Chapter 242: The Laughing Clown

"You are a predictable and understandable fellow, a riddle I want to guess and can guess—I have already guessed it!"

"I started this war, and then I lost it! And you—you should be laughing!"

While the Riddler raved at the Joker, Batman's thoughts on the side grew scattered.

He thought of little Charlie.

"I was there," he thought. "Nygma poisoned him and nearly killed him just to tell a joke."

And beside him, Nygma continued to chatter at the Joker: "Do you want me to explain it to you in even more detail!?"

Batman thought of that child's tears; when he was on the verge of death, he asked his father if it was because he had said that bad word that he was now going to that bad place.

That almost became the last words he left in the mortal world.

Nygma's voice still buzzed in Batman's ears: "Are you that stupid? Do you want me to crush all this up and explain it to you?!"

At this very moment, rage almost surged from Batman's brain into every corner of his body; at this very moment, his heart remained extremely calm and rational; at this very moment, these two emotions converged and merged within his body—face like ice, heart like fire.

He no longer wanted to listen to the Riddler speak.

His steps were steady and agile; in just one second, he darted to the desk, grabbed the knife on it, and then rushed toward the Riddler.

At this moment, the Riddler, turning back, showed a look of shock; he saw the look in Batman's eyes, saw the hand holding the knife, and saw his tightly clenched teeth.

He was angry, but that was not strange; Batman was always angry. And whenever he was angry, he would always break all his own bones more brutally; the Riddler was already very familiar with this method of his.

But this time seemed quite different.

He wants to kill me, the Riddler thought; he had no concrete evidence, but looking at Batman's face, this thought subconsciously rose in him—He wants to kill me.

This was impossible; Batman never killed people, a fact verified countless times by the Joker over the past year. No matter how the Joker tempted him, even using himself as bait, Batman was always unwilling to take that step; this had almost become a fixed notion in everyone's minds.

Like an unstoppable giant wave meeting an immovable reef—this was also the reason Batman appeared so abrupt in Gotham City: Batman was a madman who imagined he still had a bottom line; he would not kill.

And now, this reef seemed to begin shaking.

In the instant the Riddler judged the situation, he even subconsciously denied this possibility in his mind; to him, Batman was a riddle already solved, and this action at this moment was absolutely not within his expectations.

But his body was more honest; while denying it in his heart, his cry for help had already been shouted out.

"What are you going to do—No!"

You want to kill me?!!

"Damn, of course!"

Batman roared the words little Charlie had once said, thrusting that short knife toward the Riddler's face.

I want to kill you.

This is not an accident; I do not think I will miss; I am not out of control or gone mad; I know who I am, I know what I am doing, I have made my choice.

I thrust the knife out—precisely to kill you—

Pfft!

A flower of blood bloomed.

The Riddler, maintaining an expression of utter shock, looked before his eyes—that knife had not pierced his face, but had pierced a hand.

A hand wearing a purple glove.

The Joker's hand.

The pale-faced madman looked at the knife-wielding madman, then turned his head to look at the madman who had started this war; his drooping mouth corners began to slowly rise.

An accident, he thought; an absurdly ridiculous accident, an accident neither the clever Riddler nor Batman had anticipated, allowing him to do what I had not been able to do before.

He made me discover that originally Batman was not an "immovable reef"; with just one bad day, he could also become a murderer just like me!

After discovering this, the Joker's mouth corners could not help but curl upward.

Life had a direction, life had hope, goals had the possibility of realization; when he realized this, he suddenly found that today's situation was truly a clever accident—and it was very funny.

The Riddler, who had calculated everything, failed to calculate that he would die here because of an insignificant minor character, nor did he calculate that he would be saved by the Joker; because of this, he was utterly defeated—except for winning this war, all his purposes failed.

Batman failed to think that the Riddler had actually calculated everything, nor did he think that he had started this Gotham War just to make the Joker laugh, and even less did he think that he himself would swing the knife to break the no-kill principle—only to be saved by himself.

He didn't expect to see a Batman who wanted to kill people today; just a little Chuck managed to make both of them become the biggest losers at the same time, and the best part was—he could still save him.

Batman, saved by the Joker, his no-kill principle.

This was too funny; the Joker could not think of what joke in the world could be better than this.

"So now." His eyebrows danced with joy, the familiar, crazy, chaotic smile returned to his face: "Now, this is very interesting!"

"Hahaha heehee—"

The Joker's maniacal laughter grew louder and louder, almost echoing through the entire building; amidst this maniacal laughter, Batman slumped and lowered his head, the Riddler's expression gradually twisted; although the Joker on the scene could not defeat either side at this moment, he seemed to have become the biggest winner.

But the Riddler did not want to admit defeat.

Looking at everyone on the scene, his face became hideous and fierce; he could lose this war, but he could not accept losing the riddle-solving he had always been most confident in.

He misjudged the Joker, and he also misjudged Batman.

"I will kill you," he growled lowly: "I will kill both of you!"

"Everyone, attack me! Kill them! Kill them!"

Firefly and Zsasz immediately charged forward at the head, but very soon, they discovered something was wrong.

"Why are you just watching from the side?" Zsasz asked: "You don't think just the two of us can defeat Batman and Catwoman, and also Kite Man, do you?"

"Not exactly." Ma Ma Zhaodi laughed from the side: "I know you definitely can't beat those two—but I'm a double agent; I was just cheering for Kite Man a moment ago."

"?"

"I knew long ago that cowards as timid as mice are completely unreliable." Firefly spat: "Whether you are Batman's inside man or the Joker's inside man, you have no show left now—everyone, kill him too!"

However, the Riddler on the side did not speak.

Looking at the other supervillains around him who were silently AFK, a sense of ominous foreboding suddenly surged in his heart.

(End of Chapter)