There is no Batman in Gotham City comics.

Chapter 251, Section 17: The Laughing Gaze

"We shouldn't have agreed to let him go to police academy back then. Although Gotham isn't what it was twenty years ago, danger still exists!"

"Martha, just shut up. This brat seems to be having a blast!"

"Enjoying it? I didn't see that coming from Thomas. He's our only child! Doesn't it hurt you to see him beaten up like this?"

"But how can a fledgling eagle take flight if it doesn't learn to fall? Look! The brat's already awake. Why don't you ask him how he feels?"

Thomas smiled, took a bottle from the wine cabinet, and poured himself a small sip of red wine.

Wei, who was lying on the sofa, slowly woke up.

No, more precisely, it's the personality called "Bruce" that lies dormant in the subconscious.

In Bruce's memory, he had just lived through twenty years that felt like nightmares. As Hugo Strange placed the memory extraction device on his head, he stared silently at the clone in the cultured blood.

He didn't know if he would still exist. Even if the surgery was successful and the clone was filled with all his consciousness and memories, would it really still be him?

To be fair, Bruce didn't want to die. He dragged his crippled body and fought against fate for twenty years, a period that honed his willpower to the point of being almost indestructible.

But he also knew that if he wanted to change this dilapidated and corrupt city, he had to abandon his frail body.

Like a phoenix rising from the ashes.

"Whether you are me or not, please understand me, be me and surpass me, to save Gotham, to save the poor people."

.

When Bruce opened his eyes again, he saw that familiar face. Martha was wiping his wound with a cotton swab dipped in alcohol, while the old man Thomas Wayne was watching him with a smile, swirling his wine glass.

They had aged considerably, but the smell they carried made Bruce feel a deep sense of familiarity.

It came from the smell of my father's ebony pipe, from my mother's perfumed shawl, and from the always damp and slightly musty air of Wayne Castle.

"Is this... heaven?"

"Bruce, you need to explain this to me!" Martha, seeing the child awake, feigned a serious expression. "What happened to your injuries? They look like you were hit by a hundred drunkards with broken beer bottles—"

Before Martha could finish speaking, Bruce threw himself into her arms.

"Wow—don't think you can get away with this."

The mother's tone softened.

She heard Bruce's faint sobs from her arms.

She affectionately stroked her child's hair, then looked at her husband with pleading eyes: "Bruce wasn't like this before. He used to complain about my nagging, just like you."

"He must have suffered a lot of injustices outside. Our men rarely shed tears." Thomas turned his back, placed his glass on the table, and gently wiped away the tears from the corners of his eyes.

Unlike Martha, who knew nothing about it, he had learned about the tragic experiences of two brothers in another world from Night Owl many years ago.

So when he received the text message from Night Owl, he didn't even attend the shareholders' meeting on Monday and rushed home in a hurry.

To be fair, he wasn't a sentimental man; he was more curious about what his child in another universe would look like.

But the face that looked so much like Bruce from the original world deeply shocked him.

Seeing the other person's attitude towards Martha, and recalling all that Martha had been through, Thomas found it difficult to control his emotions.

He was convinced that this was his child, a child who had been wandering for many years and had finally returned home.

"Alfred, go and make preparations. We're having a family dinner tonight, and we'd like to invite Mr. Lincoln March as well."

Meanwhile, Wei was not idle either. While he was sleeping in the sea of ​​consciousness, he was suddenly awakened by a series of low, crazy laughs.

He opened his eyes in a daze and found himself on the top of a building amidst lightning and thunder. On the terrace not far away, there were two black figures, one standing and the other crouching as if swearing allegiance.

A strange sense of crisis spread down his spine and throughout his body. His instincts told him that those two guys were extremely dangerous and he had to get away from them as soon as possible.

But when he looked down, he realized that he had no physical form.

Yes, Qin Wei has no physical form; he is merely an observer from a third-person perspective.

He refused to believe it and tried slapping himself.

I didn't feel anything.

Since there was no physical form, what was there to be afraid of? He manipulated his viewpoint and headed towards the figure.

But it must be said that the movement speed of this perspective is almost comparable to the wriggling of maggots; it took a long time to move forward more than a few inches.

Only after the kneeling figures had finished their oaths and stood up did he vaguely hear their conversation.

"Five metals — open the gates to the main universe — erode — slaughter all the superheroes, and destroy the entire world —" The speaker was that deep, manic laugh.

What a cliché and boring villainous conspiracy! Even the way they speak and talk sounds like they're imitating the Joker.

Especially when he got closer, the sharp barbs around the head of the black silhouette made Qin Wei feel even more strange.

The design elements were likely inspired by the thorn ring worn by Jesus during his crucifixion, but such strong religious and fatalistic elements appearing on a character resembling a clown only create a strong sense of incongruity.

Qin Wei rolled his eyes, but considering that his appearance here was probably not accidental, he patiently crawled around and eavesdropped.

"Hehe, by the way, I've also noticed an interesting phenomenon! It's brutal, do you want to hear about it?"

Before the other person could answer, this eccentric guy continued talking to himself.

"An outsider from another universe visited your past and changed the history of your parents' murder, but because he is not from this universe, he has no right to change the present; he merely added a branch to the single history of your universe."

"Foolish behavior."

"Hehehehe, yeah! What a foolish thing to do. They think the Dark Multiverse exists because of something: collapse, darkness, destruction, slaughter, death, madness, and terrifying nightmares!!!!!!!!!"

"Do you need me to kill them, including my parents, of course?"

"Any unnecessary actions will cause that timeline to collapse quickly—so do you understand? There is no salvation in the Dark Multiverse!!"

The dark figure suddenly turned around, and as lightning struck, a pale yet crimson smiling face was revealed in front of Qin Wei.

In an instant, it felt as if a piece of flesh had been ripped from Wei's heart by the scythe of death.

He really wanted to take back his irresponsible comments about the villain.

Although Wei Mingming had no physical form, he was still absolutely certain that the other party was staring right at him. The powerful sense of oppression that swept over him like a cold current almost froze his blood completely.

"Hehehe, I said we would meet soon, but unfortunately it's not now."

Upon hearing this, Wei was almost certain that the other person was speaking to him.

"I have traversed half of the Dark Multiverse, and a total of 132565 bats have died at my hands. You will be added to the death list, or you will become a member of the Knights. I look forward to your performance next—the Judgment."