2158 Side Story: Post-Battle Mission 2

Luke had always been on the hunt for Simon.

In close to ten years, the only participants in this secret investigation were the clone and Dr. Haley, who had nothing to do with the Justice League.

Finally growing lax due to the quiet, Simon gradually started moving again according to his regular M.O., and only then did they find traces of him.

Before today, Luke had already done enough research and analysis to profile this extremely unusual Simon.

Relying on this profile, he sifted through Simon’s movements to his real trump card — his main body.

Killing just the part of Simon’s soul that was possessing a body, or part of the soul left behind by the main body, could only severely injure him; it was still possible for him to escape.

When the time came, Simon would definitely hide and wait for his damaged soul to slowly recover.

Thus, either they destroyed Simon’s main body and the body he was possessing at the same time, or they took action in the three days that it took for Simon’s soul to fully return to his main body.

Luke chose the second option because he had the witch.

First of all, she could sense when a person was possessed by Simon’s soul within a range of 500 meters.

Secondly, she could create an energy field with a range of 100 meters to restrict Simon’s soul transfer.

In short, the witch, whose powers had been triggered by the Mind Stone, was Simon’s natural enemy.

The Mind Stone and the Soul Stone could probably do all this, but the energy fluctuations from the Stones might alert Simon.

This was an extremely cautious guy. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have manipulated his mother into getting married and helped his stepfather’s company grow and make money.

He could transfer his soul with just a thought, without needing anything like a countdown.

Besides, using an Infinity Stone to torture this guy would be like using a cannon to shoot a mosquito.

With such a useful tool like the witch, Luke wasn’t interested in taking out the Mind and Soul Stones again, which had been sent to hidden locations out in the universe.

It had to be pointed out that for security reasons, the places in which he had stashed the stones were extremely troublesome, the kind of place where even he didn’t want to go again.

Partially learned Soul Transfer gave him a huge surprise — because it could be combined with the Star of Justice ability.

Compared with the original version, where Simon’s soul could run amok and possess bodies endlessly, the target of Luke’s Soul Transfer was limited to the Star of Justice clones.

Luke’s soul could inhabit either his main body or any one of his clones, and hence preserve his life.

Of course, if he encountered something similar to the “soul lock” attack which the system had hit Old Mephisto with, Luke and his clone wouldn’t be able to escape.

However, Luke’s soul was protected by Daddy System. Although he had to pay a fee (credit points), his life came first.

To sum up Luke’s situation, his main body and his three clones were equivalent to four databases which shared everything.

Destroying any one of them wouldn’t lead to his death.

As long as one of his clones was still alive, it wouldn’t be hard for his main body, which had Intermediate Self-Healing, to ‘grow’ back.

This also meant that from the moment Luke learned and absorbed Soul Transfer, his largest ‘weakness’ no longer existed.

Nobody could destroy him in one go.

In the end, Luke’s version of Soul Transfer had an additional advantage that Simon’s original version didn’t have. Simon had to return to his main body regularly to ‘recalibrate’ himself.

Because of the unique nature of the Star of Justice, Luke’s clones were actually part of his body.

So, he didn’t need to split his soul, but could move freely between his main body and his clones.

If any one of his clones was destroyed, his soul wouldn’t become as ‘brainless’ as Simon’s ‘soul fragment.’

Luke was happy, and suddenly realized: D*mn, the first ‘soul technique’ he had ever obtained in this life could also improve his survival ability?

I’m already very strong. Improving my survival ability… is naturally better. Luke smiled. Who would complain about better safety?

Apart from dropping the ‘best skill manual’ for Soul Transfer, Simon could also strip others of their abilities and use them for his own.

Breathing underwater, fighting, using firearms, and so on – some of them were worthwhile to some extent, and could be considered ‘gift bag extras.’

But Luke was glad that he had finally killed Simon here.

If Simon continued to hide like this, he might become a stunted version of Luke in the future.

Thankfully, Simon was limited in learning the abilities of others, and was far inferior to the system.

Certain abilities couldn’t coexist or couldn’t be learned fully, and it took a very long time to learn them.

It would take a year or two at least, or three to five years at most, to just barely reach 70 to 80% of the original owner’s level.

Simon was a lunatic who laid low.

When he was young, he had hidden behind his mother and stepfather as he silently built up his strength.

It wasn’t until he had done a lot of experiments in King’s Park Sanatorium and mastered the ability to rob others of their powers that his life entered a fast lane. Only then did he fall out with the other capitalist forces and cause a huge stir.

In the end, he had only gone wild for a few days before he was almost killed by the Joker.

Since then, Simon became very cautious. He harvested lone superhumans who had yet to be discovered, and rarely exposed himself.

However, this also greatly reduced the efficiency and quality of his ‘harvest.’

After all these years, he had only learned a handful of superpowers.

Even so, Simon still imagined himself hiding and cultivating → mastering divine abilities → breaking out of seclusion → becoming invincible.

Unfortunately, one of the biggest tragedies in life was meeting an enemy who suppressed you in everything.

There would always be someone better than you.

Simon, who had been hiding for years, felt that he was at least several times stronger than when he first met the Joker. The next time they met, he would get his revenge.

In the end, a certain cheat with 140 stats suddenly appeared. Small fry Simon didn’t even get the chance to resist before he was instantly killed.

Luck was also a type of strength.

In terms of strength, Simon, for whom life had once been smooth sailing, was crushed by Luke, who was even stronger; it was a complete tragedy.

…

Walking out of the apartment building, Wanda, who had been observing Big Dipper, couldn’t help but ask, “You… seem very happy?”

Big Dipper nodded. “Getting rid of that lunatic Simon was very important to me.”

Wanda nodded and continued walking.

Big Dipper stopped. “So, I should give you a reward.”

The witch had contributed a lot in Luke capturing Simon today and obtaining a top-notch skill like Soul Transfer.

Clearly, a reward of credit points wasn’t what she wanted the most, so he decided to help her solve a big problem.

Hearing that, Wanda grew curious. “What reward?”

Big Dipper looked at her. “After completing this mission, we can go on our long trip. But before that, I need to ask you some questions.”

Seeing his serious expression, Wanda’s heart couldn’t help but pound.

After taking two deep breaths, she asked, “What is it?”