The Death Knell

"Listen to me before asking any questions."

Batman strengthened his tone. He didn't care about Deathstroke and Green Arrow's random interjections. The key was that when these two smart people were thinking, Arthur and Diana also looked eager to try... .

Not today, now is not the time to exercise.

"When Gotham City was first established, several founding families gave it a beautiful vision. They regarded it as the political, cultural, and economic center of the country."

"But as Gotham develops, the growing population brings all kinds of problems, infectious diseases, drugs, parasites, pests, etc."

"The founding families began to worry that what they saw as the heart of the country would become a drag on the country, and they vowed not to let Gotham become the birthplace of darkness."

At this point, even Batman was a little speechless, because as a newcomer, everyone present knew what the situation in Gotham was now.

Not to mention being the main culprit of the pollution in the United States, except for a few places in the world where warlords are fighting, there is no place darker and more chaotic than Gotham.

The founding family at that time had actually been infiltrated by the Court of Owls, and everything they did with a beautiful vision was actually just to prepare for the hatching of Barbatos, the God of Darkness.

But Batman only stuttered for a moment, and it sounded like a normal tone of voice, and he continued.

"They set up a system called the 'Final Smile'. Based on the literal meaning of the word, it is a system that will cut off all contact with the outside world no matter whether there is an external or internal problem in Gotham, and allow Gotham to The system by which man remains pure.”

"Perhaps in their minds, the so-called last smile has two meanings. One is that when the interior of Gotham is polluted, they activate the last smile and pull the whole city to be 'purified' together. This is a free and easy smile left to the world before death. "

"There is also a problem outside the city, such as the spread of biohazard or other disasters sweeping the world. They will also activate the last laugh, leaving Gotham isolated from the world and having the last laugh."

Hearing this, Su Ming felt a bit toothache.

Because this final smile system must have been borrowed by the owls, because Gotham has now absorbed the darkness of the world, which is exactly the opposite of the original intention of building this system.

This can probably be considered a contribution to the world, right? After all, the dirty stuff is concentrated here. In other places, let’s not talk too far away, let’s just say metropolitan and midtown. The public security environment is simply not very good.

Batman continued his narration, speaking very quickly: "This system will blow up all roads leading to Gotham, and at the same time use airships to drop vaccines or poisons throughout the city. While they are still building sewers, Secret granaries and weapons depots have been established underground, which I only learned about after the last battle with the Court of Owls."

Diana tilted her head and moved closer to Su Ming: "Sounds like a good idea? If the world is no longer safe, make sure you are invincible. If you decay first, don't drag down your comrades. Very soon. It’s aristocratic.”

Su Ming smelled the cherry smell on her body and shrugged: "Maybe the original intention is good, but after the operation of the Court of Owls, what use can this system be? I guess after it is activated, it will probably sacrifice the blood of the entire city and summon Barbato Si? Or bring the Dark Multiverse to collide with our universe?"

Batman heard the whispers between the two, and he had a directional radio device in his pointed ears. He nodded: "Of course I knew there might be something wrong with the Last Smile system, so after fighting the Court of Owls, I started to build my own The ultimate smile, like the energy barrier that protected the city when the last flood hit, is part of the plan.”

"But that didn't work very well."

Su Ming shook his head. There was still a fishy smell on the street, which was enough to explain the situation.

"That's because the response to the Flood is more than what it was originally designed to be. It is a system used to deal with biological and chemical attacks. When the entire system starts operating, it will make Gotham independent from overseas, purifying the air and air on its own. water, and the system that has the last laugh.”

Batman turned around and said almost everything he needed to say. Green Arrow and Deathstroke should understand what happened next.

Based on what he knows about himself, the Laughing Bat will definitely keep an eye on this system. The last time he tried to transcend this world, his game method was broken by Deathstroke. This time he will definitely play the game within the rules.

There is only nothingness outside the wall now.

Batman believes that the Laughter's plan is to kill the Joker, obtain the Joker's toxin, and then spread it throughout Gotham City through the Final Laugh System, turning everyone in the city into the Joker.

His previous plan to assassinate the clown failed and the clown escaped. This is completely reasonable. Then Laughing will not be idle next time. The toxin has not been found, so he must ensure the other aspect of the hardware facilities.

Su Ming and Oliver did understand what he meant. They looked past Arthur, who looked cute but took up the most space in the middle, and asked almost in unison.

“Where is that system?”

Batman put his hands on the armrests, stretched his legs, leaned back on the chair and dimmed the lights, and he instantly escaped into darkness.

"The central hub is on the upper floor of Wayne Tower, the floor with the tightest security. If you want to enter, you need to go through a multi-point DNA scan..."

"Let me guess, the DNA of the Laughing Bat is consistent with yours." Diana's intuition came into play again.

Batman just remained silent. Even Diana had guessed something, and the answer was already obvious.

Diana turned to look at Su Ming, signaling that the disgusting portal should be used again.

Su Ming sighed, stood up and changed into the holy statue armor: "Okay, then, Batman, we will discuss the price this time when we come back."

"You can't always use money as a hoodwink. I can probably guess what you want." Batman's calm voice came from the darkness.

Su Ming thought that Batman was destined to see through that asking for reward was just an illusion, but he didn't expect that Batman would choose to show off at this time.

He glanced at the pointed ears in the dark: "No matter what I want, for a rich man like you, it's just a small thing that doesn't hurt or itch."

"..." Batman pretended to be dead again.

Su Ming walked in the front, followed by Green Arrow, followed by Diana. Arthur, who came as a bonus, could only stay at the end to enter.

Before he entered, he found Batman still sitting in the darkness, staring motionlessly at the portal, with no intention of coming together.

"Aren't you coming together?"

Batman leaned back in his chair: "No, I have to wait for a guest."

"Guest? Oh, okay, we'll be back in a minute." After saying that, Arthur quickly endured his nausea and walked into the portal, and the pink and purple voice closed in front of Batman.

He still maintained that posture. No one knew what he was thinking. They could only vaguely see his eyepieces glowing faintly in the darkness.

"Master, breakfast is ready."

Alfred came down from the elevator carrying a large tray. He opened the lid and showed Bruce the dishes on it.

Although it was just breakfast, at least it had to be nutritionally balanced. Since the young master had just lost a lot of blood, he specially made foie gras stewed in red wine, which could replenish iron in the body, and spread it on French bread flown from Paris to eat.

What was not perfect was that the bread was not fresh, but stock that had arrived before the last flood. There are no eggs either, so we can only use peacock eggs to make omelettes....

"Put it there first and help me turn off the waterway security system." Batman said with a slight sigh.

"I don't understand, Master. If you turn that off, the rocks will move away, and the underground river below the Batcave will be connected to the outside world."

Although he said he didn't understand, Ah Fu still put down the tray, walked to the wall, opened a small hidden lid, pressed a few buttons and entered the password.

"I know." Batman replied, "He knows too."

"Who? Master, who are you talking about?" Ah Fu stood aside with his hands tied, standing reservedly in the classic butler's posture.

"Hehehe...of course it's me, maybe I should knock on the door first?"

As the words fell, a wet figure came up from the stairs, with a big smile on his pale face, and water was still dripping from his whole body.

Following his footsteps, a string of dark footprints were left on the ground.

Batman has already predicted that if there is any place in Gotham that is safe for the Joker at this time, it must be the Batcave.

All defense measures have been activated. The defense here is higher than that of the Hall of Justice. At least no one can sneak in and plant a nuclear bomb here.

If Kuangxiao wants to kill the clown, the clown will not stretch his neck to kill him. He can only come here.

Batman was still slumped in the chair. After the others left, he relaxed a little. The pain in his body and the beating of his brain made him too lazy to say anything to the Joker.

The reason he lost control before was not because the Joker killed Selina, but because Batman could find a way to resurrect a person. What really makes Batman almost crazy is that he feels powerless and that things always go beyond plan.

The clown told him that he was still so fragile, no different from a teenager.

And such a weak person has no chance of winning in the face of wild laughter.

Various emotions, memories, and worries about the future of the world, under the influence of laughing gas, forced Batman to cut off information processing from the outside world.

But not anymore, he has let go of everything that was Bruce Wayne, and now, he is just Batman.

Those memories were precious to him, but he could sacrifice everything just to defeat the Laughing and the Legion of Destruction.

"You are safe here, my old friend. I asked Ah Fu to prepare two breakfasts. If you want to take a shower first, of course you can."

Batman raised a hand slightly, motioning for the Joker to come and sit down. Although Ah Fu looked ugly, he still obeyed the young master's decision and put the dinner plate on the table.

The clown inserted his fingers into his hair, lowered his head and trembled. His shoulders shook more and more, and then he broke into a ball of laughter.