There is no Batman in Gotham City comics.

Chapter 252, Section 18: "Let us gaze upon his retreating figure one last time."

"Hehe, why aren't you saying anything? Is fear choking you?"

"Not really. After all, when you said it wasn't time to come to me, I knew you wouldn't make a move for the time being. Besides, in my current state, you shouldn't pose any threat to me."

"Hehehehe! Wei, although you are not one of us, you are surprisingly similar in your way of thinking." The other person hunched over and began to circle around Wei, as if examining this intangible guy from all angles.

"That's how it should be. When you become the embodiment of fear, you should completely abandon the emotion of fear."

"Actually, you're right. I can't threaten you right now unless I dig out my own head. Hehehe." This guy stretched out a finger and tapped the strangely shaped black helmet on his head with his sharp nail.

The other person's words didn't contain much information, but every sentence was key.

First is the sentence, "Wei, although you are not one of us."

It is obvious that "we" refers to Batman, or to be more specific, to Bruce Wayne.

Qin Wei glanced at the silent man in black carrying a shotgun beside him.

Dark and chilling eyes, a slovenly face covered in stubble beneath a bat mask.

This is clearly Batman.

Then those who can be categorized together and collectively referred to as "us" ———

Qin Wei turned his gaze back to the strange man in front of him, who was grinning exaggeratedly and whose swollen gums were constantly oozing blood.

Is this guy a bat too?

"What's so surprising about that? Theoretically, the number of Dark Multiverses is equal to the number of Nightmares, and the Nightmares of the Dark Multiverses will in turn give rise to new Dark Multiverses. I've seen Bruce the Baby, Bruce the Chariot—even Bruce the Tyrannosaurus Rex! Haha ...

The strange fellow seemed to have read Qin Wei's mind and bombarded his eardrums with a series of dense and hysterical laughs.

What a disgusting guy, Qin Wei thought.

This time, he could swear he didn't reveal his emotions like before, but what was terrifying was that the other person still followed his inner thoughts and continued the conversation.

"If you find me repulsive, that's the point! Laughter isn't some peaceful game with you! I'm telling you this with certainty: when I descend into your world, I will kill you without hesitation, along with your poor friends, and then I'll burn that dull world to the ground unless you can show me something of value—only then will it be worthwhile for me to have created you."

"Actually, it's not just you, it's your entire world—"

The other person didn't say anything more, but instead poked their head with their fingernail.

This was the second time this self-proclaimed "Laughing Man" had done this, and Qin Wei didn't believe there wasn't a deeper meaning behind it.

"Go, go back, take one last look at that world that is about to collapse and disappear. After all, you are the one who caused their suffering. Throw a dahlia into their grave, you cruel and beautiful executioner!"

Before Qin Wei could extract more information, Kuangxiao stretched out his finger again, but this time he poked Qin Wei's gaze instead of his own head.

He struggled to wake up from the sofa, his white shirt, which he had just changed into, soaked with cold sweat.

After meeting his parents, Bruce's consciousness returned to a deep sleep, so quickly that he didn't even have time to thank Alfred. However, this did not prevent Qin Wei from taking further action.

"—Alfred?"

"I'm here, young master. What are your orders?"

"Thank you."

"It's my honor to be able to help you, young master, but I still can't help but ask, in what way have I helped you?"

"You didn't give up on him, and that's why I am who I am today."

"Really?!"

Afu paused for a moment, then picked up the wine glass that Thomas had just drunk from.

Ah Fu didn't understand what Wei meant, but as a highly professional butler, he knew it would be impolite to ask again.

Before the dinner, Wayne Castle welcomed a distinguished guest.

Thomas Jr. — perhaps he should be called Mr. Lincoln March now.

After Lincoln laughed and embraced the Waynes, his gaze fell on Wayne, who stood to the side with a half-smile.

"What's wrong, my dear nephew? Aren't you going to give your uncle a warm hug?"

"It seems you've been living quite well these past few years; at least I've never seen such a disgusting smile on your face before."

After the two got closer, Wei smiled and teased him.

"Really? So what?"

Night Owl answered perfunctorily, then suddenly pulled his fist from his pocket and delivered a hidden one-inch punch to Qin Wei's chest.

Qin Wei dodged to the side, using his back to block Martha's curious gaze, while simultaneously grabbing Night Owl's wrist.

"Identity confirmed! Little Bruce can't withstand this attack."

"What right do you have to give me test questions now? Your punches have become so light and slow!"

Qin Wei snorted coldly, and instead of letting go, he gripped Night Owl's right hand even tighter.

The smile on Night Owl's face gradually disappeared as he realized that Qin Wei had never been joking with him from the beginning.

Including the phrase he initially took as a joke, "disgusting smile."

"You've forgotten how to fight! You don't actually think your name is Lincoln March, do you?!" Qin Wei squeezed Night Owl's wrist so hard it cracked, and large beads of cold sweat appeared on the latter's forehead, popping open with a thud on the back of Wei's hand.

"Bruce, what are you doing? Look at this world! Our parents are still alive, the evil of Gotham has been wiped out! There's no need to fight anymore. Stay with me."

"I knew it! I bet you white pig have never heard of the story of 'A Dream of Nanke'."

"What—nicoemo?"

"Never mind what this means, just know that this world may very well be about to be destroyed!"

When Qin Wei shared his conversation with Kuangxiao with Thomas, the latter excitedly shook off Wei's arm.

"What dark multiverse? I don't understand what you're talking about!"

"I don't understand either, but I'm sure he's right. That voice has appeared in my mind several times, each time accompanied by violent fluctuations in the timeline. I even have reason to suspect that he is the creator of our world!"

"You should go to Arkham for a lobotomy. Why would a world that's becoming stable end up heading towards destruction? It just doesn't make sense!!!"

The argument between the two grew louder and louder. Martha hesitated whether to step in and mediate, but her husband grabbed her wrist.

"It doesn't need to make sense! Isn't everything you've experienced dreamlike enough? Falling into a tumor and being transported to another universe, experiencing twenty years of life in just ten minutes!"

"Night Owl, face reality, you don't belong here."

Night Owl certainly understood these principles, but how could twenty years of emotional investment and experience be erased by just a few words?

He forcefully shoved Wei's shoulder aside and kicked open the back garden door.

Judging from his attitude toward the gate, he certainly didn't consider himself an outsider.

Thomas, who had witnessed everything, followed them out, still feeling uneasy.

In this universe, Thomas died in childbirth, and after learning the truth, the old man transferred his love for his deceased son to this child who was only nine years younger than him.

The older brother in age, but the father in reality, refers to the old man at this time.

But Thomas, who was worried about his son, wandered around the back garden. Although he did not find the owl, he bumped into Barry Allen, who was rushing to the scene, in a hurricane filled with sparks and lightning.

"Wow—hello—I'm here to see the Knight of Judgment—damn it, the people in this world probably can't understand what I'm saying!"

Thomas, of course, couldn't understand Barry's mutterings, but the latter's stunning entrance didn't stop him from roughly deducing the truth of the matter by connecting it with what he knew.

"You're here to take them away, Thomas Jr. and another Bruce? Are you from another world too?"

"Um... that should be it."

"Hello, I'm Thomas Wayne!" The old man extended his hand in a friendly manner, but Barry instinctively shielded his body.

"What's wrong with you?"

"Sorry, for a split second just now, I had a feeling you might beat me up." Barry rubbed his hands awkwardly.

"Hahahaha! I wouldn't normally do that unless you sneak into my house, rummage through everything, and even peek at my family photo."

"Of course, I don't think you would do something so despicable."

"Of course, that's the act of a thief—probably!"

Just as the two were facing each other, awkwardly rambling on about meaningless nonsense, Qin Wei peeked out from the corner and timely interrupted the conversation.

"Barry! What are you doing here!"

"You asked me to come to Wayne Manor, but you didn't specify where. I think the back garden might be a good meeting place, or the second-floor balcony would be nice too. I've been there; the cacti there are a bit prickly—"

"Shut up, Barry! We need to get out of here right now—"

Wei wanted to share the latest information, but he was also mindful of Thomas, who was frowning and silent beside him.

But Barry, with his big mouth, blurted out all the lines that were supposed to be said by Will.

"You're the Knight of Judgment? My God, I've finally found you! You won't believe what I've discovered. This world is about to be destroyed. Its spatial structure is extremely unstable; particles could collapse at any moment. To put it simply, it's like the base of a building block being hollowed out one by one—"

Barry only realized what was happening when he met Qin Wei's piercing gaze.

"Did I say something wrong again?"

He blinked innocently, turned to Thomas, and gave a smile that was uglier than a grimace.

Meanwhile, Thomas Jr. took a walk in the garden, and his frustration gradually eased.

Upon seeing Qin Wei's youthful face, he instantly realized that the flow of time in the two universes was not the same. Therefore, he did not expect the other party, who had just stepped into this place, to understand how much effort and energy he had spent in Gotham City in this universe over the past two thousand years.

He's about to fulfill his long-cherished wish; how could he give up at this crucial juncture?

Even if the world were to truly end, Thomas would still drag it down with him into the abyss.

"That's settled then. I'll go back and talk to Bruce, but will he respect my decision?"

With mixed feelings, Night Owl returned to the castle. The family dinner was about to begin. He sat down next to Bruce and was about to speak when he noticed a plate of "scrambled eggs with tomatoes" sitting across the table.

Thomas Jr. rubbed his temples, finding the situation both funny and exasperating.

Barry's attire was so out of place, it was like a SpongeBob SquarePants waving his arms and legs replacing Jesus in "The Last Supper," it was really hard not to notice him.

"----Hi!"

Barry's cheek twitched, and he stuck half a hand out from under the table, trying to greet Night Owl. After his smooth little combo was ignored, he could only try to shift his position to ease the awkwardness.

"Bruce, I hope you'll respect my decision. I still want to—"

"Stay here? No problem!" Qin Wei grabbed a large snail from the table and started gnawing on it.

"real?"

"It's absolutely true. Dad told me that you've had a tough time these past few years, so I want you to stay here and enjoy the rest of your life." Qin Wei glanced at the suspicious-looking little Thomas. "Eat up, eat up, the food won't taste good if it gets cold."

Thomas hesitated for a moment, then picked up the white wine on the table and took a sip.

He had guessed that something was amiss, but he never imagined that these two would conspire with his father to drug his drink.

The drug's effects weren't strong. After finishing a glass, Thomas chatted and laughed with everyone at the table for over half an hour.

Throughout the ordeal, Barry appeared restless, glancing frequently at the makeshift space particle stability detector mounted on the inside of his wrist. The ever-increasing wave value on the screen indicated that the universe could collapse at any moment.

Finally, as the detector sounded a vibration alarm, the space began to shake. Amidst the rustling of the crystal chandelier at the top of the hall, Thomas rolled his eyes and slammed his face into a plate.

Meanwhile, Wayne Castle began to collapse.

But this was not a top-down collapse. The gravity of the entire world seemed to be reversed, and shattered glass and bricks floated up, flying from the top of the broken castle into the night sky streaked with dense purple lightning.

The maniacal prediction was accurate: the universe whose future was rewritten by Thomas Jr. is collapsing and crumbling.

"Honey, what happened? Was it an earthquake?"

"No, our time has come."

The old man embraced his wife and looked at Qin Wei sitting opposite him.

"Please grant me one request, even if it's just for the Wayne family bloodline within me."

"If there's anything I can do to help you, I'll do my best."

"Take Bruce with you."

Thomas laughed, a broad smile playing on his lips, a smile that reflected a profound understanding of life's joys and sorrows.

He had already seen Death twenty years ago.

In fact, if he had a choice, he would definitely have stopped Thomas's rescue attempt.

He would rather die than let Bruce live.

"The trial must be held quickly, we don't have much time left!"

Barry urged anxiously from the side, but Qin Wei gestured for silence.

He stood up and looked directly into Thomas's eyes.

A voice inside him urged him to ask a question.

"So—is there anything you want to say to me?"

"I wanted to write a letter before the dinner started, but I couldn't come up with anything until the ink smudged on the paper. Then I remembered that this letter was written when you were three years old."

Thomas pulled a dusty brown leather envelope from his pocket, flicked it with his fingers, and handed it to Qin Wei.

Then, the man comforted his trembling wife in his arms, whispering the gentlest words in her ear.

"Our child is about to embark on a long journey; let us watch his departing figure one last time."

Barry activated the Speed ​​Force, carrying Will and Night Owl through the collapsing city streets. A massive, pure black vortex appeared in the pitch-black sky. Under the terrifying pull of gravity, everything in the world was torn into molecular fragments and stuffed into that invisible giant maw.

-

After running around the city for the third time, he finally found Bruce evacuating people from the streets.

Although carrying three people through time would be a huge drain on the Speed ​​Force, he didn't want to disappoint Thomas for the sake of a delicious dinner and for the mission and responsibility of a superhero.

"Dude—sorry—you can't save the world!"

Barry used his Speed ​​Force to wrap the young policeman up, and then stood quietly in place.

The vortex's gravity will gradually increase until it tears apart the space walls of the entire universe, at which point The Flash will unleash his full speed.

In fact, this is not the first time he has traveled to different universes. The reason why the universe he is in is so chaotic is certainly related to the Joker riding "Dynamic Wally", but Barry himself has also contributed a lot.

The scene shifts back to the present, where the entire world has been shattered, and even the light has receded like the tide.

This means that the speed of gravity has exceeded the speed of light.

Before Barry's eyes appeared the cosmic nebula from which he had first fallen into the tumor, and the pale blue flash in the center of the nebula was the end of his journey.

"Charge! Charge forward, Barry!"

Barry took a deep breath and activated the Speed ​​Force; he had to reach the finish line before gravity exceeded his speed limit.

Meanwhile, in the lightning-streaked Speed ​​Force domain, the envelope Thomas had given to Qin Wei was quietly slipping out of the latter's pocket.

Barry, realizing what was happening, tried to retrieve it, but in an instant, the powerful gravity tore the envelope to shreds.

Remembering Thomas's dying wish, Barry unhesitatingly pushed the Speed ​​Force to its limit, and in that instant, gravitational waves approaching the speed of light were temporarily frozen.

He knew he couldn't save the letter, but at least he could memorize its contents.

Dear Bruce:

I've just left you, still asleep, and I'm already missing you, even if it's just a memory of you. The heavy snow covers Wayne Gardens; how quiet it is.

Deep within my heart, I can hear your laughter. The moment I first saw you, your joy infected me and changed me. As you can see, I too was reborn at the time of your birth. I ran through the snow to find you, waiting peacefully. You have become my teacher, and I have begun to learn diligently from you.

Before you were born, I always believed that life required conquest, and I pursued it every moment of my life. I was determined to defeat every disease, eliminate every hatred, and let the torch illuminate every darkness. I was almost obsessed, just as I never wanted you to become what you are now; I wanted you to be better.

Today we celebrate your 3rd birthday, my son. You've grown so much! I remember your first steps, so brave and fearless. I look forward to the day when I can watch you grow into a man and finally speak freely with you.

The love of a parent for their child, the rise and fall of all things, the stubborn disease will eventually be extinguished, the hatred will eventually fade away, what you taught me, I will teach you, and eventually there will be light to lead us away from the darkness.

Your loving father, Thomas