"Zi-la--"

The sound of electricity sounded in the Batcave, and in an instant the huge curved screen lit up, but Batman's hand did not press the switch.

The cool screen light reflected on the pitch-black cape, illuminating the bat's wings in a dark blue, but soon, more bright colors appeared, firefly-like green, blood-like red, circulating on Batman's armor in turn, and light and color danced on the pitch-black cape.

Batman looked back and saw a familiar face, green hair combed back of his head, blood-red lips grinning wide, eyes staring at the screen, full of unspeakable madness and cruelty.

"Clown ......"

Batman pronounced his name softly, as if he had pronounced his lover's name ten thousand times, and heavy emotions flowed down the epilogue.

The huge curved screen was filled with this crazy face, and what was even more daunting was that the skin on the face was as if it had just been attached to the muscles, and the folds and muscles of the smile were completely different, like a painted skin.

In front of the screen, Batman saw that there was an obvious scar on the Joker's neck, and the skin seemed to have been peeled off by someone, but it was glued back again.

"Long time no see, Batman, I know you've got a new love in my absence!" The clown's lips were lifted and his teeth were bared, and he said, "I've just lost the skin on my face, and you've just lost your love, completely forgetting our past passions!" ”

"You damned sinner, traitor!" The Joker's tone suddenly raised, but in an instant it slowed down again: "Oh shit, what am I talking about?" How can I say that about the great Bat Master? ”

"Batman will never betray my ......" the Joker muttered like a dream, "Of course, of course, we all know this, outsiders can't interfere in our business, it's our family business, just like you and the birds......"

"Like the scream he made when I broke the bird's wings! Hahahahaha! …… Sorry, I'm talking nonsense again, I just broke his wings! I shattered all the bones of his body! He's screaming, crawling, trying to escape, counting on you to save him...... But he's dead! He's dead!!! ”

"In case you forget this, I can only repeat his name one more time - Jason Todd! Robin in the past, Robin now, is he still your Robin now? Of course! ”

"He forgave you so mercifully and returned to you, but alas, he will never forget it, hahahahahaha!"

Before the crazy laughter could slip out of the clown's mouth, he stopped again as if he had been choked by the neck, and suddenly, he put his whole face in front of the screen, stared at the person on the other side of the screen viciously, and said:

"Answer me, Batman! You won't betray me! …… I heard your answer, and therefore, it's all his fault! It's all his fault! It's all Schiller Rodriguez's fault! He seduced you, he damn devil!! ”

The crazy expression on the Joker's face slowly disappeared, and suddenly, he became calm, his eyes were full of philosophy, he was a little further away from the camera, only a little, but it allowed Batman to see a pale face through the gap in the upper right corner of the screen.

That's Schiller.

"Isn't that interesting, you say?"

The clown's voice rang out again, and there was thought in his tone, like a scholar, as if he was empathizing with someone, trying to figure out what someone was trying to do.

"When I caught this damn impostor, he wasn't even afraid of me, and didn't even feel guilty about seducing you...... Do you know what he said? ”

Batman stood in front of the screen and quietly watched the Joker's performance, which he had seen more than once, but each time it became more and more painful.

This time, however, the tragic situation was beyond his imagination, as the Joker leaned forward and leaned back, revealing the other half of the screen.

Schiller sat in a chair, his arms fixed to the armrests of the chair, covered in blood, because at least a dozen steel nails had been driven into his body, penetrating not only the internal organs, but also the bones.

In an instant, Batman's fists clenched, but soon, the Joker's voice sounded again: "Do you think I'm evil?" Batman, you're always like that, speculating on others with the greatest malice. ”

"Ahh This time. I didn't hurt anyone! The clown suddenly laughed, put a finger to his mouth, and whispered, "...... It was of his own free will! ”

"When I knocked him to the ground and gave him a blow on his back, he lay on the ground and said to me that I could kidnap him, but there was one condition......"

"When I used him to perform the execution for you, he had something to say to you, but out of the principle of fair trade, a steel nail, in another sentence."

Batman's fingertips fluttered regularly, and the Joker's shrill laughter echoed in his ears, and after a few seconds of laughter, the Joker breathlessly said, "Listen to this word, fair trade!" Sounds like a word that Batman would say! ”

"What, you say I'm not going to keep my promise? You say Schiller was deceived by me? The clown suddenly stretched out a hand behind his ear, facing the screen, acting in a one-man show of conversation between the two.

"No, no, no, you're mistaking me, Batman! I'll let him speak, of course I will! But he didn't have the strength to speak because of the pain and blood loss. Can't blame me......"

Smiling, the Joker stepped away from the camera, walked behind Schiller, grabbed Schiller's neck with his pale, ghost-clawed hands, and let him go.

Suddenly, he pulled out a claw hammer from behind his chair, and Batman's pupils shrank, but the Joker took the claw hammer in his hand and said, "I didn't think of this good thing when I smashed the bones of that little bird's body, but good things always come in handy, right, Batman?" ”

With that, in the midst of the clown's sharp and cruel laughter, the hammer fell heavily on Schiller's shoulder.

Batman's expected scream in his ears didn't appear, and he instinctively raised his eyes to see Schiller's eyes.

In an instant, he understood that Schiller had now blocked all sensory perception and had fallen into extreme sanity, just as they had tested each other before.

Condense all extreme emotions into something higher, looking down on yourself and on others.

"Listen, Batman, I only have 15 words to say because I'm more committed than this madman."

"A steel nail for a word, I won't say more."

"That is, if you don't understand, I won't repeat it a second time."

Schiller's speech was rapid, almost like a incantation, and the hammer fell heavily on him, but it didn't make his tone fluctuate in the slightest.

"It is often said that the heart is connected, and it is not completely impossible to achieve, but the premise is that two people must be similar enough."

"When thoughts resonate, the spiritual world can be connected."

"We're one kind of people, and there's no one in the world more like us, like Schiller and Batman."

"When we face each other, it's like looking in a mirror."

"Batman is always lonely, and you don't need a partner on this path, but you have to understand me before you can save me."

"Close your eyes and read how similar we are."

"Search your spiritual world, find your way to another temple of your own mind."

Batman had already closed his eyes, because Schiller's seemingly calm but actually psychedelic undulating tone had already led him to see the lonely self.

"Down, down, down, down, see the darkness, see the light."

"Follow the light and keep moving forward......"

Schiller's speech was getting faster and faster, and the face of the clown behind him was getting more and more hideous, he knew that what he couldn't accept was happening, so he swung the hammer faster and faster, Schiller had seen death beckoning to him, but the weaker the mental fluctuations, the clearer the path.

"Find me, find me......"

"Find yourself, find yourself......"

"Find the ...... you've been longing for for a long time Wish. ”

In an instant, an endless stream of white light overwhelmed Batman, and after the light dissipated, a huge tower descended abruptly in the thick fog.

Following his inner voice, Batman soared into the air, melted into the fog, and landed at the top of the tower like a deft bat.

And such an accident had already caused the guests in the theater to rush out of the room, and Bruce, who had just rushed to the vicinity of the patio railing, turned back as if he felt something.

In an instant, Bruce saw a pair of torch-like eyes in the thick fog.

When Batman's eyes that have gone through vicissitudes and see those slightly innocent blue eyes, countless fragments of memories took him into that dreamlike world.

Criminals on the right path one after another, Gotham gradually restoring order, the sun falling when the clouds clear, the city as clean and clear as diamonds, and the tears that fall from the eyes of all Gotham......

Countless fragments swept through his ears like the wind, until at last, a point of light lit up in the slowly floating starlight.

The hand writing on the blackboard stopped, and the teacher looked back, and the tired young man, like a baby in a cradle, was sleeping soundly.

In this moment, Batman understands Schiller and how he has pushed himself and Gotham in another universe onto another path, another path of light that is very different from the darkness.

By the time the dazzling sun shone on this bat, which was accustomed to darkness, Gotham's never-ending dark clouds, like his stubbornness, and the continuous rain, like his tears.

When Batman sees the hope of light coming, no one can stop it, and he wants to save and protect this hope.

In the next second, an endless black tide poured out from between the bat's wings, and the tremor of the two souls became stronger and stronger, and the rhythm became more and more consistent, like a symphony played by an ensemble to a climax.

The most primordial darkness in the universe instantly overwhelmed the tower.

Schiller, who was tied to a chair in reality, suddenly raised his head, and by this time, the clown's dagger had already cut his neck.

Suddenly, Schiller's expression changed completely, and the clown ran up to him like crazy and grabbed him by the neck with his extremely thin hands.

Schiller opened his mouth, but it wasn't his voice that came out.

"You can't kill me...... Because, I'm Batman. ”

The clown's eyes widened, and he grabbed Schiller's neck, swaying back and forth and screaming, "No! No! Batman!! How can you !!! ”

At this moment, the corners of his mouth that were lowered like Batman slowly raised, although his eyes were still serious, but obviously, another soul had returned.

When the expressions of the two souls are reflected on the same face, there is no more harmonious, solitary shadow in pairs.

"Joker, you've made too many people lose too much with their disorderly chaos and madness,...... Today, you will understand - the taste of loss! ”

Schiller's tone was still soft as a feather, his words elegant, and his tone was toneless, and he had nothing to do with madness.

But he suddenly raised his other hand with intact bones, and the same pale and emaciated hand grabbed the wrist of the clown's hand holding the dagger, and the powerful clamping force from it was more like a ghost hand dragging people into hell.

"Today, you're going to lose—" Schiller raised his tone and spat out the name like an aria: "...... Batman !! ”

"Whoa!"

The hand that held the wrist, with decisive force, slashed the artery in Schiller's neck, and blood flew high.

Blood like a red ribbon slowly fell on the clown's face, caressing his eyes, gentle as a mother's hand.

The bloodshot red eyeballs are full of fear and disbelief,

Looking at the fading vitality of the man in front of him, the madman who represented madness itself, the eternal nightmare of Gotham, the Joker, let out a scream of horror that he had never felt before:

Schiller!!! You madman!!!!!!!!!!! ”

Six cups of gin and tonic, I let the clown call the good guy

(End of chapter)