novelhk Chapter 359 Bruce Wayne is dead? Oh, really dead.
Chapter 359 Bruce Wayne is dead? Oh, really dead.
Chapter 359 Bruce Wayne is dead? Oh, really dead.
Gotham's nights are anything but peaceful; they're even noisier than the days. Gunshots and shouts rise and fall, and neon lights, emitting light pollution, flash incessantly, but no one dares to shout here—in front of the Wayne Enterprises building.
This building represents the most powerful and terrifying force in all of Gotham.
At the very top of this towering building, the biting wind pierced one's face like steel knives, and the stench of blood, urine, and fear mingled into a suffocating, bizarre atmosphere, while the city's de facto ruler stood on the edge of the rooftop.
He was dressed in a tight-fitting suit, his dark blue cape billowing in the cold wind, his muscles bulging, and his owl-like helmet symbolizing his identity as Night Owl, the man who ruled all of Gotham, the nightmare of countless children, who was now looking down at the trembling man at his feet through his goggles.
The man trembling with excessive fear is a member of the clown gang in the city.
"It's too obvious," Night Owl thought to himself as he looked at the man at his feet. He was dressed as a clown, his face pale, and his mouth was painted with a perpetual smile in bright red paint. But his wrists were already pierced by steel hooks, and blood dripped from his fingertips, leaving winding, dark red marks on the concrete.
Why are the Jokers so tenacious? Do they really have to kill their leader, the Joker?
The owl pondered to itself.
Standing next to him was a man also dressed in a bodysuit—Night Owl's only family member, Claw Grayson.
"I found out." Grayson's eyes flashed with a cold expression. He was in a very bad mood. Not long ago, the man who played the role of a father in his life had just confessed to being the murderer of Grayson's parents. "His name is Allen. He has parents and a younger brother."
"No! Please—" Allen, the Joker's gang member, cried out hoarsely, his voice damaged by prolonged screaming. He had joined the Joker's team out of a yearning for justice, but he could also betray them out of fear. "I'll talk, I'll talk, I know where the Joker is—"
The owl did not answer.
When Grayson mentioned that Alan had parents and a younger brother, Night Owl's memory was pulled back to that alleyway more than a decade ago.
At the time, Nite Owl's parents and brother were still alive. His father, Thomas, was a famous surgeon in Gotham, but he liked to cut off parts of the patient's body during surgery to satisfy his perverted collecting fetish, which led to numerous lawsuits against him.
His mother, Martha, was a spendthrift woman. She was scolding the cowardly Thomas because their mentally challenged youngest son, Bruce Wayne, wanted to buy a handgun. However, the family was already impoverished due to Martha's extravagance and Thomas's legal troubles.
Just as Martha was scolding her husband, their eldest son, Thomas Wayne Jr., pulled a gun out of his pocket and pointed it at his nominal parents.
"Raise your hands."
He was fed up with his mother's extravagance, fed up with his father's cowardice and incompetence, and even more so with this seemingly glamorous but actually impoverished home. So, Thomas and Bruce conspired to lure their parents to this rarely visited alley.
But Martha wasn't afraid. She leaned down, looked Thomas straight in the eye, and angrily berated the two brothers, "What the hell are you doing? Get the guns away now and get back to the car!"
Thomas, however, remained aloof and observed.
However, what Martha and Thomas didn't know was that Thomas was serious. Just as Thomas was about to pull the trigger, Bruce suddenly changed his mind, grabbed Thomas, and the two started fighting.
What happened after that?
Night Owl's face was shrouded in darkness, pain and sorrow surging within him like a flood breaking its banks. Then, three gunshots rang out.
A shot landed on his cowardly and incompetent father.
A shot landed on his extravagant mother.
The last shot landed on his beloved younger brother.
"It's all over, Master Thomas." Alfred stepped out of the shadows and blew on the muzzle of his gun.
An owl in a nearby tree witnessed everything.
The scream shattered Night Owl's memory. The claws seemed to have gone berserk as they tortured the man. Allen's screams and pleas were torn to shreds by the cold wind, and some of them happened to reach Night Owl's ears.
"Does someone like you deserve to have parents and a brother?" Claw's voice burned with surging anger and a hint of unknown jealousy.
Click!
After a long period of torture, Claw finally finished enjoying this rare pleasure. He decisively snapped Allen's neck, and Allen's face, contorted with fear, slammed heavily to the ground, tears mingling with blood streaming down his face.
Claw's chest heaved.
"Go back," Night Owl said, his voice carrying a plea he himself didn't even realize.
Claw shook his head heavily and slowly: "No, I will prove that I am stronger than you!"
He then took two steps back, jumped off the building, and disappeared into the skyscrapers of Gotham.
The owl closed its eyes in anguish.
High in the sky, Rune coldly watched this scene unfold. He already knew that something was wrong with this world, but he never expected it to have fallen to such a state.
Superpower is obsessed with brutal rule and consuming Kryptonite, Supergirl uses her charm and power to obtain money, and Johnny Quick roams the world, indiscriminately killing or raping ordinary people.
He knew, of course, which world Earth 3 was in, where everything was completely reversed, and the traditional superhero characters existed as villains, while the villains of the normal universe became righteous superheroes.
Even the idea that good triumphs over evil has been completely altered; in this world, superheroes who represent justice are the ones being suppressed.
But this is not without its advantages.
Imagine, there's a clown in this universe who symbolizes justice!
As the most popular villain in the DC Universe, the Joker has long transcended the traditional binary of good and evil, becoming a symbol of chaos, madness, and social critique. He is an out-of-control person who tears apart order with laughter and forces Batman to confront the darkness.
But in Rune's eyes, the Joker's importance goes beyond that.
To prove that Batman is essentially the same as himself, the Joker will go to great lengths to torture Batman and test his moral limits. But he never wants Batman to die. If Batman dies, who will "play" with him?
Therefore, the Joker is often the safest when Batman is in the most danger, but the Joker is often the most dangerous when Batman is in the safest.
Imagine, there's a clown in this universe who symbolizes justice!
As the most popular villain in the DC Universe, the Joker has long transcended the traditional binary of good and evil, becoming a symbol of chaos, madness, and social critique. He is an out-of-control person who tears apart order with laughter and forces Batman to confront the darkness.
But in Rune's eyes, the Joker's importance goes beyond that.
To prove that Batman is essentially the same as himself, the Joker will go to great lengths to torture Batman and test his moral limits. But he never wants Batman to die. If Batman dies, who will "play" with him?
Therefore, the Joker is often the safest when Batman is in the most danger, but the Joker is often the most dangerous when Batman is in the safest.
The only person who could possibly unite the Joker and Batman against each other seems to be someone who has absorbed the worst aspects of both and is solely focused on winning against everyone.
After all, if there isn't even a Batman who can laugh among the Forsaken, Rune would be very disappointed.