Chapter 181: Suddenly the Wind Blew

"My God."

Who uttered this sigh?

Option One: Originally just going to meet a subordinate named "Chuck Brown," but discovering a bunch of heavyweight super-villains in the bar, including but not limited to Killer Croc, Solomon Grundy, Scarecrow, and the Riddler, who then knocked out all dozen of his own pre-arranged armed bodyguards, only to find a Batman suddenly appearing on the scene—the Joker.

Option Two: Originally planning to use the meeting between the Joker and Chuck Brown to kill Ma Ma Zhaodi directly, but the Joker brought a truckload of Bread Men, Chuck Brown called the damn Batman, and even Ma Ma Zhaodi was wearing a damn bulletproof vest. After struggling to deal with the Joker's men, he was targeted by the "capture the king first" style of Batman, receiving a focused beating of fists and feet, and is now being rubbed furiously on the ground—the Riddler.

Damn it, why would anyone wear a bulletproof vest to a bar?

Option Three: Originally thought he only needed to deal with one Joker and one Riddler, maybe plus Poison Ivy, but upon arriving at the scene found the number of people there was a bit too huge; to avoid the Joker being beaten into minced meat by other super-villains, he had to fight multiple heavyweight veteran super-villains simultaneously, only to discover at the end that a bomb was buried in the bar, and he had gained over a dozen new wounds on his body during tonight's fight—the Batman.

Option Four: Honestly running the bar, only to be notified by the Joker that the gang would requisition the bar for a shootout tonight, and having to stand behind the counter pouring drinks for people without saying a single extra word, only to discover at the end that tonight wasn't a shootout but a war, with Solomon tearing off half a wall to hold and swing at people, Killer Croc snapping off a Load-Bearing pillar to use as a javelin, and just barely escaping the hail of gunfire from the gang outside the door, only to find the Joker using a bomb to blow the remaining half of the bar straight into the sky—Liles.

Option Five: Personally orchestrating the entire accident, sobered up completely by the shock of the battlefield, and finally dragged out of the fight by the Joker amidst the explosion, a completely bewildered innocent bystander—Chuck.

Option Six: Initially cowering in a corner eating popcorn; switching the "I Did Not Kill Anyone" skill to a twenty-meter radius effect when the fighting started to ensure no one died in the entire venue; using the "I Did Not Kill Anyone" skill a second time on him when the Joker left to guarantee Chuck's safety; and currently lying in the ruins pretending to be a corpse—Ma Ma Zhaodi.

Option Seven: Everyone above sincerely sighed "My God."

Ten minutes later.

In a safe house, the Joker and Chuck sat upright on the sofa, both expressionless, staring blankly at the wall ahead.

After a few minutes, the Joker, whose mouth corner was turned down, finally turned his head, looking at Chuck sitting beside him with a face full of disgust.

Chuck endured such a gaze for half a minute before finally unable to bear the awkward atmosphere, desperately covering his face with both hands.

"Batman asked me to arrange this meeting, but the Riddler discovered my arrangement, then asked me to tell him all the meeting details, then Batman discovered the Riddler had discovered our arrangement, and asked me to tell him all the arrangements for how the Riddler planned to enter. Then, everyone came."

The Joker turned his head back, and only after a long while emitted a "hmph" sound through his nose.

Finally, he crossed his arms, shrugged with his mouth turned down: "This is almost damn funny."

Half an hour later, Chuck was released from the rental house.

At midnight that day, Batman and Chuck met again; seeing Chuck was unharmed, Batman breathed a sigh of relief—at that time he was entangled by the Joker's explosion and the pincer attack of Solomon and Killer Croc, completely unable to free a hand to stop the Joker from dragging Chuck away.

"As I promised, your son has been moved to a safe place, he won't be found by the Riddler or the Joker, he is safe." Batman said: "He has a bit of a cold, but he should recover soon."

"Now, you have to tell me—where did the Joker take you?"

But Chuck, with a face full of exhaustion, despair, and helplessness, stood blankly on the rooftop; hearing Batman's words, only a bitter smile appeared at the corner of his mouth.

He could ask Batman to hide his son, but was powerless against his ex-wife—she was an adult with her own life, loans, and job; when Chuck wanted her and his son to hide, she only agreed to hand over the son.

"I have to live, Chuck, I can't hide in a room for a few weeks, or even a few months, like my son."

She was right, she needed this job, she needed to earn money to raise little Charlie.

But...

"Chuck, your ex-wife still has to go to work normally, right?" the Joker asked: "I got her information in just half an hour—you hid your son very well, but what about her?"

Chuck tightened his suit jacket, as if trying to gain some warmth from it.

He looked up at the night sky; Gotham rarely had such clear days, with starlight filling the sky and the moonlight bright and pure, the city lights and building outlines merging into a black jungle, flickering in the night.

How strange, he seemed to have never properly admired Gotham's night sky before, nor noticed the scenery of this city.

Thinking of this, Chuck closed his eyes, no longer looking at Gotham City or the Batman before him. He knew in his heart that at this moment, the Joker was also in the city, waiting for the brilliant fireworks about to bloom atop Gao Ta.

"If I don't see the fireworks, then your son will never see his mother again." the Joker said thus.

So Chuck pulled his collar open to both sides, revealing the plastic bomb vest inside.

"I'm sorry, Batman, I... I'm really sorry."

"He forced me to do this—"

A night breeze blew past, and in a trance Chuck felt he had become his favorite kite, about to fly up with the wind.

He thought to himself, this isn't bad.

"Stay back, Batman." he said: "Don't get blown up by me, give that hundred thousand to my ex-wife."

Then he fell into the high air with the wind.

Click.

The detonation button was pressed.

But the bomb did not explode, instead emitting a pre-recorded electronic sound.

"What does the sound 'Ha, Ha, Boom' represent? A person who laughed their head off!"

"What does the sound 'Ha, Ha, Boom' represent? A person who laughed their head off!"

A fake bomb?

Chuck's face turned deathly pale.

This might be another of the Joker's jokes, but he had really jumped off Gao Ta.

He opened his eyes in terror, only to see a black figure diving down from Gao Ta as well.

The black bat pressed its wings tightly against its body, breaking the wind and rushing toward the falling Chuck; seeing the bomb, he first used his cape to protect his front, preparing to meet the explosion, thus delaying his jump by two seconds.

He fired a grappling hook upward with his left hand, and stretched his right hand out as far as possible, wanting to reach the hands of Chuck below who were reaching up, but the ground at the base of the tower was rapidly magnifying in his field of vision, and the two were about to land.

"Too late." an answer instantly came to his mind.

But he still stretched his hand desperately; in this moment, the always rational Batman refused to admit the reality that Chuck was about to die.

Just at the moment Chuck was about to hit the ground, suddenly a strong wind blew up from the ground.

(End of Chapter)