Starting from scratch, Batman crushed my dream of getting rich

Chapter 611 The Void of the World

"Who is Superman?!"

Upon hearing this answer, Ma Zhaodi almost lost his voice: "There won't be a Superman Easter egg in a Batman game?!"

"If you don't know Superman, what about Diana? What about The Flash?"

"Hey hey hey."

Barbara's cheerful laughter came through the communicator: "Just kidding, does this answer really surprise you?"

These words made Ma Zhaodi breathe a sigh of relief.

“Isn’t that obvious?” He rolled his eyes. “Although you don’t have a metropolis here, the master of narrative can’t possibly leave no room for expansion for sequels and IP series. If there really isn’t, then something must be wrong with this universe.”

“Even now, what you’re saying is still all incomprehensible,” Barbara replied. “Although I really want to play it, I’m sure no one would dare to make a game with Batman; and there’s also the big narrative, IP series, sequels, and so on. We have Superman here, so of course we have Metropolis too.”

"Really?"

Ma Zhaodi's question startled Barbara.

“Of course there are.” She found the other person’s words increasingly incomprehensible: “Superman is in Metropolis, Wonder Woman is on Paradise Island, the Flash is in Keystone City and Central City—and there are quite a few other superheroes, Star City, Seaside City, Broodhaven.”

When she spoke of Brud Haven, there was a subtle, inexplicable joy in her voice. It was a very delicate difference, and if Ma Zhaodi wasn't sensitive enough to other people's emotional changes, she would hardly notice Barbara's subtle happiness.

Ma Zhaodi couldn't see Batman's expression, so he asked again, "Bruce, do you think so too?"

“You do know who I am.”

Batman Arkham was somewhat more convinced of the Second Gotham story the two men were telling him, and replied, "There's no need to waste time. If you have any questions, just ask."

“Okay.” Ma Zhaodi scrolled through messages on his phone, his brain processing the complex information in Gotham City at lightning speed: “I’m good friends with Superman over there, and we’re allies too—when I first came to Gotham, I was working with him.”

"After arriving in Gotham, I wasn't initially aware of my situation and tried calling him—"

“You can’t get through.” Barbara, who had been carrying out hacker logistics tasks for a long time, subconsciously rejected his approach: “The communication frequencies and even communication protocols of the two universes may not be the same, not to mention that you didn’t even get your phone card here. It would be more practical to go directly to the metropolis.”

"That's the problem."

Ma Zhaodi shrugged: "You see, I'm sure he did go back to Metropolis, and he and I were transferred to your universe together. If I came here, there's no reason he would be sent back to our original universe directly. He must have been sent to Metropolis in your universe, just like me."

"So, after I snatched a thug's phone from the street, I successfully used it to access Gotham's network, hacked into Metropolis's citizen database, and found Clark Kent's phone number in the Daily Planet."

“So you also know that Clark is Superman,” Barbara added. “Well, there’s some credibility to what you’re saying.”

"So all of you Bats share one brain?" Ma Zhaodi scoffed. "Even the most outlandish scenarios are considered for possibility, and even the most obvious realities are questioned for their authenticity—I just mentioned that Sheriff Gordon in another universe has a son, are you already checking the hospital records?"

"Ahem. I'll ask him about it myself later." Barbara's voice sounded slightly guilty. "Don't change the subject, talk about your business."

“That’s the problem—I can’t get through to the other Clark.”

".ah?"

“I said I couldn’t get through to the other Clark,” Ma Zhaodi said. “This isn’t literally a case of not being able to get through, not a call rejection, not an unanswered call, not a phone that’s switched off, not an out-of-service area call, it’s simply ‘nothingness’ on the other end of the line.”

"There was no ringing or any other sound. The phone showed that I called Clark Kent, but after I made the call, there was no sound on the other end."

Batman's gaze sharpened.

“Barbara, check Gotham City’s external communications,” he said. “The Scarecrow may have used a high-powered signal jammer.”

“We’re already investigating. Yes, Gotham’s external signals have indeed been blocked.” Barbara paused here, her voice tinged with doubt and panic.

"No, that's not right, the communication couldn't have been cut off."

“Why is it impossible?” Ma Zhaodi asked.

“I just asked Huntress to find Black Canary to help guide the citizens being evacuated from Gotham City and protect the evacuation points to prevent problems—and she responded.”

Batman's expression immediately turned serious.

“I don’t know who Huntress is,” Ma Zhaodi replied. “But you see, the evacuation point and she are definitely not in Gotham now. You can’t possibly be communicating with someone outside of Gotham and then find that Gotham’s external signals have been cut off.”

"Can"

“Let me ask you something else,” Ma Zhaodi said. “Barbara, have you ever left Gotham City?”

"I?"

Barbara immediately replied, "I've always stayed in Gotham, but I've been to Metropolis and Star City."

"Bruce, needless to say, has definitely been outside of Gotham, right?"

Batman remained silent, which was tantamount to acknowledging his statement.

"Do you remember what the cities outside of Gotham look like?"

"What kind of question is that?" Barbara chuckled. "Of course I remember."

"So, can you tell me what kind of buildings there are in Star City? What kind of buildings are there in Metropolis?"

"Star City has the Quinn Industrial Building, and Metropolis has the Planet Daily."

"anything else?"

"besides.?"

Barbara's voice faltered.

“Bruce, you know Clark’s identity, which means you’ve met him in person—or at least checked his background, right?”

"ally."

Arkham Batman's answer was short and powerful: "Plus friends."

"Hmm, do you still remember what your friends look like? Why don't you tell me?"

"."

Bruce also fell silent.

Swah——

He raised his hand and used his grappling hook to pull himself to the top of a building's rooftop. He frowned and pondered deeply, but found his mind blank. No matter what he did, he couldn't recall the face of his close friend and ally, Clark.

“My memory is incomplete,” he thought to himself. “Someone has altered it or deleted it.”

(End of this chapter)