OBS Chapter 4392 Project Far Star ( )
Chapter 4392 Project Far Star ( )
Chapter 4392 Project Far Star (Part 10)
Mera, guided by her memory, led Arthur deeper into the trench. Along the way, Arthur saw many strange and bizarre fish monsters. However, he wasn't afraid; he just found them a little comical.
As they passed a fish-like monster that looked like seaweed, Arthur absentmindedly grabbed its whiskers, nearly causing the creature to fall flat on its face. Mera quickly pulled his hand back. Arthur smiled at her.
“Sorry, I just wanted to distract myself,” Arthur sighed. Mera was somewhat exasperated, but she kept a close eye on him the whole way, preventing him from harming the sea monsters again.
“Many Trench people have intellectual disabilities,” Mera said, “roughly equivalent to a four or five-year-old human child. You can’t bully children.”
“Well,” Arthur said, “I actually think they’re quite cute.”
Mera frowned and looked Arthur up and down. Could this guy have some kind of aesthetic problem?
Have you heard of the uncanny valley effect?
Mera shook her head, so Arthur began to explain: "The uncanny valley effect refers to the fear a person feels when they see something that looks like a human but isn't."
What does it mean to be like a human, but not a human?
"It looks very similar to a human, but there are subtle differences. Or it has some human limbs, but it is not human."
"so what?"
"The reason why you Atlanteans feel disgust and fear when you see the Trench people is probably due to the uncanny valley effect. Because your true form is mermaids, when you see these fish-like monsters, you feel that they are similar to you, but also different, and that makes you feel afraid."
“But it’s different for me. I grew up on land and have never seen a long-legged fish. So these monsters aren’t that scary to me, and some are even kind of ugly-cute.” Arthur shrugged.
“I see,” Mera nodded. “Then are you scared when you see my fish tail?”
"You have a fish tail?" Arthur seemed quite surprised.
“Of course I do,” Mera said.
"But aren't you from the Kingdom of Zebel? You look just like the Kingdom of Atlantis?"
"We collectively refer to ourselves as the Atlantis Civilization, and I also refer to myself as an Atlantean when speaking to others. According to your human naming conventions, we should be called the United Kingdom of Atlantis. However, one of our kingdoms is called the Kingdom of Atlantis."
“Like the Commonwealth and England?” Arthur muttered to himself.
“More or less,” Mera said. “Apart from the Trench people, the bloodlines of the other Atlanteans are not that different. We have both fish-like and human-like forms.”
"Can you let me see your tail?" Arthur asked, a little curious.
Mera rolled her eyes and said, "Of course not. Females in the Kingdom of Zebel only grow tails when they mate..."
Arthur's eyes widened. "Mating? But...but...you can only mate with things that have tails...?"
Mera rolled her eyes again and said, "Of course not. We don't mate using our tails. That's just for courtship dances. Before mating, the male and female chase and dance so that the offspring will be stronger."
"Ahem..." Arthur coughed twice, then said, "What if you can't jump?"
“Someone will jump.” Mera crossed her arms and remained silent.
Although the conversation was a bit bizarre, it did a good job of distracting Arthur, who was now preoccupied with whether he could have a fish tail.
They swam to the depths of the trench, passed through a dark underwater cave, and swam past many seaweed plants. Suddenly, the view opened up before them. A throne hall made up of various luminous underwater plants appeared, and sitting on the throne was a four-legged fish.
“Your Majesty,” Mera bowed to him, then said, “It’s been a long time. This is the new king of Atlantis.”
The merman immediately jumped up from his throne, and after standing up, he rattled off a string of words that Arthur couldn't understand a word of. Mera was a little embarrassed. She said, "No, no, no, he's not inviting you to a wedding. He's not Orm, he's Orm's brother Arthur... no, no, no, it's not... I..."
Mera took a deep breath and said, "We've come to ask for your help. The Amazons are under attack, and we hope Atlantis can send troops to help. But the Seven Ocean Races..."
Before Mera could finish speaking, a merman swam swiftly to the king and whispered a few words to him. The merman king jumped up again and shouted in a shrill voice.
Mera's face suddenly turned very pale, and Arthur asked her, "What's wrong?"
"Winged mechanical monsters have invaded Atlantis!" Mera turned to Arthur and said, "They're Parademons!"
The two looked out of the trench at the same time, their gazes passing over the ocean currents to reach the barrier of the Kingdom of Atlantis. At this moment, the warriors of the seven ocean races were already locked in battle with the Parademons.
They could choose not to help the Amazons, but they couldn't abandon their homeland. Naval warfare should have been their domain. However, Steppenwolf's search for the Queen in the Amazons ended in failure, and he had now escaped Ron and arrived at the gates of Atlantis.
“Something’s not right,” Arthur said as he swam out of the water. “He has no reason to come to Atlantis. Unless…”
"Unless what?"
“Unless what he’s looking for is right here,” Arthur said, looking at Mera. “Have you ever heard of the Mother Box?”
Mera shook her head and said, "Absolutely not. But I'm also from the new generation, and I don't know anything about ancient things. If that thing existed a long time ago, I can't be sure..."
Arthur's expression grew increasingly grim. He said, "First the Amazons, then Atlantis. Who gave him the clues to the Mother Box?"
The first image that flashed through Arthur's mind was, of course, Victor's face. Diana herself had said that Victor was connected to the Mother Box, so only he should know its location.
At this moment, Arthur didn't doubt Victor's betrayal. He was just worried that Steppenwolf might have other methods to obtain information from Victor. After all, Victor's subordinates, those monsters called Parademons, were equipped with advanced technology. He must come from a very advanced civilization, and Victor's hacking skills might not be enough against him; he might even be able to intercept information from him.
Thinking of this, Arthur stopped and turned to Mera, saying, "I'll hold off that monster, you go and release Orm."
"what?!"
“He wants to conquer the continent, not destroy the Earth, much less destroy Atlantis. He can't cooperate with Steppenwolf. If we release him, he can only fight Steppenwolf with us.”
"But he can't even beat you!"
“He has connections with the Ancients.” Arthur’s thoughts finally became clear. “Remember? He personally went to the Ancients in Atlantis to inquire about the Golden Trident. So this Ancient might also know about the Mother Box. After we defeat Steppenwolf, I’ll have him take me to the Ancients.”
Mera pursed her lips, realizing this was the best approach. So she said, "Be very careful."
After the two separated, Arthur rushed to the barrier as fast as he could. He raised his trident and shouted, "Long live Atlantis!"
The seawater converged into ocean currents, which in turn coalesced into a terrifying ocean storm, tearing apart all the oncoming Parademons almost instantly. Steppenwolf turned his head, and the instant his gaze met Arthur's, a great battle was about to erupt.
Barry slept restlessly in Metropolitan Hospital. He dreamt of many things he had seen in Louise's photographs, all of which were now playing out in his dreams.
A homeless person freezing to death on the street, a drug addict dying in childbirth, an infant convulsing on the ground, a charred child's corpse...
Barry trembled violently, yet remained unconscious, only able to let out helpless, painful groans as he struggled in bed, his sweat soaking the sheets. Suddenly, a flash of blue light appeared, and the entire hospital building began to shake.
Louise downstairs jumped to her feet and instinctively looked out the window, but quickly realized that the problem was upstairs.
She quickly put down her water glass and ran out the door. Entering the corridor, she saw countless blue lightning bolts leaping about. A nurse pushed open the door and was about to be hit by the blue lightning when Louise rushed over and pushed her away.
"Run! Don't touch that thing!!!"
Her shout had a great effect; everyone around her quickly ran downstairs. Only Louise ran upstairs and rushed into Barry's ward.
As soon as she pushed open the door, the room was filled with blue light. Louise shouted, "Barry! Barry Allen! Wake up!!!"
No matter how much she called out, Barry wouldn't wake up. Fortunately, the strange phenomenon had already spread outside the building. Hal, inside headquarters, seemed to sense something amiss. The moment he flew out of the base, he saw an eerie blue light flashing in the direction of the hospital.
He flew over at top speed, instinctively enveloping the entire building in green light energy. Louise clung tightly to the doorframe, watching as the blue lightning gradually disappeared. Barry, sitting up in bed, had a yellow light in his eyes.
Hal flew in from the balcony, paused for a moment when he saw Lois, but was more concerned about Barry. He went to the bedside, shook Barry awake, and said, "Barry, what's wrong? How did the Speed Force go out of control?"
Barry woke up groggily, but quickly gripped the sheets tightly, his face filled with terror. He looked at Hal and said, "I...I had a nightmare..."
Hal was somewhat surprised. He said, "A nightmare? What did you dream about that scared you like that?"
“I…I don’t quite remember.” Barry looked blank again. “Anyway, it was something terrifying.”
Louise was clearly much more professional than Hal. She walked over and said, "Don't think about what you dreamed about. Think about what the last thing you saw when you woke up was."
“A green light,” Barry said after thinking carefully. “A green light appeared, and then all those terrible things disappeared.”
“That’s my green light energy,” Hal said. “That doesn’t seem like a very useful clue.”
“No, this is important,” Louise said. “The energy you used didn’t directly touch him, but it immediately brought him out of control. This proves that the things that are harassing Barry are probably afraid of you.”
Hal then realized what was happening. Although he had just realized that the Speed Force seemed to be out of control, his priority was to save the building, since there were still many ordinary people trapped inside. So he didn't use the Green Lantern energy to directly contact Barry, but instead used the energy to protect the building to prevent it from collapsing.
The fact that Barry was immediately freed from his nightmares and even out of control without any direct contact with him suggests that the Green Light energy may have severed some of the energy controlling Barry.
"But I set up a barrier here before, why didn't it work?" Hal asked. He looked around, but because he had just used green light energy to protect the building, he couldn't tell whether the green light energy he had left behind was still there.
“That barrier must have run out of energy,” Louise asked. “It’s very likely that he attacked more than once, but rather that he had been trying to break through the barrier for many days and exhausted his energy before finally making contact with Barry.”
“And another important clue,” Louise said, “when Barry woke up, I saw a yellow light in his eyes.”