Chapter 4955: There Is No Batman Here (Sixty)

"Where would the Joker be?" Harley frowned deeply. "Logically, the entire East District has been ruined like this; he should have nowhere to hide. Why haven't we seen him?"

"It should be impossible on the ground," Tim deduced. "Could it be deeper underground? Find a way to dig down?"

"But that would still require a specific location." Pamela shook her head. "We can't dig up the entire East District's underground."

"Ah, I've got an idea!" Harley said suddenly. Everyone looked at her, but Harley looked at Bruce.

"There's an inexplicable bond between Batman and the Joker." Harley said. "Even if they're not from the same universe, Batman and Joker still sense each other. Batman, do you feel anything?"

Bruce was annoyed into laughter. What could he feel? He wasn't Batman at all; how was there still a Turing test segment?

Taking ten thousand steps back, even if he were still Batman, his corresponding Joker was either teaching at Gotham University or driving a truck on the road — there was no way it would fall to a monster imitating the Joker in a virtual game system.

Bruce sighed inwardly; he still had to come up with a foolproof plan to deal with this test.

"Batman has indeed done some research on this." Bruce said. "The darkness in Batman's heart resonates with the Joker virus, which creates the sensing between them. But this is inside the game system; Brainiac shouldn't be able to simulate the Joker virus, so I'm afraid it won't work."

After he finished speaking, he didn't forget to threaten Brainiac in his mind: "You'd better not have imitated the Joker virus, or I'll tell Batman you're creating terrorists..."

"They sent you here; I haven't sued them for illegal intrusion yet." Brainiac said coldly.

"What the hell!" Bruce said incredulously. "I'm a local; returning to my own hometown counts as illegal intrusion?"

"You coming back yourself, I naturally welcome. But dressed like this, I seriously suspect you brought Batman's bad luck back with you." Brainiac was still displeased. "Just now Polaris nearly blew up my servers again; you dare say that has nothing to do with you cosplaying Batman?"

Bruce was speechless. Batman's luck was truly divine; before he didn't feel much, but how come after the Multiverse War it's getting worse and worse? This is practically forming a law-level power; no one who touches it escapes unscathed. Is that right?

And he isn't even Batman — just wearing the suit — yet he's affected this much. However you look at it, there's a problem.

Bruce was puzzled inwardly, but now wasn't the time to dwell on it. Fortunately Charles helped smooth things over: "Although I can't probe the monsters' brainwaves well, I also don't believe the monsters here can completely mask the Arkham Knight's brainwaves. But I indeed didn't sense his brainwaves' existence, which proves they used some other method."

Harley thought briefly, then said: "Professor, can you probe the ocean?"

Charles frowned slightly, then said: "Under these circumstances, I won't rashly contact the ocean; whether I can probe it, I'm not sure."

"The Joker and Arkham Knight are very likely in the sea." Harley said. "Only there could you completely fail to detect any trace."

"But how do we get underwater?" Pamela asked worriedly. "Seagulls are land creatures after all; they can't take us down. Besides, who knows what's down there..."

"Find Arthur." Tim said. "I'll log off to contact him."

"Wait." Nightwing stopped him. "Aquaman can't join the game right now either, can he? Or did he bury his trident somewhere?"

"That's not it." Tim said. "It's just that our universe has an undersea tunnel between the US and Mexico, maintained by Atlanteans."

"What???" Damian was shocked. "Where to where is this undersea tunnel???"

"US East Coast to Mexico." Pamela also realized. "Originally for smuggling, later became a grain and vegetable transport corridor; now it should also be used for bulk cargo."

"Jesus Christ." Nightwing exclaimed. "Just what kind of person would build a tunnel from the US East Coast connecting to Mexico???"

"Also forced by circumstances." Pamela sighed. "Both Gotham and Mexico have experienced blockades; digging an undersea tunnel was a last resort. Fortunately it actually came in handy."

The main-universe Robin didn't know how to comment for a moment. If you said building a tunnel from California to northern Mexico, that wouldn't be earth-shattering, but starting from the US Northeast? Honestly, near-Earth orbit would be better.

Tim logged off and returned quickly. He said: "The tunnel entrance is south of the docks, and 12 nautical miles offshore there's a maintenance station built by Atlanteans; it's absolutely safe inside. That way we can enter the sea without touching water."

Polaris also calmed down. The group rode the Seagulls south again. But when they reached the South District entrance, they discovered something off.

Tim narrowed his eyes, looking up at the sky. The game world's sky was misty, but brightness was decent — like a foggy noon, visibility good. But now, the South District's sky seemed to have already turned dark.

Or rather, it wasn't like night fell; instead, something blocking light suddenly appeared in the air — like the omnipresent fog suddenly changed color, from white to black, making light propagation difficult; everything was dark and heavy.

It wasn't like this before; their base was in the South District, they knew the environment well. Tim immediately realized the South District's final boss — the monster modeled on Batman — likely had a problem.

Tim thought: previously he used a "set the tiger to devour the wolf" scheme, nearly killing the South District boss; the boss vanished, and now the South District shows this anomaly — could the boss have evolved?

Bruce obviously also noticed the anomaly, and he understood better than anyone what was happening — the darkness inside Batman had overflowed.

Although Batman's darkness mostly comes from Barbatos, it's actually a more primordial power. Bruce had also faced his own inner darkness; that all-encompassing black tide was far stronger than the Barbatos dark power he currently wields. This power exists in every Batman's heart.

And the South District's current situation was like the black tide in Batman's heart suddenly spreading. What puzzled Bruce somewhat was: how did Brainiac know these things? As an electronic life, he shouldn't understand such abstruse power.

"Greed is my investor." Brainiac seemed to know what he was thinking, volunteering: "He once described your past situation to me, mainly what your Professor saw."

Bruce understood. He'd known Greed interfered; much of Brainiac's knowledge of Gotham's past probably came from Greed — after all, Shiler shares a memory bank.

"So, the monster modeled on me is designed to gradually darken?"

"Yes." Brainiac said. "The more severe the injuries, the greater the erosion of this area by the dark power inside. This not only greatly strengthens ordinary monsters, but also generates new monsters based on the dark side of the human heart."

"Stay calm." Charles suddenly said. "This environment will interfere with your brainwaves, causing negative emotions, even hallucinations. But don't fear; I'll protect you."

As Charles's words fell, everyone instantly felt relaxed. This wasn't simple psychological effect; Charles had indeed done something, making their minds less tense.

Professor X is still too powerful, too reassuring; really can't blame mutants for never growing up.

But mental protection alone isn't enough, because South District monsters are all fully enhanced. The previous Bat-monsters not only became larger and stronger, but grew sharp claws on their hands, longer fangs; when they flapped wings, they generated whirlwinds.

Tim raised his gun and fired — bang — hitting their wing roots. Before, such wing-shots would disrupt their flight, making them plummet crookedly; but now, the bullet was actually deflected.

Seeing things turn bad, Pamela directly reached out, summoning countless vines from underground. But the moment vines touched the monsters, they seemed corroded by some dark power, instantly going limp.

Pamela narrowed her eyes, fingers clenching into a fist. Countless harder roots drilled up from the ground; vines and dead roots blotted out the sky, like a primordial jungle, grinding the monsters before them into meat paste; a rain of blood fell from the sky.

The main-universe Robins all glanced sideways. This Poison Ivy seemed different from theirs; they'd never seen Pamela Isley show such a violent side.

Pamela doesn't often use this move either, because she doesn't like appearing violent. But still, disliking and being unable are two different things; the funding she swindled from the Green of All Things wasn't for her to meekly swallow grievances.

They cleared a path like this all the way; at first Pamela acted, then Polaris got impatient. She didn't care about her slightly overdrawn stamina after unleashing; railgun shot after railgun shot, finally simply becoming an electromagnetic storm surrounding the group; every monster that touched it was shredded.

Everyone also realized that so-called stamina and ability limits, for a mutant like Polaris, are all subjective. Like Scarlet Witch getting tired — it's just she thinks she's tired; if she doesn't think that, her stamina is infinite.

Polaris had completely forgotten she should be tired; thus she could use her powers infinitely, no need to stop and recover. Just like that they killed their way to the South District entrance.

This entrance was utterly inconspicuous; nothing showed it connected to a legendary project. The main-universe Robins curiously peered around, but Tim quickly opened the door with a password.

"'Don't want to go to work' — what the hell?" Red Hood couldn't help asking; he watched Tim type that sentence.

"For Arthur, maintaining the undersea tunnel is his job." Tim led the way in, then said. "No one likes going to work."

The main-universe Robins looked at each other in blank dismay. They indeed couldn't quite understand, because none of them had ever held a job.