The Comprehensive Evolution of American Comics

Lex Luthor took the glass jar from Black Manta, weighed it in his hand, and placed it on a pre-arranged device. He then began operating the device's control panel.

"How is it?" Black Manta walked to Luthor's side, peering at the control panel. "Is it still usable?"

This was something he had risked life and limb to retrieve. Although he had thoroughly outplayed Aquaman, he had lost a number of his men in the process, men he had trained for a long time. If the thing he brought back was useless, he would be even more frustrated than Aquaman.

Luthor looked up, a smile playing on his lips as he looked at Black Manta. "Of course, it's in excellent condition, like a little boy meticulously dressing up to please the girl he likes."

"That's good." Black Manta breathed a sigh of relief and couldn't help but smile back at the beaming Luthor.

"Now, we have everything we need." Lex removed the jar from the device and walked towards another machine.

This machine had a huge glass tank filled with a green liquid, much like Superboy Conner's incubation chamber. Luthor inserted the small jar into a slot on the machine and tapped a few buttons on the control panel.

The chunk of flesh in the small jar was sucked into the incubation chamber through connecting tubes. Upon contact with the liquid inside, the previously inert flesh suddenly began to pulsate like a heart.

"Won't it go berserk? Like it did when the Justice League fought it?" Black Manta asked anxiously.

"Maybe." Luthor was still smiling, not taking Black Manta's worries to heart. "If we let it grow on its own, it might be like that when it's fully restored, but I won't give it that chance. Before that happens, I'll turn it into a well-behaved baby who only obeys our orders."

With that, Luthor removed the glass jar that originally contained the flesh and took out another pre-prepared glass jar, this one filled not with flesh, but with a tube of red liquid.

He inserted the jar of red liquid into the slot and tapped a few buttons. Like the flesh before, the red liquid was sucked into the incubation chamber.

"You're using all the materials. What if it fails?" Black Manta couldn't help but ask, seeing the scene before him.

"I'm just responsible for throwing ingredients into the pot," Luthor shrugged. "Whether the potion in the cauldron succeeds requires the wizard to step up."

As soon as Luthor finished speaking, Wotan appeared with his cat, his eyes fixed on the contents of the incubation chamber. He nodded in satisfaction, constantly stroking the cat's head.

"Luthor is right," Wotan raised a hand towards the incubation chamber. "Stirring the cauldron requires the wizard to do it himself."

Purple-black light shone from his hand, and the liquid in the incubation chamber immediately began to spin, as if really stirring a cauldron. The red liquid and the flesh gradually intertwined in the rotation, becoming increasingly inseparable, and finally merged together.

The bluish-purple flesh was gradually dyed red by the liquid. Under the operation of Wotan's magic, the flesh began to change shape, transforming from an irregular mass into a five-pointed starfish at a speed visible to the naked eye.

This bizarre scene attracted Black Manta's attention. He couldn't help but take a few steps forward, wanting to take a closer look, but an eye suddenly opened in the center of the five-pointed starfish.

The starfish, only the size of a palm, had an eye larger than a human's, which looked very strange. Not only that, but countless tiny tentacles were densely distributed on the starfish's five tentacles.

"Chirp!"

It was unknown where the starfish made the sound, but it screamed and rushed towards Black Manta, who was scrutinizing it, and then slammed into the glass cover of the incubation chamber. Even so, the starfish persevered in squeezing against the glass cover.

"Looks like it's very energetic," Black Manta nodded in satisfaction, turning to look at Wotan. "But there's only one. Can you really be sure it will do what we expect?"

"Don't worry," Wotan retracted his magical hand and continued to stroke his cat. "Even if I don't go looking for them, those red guys won't give up this opportunity. They're a pack of hungry dogs who will come sniffing at the smell of meat. As for the number, look."

Following Wotan's finger, Black Manta turned his head and saw that the starfish in the glass jar had somehow changed from one to three, all stuck to the glass cover, squeezing outwards towards him, Wotan, and Luthor respectively.

"They perfectly inherited their father's abilities. Splitting is naturally not difficult," Luthor stepped forward, admiring the hideous starfish through the glass.

"But they seem a little too excited," Black Manta asked with his arms folded.

"Won't they attack us?"

"Don't worry, I'll teach them what to do and what not to do later," Luthor said with a smile. "Now let these good babies sleep for a while. Green."

As soon as Luthor finished speaking, the three originally excited starfish suddenly froze, then fell off the glass cover and floated in the incubation chamber, apparently losing consciousness.

"Notify the other Illuminati members," Luthor straightened up and turned to look at Wotan and Black Manta behind him.

"Our plan is only one step away. Light has finally chosen us."

---Dividing Line---

Looking at the huge chunk of flesh dragged out of the submarine, Yang Le knew that the plot seemed to have some similarities, but the result might be different from before.

The huge chunk of flesh in front of Yang Le was none other than the corpse remains of Starro the Conqueror, the Justice League's first enemy. In the Young Justice League's plot, the Illuminati would invent a powerful hypnotic chip by studying Starro's corpse.

The mind control ability of this chip even surpassed its source provider, Starro. Even Starro couldn't completely control Martian Manhunter, but the hypnotic chip could control Martian Manhunter in an instant.

Not only that, but because the hypnotic chip was a combination of technology and biology, it could even control Red Tornado, who was a machine, meaning that it might even be able to control silicon-based life forms.

However, even though Starro's corpse appeared in front of Yang Le, Yang Le couldn't be 100% sure of the Illuminati's true purpose. After all, the animal, plant, mineral, and human affairs still didn't have an explanation.

For some reason, Yang Le felt that a major event was about to happen.