Chapter 1641

"Batman!!!! Glug, glug, glug..."

A scream accompanied by the suffocating sound of drowning echoed over Cat Getan's Upper East Side, and Batman, who had been brought to the rooftop by the Flash, sighed silently in his heart.

If one were to ask Batman which of the Robins he understood best, some might think it was Nightwing, who had been with him the longest, or perhaps Red Robin, who was most like him. But Batman himself felt it was Damian. Beyond the fact that Damian carried his blood, Damian's logic, derived from the League of Assassins' training, was easier to grasp than the erratic psychology of the other teenagers.

Batman understood Talia, so he naturally understood Damian. Beyond Batman, Damian was more like his mother. To understand what kind of person Talia was, Batman had to recall his past with her.

This was not a pleasant memory, but Talia had indeed left a deep impression on Batman. She was a decisive, stubborn, and even somewhat ruthless woman, but he had to admit she had enough resolve and was willing to go to any lengths.

The latter sounds simple, but Batman knew that most people in the world believe they are willing to go to any lengths before they reach a desperate situation, but in reality, they aren't. Talia was, and so was Damian. This time, Damian was a bit too willing.

Batman had never dreamed that the Demon Boy, raised in the most extreme elite environment, would choose to dump sewage as his most extreme form of retaliation after finding the Court of Owls' tracks.

But this time, Batman's understanding was slightly off, as he hadn't witnessed the methods Schiller had used to deal with the Owls initially. It could be said that the fate of the Owls in both universes was the same, but the process had subtle differences.

Back then, the Owls had built a base beneath the Living Hell, and Schiller, in league with Cobblepot, had connected the Living Hell's sewage pipes directly above the Owls' heads. This was a very pure "dumping" strategy, intended solely to disgust the Owls.

But Damian's dumping operation this time was different.

The pipes Schiller had connected back then were only for domestic sewage from the Living Hell, containing nothing more than excrement and kitchen waste. While disgusting, it was biodegradable; it was more of a psychological attack with no pharmacological toxicity.

But the sewage Damian discharged this time came from Cat Getan's largest septic tank. The sewage in a septic tank isn't just domestic waste; it includes sewage from chemical, smelting, and energy industries. This wasn't just simple feces; it was truly toxic and polluted.

It's hard to say whether the Owls who were submerged were drowned or poisoned, but clearly, the expensive pre-filtration systems in the Upper East Side's residential areas could only handle common tap water contaminants; they couldn't handle this level of industrial wastewater. Furthermore, once this sewage permeated the ground, it could potentially contaminate drinking water and pollute the air through evaporation.

The remaining members of the Court of Owls who arrived at the scene to investigate the situation naturally judged the severity of the situation from the scene. They all came from Cat Getan's great families and were among the puppet masters, so they immediately realized that the Upper East Side's wealthy district might experience a round of water and air pollution due to this illegal sewage discharge.

There is no one in this world who values their life more than the wealthy. They wouldn't even accept pesticide residues on fruits and vegetables that could be completely washed off; how could they let themselves breathe air containing industrial pollutants? It would be the death of them.

Suddenly, the wealthy residents of the Upper East Side began to pack up and flee in a panic. But once their luggage was packed, they realized: where else could they go?

Cat Getan was currently engulfed in war; the Midtown district was a wreck, and the Upper East Side had fallen halfway due to the expanding front lines. Were they supposed to go squeeze into the Lower East Side with that group of filthy wretches?

They couldn't stay and eat pollution, and there was no better place to take refuge. Finally, a group of local tycoons, pampered and terrified of death, decided to leave Cat Getan entirely and fly out.

But there were also some who were too deeply tied to the city, or whose thinking had already merged with the city's darkness, who were not afraid of death and decided to stay.

Of course, they didn't stay just to die; they had to choose a path from the thousands of not-so-good ones.

For now, staying in the Upper East Side to eat pollution was impossible. It would be better to move directly to the territory they had carved out in Midtown and use the manpower there to safeguard their safety.

Just like that, the generals who had previously commanded from afar finally arrived at the front lines of the battle.

This time, they could no longer sit on the sidelines, treating the world as a chessboard and people as pawns, because their ability to command battles and arrange defenses would truly determine their survival.

When they commanded from the offices of luxury villas in the Upper East Side via telephone, it was like playing a game in front of a screen; no matter how many people died in the computer, it wouldn't harm them in reality.

But this time, they were sitting in the family headquarters in reality, which was like going to war with a gun in hand. If you didn't aim correctly in a game, it was just a loss, but in reality, it meant death.

Many people have heard the term "unforced error." Simply put, when people face immense pressure, it is often difficult for them to exert their full intelligence. The interference caused by pressure is real, and those with poor stress resistance are more prone to making low-level mistakes in high-pressure environments.

Some people are eloquent when hiding behind a screen and typing on a keyboard, as if they were Zhuge Liang reborn. But if you let them give a speech in an auditorium of hundreds, they might be too shaky to speak. Many of Cat Getan's family leaders were currently in this situation.

When their own safety wasn't at risk, their decisions were naturally more decisive. But now, if a defense mission wasn't arranged well, a group of lunatics could rush in and turn them into a sieve. Many found themselves hesitant and constrained, lacking the demeanor of those who once commanded the situation with ease.

Wealthy families moved out, causing a period of chaos. Those who couldn't stabilize, or who failed to perform at their original organizational level even after stabilizing, were quickly devoured and completely exited the stage of history.

Just like that, those with weak wills were eliminated first, followed by those with poor organizational skills. The remaining families couldn't be called talented, but they were at least above the baseline.

More importantly, the families that could persist until today without leaving must have had the immense courage to seek wealth in danger. After all, Cat Getan hadn't been sealed off; those without guts had long since fled by plane. Those who stayed were all "coal balls"—not only black but possessing eight hundred schemes in their hearts.

So, what about the Wei En family?

The Wei En family couldn't leave Cat Getan, of course. Bruce actually had the means to purify the water and air within Wei En Manor, but his old butler, Alfred, had packed his bags and insisted on leaving the moment he heard it might be polluted.

Bruce hadn't wanted to touch a nerve lately, because the double Robins had come home to see him a while ago, which had made him very happy. But Bruce hadn't been able to keep those children, which had left Alfred disappointed for a long time. To appease his old butler, Bruce had moved out of Wei En Manor.

Batman had actually been participating in this struggle as Bruce Wei En, but he hadn't been too prominent, merely seizing a piece of territory in Midtown.

Most of the industries on the streets in the golden location of Midtown belonged to the Wei En family, so it was only natural for Bruce Wei En to focus on defending that area.

After the initial chaos, the war entered a period of dividends. There was plenty of territory and wealth in the Upper East Side waiting to be carved up, and everyone began to frantically seize land like hungry wolves who hadn't eaten in days, not even having time to attack each other.

Under Batman's leadership, the Wei En family naturally seized back their original manor, incorporating it into their sphere of influence. But in reality, Bruce had no interest in the childish situation of children fighting over cake; he was just waiting for the Robins to make their next move.

Logically, Batman wouldn't let the Robins mess around like this in his city. But after experiencing the emptiness of the Robins leaving home one after another and staying out late, Batman discovered that the Robins really had serious business to attend to, rather than just wanting to distance themselves from him. This gave him a strange sense of relief, similar to "I knew they still loved me."

This emotion greatly influenced Batman's incurable desire for control. Although the desire for control would eventually gain the upper hand, at least for a short time, Batman's attention would be more focused on the content of what the Robins were doing, rather than the nature of why they were doing it.

It turned out that everyone had a "troll" side, or rather, the curiosity and desire for exploration inherent in human nature made everyone unconsciously curious about the follow-up to bizarre events, and Batman was no exception.

Now, Batman felt he understood the Robins' line of thinking, and by extrapolating from that, he had an expectation of what move the Robins would make next.

The war couldn't go on forever. As the saying goes, all wars are for the sake of interests at the negotiating table. When the territory in the Upper East Side was carved up and everyone still wanted more, they would have to sit at the negotiating table, which would be another reshuffling of Cat Getan's forces.

Batman didn't believe the Robins would let go of the opportunity to redraw Cat Getan's forces at the negotiating table after doing so much, or rather, the purpose of everything they had done was for this final blow.

So, what would they use to make this blow decisive, forcing the fragmented Cat Getan families to gather again, becoming a new interest community and class, and achieving their plan of returning Cat Getan to the era of gang order?

What was the leash for the dog? And who was the dog's master?

With this question in mind, Batman arrived at the headquarters of the Nive family. Essentially, he didn't want to see his children make a mistake at the final critical point. Since they had come this far, it should naturally be brought to a perfect conclusion.

The black bat-wings swept through the air, and Batman landed silently on the balcony of the seventh floor of the family headquarters. But at this moment, he heard movement from downstairs, so he jumped to the balcony of the bedroom below.

When the wind blew the curtains, allowing Batman to catch a glimpse of the corner of the bedroom, he froze in place like a statue.

Because standing in the bedroom were Thomas Wei En and Martha Wei En—his, Bruce Wei En's, Batman's biological parents.