Chapter 1626

The Joker called the police.

That's right, he almost scrambled over the sofa, ran to the side of the telephone stand, and dialed the Cat Getan Police Department's number on that old, broken telephone.

When Gordon arrived at the Joker's home, Spider-Man was holding a knife in one hand and pinning the Joker down. The experienced commissioner couldn't help but widen his eyes in shock and roar at Spider-Man.

"Spider-Man, what are you doing? Do you want to kill him?!"

Seeing a circle of police officers outside the door pointing guns at him, Spider-Man immediately let go, raised his hands, and said to them: "Hey, you misunderstood. I just saw that the stubble on his face hadn't been trimmed for a long time, but I didn't find a razor in his house, so I could only make do with this knife."

The Joker scrambled up from the floor, rushed toward the wall furthest away, bumped into it, turned around, pressed his hands tightly against the wall, and then pointed a finger at Spider-Man: "Take him away quickly!!!"

Gordon put down his gun, looked at the Joker, looked at Spider-Man, and then looked at the Joker again. He sighed long and then said to Spider-Man: "No matter what you want to do, breaking into someone else's house with a knife is wrong."

"But I didn't break into someone else's house with a knife, this knife is what I... in the kitchen..."

"Alright, listen, Spider-Man, you go out first. Have you asked Batman for his opinion on this matter?"

Spider-Man put the knife on the coffee table next to him, followed Gordon out the door, and said: "No, I haven't talked to him about it, but I think he should be able to guess it too."

Gordon looked back at Spider-Man, and on the surveillance screen in the Batcave, it was Gordon looking at the lens.

Gordon called Spider-Man out and said: "Listen, kid, I know you might be very angry about the Joker's actions, but without evidence, we can't arrest him."

"And likewise, when he hasn't committed a crime, you can't assume he's a criminal and then use weapons to threaten him. I believe Batman has told you such principles, so please promise me, don't let anger cloud your judgment, okay?"

Gordon appeared very calm, clearly having anticipated the current situation. Basically, every Robin who had just joined the Bat-family would go through this.

After spending some time with Batman, the Robins would all develop a thought: "Maybe I can do better than Batman." Some young police officers in the Cat Getan Police Department thought the same.

But the Robins' reckless actions to arrest criminals didn't bring any results. First of all, they would easily fall into traps by rashly breaking into the villains' bases. Even if they were skilled in martial arts, without evidence, the villains could completely call the police.

Gordon couldn't remember how many times he had appeared in the Bingshan Lounge to stop the Robins from beating up the Penguin. At that time, the look the Robins gave him also made him feel a sting, as if he had become the evil dog of this group of bad guys.

But that wasn't the case. Could Gordon not know that the Penguin wasn't doing good things? Could he not know that there were countless illegal transactions in the Bingshan Lounge? Could he not know that even if the Penguin was beaten until his skull cracked, it was deserved?

But if he didn't abide by this last bit of surface-level order, then the Penguin wouldn't abide by it either. Then the result would be that illegal transactions wouldn't be restricted to the Bingshan Lounge, but would appear in every place that officials and businessmen could collude, and would appear in the homes of every Cat Getan bottom-level citizen.

By then, even Batman couldn't check every house or save every bottom-level citizen coerced by the ruling class.

The Cat Getan of today is already a poisonous flower rotten to the roots. The few people with conscience left are constantly loosening the soil and removing insects, not to restore its health, but just to keep it from completely withering. To live, it must live.

So in a sense, Gordon and Batman are both accomplices to Cat Getan's darkness, because they didn't choose to destroy Cat Getan, but to maintain the current situation as much as possible, letting it degenerate a bit more slowly.

Both of them have long seen this clearly and have become indifferent to all accusations related to this. This is also the most important reason for the disagreement between Batman and his Robins.

The two questions Robins often ask Batman: "Why not try harder to save it?" and "If you can't save it, why not destroy it?" Batman never answers.

The messes Robins often make: rushing into villains' homes, beating them up, and letting the police clean up; rashly stepping into villains' traps, sacrificing police to rescue them. Gordon never complains.

Because both of them know very clearly that it's very difficult and shouldn't be done to tell a group of teenagers that you should clearly see the reality, accept the dark status quo, and struggle to live.

These aren't things children should consider. The near-utopian salvationism in their brains is the most precious thing of the human species and shouldn't be brutally destroyed, at least not by the people they are close to.

Therefore, all the smart and clear-headed people in this city tacitly don't answer any of the questions from this group of birds full of doubts, keeping silent, forever silent, like Batman, like Cat Getan.

In Gordon's view, this time Spider-Man breaking into the Joker's home was just another fruitless, rash attempt by this group of heroic birds, so he didn't say much, just patted Spider-Man on the shoulder and left.

Two days later, the Joker rushed directly into the Cat Getan Police Department. He surrendered.

Without waiting for the police to ask, he confessed all his criminal history, inside and out, in detail.

"Commissioner Gordon, you have to believe me, I really wanted to help him." Spider-Man was aggrieved to death. He grabbed Gordon's arm outside the police station and started complaining.

"That day I went to his home. From the environment in his home, I found that his economic situation might not be very good, relatively tight. I thought it was because he didn't work hard, so when he went out that day, I followed behind him."

"I have a spider-sense that can predict danger, so I could feel that he didn't find me. I thought he was going to rob, kidnap, or rob a bank or something. As a result, he was working part-time at a chemical dye factory. His job was to help that chemical factory dump unqualified sewage."

"Of course, this work isn't very legal either, but he did work quite hard. Because it was secretly dumping sewage, he couldn't use the factory's big truck, so he could only use a small box truck to pull it to the seaside, and then rely on manpower to pour it into the sea."

"He worked for five or six hours in such hot weather, ran at least three or four trips. Of course, he seemed to have intercepted some dangerous chemicals himself, but as a result, the factory boss also deducted his wages..."

Accompanied by Spider-Man's narration, Batman, who was not wearing a Bat-suit and appeared in the Batcave's surveillance room in the image of Bruce Wayne, recalled what happened two days ago with a somewhat lifeless expression.

In the pitch-black factory, only a small security room was lit. Two figures were entangled in front of the security room door, and one of the slightly wealthy-looking men shouted.

"This work was originally twenty dollars! Take it or leave it! You really think that by messing up your face and applying lipstick, pretending to be that terrorist Joker, I'll be afraid of you?!"

"I'm telling you, even if the real Joker came, I would blow his head off with a shotgun! It's only that sissy Batman who would play games with him. Don't fucking expect to scare me!"

"Take the money and get out, don't come again in the future. I hate you money-grubbing vampires the most, get out, get out, get out!"

Two banknotes drifted down powerlessly. The Joker, wearing a somewhat wrinkled short-sleeved shirt, bent down to pick up the money, rubbed his nose, and flicked the banknote in his hand with his finger.

When he turned around, in the night of Cat Getan behind him, a figure was squatting on the top of the factory building. It was Spider-Man who had followed the Joker here.

Spider-Man frowned, staring at the scene happening below with an unprecedentedly serious expression. His gaze fell more on the arrogant security guard, so he didn't see the evil smile on the corner of the Joker's mouth when he turned around.

If Batman is the greatest detective in the world, then the Joker is the criminal who is best at playing with people's hearts. He is good at utilizing everyone's emotions.

Many people think the Joker is best at stimulating the dark side of people's hearts, but likewise, he is also very good at utilizing the bright side of people's hearts. And he knows that a heart of justice burning with the fire of anger that shoots in the wrong direction will be a bullet more hurtful than evil.

From the first time he saw Spider-Man, the foreshadowing began.

The Joker is just a poor mental patient. Besides opposing Batman, he still has to work hard, buy groceries, and cook. Without the discounted goods in the supermarket, he would go hungry. He is just a poor, down-and-out ordinary person. It's all forced by life that he commits crimes—this is the first step to gaining recognition and favor.

Besides resisting Batman, he also abides by the rules of this society, honestly going to work, but still being oppressed. What's wrong with weak, poor, ordinary people? It must all be caused by the unfairness of this society! —This is the second step to washing away his crazy and cruel criminal history.

The Joker knows very well that Batman's group of simple Robins, like all heroes in this world, emphasize dealing with things as they are. Right is right, wrong is wrong. Even if criminals are oppressed, they should still be stopped.

If it were Batman's Robins from before, they would have definitely jumped down from the building by now and punched that security guard. After knocking down the security guard, they would have looked down on the Joker and said: "Even if you are a lunatic and a criminal, if I encounter unfairness, I won't sit idly by, because I am a hero."

The Joker would only laugh wildly in his heart.

Yes, this foul-mouthed security guard often deducted the wages of the workers he brought to dump sewage, but without him, even this kind of work that is tiring and doesn't earn money wouldn't fall to those bottom-level people who are physically weak and can only work part-time. The supervisor would only contract it to relatives who have good relationships with him.

They will hate the hero, the Joker thought in the gap of his wild laughter. He reverses black and white, good and evil, and plays with people's hearts so easily, yet no one can stop him. Batman can't either, because this is human nature.

But Spider-Man didn't jump down. The Joker felt the anger burning in the child's heart from a distance of hundreds of meters.

But Spider-Man didn't jump down, nor did he punch the security guard. He just squatted on the roof of the building, watching this farce quietly.

It doesn't matter, the Joker thought. The intelligence of the Robins is their disaster. Soon this simple bird will discover that Batman is not what he imagined, and neither is the Joker.