Chapter 2507: Cloak Contest (26)

King Robin wasn't paying attention at first, but later he realized that Bruce's words contained intelligence from other universes, such as which universe was at war, what was happening with the Batman from another universe, and every piece of information was detailed and much easier to obtain than collecting it himself.

So he began to filter out the nonsense in Bruce's complaints and only took note of the situations in certain universes that had been mentioned.

However, to remember this intelligence, he couldn't just let the complaints go in one ear and out the other; he had to think them over, but as he did, he inevitably began to absorb some of them.

In fact, the path of King Robin's part-time job was also fraught with bitter tears.

In the original comics, King Robin was recruited by Mad Laugh after slaughtering the superheroes of his own universe, but he didn't know he was going to be transformed until after he was recruited, and only then realized he had been duped.

At that time, Mad Laugh had created a large pool and threw all the Robins collected from the universe into it to transform them into insane Robins. What he had promised about being his right-hand man and top general was all nonsense; King Robin and the other Robins captured had no distinction, all were transformed on an assembly line.

And the transformed Robins had no consciousness of their own and were completely controlled by Mad Laugh, turning them into crazed dog-like monsters.

But although he was called King Robin, he just liked the sound of Robin birds, not actually being a Robin for some Batman; he is Bruce Wayne, how could he allow someone else to take control of him?

So he concocted a small pill that, if swallowed, would preserve his independent consciousness after being transformed. But his plan was quickly discovered by Mad Laugh, who threw him into the pool before he could fully swallow the pill.

In a fit of rage, King Robin spat the pill into the pool, giving all the Robins later transformed by Mad Laugh a certain degree of self-awareness.

The most infuriating part was that Mad Laugh clearly saw King Robin's actions, but didn't stop him, only calmly stating, "What you're doing is pointless, the Robins will only listen to me."

Just think about how infuriating this is; every time King Robin thought about it, his blood pressure soared.

He had to admit that after slaughtering all the superheroes in the universe, he found it boring and when Mad Laugh came to recruit him, he was indeed thinking of using Mad Laugh to reach other universes.

Isn't that how job hunting in this world works? You want to use my labor, I want to use your resources; could I give everything to you without asking for anything in return?

And Mad Laugh made it sound so good at the time, saying these universes were all going to be destroyed, that whatever you do is meaningless, why not join me instead.

Anyone would interpret this as "your current company has no future, work with me, I can give you better conditions, more generous treatment, greater opportunities for advancement."

But after deceiving people, it turns out he just wanted to transform them into mindless puppets; isn't that just like luring pigs to the slaughter?

It's impossible for King Robin to not hold a grudge; even if his universe was truly doomed, at least he was the overlord in his own realm before its destruction, doing whatever he wanted, and even in death, he'd die happy.

But coming here, not only did you not provide the promised position, you even wanted to brainwash and control me. This wasn't just an unscrupulous company, it was outright a pyramid scheme.

But since he was already here, King Robin had to admit he was one move short and hadn't outsmarted Mad Laugh, but he was only one move away. So he kept quiet, didn't expose everything, and he thought to himself he'd just sneak away, but that's not enough for Mad Laugh, who insists on holding him down here.

You won't let me escape, I angrily prepared to run away with everyone, and you come up with an indifferent "it's no use prompting them, they only listen to me." Who wouldn't go crazy over this?

And what's most absurd is that knowing King Robin wanted to escape, Mad Laugh didn't care and still sent him out to gather intelligence, with an attitude like "My boy, do you think you can escape from my palm?"

No Bruce Wayne could tolerate this kind of humiliation, so of course, King Robin wanted to cause a great stir, which is why he came to the universe of the Arkham Knight, trying to find out what the fusion of Joker and Batman was all about, aiming to one day get back at Mad Laugh.

But now, things weren't going smoothly; it was quite possible that not only his goal wouldn't be achieved, but he would also be mocked by Mad Laugh upon his return. The more King Robin thought about it, the angrier he got.

He just couldn't hold it in any longer and let out a deep sigh, and finally, Bruce stopped his complaints and looked at King Robin inquisitively.

King Robin wasn't someone who usually complained. In fact, aside from this incident, he never had anything worth complaining about in his life, but because of this, the more pent-up his dissatisfaction was, the more explosive it became when it erupted.

Although King Robin had never done this before, Bruce had set an excellent example for him; a complaint is simply stating all the bizarre things from one's own perspective, mixed with some prejudices that are not hard to discern, but who cares, why shouldn't his experiences have a fair hearing?

Clearing his throat, King Robin didn't mention the name Laughing Bat directly, perhaps he was somewhat reluctant to say it out loud because he thought the name was beyond lame.

So he complained about the whole affair in terms ordinary people would understand more readily, just like Bruce did, using the relationship between a boss and an employee. Although he wanted to complain, he didn't lose his sense, and he didn't reveal any important plans, just a rough account of his own experience.

"... So, that's what happened, do you think that's his real thought? Does he truly believe his brainwashing techniques will always work? Or does he think he can conquer the cosmos with the lunatics he's brainwashed?"

This was King Robin's true thought. He had never quite understood what Mad Laugh was trying to achieve with brainwashing so many Robins. If that pool was so powerful that throwing someone in would deprive them of all their own free will, then why not throw some truly formidable people into it?

So he posed his question, but Bruce didn't offer a well-reasoned analysis, merely saying, "Isn't that just like a boss? You talk to him about efficiency, he talks to you about sentiment, you discuss culture, he asks you about profits, you inquire about his specific plans, he speaks of grand ambitions, you ask about his overall objectives, he tells you that details determine success or failure."

King Robin was almost ready to applaud Bruce because that was exactly how he saw Mad Laugh.

Mad Laugh came up with a super grand plan, and surely King Robin would ask him what the purpose of the plan was, to which Mad Laugh would reply that the existence of all universes now is meaningless.

Naturally, King Robin would deduce that the goal of the plan might be to destroy the cosmos, so he would naturally press on, asking how you planned to destroy the cosmos. But then Mad Laugh began to say that in every one of these universes, there is a unique Batman.

King Robin speculated that Mad Laugh might want to use Batman to destroy the cosmos. So, since they're dealing with Batman, of course, preparation is needed. King Robin prepared a whole belt's worth of gadgets to deal with their universe's superheroes, and he would definitely be concerned about what preparations Mad Laugh had made.

But all the preparation he saw Mad Laugh make so far was just scooping up Robins from all over the world and throwing them into the pool. He couldn't possibly be relying on Batman breaking down at the sight of these transformed Robins, could he?

The actions Mad Laugh is taking now are completely out of sync with the grand goal he proposed. When King Robin asked, Mad Laugh's response was, "Just do your own job." If King Robin had to describe it, Mad Laugh was like the biggest headless fly in the universe at this moment.

So King Robin nodded vigorously and said, "I think your summary is spot on, he's simply unreasonable... "

Shiller and Little Bruce were sitting at the top of Wayne Tower, watching their conversation through the screen of the brainwave intrusion machine.

Little Bruce turned his head and noticed Shiller deep in thought. He, too, was intrigued by the boss King Robin mentioned, but it seemed Shiller was very secretive about it. Should he ask?

In fact, Shiller was also reflecting. Since from the timeline, the members of the Dark Knights should have mostly fallen by now, many of Mad Laugh's plans should also be carried out in order. But from the current performance, it seemed like he was still dawdling about.

But Shiller had a rough guess: in essence, it was still because of him—or to be precise, because of Dr. Anatoli and him, as well as Bruce.

As said before, for the new file Shiller coming from the outside, Mad Laugh couldn't predict in advance and also didn't have more understanding for a while. Naturally, he couldn't grasp Bruce, who was deeply influenced by Shiller.

Mad Laugh couldn't predict that Shiller was a psychology professor and had been mutually tormenting Bruce for so many years, almost reshaping his personality, let alone predict the outrageous actions Bruce had taken.

One of the embodiments was that Mad Laugh was actually myself—he, a Batman with thick eyebrows and big eyes, didn't act the superhero but became a lackey of Barbados.

So the question arose, what was the early Mad Laugh up to if Bruce had become Barbados's lackey?

It's well known that as soon as Mad Laugh appeared, he entered the Prime Universe as Barbados's apostle through the portal opened by Batman and the metal, starting his carnage.

If there was no early arrangement by Barbados, the portal to the Prime Universe would not have been possible to open, and thus Mad Laugh wouldn't have had his chance to appear.

But now Bruce is Barbados's darling, and Barbados's plan against the Light Universe has also shifted from lurking and sneaking to proceeding in an orderly and methodical fashion.

Barbados's company has been restructured by Bruce in a highly formal way. Barbados is like the big boss, Bruce is like the CEO. The Dark Bats or Priests from various universes are like regional managers, and the members of the Court of Owls are like department heads, with the enhanced Talons acting as company employees.

Over this long period, Bruce had organized the entire company system very clearly and smoothly—Barbados had even gradually adapted to this modern corporate operational system. Everything is reported up through the hierarchy, consolidated step by step, with each individual making level-appropriate decisions, and Barbados controlling the ultimate direction.

It should be said that the corporate system created by the human race may not be top-notch in terms of efficiency, but when it comes to dragging each other back—a more civilized way to put it is checks and balances—they are fully skilled. But it has an advantage: it looks very formal. The corporate machinery may not move quickly, but the meshing of parts and gears looks seamless and exceptionally beautiful.

Barbados was very satisfied with this because it made him feel that he had a very large team, with an extensive and deeply infiltrated network, which was much better than the previous ragtag operation.

The structure of the Barbados Group had been fully fleshed out, and the whole company seemed to be running smoothly, which left no vacancies for newcomers.

This newcomer specifically refers to Mad Laugh. Indeed, Bruce went mad too early, leaving no spot for Mad Laugh under Barbados's command.