Chapter 4448

Although Damian was on the verge of an emotional outburst, Batman was still very calm. He turned his head to look at Damian, but there was no look of nostalgia on his face. After a long while, he spoke: "I know. You think you are Damian. The mastermind behind this plan won't let you know your true identity. He will do his best to make you feel that you are the old friends who have returned from the dead. Because if you can't even fool yourself, you can't possibly fool us."

"However, if you were truly exactly the same as our deceased relatives, then you couldn't possibly help the mastermind achieve his evil plan. Birds of a feather flock together; people who can become friends and family of superheroes and maintain a long-term good relationship with them must also be kind and righteous people. But such people will not betray their trust and turn against them."

"Since you can't be allowed to know your true identity, and you must be made to be enemies with superheroes, then only one method remains, which is to tamper with your emotions."

"Between people, in the process of getting along, it's impossible to have only positive emotions. There will be friction, mutual complaints, and even differences in understanding important events; all of this is very normal. Adults have good emotional self-control, can handle their own emotions, make rational decisions, and maintain relationships with others."

"However, once emotions are interfered with by external forces, especially that kind of irresistible force, many small emotions will suddenly erupt, like a landslide or a tsunami, making it difficult for people to control themselves."

"At this time, all kinds of past events will surface. Those past frictions and contradictions will be infinitely magnified, making people feel deeply betrayed. And those negative emotions spawned by them will also be magnified. What was originally just a complaint will soon develop into resentment; what was originally just dissatisfaction will soon turn into anger."

"With no one to explain and no way to control themselves, these terrifying negative emotions will completely change a person's personality, making them become gloomy, cruel, and evil."

"All those who have been resurrected have had bumpy lives. They have seen too much darkness, been persecuted, killed, and tortured endlessly. When the resentment accumulated by these events erupts, they will naturally hate this society, hate this world, and also hate superheroes."

"Thus, they will want revenge, want to destroy the Earth, destroy everything that once caused them pain. This will inevitably put them on the opposite side of superheroes. This is the key to the mastermind's plan."

"Damian, the mastermind chose you precisely because you died young and met an untimely death. There are too many existences you can resent, such as me, such as the Joker, such as Cat Getan, or the entire society. The first thing you do upon returning for revenge is to take revenge on them. You will only think about this."

"What's wrong with that?!" Damian couldn't help but say, "Haven't you also always had revenge as your goal?!"

"I said so much precisely to tell you that your experiences are very painful, but the fault is not yours. So it's perfectly normal for you to want revenge. However, is the object of your revenge really correct?"

"I remember I once told you that my parents were shot and killed on the way home from the movies. Since then, I have been determined to avenge my parents. I became Batman, shuttling through the streets and alleys of Cat Getan at night, subduing I don't know how many criminals, fighting day after day with cunning supervillains. I have paid a lot, but I have also changed a lot."

"And what you are doing is just like me choosing to take revenge on the movie theater after my parents were shot—the reason being that if I hadn't gone to the movie theater to watch a movie, my parents wouldn't have died. This is not only stupid, but also absurd and ridiculous."

"I admit, at that moment, I was blinded by anger and made an irrational decision. However, I appeared on the rooftop precisely because I wanted to save you. I wanted to fulfill my responsibility as Batman and as a father. The Joker threw you off, not because I pushed him, but because he wanted to kill you, because he is a madman who takes pleasure in seeing others in pain."

"Damian, you have always been smart. It's not that you can't see that the malice you feel toward me in your heart is illogical. But you lost your self-control; the mastermind took it away. Your emotions and reason have been fighting, which makes you very painful."

"It's a pity, I'm afraid you can't defeat it. Precisely because of this, I won't treat you as the real Damian. Because I know that when you are completely defeated, you will reveal your true monster form. If I hold out hope, I will definitely be disappointed."

"So, you don't need to be angry at my coldness. After all, I haven't been controlled by that mastermind. I have basic emotional self-control, and I also have reason. Knowing that there won't be a good result, I won't waste expressions on a monster. You don't need to come find me again; this has no meaning."

After Batman finished speaking, he stood up and went upstairs. Damian felt as if he had fallen into an ice cellar, as if someone had poured a basin of ice water over his head, and his whole body was trembling with cold.

Those words of venting anger that had been brewing in his stomach for a long time couldn't be said at all. If it were said that when he first met Batman, the other party was still willing to persuade him, seemingly still having some lingering affection. But now, Batman's calm attitude was like a declaration of death.

Damian would rather Batman argue with him, or reprimand him, or debate with him about what happened back then. But he didn't; he just very calmly stated a fact—he was so cold to him, not because he didn't really love Damian, but because he didn't treat him as Damian.

This was even more devastating to him than what Damian had realized before. Because Batman was telling him that he had no qualification to stand from Damian's perspective and accuse Batman of favoring other children. Because he was just a monster with Damian's appearance.

Batman was always calmer and more restrained than anyone else. He didn't hold any expectations for him, neither feeling that he was Damian, nor expecting that he would really become Damian. Because he didn't care, there was no reaction.

Damian came full of confidence, asked full of anger, and left full of despair. He realized a fact in his heart that made him feel a shudder: in front of Batman, whether a person is who they are depends on whether they can satisfy him.

Batman felt that Damian should be smart enough to see that the essence of out-of-control emotions is being manipulated. The resurrected Damian didn't see it, so he was unqualified. Batman felt that Damian should be able to overcome out-of-control emotions and make the right choice. The resurrected Damian didn't do it, so he was unqualified. Because he was unqualified, he wasn't Damian but just a monster.

However, this wasn't right either. Damian thought: First, it's normal for his personality to change; he died once, and died so miserably. Who wouldn't turn into a vengeful ghost after experiencing everything he did? Having resentment couldn't be said to be abnormal, right?

Second, he was still a child, and he wasn't the kind of gentle, kind person who didn't lose his temper before. So why say that his emotional loss of control was being manipulated? He only lost his temper this one time, and he was unqualified?

Batman being so certain that he wasn't Damian must have some other reason; there must be something he showed that was problematic.

After returning to the base, Amanda looked very dissatisfied. She sized Damian up and said, "Where did you go? For so long? We've finished the meeting..."

Damian ignored her completely, walked back to his room, and slammed the door. Amanda got a cold shoulder and left while cursing. They had agreed to take action tomorrow morning, and now the night was already deep, and there were many things to prepare; he had to hurry.

After Damian returned to his room, he still couldn't calm down. He was full of resentment, throwing things, walking back and forth, wanting to know what exactly went wrong with him, why Batman didn't hold expectations for him, and why he felt he wasn't him.

He had asked the other few people before, especially those who had met the Justice League, such as the Allens. They all said that although their relatives finally made a decision, they could still clearly see their hesitation. Even the very rational Barry, the always strong Diana, they would also inevitably lose focus. They must have had a moment when they wanted to rush up and hug them regardless of everything.

But Batman didn't at all, from the first time he saw him. Damian had already realized it now: when he first met Batman, the things Batman said to him didn't sound like what Batman would say to Damian at all. Things like "I don't have time to reminisce, you should also look forward," this was completely persuading him as a stranger's child, not like to his own biological son.

This time it was even more so, talking about whether the object of revenge was correct, whether resentment was normal, the mastermind manipulating things, and so on. It did look like a father teaching his son, but in reality, it was still explaining his own attitude. Plain and straightforward, without any ripples, simply like a rock that was both smelly and hard.

Damian thought back and forth, but still couldn't figure out what was going on. Even when they met for the second time, he was indeed full of resentment, acting irrationally, not much like his smart son. Then what about the first time? It couldn't be that he was wrong before he even opened his mouth, right?

Damian paced back and forth in the room, but also felt that there would be no result if he continued like this. So, he came to the door of Schiller's room and knocked.

The people here basically didn't know much about Batman. Those resurrected people had no intersection with Batman. Bruce certainly had an intersection with him, but Damian didn't want to see him. Then only Schiller was left. Damian seemed to have heard Amanda say that Schiller had once been Bruce Wayne's broker and should know a little about him.

Schiller opened the door and was a bit surprised to see it was Damian. He said, "What's wrong, Damian? Haven't you gone to rest yet?"

Damian didn't care what he said, squeezed directly into the room. Everyone's rooms were about the same, and there was nothing to look at, so he simply sat down on the sofa by the window.

Schiller walked over and poured him a glass of water, placed it in front of him, and said, "Is there anything you want to ask?"

"Tell me, what exactly went wrong with me?" Damian said indignantly, "Batman just doesn't treat me as Damian. Why is he so certain? What evidence does he have? Just because I lost emotional control? But I've experienced so much, can't I be angry anymore?!"

This was the main reason Damian's mind was restless. He just didn't understand why Batman could be so certain. He died so miserably, isn't it normal to have some resentment after coming back? He was still a child, his father was so cold to him, and he had other children, can't he be angry anymore? Why say he is a monster?

Schiller looked at his pouting appearance and smiled.