Chapter 2158: Battle of the Two Cities! (Part 36)

Alfred often appears in the image of a loyal and diligent old butler. Whether in comics, animations, or games, he is the best assistant in Batman's life and his closest elder.

But these have a premise, that is, Batman is Batman, the Batman that most readers know or have heard of—powerful, wise, and omnipotent.

Batman himself can handle almost everything. In fact, if he wants, he can also take care of his own life completely. Even if he has the persona of not being good at cooking, he can achieve fully automatic cooking through inventing machines, and the same is true for others.

Batman letting Alfred take care of his life is more to express his closeness and trust in the butler, rather than that he can't do it himself.

The Earth-1 Batman is the exact opposite. It's not that he lets Alfred take care of his life, but that Alfred must revolve around him, staring at him all the time, acting as both father and mother, to prevent Bruce from having any accidents.

This is not worrying about nothing. From the moment Alfred met the Bruce Wei En of this universe, he was an ordinary child, but his life experience was bumpy, he was stared at by many pairs of eyes, and he had psychological problems himself. As the only remaining guardian of Bruce, how could Alfred not worry?

The feelings Alfred invested in Bruce were more than anyone else in the world. The relationship between the two of them was more than a cold guardianship document. He was his father, teacher, guide, strong backing in his career, and intimate butler in life.

The more he managed, the more attention was projected, and the accumulated feelings were richer. The barrier of alienation between their professional and employment relationships had long been crossed, more like a pair of father and son.

But since there are father and

He believed that Batman was never prepared, and the facts were indeed so. He had reminded Bruce in various tactful ways; perhaps Bruce didn't understand, or perhaps he understood but was unwilling to admit it.

Alfred was responsible for Bruce's personal safety, so his reminders became increasingly direct, and in the end, he even expressed his attitude firmly, which caused the conflict between him and Bruce to intensify more and more.

It had been a long time since Bruce had confided any of his action plans to him; perhaps he felt that Alfred couldn't understand, or perhaps he felt that Alfred wouldn't support him. There had been no effective communication between them for a long time.

In fact, as long as Bruce spoke up, Alfred would definitely do his best to help him, but Bruce never said anything. Alfred didn't know if he was just putting on a brave front or if he didn't trust him.

"You have a very good relationship with your butler, don't you?" Alfred turned to get the broom to clean up the plate fragments on the floor.

What surprised him was the reasoning-like behavior displayed by the Bruce in front of him. Setting aside whether his reasoning was correct or not, he was actually capable of reasoning.

Moreover, he was reasoning from the perspective of the perpetrator. Listening to him describe what kind of person that madman was and what kind of plans he had carried a kind of chilling pleasure.

It was as if he were inseparable from that brutal criminal; they were two sides of the same coin, and thus perceived and understood each other.

This inexplicable feeling was the main reason Alfred was shocked; he had never thought Bruce Wei En could be like this.

Bruce sat back behind the bar, used his hand to sweep the remaining crumbs of ladyfingers on the countertop, and said, "Yes, he is the elder closest to me. No one can replace his position in my heart."

Alfred's cleaning hand paused, and then he said, "I'm glad you think so, Bruce."

"Let's get back to the point." Bruce pinched the cookie crumbs with his fingertips and said, "I haven't met Andejin, but judging from the real actions he can be investigated for, he is not someone who is easily influenced by the Joker."

"When he was still a small reporter, he dared to investigate a series of serial murders that were obviously controlled by big shots, and he actually found some key evidence. This shows that he has both courage and strategy."

"When he thought the Waynes might be in danger, he also bravely went to warn them. You must know that at this time, he, who held evidence but had no background, was in much more danger than the Waynes. This shows that he has kindness in his heart and hopes to save others' lives as much as possible."

"After the Waynes were murdered, he didn't exaggerate or forge the evidence he had investigated and publish it to gain fame. This shows that he is a person who does not seek fame or fortune."

"He handed this evidence to young Bruce in a certain way, hoping that young Bruce could use legal means to judge the murderer who killed his parents, which shows that he is a person who believes in procedural justice and common sense."

"Such people are usually difficult to mislead because all they seek is truth and justice."

"So you think the Joker kidnapped Andejin and is brainwashing him, but it's not easy to succeed?" Alfred asked. After thinking for a moment, he said, "Then what position did the Joker arrange for Andejin?"

"Alfred, I never thought you were so sharp." Bruce praised him sincerely and said, "Of course, it's as a vengeful warrior seeking revenge on Batman."

"Batman has always wanted to avenge his parents because someone killed them. He hopes the murderer will repent and be judged by the law. So when Andejin comes to seek revenge on Batman, shouldn't he also surrender and accept judgment?"

"If he doesn't do that, then why couldn't the murderer who killed his parents years ago escape justice and remain at large? If he does do that, how could Andejin, manipulated by the Joker, give him a chance to go to court?"

Alfred broke out in a cold sweat listening to this. He suddenly understood that this was an unsolvable dead end aimed at Batman.

Parents can only be considered relatives, but Andejin witnessed Bruce killing himself with his own eyes. Although that wasn't him, Bruce thought it was, yet he still chose to let go.

And Andejin did indeed warn the Waynes back then; he was not the nasty reporter seeking heat and fame that Bruce thought he was. In other words, Bruce betrayed Andejin twice, and the last time led to his death. Isn't this reason for revenge sufficient?

"What do you intend to do?" Alfred's brow was furrowed tightly; his two eyebrows were almost twisted together.

"Although the Joker is not a noble person, he usually doesn't use certain low-handed methods in this game, such as drug control or forced mental manipulation. So if that were the case, the trap he carefully designed to crush both Andejin's and Batman's mental states at the same time would be completely ruined."

Bruce took the freshly made sandwich from Alfred's hand, adjusted the position of the toothpick on it, and continued.

"But Andejin is very difficult to brainwash; the manipulation of him must be incomplete and have opportunities to be exploited."

Alfred handed Bruce another cup of hot tea, nodded, and said, "Perhaps we can search the whole city for this madman, find the location where he kidnapped Andejin, and rescue him. The shorter the time, the better, so that everything still has room for redemption."

Bruce, however, shook his head and said, "If the Joker wants to hide someone, no one can find him. Obviously, before achieving the result he wants, the Joker will not easily let anyone go."

"Then what should we do?"

Bruce revealed a mysterious smile.

"You didn't bring me Kingpin's corpse, so I won't pay." In the office of the Penguin Mayor's mansion, he rested his hands on his umbrella and said, "You might say Kingpin was caught by S. H. I. E. L. D., and that rescuing him from S. H. I. E. L. D. is not within your mission scope, but I have never heard of any mercenary who, because they didn't act fast enough, causing the mission difficulty to rise, then comes to find the employer to increase the price."

Deathstroke sat steadily opposite him, one leg crossed over the other, lifted half of his mask to smoke, and said, "You have to understand the current situation, Mr. Mayor. Even if I help you complete the mission at the original price, do you think S. H. I. E. L. D. would be that stupid?"

"Would they think a mercenary would break into S. H. I. E. L. D. and rescue an important criminal without anyone's instruction?"

The Penguin cursed inwardly, blaming the previous Mayor Penguin for being an idiot who actually hooked up with Kingpin at the last minute. Now, if he still let Deathstroke break into S. H. I. E. L. D., S. H. I. E. L. D. would definitely think that he himself had sent Deathstroke to rescue Kingpin.

Heaven have mercy, he just wanted to get Kingpin killed, but as long as there was a break-in at S. H. I. E. L. D., this matter would become unclear.

"Sneak in secretly." The Penguin said, "I will create some commotion to attract the attention of those agents. You sneak in and get the person killed; I don't need any evidence."

Deathstroke frowned slightly. He always felt that the mayor in front of him was a bit different from before. He had already prepared himself to be spoken to with harsh words or even kicked out.

Unfortunately, now he couldn't go to S. H. I. E. L. D. to sell out the Penguin and earn double the money.

But Deathstroke still stood up and left without saying anything, obviously tacitly agreeing to the Penguin's plan. But he hadn't been gone long before another uninvited guest broke in.

"Batman?!" The Penguin exclaimed.

Immediately after, he breathed a sigh of relief because he discovered that the Batman in front of him was not the one he was familiar with, but the greenhorn who had just debuted in this universe and was terrible.

"Finally remembered to wear your mask? Rookie?" The Penguin snorted coldly, turned, and walked toward the sofa, saying, "I watched the news today; you've been put through the wringer by the Joker. What brings you to me?"

It wasn't that the Penguin was being amiable; he was afraid that if he argued with this Batman, it would lower his own IQ.

"I don't know, he said he wanted to play a game with me or something." Batman actually walked over and sat down opposite him. The Penguin was shocked, and then he watched helplessly as Batman took out a revolver.

Batman leaned forward, pushed the revolver to the center of the coffee table, looked up at the Penguin, and said, "Russian roulette, who goes first?"

The Penguin was stunned, but then he revealed a sinister smile, squinted his eyes at Batman, and said, "Someone gave you pointers, right? Another you? That's somewhat interesting."

"But if you want to gamble with me, you have to bring out some decent chips. How many chips do you think would make me gamble my life with you?"

"All the shares of Wei En Enterprises that I hold."

The Penguin's eyes became bloodshot.

Then he closed his eyes, tried hard to suppress the twitching of his face, snorted coldly, and said, "Don't think you can bluff me, kid. You tampered with the gun."

"You can use your gun."

The Penguin became skeptical, but then Batman spoke again: "However, my goal is to arrest you and let the law judge you, so we won't aim at the head, but at the right side of the chest. This way, it will cause serious injury but won't be fatal."

The Penguin obviously believed his rhetoric because all Batmen in the world were the same, harboring naive kindness.

The Penguin waved his hand, and his suit-clad subordinate immediately brought over a more exquisite revolver. The Penguin loaded a bullet into it in front of Batman and spun the cylinder at high speed.

He also pushed the gun to the center of the coffee table and said, "Prove your courage to me, Batman. You go first."

Batman picked up the gun without hesitation and aimed it at his own right chest, the muzzle pressed tightly against the surface of his bodysuit.

Bang!

Blood gushed out, and a large hole appeared in Batman's chest.

The Penguin was stunned. He stood up with a start, rushed to Batman's side, and then discovered that the wound was not faked; the bullet had truly passed through his chest.

Batman collapsed on the sofa, his bodily functions declining at the fastest speed, the Grim Reaper walking in a hurry.

The Penguin's terrified roar echoed over the Mayor's mansion.

"Ambulance!! Call an ambulance quickly!!!!!"