Chapter 2040: A Night of Knightly Terror (19)

"I am not a Gothamite."

Schiller's first rule of fabrication: nine parts truth, one part lie, or nine parts lie, one part truth.

"I come from a very distant place, and it was only because Batman and I simultaneously went on a cross-universe journey that we were able to meet."

"The distance of that place exceeds the imagination of time and space and cannot be reached by any conventional means, and the reason I appeared here is naturally because I was invited by Batman."

Peter's voice echoed in the empty lower level of the Batcave; Batman didn't make a sound because he also wanted to know what Peter's plan was.

But soon he would regret this decision, because of Schiller's second rule of fabrication: the wrong one can be anyone, but it is absolutely not me.

Batman would make this decision naturally because he had a plan in his heart long ago, and every elaborate plan of Batman's had to start with the Joker's conspiracy.

Peter's brain turned rapidly, connecting every clue he had learned, and in addition to adding his own understanding, there was a certain amount of fabrication and association.

Because of Schiller's third rule of fabrication: besides being rigorous, it must also be exciting.

"Before I came here, this city had just experienced a chaos, and the culprit was naturally the notorious supervillain Joker, who obtained a poison called Titan toxin and claimed he would use it to destroy Cat Getan."

But except for Batman, no one knew that his fanfare was merely a cover for another evil conspiracy.

Sure enough, the three people in the cage all frowned; Jason didn't even realize he was constantly leaning his body forward, listening to what Peter said with an overly focused posture.

Peter relaxed slightly; it was indeed very useful; Schiller's fourth rule of fabrication: don't lie, just change the way of narration to create enough suspense.

"This evil plan targeting Batman didn't start a few months ago, but about a year ago."

Peter stared at Jason's face; Jason looked a bit dazed by his gaze; Peter lowered his voice and said: "The Joker needed a knife to cut through the hard Bat-armor and cause real mental damage to Batman."

"He knew Batman possessed extremely powerful willpower, and ordinary disasters simply couldn't break through his iron-clad mental defenses, so the Joker only had one choice left—take away a father's child."

"The candidate needed to have the following characteristics: close relationship with Batman, always by Batman's side, insufficient vigilance, and unstable mental state."

Jason glared at Peter; he knew Peter was talking about him; just as he was about to retort, Peter interrupted him and said.

"Actually, it doesn't matter if you don't meet these characteristics; whoever takes the initiative to leave the warm and safe nest is just unlucky."

Jason pursed his lips and didn't speak.

How could he not have regretted it? At that time, he was so angry that he didn't bring any weapons when he left, and he didn't even have a communicator or beacon on him; this wasn't just running away from home without money, but not even wearing clothes.

"The Joker succeeded." Peter raised his head slightly and said: "But he will always succeed; as long as he waits long enough, there will always be careless young people who make mistakes."

The intense emotion that had just surged in Jason's heart calmed down a bit; he felt that what Peter said made sense.

If his kidnapping was indeed a long-planned conspiracy by the Joker, then if it wasn't him, it would be someone else; there are thieves for a thousand days, but no thief-proofing for a thousand days.

Batman frowned slightly; he did have some understanding of certain conspiracies of the Joker, but at that time he hadn't connected Jason's disappearance to other things.

"If an assistant disappears, Batman will definitely look for them." At this moment, Peter had a flash of inspiration and connected another thing to what he was telling.

"The Joker certainly couldn't let Batman find his missing assistant; he would hide him well, but at the same time, he would let Batman find some other people, some bombs he had buried long ago—the Joker virus-infected individuals."

"This wasn't abrupt; Batman just accidentally discovered some mentally ill patients with unclear symptoms on his way to find his Robin, and after analysis, found that their symptoms were somewhat similar to a certain side of the Joker."

"Batman would treat anything related to the Joker cautiously, so he took them away, and this was exactly what the Joker wanted."

Batman was not surprised by this analysis, because he didn't hesitate to speculate on the Joker with the greatest malice; in his confrontations with the Joker, any seemingly accidental event could be carefully arranged; the two of them speculated about others by their own standards, which was naturally reasonable.

"Batman brought this group of patients back to the base, but he couldn't do anything to them; although they were infected with the Joker virus, they were still victims, and Batman wouldn't take any inhumane measures to treat them."

"But he also couldn't solve the Joker virus, or could solve it, but it just needed time, and the Joker wouldn't give Batman time; the Titan virus plan was launched."

Jason frowned deeply; he discovered that a dark line he had never thought about carefully seemed to have been circling in this city, affecting everyone.

"The Joker deliberately made a big scene, and to prevent the Joker from really using the Titan virus to create more evil criminals, or letting this city fall into injustice, Batman could only choose to stop the Joker's actions first."

"Next is the biggest trap—the Joker is dead."

The Penguin and the Scarecrow both frowned; the Penguin raised an eyebrow, just about to make a sarcastic remark, when the Scarecrow grabbed the prison bars with one hand and said: "At that time, I was thinking, that guy wouldn't die so easily; the virus he possessed had very unique properties."

"So when I heard the news of his death, I specifically went to find his ashes, wanting to see if I could get that virus out."

"You certainly couldn't get it, because the virus had already transferred." Peter sighed, speculating half-truthfully: "There can be many Joker viruses, but there can only be one Joker."

"Conversely, any Joker virus-infected individual could become the Joker."

"So the Joker prepared several virus-infected bodies for his resurrection." The Penguin said with some surprise: "Why did he go through such a big circle? Either don't die from the beginning; what's the point of resurrecting after death?"

"Those Joker virus-infected individuals were indeed bodies he prepared, but they weren't his best choice." Peter stopped his steps and turned to look at Batman.

Batman's expression made everyone present understand that their guesses at this moment were correct.

"Batman is the resurrection body the Joker likes most."

Jason felt a moment of suffocation, and then a greater fear struck him; he rushed to the bars, grabbed them with both hands, looked at Batman, and asked: "He is in your body? You can see him, right? That's why you knew I... I..."

Facing Jason's grief-stricken eyes, Batman nodded slowly and looked into the darkness behind Jason, where a pale hand was constantly tracing the letter on Jason's face.

And Batman also clearly felt the impulse to do so.

Jason closed his eyes in pain, his fingers gripping the bars turning pale from blood loss.

"What did you say?" The Scarecrow said in disbelief: "The Joker wants to resurrect in Batman's body? He is crazy..."

"Don't you want to?" Peter hit the nail on the head.

The Scarecrow was choked.

The Penguin's eyes rolled around, cleared his throat, and said: "We all know Batman's power, but we wouldn't choose to do this, because we know that if one enters Batman's body, all that will be left is Batman."

"But for the Joker, it might not be so, so it's worth a try, but the conditions are not sufficient." Peter shook his head and said: "To defeat Batman on a spiritual level, just being infected with the virus isn't enough; he needs at least two assistants."

"First, fear toxin." Peter snapped his fingers, then pointed at the Scarecrow and said: "This is also a poison that can affect people's spirits and disintegrate people's willpower, which can give the Joker a greater advantage on a spiritual level."

"What nonsense are you talking about." The Scarecrow raised his tone and said: "I was the one who infected Batman with fear toxin; what does it have to do with the Joker?"

"How do you know it wasn't under his influence?" Peter spread his hands and said: "Why can't this disaster you stirred up be a knife the Joker planned long ago to stab Batman?"

"How is that possible?!" The Scarecrow roared: "This is a plan I designed, and it's also me who executed..."

"Stop sticking gold on your own face." The Penguin mocked disdainfully: "How many times have you been played by that lunatic? How many times have you done wedding clothes for others."

"Besides, did you execute the plan yourself? Relying on your dilapidated laboratory, or your two arms twisted together that aren't as thick as Batman's eyelashes?"

The Scarecrow glared at the Penguin.

"Regardless, the fear toxin disaster must have been within the Joker's expectations; it's the same sentence, sooner or later; as long as he is willing to wait, there will always be such a day."

Peter continued: "Fear toxin gives Batman internal pressure, while the destruction of Cat Getan City gives him external pressure."

"Using the memories of torturing Batman's assistant as a knife, and with the help of continuous multi-party pressure, the Joker's purpose is to torture Batman."

"If Batman's spirit collapses, then the Joker can be reborn in his body, and if he doesn't collapse immediately, then the Joker will constantly interfere and torture him, making him unable to focus on dealing with the disasters in reality, until the day he makes a mistake."

"In this city, disasters are endless, and pressure is endless; even the toughest string will have a day when it is worn out, and Batman is also clear about this point."

"Then how to solve it?" Peter raised the question; Schiller's fifth rule of fabrication: say less facts, ask more questions; others' imagination is the best answer.

The Penguin hummed twice and said: "He certainly has a way to solve it; he has a room full of unlucky people infected with the Joker virus; as long as one of them resurrects into the Joker, wouldn't Batman's crisis be solved?"

"You idiot, you only thought of the first layer." The Scarecrow immediately seized the opportunity to mock: "Wouldn't the Joker have thought of this point? He just wants Batman to do this."

"Kill others to save yourself." The Scarecrow sneered and said: "If Batman really did this, then he shouldn't be called a superhero or a Dark Knight; just roll to Arkham Asylum."

And Jason's Adam's apple moved; he looked up at Batman; he absolutely didn't believe Batman would do this.

"Batman certainly didn't do this." Peter said affirmatively.

Just when Jason felt relieved, Peter dragged out a long tone and continued.

"In fact, as early as when the Joker took the first step, Batman already had a perfect plan, and when I arrived here as the last piece of the puzzle, the plan could finally begin." ===== CHAPTER 2041 =====