Chapter 151: Sisyphus Who Cannot Cry

【Ding】

【The relevant information for this business trip has been automatically issued】

Just like the side quest from last Christmas, a certain scene automatically erupted in Ma Ma Zhaodi's mind again.

——

"Hahahaha, hehehehehe—"

A shrill, manic laughter echoed in his ears.

Whose laughter was that? It sounded somewhat familiar, yet also somewhat strange.

The man struggled to open his eyes; his head felt heavy and foggy, his vision blurred and unclear, as if someone had just smashed a fist into his head.

That must have been a very heavy punch, he thought, otherwise his head wouldn't hurt so much.

Through dark red goggles, he saw that he was wearing a dark green bodysuit, with a pale green diamond emblem on his chest, looking like a small kite.

Oh, I remember now, that laughter was the Joker's.

Then, perhaps I should be a superhero?

Maybe I have immense strength, able to knock a group of villains flying with a single punch?

Or do I have super speed? Able to save everyone on the scene in the instant of an explosion?

Or invulnerable? Or incredibly wealthy?

No, none of that is right.

My mind gradually cleared, looking at the shoddy uniform on my body; the stitching at the seams had even been punched open, and the helmet had been beaten loose, about to fall apart.

I am not a superhero, nor do I have superpowers.

The man finally lifted his head and saw everything before him.

It was noon; the cold wind blew in through the massive floor-to-ceiling windows of the towering skyscraper, outside was a vast, empty, cloudless sky, and below lay the city, infinitely tiny.

The sun outside the building was unobstructed by clouds, sunlight streaming directly into the room from the window, yet even so, no warmth could be felt on the body.

The window glass had shattered into shards covering the floor; an ordinary man in jeans and a white shirt lay in a pool of blood, his groans and wails completely drowned out by the manic laughter, appearing so small and powerless.

Not far on the ground lay the man's severed half-arm, currently bleeding profusely.

The Joker spread his arms wide, laughing wildly amidst the sunlight and the biting wind of the high-rise, laughing happily and freely—even a knife was stuck in his raised left hand, yet he seemed unaware of it.

Beside the Joker, the Riddler, dressed in a dark green suit, bowed his head slightly; he was despondent and silent, yet half an hour ago, he had nearly become the king of criminals in Gotham City.

As for the farthest point, there was that black figure with his back to the sun.

He stumbled to his knees on the ground, his body almost completely drained of strength, his wide black cape dragging on the floor like broken bat wings. But he bore no external wounds, his muscles still powerful and strong, only the light had gone from his eyes.

He had lost his fighting spirit; Batman had lost his fighting spirit.

Looking at the Batman and the Riddler before him, the man finally remembered everything.

I am the Kite Man.

An unemployed aerodynamicist, a failed husband, an incompetent father, an ordinary person without superpowers, a third-rate villain, a joke.

A funny joke.

I failed to keep my job, failed to keep my wife, failed to save my son, never had a dramatic life, and even failed to be a good villain.

I gave everything to come here for revenge, only to be knocked down with a single punch and treated like a joke.

I am the Kite Man, a funny joke.

——

【Business Trip Mission Published】

【Sisyphus Who Cannot Cry

Mission Description: Charles "Chuck" Brown once told his son an old story.

Long, long ago, there was a fellow who had to push a huge boulder to the mountaintop, but this fellow had been cursed, so, every time he just pushed the stone to the summit, the stone would roll back down—that was the curse, he could never get the stone to the top.

But he must get the stone up, so he runs back to the foot of the mountain, and tries again. He pushes the stone up the mountain, watches it roll down, again and again, never stopping.

"It's a joke, right? Very funny—he gets to the top, he's happy, then oh no! The stone falls back down! Hahaha, haha."

"And that is me, little Charles, that is all of us, we are all pushing such a stone. No matter how we try, we see it roll down. Then we hear the gods, heroes, demigods, and fate laughing at us from the side, laughing at our shallowness and baseness, laughing at our mediocrity and incompetence, laughing at our mortal flesh, laughing at our predetermined fate."

"We can only stand on the mountaintop, listening to them laugh, but the point is, you have to laugh along too—you have to, you can only do that."

"Because I am a joke, I am ridiculous, I can do nothing, I can only laugh along with them—but at least at this moment, I am still laughing."

Note: If someone is always laughing, then they must have never been happy at all.

Note 2: If someone is laughing while crying, then they must be a tenacious hero.

Status: Uncompleted

Reward: Advanced Mechanical Mastery, Master-Level Aerodynamics Mastery, Master-Level Kite Skill Mastery

Mission Special Reward: The Kite Man's Friendship】

Ma Ma Zhaodi took quite some time to digest this huge amount of information; he roughly understood the destination of this business trip—that was a Gotham City in another parallel universe.

The goal of this business trip was also relatively simple: to help a third-rate villain he had never heard of; although so, Ma Ma Zhaodi could still slightly understand this obscure little character from the information provided by the system.

【Whether to reject this business trip mission, the system will automatically search for the next one—】

"I'll take this one."

Ma Ma Zhaodi sighed: "A loser helping a loser, quite fitting indeed—but looking at this universe's Batman, he seems to be out of commission too; won't this business trip start ramping up the intensity for me?"

【Business trip work confirmed; you will begin this business trip journey in 48 hours; please prepare during this time.】

"But since there is this time, it would be a pity to waste it... maybe go pull someone else along?"

"Going on a long trip? No, Old Ma, I really have no time right now..."

Harvey sat in the office looking utterly exhausted; on the desk sat coffee, strong tea, and Ma Ma Zhaodi's flower tea, while the edge of his desk had already been piled into a mountain by Anjianjuan Sect case files and litigation documents.

Or rather, the office was almost completely filled with these things, leaving no room to step.

"As you can see, the lawsuits piling up these days are about to fill the local prosecutor's office. At a time like this, I simply cannot get away; I can't even step out of the prosecutor's office door."

Ma Ma Zhaodi sympathetically patted his shoulder to show understanding. It seemed Harvey could not be taken away; he could only go find the remaining three people to ask.

(End of this chapter)