Chapter 3884

The footsteps began to get closer and closer, and with the heavy rain falling, the underground parking lot became increasingly damp. Barbara felt like she was sweating, but the sweat stuck to her skin, making her even more uncomfortable, and her heartbeat was a bit too fast; Barbara was worried the Joker could hear it.

She gripped her phone tightly; this had become her only source of security. Of course, she wasn't counting on that electronic lifeform, but she had confidence in her own hacking skills.

The Joker seemed to be observing; he didn't look like a good detective. But the underground parking lot was leaking a bit, and Barbara had run too hastily, so the wheelchair had rolled over a puddle, leaving a trail of water stains that were simply too conspicuous for the Joker to miss.

The emergency indicator lights were not part of the lighting system's circuit, so even though all the lights were out, the green emergency exit lights could provide some illumination. The Joker followed these lights and found his way over, almost reaching the front of the pickup truck.

Just at this moment, a Mazda nearby suddenly made an ignition sound. The Joker turned his head abruptly to look; the Mazda suddenly turned on its front and rear headlights, reversed out of the parking space with extreme fluidity, and then drove toward the exit of the underground parking lot like it was flying.

The Joker stood where he was, motionless. He laughed in a low voice and then muttered to himself: "Looks like I'm getting close..."

Hearing this, Barbara couldn't help but shiver. She pursed her lips, held her breath, and tried her best not to make any sound.

Just as the Joker was circling around to this side, the pickup truck in front of Barbara also suddenly ignited and started. With the accelerator pressed to the floor, it slammed into the Joker with a "bang" and sent him flying.

The phone vibrated again, and Barbara saw it written: "Go yourself, go to the exit!"

Barbara hurriedly rocked her wheelchair herself, heading in the direction the Mazda had just left. She knew that was the electronic lifeform pointing the way for her, but no one knew if it was a path to survival.

Barbara rocked the wheelchair rapidly; she knew this couldn't be faster than the Joker, but perhaps that elusive electronic lifeform had other ways.

Just as Barbara was inching toward the exit, the Joker had already climbed up from the ground. She didn't know how many bones that hit had broken, but the Joker wasn't afraid of this; he was healing at an astonishing speed.

He chased toward Barbara's direction again, but immediately after, another Ford Mustang slammed into him with another "bang," and the Joker was sent flying again. Then came a Dodge, a Chevrolet, a Jeep, a Honda...

Every time the Joker climbed up, a car would slam into him, almost smashing him to pieces. But every time, the Joker could climb up, even laughing and telling them to use more force.

After he was sent flying again, he climbed up once more, chasing toward the exit just like the previous few times. But he deliberately played a trick; he appeared to be rushing forward, but in reality, he was retreating. The empty Buick failed to hit him but slammed head-on into the rear of another car; it seemed the engine had stalled, causing it to be unable to move.

There were no other cars in front of this one. To hit the Joker, they would have to tow a car over from behind, but with such a large car blocking the way, the other cars couldn't hit him at all. The Joker escaped the underground parking lot like he was flying, and as soon as he got out, he saw Barbara rocking her wheelchair and running toward the side of the shopping mall.

The Joker followed and chased in, seeing Barbara get on the elevator. He didn't rush to run up; instead, he went to the elevator on the other side to check the floors and found that this mall had no basement level, and the elevator could only go up. He ran to the stairwell next to it and began to sprint upward.

With a "click," all the lights went out again. The Joker, who had reached the second floor of the mall, couldn't see anything. He cursed loudly, but then, as if remembering something, he rushed back into the stairwell and hurried toward the top floor.

Pushing open the rooftop door, he indeed saw Barbara sitting in her wheelchair. The Joker stared at her intently.

"Where's your phone?" Obviously, the Joker had heard the sound of the phone vibrating earlier.

"I threw it away," Barbara said, "just threw it down from upstairs. If you need it, go find it in the bushes downstairs."

At this moment, the Joker understood. Although the mysterious electronic lifeform was helping Barbara escape, Barbara could never trust it.

Or rather, when he first showed himself, Barbara might have been full of fear because of what had happened in the past, but this woman codenamed "Oracle" was by no means a fool. Capable of being Batman's capable assistant and independently building a monitoring system, she was calmer and smarter than most people.

He had come to find her because she was a top-tier hacker. Upon realizing that what might be trying to kill him was an ethereal network ghost, the Joker knew he couldn't deal with this thing on his own; he had to find a professional who knew the ropes. Barbara was the best choice.

Then, as a hacker, Barbara couldn't possibly understand the electronic lifeform less than he did. The more professional one was, the more one understood, and the more one understood, the more one feared. How could any hacker sincerely trust an electronic ghost that could manipulate cars out of thin air to kill people?

Rather, every hacker had worried about such a thing. Once the network had its own will, humans who could only manipulate the network through external devices would completely lose the initiative, and no matter how high their technical skills were, it would be useless.

The Joker might kill her, or he might kill many people in Gotham, but a ghost that was omnipresent on the network would completely subvert the human internet system. And humans, who were increasingly dependent on the network, would be ruled by it without any ability to fight back—that was the real catastrophe.

When he was on the second floor of the mall, the Joker suddenly realized that Barbara might not really want to run away. She wasn't escaping with the help of the electronic lifeform, but was being held hostage by it.

In the underground parking lot, even if she had called out a warning, the electronic lifeform could still use cars to hit the Joker, and the result wouldn't have changed. As long as she left the underground parking lot, Barbara could completely lie and claim she wanted to hide in the mall, and then find a place where the electronic lifeform couldn't manipulate anything to kill people, waiting for the Joker to come over.

The best location was the rooftop.

There were people in the mall downstairs; it was hard to say whether they would be persuaded by the electronic lifeform, and the things inside were too cluttered; maybe someone was hiding a gun. Only the rooftop had nothing, and the door could be locked from the inside.

And as for the electronic lifeform, it probably feared the Joker searching floor by floor and eventually finding Barbara. Barbara could use this as a reason to persuade it, and she successfully reached the rooftop.

This building's rooftop was very high, with no buildings around it, and cameras basically couldn't see it. Throwing the phone away counted as artificially creating an independent space without the electronic lifeform.

"Tell me what's going on with all this," the Joker said, "this guy seems to be able to control even things that aren't connected to the network. What on earth is it?"

"That's a long story," Barbara said, "I don't know if you've heard of the Eden Killer case that caused such a stir..."

Next, Barbara briefly described to the Joker how they had cracked the Eden Killer case and how they had used a scheme to lure the electronic lifeform out. Finally, Barbara said: "It's a pity that apart from that string of code, we gained nothing. This guy is invincible in the radio waves."

"No," the Joker said, "it could have stayed hidden in the radio waves forever without showing itself, but it committed murders, left a string of code, and even tried to protect you just now, which proves it has desires. As long as there is desire, there is a weakness."

"You sound a bit like Batman," Barbara couldn't help but say, "Forget it, let's not talk about that. I see it's set its sights on me. What do you plan to do? Lure it out through me?"

"Why it set its sights on you is the point," the Joker said, looking into Barbara's eyes, "I think it might be because you are a hacker with extremely high technical skills, and it wants to find a sense of recognition from you."

"That's not possible," Barbara immediately denied, "It's a program; programs don't have feelings, let alone complex emotions like a sense of recognition."

"You said it yourself, it's not just an electronic lifeform, but possibly a creature living in radio waves. How can you assume it doesn't have feelings?"

"The way humans find a sense of recognition is by communicating with others, but this guy hasn't communicated with me and has been hiding from me. If you hadn't suddenly appeared at my base, it probably wouldn't have even said a word to me."

"It might just be exploring," the Joker said, "Although you haven't had verbal communication, you should have already clashed technically, right? You are just one of its backup list, which is why it hasn't formally communicated with you."

"You mean, if it's convinced I'm the strongest hacker, then it will communicate with me? And then what? What does it want to do?"

"It might want to pursue you," the Joker said, "Don't you think the scene just now was very much like a hero saving a beauty? If you weren't Oracle, but some fool with a head full of romance, you should have already regarded it as your savior by now, right?"

"I did think that for a moment, but it wasn't because of romance or anything, but because of its very form of existence. It's like a god on the network, omnipresent and omnipotent. This is the ideal state for every hacker."

The Joker gave a light hum and then said: "If you really believed it, you'd probably be at death's door. A radio-wave creature isn't that easy to turn into a human, and if it wants to have a romance with you, it can only turn you into a string of electrical signals."

Barbara couldn't help but shiver; this was indeed a bit terrifying. The Joker was just that kind of romantic fool, only the target was Batman. If she were also entangled by such a person, it really would be better to give her a quick end.

Barbara steadied herself slightly, looked at the Joker, and said: "What now?"

"We still need to figure out why it values you so much. Can you find information on your peers? See who has clashed with it recently, and we'll know if it took a fancy to you because of your outstanding skills."

"If that's really the case, then it will definitely regret it," Barbara felt a bit mischievous and deliberately looked at the Joker and said, "Because Batman is the best hacker in the world. When he returns, this Mr. Electronic Ghost might have a change of heart, and then you'll be in danger."

The Joker's face immediately darkened; to be precise, his expression now was extremely gloomy. Barbara had no doubt that if he had enough bombs right now, he would definitely blow the whole city into the sky.

Next would be a showdown between two romantic fools, Barbara thought. Originally, the Joker might not have had any reason to deal with this electronic lifeform, but now he definitely did.

On a building a little further away, Schiller put down his binoculars and nodded with satisfaction.