Chapter 276: The Laughing Terror (Part 2)

Question: What could be more terrifying than waking up to find you've been reincarnated?

That's waking up to find you've been reincarnated into Gotham.

Then what could be more terrifying than waking up to find you've been reincarnated into Gotham?

That's waking up to find you've been reincarnated into Gotham, and right in front of you, Batman and the Joker are fighting.

What could be more terrifying than seeing Batman and the Joker fighting right in front of you?

That's waking up to find two Jokers fighting right in front of you.

What could be more terrifying than seeing two Jokers fighting?

That's waking up to find three Jokers fighting.

What could be more terrifying than seeing three Jokers fighting?

That's waking up to find three Jokers fighting, while Batman watches from the side.

What could be more terrifying than seeing three Jokers fighting while Batman watches from the side?

That's discovering Batman is teaming up with two Jokers to brutally beat the third Joker…

Because when something like this happens, it usually means Editor-in-Chief Wei Yixiao has arrived…

At the edge of Batman's consciousness, this battle was unfolding—but they weren't facing the Laughing Bat, but a monster resembling the Joker, yet distinctly different.

Its limbs were all thin, elongated rods, barely able to support its body, yet it stood firm; its head was a gray egg, upon which a terrifying grin was carved.

Bidi Ge

At this moment, the monster's gaping mouth was caked with blood, while beside it, Jack clutched his hand, blood streaming down from his palm.

Just moments ago, this monster had broken free from the operating table and bitten Jack.

Jack's wound wasn't severe—only a tooth-shaped mark on his wrist—but it signaled something far more dangerous: this perilous entity deep within Batman's consciousness might not be merely the Joker.

He had escaped the combined assault of Joker Shiler and Joker Jack, even killed Jack in return—proving his strength was likely far greater than it appeared; most importantly, he was still merely an embryo.

What this laughing embryo would hatch into filled every mind with dread—including Batman's own. He had never realized his inner depths harbored such a terrifying thing.

At the edge of Batman's dream, Gotham remained pitch-black, where wind and rain raged ceaselessly, growing heavier, thunder louder, the night darker and deeper, while the two Jokers, the laughing egg, and Batman stood above the city.

The battle was fierce: Joker Jack swung his dagger, leaving deep, bone-exposing gashes on the monster's slender limbs, while Joker Shiler fought like a sorcerer, wielding invisible forces to control the monster's movements.

Batman stood motionless—not merely watching, but battling the monster for control of the dream.

Correct: this grotesque monster, with malformed limbs and nothing but a gaping mouth for a head, possessed nearly equal authority over the dream as Batman himself; Batman had to exert every ounce of strength just to resist its bid for control.

Originally, before Batman learned the truth and the Laughing Egg was unearthed, Joker Jack and Joker Shiler each held partial control over the dream; but once the true owners appeared, control reverted entirely to them. Now, both still clashed in unseen realms, striving to fully seize the dream and the space of consciousness.

What surprised Batman was that he wasn't fighting an enemy—he was fighting himself. Every effort felt like wrestling with his own hand, as if his left foot and right foot were tripping each other, his left arm and right arm tangled together, trying to strangle one another.

Batman had never faced such a situation, and initially suffered heavy losses: thunder cracked violently over Gotham's dark sky, several lightning bolts nearly striking the other two Jokers—clearly, the Laughing Egg was using the dream's power to disrupt their actions.

But fortunately, perhaps because this terrifying embryo had not yet hatched, though mad and volatile, it lacked reason—like a newborn infant, weak and premature. Even young Batman soon reclaimed the initiative.

One Batman and two Jokers pressed the malformed monster tighter and tighter; this unborn embryo clearly could not withstand the assault of two Jokers and one Batman.

In the black night, the cold wind howled; the driving rain struck their bodies like bullets pouring from the sky. Even Batman struggled to stand firm, his cape pulled violently backward, snapping and flapping in the storm.

He seemed to hear a childish voice wailing, mixed with faint, maddened laughter—this sound echoed in his mind, filling him with sorrow and anguish, as if he himself were walking toward death.

He finally realized it: this terrifying, malformed monster was himself—a personality deep within his consciousness, one facet of him. And when this personality faced death, he felt the same terror.

In the torrential rain, Batman slowly knelt, the terror transmitted through his consciousness, causing his entire mental space to tremble.

No one in this world fears death less—especially when death stares you in the face. A dark emotion began surging within Batman's heart.

In the storm, Joker Jack and Joker Shiler's hair were soaked, whipped by the wind. When Shiler looked up, he saw a thin black line appear at the horizon's edge, then ripple outward. Jack slapped his forehead and said: "Oh no! Looks like we've got trouble!"

In an instant, that thin ripple had surged toward them—it was a tidal wave of black, radiating pure terror.

The attacks and provocations against the Laughing Egg had unleashed the black tide deep within Batman's consciousness, transforming it into an unstoppable, violent wave that engulfed everything at the dream's edge.

In an instant, the Laughing Egg at the front was swallowed—the slender limbs offered no resistance; within moments, the monster's limbs were corroded away, leaving only the grinning egg floating atop the sea.

Shiler and Jack fled until the violent black tide smashed Gotham's dream-edge into ruins, then slowly receded—but the world was utterly destroyed, the dream's edge riddled with holes, the Laughing Egg vanished.

Standing at the edge of the surging black tide, Jack erupted into mad laughter: "I knew Batman wouldn't disappoint me! This is him! This is him! Hahahahahahaha!"

"This is his darkness. His fear alone…" Jack opened his arms, murmuring like a dreamer: "This is Batman. This is his heart…"

Yet the black tide that had shattered everything did not fully cease. Countless vortices formed on its surface, spinning faster and faster until towering water spouts rose upward.

Countless tiny whirlpools converged toward the center, merging into one colossal vortex. The massive water spout swallowed all of Gotham at the dream's edge.

The two Jokers standing at the dream's edge could barely resist this terrifying force.

All the black tide transformed into a colossal vortex, surging upward, piercing through layer after layer of dreams.

Upward, ever upward—the vortex of black water rose like a blade, piercing through deeper layers of consciousness until it reached the barrier between surface and deep consciousness.

More and more black tide surged upward; the entire consciousness space trembled. Countless layers of Gotham within dreams collapsed nearly simultaneously. After a brief silence, the barrier of surface consciousness shattered.

The black tide did not stop after entering Batman's surface consciousness—it continued surging upward, following his soul out of his body.

While Bruce remained unconscious, an invisible force of terror shot straight from his body into the heavens.

Shiler, standing before the office window, suddenly turned his head, squinting toward the outskirts of Gotham. Simultaneously, countless mysterious forces across the universe sensed this unstoppable black tide of fear.

It was a completely abstract force—invisible in reality—but those with special perception or spiritual senses felt its devastating power.

The black vortex, after bursting through Bruce's body, did not halt—it surged higher.

Above Gotham, above the East Coast, above the entire American continent, until it reached the atmosphere, beyond Earth.

In the vast, mysterious universe, a black blade rose, ascending into higher starry depths, piercing through all barriers, until in a deeper starry realm, a mysterious being suddenly sensed this chilling terror.

Just as Bruce's consciousness began to break free from the black tide, rising along the hole carved by the vortex through the layers of dreams, reclaiming control of his body, he heard a distant, low voice whisper in his ear:

"Dark day vast, white night bright,

Evil sects and traitors, fear my divine light,

Terror's flame consumes, those who defy me die,

Fear is the source, Sinestro's authority!"

"Sentient lifeform locked. Earth's Batman. You possess the ability to inflict great terror. Welcome to—Sinestro Corps!"