Chapter 4953: There Is No Batman Here (Fifty-Eight)

I think we shouldn't hastily assume Batman still has the strength to resist. From the brainwaves I've read, his condition isn't good. Even if he does have a plan, we should try harder, shouldn't we?

As soon as Charles spoke, the Robins turned to look at him. At this moment, Charles almost had a halo behind his head, but Robin happened to eat this up.

Nightwing nodded and said: "Exactly. We can't always treat Batman as an omnipotent being, expecting him to do something to turn the situation around; we still have to rely on ourselves."

Charles nodded satisfactorily, actually also relieved. He said this not to educate Robin, but to figure out how to help Bruce cover this up.

Otherwise, the Robins would treat him as the classic Batman, expecting him to unleash godlike power like dodging Omega beams, and in the middle of their rescue plan, suddenly produce crucial clues like a divine weapon descending from heaven, while in reality he had no intention of escaping himself—then we'd be completely exposed.

Charles glanced at Tim again; the main universe Robins are actually easier to fool, because they often interact with Batman, so they don't recognize the true face of Mount Lu. But this universe is different—sometimes an overly objective view makes it easier to expose flaws.

"Is Batman's condition really bad?" Tim frowned. He didn't doubt it, because Professor X's reputation across the multiverse is indeed excellent, with zero negative reviews online. When he speaks, everyone has to give him face. So Tim only assumed Batman might have lost consciousness, making a counterattack unlikely.

"His mental form is trapped," Charles said, "the situation inside is strange, and Batman may not necessarily handle it with ease, so we also need to be careful."

Harley crossed her arms and said: "Since the intelligent butler on the terminal can send us signals, it should naturally also be able to tell us what's going on with Batman's side. At least in the real world, the intelligent butler definitely knows."

"Brainiac," Tim shouted, "what exactly happened with Batman?"

"I'd really like to directly send you his first-person perspective video, but since I can't determine whether it contains anything that might cause mental pollution to you, I can only use another method." Brainiac said matter-of-factly, "From my observation, he entered what was originally the central machinery room of the water purifier, saw something resembling a heart, and then fainted."

"What about Polaris?" Harley pressed on, "If Batman followed the clues to the central machinery room, how did Polaris break in? Where did she get her clues?"

"She found a den of people who looked like cultists," Brainiac said, "she attacked them, but accidentally triggered an ongoing ritual, thus being transported to the central machinery room, facing pollution and fainting as well."

Everyone fell into thought. Tim snapped his fingers and said: "Help me contact Arkham Knight."

Actually, this game originally had no long-distance communication system, let alone chat groups; team members could only talk face-to-face. But Charles can fully serve as a multi-point contact—he himself is a chat server, so long-distance communication is no problem.

Seeing this, Brainiac thought forcibly cutting communication was meaningless. After adding himself to the game, he opened remote communication permissions—whoever wants to talk to whom can just call via terminal, or he can help dial.

Brainiac connected with Arkham Knight. The other side was slightly out of breath, seemingly running or just finished intense exercise. Tim said worriedly: "What's wrong with you?"

"Those people are chasing me..." Arkham Knight gasped, "Lorna failed to kill them, or rather, some of them died and then revived, and now they're pursuing me..."

"Then Professor Xavier..."

"Their brains might also be polluted," Arkham Knight tried to explain why he didn't seek Charles's help, "recklessly connecting to their brainwaves might trigger a trap. Moreover, if we scramble their brains, we'll never know the truth about the East District."

He took a few more breaths and said: "You don't need to worry about me; I have my own countermeasures. While they were reviving, I took photos of the ritual site—you can look at them yourselves."

After speaking, the photos were sent to their terminals. Several people were about to click when Red Robin shouted: "Wait!"

Everyone looked at him. Red Robin said: "Do you still remember our guess when the game just started?"

Damian blinked, then said: "You mean something is disguising itself as a player? But it was Brainiac who helped us connect..."

"He only connected the terminal," Red Robin said calmly, "the terminal and phone are no different—after you call, you don't know who's behind the phone, right?"

"Can the terminal be taken off?" Nightwing frowned, looking at his wrist. He hadn't really noticed this before.

"Of course," Red Robin said, "after all, this is a virtual world created by Brainiac; he can totally let us access the system panel via thought, rather than needing a physical object. Since there is this physical object, it must be removable."

Nightwing carefully examined the watch-like terminal. Although it was fastened tightly, touching the strap with a finger revealed a slight bump, and after prying it open, it really did open.

Everyone's expression turned grave. Under what circumstances would someone have their terminal snatched away?

"Why do you think Arkham Knight isn't real?" Pamela asked, "I've seen him a few times, his tone sounds flawless."

"But his behavior is the biggest flaw," Red Robin said, "the mental pollution here can leave Batman and Professor X helpless. Yet after filming the cultists' ritual, he actually chose to send us pictures. Brainiac wouldn't dare do that!"

Everyone suddenly realized—they recalled that Brainiac clearly had Batman's first-person video, but he didn't dare send it, because as an AI, he couldn't tell whether the video contained anything that might transmit pollution. So he would watch it and then describe it.

But Arkham Knight actually chose to send them pictures. How could he be sure the pictures contained no forbidden information, thus causing pollution to spread?

Remember, they already suffered from this with the Drowning Ones. Such mentally polluting monsters are utterly unreasonable—just one glance feels like a heavy blow. How could Arkham Knight be so reckless as to directly send image data?

Arkham Knight isn't one of those eternally young mutants who never learn from mistakes. Not to mention his age, his experience makes it impossible for him to become such a reckless fool. In a mentally polluted environment, directly sending images is still too abstract.

"Brainiac, convert the pictures to text," Red Robin said, "just roughly describe the situation. If there's text or patterns or such information, just mark it—no need for detailed description."

The intelligent butler quickly finished the work, and Brainiac said: "In a dark sewer chamber, a group of people in black robes formed a circle, with a blood-red magic array on the ground. Taking the upper part of the image's central axis as true north, the north of the array is a dead owl, the west is..."

Brainiac began describing earnestly. Everyone listened but couldn't make heads or tails of it. Only Red Robin showed a look of sudden understanding. He said: "This looks like some kind of nurturing magic array. What are they trying to do?"

Red Hood raised an eyebrow at him. Sure enough, Red Robin bringing Lilith wasn't for nothing. He actually could tell what this ritual array was for. But others present didn't know Red Robin also knew magic, so Pamela asked: "How do you know? Shouldn't we ask Constantine?"

"We could ask him too," Red Robin said without refusal, "but I just don't trust people who aren't present right now."

What Red Robin said also makes sense. In this situation, contacting via terminal isn't safe. Although we could let Charles contact them, if the other side is in a mentally polluted place, we can't easily get involved.

"What exactly happened to Arkham Knight?" Harley said, "We need to find a way to contact him. His situation might be more urgent than Batman's."

Everyone agreed on this. In their impression, delaying Batman's rescue wouldn't kill him. But Arkham Knight might not be so lucky. This guy is truly unfortunate—he's a rare case in the multiverse whose luck is worse than Batman's.

That said, if his luck were just a bit better, he wouldn't be the only one in the multiverse arrested and imprisoned by the Joker, Jason Todd. He didn't even get a chance to soak in a tub.

Charles, however, fell into thought. Although he hasn't yet used psychic abilities to investigate anyone, he knows Polaris well. Lorna and Arkham Knight mixed together—their relationship might not be that simple.

Looking at it, Scarlet Witch and Polaris, these two sisters, have completely different personalities. Wanda is always gentle and tolerant, while Lorna is somewhat rebellious and has a bad temper. But Charles is clear that the sisters' underlying nature is completely the same. Or rather, the entire Summers family shares the same nature.

Such people, for things they don't care about, are completely indifferent—don't listen, don't look, don't bother, and won't expend an extra bit of energy. But if someone dares to harm those they care about, they won't even care if the world is destroyed—they will definitely make that person pay. The famous "no more mutants" is the best proof.

Polaris and Magneto haven't destroyed the world over this, not because they don't think that way, but simply because they haven't been pushed to the edge like Scarlet Witch. Otherwise, such a major event would absolutely not be just one incident.

While the Robins were still discussing who to save first, Charles lowered his eyelids. In his mind he said: "Brainiac, tell Lorna that Arkham Knight was attacked, he lost his terminal, and his life or death is unknown."

"I can't do that," Brainiac said, "their mental forms are currently trapped, and the intelligent butler cannot communicate with their spirits."

"Then how did Bruce send his location?" Charles asked sharply, "I don't believe he truly prepared in advance, setting up transmission before being attacked. More likely, you only helped him send it after he was trapped."

Before Brainiac could answer, Charles said: "You'd better think it through. If Arkham Knight dies because you failed to fulfill your duty to inform, I also can't guarantee Polaris won't do something to you—her mutant ability is very much like Erik's."