batman's expression closely.

"You must be wondering how I could deduce that, guessing that no Clark from any universe would be good at it."

"He can even read minds!" Batman roared again in his mind: "What has Shiller taught these people in this universe?!"

"I can't read minds," Clark said, "It's just that Batmen in previous games have expressed their amazement at me, but actually there's nothing surprising about it, you're just making a fuss over nothing."

"It's not my fault that I'm like this; you'll have to ask Bruce," complained Clark. "Whenever I am with Bruce, I have to seize every second to discern which one of his brilliant, constructive suggestions are actually useful and which are his crazed delusions."

"And to do that, you first need to know which suggestions are useful, which means coming up with some good ideas yourself, but that's not even a sure bet. You also need to know what kind of madness the lunatic is going to have, when it's going to occur, and what the precursors to their fits of insanity are."

"Only then can you prevent them from mixing some fanciful ideas into their superior intellect, resulting in a total mess."

Batman knew that everyone in this universe was abnormal, but it was all definitely because the Batman of this universe was abnormal.

Struggling to shake off the awkward feeling inside, Batman went over to discuss the matter with the other two. As soon as he started talking, Atlanna and Hal both understood that Clark's seemingly logical deductions were superficial at best—the real detective work still depended on Batman.

"The most curious thing about this situation is, if the seawater has been polluted for more than a day or two, and the Atlanteans have endured for so many years, even to the point where their losses are unbearable, what were they enduring before?"

"Aquaman can control the seas, and it's impossible he would wait until the waters around Gotham were polluted to the extreme before noticing, which means there are only two possibilities."

"Either the waters around Gotham have been polluted all this time, indeed affecting the Atlanteans, but the situation hasn't been that severe, and the Atlanteans have only suffered losses, not facing a dire threat to their race's existence."

"Or, more recently, the level of pollution reached a point where, even with the entire ocean's force to dilute it, it's absolutely unmanageable, at a level where if the Atlanteans do not fight, they will only face extinction, prompting them to approach land and resolve this in an extreme way."

"Or the Atlanteans have been enduring because they had no choice, and this so-called Batwoman is an extremely dangerous person, one not even the Queen of the Sea can be certain to defeat."

"But recently, Batwoman may have encountered some trouble or become weakened, and the Queen of the Sea sees this as an opportunity to subdue her, hence taking the initiative to strike."

"However, it's more likely that these two possibilities are one and the same," Batman deduced. "Something big must have happened recently regarding Batwoman, but considering this could be the result of a series of events from earlier, we should extend the timeline and consider the larger context."

"Does the Queen of the Sea prefer to let the waters around Gotham remain polluted, seeking a slow resolution, or is she willing to risk her life to battle Batwoman? And which option would the Atlanteans prefer?"

At this point, Atlanna, who knew Atlantis better, spoke up, "Of course they prefer the latter, the Atlanteans believe they represent the sea. They think that if the sea is harmed, then they are harmed."

"They feel that anyone daring to tarnish the sea must be eliminated, and the continuous pollution of the ocean is perceived as an intolerable provocation. If everything goes as expected, even if the queen has other alternatives, she must consider the will of the Atlanteans."

"And this bunch of reckless and stupid descendants who betrayed their legacy always cry out 'Long live Atlantis' and then push themselves and their race to the brink."

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