Chapter 164 Heading to Death Without Distraction (27)_1

The Joker is a master at manipulating people's hearts, especially adept at seizing their dark sides, and activating the darkness within them, putting them on display for Batman to see.

But what if someone has no dark side within?

Now the Joker knows.

The Joker is like a mosquito being roasted by a light bulb, while Spiderman squats at his doorstep, hammering away at ideological and political education round after round, his efficiency rivalling brainwash.

When the Joker walked out to work, Spiderman followed him, observing various non-compliant and dangerous places in Gotham City, then notifying Bruce Wayne to improve them. With Spiderman's moral standards combined with Bruce Wayne's efficiency, Gotham City has been given a facelift these days.

When the Joker stayed at home, Spiderman started to help upstairs and downstairs, repairing doors one day, changing stoves the other day, lifting heavy objects one day, and carrying things the other.

Unfortunately, Spiderman knew how to do everything, was super strong, had a good image and temperament, was sweet-talking and likable, had endless energy without the need for rest. He was even more helpful than Snail Girl. The happiness of the people in the whole apartment building where the Joker lived has sharply improved, making the recluse Joker stand out as an oddity.

But allowing Spiderman in is like casting a wolf into the fold for the Joker. Since Spiderman forced himself in through the crack of the Joker's door, he has repainted the old furniture in this less than twenty square-meter apartment, thoroughly cleaned the fabric and textiles, re-tiled the kitchen and bathroom, and did all sorts of pest control.

The Joker squatted in the corner watching Spiderman busily working up a smoke in the room, feeling that the most harmful garbage in the room that should be thrown out was himself, so he rolled out.

No matter how capable Batman is, he can only install two pounds of cameras on the person he wants to monitor, but Spiderman uses an exhaustive method to find people.

Noticing that the Joker had slipped away during his work, Spiderman immediately took a loudspeaker with a huge decibel level and started carpet-searching for the Joker in Gotham. It was real carpet-search. The Spiderman, who has undergone spider mutation, was able to walk down every street in Gotham in twenty-four hours without the need for eating, drinking, or sleeping, just to dig out the person he wanted to find.

The Joker, who is hiding in an abandoned factory workshop near the suburbs, now wants to slap himself for concocting the Dark Source Elixir.

He has discovered that the only extreme emotion in the heart of Batman's new Robin is probably perseverance.

The good news is that the elixir works and extreme emotions are amplified. The bad news is that all the amplified determination is being used to save the Joker.

Spiderman and Batman are not quite the same. Batman just fights crime, while Spiderman genuinely saves villains. He not only saves them, but also saves them in every possible way, allowing them to air their grievances and express their woes.

Batman believes that all evil will eventually be brought to justice, while Spiderman corrects any injustice.

The scariest part of Spiderman's approach for super criminals is, that he removes all possible harmful influences society could have on you, making your life neat, smooth, and comfortable. If you still act against society, whose problem is it?

But looking at the development of Gotham to the present day, the vast majority of super villains are actually born madmen infected by some metaphysical factors. Throwing them into the Central City would also make them antisocial. Put plainly, they are hopeless as they have been marinated in this for too long.

But before this, their criminal actions always had a fig leaf. Those living in the City of Darkness received no care or help, and apart from Batman's punches, they might never even receive a greeting. This makes it easy for people to think that their evilness is not unfounded.

But when Spiderman's endless sunshine illuminates Gotham, only the pure gold remains after the foam recedes. After the good neighbour around the clock provides care, it can be seen that these madmen simply are mad, with no real excuse.

The Joker knew he had to hide for a while. On one hand, if Spiderman sees more darkness in Gotham on him and corrects them all, then this damned city might really be saved.

On the other, he himself is simply not interested in this kind of individual who only has a white side to his personality. He craves the endless contradictions and struggles.

The Joker thought he could squat in a factory outside of the city, with Spiderman unlikely to find him anytime soon. Once the stimulant-like effect of the Dark Source Elixir wore off, this crazy bird should go back and rest too.

But he never expected, one crazy bird left, a flock of crazy birds came.

One day, the Joker, wrapped in his coat, was sound asleep in the corner of the second floor of the abandoned factory when suddenly he heard a commotion from downstairs, mixed with several familiar but slightly immature voices, one particularly grating.

"Hurry, hurry, carry everything in... and this, this is a heavy machine gun, come and help unload the goods, we have to stack the things within two hours, then we have to go back to the city, the next house is still waiting for us."

"Jason! Jason! Stop staring and do something, the rocket launcher tube almost fell off and you didn't know to help... Dick! No, not you, I called the big one, come quickly, let's first carry up these two packs of waterproof cloth that came with it..."

When the just awakened Joker walked to the window on the second floor in a daze, he had only one thought - I'm screwed! He saw Robin of the Batman Family dealing with armaments downstairs!

He snapped awake.

The location of the abandoned factory the Joker had chosen was good, situated downstream of the Gotham River, quite close to the river mouth, at an equal distance from Gotham River and Gotham Harbour Dock. There was no forest or bush around, just flat grassland, ideal for parking large vehicles. The location also offered a broad view, making it a perfect defense outpost.

However, precisely because of this, he was not the only one eyeing this area. The two sets of Robins, who had been busy rejuvenating Gotham after their return, were also keeping a close watch.

As mentioned earlier, the young men's understanding was rather superficial. After visiting the Shiller universe and seeing Gotham there, they found a stark difference in their world - their Gotham had no mob.

In their previous understanding, a mob was synonymous with evil, practically the embodiment of violence and bloodshed—an essentially hard-hitting word.

But after spending some time in the Shiller universe, their understanding of the mob had become more comprehensive. The traditional mob model was even considered quite advanced due to Gotham's underdevelopment.

Thoughts, systems, and current regional conditions must be considered together. A doctrine may be suitable for a certain region but may seem too radical or conservative in another. An apt strategy is fundamental to any struggle.

The most significant insight that Batman's birds gained from being in Gotham in the Shiller universe was that neither the powerful mayor system of Metropolis nor the democratic system closely following the State Council of Central City is suitable for Gotham.

In Gotham, one can hardly make a move without violence.

In many systems that rely on violent authority, the feudal imperial system depends too much on the individual qualities of the Emperor and is too different from the current system to be implemented. Most importantly, Batman certainly doesn't want to become an Emperor.

Therefore, under the same feudal conditions, the kingdom's noble republic system is a compromise in current conditions and an acceptable system. This is the system that governs Gotham in the Twelve Families of the Underworld in the Shiller universe.

The Twelve Families, led by the Falcone family, or the Royal Family, is actually a product of the traditional noble republic system. All their economic benefits and capital come from the city, they own the city. Naturally, they care more about the construction of Gotham than the maniacs who only know how to destroy.

As the saying goes, during a period of rapid economic development, all contradictions can be reconciled. To reconcile Gotham's irreconcilable darkness, they must first form a frame, then start the engine, and drive the car at high speed until it reaches the highest speed of the era and shake off the darkness that is deeply rooted in the bones and flesh.

But to reform Gotham, throw the car into reverse and return to the mob era, they must have a large enough fist.

Of course, each member of the Batman Family is highly skilled, enough to be superheroes. But if they want to rule Gotham, they lack some scope of damage. To compensate for this damage, they naturally need powerful weapons.

The Robins of the Prime Universe are actually a bit of a headache. Jason once considered stealing weapons from the Batcave, while Dick thought they should buy, but he didn't know where to buy from. In the end, the Jason from the Shiller universe came up with a remarkable plan.

They had to buy, and at a low price, they had to buy the best and most weapons at a low price. There was only one way for that—capitalize on the troubles of the Soviet Union.

As we all know, the disintegration of the Soviet Union left many legacies, and the largest number among them was arms, and the Russian oligarchs who inherited these properties were not stingy.

Russia, which is eager to join the Western economic system, wanted to show no threat at all. This led to the Russian oligarchs selling a lot of goods in the few years following the disintegration of the Soviet Union. They sold many weapons manufactured by Soviet arms factories.

Furthermore, they dared to sell what ordinary arms dealers didn't dare to sell. Be it heavy machine guns or rocket launchers, as long as the price is right, even missiles, tanks, and armament production lines could be covered.

Batman has always been generous in providing the Batman Family with operating funds. Most of the time, the Batman Family doesn't spend much money, because the production line in the Batcave can produce whatever equipment they needed, and undoubtedly Batman's warehouse will contain raw materials.

This leads to them basically having a large sum of savings. When everyone checked their balance, they found out they could not just buy ordinary heavy arms, but even bigger stuff.

And if they lower their moral line a little and use some deceptive and aggressive methods, they could even get super big things beyond imagination.

Therefore, the Joker, who was lying on the 2nd storey window frame, looked at the missile launcher revealed when the tarp was removed and the missile warhead on the trailer behind it that clearly was not ordinary, and was completely stunned.

"I'm guilty! I admit my guilt! Let Batman throw me into the insane asylum quickly, now!"

Behind the bars of the interrogation room of Gotham Police Department, the handcuffed Joker shouted maniacally while shaking the railings, "I want to see Batman, I want to see Batman now! Get him here quick!"

"Get Batman here quickly, or it'll be too late!"