What bad thoughts can Batman have?

Chapter 939 The Heart Beats Like a War Drum

"Do not."

This is how Dr. Manhattan answered Batman.

He was a man of few words, and after saying this, he wore a thoughtful expression.

Although he hasn't done so yet, Chen Tao instantly anticipated that he would disappear from his sight immediately.

Wait a minute, this doesn't seem like a prediction, but rather a practical application of the ability of some sixth-dimensional deity to exist simultaneously at any point in time.

Just like back then when Chen Tao had no idea how to use Barbatos' dark matter and this energy, Chen Tao is now completely clueless about the sixth-dimensional divine power—he even turned the fifth-dimensional energy that can manipulate reality at will into fifth-dimensional magic, which is equivalent to turning a printer into an erasing device.

“Wait a minute, what’s wrong with talking a little longer? The reboot of the DC multiverse is the multiverse’s last self-protection measure.” He said to Dr. Manhattan, “Things have reached the point where a reboot is necessary, and you are the only one in the DC multiverse who can lead the reboot. This is the fate you have inherited since arriving in the multiverse.”

Chen Tao is falsely claiming to be destined for greatness, but he needs to guide the Manhattan PhD in debating with himself.

If Dr. Manhattan only sees himself as a little mouse crawling under his feet, then Chen Tao would have no way of guiding his actions.

But from Manhattan's perspective, this behavior presents a different picture.

When Batman Dragon spoke to him, he saw hundreds of futures in an instant.

That feeling...

It's like having a million ducks quacking loudly in your ear at the same time.

The DC multiverse teaches us that whenever a timeline encounters a bug that can't be resolved and the process becomes completely unsustainable, we should restart the multiverse. However, the problem is that Dr. Manhattan is currently still caught in a chaotic timeline.

The split, hyper-temporal reality has caused rather complex consequences, leaving Dr. Manhattan unsure how to deal with the millions of ducks.

But he is Dr. Manhattan, a true quantum god, a transcendent being in the Watchmen universe. Even with hundreds or thousands of different timelines, his mind can connect with Batman Dragon on every split timeline in an instant.

From Chen Tao's perspective, Dr. Manhattan immediately answered his question.

"The universe reboot is indeed the last line of defense for the DC multiverse, but I do not come from the DC multiverse, so I should not have been the trigger for this protection measure."

Dr. Manhattan is clear-headed and speaks with extreme logic, but is equally cold.

Although he was indeed an ordinary creature many years ago, he is now very different.

His thinking has undergone a dramatic change; he no longer dwells on the survival of ordinary creatures, because from his perspective, a mere glance is enough to see an entire person's life.

In his eyes, everyone is a superposition of death and life, and whether one is dead or alive depends on Manhattan's observation, just like Schrödinger's cat.

Dr. Manhattan's point is clear: he is merely an observer of the experiment. An observer can intervene when creating the conditions for the experiment, but cannot directly influence the results while the experiment is progressing normally.

For example, if your experimental goal is to observe the life of an antelope herd, and then you see the entire herd taking a wrong turn and accidentally falling into a swamp and about to perish, and you run over and rescue the entire herd, will the habits and data you obtain still be accurate?

But if the antelopes aren't saved and the entire herd is wiped out, is the experiment over? Yes, it is!

Of course it's over. The antelopes we were observing are all dead. What else is there to observe?
But Dr. Manhattan meant that the death of the antelope was part of the experiment, and even if the experiment could not be conducted, he could not interfere with the results!
So I watched the poor antelopes die and then took pictures.

Well, the phrase "poor antelope" that Chen Tao substituted for Dr. Manhattan's words was just an interjection; Dr. Manhattan didn't even feel any pity or anything like that.

Ultimately, Chen Tao and Manhattan reached a consensus on the issue of the complete extinction of the herd of antelopes in the DC multiverse, but the other party, adhering to the characteristics of an experimenter, refused to take action.

This became the biggest difference between the two. It's like a herd of antelopes getting stuck in a muddy swamp, and instead of helping them, he tells the photographer next to him that the truly strong and healthy antelopes can climb out of the swamp on their own, which is the normal historical process!
There will definitely be someone at some point in time in history who will accomplish the feat of restarting the entire cloudy universe, just like the two old Supermans and Alexander Luthor Jr. in Crisis on Infinite Earths.

Alexander the Great, son of Luther, was born according to destiny. In a very short time, he grew from an infant into an adult. He then righteously participated in and led the final siege against the Anti-Monitor, causing the destruction of countless individual universes. Only one new Earth remained in the entire multiverse until Infinite Crisis. It was he who led the new Earth to split again, bringing the concept of countless parallel universes to the multiverse.

Dr. Manhattan's main experimental results were to confirm, to confirm whether there was anyone—

"Don't even think about it, Dr. Manhattan."

Then he heard Batman Dragon say this.

In the first place, Dr. Manhattan intended to know directly what Batman Dragon was going to say in the future, but he only felt a deathly silence in all the various futures.

On different timelines, the voices of millions of people trying to persuade Dr. Chen Tao of Manhattan in different ways gradually began to fade away.

"If you can't help me defeat..."

“If Papetua were to…”

“Dr. Manhattan, you must…”

"Gaga gaga gaga gaga da gaga gaga gaga..."

It started with one, and then one after another.

Dr. Manhattan saw that Chen Tao in that timeline didn't say a word, just stood there, staring straight at him.

Millions of ducks shut their beaks one after another.

In the future that Dr. Manhattan could foresee, everything became increasingly lifeless and silent.

Beyond that vast expanse of time, soon all Dr. Manhattan could hear was the thumping of Batman's dragon heart.

And these thumping sounds quickly began to resonate again.

Boom!
Boom!
Boom!
Then the chaotic sounds began to unify, turning into a chorus of drums, like the gentle beating of war drums. Dr. Manhattan looked down and saw Chen Tao in front of him also raising his head. In different timelines, hundreds of Chen Taos were making the exact same movements as him.

"You've already managed to apply sixth-dimensional divine power?" Dr. Manhattan was slightly surprised, but he quickly overturned his own idea.

"No...you stripped those parallel universe timelines of their names, you turned them into nameless old dragons, and then you could manipulate them?"

"You know, Dr. Manhattan, so-called people, all have path dependence."

"A dog only needs to smile to get food and petting, so it will do it often. A child only needs to cry to get candy, so it will choose to cry often. This is a principle that even babies understand."

Chen Tao said, "I am not a particularly intelligent person, nor do I have any outstanding talents. Therefore, the final solution I can think of is the one that I have relied on to succeed before."

"Once you join the DC multiverse, you naturally become part of its operation and participate in all its actions, including the cosmic reboot. This is something you can't hide behind the scenes."

Dr. Manhattan heard Batman Dragon say, "Whether you help or not, I will try to start the DC multiverse reboot, but listen carefully, if the multiverse reboot fails..."

Chen Tao said, "Then there will be no more experimental subjects for you to observe."

Since all of them had been fused with Martian cells by Perpetua and turned into his unconscious army to fight against the Origin Hands, Chen Tao was going to take a gamble in front of Dr. Manhattan.

(End of this chapter)