Chapter 1905: U: Beyond the Major Event (Thirty-One)

Watching the chaotic scene on the screen, Bruce couldn't help but cover his forehead first; he recalled the conversation he had with Arrogance when he first rode the elevator to the B1 floor inside Shiler's Mental Tower.

Bruce stared at the newly added button in the elevator and asked with some confusion: "If the Pathological is the most original Shiler, then why did the elevator only connect to the Abyss now?"

Arrogance sighed and said: "Do you remember that hole on the first floor of the Tower? That was to allow the personae inside the Tower to go down below, but prevent the Pathological from coming up."

"But they still came up."

"Because this universe is dangerous enough." Arrogance spoke: "To be precise, this city is far more dangerous than the place I originally stayed in, so the Pathological can occasionally come out for a breather."

Bruce frowned slightly; he heard the implication in Shiler's words, so he asked: "What's wrong with the Pathological? Why can't he come out in a safe place?"

"Because he isn't stable enough." Arrogance averted his eyes, as if recalling something: "You should be able to imagine that the most primordial state of Shiler is actually the strongest, but this power is uncontrollable, which is why we tried so hard to become ordinary people."

"Then what would stimulate the Pathological?"

"Everything that happens in Gotham." Arrogance shook his head lightly and said: "You can understand it as this city being practically born for the Pathological; it has everything that satisfies his needs, so you'll see him often from now on."

"But since Gotham stimulates the Pathological, why can he come and go freely?"

"Because there are also things here for him to vent on." Arrogance turned to look at Bruce and said: "You witnessed it in Metropolis."

This time it was Bruce's turn to look away; he said: "Yeah, but I saw more on the monitors."

"Actually, this doesn't count as losing control." Arrogance fiddled with the umbrella handle with his fingers and said: "This is actively accepting stimulation and venting desires; everything is within controllable limits."

"Then what would cause a total loss of control?"

"Being stimulated, but unable to vent." Arrogance's sigh grew heavier; he said: "This happened once when I was still young and undergoing treatment."

Bruce turned his head to stare at Arrogance; after a brief recollection, Arrogance continued: "The first time it happened, no one was prepared; when I showed abnormal symptoms, the person closest to me tried to check on me, and then I hurt her."

"Professor..."

Arrogance shook his head and said: "That's already a very distant memory; and the most absurd thing is, when I saw her, I was already lucid, just didn't hold back my strength."

"That was the first time I realized just how fragile ordinary people are, and how fundamentally incompatible I am with this world."

"What stimulated you?" Bruce asked.

Arrogance fell uncharacteristically silent.

Bruce did not withdraw his probing gaze.

There are few questions in this world this Professor cannot answer; most concern himself — mystery after mystery shrouds him, yet every truth behind them is cruel, making Batman's curiosity carry a rare tinge of dread he shouldn't possess.

"It concerns a boy." Arrogance pondered a moment, then said: "Who he ultimately was, I can no longer recall; the vast majority of things about him I heard from medical staff."

"He also had abilities slightly different from ordinary people, not as obvious as mine; after a series of investigations and treatments, he was discharged."

A bad premonition rose in Bruce's heart; he wanted to interrupt, but Shiler had already continued.

"He was in good condition when he left, just like an ordinary kid; then suddenly one day I heard he killed his own parents, and was brought back."

"One night he rushed into my room and jumped from the seventh floor; before jumping he screamed 'Don't go back, don't turn back into them!'"

Shiler fell silent a short while longer, then continued: "I saw wounds on his body, not bruises from restraint or capture, more like old injuries left by abuse."

"Did he die?"

"Of course; he wasn't Superman, and neither was I; there were no superheroes as powerful as you can imagine there; jumping from the seventh floor, he naturally died."

"Later I heard from the nurse that his parents seemed to have used violence to force him to use his ability to do things he didn't want to do; one day he finally couldn't take it and killed them all; he himself collapsed too."

Arrogance and Bruce walked out of the elevator together; he tilted his head slightly toward the dark consciousness space and said: "I can't say a single event shaped me, but this was indeed a turning point."

"Before that, everyone in the hospital told me that as long as I studied hard and worked on recovery, I could leave here for the beautiful outside world; they painted many beautiful scenes of the outside world and good things that happened there."

"Did you believe them?" Bruce asked.

"My consciousness was very chaotic then, unable to distinguish truth from falsehood; but perhaps if this hadn't happened, the Pathological might have believed that narrative and ultimately walked the path toward normalcy."

"But after that, the Pathological was already beyond saving; this is also one of the main reasons my condition never improved."

"Back then, I fundamentally realized that every person in this world has their own world; their worlds collide and merge into a single world, and then they can love and know each other."

"But when my world collides with another's, there are only two outcomes: I devour them, or I shatter them."

"That world outside, linked together by everyone, is like neatly arranged bottles, and I am that bowling ball; when I charge toward them along the predetermined healing trajectory, besides smashing them to pieces, there is no second outcome."

"Is this the Pathological's thinking?"

"Yes; and I've already witnessed the result of a bowling ball hitting bottles once; no need for a second time."

"So the Pathological created the Norm, and the Norm's wish is to be an ordinary person." Bruce also sighed and said: "He knows he can't mold himself into the shape of a bottle, so he can only strive to shrink his volume a bit and hide among the pile of bottles, hoping not to be discovered."

"But it wasn't too successful either." Shiler shook his head helplessly and said: "At least in my original world it was like that; I tried to conceal eighty percent of my abnormality, but the remaining twenty percent still haunted me constantly; when I knew I was about to lose control, I chose to go to a more dangerous environment."

"There I found some outlets for venting, but that wasn't a long-term solution; the Pathological still lay dormant in my instincts, but he can't stay there forever."

"And then you came to Gotham."

"Yes, it often makes me want to believe in God because of this." Shiler revealed a smile and said: "Here, everything about me has reached a subtle balance; it's not that I belong to Gotham, but that Gotham belongs to me."

"Not that I belong to Gotham, but that Gotham belongs to me..."

Bruce on the observer seats instinctively spoke this line in the memory, then he felt a gaze as scorching as heat vision irradiate toward him.

Lord Superman stared straight at Bruce.

"What did you just say?"

"No, nothing, I just..."

"Repeat what you just said." Faint red light flickered in Lord Superman's eyes, lending his gaze physical heat.

Bruce looked somewhat helpless; he could only say: "'Not that I belong to Gotham, but that Gotham belongs to me.'"

"You should have thought that way sooner." Lord Superman seemed to be speaking to Bruce, yet also not.

"But those aren't my words; please don't pin them on me, in case I get accused of academic plagiarism someday." Bruce shook his head rapidly, like a machine gun: "This line is quoted from a private chat between Professor Shiler Rodriguez and me one day, or possibly from some published article of his I've never read; I'm merely quoting and reposting — all views expressed in this sentence represent only Dr. Rodriguez; I bear no copyright liability."

Lord Superman paused slightly.

"Are you still in university?" he asked.

"No, I'm about to finish my master's and am currently applying for my first doctoral candidacy."

"You've read all the way to a doctorate?" Lord Superman seemed to recall something from long ago, then asked: "What about your Batsuit? Aren't you Batman?"

Bruce wasn't wearing the batsuit; he was dressed like an ordinary college student in a hoodie and jeans, with an apple doing a ballet dance printed on the front of the hoodie.

"I brought it, but I'm not wearing it," Bruce said, yawning as if a bit tired: "Well, my first muscle-building cycle went pretty well, so the batsuit doesn't fit as well anymore, and sportswear is more convenient."

There were simply too many points in that statement that Lord Superman couldn't comprehend—this wasn't something his superbrain could figure out through thought and calculation.

First of all, it was astonishing enough that Batman wasn't wearing the batsuit.

Whether before becoming Lord or after, Clark had countless times stared wide-eyed at 2 a. m., pondering a question—was Batman really a bat that had cultivated into a spirit?

If not, why was it that no matter when he went to find Batman, Batman always wore that damned batsuit, even when standing in the bathroom?

Secondly, the idea that Batman needed to build muscle was pure fantasy.

A person could repel 20 waves of aliens from 8:00 to 10:00 p. m., stop over 200 meteors from hitting Earth from 10:00 to 12:00, capture roughly twenty thousand criminals worldwide from 12:00 to 2:00, and still play a game with all of Gotham's criminals from 2:00 to 6:00 a. m. —why would he need to build muscle?

Sometimes Superman truly didn't know who was the real Superman.

And lastly, the most absurd part—could the batsuit actually not fit?

And what Lord Superman couldn't understand most—Bruce Wayne actually preferred sportswear over a suit?!

The moment Lord Superman confirmed that this young Batman before him wasn't lying, he wondered if this Batman had gone mad.

Then he watched helplessly as Bruce turned around and asked Constantine for a cigarette, skillfully opened the pack, pulled one out, and held it in his hand.

Either he was mad, or I was.

Lord Superman thought: Batman smoking was absurd, Batman smoking an unknown cigarette was even more absurd, Batman smoking an unknown cigarette provided by Constantine—absurdity within absurdity!

Superman's super sense of smell told him this thing was definitely laced; otherwise, Joker Arthur wouldn't have had that dry-mouthed reaction back then—that's the instinctive reaction of someone with a history of drug use when they smell drugs.

In the next second he realized, it was definitely Batman who had gone mad.

Because Bruce turned around to go borrow a lighter from the Joker.