Chapter 1838 - Carrot and Stick, and Scientific Experiment

Naturally, Luke didn’t answer Jiaying’s questions. This woman was a real schemer.

If it were anyone else but Big Dipper, they might not necessarily be able to control the situation.

The Dark Knight’s principle was no killing, and there were Inhumans in Afterlife who could treat external injuries, so it would be hard for him to intimidate them.

So, when Luke appeared as Big Dipper, he could find a person who was bright red in the system to kill as a warning to the others.

In the end, Jiaying knew better than to let things get to that point.

Since he could shear these sheep in a relaxed and continuous manner, Luke didn’t mind being a little nicer to the shepherd, Jiaying.

Given how often successful awakenings happened in Afterlife, he could come back in a year or two to shear the sheep once more.

If a suitable ability appeared before then, Luke didn’t mind doing a surprise inspection.

The outcome of the negotiation between Big Dipper and Jiaying was an agreement over surveillance and security.

Big Dipper represented the Bat Squad and would provide protection and aid whenever Afterlife was in danger.

The condition was that Afterlife’s Inhumans had to be monitored and couldn’t commit crimes in human society.

This scope largely referred to vicious crimes like murder and arson, drug trafficking and human trafficking.

This was basically the same as what the Bat Squad targeted on a daily basis.

Nobody would care about something like Gordon’s illegal trespassing, much less the Bat Squad.

Jiaying had nothing to say.

The Bat Squad had always focused on criminal activity. It wasn’t like she could say that Inhumans had the right to kill and sell drugs and people, right?

First of all, she wasn’t a big enough figure for the Bat Squad to give Afterlife the green light.

Secondly, it was very easy for Inhumans to commit crimes if they wanted to after they awakened.

It was very easy to rake in money.

Inhumans had superpowers, but it was human nature to be indolent; it was impossible for Inhumans to not like money.

Why were there so few people in Afterlife? Because there weren’t that many idiots who were willing to stay in this poor valley.

If Afterlife was set up in New York and treated accordingly, it would be crowded with people who wanted to enter.

In the name of the vigilante Bat Squad, it made sense for Big Dipper to supervise and share intelligence on ‘wild’ Inhumans.

During negotiations, Jiaying resisted for a long while, but in the end, she gave in to Big Dipper and the Bat Squad, and agreed to this most disadvantageous condition.

To a certain extent, Afterlife had become a ‘protected’ territory under the Bat Squad.

However, Luke wouldn’t be a regular ” ‘military’ presence in Afterlife, nor did he need them to pay him a huge protection fee.

Instead, Afterlife now had a connection to the bigshot; if it made good use of this connection, it would be able to expand rapidly.

To offer the carrot after using the stick – this method had always been this simple yet practical.

That was why Jiaying was both pained and happy.

But when Afterlife developed in the future, who knew if she could still be the boss.

Jiaying dreamed of establishing a nation of Inhumans.

In comparison, a member’s right to speak in the Bay Squad had nothing to do with whether or not they had superpowers.

A nation of Inhumans wasn’t something that could be achieved in a short period of time.

Even if it came true, Afterlife would definitely be even more obedient then.

After all, time was always on the cheat’s side.

…

In the next few days, Luke returned to research mode.

After obtaining these new abilities, he had to first figure out their effects and limits so that he had a clear understanding of his own combat ability.

It would also give him some idea on whether to use the Level 1 or Level 2 clone in a major incident.

Although his opponents were crushed either way most of the time, there was no harm in studying the possibilities first.

Never fight an unprepared battle. That was Luke’s principle.

It wasn’t that he couldn’t deal with a surprise attack, but that there should still be a mature and reliable contingency plan even in the face of one.

He would leave the heroics to other superheroes with the protagonist halo.

So, the first official test of the stretchy/double resistance ability naturally fell on Max.

This was an excellent and hardworking laborer — making cakes was strenuous work.

In the past, she would have some off days when she randomly took meds.

Thanks to Luke’s subtle influence, she had abandoned this bad habit.

When this woman went crazy, she would even dare take part in clinical trials by pharmaceutical companies.

Of course, one of the reasons she did so was to earn money, but she would say, “Usually, you have to pay for your own medicine. If I can take them for free, why wouldn’t I?”

This sort of bizarre thinking wasn’t unique to Max, but was a common thing for many people.

Just as there were heavy drinkers, there were also people who took meds excessively.

There were always a lot of medicine bottles behind the mirror in the bathroom.

It made it easier for Max to take her meds at night.

If she took them once in the morning, she felt much more energetic.

If she took them once at night, she slept better.

Of course, Max now no longer randomly took meds.

As long as Luke showed up, she would sleep soundly every night and didn’t need to take any medicine.

After testing out his new ability that night, Luke hugged the plump Max and asked casually, “How’s your cake business coming along?”

Max was a little tired, but she perked up when she heard about her beloved cupcakes. “D*mn it, I came up with several new flavors, but they’re actually not easy to sell.”

Luke didn’t think much of it. “Take it slow. Many shops only produce their own secret recipes after years of research.”

Max suddenly chuckled. “Caroline came up with a secret recipe, but you definitely won’t let me use it.”

Luke was curious. “What secret recipe?”

Max said, “She added weed which I had hidden in a seasoning box with the rest of the ingredients. A lot of people said those cupcakes were especially good, and came back to buy more.”

Narrowing his eyes, Luke threatened, “Are you still hiding weed?”

Max had been careless in her exhausted and relaxed state. She quickly tried to salvage the situation. “That was from long ago – I already forgot about it.”

Luke didn’t relax at all and increased his strength. “Is that so? I think you’re being stubborn. You’ll only confess after I torture you.”

Knowing that the guy was joking, Max immediately rolled her eyes. “Even if I wanted to sell it, I wouldn’t use it to make cakes, right? I bought that before I met you. Thanks to almighty Batman, it’s hard to buy weed in New York now, plus it’s d*mn expensive. Those customers came back not for my cakes, but for the weed inside. The cakes are over ten times cheaper!”

Luke chuckled and hugged her tightly. “I don’t believe you. Let’s interrogate you first.”

“Huh?” Max suddenly turned around and widened her eyes. “…I’m begging you, can you be human let me sleep?”

Luke said, “It’s fine. You can fall asleep immediately after the interrogation.”

Max said, “You d*mn ass, did you secretly take something?!”

Luke snorted. He had always relied on his outstanding abilities to achieve victory. Why would he need to eat some d*mn thing?