On the west coast of the United States, the Hall of Justice stood majestically like a mountain on the cliff.
Two people emerged from the nearby sea.
As they approached the Hall of Justice, Cortana quickly observed them.
As they neared the Justice League's main entrance, a fan-shaped light scanned the two Atlanteans from top to bottom.
"Visitor 01 identity confirmed: Arthur Curry, codenamed Aquaman, Atlantean and human hybrid."
"Visitor 02 identity confirmed: Nuidis Vulko, pure-blood Atlantean noble."
Vulko couldn't help but frown upon hearing this. He glanced at Arthur, who also looked at him with surprise.
He shook his head, indicating that he had not revealed Vulko's identity.
"Welcome."
The voice stopped, and the door opened, revealing a towering pillar of light as thick as a dozen people embracing, with shimmering data streams occasionally flashing within it.
"Holy…"
"No swearing!"
Vulko promptly interrupted Arthur's exclamation. As a nobleman, he was very cultured.
At this moment, the surrounding light and Shadow suddenly distorted and changed, and a woman emitting blue light appeared out of thin air.
However, looking through her body, one could vaguely see the scenery behind her.
Arthur and Vulko immediately understood that she was merely a phantom.
"Hello, esteemed guests from afar. I am Cortana, the artificial intelligence of this place."
Arthur immediately asked impatiently, "You know me? Shazam must have told you, right? I want to find him!"
Vulko hadn't spoken yet, but Arthur had already blurted it out.
He could only close his mouth, hoping that the so-called "Shazam" was truly a good person as Arthur claimed, otherwise… Vulko tightened his grip on his five-pronged trident. He would swear to protect Atlanna's bloodline to the death!
Fortunately, Cortana projected goodwill.
"Shazam is not currently within the United States, but I can help you contact him."
Arthur was about to say there was no need to rush, but then he saw countless information streams flash through Cortana's iris, and he could only give up.
He thought Shazam, no matter how fast, would still take an hour or two to fly here, right?
But unexpectedly, the next second, a side door in the Hall opened, and Dane walked out. Arthur's eyes immediately widened.
He looked at Cortana with a bewildered expression: You, an artificial intelligence, actually lied to me!
But Cortana apparently didn't understand his meaning, merely tilting her head and looking at him in confusion.
"Thank you for your hard work, Cortana. I'll take it from here."
Cortana smiled slightly at him, then dissolved into points of light and disappeared.
Vulko's eyes flashed. This artificial intelligence technology was more than just a little advanced; at least, Atlantis could absolutely not achieve this level.
He vaguely realized that he had underestimated the technological capabilities of the Surface people.
Dane looked back at Arthur: "It seems you've come to your senses."
Arthur scratched his head with a silly grin: "After all, believing your dreams are real still requires a bit of an adjustment period."
Vulko didn't speak, merely bowed to Shazam with a solemn Atlantean salute.
In his impression, the strongest person in a country was often its de facto ruler, and Shazam was clearly the strongest person in this country.
He had sharp eyes and could sense the surging energy within Shazam, and this energy felt very similar to some of the power he had felt from Queen Atlanna, only much more immense.
"Welcome. I actually have some matters I wanted to discuss with you."
Dane did not ignore Vulko, leading both of them into the Hall of Justice.
"Discuss with us?"
Arthur and Vulko followed him in, somewhat confused by his meaning.
Dane had no intention of asking Vulko to disarm. If it made him feel safer, he could keep it.
"A few days ago, our satellites detected some abnormal energy signals near the Mariana Trench, but because that area is in the deep sea, our satellites couldn't accurately identify what it was. However…"
Upon hearing this, Vulko's expression subtly changed. He seemed to realize something.
Arthur was still bewildered, not knowing what Dane was talking about.
Then he heard Dane continue: "Just over a dozen hours ago, Checkmate led a descendant of an Old Gods native to that sea area to investigate a shipwreck."
As Dane spoke, he brought up Checkmate's now-encrypted video file.
After all this time, Checkmate's firewall was as weak as ever.
Their data archives were like Cortana's external database; they could be accessed anytime.
The first-person footage from Nanaue, codenamed "Shark King," showed the attacking personnel inside the submarine—a group of Atlanteans armed to the teeth.
Moreover, they were wearing the dark powered armor recently developed by Atlantis, powered by an underwater ion reactor.
Vulko's face was grim. He didn't try to hide anything from Dane, stating gravely: "This is an Atlantean force, and…"
"They report directly to Orm."
"Who?"
Arthur frowned. Although he was half-Atlantean, he had never been there.
His favorite pastimes were conversing with sea creatures or embarking on adventures like crossing the Pacific Ocean.
Vulko hesitated for a moment but decided to tell him the truth.
"Orm is your half-brother. He is the offspring of your mother and a nobleman with royal blood…"
Arthur's head was spinning. He had a half-brother?
"Then, then he?"
Vulko said heavily: "He is now the King of Atlantis, Arthur! You must understand, Orm has always harbored hatred for the Surface people, especially for you!"
"Me?" Arthur pointed to himself, somewhat incredulous. 0
"Orm believes that your father and your existence led to her exile, and he holds you responsible for her death."
"Furthermore, King Orm's father once died in an underwater volcanic eruption.
The cause of that eruption was torpedoes hitting the Undersea and exploding during a naval battle by the Surface people."
Dane nodded knowingly. No wonder this fellow hated the Surface people so much.
The hatred for his murdered father, the resentment for his mother's loss, coupled with humanity's destruction of the marine environment since the Industrial Revolution, profoundly affected the Atlanteans' survival.
In this World, try dumping nuclear waste. If Orm doesn't unleash a massive tsunami and drown your tiny nation, he doesn't deserve to be called King Orm!
Soon, the video footage showed Nanaue counterattacking the Atlanteans, rendering them helpless, and then the video abruptly ended.
"The rest of the content is gone; the monitor on that person must have been destroyed.
But it's also imaginable that those Atlanteans likely met a grim fate."
Dane turned to Arthur: "The question now is, how do you plan to handle this?"
Arthur heard the implication in his words and asked, "What does that mean?"
Dane had Cortana control the nanoparticles to form three sofas, motioning for them to sit down.
He then said, "We learned from the files that this submarine was likely attacked by these Undersea people, and they stole all the torpedoes inside."
Vulko was the first to object: "Our own technological strength is sufficient; we don't need to steal weapons from the Surface people at all!"
He had this confidence because, as it stood, the Surface people's technology in energy application was still far inferior to that of the Undersea race.
Arthur didn't understand this point, but he trusted Vulko's judgment and looked at Dane.
Dane's expression was calm: "You're right, you don't need this level of weaponry, but, and I mean but."
"If one day, those torpedoes are detonated within Atlantis, killing a few Undersea people, who do you think Orm will blame?"
Vulko's pupils contracted at the words; he gasped.
"That's impossible! This, this is deception! This is treason!"
Dane again said lightly, "But who would know?"
Vulko's momentum faltered. Yes, if the other party did it cleanly, who would know that he dared to blow up his own citizens just to frame the Surface people?
But very quickly, Vulko thought of another terrifying possibility: Orm's purpose in framing the Surface people.
He thought with horror that if Orm used this opportunity to incite the citizens' hatred for the Surface people, he would very likely gain the support of the citizens, thereby forcing the council to pass a resolution for war against the Surface.
Orm, he wanted to declare war on the Surface people!
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