Chapter 128: Ian’s Death! Heroine Sheds Tears!
Outside the window.
The city’s neon lights are flashing.
Wonder Woman Diana, as the princess of Themyscira, a demigod in the mortal realm, certainly wouldn’t have low intelligence. She realized almost the instant the other party spoke that he absolutely wasn’t Batman.
Bruce would never use such a straightforward tone to boast about himself.
The big capitalist in the Justice League always pretends to be the most sophisticated kind—except when saying he’s rich. That’s why Diana realized the problem the instant her blood pressure rose.
“Ian Kent!”
Diana, who already had some psychological trauma, could of course make a clear judgment. This was 100% the weird thing from the Kent family home using a voice changer to impersonate someone!
“Yes, the person I’m talking about is Ian Kent. You owe this obedient, well-behaved, sensible, gentle, kind, generous… child a lot, a lot.”
“Without him, you… we Justice League would have died out long ago.” Batman’s bubble voice continued whispering. He gave more than six hundred words of praise to the youngest son of the Kent family.
“…”
Diana, wrapped in a bathrobe, was speechless. She searched everywhere in her home and even checked under her bed—clearly afraid that Ian was hiding somewhere.
Who says only the US Military gets PTSD?
Wonder Woman now has her own PTSD!
“I’m not under the bed. Batman never hides under beds. If you don’t believe me, go ask Joker. He just gave birth to his second child.” The real Batman’s voice came from the phone again. He was playing the Batman from his own books, the copyrighted Batman image, so no one could find fault with it.
“？？？？？？”
Diana incredulously looked at her mobile phone. She started rummaging through cabinets and drawers, even inspecting the ceiling, and the demigod princess checked her quilt.
Nothing.
Not only no hidden boy found, but not even a single surveillance camera turned up.
“Damn Kryptonian brat! Super Hearing and Super Vision aren’t meant to be used like this!” Diana shouted into the phone, clearly misunderstanding the situation.
This misunderstanding was quite subtle.
It made even the bathrobe wrapped around her feel unsettling. She quickly pulled out a pure lead turtle shell and put it on, only then feeling slightly at ease.
Obviously.
All along, Superman hasn’t just made Bruce feel terrifying.
“I’m Batman. This is the power of technology.” The real Batman’s voice rang out again, but not through the phone—through the notebook in Diana’s living room.
There.
Under Diana’s incredulous gaze, the notebook computer that should have been closed slowly opened by itself. It moved on its own, which was more horrifying than a moving cabinet.
“？？？”
Diana stared dumbfounded at the computer screen, at the figure in the Batcave background—fully armored, looking like a very convincing Batman.
“Our Wayne Enterprises products have so many backdoors. Buy a computer, get a full set of built-in surveillance, monitoring, and explosion devices. Clearly aimed at cost-performance.”
The real Batman sighed.
His fingers tapped on a black box.
“？？？？？？”
More question marks appeared on Diana’s face.
She didn’t care about the notebook issue.
She was shocked by the Batcave where “Batman” was.
“Damn, you didn’t just steal my phone, you sneaked into Bruce’s lair?” Diana was dumbfounded. She remembered Ian always obsessing over digging treasure chests and opening them.
That audaciously bold guy.
Might really dare to sneak into Bruce’s home to “open treasure chests.”
“Heh, Batman calls whoever he wants—don’t ask why, because I’m Batman. Of course I should stay in my dark Batcave spying on the world.”
“Or what? You think I’d sleep in a cat bed?”
The real Batman felt his cold laugh wasn’t cold enough. He raised the black box in his hand and played an original cold laugh clip. Diana had no idea how to evaluate this scene.
She realized he didn’t just have issues with her; he probably had big issues with Batman too. Rumor had it because Bruce delayed publishing this boy’s work for so long.
“I’ll apologize to you! Apologize, okay? I shouldn’t have tied you up with the rope…”
Diana’s expression changed for a while.
She ultimately chose to slide on her knees at lightspeed. She was mainly afraid that tomorrow a Wonder Woman would pop up in Metropolis. God knows what else this boy wouldn’t dare to do.
“The one you tied up was poor Ian, not me. I’m still Batman…” The real Batman remembered his past mistakes. He would never relax his disguise at any time.
“So, should I write an apology letter and send it to him?” Diana knew what to do. She gnashed her teeth but could only cooperate with his performance.
“He doesn’t actually care about that, but if you insist on writing a letter, I’ve just sent you his email… Ian is a sensitive child. He wants an essay of no less than five thousand words, with a plagiarism rate under one percent.” The real Batman’s tone carried a reminder as his words just finished.
Diana’s mobile phone received a text from 【mysterious number】.
Yes.
The phone didn’t show a number.
Purely just the words 【mysterious number】.
Even the email address was just the letter arrangement of 【mysterious email】.
Diana was now certain.
Batman Bruce must have been sneaked into his home. Otherwise, she didn’t know how to explain the other’s methods. This wasn’t simple ordinary hacker behavior.
“…”
Diana felt the thing she regretted most in her life might no longer be the choice she made back then, but a few hours ago when she shouldn’t have offered to help Clark catch Ian.
Not only kicked hundreds of times.
But also entangled by this weird thing from the Kent family!
How can one person hold such a grudge!
“After I write the apology letter, between us… I mean between me and Ian, there’ll be no grudges, right?” Diana suppressed her mood and asked in an unprecedentedly serious tone.
“From my Batman deduction, Ian doesn’t actually care about these things. What he cares more about is whether, after you go back tonight, you continue to fight crime in your city.”
The real Batman spoke in a serious tone too.
The expression in his eyes seemed somewhat expectant.
“What do you mean?”
Diana felt somewhat baffled.
She didn’t think Ian was supervising her superhero career.
This guy.
Definitely had some scheme behind it.
“Uh, how should I put it to you.”
“Ian made a little attempt, and whether this attempt is worthy of his approval depends on whether your Lasso of Truth performs well in your subsequent vigilante career.”
“If the performance is good enough, he’ll acknowledge that one of his works ended up in your hands.” The real Batman’s tone had a bit of hemming and hawing.
“？？？？？？”
Diana became even more baffled.
She was just about to speak and ask more.
But the “Batman” on the phone suddenly looked around left and right.
“Why are you hiding in a temporary public restroom?” An abrupt voice came from the background, followed by the communication screen shaking, as if someone “clipped through” into the Batcave scene.
“Holy crap! Green screen effect background?”
Diana’s eyes widened.
She saw Clark’s figure at the edge of the screen, while “Batman” hurriedly closed the display. Finally, she only heard Clark asking “Batman” what he was doing.
“Whatever Jordan does, that’s what I’m doing!”
To conceal the truth.
The boy was clearly giving it his all.
The communication cut off abruptly.
Diana stared expressionlessly at the pitch-black screen.
Her chest heaved violently.
“Smack!”
Diana stared at the notebook computer, without hesitation, directly raised her hand and smashed the notebook computer open. Sure enough, it was filled with exquisite surveillance equipment inside.
Just as that boy from the Kent family said.
However.
In fact, this notebook wasn’t a Wayne Enterprises product at all.
“I knew the clerks at those stores near my home were off! Damn rich people!” Diana gnashed her teeth sitting on the sofa, momentarily unsure if she was angrier at Ian or Bruce.
“No, something’s wrong. That guy impersonated Batman to call me, probably not out of boredom. Perhaps… his real purpose was to indirectly inquire about the Lasso of Truth?”
Recalling the call just now.
Her expression gradually became shocked and suspicious.
“He tampered with my equipment!”
This thought made Diana stiffen. She hurriedly took out the Lasso of Truth for a careful check. The golden rope looked unchanged, but the unease in her heart grew stronger.
“No way, the Lasso of Truth is a work of the gods. How could it be so easily tampered with?” Despite wanting to deny her terrifying guess.
However.
She couldn’t help thinking of Ian’s performance tonight, and that terrifying higher divine power—not majestic, but horrifying. God knows what other weird tricks this thing had!
“I just want to sleep well tonight!” Growing more anxious, Diana looked at the turtle shell on her body and her heroine suit changed out and put in the wardrobe.
“…”
Five minutes later.
Diana, who had finished washing up, still couldn’t calm her heart. She transformed back into Wonder Woman and rushed out her home’s window like a golden whirlwind toward the night city.
This is New York.
One of America’s most famous cities. Skyscrapers everywhere, neon flashing, but sparse figures on the streets, air filled with the smell of dampness mixed with gasoline.
Diana, changed into battle armor, didn’t choose to fly straight to Metropolis to settle scores with Ian.
To avoid more Metropolis psoriasis-like trouble, she made a wise decision, just going out to fight crime as Ian wanted to see.
Only.
Tonight’s city was unusually quiet.
Almost no police sirens, even the street punks seemed to have agreed to give the police a vacation. It was a good night; Wonder Woman was gratified but also like a headless fly.
She searched everywhere.
Finally.
Just as she tested her other equipment and was about to find a prison to test the Lasso of Truth on the criminals inside, her sharp ears caught a faint but clear sound.
Metal scraping, glass shattering.
This was a trivial crime.
A drunk strong man was doing something ridiculous.
“Spit out the money for daddy!” The drunk slurred, knife tip scraping harsh sounds on the ATM, “I know you… you’ve got lots of money in your secret parts!”
The drunk had his own reasonable logic. The vicious threat was fine; it was just this behavior made it hard to tell if he was committing a crime.
Someone actually using a fruit knife.
To rob an ATM with a real steel body? Not a big event, police would handle it soon. Normally, Wonder Woman wouldn’t pay much attention to these drunk groups.
But tonight was too calm.
Diana had to make do and help the police check first.
“Sir, I don’t suggest you do this.”
She descended from the sky.
Very polite.
Golden battle boots made a crisp sound on the concrete.
“Get lost! Foreign immigrant! Don’t interrupt my robbery!”
This guy looked like a xenophobic redneck. The drunk heard the dissuasion behind him and turned, slashing knife after knife, blade harshly hitting Diana’s chest armor.
“Crack!”
A mere mortal blade couldn’t possibly break Wonder Woman’s battle armor. It shattered directly against Wonder Woman’s battle armor, and due to too little force, not even sparks flew.
“Damn! I knew it was a fake Damascus knife!” The drunk stared dumbly at his broken blade, then complained about merchant fraud first.
Not just drunk.
Probably high too.
“You look like you need to go somewhere to calm down.” Diana sighed helplessly. With a neat sweeping leg, the drunk flew like a rag doll to the ground.
“My leg! Wonder Woman kicked off my leg! Aaaah! I was supposed to be an athlete; my dream is ruined!” This guy let out a pig-slaughtering howl.
He hadn’t even been wronged yet.
He’d already prepared his interview dreams and sob story.
“…”
Diana speechlessly looked at the flying sneaker.
“That’s just your shoe, and… do you remember you’re white? You should talk about family and union.” Wonder Woman had clearly encountered similar situations more than once.
She could even give speech guidance to the fallen drunk.
“Oh oh~ Okay.”
The drunk was stunned.
He wanted to change his lines, switch howling modes. But the next moment, Diana pulled out her Lasso of Truth and directly lassoed the drunk.
“Oh! Queen? I like it. So I’ve robbed the money and can enjoy this place? Whip me good, but no high heels, no tip for you.” The drunk’s thinking was really jumping; he even thought he’d entered some club.
Completely submissive.
Then lay straight on the ground.
“…”
Diana was speechless at this high drunk. She rolled her eyes, tightened her Lasso of Truth, and was about to test if the Lasso of Truth had any issues.
Honestly.
Normally, the Lasso of Truth is a genuine divine artifact, also called the Magic Lasso or Lasso of Hestia, a rope that makes the bound person tell the truth.
The rope shines with holy light.
Once bound, lies have nowhere to hide. The entire Lasso of Truth is made from Aphrodite’s belt, endowed by Aphrodite with magic and near-indestructible ability.
The Lasso of Truth can grow infinitely according to the user’s will, tough enough to be nearly impossible to destroy, not even greatly affected by nuclear explosion.
Even Doomsday.
Actually doesn’t have the ability to easily damage this divine artifact—of course, what Doomsday can’t do, who knows if that boy more like Doomsday than Doomsday can.
“That expectant tone definitely means he tampered with it; just don’t know if his tampering succeeded.” Diana felt she’d figured out Ian’s personality now. Ignoring the drunk’s mumbling, she directly activated the Lasso of Truth’s magic and asked the drunk a very simple question.
“What is your gender?”
Perhaps this question wasn’t that simple.
Diana was actually prepared to hear 【armed helicopter】 as the answer.
Only.
Something even more outrageous happened next. Faced with this question, the drunk who should have been honest instead trembled, eyes rolling wildly.
Foam even came from his mouth.
Just as Diana thought he would pass out.
This man suddenly shouted in an extremely exaggerated operatic tone.
“Praise You! Emperor of All Laws! Master of Truth!”
“You are the first ray of light at dawn! The hottest sun at noon!”
“Your wisdom is vast as the galaxy! Your mercy broad as the earth!”
“May Your light shine on the multiverse! May Your name echo through the myriad worlds!”
“He is the embodiment of truth, the ender of falsehoods! He grants us revelation, letting us glimpse the future’s outline! Every one of us should praise Emperor of All Laws Ian God ten thousand times a day!”
…
The robber’s eyes glowed strangely.
Continuously chanting loudly.
He babbled like a fanatic follower praising “Emperor of All Laws Ian God,” with exaggerated rhetoric and flowery diction, exactly like some cult organization’s standard prayer.
“Oh god, what the hell did that weird thing do to my lasso?” Diana stared dumbfounded at this drunk who was robbing the ATM a second ago.
The rope grew slightly hot in her hand, as if responding to her confusion. More terrifyingly, the praises kept coming, increasingly outrageous without any repetition.
“You pry laws with one finger! You reshape reality with one glance!”
“You are the only true god in billions of parallel universes! Other so-called deities are mere mayflies in Your dreams!”
…
The drunk chanted more ecstatically.
Diana yanked the lasso tight.
“Enough! Tell me, who taught you these words?”
She suspected Ian was remotely controlling this guy through her lasso.
Only.
Things weren’t that simple. The drunk’s expression became extremely devout: “The truth automatically manifested in my heart. When the holy golden light enveloped me, I awakened!”
His words made Diana’s expression spectacular.
To learn more information.
Diana quickly released the Lasso of Truth binding the drunk.
The next moment.
“Hm?”
The drunk’s face became confused, as if regaining his senses, but not remembering what happened. Seeing this, Diana threw the Lasso of Truth at him again.
Thus.
“If you hear the whimper of the stars—no need to panic.”
“That’s just the king of all realms tallying today’s harvest…”
“And we are but under His throne,”
“Insignificant, happy dust.”
“Sun! Sun! Now I’m praising the true sun!”
…
The redneck actually turned into a poet.
Very obviously.
The problem was only with the Lasso of Truth.
Diana felt dizzy. She finally understood—the outrageously weird boy had somehow turned the Lasso of Truth into a “Ian praise generator”!
This was why he called full of expectation, beating around the bush!
“What the hell is this? Even Zeus couldn’t pull off this operation!” Clearly, the shock Diana received was immense; she even started muttering about her father god.
…
Metropolis’s night wind still carried a scorched earth scent. Clark grabbed Ian by the back collar, like carrying a reluctant cat, slowly landing on the ruins that were once the Kent family home.
Ian’s feet just touched ground.
And he saw his mother Lois standing in the wind, hair disheveled, expression dazed.
“Where’s the house?” Lois’s voice trembled. “Where’s our house?”
She never imagined.
She was just comforting other displaced people, now she became one needing comfort—who knew that in major disasters, America’s so-called home insurance was no different from not having it; disaster victims get no payout, only denial and cancellation.
“And my cosmetics! My jewelry rings!”
“All gone!”
Lois’s figure trembled.
Forget valuables.
The empty ruins didn’t even have one complete brick. A few charred wooden beams stuck diagonally in the dirt, like some eerie modern art installation.
“Not my fault. When I left, there were still a few walls at home.” Ian quickly shifted responsibility. He rushed into the ruins and started digging.
“Where’s my property? My property was stolen! My wet nurse was stolen too!” Ian became disheveled too, his tone full of panic and disbelief.
Jonathan, holding a statue just taken from the Hellcat, eerily reminded: “Is it possible your wet nurse stole your property?”
He remembered the girl from Ian’s bedroom taking Ian’s things.
Hearing this.
Ian instantly stopped panicking.
“Oh, that’s fine then. Little Punk Girl seems awake. She owes me a lot. Can’t escape Monday, can’t escape Tuesday… Tomorrow I’ll go to school to question her.”
“And make her admit she owes me one hundred eight thousand kindnesses.” Ian’s tone lightened again. He rubbed his chin, feeling he needed a special form to record the kindnesses he gave out.
Such trivial matters didn’t need Lord Evil God’s brain capacity, so he used the Asgardian’s brain, inputting this info into Thor’s brain.
Thor was future god king after all.
Brain capacity was huge; he didn’t use much himself. While Ian used the new era hard drive to record, nearby, Clark rummaged ruins too. He dug through rubble, found only Ian’s exaggerated laser gun, but his hidden private money in the room was gone.
Oh.
Still some ashes remained.
Old Father silently squatted on the ground, no one to share this grief with—after all, telling Lois what he lost would make her make him even more grief-stricken.
Invincible Superman.
Has a sensitive heart.
“Low-interest loan, wanna know more? Clark.”
Batman’s voice suddenly came from nearby. He landed next to Clark as usual, god out of nowhere, completely unaware he’d just been “hacked” by Ian again.
“I’ll rebuild my own home myself.”
Clark glanced at Lois also rummaging.
He decisively refused.
“What about high-price building materials?”
Batman wouldn’t give up.
Got glared at hard by Clark.
Batman didn’t care.
He just stared ahead at Ian wiping the dug-up laser gun. The firearm looked undamaged; its material might be special.
At that moment.
Clark spoke again.
“Did you find Luthor? His Doomsday is gone, and Ian robbed him twenty or thirty times. By his personality, he shouldn’t be this quiet.”
Superman still worried Luthor had a bigger conspiracy.
To this.
Batman knew more information.
“Our Luthor might be dead.” Batman’s voice was low. He recounted his previous encounter. “I met Parallel Universe Luthor before.”
Batman briefly described his conversation with Luthor.
Clark’s expression grew graver.
“Mourning your old rival?” Batman looked at him, corners of mouth slightly up, said gravely, “I remember you two once had a chance to be friends.”
Had to say.
Batman really knew detailed info on Superman.
Maybe more than Lois knew.
Clark didn’t answer, just looked up at the distance.
“I’m just thinking about invasions from other universes, and the so-called outer universe… Barry’s issue isn’t resolved yet.” After a moment of silence and thought, he spoke seriously.
Looked around.
Clark was surprised.
He actually saw Barry Allen’s figure in a Gotham research institute.
“My instrument is damaged, so Barry needs to help me quickly build a new Dream Detector to check the weird nightmares he says appear every night.”
Batman knew what Clark saw and proactively explained sincerely. God knows if he really needed help or wanted to study The Flash’s abilities.
Clark frowned.
But ultimately didn’t accuse Batman’s long-time sneaky behavior.
“First me, then Barry. Maybe you and others should be careful too.” He just reminded Batman. Intuition told him this disaster wouldn’t affect just two heroes.
Batman nodded.
His expression rarely showed gravity: “I’ve been preparing defenses, but effects aren’t great. Some force is influencing my personality.”
“It’s making it harder for me to control my own… desires and thoughts.” Batman didn’t conceal the anomaly on him; he’d noticed several times recently.
Hearing this.
Clark’s frown deepened. He used X-ray vision to check Batman’s whole body but found no erosion traces like his or The Flash’s.
“Maybe ask Ian?”
Old Father suggested.
He felt his youngest son knew more about this than others.
However.
“My situation is probably related to fusion with a universe isotope. Only I can figure out the solution. Fix your house first. I have lots to do.”
“Of course, if needed, I’ll come back for help.” Paranoid by nature, never pinning hopes on others, Batman tactfully refused.
He just turned to the descending new Batmobile. After the car door opened, he held the car door and looked back at Clark and his family behind.
“If the worst happens, you need to kill me first.” This man harsh on teammates and harsher on himself always planned for the worst.
“Honestly, I’ve been waiting for that day a long time.” Clark’s serious tone didn’t sound like joking, making Batman’s back chill.
“You sure know how to joke.”
Batman awkward-laughed twice, got into his Batmobile. The Batmobile silently slid into the night, carrying him back to his city of crime.
Deep into the night.
Settlement area’s people were far away.
Most already asleep.
Thus.
The Superman family started rebuilding their home under night cover. Clark used Heat Vision to precisely cut wood; Ian handed Old Father wood “airlifted” from the old home.
To save on price difference.
But wore out Jordan transporting back and forth.
Though.
He enjoyed it tirelessly, earning five US Dollars per trip. For his new girlfriend, Kent family’s second son worked very hard.
Jonathan helped Lois clear usable things from ruins.
He didn’t lose a single statue.
Truly miraculous.
“Ding ding ding~”
Just as Ian was about to use the restroom and make himself tea.
Clark’s mobile phone rang.
“For you.”
He strangely stared at Ian, handed the mobile phone to his youngest son. Seeing the caller ID 【Diana】, Ian looked somewhat happy.
“How is it!? Auntie Diana, heard you’re writing me an apology letter. Batman told me everything.” Ian now switched personas way more smoothly than before.
He always remembered what to say when.
“How exactly did you do it?” Diana didn’t ask why Ian did it; she knew asking was pointless. She just wanted to figure out when the Lasso of Truth was contaminated.
“Useful, right? If useful, that’s right. Pay to unlock Wonder Woman praise function.” Ian knew what she asked. He sneakily glanced around—Clark welding beams with Heat Vision, Lois sorting meager belongings, Jordan running with wood stacks.
“I just want to know what influence you added to it.” Diana wouldn’t be tempted; she couldn’t appreciate Ian’s creativity, didn’t see it as an upgrade to the Lasso of Truth.
Wonder Woman didn’t think herself paranoid; she was 100% sure Ian deliberately got bound by her, then defiled her… beloved divine artifact during binding.
“This is ‘Ian Whisper,’ like Odin’s curse on Mjolnir. What? You ask where Odin is? Next week multiple my comics release simultaneously. Uncle Bruce gave a very credible assurance. Auntie Diana, you really should catch up on new era magic knowledge.”
Ian was very serious.
Deep breathing came from Diana on the communicator.
Ian could almost imagine her crushing something.
“Restore it for me!”
Diana’s tone was very stifled.
“I want my original divine artifact back!”
Her attitude very firm.
“Gotta go, Mom’s coming. If she thinks I’m dating early, you’re done.” Ian pretended not to hear. He believed Auntie Diana hadn’t fully discovered his Lasso of Truth modifications.
If she found other functions.
Rigid, conservative Wonder Woman would be amazed by his modifications.
Understand his alchemy talent was equally outstanding.
“Oh right, remember to like me on Superhero Popularity Center, put in effort. If I have new ideas, I’ll upgrade Auntie Diana’s other outdated equipment.”
Clearly Ian saw his modification as a kindness.
He hung up.
Diana held the beeping phone, expression horrified.
“Like what?”
Bad premonition rose in her heart.
Fingers flew on the keyboard.
Screen’s blue light reflected on her furrowed brows.
She opened that world-famous site; the ominous premonition grew stronger—until clicking a hot video platform, homepage pushes made her pupils shrink.
《Hero’s Death: The Boy Forgotten by the Era.》
《He is the true guardian, betrayed by the world!》
《The youth from the sky, why vanished overnight?》
《Stocking Superman, true MVP falls!》
Many videos popped up.
Most popular video thumbnail.
A mosaic-faced boy lying in blood, surrounded by kneeling crying Justice League members—Superman clutching head roaring, The Flash kneeling.
And her own.
Snot already flowed to the ground; demigod snot was long enough.
“？？？？？？？”
Looking at the video with zero special effects traces.
Diana’s expression was spectacular.
Starting tomorrow, 3-day super big cup burst update phase. Not much draft, but staying up should be fine.
