Chapter 2186: Battle of Two Cities! (Fifty-Three)

There are many reasons why Batman did not stop Gotham Sky Island from leaving, and the biggest reason is still the safety of the Bat Family.

The battle between Darkseid and the Green Lantern Corps is destined to be protracted and difficult to determine the winner, but Batman himself knows that Darkseid will not let him go. He has always been very interested in the half of the equation in his hand.

However, the earth is remote and weak, so there is no need to send a fleet here. The best way is still to send assassins to kidnap or assassinate. If Batman cannot be dealt with, then Gotham Sky Island floating above the earth will become the best target.

Didn't Darkseid send people here before? Although he did not successfully kidnap anyone, it reminded Batman that this great monarch is not a good person who is upright and honest. Breaking into the house and kidnapping is his specialty, so it is better to move the house directly.

After Gotham went to hell, Batman was relieved a little, but hell was still not far enough. People like Constantine could come and go freely. Just like the last time when Robin was transferred, it would be a good idea to let Gotham go to a farther universe for refuge.

So he acquiesced to Gotham going to a strange universe, but he didn't expect that this universe was undergoing great changes. Gotham's joining must have changed the situation to some extent.

It was not surprising that the lunatics in Arkham Asylum would go to the new city. The strange thing was that all of them were silent after rushing into the new city.

Batman keenly discovered that they might have adopted the method of replacing the isotope, and the most obvious one was the Penguin.

The Penguin was the mayor and had more opportunities to appear in public. The abnormality of some small actions was clearly visible in the reports of the news media. Batman almost immediately determined that the Penguin had replaced the prince with a cat.

Then there was the Joker. Batman had never seen the Joker in the New City, but he knew the Joker in his universe too well. He had also appeared in the news media, and the details in the photo on the front page headline also made Batman sure that this was the Joker who had just been captured by him and sent to Arkham Asylum.

Then there was Bruce. Bruce's arrival was also a turning point. Batman was unable to spare his hands, but he wanted to stabilize the situation on Sky Island, so he remembered that Professor Schiller had a student who was also Batman. This was the only Batman he could contact so far.

So Batman called Bruce, and Batman could also see from the photos taken by the media related to Bruce Wayne that although the local Batman and Bruce were very similar, Bruce later replaced the local Batman.

Then the three protagonists of the key turning point event were all gathered, and then Batman needed to study what exactly happened to the Enderkin incident that led to the outbreak of the hot war.

On the afternoon of the 26th, the Joker appeared on the screen, claiming that a certain reporter was kidnapped and announced his relationship with Batman. Bruce Wayne went to rescue him, but the rescue failed and Underkin fell to his death.

On the same evening, a total of 283 media outlets in New York and Gotham forwarded this report, including more than 60 influential newspapers, and more than 40 news media outlets pointed the finger at Bruce.

On the morning of the 27th, all newspapers reported the incident on the front page. A large amount of false news and unfounded speculation appeared on the pages, and the focus of most media reports was on Bruce rather than the culprit Joker.

So far, Batman can be sure of two things. At this point in time, Bruce is still the local Bruce, but the Joker has become the Joker of his universe.

It is obvious that the local Bruce cannot cope with this situation at all. After the incident, no effective measures were taken, neither to reverse public opinion nor to catch the Joker.

On the morning of the 28th, another blockbuster news appeared. Mayor Oswald Cobblepot attempted to shoot Bruce Wayne, Bruce Wayne fell down and was sent to the hospital for rescue. Since then, there has been no news.

On the afternoon of the same day, Mayor Oswald Cobblepot was arrested, but he was not brought to justice and became a fugitive. He also lost news for a long time.

On the morning of the 31st, the parade set out from Brooklyn, New York, circled half a circle in Brooklyn, crossed Queens and entered the upper reaches of the Gotham River, and the hot war broke out completely.

Then the doubts are obvious-why did the Penguin shoot Bruce Wayne?

This makes no sense. Oswald Cobblepot does not have such a motive or such courage, so the problem must be with Bruce Wayne.

Batman came to the mayor's office, which has been blocked since the shooting. Under multiple pressures, no police could investigate the case. The crime for which the Penguin was arrested was not attempted murder, and no evidence examination was required, so no one moved the crime scene.

The bloody sofa, the barely perceptible footprints, the marks of the gun on the coffee table...

Countless clues were transmitted to Batman's brain through his eyes, and almost in an instant, Batman was sure that it was Bruce who fired the gun himself.

The Penguin left marks on the sofa, not just because he was fat, but because fat people sweat more, so they need to use a stronger antiperspirant. The fragrance on it will remain on the fabric sofa for more than half a month, and Batman can easily determine where he sat.

It is not easy to judge where Bruce sat, but according to the direction of the footprints and Batman's behavior pattern, he should be sitting right in front of the Penguin.

The two men sat face to face, with opposite sides. The Penguin's dominant hand was his right hand. If he fired, he should have hit Bruce's left chest. Even if he deliberately aimed at the right chest, the bullet should have cut in vertically, not at an angle like now.

It was obvious that Bruce held the gun in his left hand and shot himself in the right chest.

From the scratches left on the table, it can be seen that the gun was first in the Penguin's hand and slid through the coffee table to Bruce. So it seems that the Penguin influenced Bruce in some way and made him shoot himself.

But this speculation was immediately overturned by Batman. The Penguin could not manipulate Bruce because Bruce's teacher was Schiller Rodriguez.    And letting Bruce fall in his office was not good for him at all. Batman would not think that some populist media calling the Penguin a hero was good for him.

You can't smash someone's pot if you eat their food. The Penguin squeezed in by bribing the upper class. The people in Bruce Wayne's circle are his bread and butter. Anyone with a little IQ would not offend this group of people in exchange for a little reputation.

Then this is Bruce's conspiracy, because it can completely cut off the Penguin's path to rise.

But the development of the next thing was unexpected. The Penguin was arrested and handcuffed, but he was not caught in the end. He ran to the slums and organized a protest team to Gotham.

After some research, Batman determined that the Penguin was being used from beginning to end. He organized a team to save his life and organized a march to restore his reputation. This is in line with his behavior logic.

Batman investigated the hospital's surveillance and found that Bruce was indeed seriously injured. He had been rescued for more than 20 hours and is still in a coma.

The treatment records are complete and detailed. Bruce seems to have used his own life safety to die with the Penguin.

It was indeed a brilliant move to frame the Penguin, so Batman could not be sure that this was not Bruce's plan.

Then, after many twists and turns, everything returned to the starting point. If the Joker did not kidnap Underkin, Bruce would not lose his reputation, and the Penguin who shot him would not become a hero, and he would not be able to form a team, and this team would not enter the Gotham area, and there would be no hot war.

The culprit is still the Joker.

Just as the Joker predicted, after Batman investigated, he found that the fuse of the war was the Underkin case, and the mastermind behind the Underkin case was the Joker, and it was the Joker who destroyed the New City.

Compared with the Joker's rhetoric, Batman believed in his own investigation and judgment more, and he did not care about the Joker's rumors and fables, so he went back to find the Joker.

"I told you, Batman." The Joker sat on the bed with his head down gloomily, and his lips kept moving when he spoke, and his teeth could be seen through the gap between his lips.

"You really disappoint me." The Joker tilted his head stiffly like a zombie and said, "You don't know me well enough, just like you don't know yourself."

"Do you want to change your career and become a riddle man?" Batman asked sarcastically.

The Joker continued to remain silent. Batman tried every way to make him speak again, but he couldn't. Until this moment, Batman realized that there might be something wrong with his speculation.

The reason why Batman made this judgment was that the Joker refused to admit it.

In the past, when the Joker committed any major case, he wanted to jump on Batman's face and ask him if he did a good job. He was eager to see Batman's reaction, let Batman evaluate his behavior, and repeatedly asked Batman to smile for it.

Now he has made such a big mess, but he has become like those ignorant thieves. In order to escape the crime, he denied everything in front of the police and refused to confess even if beaten to death. This is not like the Joker.

And the Joker is the madman Batman knows best. Batman has witnessed many of the chaos he caused, including bombings, kidnappings, and all kinds of outrageous and terrible murders.

But these cases are not the results but the process. The Joker did not commit crimes to blow others up or kidnap for ransom. He committed crimes to achieve his artistic pursuit.

Just like the Underkin case, he kidnapped and forced Bruce to let go and let Underkin fall to his death. In essence, he did not want to kill this person, but just wanted to break Bruce's psychological defenses.

Watching people suffer and collapse, watching them struggle in the quagmire of human nature, is the art that the Joker wants.

War is certainly painful, and many people will die, but their deaths are too cheap and there is no beauty. The process and results of these people's deaths cannot provide any material for discussing human nature and artistic philosophy. This is an unforgivable waste in the eyes of the Joker.

The Enderkin case was interrupted by Bruce's amazing shot. The Joker would not let it go. If the chaos outside was really caused by him, he must be rehearsing intensively now and give Batman a super surprise when he arrives.

But he didn't. He gave up struggling and let Batman take him to Arkham Asylum.

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And Batman also figured out the reason why the Joker would rather sit in Arkham Asylum than go out to join in the fun - a starving ghost who had his food taken away halfway through a meal was unwilling to watch the capitalists pour milk into the river.