Batman Incident (11)

In the laboratory of Stark Tower, Peter spread his hands and said, "That’s the situation. There are two vampire factions, and this so-called descent of the Bat God. What do you think?"

While repairing his armor, Stark said, "As expected. Those moderates are only moderate on the surface, but quite a few people actually believed their nonsense. They kept coming forward to call for an end to the war, and those people really believed they could coexist peacefully with humans."

Schiller frowned and said, "Are you sure Deacon said with absolute certainty that the Bat God’s power would descend?"

"Yes, and he even gave a specific time: tonight, when the moonlight is at its brightest."

"It will descend directly without any ritual?"

"That should be the case. He specifically emphasized that our response would be useless."

Watching Schiller sink into thought, Steve polished the damaged part of his shield and said, "This is a little strange, isn’t it? I’ve fought plenty of evil creatures too. Their so-called divine descents were usually just strange methods of strengthening themselves. But now he’s saying that one of a god’s guardians will personally descend. Who could it be?"

Schiller seemed to have some suspicions. He said, "We’ll know tonight."

The moment he finished speaking, Nick called. Schiller said into the phone, "…Is that so? All right, send someone to pick me up… They’ve already organized the materials? Then forget it, just transmit them directly…"

"What are you up to now?" Stark asked, sticking his head out from behind the armor.

Jarvis beeped twice and said, "Mr. Schiller, your files have been transmitted to Printing Device No. 1…"

Schiller walked over to the printer, picked up the stack of papers, flipped through them, and read for a while before saying, "The experts Nick found aren’t bad. These materials are organized quite professionally."

Steve leaned over curiously, and Peter craned his neck to look as well. Honestly, they were all quite uneasy about some of Schiller’s plans now, because you never knew whether the plan he pulled out would be brilliant or leave you seeing black.

Steve caught sight of some words on the report and said strangely, "Analysis basis for bat bloodline theory? What is that? Bats have bloodline theory now?"

"Let me ask you a question." Schiller tapped the table, drawing everyone’s attention.

"Let’s assume—just assume—that these vampires’ blood really contains some factor capable of extending a person’s lifespan. Do you think every vampire’s blood would contain this factor?"

"Uh, wouldn’t it?" Peter scratched his head.

"Then do you think the concentration of that factor in their blood might differ? Would those high-level vampires who can use magic possess more of it than other vampires?"

Steve opened his mouth and said, "I can’t really answer that, because I don’t actually believe their blood contains a factor that can grant immortality…"

Stark pursed his lips and said, "Actually, that makes some sense. High-level vampires know more magic than ordinary vampires, they’re stronger, and the bats they transform into are larger. Logically speaking, their blood should indeed be more effective."

"That makes sense too." Peter crossed his arms. "Otherwise, what would distinguish them from those vampires who can’t use magic?"

"Then let’s reason backward. Wouldn’t the vampires with more of this factor in their blood have purer bloodlines?"

The sound of Stark working on the armor stopped. He was no fool and immediately understood what Schiller meant. He said incredulously, "Don’t tell me you want humans to define which vampires have pure bloodlines?"

"Why not?" Schiller spread his hands. "Humans have now discovered this mysterious factor in their blood. We conducted a series of rigorous scientific analyses and ultimately reached the conclusion that different vampires contain different amounts of it."

"Indeed, we use scientific methods while they are magical creatures. But after using magic for so many years, they still haven’t figured out where their own bloodlines come from."

"We’re merely offering them one possibility. It’s just a coincidental little discovery."

"Humans are only analyzing and proving things from an objective perspective. Of course, there’s a reason human technology has developed so quickly. Our analysis is rigorous. Look…"

Schiller placed the papers in his hand on the table and pointed them out to the people who had gathered around. "Look here. This is the conclusion reached by theological research experts from the Vatican. They call the Immortality Factor the ‘Blood of Cain.’ They believe that modern vampires are all Cain’s descendants, and the higher the concentration of this factor, the closer their blood relation to Cain and the nobler their bloodline."

"And this report was provided by Osborn. He believes the Immortality Factor grants vampires tremendous power. The more of it they possess, the stronger they are. Therefore, the difference in the amount of this factor is exactly what distinguishes high-level vampires from ordinary vampires."

"You made that up so well I’m almost convinced," Stark said. "If I remember correctly, didn’t we make up the Immortality Factor in the first place?"

"What nonsense are you talking about? Don’t you remember? This is a major event in the development history of both the Stark and Osborn families!"

Then Stark listened, completely dumbfounded, as Schiller told him an entirely new version of the rise of the Stark and Osborn families.

In Schiller’s backstory, old Stark and old Osborn had embarked on a magnificent adventure against vampires in their youth.

It all began with a night of romance between Howard and a female vampire…

After hearing it, Stark was utterly stunned. He said, "You’re saying Howard slept with a female vampire, then stole her blood out of curiosity and discovered this factor through research…"

"Then, limited by his biological knowledge, he sought out old Osborn to cooperate. The two confirmed the existence of the factor and even completely analyzed its structure."

"After that, the research results were leaked, the vampire clans discovered them and hunted them down, and most of the materials were eventually lost. Norman and I were merely restoring that part of the research????"

"This…" Stark looked as though he had been choked.

Steve, however, nodded repeatedly as he listened. He said, "This story is very reasonable—far more reasonable than Howard’s floating car company experience. And the most reasonable part is the one where your father slept with a female vampire. Schiller, I have to say, I’m starting to think you knew Howard too."

"Don’t talk nonsense. This came directly from old Stark’s son, young Stark. It has nothing to do with me."

"I…" Before Stark could open his mouth to object, Steve said, "Indeed, I think the story should go like this. Young Stark, who once ran an arms business, came to his senses. Unable to sleep at night in the face of vampires’ ruthless slaughter of humanity, he eventually found clues among part of his father’s legacy. Then he proactively sought out Norman, and together they uncovered the research results of the previous generation…"

"That’s right. The Stark family has always taken humanity’s rise and fall as its own responsibility. No matter which Stark it is, they have always cared deeply for the nation and its people. What a touching story!"

Schiller said in an exaggerated tone, "A relay across generations between father and son, the inheritance of the same wisdom, and an embodiment of the same noble character!"

Stark was completely dumbfounded. After standing there in a daze for a long time, he finally rubbed his nose and said, "Fine, but I hope you remove the part about me being unable to sleep. Even if I couldn’t sleep, Howard wouldn’t be what I was thinking about."

Steve came over and patted Stark’s shoulder. "It’s fine. If you’re unhappy with that part, we can arrange a female vampire for you too…"

"No need!" Stark shouted. Then he asked suspiciously, "Jarvis, Pepper isn’t on the line, is she?"

"No, sir, but she may connect at any time."

"Then there really is no need," Stark said immediately.

"So what are we making up this story for?" Peter asked. He still couldn’t quite understand all the twists and turns involved.

Schiller pointed at the contents of the report and said, "There have always been different factions among vampires. Now humans have produced a fairly convincing research result proving that some of them may be nobler than others. What do you think they’ll do?"

"But they don’t necessarily have to acknowledge human research, do they? Forget that we made it up—even if we hadn’t, they could still deny it…"

"What if I tell them that whichever faction acknowledges this research first, we’ll announce that, according to our investigation, everyone in that faction is Cain’s direct descendant, with enormous amounts of the Immortality Factor in their blood, and that they should have been vampire royalty?"

Steve thought for a moment and said, "That really is a good way to divide them. Different vampire factions fight among themselves too. To gain the upper hand over other factions, they’ll naturally look everywhere for evidence proving that they are more justified. Bloodline theory is actually quite powerful evidence."

"In order to gain more benefits for their own faction and prove themselves more orthodox, many vampires will certainly support this bat bloodline theory of their own accord."

Steve’s gaze fell on the materials on the table. He said, "Vampires have fought each other for so many years, yet they’ve never been able to produce evidence proving that their bloodlines are nobler. But humans have given them that opportunity."

"Essentially, they don’t care whether their bloodlines are truly noble. They only need to be nobler than everyone else."

"Exploitation has always existed." Schiller also looked at the report. "But if they lack a legitimate reason to exploit other vampires, then we’ll give them one."

"They want to infect us physically, turn more humans into vampires, expand their own population, gradually infiltrate human society, and then manipulate the entire human race…"

Schiller’s voice remained calm and even, but it sent chills down the spines of everyone present.

"Then we’ll infect them mentally. We’ll give them the dregs humanity has developed over thousands of years: the divine right of kings, Dynastic legitimacy, pureblood supremacy… Humanity’s internal strife has always been Eternity’s main theme. When it comes to internal attrition, vampires are child’s play compared to humans."

"Build a pyramid of exploitation. Seal off every avenue of advancement. Let birth determine everything, with no chance of ever turning one’s life around."

"If they still don’t plan to develop that way, we can give them a helping hand."

"Pureblood vampires will be nobler than other vampires, and they’ll exploit those other vampires. But those vampires still have to live, so they too will need to find another target to exploit—someone lower than them…"

"Who will they exploit?" Peter asked.

"Only vampires transformed from humans." Schiller’s tone began to turn cold.

"That exploitation will be even crueler than what exists within their own race."

"And when all humans can see the miserable fate of human-transformed vampires being exploited within vampire society, they will no longer cling to the hope that they can somehow muddle through even after being transformed. Rather than become a vampire and live in unimaginable misery, they might as well end it all."

Peter shuddered. Schiller continued, "When there is no longer any fresh blood entering their ranks, or when fresh blood becomes increasingly scarce, their society will become completely closed."

"At that point, without a vast lower class for them to continue exploiting, the original middle class will fall into the lower class."

"And because there are too few in the middle class while the upper class refuses to reduce its exploitation and lower its quality of life, the exploitation borne by each member of the middle class will grow more and more severe until they can no longer survive…"

"Then one day…" Steve began, but Schiller said with an unreadable meaning, "The exploited will need ideological weapons to guide them."

Stark fell silent for a moment. Then he said, "My weapons might destroy the crown of a great tree, but you are burning its roots."

"Just as I once said, sometimes words are more powerful than fists."