Chapter 2487: Cloak Contest (Six)

"First, we must clarify a few issues," Shiller began to analyze, "Is it true that you lack plant toxins?"

"Of course, when facing people like you, I only tell the truth, otherwise it would be impossible to fool you," Poison Ivy sighed and said, "That little bastard Peter Parker took too much, he added too much dosage, causing the mental state of Gothamites to deteriorate later, and in the end they still came to me for an antidote, giving away all my stock to him."

"This stuff can regenerate, but its source is my blood, so the regeneration rate depends on the rate at which my blood regenerates, and my blood regenerates at a normal human rate, not suddenly. The large quantity of neurotoxin I had was accumulated over a long period, not produced on the fly."

"This would reduce your combat effectiveness, right?"

"Of course, especially against humans. A vine sneakily piercing someone's ankle doesn't even take a second to immobilize them immediately; it's a stealthy weapon. Without it, I generally don't go out at night."

"So your decrease in combat ability must have affected your fight against the polluted plants, right?"

"Uh, this stuff doesn't work on plants..."

"But it would severely affect your mindset."

"Well, it's not that bad."

"There must be an impact, I'm a psychology professor, trust me."

"Hmm, okay, I guess there is a bit."

"Then Batman owes you an explanation."

"What explanation?"

"Because Peter Parker was brought in by him, he's Batman's Robin. If it wasn't for Peter Parker taking your neurotoxin, how could it have affected your subsequent battles with the polluted plants? If you weren't at a disadvantage, why would you be forced to defend yourself by attacking the Energy Core? If you weren't forced to defend yourself, how could the portal have been opened by an accident during a fight?"

"And," Shiller continued, "Batman is also to blame for what happened that night."

"How can you blame Batman for that?"

"The main cause of the accident that night was Arkham Knight. Whose Robin is Arkham Knight?"

"Obviously Batman's." After the incident, Poison Ivy had learned the whole story and gradually came to her senses, nodding and saying, "The Joker who troubled Batman and Arkham Knight was also killed by Batman."

"So what does all this have to do with you? Clearly, it was an accident caused by their own family, yet you ran around all night helping them put out fires, and in the end, Batman locked you up in prison, causing you to lose all your neurotoxins, most of your plants, and forcing you to hide here, with both your body and mind suffering great trauma."

"I suggest you sue him for all your losses as soon as Bruce Wayne comes back, demanding that he reimburse you, help you rebuild your house, and he must double Gotham's greenery, proposing a continuous greenery support plan, or else you can call the press and expose his series of crimes."

Poison Ivy listened, dumbfounded, then clearly a bit tempted, she pinched her fingers and said, "Can we really win? The other things are fine, but isn't doubling the greening of Gotham a bit too much? Nothing grows in this place."

"Of course, it's not too much. If he says no, then accuse him of anti-environmentalism. You can even tell the media that you don't want any compensation, only this, and if he dares to refuse, you lead environmentalists to sit in front of the White House, since security can't beat you anyway."

"But isn't that kind of... I mean, um... slightly despicable?"

"Do you want him to break your spine?"

"Certainly not, okay, I will go find Two-Face and have him write me a lawsuit," Poison Ivy stood up and said, "At the very least, he must clear the underground for me, so plants can continue to take root, otherwise forget about doubling greenery, the few trees that remain will all die off."

Shiller also stood up and said, "Now that you're no longer worried about this issue, we still need to consider the next plan."

"Why on earth do you want to find King Robin?" Poison Ivy showed a hint of disgust as she asked, "That guy looks like a real lunatic."

"He is. It seems like his brain is inherently dysfunctional, but the exact problem needs to be studied, and that's my aim."

"You want to heal him?"

"It doesn't look promising at the moment," Shiller gave his real assessment, "In another world I might obtain the necessary neuroscience information through high-civilization technology, but no race in this world has a brain that is completely identical to the human brain, so even if surgery were possible with the data, it's not guaranteed to cure completely, but I will aim for healing as much as possible."

"What if it doesn't work?"

"Then it also serves to accumulate material for future cures."

"It sounds like you're telling the truth," Poison Ivy shook her head, "but I don't think Batman would agree with you. He thinks this guy should be locked up in prison, and he probably wouldn't allow you to do any human experiments."

"That's why I hope he'll come to see me directly instead of always watching Batman," Shiller said. "In Batman's hands, there's no hope for his illness, but in my hands, maybe there's some hope."

Poison Ivy wavered a bit, it wasn't that she felt sympathy for King Robin, but they knew their own family affairs, if Batman caught King Robin where would he be locked up if not Arkham? The thought of living in the same hospital as this spoiled brat gave Poison Ivy a headache; these people were fundamentalist lunatics, suddenly bringing in someone from a different extreme was too much for anyone. She didn't even want to imagine what would happen if this lunatic met the Joker; then there would be no peace at all.

Poison Ivy decided to help Batman, figuring it was best to let this mysterious professor take away the big trouble. Whether he could cure it or not, at least it wouldn't bother them in the future.

Poison Ivy was a bit different from those merry mad people; as long as it didn't involve plants, she was a normal person, and she had a rather quiet and reclusive personality. She preferred to be alone, and except for Harley Quinn, she couldn't stand noise.

"Alright, I'll help you. Although I don't have any plant toxins left, I know there must be some liquid left in a storage tank of the weather controller in Wayne Tower that hasn't been fully used up. I think we can go have a look."

"You're saying Batman is there too?"

"I'm afraid so. I didn't know you were coming. The Batman of our universe has set up numerous security mechanisms in his Wayne Tower, and even other Batmen would have a hard time dealing with them. I just wanted to hold him off, that's all."

"Then we need to make him give up on that target. Let's go make some noise."

"No, I can't leave this house right now," Poison Ivy said with some difficulty, pointing out the window. Shiller walked over to look, and everything outside was sunny and peaceful, the only problem being the sunflowers in a garden without sunlight, all eerily turning their heads in this direction.

It wasn't just the sunflowers; it seemed like the trees, shrubs, grass on the lawn, and wildflowers by the road had all turned this way too. They were all staring over here as if they had souls.

Shiller moved his umbrella forward and turned it, handing the handle to Poison Ivy and saying, "You'll be fine under the umbrella."

"Are you serious?"

"I care more about whether the plan succeeds than you do. Let's go."

Poison Ivy, holding the umbrella with some hesitation, finally walked out of the front door and down the stairs. Just as she was about to step out of the front door, all the plants abruptly grew taller and surged crazily toward her.

Their shattered bodies were connected by a terrifying energy of black and crimson. For a moment, it was as if it was the end of the world, with their wildly writhing shapes everywhere—in the sky, on the ground, and on the walls.

Poison Ivy opened the umbrella as fast as she could, and the plants that were about to pierce her body suddenly stopped. She saw a more intense force spread along the handle of the umbrella, covering the entire space underneath, preventing all the crazy plants from getting any closer.

"What is this?" Poison Ivy asked.

"Do you know Constantine?"

"I've heard of him, not interested."

"This is his brother's. Of course, if you're asking about the fabric of the umbrella, that's Yggdrasil leather. Oh, and if you want to attack, there's a Freeze Gun on the underside. If you can use a cold weapon, push the button on top and a knife will spring from the tip."

"Why would you turn your umbrella into this?"

"Because someone always wants to mess up my umbrella," Shiller said with a shake of his head. "To protect the umbrella, and to protect myself, I had no choice."

Poison Ivy felt something odd about this, but she didn't detect anything unusual. After all, it was always raining in Gotham, so how could one manage without an umbrella? If someone was always damaging it, it indeed would be quite annoying.

"Alright, let's go," Poison Ivy said, and after finding that those things couldn't get close to her, she walked briskly toward the car parked at the doorstep.

"Where to next?" she asked as they got into the car, with the partially open umbrella blocking the doorway.

"Where's the biggest chemical factory nearby?" asked Shiller.

"The biggest one is the ACE Chemical Factory, but it's quite far from here. What do you need there?"

"Some explosives."

"You're not planning to blow up Wayne Tower, are you?"

"Of course not. Ordinary bombs can't take down something built by Batman. I need to create an explosion to draw Batman's attention."

"But with the current crisis, Batman shouldn't be concerned with ordinary explosions, right?"

"Because this is no ordinary explosion," Shiller replied.

Half an hour later, Batman had bypassed the final identity verification protection system of Wayne Tower and quickly ascended to the top floor. Using his current virtual identity, he could restart the protective system against the underground from there.

As Batman was searching for the protective module, he suddenly heard a loud boom that made the floor shake.

Batman rushed out of the room to the floor-to-ceiling windows of Wayne Tower top floor, and from a distance, he saw a mushroom cloud rising—smoke spreading out to form a familiar smiley face.

"Joker..." Batman murmured.

And standing on the steps of the chemical factory, Poison Ivy looked at Shiller in shock, her face clearly asking, "Why are you so skilled at this?!"