A green laser beam shot from the muzzle of the gun, so fast that it pierced Bai Qi's chest directly.
Looking at Bai Qi, who had fallen to the ground, the smile on Lex Luthor's face gradually disappeared. He walked slowly to Bai Qi's "corpse" with the gun in his hand, crouched down, and said with a solemn expression, "No one in this world understands my heart. My defection to Darkseid was just a temporary measure. Only from this position can I create greater value for Earth."
It turned out that Lex Luthor had never truly defected to Darkseid. Perhaps it was out of pride, Luthor inwardly disdained all aliens from beyond Earth. Whether it was Superman before or Darkseid now, they were all the same in Luthor's eyes.
The reason for feigning allegiance to Darkseid was merely to use this position, relying on his power and status, to secretly aid Earth's resistance forces.
"Not bad, not bad at all. I knew the arrogant Lex Luthor would never be willing to serve under anyone."
Just as Luthor stood up, preparing to call the guards outside to clean up Bai Qi's "corpse," Bai Qi, who had been dead for a long time, suddenly sprang back to life and stood up. The gunshot wound on his chest was healing at a visible speed.
"You..."
Now it was Luthor's turn to have a headache. He had shot through the opponent's chest with an energy gun and thought the opponent was completely dead, so he hadn't been overly vigilant. Who would have expected that not only was the opponent not dead, but he had also overheard everything Luthor had said. This was becoming problematic.
Seeing the situation, Bai Qi stopped pretending and directly stated his stance, clearly indicating that he was on Darkseid's side.
Everything that had happened before was just a test, an attempt to gauge Lex Luthor's stance, whether it was with Apokolips or Earth. The facts proved that no matter what world it was, Lex the Bald was always Lex the Bald.
With things having reached this point, Luthor knew that no matter how he tried to conceal it, it was useless. He had no choice but to have an open conversation with Bai Qi.
After their conversation, Bai Qi discovered that although this world was a parallel universe of DC, it was still different from the main universe. For example, there was no Illuminati in this world. Most of the time, villains fought their own battles. Even if they occasionally formed small alliances, they were quickly thwarted by the heroes of the Justice League and could never gain any traction. Luthor, due to his pride, had always disdained associating with other villains.
Luthor had been in this position for many years. Not only had he secretly funded resistance forces everywhere, but he had also been secretly accumulating power. He had covertly manufactured weapons using artificial Kryptonite and stored them in this office, waiting for the time to counterattack.
Bai Qi also informed Luthor about the plans of Clark and the others.
Upon hearing the plan Clark was about to execute, Luthor was first stunned, then vehemently protested, "No, attacking Apokolips is too risky. Has he forgotten that it was because he led the Justice League's main force to attack Apokolips that the current situation arose?"
Bai Qi tapped the table, signaling Luthor not to get so agitated.
"Clark's actions are indeed a bit radical, but Earth has no more time. The Planet Destroyers are already siphoning the planet's energy. You don't have much time left."
Luthor wanted to retort, but the words caught in his throat. As Bai Qi said, their time was running out.
The three machines named Planet Destroyers were deployed on Earth's surface the moment Apokolips occupied the planet. These three machines were constantly extracting magma from Earth's interior and transferring it back to Apokolips. Furthermore, Apokolips's unrestrained destructive plundering over the years had left the planet on the verge of collapse, in imminent danger.
Just moments ago, Luthor had reported to Batman that the last batch of resources extracted from Earth had been shipped to Apokolips. With this, Earth would become a worthless hollow shell, with only destruction awaiting it.
After extracting Earth's last bit of magma, the three Planet Destroyers would operate simultaneously, completely tearing the planet apart.
Therefore, Earth truly had little time left.
Bai Qi looked at the troubled Luthor and said, "I have evaluated this plan. Theoretically, the chance of success is very high. Soon, Darkseid will be going to Oa, which will be Apokolips's weakest moment."
"Alright," Luthor nodded and said, "How do you need me to help them? You should know that I'm already being monitored by Batman. Not to mention anything else, opening a Boom Tube to Apokolips will be detected by him. At that time..."
Luthor stopped before he could finish, as if he had realized something.
Bai Qi said without reservation, "To increase the success rate of Superman and the others, we must weaken Apokolips's defenses as much as possible, and Apokolips's most powerful defense is a large number of Parademons."
Bai Qi's words were very clear.
When Batman detected the opening of the Boom Tube, with his intelligence, he would surely guess that Luthor had betrayed them. Batman, who already harbored suspicions about Luthor, would not miss this opportunity. He would definitely dispatch a large number of Parademons to attack Luthor's location. In this way, it would indirectly weaken Apokolips's defensive strength.
However, this would turn Luthor's location into a battlefield. Facing a massive number of Parademons, no one would survive. All the remaining personnel would die, including Luthor.
Bai Qi thought Luthor was afraid of death and said, "You can choose to escape after opening the Boom Tube, and then..."
"No," Luthor interrupted before Bai Qi could finish. His eyes were firm as he said, "Even with a mortal body, I have never feared death."
Bai Qi was very satisfied with Luthor's resolute gaze. He took out five Dragon Symbol Lantern Rings and placed them on the desk.
"What is this? It doesn't look like a Green Lantern ring."
Luthor was a man of experience, yet he couldn't recognize the five rings before him. They bore some resemblance to Green Lantern rings, but they were not.
"Don't compare those cheap Green Lantern rings with my Dragon Symbol Lantern Rings," Bai Qi said. "Compared to Green Lantern rings, my Dragon Symbol Lantern Rings are much more powerful. As long as you wear one, even an ordinary person can gain immense strength. With these five Lantern Rings, you can quickly create five powerful combat units, a reward for your resolve and courage."
Although Luthor didn't particularly like Bai Qi's choice of words, he didn't refuse. He picked up a Dragon Symbol Lantern Ring first, played with it for a moment, and then put it on his hand.
The moment he finished wearing it, Luthor felt a surge of power course through his entire body.
"This feeling is amazing."