Chapter 790: Chapter 747: Pooling Wisdom
"Could it be her?"
Bo Bo looked at Su Ming, a bit of seriousness in his eyes. Among the people who knew Diana had a thing for the Otherworld Deathstroke, Donna was the biggest suspect.
Su Ming shook his head. He saw Bo Bo draw the Amazon Eagle on the bar top and knew who he meant, but Su Ming was sure this wasn’t Donna’s doing.
"Amazons don’t think like ordinary women. Bystanders think they like me, but in reality it’s just worship of strength."
"If we’re talking Amazons, they’ve got Olympus’ blood in their veins. The desire to mate with the strong and breed powerful divine descendants is like a biological instinct. Love? The only thing they love is battle." Cindy clearly felt she had the most right to speak; she and Briss had been secretly watching the Hero for a long time.
Su Ming smiled a little, not saying whether Cindy was right or wrong, because it didn’t matter: "What about you?"
"Oh-ho? You still dare to hit on me, huh? Little man."
Cindy licked the corner of her mouth and showed a grim smile. She might fool Bo Bo, but Su Ming had no reaction at all, not a trace of fear.
So she quickly turned her head away in boredom: "I only love money."
Bo Bo shrugged as a matter of course, walked over to pour himself another beer, and said to Su Ming with a mischievous look, "Standard Mercenary answer."
"What’s between me and Diana is still a headache. I have to make sure that once the world is restored, everyone’s false memories from this period are erased." Su Ming put the photo of him and Diana on the table. In it, the slender woman in a dress was holding him, smiling brilliantly.
Bo Bo shook his head and raised his glass to his mouth.
"Honestly, even if you two get together, it’s not a bad thing. She’s got a supermodel’s body, she’s insanely strong in a fight, and you could say she’s the most honest woman among humans."
Cindy let out a cold snort and set her glass down lightly on the table.
"You still don’t understand how humans think, monkey. We’re Mercenaries; our allegiance is never fixed. If one day he decides to go against the Justice League, which side do you think the Amazon Queen will stand on?"
Bo Bo fell silent. That question almost didn’t even need thinking about.
Diana’s principle had always been ’Even if the sky falls, do it for justice’, while Deathstroke had never been a just man. The only reason he stood on the Justice League’s side before was because several crises threatened Earth, and threatened his business.
If in the future there’s no threat that can squeeze him and the League into the same camp, the sadist Deathstroke and the control freak Batman are bound to clash, and the League will only stand behind Batman.
Bo Bo could more or less guess that Deathstroke could slip out of this Cosmos at any time and flee to somewhere safe. If he was still getting involved in things here now, he must have spotted some benefit.
He already had X Metal, the Ten-Colored Lantern Ring, and the contract with the Inverted Man. The only things left that could catch his eye would be the ’Transcend’ in the League’s hands or the ’Destruction’ in Luthor’s.
Added to that was a gorilla’s understanding of Deathstroke: this guy would pluck a feather off even a little bird flying overhead. He’d definitely choose to take it all.
Even though Bo Bo had seen plenty of Darkness, forcing a pair of lovers to kill each other on the battlefield was still a bit too cruel.
Unless...
Su Ming shook his head, cutting off his train of thought: "Those are minor issues. I can negotiate terms with Batman. The key is that Diana and Donna look more like bait tossed out by the Olympian Pantheon—whoever bites first gets hooked. With the world in its current state, I don’t want to get tangled up with Olympus, so I plan to stall for time."
Bo Bo nodded slowly. He knew that if Deathstroke dared tell this to him and Trish, he wasn’t afraid of either of them leaking it.
And as the smartest gorilla, Bo Bo also knew that provoking Deathstroke was far more terrifying than provoking Batman, especially this Otherworld Deathstroke whose methods had absolutely no bottom line.
"Didn’t Zeus disappear?" The gorilla changed the subject; after all, what was between Diana and Su Ming was private.
"He did before, but he can’t leave Earth. After Poseidon’s Death, Zeus and Hades have to have one step up and represent Olympus. And the Nether God is pathetically weak in the Main World. That does nothing for Olympus’ face. Those Gods are desperate to restore their prestige and faith. My bet is Zeus will make a comeback."
Su Ming answered calmly, pulled the photo of him and Diana back from Trish’s hands, and shot her a threatening look, making the young lady shiver.
Cindy shrugged, sitting on the bar stool and slowly oiling her pistol: "But right now all the native gods of Earth-0 have been erased. Haven’t you noticed that even God’s faith has disappeared?"
"I noticed. That’s why whoever rewrote the world is an atheist, which makes it even less likely to be Donna." Su Ming said firmly, a strange smile on his face. "If it were her, she’d turn Zeus into maggots in a latrine pit, not just ignore him this easily."
Bo Bo bared his teeth. He really hadn’t known Donna hated that guy so much.
But a little thought was enough to bring back memories that in the Olympian Pantheon, aside from the Fire God, there basically weren’t any good people. Even Athena was a very cruel god...
The lives of mortals were dust in the eyes of Gods, let alone the life of a gorilla. Bo Bo didn’t like them either.
The three heads cast long shadows on the floor. Aside from the Magic jukebox, the bar fell silent for a while.
Trish was a bit at a loss. She felt she shouldn’t be listening to these secrets, but that Female Deathstroke kept asking for more drinks, making it impossible for her to slip away.
After a moment, Bo Bo raised another suspect: "Could it be Selena?"
"Catwoman?" Su Ming was folding a napkin in his hand, like he was planning to turn it into a paper plane. "She does have a motive. Couldn’t marry Batman, love turns to hate, that kind of thing..."
Trish’s eyes lit up, and she secretly perked up her ears behind the bar. This sounded like some huge secret.
"Then..." Bo Bo held onto the hat on his head, like he was about to say "there is only one truth."
But Su Ming immediately shook his head and pushed the gorilla back onto the stool.
"Even though Selena is currently living as a white-collar worker, not much different from her previous fake identities, when I was digging around online yesterday I found out she and Talia work at the same company. Don’t overestimate how big her heart is. If she had a choice, there’s no way she’d work in the same place as Batman’s ex-wife."
"Hold up, Batman in your world has been married?" Cindy struggled to keep a straight face, like she’d just heard the biggest joke ever. Even the world’s number one Mercenary was having trouble holding her Willpower in check. "What kind of lunatic would marry a bat?"
Bo Bo took a sip of his drink and smacked his thick lips. "Talia’s the leader of the Assassin Alliance, the Ninja Master. Guess he was young and impulsive back then?"
"Wait, you mean that Talia from Shadow Dancer?" Cindy’s eyebrows shot all the way up, a grin spreading across her face.
"Don’t get hung up on this. Every Cosmos is different." Su Ming cut off Cindy’s mental fanfic, because she was going off-topic. "You and I have never been married, but the Deathstroke in the Main World not only got married, his kid even turned out gay. What’s so funny about any of that?"
"Pfft... You guys keep talking, I’m done asking. Hahaha..." Cindy declared this was too much stimulation and went to a booth to calm down.
Bo Bo helplessly took off his hat and tossed it on the bar, using his front paws to neaten the black fur on his head. "Then who do you think it could be?"
"I’ve got some suspicion it’s Harley. I checked on her yesterday. She’s working as a therapist in Gotham now. For her, this level of disguise is easy mode."
He turned the glass on the counter, because besides knowing Batman’s real identity, this person obviously knew about Su Ming as well—and had arranged something for him too.
As Harley’s little fangirl, Trish couldn’t help cutting in, her little face full of disagreement.
"It can’t be Lady Quinn. If the outside world really is as normal as you say, it would be way too boring for her."
"But Harley really is thinking about retiring. She doesn’t want to be a Villain anymore. This opportunity is perfect, and she’s got the guts for it. Playing around with an Earth or two isn’t exactly impossible for her."
Su Ming looked at the Gothic Girl with interest. This little one sure had a lot of faith in Harley.
Trish actually pulled a few photos out from the little dress she wore. They were the signed pictures Harley had given her back then. The kid had even gone somewhere to get them laminated or something. They were in perfect condition.
Su Ming glanced over at Bo Bo, but the gorilla was shaking his head like a rattle-drum. "Don’t look at me. I’m not the one who taught her to be a fangirl."
"This has nothing to do with idol worship. I thought it through very seriously, rationally." Trish wiped her little hand across the bar, lining up the photos in a neat row. "Because she’s no longer that ordinary Kansas young lady."
Su Ming nodded. So that’s how it was.
Back when Earth was getting flooded, Harley had come to the bar to swap back her giant mallet—the hammer she’d once named "Dorothy," after the heroine from The Wizard of Oz. Harley had used it to whack every last member of the Bat Clan over the head.
Harley came here that time because she was going to follow Su Ming to save the world.
She really wasn’t planning to be a Villain anymore, but she wasn’t thinking about retirement either. On the contrary, once she learned about the Origin Wall cracking, she’d decided she was going to save Earth.
And now it was obvious things weren’t over. The Cosmos was still in turmoil. Harley might have a ton of issues, but she’s got the best resilience. When it comes to big things, she’s never been one to quit halfway.
Su Ming looked at Bo Bo and rolled his shoulders. "You’re doing pretty good as a bartender. Got a real Detective’s knack. Why bother learning Magic? Switch to Martial Arts instead."
Bo Bo grinned wide. "That’s because I’ve been training her well."
Su Ming: "...Anyway, we’ve still got a few suspects left. I need to get back to Earth and use the internet to check them out. And if we really dig deep, I might have to hack into the police system."
"Then I won’t be much help. But you’d better hurry. This gorilla is starving to death."
Bo Bo stylishly smoothed back the black fur on his head, put his hat back on, tipped the brim down a little, and stroked the rim of his glass, speaking in a low, solemn tone.
"I’m the one going to work. What’s the point of you acting cool? And talking all deep when it’s just about getting food..." Su Ming groused, then asked Cindy for two ration bars and tossed them to Bo Bo.
After all, the gorilla had helped him straighten out his thoughts. He couldn’t very well let a protected animal starve to death here.
"Be careful. If the other party can change the world, whatever tool they’re using is going to be that much more dangerous when it’s aimed at you personally." Bo Bo pushed the rations over to Trish, spun once on the barstool, and said to Su Ming seriously.
Su Ming called up a Teleportation Gate. Cindy had already shut her eyes and slipped in first. Su Ming nodded to Bo Bo. "If I don’t call you, don’t come out, no matter what. Also, Trish should hurry up and learn some kind of Teleportation Gate Magic or something."
With that, he left without looking back.
Bo Bo blinked slowly, turned his chair back toward the bar, emptied the beer in his glass, and let out a sigh.
"Another half-pint."
