Chapter 2517: Rustling Down (12)

So many years have passed; besides having sufficient police force and proper equipment, the Cat Getan Police Department has also improved its technical capabilities significantly. At the very least, their cutting techniques are far better than those of this gang of robbers. The equipment used to saw the tree was silent, and it wasn't until the very moment the large tree fell that the robbers realized it had been sawed through.

He looked toward the door in a bit of despair, but he didn't expect Shiler to make a gesture, signaling him to get down. The robber's reaction was fast enough; instead of choosing to crouch down, he lay flat on the spot, and the sniper bullet flew past, almost grazing his scalp.

The robber scrambled out the door, and Shiler still pointed his gun at him, saying, "Now, go tell those accomplices of yours downstairs: after you take the money, rush out the back door and follow the part covered by that large tree to dash into the sewer beneath the tree canopy."

Although the robber wasn't professional, he wasn't stupid either. He knew that since the sniper hadn't hit the target, the police would definitely launch an all-out assault immediately to prevent the robbers from killing the hostages in a fit of rage. If they didn't run now, they wouldn't be able to escape at all, because they hadn't taken any hostages in the first place.

Sure enough, seeing that the shot missed, Gordon didn't panic or lose heart; he simply took out his walkie-talkie and said, "Launch the assault immediately. Don't worry about the vault for now, go to the second floor to save the hostages right away!!"

One could only hear a clattering sound from downstairs; it was clear the police had rushed in. Seizing the time gap created by Gordon's task deployment, the robbers took the elevator downstairs. By this time, several of their companions had already opened the vault door and were loading money.

The robber Shiler had reminded was their small leader. He hurriedly stopped the few subordinates who were still stuffing money into sacks and led them toward the back door upstairs at top speed.

Of course, they were discovered by the police almost immediately. The leader of the robbers shouted that he still had hostages in his hands, clutching the technician they had kidnapped and refusing to let go, while the others scrambled to dash out toward the back door.

The police naturally knew they were trying to break through and escape, so another team lying in ambush on the side of the bank rushed over immediately.

However, that large plane tree that had just been cut down lay right in the middle of the road. Its lush branches and leaves blocked most of the line of sight; cars couldn't get through, and guns couldn't aim accurately.

Originally, they could have circled around from the other side to deal with this group of robbers, but this group of robbers had no intention of running along the road at all. The moment they rushed over, they opened the manhole cover and jumped in one after another.

By the time the police on the other side climbed over, they had already vanished into the sewers.

But even so, the police had to pursue. Gordon dispatched two teams of police; one team entered from this sewer opening, while the other drove to a more distant sewer opening to conduct a pincer movement.

However, they hadn't chased people in the sewers before. Gordon still had to lead the team back to the police station to find the sewer map, and while he was at it, go to the Wei En Group to ask Bruce if the surveillance he had previously set up in the sewers was still working.

The nature of this case was extremely vile because, before this, the situation in Cat Getan could still be considered stable. But once someone opened this floodgate and let that group of people whose living standards had declined discover that there was such a quick way to make money—a way that could earn cash without having to pay a price—the situation would completely spiral out of control.

Therefore, Gordon decided to use thunderous force to arrest the other party and bring them to justice, to deter the petty thieves still lurking in the shadows. Naturally, he committed a large amount of police force to hunt down the fleeing robbers.

And just as Shiler had expected, the bank that had been robbed was basically left unattended. Apart from two police officers coming to check the condition of the main entrance, the employees were all dismissed and sent home.

After everyone had left, Shiler walked to the balcony on the second floor. He looked down, and sure enough, a figure was standing next to the fallen tree. It was the Joker.

To be precise, it was the Joker of the Bale-Batman universe, the movie version played by Heath Ledger.

He was holding a remote control in his hand, curled his lips, and looked up at Shiler. Suddenly, he revealed a fierce expression, then just as suddenly returned to calmness.

"Good afternoon, Professor. Please forgive me for greeting you in this way... because you gave that Bruce Wei En a hell of a bad idea!!!!"

Shiler rested his hands on the railing and listened quietly to the Joker's roaring. After the Joker finished roaring, Shiler said, "First of all, I must tell you that the idea wasn't mine. I suffer from Dissociative Identity Disorder—in layman's terms, split personality."

"My other personality has his own insights into economics, and Bruce Wei En happens to agree with these insights very much and has the ability to put them into practice. For this, I express my deepest regrets."

The Joker just stared at him gloomily, the muscles around his mouth bulging upward. Combined with the red paint drawn on his lips, he looked both serious and ridiculous, as if he were laughing and crying at the same time.

"Did you come here just to take revenge on me?" Shiler asked, knowing the answer.

Before Bale-Batman left, he asked Greed for a proposal. In essence, it was used to solve his own economic situation, wanting to gain more real power within the Wei En Group and, incidentally, save up a small treasury for himself.

The main content of this proposal was actually to use criminals to make money, build private prisons, acquire private hospitals, and then combine medical parole and prison release to achieve the goal of squeezing every bit of value out of the criminals.

Although it sounded a bit cruel, Bale-Batman's moral bottom line wasn't exactly very high either. In his view, exploiting the economic value of criminals could also be considered a contribution to society.

It was just that he had originally aimed at the crime boss and hadn't intended to harm the Joker. But at the time, the Joker had just finished robbing a bank and wanted to go to prison to talk business with Scarecrow so he could continue to strike at Batman, only to end up in Bale-Batman's hands.

You could say this was a coincidence. For that test version, Bale-Batman, in order to test whether the proposal he received was feasible, had basically followed the proposal 1:1 to restore it. And Greed, when taking action, was never soft-hearted; he had simply let this group of unlucky bastards lie in the ambulance for days and nights, unable to be admitted to the hospital and unable to enter prison.

So, before the Joker wanted to teach Batman a lesson, Batman had already taught him one first: I have money, I'm amazing, and I can arbitrarily change the rules of the game.

The Joker wasn't angry about the harm he had suffered; he was just angry that Batman would look at it that way and do it.

The Joker had always been despicable. Batman's morality framed himself within the rules of the game, and the Joker used his own amoral means to break the rules and gain an advantage. But once Batman also started breaking the rules, the Joker would become furious out of shame.

But facing Bruce Wei En, the Joker flew into a rage. Before he could find an effective method of revenge, he learned that this actually wasn't Batman's idea; Batman had a mysterious advisor.

Bale-Batman actually hadn't hidden it at all. After all, as a contestant who had participated in the Battle World, Shiler's great reputation couldn't be hidden. The Joker naturally had heard of it, but he hadn't expected that Shiler—this supposedly miraculous figure who planned everything from alien invasions to the kicking over of trash cans on the street—really lived up to his reputation.

Compared to the changed Batman, the Joker hated the person who influenced Batman even more. And at this time, it just so happened that the Joker of the main universe, because he learned of the existence of the Batman Who Laughs, was looking for him while trying to assemble a Joker team.

The Joker agreed to the main universe Joker's request to join the team, but on the condition that he had to take a trip to Shiler's universe.

The main universe Joker expressed that it was a bit difficult; that universe was relatively special and not somewhere you could just enter if you wanted to. After some haggling, the main universe Joker still agreed, and the method he used to send this Joker over was to go directly to Bruce.

As everyone knew, Bruce had a bit of a Joker-collecting habit. He had just lured the Phoenix Joker over earlier, and now that person was on a global tour. Even though he himself was busy to the point of not having a moment to spare, upon hearing that another Joker wanted to come over to play, he welcomed him warmly.

It was just that he hadn't expected this Joker wasn't here to play with him, but to find Shiler.

"You want to be an ordinary person, right?" The Joker stuck his hands into his wrinkled trouser pockets and said, "Otherwise, you could have just transferred everyone in the bank away."

"That way, Gordon would have discovered it was me." Shiler shook his head and said, "All paranormal phenomena in this city are assumed to be my doing, which is why I want to be an ordinary person."

"No, no, no, of course it's not like that." The Joker shook his head vigorously, droplets of saliva shaking out from between his lips. He said, "You think you have this kind of ability, that you can handle all the troubles that ordinary people can handle."

"But that definitely does not include being involved in a bank robbery."

"Then what you should do is cry and scream like other employees, jump down from upstairs, and break your ankle."

"But if I did that, Gordon would only think it was a bitter-meat trick I played. Since they already have prejudices against me, why can't I extricate myself on my own?"

"Do ordinary people use this method to extricate themselves when facing prejudice?" The Joker sneered, pointing out the crux of the matter, "They would engage in pointless arguments, be unable to convince anyone, and then just face more troubles brought about by this while being misunderstood."

"I don't think ordinary people are all idiots."

"They are, and you intend to be one of them, wearing that damn human skin of yours, both enjoying their peaceful and boring life and unable to let go of the desire for control satisfied by your ability to influence others."

"Everyone has talent, don't they?" Shiler said, "Must I be a useless ordinary person, living a very failed life?"

"But your talent comes from your pathology; that is the culprit behind why you cannot truly be an ordinary person. Are you really willing to give up both your talent and your pathology at the same time, to be a stupid, ordinary person who cannot foresee any trouble and cannot control anything?"

Shiler was suddenly stunned. Afterward, his gaze began to unfocus, then refocused slightly on the Joker's face. He spoke slowly, "If one day we disappear, it's not because someone gave up on us, but because we got what we wanted—what Shiler wanted."

"Is it really what Shiler wanted? Or did someone say Shiler wanted it, and you all believed it?" the Joker said.

Shiler remained silent and did not answer. After a while, he came back to his senses. The state he was in when he said that sentence had disappeared. He just looked at the Joker and said.

"What I ultimately want doesn't depend on who said what, but on how much everyone who wants to change me has paid for it."

"Some people hope I'll be an ordinary person, and they have paid countless efforts for this, the likes of which I have only seen in my life. Since I didn't want anything in the first place, why can't I want this?"

"And you, you haven't paid anything for the hope that I become something; you only moved your lips. Why should I give up that for your sake?"

"Of course, because what I said is right."

"Do you take me for Batman? Right and wrong have never been important; I have never lived by following the truth."

"Isn't a person who lives for the expectations of others pathetic?"

"Comedy has never been the savior of tragedy." ===== CHAPTER 2518 =====