Laughing American comics, I am becoming more and more like a clown

On the roof of a Gothic building in the distance, a man who had immersed himself in darkness slowly lowered the sniper rifle in his hand.

Chapter 19 Arrogant at first and respectful at the end

"Lock down Gotham?"

"Whose proposal is this? Suppress it."

"Lex Luthor."

"So it's the Honorable Councillor, approved!"

Gotham has suffered the No Man's Land plot. Its population is only two million, but the land occupies 8469 square kilometers, with an average of 4234.5 square meters per person.

It became an unprecedentedly sparsely populated city.

Among the only two million remaining people, some are businessmen and capitalists with great risk-bearing capabilities, some are native gang members who are reluctant to leave their sphere of influence, some are old Gotham people who cannot leave or do not want to leave this city, and a very small number are useless superheroes.

Roadblocks and banners were set up on the main traffic routes connecting Gotham to the outside world to block them. In order to prevent privately modified cars from rushing out, iron spikes were laid on the ground around them.

"Locking down Gotham? What's going on?"

The metropolitan people gathered at the other end of the bridge and whispered.

"I heard that Gotham wants to become independent and overthrow the government."

"Normal, they didn't send someone to assassinate the president?"

"I haven't heard of it... Maybe he's been assassinated, but they didn't tell us."

Metropolis is Gotham's twin city, and they are the opposite of each other, but unfortunately, Gotham will always be the derogatory one.

They are both located in the subtropics and have a subtropical monsoon humid climate with abundant precipitation, rain and heat occurring at the same time, and mild winters and hot summers.

But compared to Gotham’s dark clouds and heavy rain, this city is like their future son, exuding the smell of sunshine and warmth.

Even the people here are gentle and non-aggressive.

"Bullshit! My stuff is still in Gotham!" The owner of the car stuck on the road honked his horn and cursed wildly.

Of course, there are exceptions to everything.

"Idiot! If the blockade continues at this time, all the goods I spent money to store will be loaded onto the rotten truck!" The driver of the truck next to him also honked his horn frantically to express his dissatisfaction.

There is more than one exception.

The blaring of horns echoed around the entrance to the bridge but faded as police fired warning shots.

"Hey, buddy, what's your cargo?" The truck driver lowered his head and asked the car driver next to him, who obviously had a much uglier expression than him.

"LSD!" The car driver gritted his teeth, his expression angry and a little crazy.

LSD is a powerful hallucinogen that can cause severe hallucinations and mental confusion after taking it. It is a very profitable drug.

"Damn it! I make money from the profits flowing out of Gotham. This time, all the goods are in Gotham and I can't get any of them!" His eyes were bloodshot and he looked at the alert police with a ruthless look on his face.

"Don't be impulsive! Don't be impulsive!" The truck driver hurriedly comforted: "This is Metropolis, and Superman is still up there."

The car driver looked up and saw a faint blue figure on the clouds. He pounded the steering wheel in frustration and cursed "fuck".

There is a saying that goes, when you see someone who is more anxious than you, you will not be so anxious anymore.

Likewise, when the truck driver saw someone even more annoyed than himself, he wasn't so angry anymore. He even lit a cigarette, exhaled a puff of gray smoke, and made small talk:

"Dude, you're not from the Metropolis, are you?"

"My Gotham one."

The truck driver immediately showed a look of understanding.

"Don't look that damned!" the limo driver vented his anger on him. "Damn it, that just fits your Metropolitan stereotype of Gothamites, doesn't it?"

"Um..." The truck driver blinked innocently: "I'm from Bludhaven."

Blüdhaven is also a neighboring city of Gotham. Batman’s first Robin is now the superhero of Blüdhaven: Nightwing.

Thinking of this origin, the car driver looked at it for a moment and was not so angry anymore.

It's not that his superhero identity is in jeopardy, it's mainly because Nightwing's butt is too conspicuous, and it's easy to tell that this thing once worked as Robin.

"There have been so many big things happening in Gotham recently. How about we not seeing Nightwing anymore?" The Gotham driver said to the Bludhaven driver with a gloating look.

"Someone is patrolling for him, but you're right, you can tell it's not him just by looking at his butt." The truck driver tapped off the ash from his cigarette and didn't care.

The car driver scoffed and then pointed at the container on the truck: "What are you carrying here?"

"Relief supplies."

"Wow." The car driver said sarcastically, "What a kind man."

The truck driver smiled and said, "A first aid kit consisting of medical gauze, Band-Aids, sterile cotton balls, alcohol, bandages, painkillers, anti-inflammatory drugs... How much do you think it costs?"

A first aid kit usually costs about thirty dollars.

"With the way things are in Gotham these days...three hundred dollars?"

"five hundred."

The car driver looked at the truck driver in surprise and couldn't help but sigh: "Exorbitant profits."

"This thing costs at most fifteen dollars, and the profit is thirty times."

"Besides people like me who sell medical supplies, look around and see who's trying to get into Gotham. They're either selling emergency food or guns and ammunition... They're all taking advantage of the chaos in Gotham right now, and each one's selling at a higher price than the last." The truck driver's expression quickly softened again.

"I can't get into Gotham right now, no matter how much money I have."

But if he could make it to Gotham, the profits wouldn't be that high.

Our Master Wayne never makes money from war. He is a benevolent capitalist - although he himself has lost his basic personal freedom and privacy.

While Gotham was under lockdown, emergency supplies prepared for the "Last Laugh" project were delivered precisely to everyone.

The drinking water and food that can last for at least three months have made the people of Gotham, who already have a hoarding habit, feel much more stable.

The order is also more controllable.

The only thing that is uncontrollable is the clown-killing gang who are fighting for no apparent reason.

Although the birds were confused at first, they soon realized that something was wrong.

But there is a saying that goes, "Wherever public opinion points, people will attack."

At this point, killing the Joker Gang is like dropping mud on your pants - it's shit at least.

This group of victims, who only wanted to restore the death penalty in Gotham and remove the mentally ill from the list of exempted cases, have borne an unparalleled huge scapegoat.

This is probably the time when Gotham's forces are most united. The police, the mayor, and the businessmen are working together to completely eradicate them.

The miserable people had no place to hide and died one after another accidentally.

This again shows the absurdity of this city.

While the real criminals were alive, they were lazy, ignorant, and indulged themselves, allowing Gotham to fall into the abyss and shouting their own greatness on the ruins.

But now they are sharp, wise and intelligent, standing on the moral high ground to condemn the corruption of the city.

……

But we came to the conclusion not long ago that the city could no longer withstand any unexpected events - not even rescue.

Chapter 20 Batman's Perspective

Maybe it was wrong from the beginning.

Quiet solitude always triggers a person's self-reflection and doubt.

Batman was wearing only shorts and a vest, with a ring on each hand and foot. It was an electronic shackle that could remotely inject anesthetics and electric shocks.

His treatment was much harsher than Lucian's.

But this was also because his condition was much more serious than Lucian's.

Beneath the light and shadow were a pair of sticky green eyes, the corners of his mouth, which were always tightly pursed, formed a hollow and sharp arc, his skin was so pale that it looked inhuman, and even the aura around him was chaotic and dangerous.

After he was locked up here, he basically didn't say a word.

"Om-"

The food boxes were hanging from above, with only a few thin and flexible wires connecting the tray to the machine.

This is to prevent Batman from suddenly jumping up and climbing up the rope to escape.

And compared to Lucien's dishes, he only got the basic needs of his body.

Batman took the food, he didn't refuse to eat, but this was more likely a way to preserve his energy to fight back.

He was also quiet when eating here, and the crisp sound of the knife and fork hitting the iron plate was the only sound here.

There would be no Nightwing here holding a tray to eat with, it seemed empty and lonely.

In the reflection of the green irises, what Batman saw was not normal things, but white brains, suspicious meat, and soft balls.

Apart from simply feeling nauseous, this hallucination had no effect on him, nor could it cause any emotional fluctuations... Of course, it was also possible that this hallucination simply made him feel disgusted.

Batman put the food into his mouth expressionlessly, then put the tray back to its original position. With a slight hum, the tray was hoisted back up.

He sat back in his original place, silent, like a statue.

Batman does not have a Joker hallucination-like personality.

Even if you occasionally see a clown appear next to you, it is just an lingering and uncommunicable illusion.

But he is not lonely and empty.

Various tragedies that have happened in the past are constantly being staged again under the influence of the clown virus.

Catwoman's death, Gordon's melting, Harvey's betrayal, Jason's bad news, Barbara's tragedy... He relives the heart-wrenching pain that he was once powerless to deal with. After it is over, he will return to the night in the alley when he was 8 years old and relive the nightmare he has had countless times.

What he was experiencing at this time was strikingly similar to the conditions of the Joker virus patients Lucian knew.

This superhero, who has been deified in animation, film and television works, is now closing his eyes like an ordinary person.

Even the air was silent.

"Bruce..."