Chapter 448

Faint laughter was swallowed by the blizzard, not carrying far through the howling wind, so Bruce never heard it.

At this moment, he was in another guest room of the estate, putting on his Batsuit.

Earlier, when he went to the helicopter to retrieve the engine, it wasn't just to spite Lex—fact was, Selina could only carry lighter portable gear; the full Batsuit and all its equipment had been left on the helicopter, and Bruce had retrieved them along with the engine.

Like Lex, after the three split up, none of them followed their original plans—Clark went to the reception room because he'd received a mysterious call, but Lex and Bruce each had their own hidden agendas.

Lex's primary goal was to go to the bathroom and dispose of Lionel's corpse; he had no intention of searching for the entrance himself—he planned to wait until Bruce and Clark finished their work, then take the easy win.

Bruce, of course, anticipated this, so he had no intention of doing Lex's dirty work; his plan was to return to the guest room, don his full Batsuit, then create an entrance by his own means.

Though entering through a door is the more civilized method, Batman rarely uses it; rather than gamble over which of the three would find the entrance first—or whether they'd share it—better to act himself and provide for his own needs.

Since the entrance lay underground, theoretically, if he could dig a tunnel downward, it would serve as an entrance; thus, Batman's plan was to build a bomb and blast straight down.

The estate had no usable materials, but Bruce's trip to the helicopter wasn't about outdoing Lex—he'd always intended to repurpose the helicopter engine into a bomb.

Of course, the engine alone wasn't enough; he also needed to dismantle other components from the helicopter. Fortunately, besides him, no one else could reach the rooftop of the adjacent building, so the several helicopters there became his personal supply depot.

Now, he was assembling this slightly oversized bomb in the guest room, moving swiftly to finish it before the other two found the entrance, so he could be the first to enter underground.

After focusing intently for a while, Batman finally completed a crudely made bomb—yet its power was immense, far exceeding his micro-explosives, enough to blast through the ground and carve a passage.

He carried the bomb to the balcony, lowered it with a rope, then jumped down himself, bringing the bomb to the estate's central courtyard.

He avoided going indoors because he feared the explosion's force might compromise the building's structure—if the estate collapsed, the occupants could be in danger, and that was not what Batman wanted.

After setting up the bomb, moments later, a violent explosion rocked the estate; the ceiling shuddered violently, raining down dust and debris.

The proof was clear: this directional explosive was highly effective. The estate's basement wasn't deep; after the blast, a visible entrance appeared before Batman—though below lay utter darkness, its condition unknown.

A hiss—Batman tossed a flare downward. After a brief flash of intense light, the interior was illuminated: it appeared to be nothing more than an abandoned cellar. Batman frowned, uncertain if he'd found the right place.

He pulled another detector from his belt, tossed it down, watched the screen's readings, and after a moment, jumped in himself.

Inside, it matched the view from above—just an abandoned cellar, filled with wooden shelves and barrels, revealing no secrets.

A door in the corner caught Batman's attention—he noticed faint light seeping from behind it, unlike the oil lamps or candles typical of English estates; it resembled modern lighting's cold glow.

Batman approached but didn't rush to open the door; instead, he stood at a distance and hurled a Batarang at it.

"Shu! Shu! Shu! Shu!"—Batman rolled nimbly to the side, slipping into a corner as a barrage of fire erupted from micro-machine guns mounted on the ceiling.

The door opened to reveal a corridor steeped in technology: a floor of metal panels, walls and ceiling lined with light strips, and two more micro-machine guns mounted on the ceiling not far ahead.

The aesthetic here was utterly unlike the manor aboveground; Batman raised his guard, took cover in the machine guns' blind spot, and hurled Batarangs at them. After a few strikes, both micro-machine guns sparked and fell silent.

As Batman stepped into the corridor, he tossed another flare ahead—he saw what appeared to be a central hall, but its lights remained off, as if the lighting system had failed.

Following the corridor, he confirmed it was indeed a central hall: besides the passage he'd come from, three other corridors branched off in different directions; one was lit, the other three plunged in darkness.

Batman did not head toward the lit corridor first; instead, he walked toward the nearest one, tossed a flare ahead, and found it was a dead end—with two rooms flanking either side of the wall.

Entering the first room, he found a prep area: gloves, protective suits, masks, face shields—all present. Seeing them, Batman immediately pulled on his gas mask—he knew a biochemical lab lay ahead.

As expected, the door of the adjacent room bore a radiation symbol. The corridor's lighting was off; judging by the prep room's state, the entire corridor had lost power—meaning this room's door likely no longer maintained radiation shielding or sealing.

ahzww.

Batman pulled out a radiation reader—it showed no abnormal levels. After hesitation, he decided to force the door open.

Though the door might no longer be sealed, opening it still took effort; after punching a hole through, Batman stepped inside. The room remained dark, scattered with broken lab equipment.

There was no radiation source—or rather, the source had been moved. Batman stared at the shattered containers on the floor, his brow deeply furrowed.

The lab was ordinary—no experimental specimens or live animals in sight—but soon, Batman found some documents.

"Experiment Log #3221, Entry 1: Today's subject showed no obvious abnormalities; diet and activity responses normal. After discussion, radiation dosage increased…"

"Experiment Log #3221, Entry 2: Today's subject exhibited mild dizziness and nausea, reduced appetite, stiffened limb responses. Dosage increased again…"

Batman flipped through—it appeared to be a radiation experiment log, with no explicit mention of the subject or radiation source. He read through the early entries, then reached the final log.

"Experiment Log #3221, Entry 35: Today, cancer cell proliferation in the subject became uncontrollable; deemed incurable. Subject shows no conscious activity, unable to eat, no limb response…"

"Conclusion: Radiation Source #01 produced no beneficial mutations. All test subjects developed incurable cancers…"

After reading the summary, Batman set the documents down and turned away from the corridor—he'd just learned from the later records that this underground facility contained a morgue.

Though he'd expected it, stepping into the morgue down another corridor and seeing the rows upon rows of body storage units, Batman felt a momentary suffocation.

From the wear on the handles, it was clear this place had once been overcrowded—hundreds, perhaps thousands, had endured this inhumane radiation experiment.

Filled with rage, Batman approached and pulled open one of the drawers—"Bang!"—he instinctively rolled aside, but nothing attacked him.

What shot out of the drawer was a sign painted in red letters: "Go to the control room at the end of Corridor 3. I've prepared a surprise for you."

Below the sign was a crudely drawn smiley face. Batman didn't need to guess—it was the Joker's doing.

Batman took several deep breaths. He didn't follow the note immediately; instead, he explored the morgue—but found no bodies.

All he knew now was that the mysterious radiation source could cause ordinary people to develop cancer. As for Lex's claim that Lionel had discovered radiation capable of enhancing human strength and intelligence—it seemed more like a lie.

He searched the other corridors. Most rooms were various labs, but their equipment was covered in dust, clearly unused for a long time.

In the final lab, Batman found a paper clue—a fragmentary document, yet the information it contained was vital: they referred to Radiation Source #01 as an alien mineral called "Kryptonite."

Some scientists had discovered this alien mineral possessed unique radioactivity, so they sought to determine whether it could mutate ordinary humans. After the first experiment failed, they didn't abandon it—they conducted more.

Batman didn't know what gave them the confidence to believe this radiation would benefit humans. Perhaps there was far more he didn't know.

After thoroughly investigating every room in this corridor, he proceeded methodically to the next—undisturbed by the Joker's hint.

At the end of another dark corridor stood a massive door, extravagantly designed, as if leading to a vast space—but it had no lock, and Batman's micro-bombs left no mark.

After trying for a while, Batman realized his current gear couldn't open it; so he returned to the lit corridor.

At the corridor's end stood three entire walls of surveillance screens, their glow focused on a single chair in the center of the room.

As Batman entered, the chair slowly rotated—but no one sat on it.

On the chair lay three round Batman dolls and a pile of Batman lollipops.