Hawks from the Land of Light are calling me a dove and an undercover agent in the chat group.

Alfred finished his work quickly and came in with the data, his face full of surprise: "This is too... Sir, look at this, it's outrageous!"

"According to the data, since your beam of light erupted ten minutes ago, the temperature in Gotham has risen by an average of two degrees Celsius. Although many people haven't publicly announced it, it can be seen from the surveillance footage that many people's expressions have become much more comfortable. Patient complaints in various hospitals have decreased significantly, and even the Riddler in Arkham has become more cheerful."

"And during this period, Gotham's crime rate decreased significantly?"

"And another thing, the sun is shining directly into Gotham City, can you believe it?... Wait, everything is gradually returning to how it was before?"

Compared to the shocked Alfred, Bruce appeared quite calm, only nodding thoughtfully and muttering, "So it was true after all, is this the truth?"

"What truth?" Alfred asked, puzzled.

“This city, Alfred.” Bruce walked to the mechanical screen, looking down at the map of Gotham City on it, his gaze deep. “This city that we all thought we knew so well harbors a secret we were completely unaware of before, a secret that is the deepest secret of our lives!”

It is known that the crystal will automatically resist dark creatures such as evil spirits. It is also known that Kassadin personally promised that even a low-strength crystal could easily deal with the evil spirits in the subworld. Furthermore, it is known that the crystal automatically reacted as soon as it arrived in Gotham and exhausted all its energy in just four or five seconds.

Finally, it is also known that, based on past data, Gotham has consistently had an average daily temperature that is two degrees lower than other cities at the same latitude and longitude with similar topography, and the weather is often gloomy and overcast.

Bruce used to think this was normal, since Gotham had always been like this before he was born.

But now it seems that this is something worth investigating in more detail.

Why is Gotham naturally two degrees cooler than other cities and generally cloudy? According to Miko Yotsuya, when she was possessed by evil spirits, she would feel her body temperature drop and a sense of gloom in her heart.

That makes sense.

Alfred repeated, puzzled, "A secret?"

“There’s something wrong with Gotham,” Bruce said.

“We all know there’s a problem with it, and a big problem,” Alfred said helplessly.

“It’s not a problem in the physical sense,” Bruce thought to himself in an instant. “There have been reports of unusual villains in other places, but they are all isolated cases, and none of them are as freakish as the one in Gotham City. Now that I think about it, doesn’t it seem strange?”

“Maybe all the weirdos just happened to end up in Gotham,” Alfred shrugged.

“Coincidence,” Bruce said. “That’s the key point. What creates this coincidence? What power in Gotham is attracting freaks, or creating freaks?”

Alfred was intrigued and couldn't help but ask, "What is it?"

“It’s an evil spirit,” Bruce said seriously. “A very terrifying evil spirit, or a demon, or maybe a werewolf? A vampire?”

“I think it’s a giant bat,” Alfred said with a smile. He was clearly unconvinced by his master’s answer. Before he came to the Wayne family, he was an elite ace in the army and had fought in countless dense forests, but he had never seen any supernatural forces.

Moreover, to ordinary people, Batman, Bane, the Riddler, and the Penguin all seem like supernatural beings. But as someone who works in Batman's logistics department, the more he sees, the more he knows that things that seem strange often have a reason behind them.

Well, though, as I always say—the Joker is an exception.

Bruce didn't take Alfred's teasing to heart; he had no sense of humor when he was serious. He just frowned and thought about it, but the more he thought about it, the more troublesome it seemed.

It can destroy at least several hundred meters of ultra-pure radiant energy in an instant, but against the unknown enemy in Gotham, it can only last for four or five seconds at most, and by the fourth or fifth second it is already extremely weak. In reality, it only lasted for three seconds.

What level of power would it take to defeat that evil spirit lurking in Gotham?

Even if he could get Yotsuya Miko's crystal, he definitely couldn't do it. If it were Kasa himself, it might be possible... But unless he was desperate and the world was ending, he would never consider an unknown person like Kasa with an unclear origin as a backup option!

"Since Gotham hasn't been destroyed yet, it means that thing either didn't want to destroy Gotham, or it might be dormant or sealed away. If it's the latter, maybe I should look for the supernatural beings that belong to our side?"

Bruce was clear-headed. Since he hadn't yet developed a sufficiently powerful technology, he needed to hold onto some other cards. Although the extraordinary nature of his own world didn't necessarily mean it was trustworthy, it was certainly better than the arrival of outsiders.

Weighing the two options, he still prefers to use people from his own world.

"This crystal..." Bruce weighed the crystal, which had exhausted its energy. Although it had vented all its energy, it still felt warm and sunny to the touch, making him unconsciously more cheerful and positive.

Bruce's eyes immediately sharpened!

Regardless of whether it was a conspiracy or not, he would not allow anything that could alter his mental state to remain by his side.

"Kasa, you really are too dangerous!"

“Ah… I’m sorry to interrupt your thoughts, sir, but the clown seems to have appeared.” Alfred’s eyes sharpened as well.

If there are any enemies in Gotham right now that would make him lose confidence in his master, there are only two: Bane and the Joker. The former broke the master's spine just two days ago, while the latter is a complete chaotic aggregate that would frighten anyone who saw him.

"The Joker?" Bruce exclaimed in surprise. "What did he do now?"

Every time the Joker appears, it's a major news story; it's almost giving even the invincible Batman PTSD.

"This time... uh, wait? That's strange, it seems like they didn't do anything?" Alfred was extremely surprised. "The Joker took his hastily recruited men to the ring road, blocked the intersection, hijacked an elementary school bus, and specifically asked Batman to appear?"

"That's all?" Bruce confirmed.

"That's all." Alfred nodded in confusion; to the Joker, this was far too trivial.

But no matter what wicked scheme the Joker is plotting, Bruce has to go.

"Prepare for the worst, keep a close watch on the entire city, and be alert for anything unusual, Alfred."

"Yes, sir."

Batman, strike!

Chapter 57 The Clown: Guess Right and Get a Surprise, Guess Wrong and Get a Reward

"Rag doll, rag doll~"

"The poor baby misses his/her mother~"

"The doll misses the doll, the doll misses its mother~"

Humming and whimpering, a unique melody flowed from the clown's mouth. If one ignored the lacerated scar on his lips and the utterly unfathomable madness in the depths of his eyes, it would seem like an ideal lullaby sung by a gentle soul to soothe children.

Even though the children had all tried their best to shrink back, almost huddled together, and closed their eyes, the clown still refused to grant their wish to stay away from him. Instead, he grinned frighteningly, frantically approached, and randomly grabbed one of the lucky ones like a chick.

"Oh~ let the Joker see, hmm, so pitiful, only in third grade and already attacked by terrorists, sigh, so pitiful, is this infuriating Gotham even letting us live? Where does all our tax money go? That damned little bat, doesn't he know how to control those corrupt officials!"

The Joker was filled with righteous indignation, momentarily resembling a hot-blooded youth rising up for Gotham. But just as the child was stunned, thinking he was about to blurt out, "Watch me go and kill a few of the government bastards to save this rotten and dilapidated city," the Joker suddenly changed his tone, grinning, and exerted force with his hand.

Instead of letting the child dangle in the air, he threw the lucky child heavily to the ground, bent down, stretched out his hand to hold the child down, preventing him from getting up, and dragged the lucky child along the ground for a short distance until they arrived at a tank painted with a wicked red graffiti.

"Waaaaahhhhhh—" The lucky guy's struggles did not evoke the clown's slightest pity.

He simply clicked his tongue, grabbed the wailing child who was so scared he had wet himself, and spun him around the tank a few times. Then, scratching his already messy hair, he muttered unhappily, "Too ugly, too ugly."

As the child was lifted high again, he saw a long line of police cars and fully armed police officers in the distance at the intersection, and struggled even more fiercely: "Help me! Help me, ahhhhh, help me!"

Since Chief Gordon took office, the citizens of Gotham have occasionally, out of necessity, begun to have some expectations of these police officers.

But although his call was heard, not a single police officer took action.

"Silly child, how can you be so naive? If your Uncle Clown didn't have a few automatic bomb programs on him, what would he be doing out here? Be good, don't bother the police officers' already irritated ears. Be a good boy, understand, hmm?"

The clown smiled, raised a finger to the stunned, pale-faced child, and gently shushed him.

He planted bombs all over Gotham. If the police dared to cross even half a step, the whole of Gotham would explode. Only his little bat, the little bat he longed for day and night, was allowed to get close.

But he was so bored. He couldn't just sit there idly until the little bat came over to make love to him. He should find some appetizers to eat.

"Good child, tell Uncle Clown, do you prefer a smiling doll or a crying doll?"

The clown waited expectantly for the heartbroken child to answer him.

If he wanted the child to turn into a smiling doll, he would sew the child's mouth into a crying face and then crush the crying doll into a rag doll with a tank; otherwise, he would sew it into a smiling face.

Unfortunately, the child didn't choose any of them. After being put down, he just kept kneeling and kowtowing, making "Aba aba" sounds, as if he had been so frightened that he had lost his voice and become mute.

so boring.

The clown curled his lip, drew his pistol, and was about to shoot this utterly boring toy.

"boom!"

Gunshots rang out, but the victims that appeared with the noise were the Joker's hand and the deadly pistol—Batman leaped down from the Batmobile that was flying overhead, fired his grappling hook, snatched the real gun that was threatening the child from the Joker's hand, and incidentally left the Joker with the first wound of their meeting.

"Aha!" the clown laughed wildly.

In that instant, his recently randomly acquired subordinates, who were hiding nearby, launched an attack on the police surrounding them with various heavy weapons, so as to prevent them from disturbing his long-awaited meeting with Little Bat.

Batman's arrival also brought the terrified child back to his senses. After all, he had only just been traumatized and wasn't completely broken yet. Now, like a ship adrift at sea seeing a lighthouse and finding its target, he hurriedly scrambled away.

"Oh, how great, how great! Our Gotham's beacon has redeemed another poor boy, aha!"

Batman didn't respond to the Joker's sarcastic praise delivered in a serious tone. Instead, after rolling to the ground, he launched an attack, engaging the Joker in a back-and-forth boxing match.

When not resorting to trickery, the Joker is clearly no match for Batman in close combat; that's not his strength, so he's now completely at a disadvantage.

But that makes it even stranger.

"What exactly are you plotting?" Batman asked, slamming the Joker's head against his knee.

The Joker is a person with a strong desire to perform. He will certainly mislead people by using a combination of nine falsehoods and one truth or nine truths and one falsehood. However, when you are at a loss, asking the Joker directly is also a way to break the deadlock.

But this time the Joker didn't reply. He just grinned, and feeling that he had beaten enough, he simply raised his hands as if to surrender.

The only thing that is unbelievable is the Joker's surrender.

Without a word, Batman spun around and kicked the Joker, sending him flying like a tattered rag, crashing heavily into the tank he had painted red.

Now it was he who had become the rag doll.

Strangely, the clown truly seemed to have surrendered sincerely, remaining motionless, simply lying on the ground, raising his hands again as if toying with a puppy, and saying:

"Ah~ The invincible beacon has defeated the pitiful, pathetic, and weak Joker, who is too weak to even shake our great Batman. He has surrendered, surrendered, and is going to spend the rest of his life in Arkham Asylum. It's truly lamentable."

Even a fool could see that he had no sincerity at all, but the fact was that he really gave up resisting, and even took out all the bomb detonators on his body, threw them over, and then shrugged to indicate that he had none left.

Well, if Batman has any doubts, he can go and check his butt to see if there's any stock inside; he's always welcome to do so.

Chapter 58 God among men? I get it, you're Ultraman's human form!

What exactly does the Joker want to do?

Seeing the Joker give up resistance and seem willing to be restrained, Batman's mind raced. He didn't make any further rash moves. His brain was working quickly because he knew that, based on past experience, he probably didn't have much time left.

When facing the Joker as an enemy, basically everything you do is wrong. This chaotic thing is not like a person at all, but an aggregate of contradictions. Every time he appears, he inevitably brings a moral dilemma that forces you to make difficult choices.

In the past, this situation would be absolutely unacceptable – attacking the Joker would be wrong, stopping would be wrong, thinking would be wrong, not thinking would be wrong, showing up would be wrong, not showing up would be wrong – all options would be wrong, because everything had already been planned by the Joker before it happened, and he wouldn't leave anyone with any option that could be considered "good".

In the end, even Batman could only swallow a relatively mild bitter pill.

This time everything seems to be going smoothly, but it would be absurd to think that way.

Batman observed closely and realized that this Joker was indeed a bit different. His face showed obvious boredom and tedium, and he made no attempt to hide his goal: to be captured and viciously sent to Arkham Asylum.

Hijacking school buses and planting bombs are just minor, pretentious preludes to achieving this goal.

Is it possible to prevent the Joker from achieving this goal?

The answer is no.