The former Shangri-La, now the Desert of Death.
In the battle against Hecate, the Witch Mother turned this highland holy land near the southern slopes of the Himalayas directly into a sea of yellow sand and even created a Crow Death God trying to control a link in the cycle of reincarnation.
The altitude here is relatively high, so the great flood didn't affect this place. Perhaps this is the only desert currently existing on Earth.
Watching Bo Bo directing the Shadow Contracts at work, Su Ming, Diana, and Green Arrow sat relaxed on a nearby sand dune, having a tea party.
Oliver didn't know where Deathstroke got a cloth from, and pulled out a large pile of various foods placed on it. But these foods and drinks were full of exotic flair, a taste he had never tried before.
However, the surrounding desert was largely black, and a breeze occasionally brought a faint fishy smell, making him feel quite strange.
Diana helplessly held up a pretty little teacup, blowing the hot steam on the surface and sighed, "I wonder how the Justice League is doing, are we really okay having tea here?"
Su Ming, still dressed as Zorro, crossed his legs comfortably sitting on the cloth, holding a teacup: "I thought you lived in the United Kingdom for so many years, and you'd like tea."
"But now the situation doesn't look good. Do we really have the time to do such things?" Diana asked in confusion.
The fake Zorro wiped the two ends of his small mustache, raised the teacup to take a sip, and comfortably sighed, looking towards the horizon.
"Our current top priority is to activate the Magic Array to defend the entire Earth. Otherwise, the harassment by its kind or other dark monsters will be endless. How many people are there in the Justice League? Twenty-four hours a day, monsters constantly emerging in cities across the globe, even if the heroes fight and save people non-stop, how many days can they last?"
Oliver nodded, that was indeed the logic. If the other side had endless reinforcements, even if the monsters weren't strong, it was better to prevent their harassment first.
The monster invasions across various regions, regardless of the personnel casualties and property damages, the key was that it would make everyone lose their sense of security. If the electricity and signals hadn't yet been restored, the entire globe would have been in chaos by now.
Terrorist attacks are already troublesome enough; what if they were coming from monsters suddenly appearing from thin air?
Once people become divided, not even the Justice League could save the day.
Diana seemed to understand, she lowered her head and took a sip of tea, and the warm tea aroma slid across her mouth. She tucked her long hair behind her ear: "Then can't we do this with everyone in the Justice League?"
"I need them to attract Luthor's attention in the open; if we join forces, Luthor would notice us, making such a relaxed operation difficult."
Su Ming said calmly, although this was just one of the reasons.
Oliver nodded, though showing slightly concerned expressions: "In the rainforest of the Amazon Basin, the dense forests do obscure satellite prying, but here there's not even a blade of grass, Luthor should have seen what we're doing."
The Ancient Tree Sanctuary is located on the East Coast of South America, about 10 hours earlier than Shangri-La near Nepal, so when it's pitch dark there at 4 am, the sun hasn't set here yet.
Of course, Su Ming knew, hence the need for afternoon tea.
Hearing Oliver's doubts, Su Ming smiled and handed him a cake, which looked soil-colored and had a meat filling without cream but an unfamiliar spice on top.
"It's fine, Luthor is a billionaire, a scientist, but not a Mage. He won't understand it in a short time. His cautious nature means he won't take action without confidence; by the time he reacts, we'll be done."
Oliver, contemplating, subconsciously took the cake and put it in his mouth, chewed once and realized something was off, looked at the filling after taking it away.
"Is the cake filled with meat?"
"Yes, is it tasty?" Su Ming savored the red tea elegantly, enjoying the desert sunset.
"Surprisingly good, what kind of meat is this?" Oliver looked again carefully, seeing the white meat inside the cake in neat, thick stripes.
"Oh, crab meat cake, a specialty of the Twilight Forest." Su Ming lowered his teacup, seriously observing if Oliver had any signs of poisoning.
Oliver was clearly unaware of where the Twilight Forest was, he just thought the crab legs were really thick, without a trace of seafood odor, instead with a mountain delicacy flavor.
The mercenary who traversed north and south simply nodded in satisfaction; as long as Oliver found it tasty, it wasn't in vain that he brought this stuff back from Azeroth.
Twilight Forest was not near the sea, and what was called crab meat was actually white spider meat. The gigantic spiders there are wild, their diet includes wolves, bears, bats, werewolves, fish-men, and humans.
The well-fed spiders are naturally quite plump; generally, the meat of exoskeleton animals is quite tender.
But seeing Diana also interested in the crab meat cake, Su Ming still took out the strawberry ice cream from Tigule and Flor purchased in Stormwind City, diverting her attention.
So as they watched Oliver sucking on the spider leg meat like noodles, Diana stuck out her little tongue, savoring the ice cream, while Su Ming casually played with the sand.
Su Ming already knew what had just happened in the Hall of Justice, but now was not the time to reveal it. He squinted his eyes, as if the afterglow of the setting sun was truly dazzling.
...................
Batman clutched his stomach and stood up, slightly surprised because Lady Vic's employer was not the Joker, but Luthor.
Lady Vic's presence here was merely her mingling into the Joker's game. She was unfamiliar with the setup here, and of course, there weren't any traps she was aware of.
Thus, Batman's pre-battle plan succeeded, but the price paid was as expected, with the spot once injured by Bane now worsened.
It took a full five minutes until Lady Vic passed out from holding her breath through the intense fight.
Batman leaned against the wall and walked out of the gas-covered hallway. Colorful light spots fell on him as the surrounding speakers applauded, along with a lot of formulaic laughter.
He took the oxygen tank from his mouth and put it away, spitting out a mouthful of blood. When Lady Vic explained her intentions, Batman simply refused; he had nothing to discuss with Luthor.
These were conflicts of standpoint and worldview, not personal grudges.
Luthor wanted to use an alliance against the Joker and Laughing Bat as a condition to exchange for the 'Transcend' door handle in Justice League's hands, which was a pipe dream.
So even with injuries, Batman defeated Lady Vic; he needed to find Selena quickly.
At that moment, Alfred's report came through the pointed ears of Batman's helmet. Although the old butler maintained his elegant demeanor, his tone carried a rare tremble.
"Young Master Bruce, I think you should see this."
With that, Batman's Bat Terminal shook, receiving a new message sent by the surveillance drone hovering over Washington.
The video was short, just a few seconds, but it showed a blazing sun rising over the dark city. The white structure of the Hall of Justice was almost instantly obliterated by an explosion, with a massive mushroom cloud appearing.
Rolling black smoke and a powerful shockwave destroyed everything in the city, followed by a snowy screen.
Batman took a deep breath and exhaled slowly, continuing forward: "Have you confirmed the video's authenticity?"
"Yes, sir. Though we lack satellites, the instruments in the Bat Cave detected a strong earthquake in the Washington direction, which matches the timing," Alfred said, his tone heavy.
"I understand," Batman calmly replied, bending down to dismantle the Joker's second trap, this time fireworks, quite ordinary.
"Will your friends be alright?" Alfred pinched the earpiece, operating Brother Eye with the other hand.
"With Superman and The Flash, even a nuclear explosion at close range isn't a big issue." Batman picked up a firework, noting the Joker's laughing face on it: "With the Hall of Justice gone, it's merely a loss of a billion US dollars."
Since Young Master said it was okay, Alfred also had no issues: "I hope so, just worried about the civilian casualties."
"The Flash will save them. Now, activate all defenses of the manor and the Bat Cave, don the Batman Riot Control Armor, and guard our home."
"Understood, sir."
Alfred temporarily cut off communication, while Batman, initially confident, let out a breath. He hadn't said that the greatest loss was the super gadgets displayed in the Hall of Justice, and this meant the door handle might have fallen into someone else's hands.
The explosion turned the Hall of Justice to ashes, but an item like the door handle wouldn't be destroyed, which meant exploring the ruins to retrieve valuable items once the radiation subsided.
Batman thought of who could cause such a commotion; besides Laughing Bat, it would be no one else.
The Joker held no interest in cities beyond Gotham, and Luthor wasn't a madman. Only Laughing Bat, pursuing victory without scruples, would use nuclear weapons.
The crucial point was that the Justice League would naturally scatter, with Barry and Superman needing to save the entire city's people, effectively freeing them from action at that time.
The moment of the explosion, The Flash used static force to stop time around the nuclear bomb, and Superman probably had a few minutes to evacuate the city.
That would give Laughing Bat the chance to target Green Lantern Hero John and Hawk Woman, as saving people is a task done separately....
Coincidentally, such an attack was launched when Ron, the liaison, was absent, indicating that Laughing Bat had understood the situation at the Hall of Justice and seized the opportunity well.
He was also aware that in such a situation, Megan would likely panic, and mental contact would only spread fear.
The nuclear explosion occurred beneath the Hall of Justice, and there was no way to shirk off the blame.
If I'm not mistaken....
Laughing Bat's next plan is likely to restore global communication and electricity, and he definitely didn't return to Earth 0 alone.
Batman glanced back at the unconscious Lady Vic, squinting his eyes.