Chapter 1739

Jack reached out and scratched his freshly dyed green hair, deliberately messing it up to restore his usual clown image, and he somehow got hold of a bright purple short-sleeve shirt, as if deliberately reminding Bruce that he is the clown.

Hearing Jack's words, Bruce didn't react for a moment, taking a few seconds to understand before realizing Jack might be hinting that he did poorly on this test again.

Bruce turned his head to survey the surroundings—this was the basement of a civilian apartment. Though it was a basement, because the apartment's specifications were high, it looked more like a windowless hotel, the environment cozy and conditions comfortable.

The warmth spreading from his abdomen was Bruce's body telling him he had just eaten a full meal, and the recently compiled warehouse data showed the food stored was enough to feed all the kids in the gang for half a month.

From any perspective, managing to firmly establish oneself in a city like Gotham in less than two weeks should hardly be called a heavy-handed strike against Xileizai Sect's reputation in education, should it?

Bruce stated his view bluntly, but Jack sighed deeply and said: "I'm truly glad I'm not your psychology professor, oh, wait—didn't Xileizai say earlier that Batman and the Joker's strength would change in equal measure???"

As soon as he finished speaking, Jack darted to the window at the end of the hallway, far from Bruce, who looked at him helplessly and said: "You're acting as if I'm some kind of contagious disease called failing psychology."

"Not 'as if.'" Jack grinned, revealing a fake smile, his steps unceasing, as if he wanted to just slip away like that.

Then Bruce blocked him in the hallway, shoved him into the room, pressed him onto the sofa, and said: "Say what you mean clearly—am I the kind of person who doesn't listen to others' opinions?"

Jack sighed, his eyes darting as he glanced around the furnishings, Bruce sitting opposite him saying: "I know this doesn't even qualify as an achievement, but after all, time is still short—just give it another month, no, another half month and..."

"Ah..."

Jack interrupted Bruce with a long sigh, propping his face with his hand as he looked at Bruce and said: "The formula is wrong—writing out more calculations won't help, and in another half month you'll be scoring zero."

Bruce stared at Jack and said: "You're saying my train of thought is wrong? Then tell me where exactly it's wrong."

"Let's change the subject—didn't another universe's Batman also come here? Guess what he's up to now."

"Which Batman do you mean?"

"The one older than you."

"I don't think his progress would be faster than mine—after all, this Gotham is the one you built, my hometown, so I'm definitely more familiar with the gangster ways than he is; even if his progress isn't bad, it should at best be on par with mine."

Jack picked up his water cup, took a sip, set it down, and looked at Bruce saying: "Is it possible he doesn't need to be familiar with that gangster stuff?"

Bruce froze for a moment.

"No wonder Xileizai was so pleased when you graduated with honors—it's not without reason." Jack covered one eye with his hand and said: "You might truly be the only Batman in all universes without any talent for psychology."

Just as Bruce was about to speak, Jack looked at him and said: "I said I built Gotham in the Dream Realm, and you took it to mean I only built Gotham—now go to Gotham Airport, buy a ticket to Metropolis, and with your genius brain, do some random business without gangster interference, and in half a month you could buy Gotham outright."

Bruce furrowed his brow deeply.

"'This is the Gotham I built in the Dream Realm'—I didn't lie, I said I built Gotham, but I didn't say I only built Gotham—a simple language trap and beginner-level psychological suggestion."

"You interpreted all this as me building a city as a test site, so you must complete some goal in this city to score high, and you didn't even try buying a ticket to see if it showed another location—your base score is already wiped out."

Bruce took a deep breath, then suddenly realized, looking at the Joker and saying: "Has the other Batman already left Gotham?"

"Yes, and moreover, in the situation he imagined where you didn't exist, barring accidents, tomorrow you'll see in the newspapers 'Metropolis Shocked by Business Prodigy.'"

Bruce opened his mouth slightly, Jack saw what he wanted to say, and thus interrupted him: "He can be so high-profile because Metropolis has laws—so long as he earns money with his own wisdom, no matter how much wealth he has, it's protected by law."

"If someone wants to take illegal measures, he can just hire people with money to protect himself—Metropolis's worst criminals are at most bank robbers, and hiring two retired soldiers would settle it."

Jack looked at Bruce and said: "What do you think the purpose of this exam is? Testing your survival skills in Gotham's underbelly?"

Bruce wanted to say yes, but Jack beat him to it: "If the same exam is given twice to measure progress, then there shouldn't be so many variables—you should still be living here in an adult's body, just like before."

Bruce truly fell into thought—if he had made any significant progress during this time, it was that he now truly understood the patterns of Xileizai's actions.

Speaking of arrogance, he is a quite rigorous person, especially in academics—if this exam truly were just to see if Bruce's survival skills in Gotham's underbelly had improved, then Xileizai wouldn't possibly give him a worse starting point like turning him into a child.

On one hand, if the starting point were different, the criteria for judging progress would also change; on the other, Bruce in reality is not a child and cannot possibly turn back into one—making such a virtual assumption for testing meaningless.

"What do you think is most important for breaking out of some environment?"

Hearing this question, Bruce narrowed his eyes, and Jack continued: "It's wanting to break out of some environment."

"And the prerequisite for wanting to break out of some environment is first recognizing that the environment you're in is abnormal."

"Come on, Batman—Gotham is abnormal! Besides Gotham, which other city needs a child to expend this much effort just to stay safe and fill his stomach? But change to any other city, and you could redirect that wasted energy into expanding your wisdom."

"But I don't see what meaning this has." Bruce rubbed the cup with his hand and said: "Is it just a brain teaser?"

"The latter part is extra credit." Jack scratched his head again and said: "Well, it's not like I can't leak the answer—how do you view the gangs?"

"They have both benefits and drawbacks."

"Where are the drawbacks?"

Jack had just finished asking that when he clicked his tongue and said: "I'm still not used to Xileizai's tone—I'll just say it straight."

"You and the vast majority of people in this Gotham don't realize that the real harm of the gangs isn't about breaking the law."

Bruce listened intently, Jack paused, then continued explaining: "The meaning of law is relative—if it doesn't protect us, we naturally don't have to obey it, that's my view."

"From Gotham's perspective, the gangs breaking the law isn't a big deal and has nothing to do with justice—the problem is that the vast majority of industries maintaining interests through violence have erased the necessity of labor, which will completely destroy a person's values."

"Put it this way: I worked hard all day in a factory, earned twenty dollars, while my neighbor Old Joey won a thousand dollars with one all-in—does my labor still have meaning?"

"No one in this world labors because they love labor—people love the fruits of labor, and if one could directly skip labor and get the fruits, who wouldn't do that?"

Jack lightly tapped the table with his fingertip, and Bruce could see he was imitating Xileizai's movements again.

"The existence of gangs is equivalent to using violence to skip the labor process—or at least helping violence-protected members avoid labor—this leads those who profit from violence to develop a notion: when they're short on money, they think not of working for cash, but of violence for cash."

"If this were just a part of society, other producers could supply their plunder, but if the whole society were like this, or if society's notion were that one must strive to master violent means to gain benefits, then a vicious cycle is destined."

"When all social entities regard non-productive plundering industries as their ultimate goal, a huge problem arises: plunderers won't cherish the labor fruits they've plundered from others, since they haven't expended the relevant effort, this lowers their risk aversion in decision-making, and ultimately, because they misjudge risk, they lose everything—even the pants off their backs."

"I toiled all day, earned twenty dollars, which I allocated to food, water, housing, and other survival necessities, and if there was surplus, I'd consider the risk of failing to obtain these resources in the future, thus saving the money—because work is hard, every cent spent must be done cautiously."

"Old Joey got a thousand dollars that fell from the sky, and compared to others' hard-earned pittance, he'll only think about how to let himself have a thousand dollars every day from now on, or even more."

"I've seen many people whose money views were destroyed." Bruce said: "Some rode the wave of the times, some were just luckier, but this group shares one trait: they mistook luck for their own ability, squandered recklessly, increased investment, and then lost everything overnight."

"Put bluntly, when money comes too fast, one loses the concept of it, spends it without feeling pain, but this isn't a healthy development path—this is why Xileizai keeps weakening the gangs." Jack said, pursing his lips.

"Gotham is abnormal, gangs aren't good things, the positive significance they provided in some era isn't that beautiful, and if this system were truly solid, it wouldn't collapse just because some important figure died."

"Conversely, a system that collapses due to the death of a spiritual leader is bound to collapse sooner or later—early or late makes no difference, or rather, if they don't transform and stiffen afterward, the consequences could be worse than collapse."

Bruce covered his forehead with his hand, sighed, and said: "I get it—this competition isn't about who can thrive in the gang system like a fish in water, but who can break out of this system, even more, who can smash this system."

"And after smashing this system, how to establish a new order." Jack added.

Bruce suddenly had a flash of inspiration, his genius wisdom kicked in again, he looked at Jack and asked: "Will the Gotham I built in the Dream Realm be affected by that mysterious dark power?"

Jack smiled for the first time; he snapped his fingers and said, "Excellent, you've grasped the key. I can only tell you that the Dream World's standing is far higher than you imagine — it can even let an Archangel enter a dream unknowingly."

"Dark forces cannot invade this place..." Bruce rose from the sofa. He turned to look at the door and said, "In other words, Gotham has the possibility of being completely saved."

Jack also stood up, looking at Bruce, and said, "At the same time, it means who saves it, how it is saved, and what it becomes after being saved — that is the key."

Bruce suddenly froze.

Jack gave him a radiant smile and said, "Zero points on the written portion, but you still have a chance to make your professor give you a perfect score. You know the method, don't you?"