Opened a martial arts school, and his eldest disciple Batman

Chapter 164: Clown Virus
When Du Mu heard the name Jason, he was stunned.

If it was any other world it would be fine, but in Gotham, it’s a child, a street orphan, and he’s related to Batman.

After screening through these conditions, it is most likely the second-generation Robin Jason Todd.

It seems that Bruce still has a connection with his several Robins. No matter which world line he is in, he can always establish contact with his several Robins.

Originally, Du Mu had no intention of interfering with Batman's specific actions. However, when he heard that the missing child was named Jason, he couldn't help but ask, "Alfred, can I ask what the Joker, who was once imprisoned by Bruce, is like now?"

"Has he escaped and continued to commit crimes? Or is he paralyzed like those serious criminals?"

If it was someone else who was missing, Du Mu might have trusted Batman to solve the problem, but Jason's fate was indeed a bit strange.

He is an old unlucky guy.

In most parallel worlds, Jason's fate is to be caught by the Joker and tortured to death.

The torture may last for a day, or one or two years, but it will cause him great mental trauma, and then he will be killed by the clown.

He will most likely be resurrected by the Lazarus Pool or something else, but his personality will also change drastically. He will put on a red mask and transform into an anti-hero named Red Hood.

Yes, that is the origin of most clowns, the nickname of the clown before he fell into the chemical pool.

This title can be considered as the outward manifestation of Jason's mental scars.

Alfred looked puzzled, not understanding why Du Mu mentioned the clown, an insignificant little character.

He shook his head and said, "No, Mr. Du Mu. Ever since the last incident... when Bane let Arkham Asylum escape, the Joker has gone into hiding and disappeared. He has never appeared since then."

"Although he is indeed a dangerous mental patient, he does not have any extraordinary combat abilities after all, and the damage he can cause is just to incite chaos. Therefore, he is not a high priority in the master's reminders."

How could the clown stay quiet for so long?
Du Mu touched his chin and narrowed his eyes slightly.

It can't be said that the Joker is busy 365 days a year, but shouldn't the Joker usually spend his rest time in prison or Arkham Asylum?

He has already run outside, but he still doesn't try to make his presence felt in front of Batman, and even Batman hasn't realized how dangerous he is until now. This is so un-Joker-like.

The clown is quiet, he must be doing something strange.

But Du Mu still feels that Jason’s disappearance may not be related to the Joker. After all, in other parallel worlds, the Joker tortured Jason purely because he was Robin and Batman’s follower.

Otherwise, an ordinary orphan would never catch the clown's attention.

Taking this into consideration, Du Mu decided not to wait passively in the bat cave.

So he said to Alfred, "I have nothing else to do, so I'll go check on Bruce."

By the way, let’s take a look at Gotham now and see how it is governed by Batman.

Alfred showed a hint of hesitation when he heard this.

Through learning from the Iwi people, Du Mu's perception of other people's emotions has reached a higher level. Although it is not the level of telepathy, it is very easy for him to understand the other person's meaning by combining their expressions.

For example, at this time, Du Mu could feel that the other party was worried about Damian's problem.

Bruce's biological son...it seems that I am the murderer of his mother.

Du Mu looked at Alfred in surprise: "Damian is with Bruce now? He is only four or five years old, can he be Robin?"

Alfred immediately shook his head and said, "No, Master Damian is now... uh, resting. Master Dick is with him."

Du Mu nodded in understanding. He now completely understood what Alfred meant. The other party probably didn't want him to leave Wayne Manor so as not to be seen by Damian.

In this case, Du Mu smiled and said, "It seems that Damian has been well educated by Bruce. Has his worldview after being brainwashed by the Assassin's League improved?"

If Damian is still the same as when Du Mu left last time, a young assassin whose mind is full of life and death battles, then it doesn't seem to matter whether he sees me or not.

Only when his condition improved, in order not to waste his efforts during this period, would Alfred hesitate and not want Du Mu's appearance to irritate Damian.

Alfred looked at Du Mu in surprise. He didn't expect that just by a few changes in his expression and without saying anything, Mr. Du Mu had guessed everything.

He immediately showed a guilty look. After all, as a butler, it was really rude to prevent distinguished guests from entering the manor.

However, after hearing what Du Mu said, Alfred secretly complained in his heart: Young Master Damian was not educated by Master Bruce, it's good enough that Master Bruce didn't cause trouble...

Alfred couldn't help but sigh in his heart, fortunately Master Dick was there.

Bruce was busy with so many things every day that he had little time to spend with Damian. Every time he came back, he was either silent or gave Damian a dry lecture.

Such intermittent influence will only make rebellious children more and more resistant to preaching, no matter how reasonable the words are.

And the only person who could stay with Master Damian for a long time, and continue to accompany and influence him, was Master Dick.

Thinking of this, Alfred looked at Du Mu with gratitude.

He was also involved in the entire process when Master Dick was rescued by the Master, so he naturally knew how difficult it was to change that situation.

Fortunately, Master Du Mu has great powers and is able to travel to different multiverses and successfully find a way to save Master Dick.

This also saved almost two heirs for the Wayne family, making him the savior of the Wayne family.

Therefore, even if we put aside the fact that Du Mu is the master's teacher, Alfred still respects Du Mu very much.

----

Du Mu flew over Gotham, looking at the prosperous Gotham City.

Gotham was a very strange place. When standing on the street below, all you could see were shadows, and the tall buildings looked like the dark roots of giant trees. Ordinary residential areas looked like rotten and withered leaves, with countless snakes, insects, rats and ants hunting, foraging, working and making a living in them.

But if you stand high up and look down, you can see the bustling city in full view. Every tall building seems to be decorated like a Christmas tree, with occasional lights projected into the sky and airships advertising. The stars are shining, the trees are lush and green, and everywhere is full of surging vitality.

However, it was at this time that Du Mu finally understood why Gotham was always so dark and damp.

It's like a tropical rainforest, which appears to be full of vitality, but is actually blown away by the sunlight. Every inch of the area is shaded by trees that are trying their best to absorb the sunlight.

As a result, no grass grew under the big tree.

This is the real steel jungle, and even the bright sunshine is exclusive to the rich.

At this moment alone, Du Mu noticed that crimes such as robbery were occurring simultaneously in at least seven or eight places.

It’s not bad, it’s about the same time period as New York.

None of the robbers fired a shot, and some even robbed with a knife.

Yes, robbery with a knife... In a place like Gotham, such a rare animal actually appeared. Even the middle-aged woman who was robbed was stunned. After laughing, she grabbed the bag and beat up the little brat with his face covered.

He was also the only one whose robbery failed.

Since no one was killed, Du Mu ignored it.

Although crimes still occur from time to time, just from the cases we have just seen, we can see that these criminals have an additional very important characteristic.

fear.

Not to mention the emotions that Du Mu captured directly from their spirits, you can tell something just by looking at their attire... The robbers who suddenly came up with the idea in Gotham actually started wearing masks.

Fear is a good thing, it means that they at least know that their actions may be punished, rather than being taken for granted as part of their daily routine.

You know, Bruce basically spent the previous week in the martial arts gym studying the gorilla potion.

What's more, the flow rate of time is irregular. Who knows how much time has passed in Gotham during the seven days in the martial arts school?

It is a rare thing that he can still maintain a deterrent effect on all low-level crimes in Gotham City after being absent for such a long time.

After all, Batman has only been in Gotham City for over a year, and it only took him one year to build up such a reputation, which shows how busy Bruce is every day.

Of course, it may also be related to the removal of the amber gold in Gotham's tall buildings that can influence people's subconscious minds, but it is difficult to quantify how much effect it has.

Du Mu wandered around Gotham a few more times and although he discovered more criminal activities, they were all individual acts.

There wasn't a single thing that looked like organized crime going on... like land grabbing, port smuggling, wholesale drug trafficking, etc.

Of course, there are still minor issues like drag racing, but that's considered a good kid in Gotham.

Du Mu nodded with satisfaction.

He couldn't help but sigh. When he first arrived at the martial arts hall, Bruce was facing a port city with a population of 3000 million and a huge flow of people. Du Mu thought that it would take Bruce at least five to ten years to achieve his goal.

But now, just over a year later, initial results are beginning to show.

Not to mention petty theft, at least the most serious problem of super criminals and gangs is no longer a daily routine for the people of Gotham.

After taking a general look at the current situation in Gotham, Du Mu caught sight of Batman in a remote urban area.

At this time, Batman was in an abandoned warehouse, beating up a man in a suit wearing a black mask.

Beside him, there were a dozen thugs with similar styles lying, with bullet casings and gun fragments scattered all over the ground.

"Ugh!"

Black Mask was punched in the stomach by Batman and seemed to spit blood directly into the mask.

He panicked and said in a timid tone, "Stop it! I'm no longer in the drug business. I'm just running my legal nightclub and selling alcohol. What the hell is wrong with you? Isn't it just that you don't have a fire certificate?"

Batman grabbed Black Mask by the collar and said coldly, "Where is that child? The child who disappeared from your territory."

Black Mask coughed twice, looked at Batman angrily through the skull mask, and said in an angry and almost aggrieved tone: "I don't know who the child you are talking about is! If you want to find someone, you have to give me a photo, right?"

Du Mu appeared in the warehouse and looked at the wooden boxes around him. They were indeed full of wine.

Du Mu picked up a bottle and looked at it, then tore off the label and crushed it into powder. He smiled and said, "Really? I think customers value the bottle more than the wine."

Making heroin into labels and sticking them directly on wine bottles, in terms of criminal creativity, every villain in Gotham is not afraid of having no chance of survival.

Batman narrowed his eyes and punched Black Mask hard again.

This punch hit Black Mask's face, and suddenly a clear "crack" sound was heard in the warehouse. Black Mask screamed and flew out, smashing the wooden boxes and wine bottles behind him. Countless wine poured down, exuding a mellow aroma.

Obviously, the wine itself is not cheap either.

Batman stood up, his cape falling naturally, covering his arms and making him look like a giant bat with his wings folded.

"Don't play tricks on me, Black Mask."

"I have already asked the person who informed you, the boy named Jason, who accidentally revealed that he had been unable to contact me recently, exposing the fact that he and I knew each other."

"Less than two hours after I informed you, the child disappeared in your territory. Do you want me to think that this has nothing to do with you?"

Du Mu sighed as he watched Batman gradually pressing towards Black Mask.

"My disciple... I thought I had nothing to teach you in terms of observation alone."

Batman was stunned and looked at Du Mu. For a moment he did not understand the meaning of his master's words.

Even though his reaction speed and thinking speed were far beyond that of ordinary people, he did not realize anything was wrong after being reminded by Du Mu.

The next moment, a series of laughs rang in Batman's ears.

"Hehehe, in my hometown, when watching a detective movie in the cinema, anyone who reveals who the murderer is as soon as the character appears will have his tongue burned with a cigarette butt."

Black Mask slowly stood up, brushed off the wood chips and glass fragments on his body, turned his neck and stretched his body.

Batman asked in a deep voice: "You are not Black Mask? Who are you?"

The characteristic of the black mask is, after all, a mask. The concealment of the mask seems to imply that the person under the mask can be replaced at any time.

But this is only for those who are not familiar with it... Since the first day Batman dealt with Black Mask, he remembered his voiceprint, height, arm span, weight and other characteristics because of the other party's mask.

In the eyes of professionals, these features are actually more different than facial features. Even if they are twins, Batman can easily distinguish each other from these features.

Therefore, even though Du Mu directly reminded him just now, Batman did not immediately think that the person wearing the black mask had been replaced.

But at this moment, Black Mask’s laughter…seems familiar?

Batman immediately activated his memory palace and quickly retrieved the answer.

clown?

But leaving aside the two barely disguised features of voice and weight, the clown is obviously not as tall as Black Mask, and his arm span is also slightly shorter, which is difficult to change unless he undergoes surgery. "Hehe, your master is right, Bat, your observation skills are really poor. I am the real Black Mask, and there is no replacement, hehehehe..."

Black Mask said, reaching into his arms.

Then he did not take out the lighter, but directly opened the lid of the lighter under the cover of his collar and ignited the flame.

After Batman noticed Black Mask's unusual movement, he immediately threw a bat dart and hit Black Mask's wrist.

But Black Mask's actions were so decisive, without any hesitation, that even if the lighter slipped out of his hand, the flame immediately ignited the wine on Black Mask's suit.

The blazing fire suddenly burst into flames.

In a flash, Black Mask transformed into a human torch.

Batman did not use his cloak to cover his face to block the flying sparks, but instead looked expressionlessly at the frantically struggling Black Mask.

Black Mask screamed, slapped the flames on his body, and even began to roll on the ground.

But there was not only flammable alcohol on the ground, but also glass fragments, which pierced into Black Mask's body almost instantly, making Black Mask's screams even more shrill.

“Ahhhh! Help! It’s hot! It’s so hot! It hurts! Hahahaha!!”

But what was strange was that the Black Mask was laughing while screaming.

Seeing that the fire was about to spread from the wine under the black mask to the wooden boxes in the warehouse, Du Mu glanced at the flames, and the flames suddenly shrank back and curled up into a ball as if they were living things.

Even though the warehouse had a breeze to provide oxygen to the flames, and there was alcohol and wooden boxes as fuel, the flames still seemed like the breath of a person being strangled, gradually becoming weaker and slowly going out.

Du Mu had no intention of helping Batman put out the fire, but it seemed that due to his improved physical fitness, he had overexerted himself in controlling his mental strength.

After all, Batman can put out the fire at any time if he wants to. It’s just that Du Mu did not use other energy. He did not expect that he could extinguish the fire just by staring at it. This surprised him a little.

Batman had no idea what Du Mu was thinking. He nodded sideways to his master to express his gratitude, and then continued to look down at Black Mask, whose flames were also gradually going out, with cold eyes.

If it were him in the past, he might rush to help the other party put out the fire.

But for the Batman now, as long as the opponent does not die directly as a result, it does not matter. No matter how much suffering he endures, he deserves it.

As the flames went out, Black Mask lay on the ground gasping for breath. Noticing that the flames were out, he touched the head of Skull Mask and then glared at Du Mu.

"How many times are you going to mess things up before you're satisfied? You don't belong in Gotham!"

The man in black mask angrily scolded Du Mu and slowly got up from the ground.

Batman frowned slightly.

Because he found that Black Mask, whose previous injuries appeared normal, now had all the wounds on his body healing rapidly.

Batman was sure that the original Black Mask did not have any self-healing ability. But after being burned by the fire, it seemed that the injuries on his body broke through a certain threshold, and his body immediately began to accelerate its self-healing.

Most of Black Mask's suit was burned by the flames, revealing his charred skin. But the charred skin was healing quickly, and eventually all the charred parts turned into blood scabs and peeled off naturally from the skin.

Finally, a brand new skin as pale as paper was revealed.

The look of this skin... Batman once again felt strangely familiar.

The Joker again?

But the clown didn't show such a strange self-healing ability.

No, maybe it was because the damage I had caused him at the beginning did not exceed the threshold that could have been fatal, so this self-healing ability was not activated.

Du Mu also looked at the black mask with some surprise.

Just now, when the black mask was healing, Du Mu felt an energy that far exceeded the amber gold radiation at work.

However, this energy did not appear before Black Mask healed himself, and disappeared after he healed himself. It was only during the healing process that its presence was exposed.

Black Mask looked at his intact and 'white' skin and couldn't help but let out another strange laugh.

"Hehehe... Great ability, isn't it? You can play as much as you want, and it won't let you start over until you've overplayed your hand."

"You have this ability. Do you know how many times I took drugs to death at first, and then took drugs again after recovering?"

"It's a pity, I only sucked it to death about ten or twenty times, and I got tired of it..."

Black Mask pretended to be helpless, and finally looked up at Batman and said with satisfaction: "The Joker is right, it's still the most fun to play with you."

Batman said in a deep voice: "Did you get this healing ability from the Joker?"

Black Mask nodded and said casually, "That's about right, but it has a nice name."

"Does the method of seeking pleasure I just mentioned sound familiar to you? Does it sound like the god of wine in ancient Greek legend who always got himself drunk to death at banquets?"

"Isn't that romantic? As someone who also likes to be happy, I think it's so cool, so we all call the thing that gives us power the 'Dionysus factor'."

Batman frowned, "You guys? How many of you have gained this ability?!"

Black Mask couldn't help but cover his mouth and snicker.

Then there was a burst of laughter and belly laughter.

He almost knelt on the ground with laughter, pounding the ground, his hands bleeding from the broken glass of the wine bottle.

This non-fatal injury seemed to be recognized as enjoyment by the Dionysian factor, and no repair was made, allowing the blood to flow out.

Finally, seeing that Batman was just looking at him coldly and didn't seem to be amused at all, Black Mask covered his stomach and said with a grin, "I really want to spoil the story with you, Bat. I really want to."

"Although my identity as the murderer has been exposed in advance by a jerk audience member, I still don't want to ruin your surprise."

Black Mask emphasized deliberately: "A big, big surprise!"

Batman frowned, reached out and grabbed Black Mask's shoulders, yanking him down and pressing him to the ground prone.

Batman pressed his head, ignoring his nonsense, and shouted angrily, "Tell me, where is Jason!"

Black Mask tried to laugh, but he felt the force of Batman's fingers and began to gasp in pain.

But he continued to smile: "Don't worry, don't worry, the child is safe, hehe..."

Batman was so angry that he gradually exerted force on his knuckles. With a click, he directly crushed Black Mask's spine!
Black Mask screamed in pain, then felt his limbs no longer under his control. He said speechlessly: "You are meaningless, Bats... In this way, I am just a puppet."

As soon as he finished speaking, he laughed again: "But it's quite interesting to think about it this way. Where are you going to get your hand in to control me? Hehehe."

This was the first time Batman encountered such a thing. After a moment of silence, he took out a spray from his belt and pressed it towards Black Mask.

The mist seeped into the mask and was absorbed by the black mask.

Black Mask suddenly perked up: "Fear potion? This is strong enough! Hahaha!"

Then he began to fuss and whimper and scream and laugh wildly.

This was the first time Batman had seen such a tough guy, and he felt like he had no idea where to start.

Du Mu did notice the fear gas, which should be the technology seized from the villain Scarecrow.

Although from a metaphysical point of view, it will make the user see the scene that he or she fears the most, from a material point of view, it actually intensifies and sensitizes the nerves in the fear part of the brain.

It is equivalent to creating a fearful mentality out of nothing. At this time, whatever the user sees will easily become the thing he is afraid of.

But this kind of thing that stimulates the brain nerves really has no effect on someone who can take drugs repeatedly and kill himself dozens of times.

So Du Mu stepped forward and said, "It doesn't matter if he doesn't say anything. I can use Legilimency."

Batman was startled, he did know about Legilimency.

After all, Du Mu had used this method in this world to torture an assassin from the Assassin's League, and that assassin had become completely demented and was now staying in a sanatorium and receiving government subsidies.

He hesitated for a moment, wondering whether he should let his master use this ability on Black Mask to destroy the enemy's brain and mind to obtain information.

But when he thought of Jason, the kid who had passed on a lot of important information to him, Batman calmed down and did not stop him.

However, just as Du Mu was about to release, he suddenly noticed the fanaticism and expectation in the eyes of the black mask.

Du Mu immediately sensed the other person's emotions: fear, nervousness, excitement, and impatience...

It seems that the other party also understands what he is about to encounter and what it means.

Obviously, he also knows about the powerful weapon of Legilimency for obtaining intelligence.

But why is he looking forward to it so much? Is it just because he has become a masochist and a masochist after being transformed into a clown for some unknown reason?

Du Mu subconsciously felt that things would not be that simple.

With Du Mu's current mental strength, he was able to clearly retrieve the relevant experience from the ocean of memory based on the subconscious warning.

'The Ghost once entered the Joker's mind, but it was so chaotic that the Ghost was trapped in the Joker's mind, and the Joker took over the Ghost's body.'

Since this sentence did not come from an animation work that Du Mu had watched, nor was it summarized by him himself, it was just a few related words he saw while surfing the Internet, so he did not have a deep impression of it.

In other words, he possesses mental power far beyond that of ordinary people, and can retrieve all past memories from his consciousness, which is why he was able to recall them.

Du Mu's expression became serious.

DC's Ghost is God's vengeful spirit, a true mythical character.

Characters like this have no way to deal with the clown's consciousness, but Du Mu doesn't think that his mental power is now stronger than that of a ghost.

Looking at the black mask under his feet, Du Mu frowned.

At this moment, Black Mask was too "clown". This state was a bit similar to the state of the characters infected with the Joker virus in the DC game "Arkham Knight" that Du Mu played in his previous life.

What would happen if I really used Legilimency rashly?
Is it a normal reading of the other party's memory, turning the black mask infected with the clown virus into an idiot? Or is it like the spirit of revenge, being possessed by the clown?
The difference between risk and reward is so huge that there is no need to take any risk at all.

So Du Mu put down his hand and said to Batman, "I feel that his mind is very dangerous. He may be carrying a mental virus that I have never seen before. Let's arrest him first. I will try to prepare a truth serum to help you get information."

Upon hearing this, Black Mask suddenly became manic: "Ahhh! Did you peek at the script again? Damn it, can't you just stay in your own world? Why do you have to come to Gotham to make trouble! "

"Since you like Gotham so much, I could give you a spot as an actor, but you actually refused!"

Black Mask, who kept laughing in the face of all Batman's actions, was finally exposed in front of Du Mu.

Batman knocked Black Mask unconscious with one punch. Looking at the unconscious man, he said with a heavy expression: "Master, what happened to him? Why did he become... so much like the Joker?"

Du Mu shook his head and said, "I don't know the details, I just know that the clown seems to be carrying a virus that can assimilate others."

When Du Mu said this, he suddenly remembered the "Red Hood" who was saved by Batman and did not fall into the chemical pool.

Red Hood didn't turn into the Joker, so a frustrated talk show host turned into the Joker.

Apparently, none of them are actually the Joker's true origin.

In those countless works, the Joker who always accompanies Batman and has a love-hate relationship with him, perhaps none of them are original products, but they are all just different individuals infected with the Joker virus!
This would explain why the clown's origins are so bizarre, and why the clown would deliberately state different origins to make others guess.

Because the origin of every clown is real!

It's just that they are all different clowns.

The Mobius Chair, which can answer all questions, also gave Batman three different answers when he asked about the Joker's identity.

Because at that time, there were indeed three individuals infected with the Joker virus in Gotham at the same time.

Oh shit, it’s the virus again.

Du Mu was really helpless. He didn't expect that the clown, whom he thought could be easily dealt with as long as he had the intention to kill him, would be so troublesome.

In this respect, the Batmans of those parallel worlds are doing the right thing.

Once the Joker is killed, the Joker Virus in the deceased's body may erupt, creating more Jokers.

It's even possible... to infect Batman himself.

This should be the origin of the so-called laughing bat.

(End of this chapter)