Multiverse: Deathstroke

Chapter 300: Ch.299 Persuasion

Chapter 300: Ch.299 Persuasion

Su Ming made a noncommittal sound, not giving any clear response. The temporal projection before them shifted rapidly through the years, and soon they were standing on the rooftop opposite the New York Stock Exchange during the 1929 stock market crash. People lined up beside them, one after another, jumping in despair.

"You were planning to play the stock market next, to make even more money, so I had Heine cooperate with you again. I made it easy for you to short the market, giving you money directly, even adding a tenfold leverage."

Kang shook his head, as if lamenting his own unseen efforts, though he believed those investments held value now.

He often did things like this, leveraging his foresight to invest in capable individuals.

When those individuals learned of his hidden contributions, they would often feel grateful, or at the very least, stop opposing him.

Su Ming nodded at this, watching the historical images of people plummeting to the ground, as if witnessing a fully immersive historical film.

"Back then, I already sensed something was off. The money came too easily... As far as I know, no one can short at the peak, cash out entirely, and escape trouble. That just doesn't happen in any history. But I only had suspicions, and since I was benefiting, I didn't dig deeper."

Kang nodded as he observed the people smashing against the pavement below. "That's exactly how it went. And it was Heine helping you all along—the same android you've killed three times."

"He deserved it. I'm guessing he's also the one who tampered with my tech?" Su Ming let out a cold chuckle, gesturing for Kang to continue. "All this time, I felt like someone was watching me. I thought it might have been another player, but it turns out it was him. And he didn't seem to like sewers much."

"Well, he is an android. The primitive microorganisms in sewers during this era are highly harmful to his systems... Is that why you kept hiding in sewers?" Kang turned his head, looking at Su Ming with a hint of surprise.

"Hah, what else did you think? For fun?"

Kang sighed, steering the conversation away as the scene shifted again, showing the events that followed. "After you made money in the stock market, instead of figuring out how to make more, you began researching future weapons. That wasn't exactly friendly toward me. The U.S. has plenty of tech geniuses, but you should know, Germany's industrial base is almost on par with America's—though their mobilization capabilities fall short. If we both started building with the same blocks, you might finish before me."

"So, you glued my blocks together because you were afraid."

Su Ming looked at him mockingly, shaking his head.

"It wasn't fear, just eliminating an unstable element in this timeline, steering time toward a future I could predict."

Kang emphasized that it wasn't fear—it was planning. But Su Ming knew otherwise: he was afraid.

There was no need to push him on this point, though. What mattered most was understanding how his technology had been sealed off.

The scene changed again, showing a night when the Blue Glove sneaked into a building, scattering some shimmering powder over a sleeping man.

"What is this?"

"This is what blocked your technology. It's a form of micro-nanomachinery with phase-shift capabilities, powered by hydrogen from the air—a little helper I brought from the distant future."

The man asleep with a nightcap on, unaware of anything, was the old lawyer whom Su Ming had nicknamed "Vodka."

At that time, whenever Su Ming acquired factories or hired scientists, Vodka handled all the contracts.

This must have been how Kang's strange "dandruff" dispersed among all the scientists and equipment, subtly hypnotizing them or disrupting their machines so they could never produce the inventions Su Ming desired.

Any time a new scientist joined, these micro-machines would "infect" them too.

But if Su Ming's projects didn't pose a threat to Kang, the micro-machines wouldn't interfere, allowing Wilson Enterprises to produce a variety of everyday goods.

This was the source of the "curse" that had always plagued Wilson Enterprises.

"Can you do something about this 'dandruff' of yours?" Su Ming wasn't interested in anything else.

Kang glanced at him, understanding Su Ming's intent. "In this era, it's impossible. Even I couldn't retrieve them. It would take around 2,000 years of industrial advancement for this world to reach that level of technology."

Well, it seemed this process was irreversible. But it didn't matter much. Su Ming had never considered himself a scientist or aimed to create futuristic technology.

At most, he just wanted to launch a few satellites to make his work easier in the future.

But Kang, overly paranoid, worried that Su Ming would reach his level of technology, so he had preemptively shut down his scientific ambitions.

Over the next decade or so, Su Ming focused on consumer goods while Kang built his mechs in secret.

That divergence in focus led to vastly different outcomes.

Kang then showed Su Ming many more instances where the Blue Glove had assisted Wilson Enterprises, often directly injecting money. Kang's actions seemed to emphasize that he had always harbored no ill intent.

He highlighted that Wilson Enterprises, through its consumer goods and the Blue Glove's aid, had made far more money than it ever would have through arms sales.

He claimed he had never shortchanged the Deathstroke, having paid him in advance.

The next scenes had less to do with Su Ming directly, focusing instead on how Kang used the Super Soldier experiment with Captain America to attract the attention of all the secret organizations. Nearly all the spies on the streets that day had been tipped off by the Blue Glove through various means.

Then, Kang showed how he used Namor to misdirect everyone, making them believe the little dictator was obsessed with flawed technologies, even sparking a mutant arms race to some extent. But in reality, Kang was building mechs in Berlin, refining productivity.

Kang liked to showcase his plans, aiming to prove his brilliance. His childhood, filled with classmates calling him "dimwit," had left deep scars.

He was always eager to prove them wrong. In a sense, Kang had severe psychological issues and mental disorders.

Otherwise, who would be so bored as to slice up time for fun? It served no real purpose.

Soon, the scenes faded, and they found themselves seated at the desk once more, unchanged from where they had started.

"Now you understand—I only want to conquer this world. It's the process that matters to me." Kang spoke passionately, clenching his fist like the little dictator he had once impersonated. "After that, I could give you this world, letting you become the ruler of this timeline."

Su Ming sighed and suddenly shot the Blue Glove who had just entered the room, killing him again.

Kang's offer was deceptively appealing. Someone unfamiliar with the Marvel Universe might even believe it, thinking he genuinely intended to gift a world.

But in reality, if Kang achieved his goal, the world would become a time anomaly, severed from the time stream, forever without a future.

It would be like the malformed Dark Multiverse worlds on the DC side—destined for destruction.

Something that appeared so enticing was merely an illusion, like the moon's reflection in water—not the real thing. It wasn't what Su Ming desired.

Kang's promises were mere mirages, akin to a photograph of the world frozen in time.

Besides, thinking money alone would make Deathstroke fight for him? How naive.

Seeing these past scenes didn't inspire gratitude in Su Ming. Instead, it only made him angrier.

He didn't believe a word of Kang's supposed goodwill and disliked being manipulated. His mind now raced with thoughts of how best to kill Kang.