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

The man immediately led several companions toward the warehouse entrance, but before they could even step out of the iron gate, they were stopped in their tracks by a sudden burst of applause.

"That was fantastic!" A burst of laughter came from the warehouse entrance. "It was truly amazing. I've seen so many performances, but none of them can compare to today's."

Wang Baixi frowned.

He turned his head and saw the iron door of the warehouse being pushed open from the outside. A person walked in against the light. Wang Baixi looked closely and found that it was the man named Jack!

He was still wearing that wrinkled driver's uniform, but the way he walked was completely different from before.

As he stepped into the shadows of the warehouse, Wang Baixi saw his face clearly.

His face was so pale, his smile so chilling, everything seemed so natural, as if his normal appearance just moments before was a facade.

"Jack, is that you?" Wang Baixi swallowed hard.

Jack suddenly pulled out a pistol, glanced at it, and pointed the muzzle at his chin. "This joke isn't funny, sir. Look around you. You're in the middle of a grand circus performance, and what's the most indispensable element of a circus?"

"The answer is the Joker!"

The clown turned the gun in his hand towards Wang Baixi.

"You just said that I could shoot you without hesitation, right?"

Chapter Sixty-Five: Bruce Wayne's Boss

Wang Baixi's mind raced through every frame of the scene from when he got on the bus until now, and he glanced at the grinning clown.

Turns out, this isn't "Speed," it's "The Usual Suspects"!

"You are Jack."

“It used to be,” the clown said, tilting his head. “But not anymore. You know, playing an honest, unassuming driver is much more tiring than I imagined.”

The penguin laughed so hard he almost fell over, and his beloved parrot joined in with a piercing scream. Then, he walked over to Wang Baixi and patted him on the back.

"My lord, you didn't expect me to have this trick up my sleeve, did you?" His voice was filled with the satisfaction of a successful revenge. "You thought you really turned my men against me? You thought your few sweet words could make them switch sides? They never betrayed me. From the very beginning, they've been waiting for this moment. Right?"

The group of people were completely bewildered.

Is that right...?

“Right!” the penguin shouted again.

The henchmen reluctantly raised their guns and aimed them all at Wang Baixi's head.

Two of the henchmen were squatting on the ground picking up money, but while doing so, they didn't forget to tuck their guns into their belts.

"It seems our gang won't split because of this," Wang Baixi commented sincerely.

The penguin man's smile vanished. He ripped the Emperor Penguin brooch off Wang Baixi's chest and pinned it back on his own body. "You're an incompetent second-in-command. You're utterly incompetent."

On the other side, the clown's gun was almost touching Wang Baixi's nose. With his other hand, he pulled an old flip phone from the inside pocket of his purple suit, shoved it into Wang Baixi's hand, then took two steps back, opened his arms, as if he had just given a birthday present.

“Give your boss a call,” the clown said with a grin.

Wang Baixi looked down at the phone in his hand, not pressing any buttons immediately. "What do you want to do?"

"What else could it be? Kidnapping!" The clown laughed maniacally, as if he had heard an extremely stupid question. "Is that so hard to understand? This is a complete kidnapping."

He made a gun gesture with his free hand, pointed it at Wang Baixi's temple, and pulled the trigger as he imagined.

“That’s right, a hefty reward!” the Penguin chimed in from the side. “Besides that, I also want my nightclub back!”

"A nightclub?" The Joker turned to look at the Penguin, a hint of confusion in his expression. "When did you add that condition?"

"Just added."

“I liked your improvisation.” The clown nodded approvingly, then turned his attention back to Wang Baixi. “Anyway, relay this to him word for word, understand? Except for the nightclub.”

Penguin: "..."

"Understood, I will tell Mr. Bruce." Wang Baixi opened his phone, staring at the blank text message interface, but his mind was racing.

The clown wants money?

Please, isn't he a villain who has transcended base desires and has his own criminal interests?

This is Batman's nemesis, Arkham's most unpredictable madman. He orchestrated a kidnapping just to get money.

It's absolutely impossible to be that simple.

Is it possible that he's using this kidnapping to cover up something else that's truly important?

Sure enough, upon hearing "Bruce," the Joker flew into a rage, yelling, "Who told you to message Bruce Wayne! I mean your boss, Batman!"

"Ah, Batman?"

At that moment, a group of people, including Penguin and Wang Baixi, simultaneously expressed their doubts.

The henchmen, on the other hand, were completely bewildered. Wasn't Wang Baixi's boss Bruce Wayne? How did he become Batman?

Could it be that……

Does this mean Bruce Wayne has been working for Batman all along? Are Wang Baixi and Bruce Wayne actually colleagues?

Yes, yes, that must be it.

"Did you hear me?!"

"Um, okay."

Wang Baixi's peripheral vision swept over the circus owner who was beaten half to death on the warehouse floor, over the Penguin's upturned lips, and finally landed on the Joker's eyes, which were like two dry wells.

In the end, he made up his mind.

He sent a message with the phone, then turned it off and returned it to the clown.

“I’ve already sent it, but I can’t guarantee when that guy will see it.” Wang Baixi shrugged.

After confirming the news, the clown smiled coldly, "Then let's add another time: if his men and his money haven't arrived by noon, then I'll kill him."

……

Inside the Batcave, Bruce Wayne slowly descended the steps, his eyes a little swollen. He planned to improve his appearance over the next few days before facing his mother with complete confidence.

As for resurrecting his parents, he still hadn't made up his mind, but there was one thing he had already planned to do: once Wang Baixi had finished dealing with his affairs, he would take him to the Middle East to resurrect someone who was very important to him.

As he pondered, his gaze fell upon Dick Grayson, or rather, Nightwing. He was wearing that iconic Nightwing uniform, and it seemed he had been there for quite some time.

“Bruce,” Dick greeted.

“I thought you were gone, Dick,” Bruce said as he approached. “Didn’t you say you were going back to Brudhaven?”

“I was packing my things, and I was thinking of doing so, but I felt I should come and say goodbye,” Dick said.

Bruce smiled slightly, then suddenly remembered something and said, "Have you heard that the Harry Circus is coming back?"

For Dick Grayson, Harry's Circus was both the place where he grew up and the place he wanted to escape. Everyone knows that he was once a member of the "Flying Grayson" family, and he began touring with the circus as a child.

Until his parents had an accident during a performance, he was adopted by Bruce and didn't see his old friends for a long time afterward.

When Kodick heard the name, there was not a trace of nostalgia in his tone.

“I know, but I still plan to go back to Bruce Haven.”

"Why? Aren't you going to say goodbye to them before you leave?"

“I heard some things from William Cobb. It turns out that the Harry Circus was the circus William joined. The Harry Circus and Ringmaster Harry have been training claws for the court. If it weren’t for that accident, I might have been targeted by the court too—no, I was already being targeted by the court.” Dick’s tone was somewhat melancholy. “I know this isn’t all there is to the circus. My childhood, my friends, my parents’ smiles, and the applause when I first stood on the tightrope are all there. But right now, I don’t know how to face them.”

“If they come back, Bruce,” Dick sighed, “keep an eye on them.”

Just as Bruce was about to say something, the Batcave's main communication system flashed a red light. Barbara Gordon's voice came through the loudspeaker.

"Batman, this is Oracle. The Joker gang is making a move. My four ground monitoring nodes have simultaneously captured the movement of Joker gang members in the Old City. There are about twenty to thirty of them, and they are gathering in the direction of the sewage treatment plant in the Old City."

"What about time?"

"Their operation probably started early this morning, but before that it was all small, scattered movements, and their specific targets are still unclear."

"Keep a close eye on all sewer entrances around the sewage treatment plant."

"receive."

Then, the oracle's voice vanished without a trace.

"So, you're leaving?" Bruce returned to his conversation with Dick, pointing to the red light. "Even if you don't want to go to Harry's Circus, why not go see Barbara? Or Helena (the Huntress)?"

Dick's face turned ashen, as if he had swallowed two flies.

Just as he was about to say something to complain about Bruce, a spare phone hidden inside Bruce's suit vibrated.

Fewer than six people know this phone number, and if someone texts him before noon, it usually means something tricky has happened.

Bruce took out his phone, and when he saw the message, his expression changed.

Chapter Sixty-Six: Cause and Effect

At 11:00 a.m., the warehouse that Harry's Circus used to use.

Wang Baixi's hands were tied behind his back to the chair. The Penguin team used industrial cable ties bought from a hardware store, and they used four of them.

Although Wang Baixi was a little numb from being tied up, he could still understand.

After all, how can you not tie a tiger tightly?

However, the Penguin reassigned three or four of his men, who took turns hovering in front of him, which made things quite troublesome.

They even loudly announce the time every time a shift changes, as if afraid he wouldn't realize that time is passing by second by second!

Wang Baixi ignored them and suddenly turned to look at the man next to her who was also tied up.

Harry looked to be in his fifties or sixties. His left eye socket was so swollen that it was barely a slit, and there was dried blood crust on the corner of his mouth. However, his breathing was relatively steady, so he was not in any danger of dying.

"Hey, buddy. We're kind of in the same boat, aren't we?" Wang Baixi said.

Harry struggled to open his still-functioning eye and glanced at him. "You are..."