What bad thoughts can Batman have?

Chapter 973 We Haki bats all possess the innate ability to love; bats help bats.
The howling wind blew around the laughing bat, burning along with the hottest flame in his heart.

Finally, after so many things, it was time for the Laughing Bat to reap the rewards.

And you know, the most interesting part is...

“Look, Batman Dragon, I’m here to help you,” said the Batman Who Laughs.

An avatar appeared beside the Batman Who Laughs; it was the phantom of Batman Dragon, who gazed at the Batman Who Laughs from afar.

“I know you won’t just disappear like this,” the maniac laughed as he heard his opponent say. “And I have a plan to deal with you.”

"You...are you ready—with the plan?"

Maniac laughed and met the gaze of Batman Dragon, who was also smiling. The two faced off for a moment.

You see, this is something the Laughing Man hadn't planned. He doesn't know if Batman Dragon really has a plan, a plan specifically targeting him, as he claims.

He might be lying completely. In dealing with Perpetua, he couldn't possibly have the strength to deal with himself at the same time. And how much does Batman Dragon know about the Batman Who Laughs now? He knows he possesses a portion of Mandrake's power, and he knows he's allied with the Void Hand, and then what?

What about the power that the Batman Who Laughs deliberately conceals beneath the surface? And what about his unfathomable, earth-shattering ultimate plan, the plan that would allow him to leap into the Dark Knight, capable of defeating the mighty Perpetua? How much does Batman Dragon know about it? No, he knows nothing. He couldn't possibly know any of this. The Batman Who Laughs has never revealed these things to anyone. He is a silent hunter.

If the Batman Who Laughs wanted to, Batman Dragon would never stop him; even if he tried to force his way in, Batman Dragon would have no power to resist.

Or do you really believe that Batman Dragon has some kind of trump card prepared for you, that he anticipated your actions and devised a plan to suppress you?

The Batman Who Laughs mocked inwardly, but ultimately remained still when faced with Batman Dragon's eerie blue eyes.

It wasn't because I was afraid the other party might actually have some kind of plan; it was simply because there was no need to.

He didn't need to take that potential risk, even if it was negligible, and in fact...

"Don't be so nervous, Batman. I'm here to help you. It's good for both of us, isn't it? A win-win situation."

The Bat Who Laughs said, "I have no intention of being your enemy. Our goal is the same: Papetua."

It's not that the Batman Who Laughs thinks this way. Throughout the long history of the DC multiverse, there have been people who have read "comics" and come to the main universe, but most of them have only read up to the current progress of the DC multiverse.

For example, Superman officially joined the main universe during the Crisis on Infinite Earths, but his progress in reading comics only reached the Crisis on Infinite Earths period. He had never read about the events that occurred in the future of the time-travel series, such as the Crisis on Infinite Earths.

However, Chen Tao joined the main universe during his rebirth, but he had already read the comics up to the point after the infinite boundaries!
Although he is not the only superhero in the DC multiverse who joined the main universe after reading the comics, he is the only one who joined the main universe after reading the Future comics. The Batman Who Laughs always equates him with Superman Supreme, and therefore firmly believes that Batman Dragon would never know his ultimate plan.

“Yes, our target is Papetua, and it would be best if it were.” Batman Dragon remained noncommittal.

"But here's the problem, my dearest friend. This time I come representing the Void Hand. I am now one of its malevolent nobles. If it weren't me, other malevolent nobles would appear before you. So simply defeating me is useless."

"Killing you will at least allow you to be resurrected many years later, and at least slow down the speed at which the Void Hand tries to interfere with the battlefield."

Batman Dragon seems genuinely confident in killing the Batman Who Laughs, leaving the Batman Who Laughs somewhat unsure whether this is mere bluffing or genuine capability.

Just like Batman Dragon, who experiences a kind of traumatic stress when encountering anything, wondering "Is it possible that all of this is part of the Batman Laughing's plan?"

After Batman Who Laughs' plans were repeatedly thwarted by Batman Dragon's sudden revelations of a host of countermeasures, he too developed a sense of awe towards Batman Dragon.

The traumatic stress 2.0 of "Is it possible that Batman Dragon could reveal a plan to counter me at any time, and that all of my plans are within the enemy's plans!"

This strange state of mutual distrust led the Batman Who Laughs to ultimately choose not to risk his life testing Batman Dragon's plan.

“If you kill me, the Void Hand will act prematurely due to the huge sunk costs, and you will be in an even more dangerous situation. But just like our brief cooperation before, we can push the situation to a point where it is in our favor.”

“This is a betrayal of the Void Hand,” Chen Tao said. “If the Void Hand knew you were saying this to me…”

“The Void Hand completely trusts his malevolent elites, and I’m telling you this so that I can better carry out his plan,” the Bat of Laughter replied.

He continued, "But what's interesting is that if you're willing to help me get what I want, I'm also willing to help you get what you want."

The Bat of Laughter paused, then said, "BHB."

Chen Tao was momentarily confused by the initials.

"Huh?" he asked.

“Batman helps Batman,” said the Batman Who Laughs. “It’s mutual help among Batmen. We are all Batmen, and every Batman has the innate ability to love others.”

Chen Tao was almost laughing out loud in anger. It's quite humorous, isn't it? When did the Laughing Bat learn this trick? Calm down.

The Bat Who Laughs tries to appear friendly, using seemingly comical language and behavior to mask his evil nature.

People often let their guard down around a humorous character who tells jokes, and that's the purpose of laughter. He's not a clown; every joke he tells has a purpose.

Chen Tao became extremely vigilant, but outwardly appeared even more relaxed.

He made himself appear as if he were being guided by the Batman Who Laughs as much as possible. He needed to know what the Batman Who Laughs wanted to achieve. "It's simple. This stalemate is only temporary. You still have three chances to reboot the universe. You don't expect to succeed on your first try, do you?"

Chen Tao said nothing and dared not make any expression. Fortunately, this was a clone he had created remotely using energy when fighting against Papetua, so he wouldn't make any subconscious moves. Although the safest approach would be to directly blur and control the humanoid face with energy, that would be tantamount to showing weakness in front of the Laughing Bat, and Chen Tao wouldn't do such a stupid thing.

But the Laughing Man did make a very tempting offer. Chen Tao had to admit that the Laughing Man grasped his thoughts very accurately. Originally, Chen Tao's plan was to restart the experiment multiple times to test the purity of Papetua, like capturing a mammoth, gradually weakening Papetua bit by bit on various timelines. Unfortunately, the plan changed, and he had to be forced to do it in this way...

Therefore, his purpose in preemptively integrating the Ultimate Monitor through the Black Death Emperor is simply to first combine the three sixth-dimensional gods, who could escape at any time, in a de facto sense, and then seize the main control of the Ultimate Monitor's body, so that he can bind the sixth-dimensional gods and others to carry out various Plan Bs, including but not limited to self-destruction.

Moreover, of course, his next plan naturally included the Void Hand. For a tactical mastermind like Batman, when the Void Hand revealed his need for the DC multiverse, he automatically joined Batman Dragon's camp.

Superman's position is currently undefined on the timeline of the main universe in the DC multiverse.

Supreme Superman once temporarily held this position, but he's dead now. Hero Day also once filled in, but he's dead too. Chen Tao's Cosmic Alliance Superman once temporarily took his place, but he's almost dead now, lying half-dead in Chen Tao's universe, constantly on his back.

Superman from the main universe... wait, where did Superman from the main universe go?

Where is Superman from the main universe?

Chen Tao suddenly realized the key point: the Superman from the main universe had completely disappeared from his memory and thoughts, while the other party and the Batman from the main universe had...

Hmm, where did they come from again?

Chen Tao couldn't believe it for a moment—had he tampered with his own memories?
But that's not important. What's important is that the essence of N-Super, which originally resided within Hero Day, was reclaimed by him upon Hero Day's death. Theoretically speaking, whoever inherits N-Super's life essence is currently the center of the DC multiverse. (Chapter 907)
The greatest enemy of the DC multiverse is Perpetua. Whoever becomes the center of this multiverse will have to deal with Perpetua.

Anyone in the multiverse can become the center of this multiverse, except for you, the Void Hand, an outsider. If you try to steal the power of the center of the multiverse, you will immediately invite the devastating attack of Dr. Manhattan, the Transcendent One, because you "interfered with his experiment".

Chen Tao had been harboring this wicked intention, but the main reason this plan had never materialized was that the Void Hand wouldn't fall for it. Even if the essence of Superman N were thrown in front of him, he wouldn't be blinded by greed.

Chen Tao had no idea how much the Void Hand knew about Dr. Manhattan. Perhaps it hadn't noticed him at all, or perhaps it knew about him but didn't know about Dr. Manhattan's power, or perhaps it knew everything about Dr. Manhattan's power and existence.

These three different scenarios will directly lead the plan in different directions, and getting it wrong could be disastrous.

Chen Tao originally planned to weaken Papetua and gather intelligence by restarting the timeline multiple times, in order to find out the extent of the Void Hand's knowledge of Dr. Manhattan. However, due to the information gap in the rules of death, he no longer has as many opportunities to restart the timeline.

If the Batman Who Laughs can help him lure the Hand of the Void into a trap, then his Plan Two can proceed perfectly.

But that's the only problem now.

What does the Laughing Bat want?
Chen Tao's only advantage now is that he knows the ultimate purpose of the Maniac's laughter, which he has never told anyone else. After becoming Batman Dragon and even borrowing the power and status of the Anti-Monitor, Chen Tao has tried many times, but has never found a Batman with the origin of Doctor Manhattan in the Dark Multiverse.

This further confirms his conjecture that only after the Doomsday Bell event occurred, when Dr. Manhattan left the DC multiverse and reached the end of the Watchmen universe, did a portion of his power remain in the Watchmen universe, generating the little boy with the Doctor symbol on his head as the core of the universe.
The other part remained in the DC multiverse and fell into the Dark Multiverse, forming a Doctor Manhattan version of Batman. It was then captured by the Batman Who Laughs and, based on Doctor Manhattan's Connection Power, absorbed the Anti-Crisis Power to evolve into the Dark Knight. It then killed Perpetua, absorbed all of Perpetua's power, and evolved into the ultimate demon god of the DC multiverse, the ultimate form of the Batman Who Laughs.

"What do you want, Bat of Laughter?"

Logically, Chen Tao shouldn't have asked the Laughing Bat such a question, but he deliberately showed weakness to the other party.

He wanted the Batman Who Laughs to feel like he was in control, a feeling he was addicted to. Nothing made the Batman Who Laughs feel better than hearing that everything was going according to plan.

This is his usual behavior pattern, and it has become the breeding ground for manipulating him.

The moment he believes he has Batman Dragon under his control is the moment when the Batman Who Laughs is at his weakest.

"It's very simple, my dear friend. I want a part of Perpetua's body. Cut off an arm or a leg, or even a hand if necessary... I know you can do it. The scythe in your hand and the power of the Ultimate Watcher that you have accumulated are now equal to Perpetua's. The injuries you inflict on him are impossible to revive, and severing his limbs would also damage Perpetua's very foundation."

No, no, this isn't some conspiracy, Batman. Look at me, I really need this this time.

The Bat of Laughter began to play the victim, and Chen Tao unconsciously recalled the memory of shooting all the members of his bat family in the universe with an Uzi submachine gun.

"I need the power of the Mother of the Multiverse to help me break free from the Void Hand!"

He showed Chen Tao that he was now a corrupt and powerful figure, and Chen Tao seemed to be thinking about it.

"I know you'll suspect I have some ulterior motives, but this time it's really not. I need to survive, to break free from the Void Hand's control, to have a chance to continue. Otherwise, I'll be a slave to the Void Hand forever. What's worse, the Void Hand's control will dissolve my mind, making me increasingly loyal to it over time. This is something I absolutely cannot tolerate. And don't think you're in such a good position. I, Batman Dragon, am fully capable of putting the Void Hand entirely into the DC multiverse. Then you'll be the one having a headache dealing with it. Don't doubt it, this is a threat."

The Batman Who Laughs said, "Make a decision, Batman Dragon, BHB, or face an enemy who wants to take you down with him?"

His words were a mixture of threat and pleading; he seemed to have lost all options, a desperate man grasping at straws, someone you could easily lure into saving the multiverse. The Bat Who Laughs' methods are as flawless as ever; he's truly a perfect creature.

Chen Tao looked at him but didn't say anything for the time being.

A few minutes later.

Chen Tao sent a message to Papetua.

"We need to talk about the mother of the multiverse."

(End of this chapter)