The Comprehensive Evolution of American Comics.

Chapter 1325 Failure Insurance (Part Two)
Upon noticing the red light, Dick felt a sudden chill, as if he were being watched by something. Just as he was about to pull out his batarangs as a warning, he felt a tugging sensation from behind.

As soon as he felt the pulling sensation, Dick immediately understood what was happening—something was tugging at him from behind!

The person behind him was surprisingly well-endowed; at the same time as grabbing his clothes, they covered his mouth and nose, preventing Dick from making any sound.

This man was quite strong and fast. Dick, who was under his control, had almost no chance to break free and was dragged into the room next door in the blink of an eye.

“It’s me, Dick.”

The familiar voice instantly put Dick at ease, and the other person released him when they saw that he was no longer struggling.

Dick took the opportunity to turn around and, sure enough, saw Bruce's familiar face.

"What exactly happened? Didn't Alfred go to call you for dinner?"

Dick asked his questions one after another. He could tell that the red light just now was not something that should have been in Wayne Manor. Although he had not seen the whole thing, he could sense that it was not simple.

"That's a long story," Bruce said with a wry smile. "This isn't the place to talk. Let's walk and talk."

Bruce opened the secret passage in the room and led Dick inside before recounting what had happened.

“I call that thing you just saw a fail-safe. It’s a robot, but don’t underestimate it because of that.”

"Failure insurance is a cutting-edge combat weapon that I created by combining Earth's and alien technologies. I have infused it with all my knowledge. You could say that failure insurance is a version of me with superpowers."

"That sounds like something you'd be hard to mess with." Dick noticed that Bruce was feeling unwell, so he went over to help him up, and Bruce didn't refuse, gradually shifting some of his weight onto Dick.

"So what exactly was the purpose of creating this thing?"

"The only purpose of a fail-safe fuse is to kill me if I make an unforgivable mistake."

Dick paused for a moment after hearing this, then frowned and asked, "Are you out of your mind?"

“No, I’m pretty sure I’m fully conscious.” Bruce shook his head. “The fail-safe is normally in a dormant state, during which time its program connects to the Batcomputer and passively collects all information in the world related to Batman.”

"There is only one keyword that can activate it, and that is Batman killing people."

"What?" Dick frowned even more deeply upon hearing this. "But you didn't kill anyone, did you? Why did the faulty fuse trip?"

"I did not kill anyone, but I overlooked the fact that people on the internet are a bunch of opportunists."

Bruce shook his head and smiled bitterly, then said, "The Joker died at Roy's hands a day ago, and then a lot of news about the Joker's death appeared on the internet, including quite a few conspiracy theorists."

"Among them are many ordinary netizens, some people who idolize the Joker and are similar to the Joker Gang, and quite a few die-hard Batman fans."

"These guys generally believe that the Joker could not possibly be killed by some nobody named Winter Soldier, and that only Batman can eliminate him."

“After all, there weren’t many eyewitnesses when Roy killed the Joker, nor was there any evidence like photos or videos to prove it, so this conspiracy theory has a lot of followers online.” Dick’s breath hitched. He had also seen related information while browsing the internet. Indeed, many people believed that Batman killed the Joker, and that the so-called Winter Soldier was just pushed out to take the fall.

After all, Batman's no-kill policy is quite famous, and most people believe that he pushed someone aside to protect his reputation.

"The failsafe is not easily triggered; a few pieces of information will not attract its attention. However, there was too much information online about Batman killing the Joker, which caused it to be triggered."

The internet is a terrifying thing. In this age of information overload, a rumor can spread much faster than people imagine.

"This happening now is completely unexpected."

Bruce could only manage a wry smile; this wasn't just shooting himself in the foot, it was like lifting a nuclear bomb and dropping it on himself.

“I will definitely limit your development funding from now on.”

Dick said something outrageous and continued to help Bruce walk forward. He knew that the secret passage was just a short distance away from the exit.

This road leads to the outside of Wayne Manor, which is a safe passage for escape.

Dick couldn't help but think to himself, "Is that faulty fuse really that powerful? So powerful that Bruce didn't dare to resist and was only thinking about escaping."

“And what about Alfred?” Dick asked again.

“I’m about to say something,” Bruce cleared his throat. “I considered the possibility of accidental triggering when the faulty fuse was being built early on, so I designed a safety lock in advance.”

"To prevent myself from falling into darkness after committing murder, I did not give the key to myself, but to Alfred, who was the only one with the authority to turn off the faulty fuse."

"It's just that the fail-safe hasn't been activated for too long, and its system has malfunctioned. Alfred's permissions have expired, and he couldn't turn off the fail-safe."

"So where is Alfred now?" Dick asked anxiously.

"He's safe. The underlying code of the fail-safe is to kill an out-of-control Batman, but it doesn't have the authority to kill any other humans."

"Alfred was sedated by the faulty fuse and is now lying in the Batcave. I deliberately lured the faulty fuse out of the Batcave for his safety, which is why you can see it in the corridor."

"Next, we need to go back to the Batcave from outside the manor and then figure out how to restore Alfred's privileges to reset the failsafe."

The plan sounded perfectly normal, and Dick couldn't find anything wrong with it for the time being, so he continued to drag Bruce toward the exit.

However, Dick was completely unaware that Bruce was giving a strange smile out of his sight.

"Oh, by the way, Bruce, where exactly are you hurt?" Dick suddenly asked.

Do you need me to help you with any emergency procedures?

(End of this chapter)