American comic book: After mastering resurrection, I became incredibly popular.

A pale golden light spread from Zatanna's palm to Batman's entire body, his cape billowed in the windless square, and his feet slowly lifted off the ground.

Immediately afterwards, he was lifted off the ground and flew into the air.

……

Inside the airship pod, three members of the Joker gang were gathered around a laptop watching a video of instructions pre-recorded by the Joker, completely unaware that the access panel on the top of the pod had been pried open from the outside.

boom!

"what happens?"

"Do you have tinnitus?"

Just as everyone was discussing, Batman flipped off the roof of the cabin.

"Oh no, it's Batman!"

"Damn it, how did he get up here?"

"Quickly, press the detonation button!"

One of the Joker's gang members immediately sprinted over, and with the thin human wall, he didn't have to face Batman's danger directly.

Batman glared menacingly at the group of people in front of him.

One of them had just picked up his submachine gun when Batman kicked the weapon away. Immediately afterward, Batman elbowed him in the temple, and he fell to the ground on the spot.

The other two henchmen simultaneously drew their knives and lunged at him. Batman grabbed the first man's wrist, twisted it behind his back, and pushed him toward the second man.

The two knives clattered to the ground, and then one person punched them cleanly and decisively, knocking them both down.

Batman strode to the control panel at the front of the pod and saw the guy trembling after pressing the button; he had wet his pants.

However, Batman ignored him because he had more important things to deal with: the self-destruct countdown on the screen had already started ticking.

00: 47.

00: 46.

He opened the control panel, his fingers flying across the keyboard, bypassing the initial encryption set up by the Joker gang to enter the airship's core operating system and find the root directory of the self-destruct program.

Delete, confirm, or overwrite cache.

And so, the countdown stopped at 00:13.

Batman straightened up, about to switch to the manual control system to lower the airship, when the console screen was suddenly filled with a bunch of green gibberish.

A message popped up on the screen: "Iris data successfully collected. Thank you for your cooperation, Batman. You are now in charge of this ship."

Batman frowned. He hadn't expected that even with meticulous planning, there would be a loophole—a camera on the control platform that could capture human images. But he didn't have time to think about it and immediately started operating the airship system again…

……

About half an hour ago, a serious incident occurred at the Gotham City Aquarium.

Security guards discovered during their off-duty patrol that the circulation system in the main exhibition hall had been poisoned, with a pale green liquid mixed into all the marine animal tanks.

Dolphins, sea lions, and penguins all began frantically crashing against the glass walls, their mouths contorted into bizarre grins, their smiles exactly like humans', even more terrifying.

According to news reports, everyone experienced the uncanny valley effect, finding it very creepy, and quickly fled the aquarium.

Police immediately cordoned off the entire aquarium, and staff urgently evacuated visitors. The veterinarian called by the municipal authorities had not yet arrived at the scene.

Barbara was the first member of the Bat Family to arrive at the scene.

Despite Batman's repeated warnings last night forbidding her from going on missions on her own, her clock tower was just a block away from the aquarium, and she had been following up on intelligence about the Joker's activities in the area. So she came anyway.

The whole thing must be related to some clown.

She changed into Batwoman's uniform, rode her modified light motorcycle to the back entrance of the aquarium, choosing the back entrance because the front entrance was full of police cars with flashing lights and onlookers.

She slipped in through the ventilation ducts at the top of the aquarium and descended along the mezzanine of the main exhibition hall.

The lighting system inside the museum has been deliberately cut off, leaving only a few emergency lights in the main exhibition hall casting a dim yellow light that makes the water tanks appear dark green.

Barbara crouched on the metal passageway in the mezzanine and looked down.

The poisoned animals were still banging against the glass. A dolphin had its mouth cut by the glass, and blood was spreading in the water, but its expression was frozen.

This scene is disgusting.

She took a deep breath and moved along the aisle deeper into the main exhibition hall. Just then, her communicator vibrated, and Tim's voice came through the headset built into her helmet.

"Batwoman, are you at the aquarium right now?"

"Robin, how did you know my location?" Barbara stopped and asked in a low voice.

"Your location signal has been within the surveillance range of the Batcomputer. Bruce said you're not allowed to act alone, you know that."

“I’m not going to discuss this with him.” Barbara continued walking forward, keeping close to the wall. “Besides, I’m not acting alone. I’m talking to you right now, so this is considered a coordinated operation.”

Tim chuckled, but his tone quickly turned serious.

“Cassandra and I are on our way, we’ll be there in about five minutes. Stay put until we arrive, don’t go down.”

"It's too late, I'm already inside the aquarium. The circulation system in the main exhibition hall has been poisoned, and all the lights are out. I suspect the person who poisoned it hasn't left yet."

"Then you shouldn't act alone. Barbara, you know that perfectly well."

“I know,” Barbara interrupted him. “I know they’re after me, and I know Bruce’s afraid I’ll become a candidate for the Joker. But there are hundreds of innocent visitors at the aquarium who just came this afternoon; their children watched the dolphin show here. Who knows if they’ve been infected with the virus? How can I find out the truth if I don’t come!”

After thinking for a moment, Tim said, "We'll be there in five minutes. Don't push yourself."

Barbara didn't reply, because she heard footsteps.

The light footsteps came from the direction of the penguin enclosure at the far end of the main exhibition hall. Her back was pressed against the cool concrete wall, her hands on the handle of the multi-section staff, and she slowly squatted down.

Da, da.

The footsteps grew closer.

By the dim light of the emergency lights, she could vaguely see a figure in a purple suit walking out of the penguin enclosure. The person was wearing a crooked clown mask. However, the mask on his face was just a five-dollar plastic one from a Halloween store.

But the laughter coming from under the mask was exactly like that of a clown.

The fake clown laughed as he raised a pistol, swaying the muzzle from side to side, and shouted at the animals still banging on the glass as he walked:

"Don't rush, don't rush! You're next!"

Barbara seized the moment the fake clown turned his back to her, leaped from the mezzanine, and unfurled her multi-section staff in mid-air, smashing it down on his gun-wielding wrist.

Caught off guard by the sudden attack, the fake clown's gun flew from his hand and smashed against the glass of the water tank. He yelled, staggered back two steps, then drew a second gun from his waist and fired several shots at Barbara.

Barbara dodged the first shot by sidestepping and rolled to avoid the second. The third shot grazed her shoulder and hit the wall behind her, sending up concrete debris that grazed her mask.

Gunshots echoed through the empty main exhibition hall, driving the animals in the tanks into a frenzy.

Barbara's heart pounded, but she was no longer the girl who sat in her wheelchair staring blankly at the ceiling. It had taken her too long to get back on her feet, and she wouldn't let a single gunshot take away everything she had regained.

She lowered her center of gravity and charged toward the fake clown. The nunchuck first struck his knee, and he screamed and fell to one knee. Then the second blow hit his shoulder blade, knocking him to the ground.

"Who sent you? A joker or a criminal?" Barbara stepped on his wrist and pressed her nunchuck against the back of his neck as she questioned him.

The fake clown pressed his face against the cold floor tiles, panting heavily, but did not answer her question.

His lips were trembling, and the corners of his mouth were turned up, as if he was being forced to smile by something.

Barbara then noticed a surgical scar on his neck that had recently been stitched up, extending from his ear to his collarbone.

A smile is painful.

"The clown said that as long as I keep you here, he'll give me the antidote... He said he'll be here soon..."

Where is he? Where is the Joker?

All I know is that he said he would come after it was done.

After saying this, his breathing became rapid, and he gasped for air, unable to speak. Barbara, watching this strange phenomenon, also felt short of breath and her heart race.

what happened?

Not far away, a small fish was "smiling" as it looked at Barbara...

The nitrous oxide is starting to spread...

Chapter 142 Heartfelt Words

"The airship is making an emergency landing and is expected to arrive at the designated location in Emergency Buffer Zone 3 in three minutes. I have already notified Gordon to seal off the surrounding streets in advance, and the chemical defense troops are on standby. Wong, how's the situation on your end?" At that moment, Batman's breathing became half a beat faster than usual.

Wang Baixi's voice immediately rang out as well.

“We rescued Jason a long time ago, but Bruce, I think you really should keep a closer eye on your two sons.”

"what happened?"

"They almost got into a fight in the back seat, oh no, they already did!"

"Because they wanted to kill me, and they wanted to kill each other!!"

"When did you have this kind of relationship with my mother?!" Damian's voice faintly came from the background.

Wang Baixi knew that Damian was questioning Jason and Talia about their relationship; in the comics, their relationship was indeed somewhat ambiguous. Talia not only "raped" Batman, but also Jason.

However, they were having a good time at first, but somehow the topic came up.

Jason immediately retorted, "I have absolutely no relationship with your mother!"

“You are his adopted son, I am his biological son! Jason Todd, you should apologize for offending me!”

“Fuck you, if I beat you up you will apologize to me!” Jason roared back, but he gasped for breath halfway through his sentence because the movement aggravated his wound.

Damian sneered, "You're injured like this and you still want to beat me up? You can't even stand up."

"When I get up, the first person I'll beat up is you, you little brat!"

Wang Baixi's voice once again drowned out the argument in the background: "Did you hear that, Bruce? The Batmobile is in complete chaos. Do you need me to tell you what happened? Jason Todd actually blamed me for killing the clown! Then Damian complained about him, and the two of them started arguing..."

There was a few seconds of silence on the other end of the communication.

"……Good luck."

……