Chapter 116: The Joker's Bad Luck (Middle) _3

To safely retrieve this bottle of wine, 48 riddles inside the room needed to be solved. As Batman was busily solving the puzzles, Lex and Clark, who were in the Batcave observing the surveillance equipment, noticed something unusual.

Clark, pointing at one of the screens, exclaimed, "Where is that? Oh my god, who is that? Professor Shearer has been kidnapped!"

Lex, who was adjusting the equipment, immediately turned his attention to the screen Clark was pointing at. His eyes widened as he saw that Professor Shearer, unconscious and bound by rope, was suspended mid-air.

Below him was a damaged floor and a pool of water emitting a glow. Upon closer inspection, Lex noticed that behind Shearer was a massive Cross with a statue of Jesus suffering. The rope suspending Shearer crossed over the beams of the cathedral, its other end tied around Jesus' neck.

"Gotham Cathedral!" Lex exclaimed in a deep voice. "Quick, call Batman and tell him to go there immediately. Professor Shearer has been abducted!"

"Why bother calling him? I can fly there right now!" Clark was about to leave when Lex grabbed him. "Can't you think? Do you know who our enemy is? Do you know what effect the water under Professor Shearer's feet might have? What if it's radioactive? If you get contaminated, the whole of Gotham City will be destroyed!"

This made Clark pause. He felt that Lex had a point. They still did not know the truth behind the madness of Gotham's citizens. Therefore, in their opinion, such an event occurring could be a sign that the perpetrator was exposing a pollutant.

They had almost no knowledge about this madness-inducing toxin. No one could say, if Clark went closer, if he would become contaminated. If he went mad, no one could stop him.

Anxiously, Clark stomped his foot and immediately called Batman. Unexpectedly, instead of appearing on the surveillance screen, Batman entered the Batcave. Seeing him, Clark said anxiously, "Why are you here? Hurry and save the Professor!"

"I came here to save the Professor." Batman replied coldly. As he stepped into the Batcave, light after light came on, all the equipment began to operate, and the mechanical hum filled the air. The Batcave was instantly illuminated.

Standing in front of the largest control panel, Batman picked up the beeping communicator. The voice of the Joker came through.

"Batman, you really think you can disrupt me? You certainly cannot! This is all merely part of my plan, hahaha!"

Standing under the statue of Jesus, the Joker held up the phone, looked up at Professor Shearer hanging in mid-air, and said, "I pretended to break down, went to Arkham Asylum, deceived that hard-to-deal-with doctor, and brought your precious Professor here!"

"You thought he was invincible, right? You thought if he could turn into the gray mist, no one could hurt him? Unfortunately, if he falls into the pool, no one can save him, this mad virus will infect everything, including the gray mist!"

"Batman, this time, you can't save him!"

Just as the Joker finished speaking, he heard Batman respond in a cold, emotionless voice from the other end of the phone:

"Missile silo preheating, target locked on Gotham Cathedral, prepare to launch!"