Chapter 4960

"I can do that," Brainiac replied, "Actually, this plan wasn't entirely devised by me."

"Greedy, right?" Bruce chuckled inwardly. This whole poisoning scheme reeked of Xilei's style. Don't ask, just answer chemistry on all the papers.

Although this time the poisoning target was a quantum lifeform, sounding rather absurd, the poison itself was no ordinary thing. Batman's dark side, mixed with clown virus, mixed with outer god contamination, mixed with fear toxin. If Doctor Manhattan took a hit, he'd probably truly have no choice left.

"When do you plan to strike?" Bruce asked.

"You'll know when I strike," Brainiac said. He had already learned Tai Chi. Fortunately, Bruce had no intention of pressing further.

The sounds outside gradually faded. It sounded like the clown had been defeated, the laughter no longer so piercing. But Batman clearly wasn't faring well either, the darkness beginning to slowly dissipate.

Charles poked his head out again and took a few photos. This time he didn't have Brainiac describe it, but looked himself, then said: "The clown seems underdeveloped, not a match for Batman. But Batman is also trapped by the clown; now is our best chance. I'll give you all mental protection, then go out and settle them."

The Robins cheered in unison. Opportunities to beat up Batman amidst the chaos were rare. Charles's eyes flashed, and everyone instantly felt mentally refreshed. After rushing out, they discovered the scene was far more chaotic than Charles had described.

The entrance of Wayne Tower was covered in blood. No one knew whose it was—Joker's, Batman's, or possibly a mix of both. Several tentacles lay on the ground, appearing to have been severed. But Batman had also lost an arm, seemingly corroded, leaving only a few fingers on the ground.

At this moment, half of the Joker's body had vanished, seemingly melted into bloodwater, yet the remaining tentacles still tightly bound Batman. Batman had lost one arm, the other entangled, momentarily unable to break free.

Indeed, this was the best opportunity. The Robins immediately charged forward. Yet they remained cautious, not attacking the clown first, since he now seemed easier to handle; they needed to subdue Batman first.

Pamela first summoned vines, tightly binding both of them. Polaris didn't act immediately, fearing her electricity might eliminate the clown first, making it impossible to balance damage; better to hold back for now.

Tim picked up a sniper rifle, aimed at Batman's head, and fired, but to no avail. Batman was clearly no longer ordinary now. So he turned and said: "Use explosives!"

They had brought explosives, and Red Robin could do directed blasting. Now that the two couldn't move, they were perfectly positioned to plant the bombs. To ensure sufficient damage, they used all the remaining explosives Uncle Jack had given them, hoping to blast both into the sky in one go.

After setting up, everyone hid behind the truck again. That way, if they didn't die from the blast, they wouldn't be the first to face backlash.

Before Red Robin pressed the button, everyone covered their ears. Then came only a "Boom," followed by the ground shaking. A small mushroom cloud rose from behind. Almost instantly, the darkness dissipated.

However, Brainiac only reported the elimination of the southern district leader. Everyone immediately realized the clown wasn't dead. Polaris instantly sprang from the truck. She hadn't even had time to see where the clown was or his state, transforming into an electromagnetic storm, a maximum-output plasma burst melting everything within several hundred meters around.

After a two-second pause, the announcement of the eastern district leader's death arrived as scheduled. Everyone jumped up instantly.

"Double kill!" Damian cheered, "We actually took down both Batman and the clown at the same time!"

Nightwing also breathed a sigh of relief, he hadn't expected these two final bosses to be resolved so simply. Now, the eastern and southern districts no longer needed ambushes, and only the western district's final boss remained.

Everyone simultaneously thought of this. Thinking of who the western district leader was, they felt this game was still far from over.

Still, taking down two leaders at once was worth celebrating. Everyone drove to Viscount Manor to meet up and held a simple victory party—basically just eating snacks, happily bragging, then resting for the night.

The next morning, they had originally planned to go to the western district. Since the main storylines of the other three districts were already completed, the next goal was, together, to assault the western district leader.

But this presented another problem: assaulting the western district leader still required taking an exam. If one couldn't get into the psychology department, they wouldn't even have the qualification to challenge the leader.

Among those present, few had the talent for psychoanalysis. Tim's idea of having Jenna write for him hadn't yet been verified for feasibility. But even if it worked, it probably couldn't help so many people with ghostwriting. So only those with a chance to get in by their own ability had any point in going to the western district.

Nightwing, Red Hood, and Damian directly gave up. They didn't even care what subject it was, they just didn't want to take the exam. Red Robin originally didn't want to go either, but was dragged by Tim kicking and screaming. He couldn't be the only one taking the hits.

Pamela also gave up; she simply couldn't pass. Ted also knew his own limits—he'd already been tortured at the Mercury base, no need to humiliate himself further. As for Cassandra and Lilith, they both accompanied Tim.

They weren't confident they could pass, just focused on companionship. These few going to the western district didn't seem like going to play a game, but more like marching to the execution ground.

Upon arriving at the lakeside villa in the western district, Tim immediately went offline to find Jenna. The good news was, writing was possible, but time was too short—she only managed one paper, and it was about Harley. Tim still had to figure something out himself.

Thus, after arriving at the lakeside villa, they completely abandoned playing games. The entire villa became a large cram school, with everyone practicing paper writing under the guidance of Arrogance and Charles.

This really required practice. Even for ordinary coursework-quality short papers, they hadn't written many. This was because although Xilei had high homework expectations, she assigned little.

It wasn't that Xilei didn't want to assign more; mainly, she couldn't bring herself to grade them. Once a month was already extreme mental harm. If daily, this book truly couldn't be taught.

Moreover, even if she assigned one paper a month, Xilei would grade it daily, but not necessarily discuss the homework. Often she'd just give a score, without lengthy commentary on their work. So often, Tim and the others didn't even know exactly where their writing had problems.

Although if they asked Xilei, she would certainly answer. But who would willingly go ask? Asking just meant: you got everything wrong.

Indeed, during tutoring, it was basically one sentence: wrong. Even setting aside grammar, symbol, and format errors, even setting aside logical errors, the main idea and content were still unacceptable.

The paper Jenna wrote for Harley was the only one barely passable. Mainly, it started from Harley's "easily influenced" trait, discussed the influence of the collective unconscious, then extended to personality theory. The content was comparatively good.

What Tim proposed, however, was too close to behavioral analysis. Mainly, it argued for the necessity of human social systems through behavioral differences between personalities. Although what he said was quite reasonable, it was somewhat off-topic. Arrogance taught for half a day, also struggled to shift his thinking, and could only leave it as such.

Surprisingly, Lilith and Cassandra. These two originally came just to accompany, but unexpectedly did fairly well. Their theories were actually acceptable, just the paper formatting was poor. Possibly because neither had attended college. But this was easy to fix—Arrogance simply explained briefly, and they adjusted accordingly.

Lastly was Red Robin. He originally shared Tim's behavioral analysis approach, but behind him, Lilith indeed had two brushes, proposing a religious studies direction. Although also somewhat off-topic, it was clearly better than pure behavioral analysis.

After studying for nearly a day, having taught what needed teaching, they stood up and headed toward Gotham University's Psychology Department. Arrogance didn't go, after all he'd been previously judged for cheating, completely barred entry. The others all went.

The good news was, except for Tim, everyone got in. The bad news was, those who got in weren't very capable in combat.

They clearly lacked some martial means. Charles wouldn't attempt a psychic attack on Xilei. If Brainiac simulated a modified Gao Ta, it would be no different from walking into a net. Lilith was the same.

Cassandra was the only martial arts expert, but she had no superpowers. Fighting Xilei after his modification was still too difficult. Red Robin did have a gun, but how much effect it could have was doubtful. Harley was the same. These few knew their own levels, didn't rashly attack, but returned to the lakeside villa.

However, this time, while Arrogance rested upstairs, Tim lowered his voice and said: "I'm afraid we can't use ordinary methods to fight."

"What do you mean?"

"Professor Xilei has a significant weakness, you forgot?"

"Broccoli?" Harley said in surprise, "Did Brainiac even replicate that?"

"He knows even that old thing, wouldn't not know this." Tim said, "And these leaders all have obvious weaknesses; there's no reason Professor Xilei would be strong in so many areas."

"Should we go find Pamela then?" Harley said, "But according to her, the things she planted in her backyard didn't grow. Maybe the soil quality is problematic."

"This is troublesome." Tim said, "Honestly, if we had Batman here, his storage would definitely have something targeting each person's weakness. We might find broccoli there. But Bruce definitely doesn't have this stuff."

"What are you guys talking about?" Red Robin asked.

"We're looking for some broccoli."

"Looking for broccoli to do what?" Red Robin asked, puzzled, "And what does broccoli have to do with Batman? Shouldn't broccoli be sought in restaurants?"

Tim and Harley blinked, they'd forgotten this. They'd been thinking broccoli was an effective tool against Arrogance, forgetting it was still just an ordinary food ingredient.

In Western cuisine, broccoli is often used for plating decoration; ordinary restaurants should have it. Especially higher-end Western restaurants, they definitely stock it.

"Go to downtown." Tim said, "Those restaurants there definitely have broccoli."