While Darkseid, as an invader, was dedicated to conquering various planets, enslaving populations, plundering resources, and even resorting to the extreme measure of obliterating planets he invaded, were there no planets he conquered that could compare to Apokolips?
Perhaps there were, but Darkseid showed no attachment to them. Instead of transforming occupied planets into subsidiaries of Apokolips, he would destroy them after stripping them bare. This clearly demonstrated the paramount importance of Apokolips to Darkseid. It could be said that Apokolips was the very foundation of everything for Darkseid. If Bai Qi truly attempted to drain Apokolips of all its energy, it would undoubtedly attract Darkseid's attention. In the face of Apokolips's survival, neither Superman nor Earth would matter.
Therefore, Bai Qi could absorb and steal some of Apokolips's energy, but he absolutely could not damage its core. This was especially true when he knew for certain that Darkseid had returned to Apokolips.
However, compared to absorbing Apokolips's energy, these eyeballs had an even more crucial task.
Remember that unlucky planet Bai Qi had caused trouble near, on Oa? Bai Qi had taken a large quantity of nuclear bombs with him when he left.
Bai Qi stored these nuclear bombs in the eyeball's personal space, and as they absorbed energy from Apokolips, he placed the nuclear bombs he carried in various corners of the planet. This way, even if Bai Qi were to be targeted and obstructed by Darkseid while stealing the last piece of core data, Bai Qi could use the safety of Apokolips as leverage to ensure his escape.
After completing all the arrangements, Bai Qi quickly headed for Darkseid's palace.
Outside the palace, Bai Qi saw a mind-controlled Diana battling against other mind-controlled beings: the Thanagarian Hawkman, Martian Manhunter, Starfire, and Mera. Although they were all controlled, Diana's vigilance in her right eye had shattered, and her gaze had shifted from red to yellow, indicating that Diana had broken free from Darkseid's control.
Bai Qi had little interest in these controlled individuals. He ignored them and entered the palace directly. Perhaps due to a lack of trust in the Parademons, and a fear that these bloodthirsty genetic monsters might cause some destruction to the palace, the Parademons were always kept in a unified location for management, only being released during combat. The palace's defense mechanisms were half-handled by the Furies trained by Granny Goodness, and the other half by intelligent AI.
The current situation was that Granny Goodness and her Furies were absent from Apokolips for some unknown reason, and the palace's defense was entirely managed by the intelligent AI. Meanwhile, Superman and the others were attacking the palace from the front. To speed things up, they chose a direct path, with no cover, led by Superman. They had moved and smashed their way through. By the time Bai Qi arrived, over seventy percent of the AI-controlled defense mechanisms had already been destroyed by Superman. The remaining thirty percent, under the interference of the Hourglass within Bai Qi's body, quickly became inactive.
With an unobstructed path, Bai Qi soon arrived at the computer room where the main host was located. Looking at the massive main computer before him, Bai Qi’s lips curled slightly. He connected with the Hourglass, breached its internal firewall, and began downloading the remaining core data.
Some might wonder why Bai Qi wasted time and effort downloading incomplete data from two other laboratories instead of directly downloading everything from the computer host stored in the palace. Bai Qi's reason was simple: to minimize his time spent in the palace and thus reduce unnecessary attention.
After the download was complete, Bai Qi turned to leave, but he was ultimately a step too late. A sonic boom portal opened in front of Bai Qi, and a small, white-haired old woman in armor emerged, holding a staff made of an unknown metal. Granny Goodness immediately fixed her gaze on Bai Qi and spoke with a hostile tone, "Child, no matter who you are, you've come to the wrong place. Be careful in your next life." With that, she pointed her staff at Bai Qi, unleashing a powerful bolt of electricity that transformed into a venomous snake and lunged at him.
*Crack!*
The electrical snake, which could have charred a normal person, was effectively harmless to Bai Qi, its damage approaching zero. With a casual flick of his wrist, Bai Qi swatted the attacking electrical snake away. Seeing that the electrical snake was ineffective, Granny Goodness did not hesitate. She took a step back, raised her staff again, pointed it at Bai Qi, and roared, "Girls, kill him!"
The next moment, four scantily clad Furies, wielding various cold weapons, charged out of the sonic boom portal behind Granny Goodness and headed straight for Bai Qi. These Furies, trained by Granny Goodness, had cast aside all human emotion and become biological weapons at her command. Their bodies had been strengthened through technological augmentation, and their combat skills were honed to perfection through countless battles.
Unfortunately, in the face of absolute power, even the most formidable combat skills were mere superficial displays. The four Furies, charging with menacing intent, were immobilized by Bai Qi's telekinetic control before they could even reach him. With a thought, he infiltrated their minds, seizing control from Granny Goodness.
In Bai Qi's view, Granny Goodness's method of controlling the Furies was too crude. She had completely suppressed or severed their superfluous emotions and forcefully implanted programs for loyalty to Darkseid and to herself. This indeed allowed for rapid control. However, the consequence was that these modified Furies became purely combat machines with singular, simplistic minds. For Bai Qi, infiltrating their minds and simply erasing the loyalty programs for Darkseid and Granny Goodness, and then adding a program for loyalty to himself, was incredibly simple. The entire process was a piece of cake for Bai Qi, who possessed the power of two Mind Stones.
Granny Goodness's role on Apokolips was not that of a combatant. Seeing that her attacks were ineffective against Bai Qi, she immediately dispatched her pride and joy, the Furies, to fight him. Now, not only had the four Furies failed to inflict any damage on Bai Qi, but somehow they had been manipulated into turning against her.
"You traitors! Get back! Get back!" Granny Goodness waved her staff, desperately trying to repel the charging Furies. However, in modifying them, she had made their bodies too resilient and had also removed some of their pain receptors.