Chapter 578: I, Joker (17)
Translator: Lonelytree
Gordon’s eyes were overflowing with endless despair and fear but he was powerless to change his fate. Several seconds later, he fell from the platform and died when he hit the ground. When the crowd saw Gordon’s body, their conviction started to shake…
“Are we mistaken?””Gordon… is the real liar?””The power of the Bat King is real!””We have been tricked by the Joker!” The crowd who was shouting to overthrow the bat earlier now had changed their mind. In this world of Marvel, people were like sheep. They might cry for the massacre of all the mutants today and tomorrow they would demand that all the superheroes reveal their real identities and then the day after that, they would beg the same people for help.
Do they really have faith? No… they do not. They do not even have a belief. Falseness, reality, rationality and stupidity… the combination of these things made up these people. In the end, the thing that decided their faith was ultimately—their survival. It was just like the saying in that movie—”They will help whoever that wins.” And Feng Bujue was very familiar with that….
“Ha ha ha ha…” A maddening laughter rang out next. The next second, Feng Bujue (Joker) Appeared on all the big screens in the city again, “Tsk tsk, dear old bionic batman, you sure are one heartless bastard…”
“What is this…” The Bruce instantly growled into the communicator, “Why would he show up on screen?”
“Erm… we have no idea, sir.” The workers at the command central immediately replied, “We did not send any video signal out of this place.”
“Qie…” The Bruce ordered, “Then try to find a way to stop him!”
“We have been trying but…” The same voice replied. “They won’t work.” He paused. “It’s hard to tell the way he has used to hack into our system but the fact is he has a higher authority than us now…” When the Bruce heard that, his expression slowly changed as the answer dawned on him. “Klibon…” He gritted his teeth. “Damn it… I should have anticipated this.”
“hmph…” On the big screens, Brother jue was still continuing, “You really think after killing Gordon and pushing all the blame on him, you will reinstate yourself on the throne?” He raised his voice. “And you fools… bunch of idiots! In the past decades, you have seen many similar shows before. Are you going to be fooled by him again? What difference is there this time?”
“He’s right!””Gordon’s death does not represent anything!””Liar!””Come and take your judgement!”
…
Seeing the attitude of the mob change again, the anger in The Bruce’s heart was rising. At this point, he only had one option left.
“Shut up!” The Bruce stood at the edge of the platform, opened his cape and roared through the speaker on his armor. His voice travelled in sound waves and with his king-like presence, he managed to silence the entire crowd outside the bat castle instantly.
“you want my blood, is it?” The bruce looked down on this kingdom that he had ruled for years. He looked at this group of stupid and greedy citizen and said something extremely prideful. “Then come and take it for yourself!” He said as he took one step forward and jumped down from the castle. The black dragon’s wing opened in the sky and the bat’s shadow dived down. At that moment, the crowd on the ground retreated instinctually… because they finally realized even if the Bruce was not a god, he was a veritable killing machine.
Bang—A loud crash. Spidery cracks appeared on the cement ground. The King of Gotham landed on his feet and a circle was carved out among the mess of people. No one dared to take one step close to the God king.
“Come…” The Bruce stood and said arrogantly. “I am standing before you and you do not even have the courage to raise your weapon at me?” And then someone really fired. This was what was different about guns. To kill with a gun and to kill with cold steel was completely different concept… Perhaps no one dared to fight the Bruce head on but that did not mean no one dared to fire a gun. After the first gunshot was fired, naturally there would be second and third…
Several minutes later, all the citizens who were closer to the Bruce and who had guns all unloaded on the man.
However… Under the protection of the battle armor, The Bruce stood like a statue and did not even budge. The bullets ricocheted off his body and the stray bullets flew into the crowd. After a series of gunshots, there were cries and wails of pain and anger…
Blood did flow but not one came from the God king of Gotham but the people around him crumbled.
“To question my godliness is the biggest mistake you fools have ever committed in your lives…” The Bruce said as he took slow steps forward, “I will personally deliver your judgement to have all of you remember—the only truth in this city.”
“So that is your plan? What is it called? Batman Musuo?” Feng Bujue continued in a mocking tone. “To use extreme violence to spread fear and build a new foundation of faith on that fear. Ha ha ha… That is so banal, and extremely boring.”
“Who are you to question my methods?” The bruce knew the Joker could hear him so he lifted his head to reply, “Are you not spreading fear yourself?”
“yes.” Feng Bujue admitted easily, “But my purpose is different than yours, I do not wish to rule anyone… Hue hue hue… I only wish for the people here to understand some basic principles.”
“Basic principles?” The Bruce scoffed. “Hmph…. From how I see it the only principle you can teach is how to start an anarchy…”
“Many years ago…” Brother Jue interrupted the man and continued in a more severe tone, “In this city, there were indeed many who were viewed by you all as mad people… these bunch of sociopaths and anarchists were given the name of supervillains.” He shook his head. “But I wish to stress again—me, the Joker is different from them…”
Suddenly something else happened.
“Quick look!””Oh, god! That is…””it’s batman!””It’s our new god! Our new God has arrived!” The crowd broke out in a ruckus because they saw another person in a batsuit and bat glider… flying through the night sky.
“Hmm?” The Bruce lifted his head to look and said darkly. “Collins, is it… Hah… I knew you would come.” Even though Joe was wearing a mask, the Bruce still recognized him in one glance because the Bruce’s battle armor had very advanced facial recognition technology. As long as the info of the person had been inputted in the system and the heat sensory system was performing fine, then a mask was nothing to hinder the recognition.
“Nice timing!” The Bruce said as he raised his left arm to fire a bright yellow laser at Collins in the sky. “Die!”
Joe reacted very quickly, with a flap of his cape, he turned in the air and brushed past the attack and landed about 10 metres before the Bruce. The crowd around them retreated like waves, obviously… they decided to allow the two king of the bats decide this among themselves.
“Finally plan to take on someone your own size for once?” After Joe steadied himself, he closed the cape to cover his own body and challenged the bruce.
“you are very clever to know to use the cape to cover your offensive intention.” The Bruce commented, “But unfortunately… these tricks are meaningless before me.” He was not bluffing. He was able to see Joe pick through the utility belt with his heat sensor device.
“Today will be your last, the Bruce!” Joe shouted as he threw out a batarang.
“ha ha…” The Bruce smirked and responded with the same batarang. His timing was slower than Joe but his batarang managed to bounce Joe’s away and continue to fly forward. With no other choice, Joe had to roll to the side and lean to the wall to evade this. When the batarang flew past him, he shouted, “Your armor will not protect you forever!”
“But it is doing that just fine, right about now, isn’t it?” The Bruce answered easily. “Hmph… Collins, show me all you got, I have been waiting for a challenger like yourself for so long.” Excitement danced in his eyes, “Come and kill me, and you will be the new god!”
“Don’t take me as the same as you…” Joe darted forward and jumped into a kick. “Do not wish to be any God, I want to be—Batman!”
Crack—
Joe’s kick landed on the Bruce’s jaw, this part was not protected by the armor, the heavy impact caused small concussion and this caused the Bruce to stagger backwards.
[Impossible…] The Bruce was shocked after he was hit. [How is he so strong? This is not capable by a mere human.]
“Something must be troubling you, right, bruce?” Feng Bujue started to pull people’s attention on the screens again. “You must be thinking, how could your body who had been strengthened and combined with a super powerful battle armor be injured by a normal person who is only wearing a normal batsuit and armed with nothing but his arms and legs, right?” He paused for two seconds as if preparing to give the answer but…
“Ha ha ha ha… I will not tell you why!” Brother Jue laughed and opened his arms. He turned away from the camera. “Go and figure it out yourself! Ha ha ha…” Then he ended the signal.
…
At the same time, inside the batcave.
“Have you had your fun?” Ruoyu told Brother Jue as she walked towards him.
“Eh? How come you have stopped calling me little pudding?” Brother Jue asked with a smile.
“Now I suspect…” Ruoyu added, “…whether it was necessary for me to call that earlier…”
“of course it was, I have already told you… it was to maintain the characterization.” Feng Bujue confirmed. “It is definitely not because I personally want to hear you call me that.”
Ruoyu’s icy gaze shot at Brother Jue. “Feng Bujue, you should be thankful that you are Feng Bujue.”
“Hmm, what do you mean by that?” brother Jue was confused.
“Leader, how dull can you be?” Soulie added, “You don’t even understand the meaning behind that?”
“Brother Jue has always been rather slow when it comes to things like that…” Xiao Tan who was helping Prof Klibon move heavy objects chimed in, “But Sister Rain’s words are rather cryptic too…”
“Oh!” An epiphany occurred to Feng Bujue, “I get it now!” He turned to tell Ruoyu, “You mean, you might not be so polite if it was someone else is it? Hue hue hue…”
Ruoyu sighed. “Aiz… I think I should file a sexual harassment complaint against you when I have time, I think I will be quite interesting.”
“I say… you people.” At that moment, Klibon suddenly spoke. He was not that surprised by the conversation between these few aliens, he added calmly, “I have to remind you all. Even though Joe has been shot with the diluted ‘Wayne’s Blood’, the chance of him winning the Bruce is still minimal.” He puffed out a ring of smoke. “Don’t you forget… The battle armor that I designed has an essential difference compared to Bruce Wayne’s design, what I created is a killing machine.”
“Don’t worry, prof, I will not let Joe die.” Feng Bujue replied with a hard to read expression, “But… the test for him is only beginning.”