Chapter 577: Lex's Gotham Trip (Part 2)

When Lex and Cobblepot met and locked eyes, they suddenly had a premonition that the other person might be very similar to themselves.

This similarity did not refer to their family background or the resources they controlled, but rather to their mental and personality aspects—in other words, they were both born psychopaths.

There are many similarities between people with antisocial personalities; that cold, cruel, and irritable temperament cannot be masked by any type of appearance. When two murderers meet, they can always find resonance in each other's souls at the very first moment.

To a certain extent, such people can be said to be the opposite of the theory that human nature is inherently good. Many of them did not become psychopaths because of childhood trauma or psychological shadows; they were born that way and are beyond saving.

Cobblepot had been doing quite well lately. He had become Alberto's right-hand man and his status within the Twelve Families had risen steadily. It was foreseeable that when Alberto truly became the next Godfather, Cobblepot would be able to carve his surname into the Twelve Families.

In terms of emotions, he had become very familiar with the group from the vocational school, and he had also taken in all the children in Gotham, satisfying his desire for power. At the same time, he could follow Victor to learn; Victor was like a father to him, constantly guiding and educating him.

But as mentioned before, Cobblepot had gained a better life, had teachers and friends, and had a foreseeable bright future. Yet, he did not become a sunny and lively person because of this; he remained gloomy, cold, lacked sympathy for others, and could derive pleasure from violence and controlling others.

This personality does not change with the shift of the external environment. If he were anywhere other than Gotham, his best destination would be a mental hospital. But in Gotham, this "illness" cannot be treated, nor does it need to be treated—or rather, simply having an antisocial personality already makes one a model patient.

After the two of them were stunned for a moment, they both looked away and did not continue to look at each other. At this time, Victor walked out of another room. Seeing the two of them standing there in a daze, he first stepped forward to take the stack of documents from Cobblepot's hand, and then patted Lex on the shoulder.

Lex followed him into the inner room, while Cobblepot continued to be busy preparing laboratory supplies outside. From time to time, he turned his head to look at the door. Through the frosted glass, he could see Victor and Lex sitting face to face. Victor seemed to be asking Lex some questions, and Lex was answering very fluently.

When the two came out, Victor seemed to be in a good mood. He introduced to Cobblepot: "This is Lex Luthor. From now on, he will also be an assistant in the laboratory. After 5 PM, he needs to borrow the laboratory to conduct independent experiments, so remember not to lock the door."

Cobblepot rarely did not turn his head to look at Victor; he just nodded while busy with the things in his hands.

He quickly finished organizing those utensils, then turned and walked out the door, wanting to leave. Victor followed him out, put his arm around his shoulder, and said: "Don't be sad, Cobblepot. I don't let you conduct independent experiments because you are too young right now—even younger than him."

*Invincible Starting from Sacrificing the Grandmaster*

"I don't know what's wrong with you all, planning to conduct such dangerous experiments in your teens. When I was your age, I only knew how to read science magazines or use fire to burn my old man's tires."

"Don't be too anxious, child. You should study step by step, get into high school, and then get into university. Once you are in university, you will have plenty of time to do experiments."

"Water needs time to freeze into ice; it is the same for people to grow."

Cobblepot pursed his lips and said: "No, I'm not jealous of him, it's just..."

Cobblepot shook his head. He didn't know how to explain his intuition to Victor. Facing Victor, he was always ashamed to speak of his past—for example, that he used to be the Godfather's hitman, that he had killed many people, and that he was still killing people now.

Whenever he entered into a normal life, Cobblepot felt repulsed by his own psychopathic desire that existed outside of society. But whenever he took action, he could not control himself; he could not quit this pleasure of persecuting and controlling others.

He couldn't tell Victor because he was that kind of person, so he could keenly feel that the person opposite was also that kind of person. He couldn't use his own dark history as evidence to warn Victor.

He took a deep breath, finally shook his head, said nothing, and slowly walked away along the corridor.

The sky gradually darkened. After Victor finished his own work, he said to Lex, who was standing in front of the laboratory bench organizing data: "Thanks for your help. Next is your free time. The things you want are all prepared. Remember to pay attention to safety. I'm leaving first."

"Thank you." Lex smiled at Victor. Victor also shook his head slightly and turned to leave.

After Victor left, as the sky grew darker, Lex focused on his experiment. He was preparing a chemical agent to be launched into the sky to disperse rain clouds.

He first had to make the projectile, and then prepare the launching device, so he was currently conducting chemical experiments, while the subsequent mechanical manufacturing would be carried out in another laboratory.

Preparing chemical agents is a task that requires great concentration. He had to constantly observe the reaction and could not lose focus for even a moment. Lex stared intently at the reaction in the test tube. The cold light of the laboratory shone on his face through the glass of the test tube, leaving a scar of light.

Suddenly, a shadow obscured part of the light. Lex dodged to the side abruptly. With a "shhh" sound, a sharp knife slashed his upper arm, and blood sprayed out.

The test tube was flung away, and the reagent inside spilled onto the ground. Upon contact with the floor, it made a sizzling sound and emitted a wisp of smoke.

With a "clatter," the entire laboratory plunged into darkness. Lex gritted his teeth and turned back. An incomparably gloomy face appeared in the darkness—it was Cobblepot.

When he appeared during the day, he only seemed a bit gloomy, but when night fell, that dark and crazy temperament reached its peak. He was like a penguin leaping into the water from the surface of a glacier, changing from slow to swift, from prey to predator.

"Are you crazy?! Cobblepot!"

Lex shouted: "We only met today! We have no grudges!"

"It seems you don't have a correct understanding of your own mental state." Cobblepot said in a hoarse voice: "But I went to see a psychiatrist not long ago, and he told me I'm a lunatic."

Cobblepot raised the knife and approached Lex. Lex retreated step by step, staring at his gloomy and twisted face. Cobblepot continued:

"Not only that, he told me that if one day I meet someone very similar to me, then he must also be a lunatic."

"We are the same kind of people, incurable born murderers, so I must kill you."

Lex felt that Cobblepot was simply unreasonable. He said: "On what grounds do you say I'm a murderer? I haven't even killed anyone at all!"

"One day, you will." Although Cobblepot's figure was thin and small, the knife in his hand flashed with cold light. From his posture, it could be seen that this was not his first time doing such a thing; he knew very well how to use his posture to put pressure on the opponent.

Lex gritted his teeth and said: "Sure enough, Gothamites are all lunatics! Do you not need a reason to kill people?!"

"I said it, because we are the same kind of people, so I must kill you."

Lex didn't know what else to say. Perhaps this reflected the difference between Metropolis and Gotham.

All the villains in Metropolis commit crimes for a reason; they do it either for profit, for hatred, or for love and pursuit, but they are still committing crimes using the logic of ordinary people.

But Gotham is not like that. Gotham's lunatics might kill someone because they ate a piece of steak they liked this morning, or because of some crazy hallucinations and groundless intuition.

Many people might think that turning love into hate and then breaking the bottom line of law and morality is a manifestation of madness, but in reality, it is not. When a person's emotions, the driving force generated by those emotions, and the behavior generated by that driving force can perfectly form a straight line, it means they are still logical and not crazy.

True lunatics have emotional driving forces that are completely unrelated to their behavior, just like the difference between Lex and Cobblepot.

Because Lex did not agree with Clark's point of view, he felt very annoyed by him and would go look for trouble with him; perhaps in the future, he would even commit crimes to deal with Clark.

His hatred for Clark generated a driving force, and the driving force led to his criminal behavior.

However, Cobblepot is different regarding Lex. He is a complete stranger to Lex; there is no hatred to speak of, and he doesn't even know him. But he will generate intuition and guesses based on this. This intuition makes him want to kill Lex—there is no emotion, no driving force, and no logic that can be connected; it is just a fleeting hallucination that becomes the reason driving him to kill.

All the lunatics in Gotham are like this. Their behavior has no internal logic, so no one can fully guarantee they won't become their target. This is the truly terrifying thing about Gotham, because you cannot tie your own life safety to whether a lunatic ate their favorite steak this morning.

Just as Cobblepot raised the dagger, a crisp sound of glass shattering came from outside the window with a "pop."

Cobblepot turned his head, and taking advantage of the moment he turned, Lex grabbed the test tube rack on the laboratory bench he was leaning against and threw it at Cobblepot.

The test tube rack, along with the test tubes, smashed into Cobblepot's back. The broken test tubes cut Cobblepot's skin, and blood flowed out. Cobblepot turned his head abruptly, that gloominess completely turning into cruelty and madness. Just as he raised the dagger again, a low, angry voice came from outside the room:

"Thomas! Stop! Cease your evil behavior!"

With a loud "bang," the sound of a heavy object hitting the ground was heard, followed by several heavy footsteps. With a "bang," the door of the room where Lex and Cobblepot were located was kicked open, and a man rushed in.

He was stunned as soon as he entered, seemingly not expecting there to be other people in the room. And he knew that the pursuers behind him would not give him much time to react, so, in order to save his life, he hesitated for less than a second, and then rushed straight toward Lex.

Lex dodged to the side, but he couldn't avoid it at all. The tall man grabbed his arm directly, then choked him from behind. He held Lex hostage and turned around.

At this time, the light from outside the door left a bright square on the floor inside the room along the open door. A black shadow with pointed ears stood in the square, like a played card.

At this moment, the light from outside followed the open door, leaving a bright square on the floor inside the room. A black shadow with pointed ears stood within that square, like a playing card that had been dealt.