Chapter 1178 Hand Over Hand

Once, a man in a long purple suit told a joke to a person dressed as a bat.

The joke went like this—

Once upon a time, in a mental hospital, there were two people.

One night, they decided to escape the mental hospital together.

They climbed onto the roof, and the city's scenery stretched out under the moonlight. The road ahead led to a world of freedom.

But in front of them, there was a narrow gap between two buildings.

The first person jumped over easily, but his friend was afraid to jump because he was afraid of falling.

So the first person came up with an idea. He said to his friend, "Hey! I have a flashlight. I'll turn it on and shine the light between the two buildings, and you can walk across it."

But the second person shook his head. He said, "What? Do you think I'm crazy?"

"You'll definitely turn off the flashlight when I'm halfway across!"

…………

Under the hazy moonlight, the Batmobile sped down the street.

Wayne in the car... we still have to call him that for now... looked solemn.

His destination was undoubtedly that carnival that had been abandoned for many years.

For someone with the same reasoning ability as the real Bruce Wayne... solving Feng Bujue's riddle wasn't too difficult.

The "flashlight" that Brother Jue left for him was like a key, and the lock corresponding to this key... Feng Bujue had left it in Arkham Asylum this afternoon.

"Water... in a place with water... huge wheels, wooden boards, weeds, and... a pink elephant..."

This passage was what Feng Bujue said when he was talking to Dr. Quinzel. Without a doubt... it had been recorded word for word by the recording pen.

At first glance, it sounded like the ravings of a madman, but in reality, Feng Bujue was using fragmented information related to visual graphics to point to a specific location; this location... or rather... "this picture," he had seen in a comic book, and that comic book was one of the most famous and classic stories in the Batman series—*The Killing Joke*.

A considerable part of the story, including its final climax... took place in that abandoned carnival.

Anyone who knew a thing or two about Batman comics would have an impression of that place; needless to say... Wayne, who had "the ability to preemptively stop many villains from turning to the dark side," certainly knew where the carnival was.

Of course, there were thousands of Batman stories, and relying on such a seemingly nonsensical description would probably be too obscure; therefore, Feng Bujue used another thing related to *The Killing Joke*—the flashlight—to show Wayne the way.

When they met for the second time on the top floor of the Twin Towers, Feng Bujue and Wayne obviously both knew that the other was also a "traveler from another world," which was not difficult to see from their meaningful conversation. The difference was that Wayne had figured this out in the submarine, while Brother Jue had understood it earlier... so Feng Bujue had prepared the flashlight in advance and said "I'll be waiting for you 'there'" when he threw it.

At this point, Brother Jue's layout was complete.

And Wayne... after returning to the Batcave, he immediately took the flashlight to the instrument for a comprehensive analysis, and at the same time retrieved the video and audio data from Arkham, quickly browsing through it.

About forty minutes later, he heard the passage left by Brother Jue, and combined with the clue of the flashlight, it didn't take him long to deduce where "there" was.

…………

Woo—

On the highway in the suburbs, the sound of the engine tore through the night sky.

The Wayne in this universe was not driving the "realistic" armored Batmobile from Nolan's films, but the "super" Batmobile in Tim Burton's style; the streamlined, slender body, the dark, reflective shell, the exaggerated turbo intake... all integrated under the unified design style of Gothic, this was the classic Bat-equipment should look like.

Click—buzz—

Just as the Batmobile was about to drive to the entrance of the carnival, suddenly, in a burst of large equipment powering up, dozens of beams of strong lights lit up in the night, focusing on the center of the road.

At this moment, a person was standing in the middle of the road, a man in a long purple suit.

Through the display screen in the car, Wayne could clearly see the other person's appearance without being affected by the light—"Jack" looked no different from before, the only subtle difference was that his hands were now gloved.

Wayne didn't know what this meant, and he didn't care about such details.

Within two seconds, he made a decision, stepped on the accelerator to the bottom, and rushed straight towards the other person.

"Heh..." Facing the speeding Batmobile, a smile appeared on Feng Bujue's face. "Well done..." He opened his arms and shouted loudly forward, "Come on!"

The roar of the engine was approaching, with no sign of slowing down.

"Come on! Hit me!" Feng Bujue was still standing in the middle of the road, in the center of those lights, with no intention of retreating.

"Madman..." Looking at Brother Jue's actions, Wayne in the car couldn't help but muttered to himself, giving such an evaluation.

Bang!

Two seconds later, the collision happened.

Wayne did deduce that Feng Bujue had superpowers, but he didn't think that the other party's ability had become so strong that he could withstand this impact.

A Batmobile weighing more than two tons, hitting a target at a speed of more than two hundred kilometers per hour, would generate about 3.09 million joules of kinetic energy... enough to evaporate a human like Feng Bujue, who weighed about one hundred pounds, with this energy.

However, the scene when the collision occurred was...

Just as the front of the Batmobile was about to hit him, Brother Jue raised his foot and stepped down, "stopping" the entire car.

At that moment, with Brother Jue's foot as the center, the surrounding ground instantly shattered, forming a large, sunken pit; the Batmobile, which was intercepted, also began to change under the influence of inertia, the entire car wrinkled like a squeezed soda can...

However, the material of this Batmobile was indeed amazing, its hardness and toughness far exceeded the limits of what current human technology could achieve. Under such an impact, this "one-piece" body still did not completely disintegrate, but was only "compressed and deformed" to a certain extent.

Clang—

Immediately afterwards, the movable canopy on the upper rear of the Batmobile (the 1989 version of the Batmobile entered and exited by moving this canopy, which was integrated with the windshield) was ejected; it was not ejected by some kind of "ejection device," but was punched out by someone inside the car...

"Ho~" Feng Bujue looked at the unscathed man who slowly stood up from the almost flattened car, and said in a lazy tone, "As expected, you're not dead yet?"

"These words..." Wayne stepped on the body of the car and walked out of the car, looked down at Brother Jue in front of him, and said in his voice like late-stage throat cancer, "...should be said by me."

Feng Bujue would naturally not die, he had already made a deal with Doctor Manhattan; relying on the Doctor's particle manipulation, decomposition and reorganization, ignoring causality, and other abilities, combined with the *Kongtong Seal* he brought, and the energy stored in the *Tiangang Di Sha Box* until now... Brother Jue had regained his lost equipment and skills, and... he had become stronger.

Wayne would not die either. Although he also endured the same impact as Feng Bujue outside the car, he was well prepared tonight, and this level of damage was nothing at all.

"That set on you... is very similar to the 'Hellbat (Hellbat Armor, appeared in the New 52 era of DC, designed by Bruce Wayne, and jointly manufactured by other members of the Justice League)'." Although Wayne didn't answer Brother Jue's question, Brother Jue continued, "But you and I both know... that the Justice League in this universe doesn't have Superman or Green Lantern, which means... the two most critical parts of this armor—the shell and the cloak (extremely strong, and can be arbitrarily changed in shape according to the user's will, and even separated, just like Green Lantern constructs)... cannot be completed." He paused, "Even if you can use some kind of substitute to solve the material problem, you still can't explain how you survived that amazing 'car accident' just now."

"Hmph... so there are things you can't think of." Wayne snorted coldly and punched.

His fist was so powerful that when Feng Bujue caught his heavy blow with one hand, the surrounding air was shaken with a bang.

"Actually, I thought of it, I'm just complaining." Brother Jue looked at Wayne, who was dumbfounded, with a smile and replied, "You got the formula for miraclo (a special biochemical phosphorus that allows the user to gain multiple abilities including super strength, endurance, speed, resistance to blows, night vision, and underwater survival for one hour), right?"

"You..." Wayne turned his head to look at the fist that was firmly grasped by the other party, not knowing what to say.

Before coming here, Wayne had indeed injected himself with miraclo, and he was wearing his "improved" Hellbat Armor... logically speaking, this punch of his could very well kill the other party.

However, Feng Bujue looked like he was catching the punch very easily.

"I bet your expression must be wonderful now..." Brother Jue said, and extended his other hand with lightning speed, grabbing the other party's helmet and tearing off a large part of it with brute force, "...you might as well share it with me."

After a part of the helmet was broken, the other smaller half quickly fell off Wayne's face, and then, a face of shock mixed with anger appeared in front of Brother Jue.

"Even if you have the same IQ as Bruce Wayne, your 'wisdom' is still just mediocre." Feng Bujue shook his hand, shaking off the helmet fragments in his fingers, "Like most 'transmigrators', even if you gain great power, you still can't jump out of the pattern limited by your inherent three views and personality."

His tone gradually became cold, a kind of coldness similar to "disappointment," as if a child had lost interest in the toy in his hand... It was chilling to hear it at this moment.

"Why did you make the 'Hellbat Armor'? Why couldn't you start from scratch and design it yourself? The resources and information you have are far more than the real Wayne, aren't they?" Feng Bujue asked, "If you used the technology of 'mass-producing Inerton alloy' at the weapon level, whether it was made into an armored coating or made into a separate piece of armor with it as the core... it would be more useful than the castrated version of the Hellbat you're wearing now."

"Ah—" Wayne was completely enraged by Brother Jue's "lecture." He roared and activated the secret weapon in his right wrist armor.

In an instant, a silent impact erupted, shattering Wayne's entire right arm armor, and relatively... it also caused damage to Feng Bujue, who was holding his right fist.

After the explosion, Brother Jue's left hand... the part in front of the elbow disappeared as if vaporized; if he hadn't let go in time and retreated, this damage would have extended to his shoulder.

"Hmm... this is the 'original' part of you?" While speaking, Feng Bujue took out the *Qi Xu Ru Lin* Orb from his bag without thinking, and activated its ability to repair his severed limb, "This kind of 'atomic blasting' that harms the enemy a thousand and injures oneself eight hundred... can't be called brilliant."

"What do you know?" Wayne shouted, "What qualifications do you have to judge me?" He roared as he walked down from the wrecked Batmobile, "Everything I do is the 'right thing'! The 'just thing'! Do you know how much effort I've put in and how much I've worked hard to create and maintain the situation today?"

"I know." Feng Bujue said, "I've already had Doctor Manhattan use telepathy to convey to me your general experiences here." He paused for half a second and added, "Precisely because I know, I despise you even more."

"What did you say?" Wayne's expression showed that he found it unbelievable.

"Your 'justice' is false, it's double standard." Feng Bujue continued, "The real Bruce Wayne would never take the same path as you... even if he had the same information as you."

"Are you referring to his principle of 'not killing'?" Wayne said, "You and I both know how stupid that principle is!"

"Yes, it's very stupid." Feng Bujue said, "But this 'stupidity' is precisely a dividing line in his heart... it is this line that separates the justice he implements from your 'despicable,' 'selfish,' and 'hypocritical' justice..."

"Nonsense!" Wayne roared again, flashed to Brother Jue's side and punched him again.

Feng Bujue didn't even look at his opponent. After a side step and backflip, he easily dodged this attack. Before he could stand still, he continued, "In order to nip those villains who might become 'threats' in the bud in the future, you started your activities long before you became 'Batman'... and the first thing you did was to design the killing of those who bullied Scarecrow back then."

"Those guys were a bunch of bastards anyway!" Wayne argued, but his attacks didn't stop.

"Heh... it sounds like you're quite empathetic. I can imagine... your days weren't easy before you transmigrated." Feng Bujue's ability to see through people's hearts was indeed powerful. His words undoubtedly hit the pain point of this fake Wayne.

"What right do you have to accuse me when you've slashed and injured so many innocent police officers?" Wayne asked back, launching another round of onslaught.

But Brother Jue became more and more relaxed as he dodged: "You saved Mr. Freeze's wife because you sympathized with him; you prevented Two-Face from being disfigured because you appreciated him; you even led Penguin to the right path because you felt that he had valuable use as a good person...

"But for the equally tragic Killer Croc, you took a different approach...

"You found Killer Croc when he was a teenager, claimed to protect him, and arranged a hiding place suitable for his survival.

"At first, he was very 'obedient' because Killer Croc was also very afraid of his physical changes when he was young; but as time went on, he gradually couldn't stand that kind of life.

"At this time, you became murderous... because you knew that even if you could temporarily make him good after he returned to society, this malicious world would eventually force out his animality.

"So... one day, you sent him a 'specially made bed'. After he lay on it without any suspicion of you, you locked him with shackles, and then, you sealed the entrance to his residence, letting him fend for himself inside... as if you wouldn't have to be responsible for his death."

"What do you know? Do you know my pain at the time?" Wayne roared, "I really did treat Waylon (Killer Croc's real name is Waylon Jones) as a friend! Do you think I felt good putting him in there!"

"Yes, you felt bad for a little while, and then continued to live your good life." Listening to Wayne's excited tone, the disdain in Brother Jue's words became even more obvious, "After taking care of Killer Croc, you calculated that the time was about right, so you killed the botanist Jason Wood and prevented Poison Ivy's birth... Of course, according to your standards, school bullies deserve to die, not to mention someone like Wood.

"Then, you turned Riddler into a moron because his turning to the dark side was also without any reason and difficult to stop; his intelligence would pose a huge threat to you...

"As for guys like Zsasz, it's enough to throw him into a high-security prison. Maybe time will make him change his ways, right? Heh... Even if he really doesn't change, he's not a difficult character to deal with after he comes out. You just need to catch him again... and let him be locked up for another ten years or so, and that's it."

Hearing this, Wayne no longer argued, but asked, "So what? I nipped in the bud those hidden dangers that would bring countless deaths and disasters, and I've already reduced the sacrifices to the minimum. Compared to that 'so-called hero who condones villains doing evil everywhere and never kills', I've saved more people!"

"That's where your problem lies..." Feng Bujue continued, "No matter how high-sounding your words are, in the end, it's always other people who make the 'sacrifices'."

These words shocked Wayne's heart, and his expression changed subtly.

"Look, you didn't even realize this until I reminded you, did you? This is the typical 'transmigrator' mindset." Feng Bujue said, "A person who adheres to extreme egoism under double standards sees everything he does as justice.

"Your own pain... such as losing a so-called 'friend' or something... is infinitely amplified by you, as if it's so great that it's moving to tears; while other people's pain... such as becoming a moron or dying... is all 'reasonable' in your eyes.

"Your so-called 'justice' is just acting on the premise that you find it 'convenient'; for things that are easy to deal with, you will use an orderly way to deal with them, and for people or things that are difficult to deal with... things that will create 'trouble' for you, you will use a 'transgressive' way to solve them once and for all, and then attribute them to 'reasonable sacrifices that outweigh the disadvantages'.

"In the end, your personal interests outweigh justice itself, and your personal will outweighs all other systems.

"No matter how many reasons you find to convince yourself, no matter how many things you do that you think are right, compared to the real Bruce Wayne... you are worthless.

"Because he's a person who's crueler to himself than to others, a madman, an incurable fool!

"He is... the fucking... Batman!"

As he spoke, Feng Bujue's tone gradually increased.

At the same time, the fake Wayne stopped attacking and belatedly realized one thing—at this moment, the power on his body was being "extracted" little by little by some strange force.

He... was gradually becoming a mortal.

"Putting aside the identity of Batman, how is your private life as 'Bruce Wayne'?" Feng Bujue's words were far from over, "Why did you marry Harleen Quinzel and let her use the name Harley Quinn after marriage? In the end... it's just because of your personal preferences. Compared to Catwoman, a 'whore from the East End (in the setting of Batman: Year One, Catwoman is a prostitute from the bottom of Gotham)', Quinzel, a psychology professor with a clean background and higher education, is naturally more suitable as a wife... of course, provided that she doesn't become a brainless fan of some madman."

Brother Jue spread his hands and smiled, "Speaking of which... that madman, with your help, is now a middle-class comedian who lives a decent life, right? His children seem to be almost in high school?" Brother Jue had learned all this information very clearly from Doctor Manhattan, "And Clayface is still working as his B-movie star; Ventriloquist is living a comfortable retired life... As for those Robins, Batgirls, and Alfred... they have all been arranged by you to stay away from Bruce Wayne and Batman, and live ordinary lives."

Feng Bujue curled his lips and sighed, "Alas... the basic pursuits of the transmigrators have been roughly achieved by you—absolute safety, high privacy and freedom, abundant material enjoyment, the woman you like... plus a few weak or idiot opponents to satisfy your sense of accomplishment as a 'hero'... isn't it a good life?"

At this point, he changed the subject, "Then here comes the question... what the fuck does this have to do with 'justice'?

"Do you think you're more correct than that 'so-called hero who condones villains doing evil everywhere and never kills'?

"Then you're wrong...

"You, and him; the fake Wayne, and the real Batman... your justices have an essential difference.

"This difference has nothing to do with the 'result'. No matter how many people you 'save', it can't change or explain anything.

"This difference concerns the most basic starting point of what you do, and concerns the true meaning and spirit of the word 'hero'.

"This difference is... the actions you take under the banner of justice are, in the final analysis, for yourself; while Bruce Wayne... the real Batman, his justice, although not entirely... but at least most of it, is for others."

When Brother Jue finished these words, the power on the fake Wayne's body had dissipated almost entirely.

"What... what exactly do you want?" At this time, the fake Wayne's tone changed, and fear was revealed in his eyes—because he had faintly sensed Brother Jue's intention.

"Hmph... hehehe..." Hearing this, Brother Jue showed an evil smile. He didn't answer the other party's question, but tilted his head and spread his arms, "Doesn't my appearance remind you of someone...?"

"No... no!" In panic, the fake Wayne finally revealed his true nature. He turned around... trying to escape.

At this moment, he was no longer Gotham's Dark Knight, but an ordinary transmigrator; even if he possessed a powerful physique and extremely high intelligence, even if he had a complete set of Bat-equipment and many DC universe black technologies... he couldn't bear the title of "Batman."

Clang—

After only running a few steps, the fake Wayne fell to the ground. The reason was very simple... The "power" had been extracted, and he didn't even have the ability to move normally while wearing this "pseudo-Hellbat Armor."

"Don't worry, taking back your power... is just the beginning..." Feng Bujue looked at the fake Wayne, who was on the verge of collapse, on the ground, approached step by step, and grinned with a crazy expression, "In the next few years, Jon (Doctor Manhattan's real name) will slowly correct your influence on this world... Your wife, 'Harley Quinn', will go crazy because of your 'disappearance'; Scarecrow's suppressed dark side will eventually awaken; Two-Face will be disfigured in another violent incident; Mr. Freeze's wife will have another illness, and this time there will be no cure; relatively... Riddler's illness will heal without a cure..."

"No... no... no!" The fake Wayne's pupils contracted, his face turned pale, and he couldn't even move while lying on the ground, and could only make a desperate cry.

But Brother Jue's words wouldn't stop because of this: "Somewhere in this world, another unfortunate person will get a similar atavistic disease as Killer Croc, and another unscrupulous botanist will develop a toxin that mutates Poison Ivy; a Kryptonian and the Green Lantern Corps and other alien forces will also come to Earth in some form one after another, these are all just a matter of time... There's nothing that can't be corrected and reshaped.

"Of course, a new 'Batman' will inevitably descend here. He may come from the future, or the past, or he may be someone who died and was resurrected in some events... The important thing is that he will be the genuine 'Bruce Wayne'."

Feng Bujue paused and said again, "In short, this place no longer needs you, the 'fake Wayne'... everything you've done is meaningless..."

Just as Brother Jue finished saying this, new changes occurred on the fake Wayne's body on the ground.

"Uh... uh ah—" In a wail, his pale face turned into a veritable "white"... as white as bleach, and his strong, muscular body rapidly thinned down.

Feng Bujue knew that these changes... were caused by the influence of "miraclo" and the "Hellbat Armor."

The variant of miraclo, "Mirakuru serum (that is, the serum used by villains such as Deathstroke and Red Arrow)," has the side effect of making people irritable and even twisting their personalities; and the power of the Hellbat Armor itself is "the user's life." People who wear it for a long time will have their bodies corroded.

Now, because the power was taken back by Doctor Manhattan, under these dual side effects, the fake Wayne's suddenly weakened body and spirit were both overwhelmed.

Crack—crack—

Brother Jue didn't stand by and watch either. He strode to the other party, tore off a few pieces of armor from the other party with his bare hands, and then lifted the fake Wayne out of the armor and threw him on the open space next to him.

"Don't be afraid... I won't kill you." Then, Feng Bujue rode on the other party's body. Now he only needed to use his weight to suppress this fake Wayne, "I only have... a simple, small request." He took out a small knife from his pocket, shook it a few times in front of the fake Wayne's terrified face, and continued in a crazy tone, "Before... heh... you asked me my name, but I didn't answer you, because I think... you actually know the answer..."

At this moment, the fake Wayne's spirit and body were on the verge of collapse, and the last straw supporting his rationality was only the instinctive will to survive.

"Come on... say my name." Feng Bujue's knife was already on the other party's face.

"J... joker..." The fake Wayne trembled and squeezed out the word.

"Hehe... hahaha... hahahaha..." When this word was uttered, Feng Bujue laughed almost maniacally at the sky.

[Current mission completed, all main missions completed]

[You have completed this script and will be automatically teleported in 180 seconds]

The expected system prompt came, but Brother Jue's work was not finished yet—his hidden mission was only one step away from completion.

After laughing for a full minute, Brother Jue lowered his head again and looked at the fake Wayne and said, "Don't look so sad, come... smile a little too."

After saying that, the small knife in his hand extended into the fake Wayne's mouth...

He slowly left two cuts on both sides of the other party's corners of the mouth, or rather... left a permanent "smile" on the other party's face.

In the first few seconds of this process, the fake Wayne screamed in pain, but his screams didn't last long and stopped... because his spirit, his mind, at that moment... finally, completely collapsed.

When the small knife left the fake Wayne's pale face, he was already smiling from the bottom of his heart.