Chapter 2052: A Knight

The sedative still needed some time to take effect, and the fear toxin went directly into the bloodstream, causing Jason to have constant hallucinations, leaving him unable to support his body at all.

He saw those leather shoes stepping on the cold floor, walking closer and closer to him. The pressure even exceeded the fear brought by the hallucination fragments before his eyes.

But Schiller walked past him. With a bang, the door closed, and Jason heard the sound of the lock.

"I convinced Batman of a little more than you imagined," Schiller's voice sounded behind Jason. "There is no monitoring equipment of his here. It is you, and it is me; it is the only place where the two of us can escape Batman's sight."

"Impossible, he just hid it." Jason absolutely couldn't admit this. He lay on the ground, gritting his teeth and saying, "If he tells you there is no monitoring in a certain place, it's just that he is confident you can't find it."

"Whether you believe it or not, I have a way to judge whether there is monitoring here." Schiller stood in front of Jason's head. Jason couldn't see his face even if he tilted his head to the maximum angle, but he could feel his gaze.

"I said it, it's your luck that you didn't reveal your talent early." Those feet walked toward the operating table again.

Jason's somewhat chaotic thoughts could still analyze Schiller's implication. It seemed this doctor had an unfortunate childhood, but could some talent beyond the ordinary allow him to completely escape Batman's monitoring? Jason was still suspicious.

And he was now more curious about how Schiller tricked the Joker from Batman's hands. Batman couldn't hand the Joker over to anyone.

Schiller seemed to hear his inner voice and spoke to himself, "Jason, you don't understand. The maximum degree of loss and recovery can completely change a person. Batman is also a person; his hatred and love are equally great."

"But he..."

Jason didn't finish the rest of his words, because he didn't want to express his views on Batman in front of any stranger. This was the Bat-family's own business, the business between the two of them; there was no need to use it as a topic of conversation for others.

"But he doesn't seem to hate the Joker." Schiller said for him, making Jason really wonder if he had mind-reading skills. "He also doesn't seem to love you many times, but you know how much he loves."

"Come on, Jason, don't think you can use this topic to distract my energy. I said, it's time to fulfill the duties of a psychologist."

The man walked over again. This time, he didn't grab Jason's aching neck, but directly grabbed his waist and threw him onto the ground beside the operating table.

"Stand up, Jason, or do you want a little more sedative?"

"Give it to me, thanks."

Jason knew there was no time to be polite with Schiller. If a collision was destined between them, then the current situation was too unfavorable for him. He had to adjust his state.

Schiller stuffed two more pills into Jason's mouth. The overdose made Jason's state recover quickly. He used the strength of his arms to support his upper body, knelt on the ground, exhaled, and then stood up shakily, supporting his knees.

When he stood by the operating table, he saw the man Schiller had placed on the operating table wearing a disgusting smile. Jason was too familiar with this smile.

Schiller stood under the shadowless lamp, wiping the scalpel. The overly bright top light left the area under his brow ridge pitch black. Jason swallowed and said, "I can't do this. He is an innocent person."

"He won't be soon."

Schiller looked up at Jason and said, "His transformation process is irreversible. He is destined to become the Joker."

"But he hasn't yet."

"Do you know, Jason?" Schiller suddenly changed to a light tone and handed the scalpel to him at the same time. "Do you know why this Mr. Henry became the Joker?"

"Because the Joker made him..."

"No, because Batman destroyed the Joker virus with his own willpower, so the Joker's backup plan was activated, and this gentleman became the Joker."

Schiller's speaking speed became very fast, while Jason's heartbeat became faster.

"Do you know how happy he will be after he wakes up as the Joker? It was Batman who created him. After he has done all these evil things, he will become the happiest person in the world."

Jason's fists clenched.

He knew Schiller was manipulating his emotions, but he really couldn't help but be angry. How could he not be angry?

This damn lunatic kidnapped him, tortured him for a whole year, and let Batman think he had lost his child, spending more than three hundred days in pain and guilt.

His rotten plans set off two disasters in Cat Getan, countless buildings and properties were destroyed, countless people died, and he didn't have to pay any price.

He even successfully got what he wanted most—everything related to Batman.

When he wakes up, he will be ecstatic to find that it was a big harvest—Batman's pain, Batman's guilt, Batman's gaze, and even the origin created by Batman himself.

Jason closed his eyes tightly, but the cold light of the scalpel placed in front of him was too bright, piercing straight into his eyelids, leaving his field of vision blood-red.

Schiller's voice sounded again.

"You've seen too many disasters, Jason. This is something you can't forget even when you were tortured by the Joker: displacement, struggling to survive."

"People living at the bottom already have enough enemies—high-and-mighty big shots, heartless ordinary citizens... and the misfortune within fortune that makes them unable to make up their minds to get rid of all this."

"What really makes you angry is the adding of fuel to the fire by those lunatics. The unnecessary disasters they bring will become the last straw that breaks the camel's back."

"Once again... once again..." Schiller's voice went to Jason's side and sounded in his ear, "Countless repetitions, but no one has ever stood up to change all this."

"And on your way to seek change, you have only encountered resistance. They stand high and tell you that criminals also have human rights, private lynching is not advisable, and superheroes cannot use violence to control violence."

"But, Jason, you have to figure this out."

Schiller's hand rested on Jason's shoulder, and the voice came from too close to him.

"Where there are people, morality has meaning. Only those caught in the act are called crimes; nothing seen by anyone is anything."

Jason felt the scalpel being stuffed into his hand. Schiller pressed the back of his hand and said, "Death is never the best retribution. You have the ability to turn it into a gift."

And what woke Jason up was a touch of coldness he felt on his neck. Another scalpel was across his throat, and Schiller's tone turned cold suddenly.

"Do it. Open his chest."

Cat Getan Police Department. Standing at the end of the corridor, Gordon looked coldly at the Penguin walking out of the cell swaggeringly.

"See you again, Commissioner Gordon. By the way, I will seriously discuss the issue of Cat Getan police officers abusing prisoners with my lawyer. I hope I won't see you in the defendant's seat next time."

After speaking, the pot-bellied Penguin took his cane from his assistant, put on his top hat, and strode toward the door.

A person walked out of the shadow behind Gordon, but it wasn't Batman. Gordon turned his head and saw Peter Parker's face.

Gordon turned his head back. He didn't want to see the expression on this young man's face. He had seen enough on the faces of Nightwing, Jason, and Robin.

Children will naturally be disappointed. At this age, they will never understand why bad people won't get the punishment they deserve, and can even be arrogant and mock in front of good people.

Gordon knew he was powerless to change all this, so all he could do was keep silent. When members of the Bat-family asked about this, he let them blame it on his own incompetence.

Peter stepped forward and patted Gordon on the shoulder. Gordon turned to look at him and finally decided to give this new assistant of Batman some preferential treatment. He said, "Many of Oswald's businesses are legal, and he can also escape punishment through legal means. This means our laws have many shortcomings, but we still need such public order."

Peter nodded and said, "I will try my best to make it better."

But the Penguin walking in front stopped his steps, turned his head back to look at Peter, and said, "I was as naive as you when I was young, kid, but one day you will understand..."

Under the signal of Gordon's eyes, several police officers walked over. The Penguin looked at them with fear and finally didn't continue speaking, turning and leaving.

Gordon was also worried that Peter would have any extreme behavior, so he stepped forward and turned slightly to block in front of Peter.

It was late at night. Oswald, who had just returned to his luxurious manor, was instructing his assistant to arrange the doctor's schedule for tomorrow. He had to find a way to get the thing in his chest out.

Just as the assistant left, the door was knocked. The Penguin, who was taking off his coat, turned back to look at the door and finally said, "Please come in."

The person who opened the door was Peter Parker.

The Penguin's movements froze immediately. Peter reached out and shook his fingers, greeting the Penguin.

The Penguin's face sank immediately. He stared at Peter tightly and said, "Did Gordon send you? You know that private threats will only make him more unfavorable in court."

"You're mistaken. Batman sent me."

Peter walked swaggeringly to the sofa in the reception area, sat down, put one hand on the back of the chair, turned to look at the Penguin, and said, "You can change your clothes first, and then we'll talk, or we can talk like this."

The Penguin was confused by him. He felt this kid was very strange, different from the Bat-family members he usually saw. He felt this way when he was in the Batcave.

So the Penguin just took off his coat, threw it to the other side of the sofa, walked over in his shirt, sat down, looked at Peter, and said, "I don't have time to listen to your nonsense. Don't tell me those big principles. What do you want to talk about?"

Peter's face showed a puzzled expression, looking at the Penguin as if looking at an idiot. The Penguin felt his whole body go numb from being stared at by this gaze, and couldn't help but ask, "What's wrong? Is there something on my face?"

"Sorry, but I thought we had agreed on a code." Peter drank some water and said, "Did you not understand a single word of what I said in the Batcave?"

The Penguin was stunned, looking at Peter with suspicious eyes. Peter put down the water glass and said, "There were others present at the time, so I couldn't say it too clearly. I thought you had understood."

"You mean Wayne Enterprises..." the Penguin probed.

Peter nodded and said, "Batman should have arrived in Washington by now, and I stayed here to help him handle some things."

"I know why he suddenly found a new assistant." The Penguin narrowed his eyes and said, "You do dirty work for him?"

"Are you saying you are very dirty?" Peter looked at the Penguin with a smile and said, "Batman is a superhero. What dirty work is there to do?"

The Penguin leaned back, hummed noncommittally, but soon returned to a tense and serious posture. He rubbed the rim of the water glass with his fingers and said, "Yeah, there's no dirty work to do when he's a superhero."

At this moment, the Penguin saw Peter take a stack of documents out of his coat pocket and push them across the coffee table.

The Penguin was deeply attracted the first time he looked at the documents—and in the next half hour, he saw a huge East Coast criminal empire in these documents.

Finally, his gaze fell on the signature of the document. It didn't sound like a real name, but more like a code name.

At the end of the document, it was clearly written in slightly rough flowery English—"Kingpin".