Chapter 1448

Red Robin pushed open a bedroom door somewhat sneakily. Seeing Red Hood sitting by the bed organizing his gear and clearly not asleep, he let out a sigh of relief, lowered his voice, and said, "Let's go, the butler isn't here."

Red Hood re-secured his weapons to his waist, stood up, stomped his feet impatiently, and kicked the carpet on the floor, saying, "I told you guys back then, we should have knocked Flash out the moment he arrived. It was because you guys were dragging your feet that we ended up in this situation!"

"Stop complaining, Jason." Red Robin walked to the front and opened the door, saying, "Who could have guessed Batman was truly determined to send us away? Usually, he just talks about it."

The face beneath Red Hood's mask looked impatient, but a flash of contemplation crossed his brow. Red Robin's intelligence allowed him to understand the behavioral patterns of everyone in the Bat-family. Sensing Red Hood's silence, he asked, "Do you think something is wrong?"

"There's too much wrong." Red Hood said irritably, "We all know Batman isn't a generous person. To some extent, he views Cat Getan and the Bat-family as his own private property and doesn't allow anyone to touch them. Do you think he would just hand Cat Getan over to someone else?"

"Of course not." Red Robin walked into the hallway and said, "He would only say, 'Get out of my Cat Getan.'"

Red Hood rubbed his chin and said in a serious tone, "That's the problem. He didn't just let us leave Cat Getan, leave his surveillance and protection range, but also sent us to such a distant place."

"More importantly, this place is likely completely out of his control. Even with Flash, if we encounter danger, he might not be able to rescue us in time."

Red Hood paused, seemingly feeling restless. He ripped his mask off, shook his hair, looked at Red Robin who was staring at him, and said, "Don't look at me with that damn expression!"

"We all know what he's worried about." Red Robin shrugged and said.

"That's exactly what I find strange." Red Hood walked down the stairs and stood at the corner, saying, "His so-called worries always made him treat us like fragile birds, even going so far as to personally come over to remind us not to drink at parties. How did he suddenly change his nature this time and kick us to a distant universe?"

"This universe is too strange." Red Robin could only evaluate it this way: "Every place and every person is strange, and Batman is especially strange. I really didn't expect the young Batman to be like this."

Red Hood snorted and said, "I don't care at all what Batman is like in other universes. I just want to figure out Batman's purpose in doing this."

"Before I came to find you, I circled the manor once, but I couldn't find the entrance to the Batcave. I saw an entrance that looked like a basement, but I was worried it might have an alarm system, so I didn't go over."

"Haven't you heard enough people praise your intelligence?" Red Hood said irritably, "Get to the point."

Although Red Hood's tone was full of impatience, Red Robin acted as if he had been complimented. He crossed his arms, walked down the stairs, hummed twice, and said, "I believe the Batcave of this universe's Batman might not be under Wei En Manor, or perhaps that one is just a fake. The real Batcave should be outside Wei En Manor."

Red Hood frowned. He glanced at Red Robin without immediately expressing an opinion. Red Robin fumbled with his fingers and said, "Then let's follow our usual practice: skip the part where you impatiently listen to me explain my reasoning process and go straight to the result."

"You should have seen it too. As soon as it got dark, Batman went out. I suspect he went to the Batcave, but we can't follow him; we'd definitely be discovered. Installing surveillance cameras is also a no-go."

"But we can track the tracks left by the Batmobile. You know, that's not difficult for me."

"Then what are we waiting for? Let's start."

Two figures walked out of the Wei En Manor gate, and they encountered their first problem on the road at the manor's entrance.

Red Hood stared at the tire tracks on the ground that were almost wider than a person, tilted his chin at Red Robin, and said, "Tracking the Batmobile's tracks, huh? That's really great. Looks like the Batman of this universe likes driving a truck."

Red Robin, completely baffled, circled the area several times. He used his investigative and deductive talents, which were on par with Batman's, to repeatedly weigh the situation, only to find that Batman had likely truly left in a truck.

"Is there anything strange about that?" Red Robin spread his hands and said, "Although the truck is large, its defensive and offensive capabilities are strong. As for the image issue, maybe the Batman of this universe has unique aesthetics?"

Soon, the two followed the truck's tracks to the truck parking lot, and then followed the footprints to a barbecue street.

It was already late at night, and the vast majority of people had eaten their fill and were starting to leave. Red Robin, moving against the flow of the crowd, looked around and suddenly saw a familiar figure in the crowd.

But in reality, he hadn't achieved that point; he was far from it. So, of course, he would feel guilty and shaken. The inferiority hidden deep in his heart swallowed him in an instant. The phrase "a fake is a fake" repeated in his mind tens of thousands of times in just a few seconds.

The next second, Red Robin also saw that figure. He let out a dying whimper as if something had choked his throat, and his next action was to pull Red Hood's arm.

But soon he was surprised to find that the strength he expected to break free from his hand did not come. Red Hood did not act like he usually did when seeing Joker, as if he had gone mad and wanted to rush up to kill him.

Red Robin swallowed hard and tugged gently on Red Hood's sleeve, fearing he had been scared silly. But at some point, Red Hood had already put on his mask, and Red Robin could no longer see his expression.

"My God! What is Batman doing with Joker? Is that Damian in Batman's arms? Could Joker have kidnapped Damian?... Who is that? Gordon? How is he so young? God! Barbara too, I knew they wouldn't stay put!"

"Quick, quick, Jason, let's hide over there, we can't let them discover us!"

Red Robin pulled Red Hood to hide at the side of an intersection not far from the barbecue stall where Batman and Joker were. He pressed his back against the wall and stretched his head out to see what they were doing.

The crowd bustled as they left, and soon it was mostly dispersed, so the barbecue stall was no longer so noisy. The conversation between Batman and Joker drifted on the wind and could be heard clearly.

"Your daughter is starting elementary school next year?"

"Yes, I haven't looked at schools for her yet."

"Are you planning to send her to a parochial school?"

"I was originally planning to hire a tutor for Aisha, but Thomas said she needs to learn social skills. You know, that whole thing: 'A true lady enters the social scene before she enters the social scene.'"

"He sounds like he's from the era of 'Pride and Prejudice'."

"Who's to say he isn't?... James? James? Alright, looks like he's drunk again. Barbara, you help him up, I'll go pay the bill."

After a rustling sound, Red Robin saw Batman stand up from his stool, reach into his pocket, pull out his wallet, and walk toward the owner of the barbecue stall.

He stopped in front of the stall and flipped through his wallet. He took out a card, handed it to the owner, and said, "Charge it."

The owner took out a card reader from the side, swiped Batman's custom card—the kind that would require tens of billions in assets and annual periodic assessments to keep upgrading—through the machine, and then frowned.

The machine beeped twice. Batman leaned in to look. He seemed to whisper something to the owner, then flipped through his wallet again.

He took out another custom card, one that looked like it could only be obtained by depositing money for centuries in a vampire-controlled aristocratic bank. The owner took it and swiped it through the machine, but it still beeped twice, with no reaction.

Red Robin saw Batman frown and mutter in a low voice: "What's going on? Why are all my cards frozen?"

At this moment, another figure bumped into him. It was Joker, dressed in truck driver workwear. He impatiently took out his own wallet, pulled out a stack of cash, handed it to the owner, and rolled his eyes at Batman, saying, "If you don't have money, don't pretend to be a big shot and offer to treat!"

Batman muttered something else, but said nothing more. He put away his cards and followed Joker back to the stall.

Red Robin and Red Hood, with their heads poking out from the corner of the wall, performed a synchronized action—they retracted their heads with a "whoosh," covered their mouths, widened their eyes, and screamed wildly in their minds—"What is this situation?!"

(Empty)

Batman eats, Joker pays???

"What are you guys doing here?!"

A familiar voice came from afar. Red Robin poked his head out and saw Batman walking toward them. He patted Jason's arm frantically at a rapid frequency and said, "What do we do? What do we do? He's coming over!"

(Empty)

"You're asking me, who the hell am I supposed to ask! Don't run! It's too late!"

Five minutes later, Jack's truck happily added two new sculptures.

And the demon boy Damian, still held in Bruce's arms, turned his head to look at the back seat. When he turned back, he grinned, smiling even more brightly than Joker.

There is a saying: the more unstable one's worldview is, the easier it is to accept new knowledge and treat it as common sense. Damian was afraid of Joker, but not that afraid. After all, he came from an assassin organization and had seen countless terrifying humans.

But Red Hood and Red Robin were not like that, especially Red Hood. The truck's seating space wasn't large to begin with, and the back row was squeezed in. Red Hood was sitting directly behind Joker, separated only by a seatback. He had never been this close to Joker, even when he died at Joker's hands.

There was a deathly silence inside the truck.

As soon as the truck stopped and the door opened, the two figures in the back seat rushed out like madmen. Red Robin got out of the car and started retching while holding his neck, and Red Hood's legs were so weak he couldn't stand.

And the next second, they remembered Batman. Looking at the front passenger door, the well-fed Wei En father and son were sleeping soundly.

Through the truck window, the two of them saw Joker unbuckle his seatbelt, struggle to climb over Bruce and the Damian in his arms, and push open the door on Bruce's side.

Then he kicked the father and son out.

As the truck sped away, Bruce struggled to open his somewhat sleepy eyes, looked back at Red Hood and Red Robin who were still stunned on the side of the road, and said, "I should have let him send you back to Wei En Manor first..."

"The essence of manipulation is love and a sense of security, isn't it?"

"Then let's go, accompany me inside."

"Go, go where?"

"Take a look for yourselves at where this is."

Red Robin and Red Hood looked up and found themselves standing before a tall iron-fenced gate.

At the very top of the gate was an arched support, and in the center of the arch hung a plaque with a line of English words written in cursive—"Arkham Asylum".