indianbanksassociation Chapter 846 From this moment on, I am the Bat of Laughter!
Chapter 846 From this moment on, I am the Bat of Laughter!
Chapter 846 From this moment on, I am the Bat of Laughter!
"Hey, Bruce."
"Try to be normal," Chen Tao said.
When the Laughing Bat opened its mouth, Chen Tao's hair stood on end.
Damn it, what could be more bizarre than this?
The insidious and vicious Bat of Laughter speaks to you with that sorrowful expression, while his hand is pressing down on the struggling William, causing black smoke to rise from his body.
"You'd better let him go first, and then you can talk to me in that disgusting tone."
Chen Tao talked to the Laughing Bat while watching William, who was completely defeated.
While he wasn't entirely sure when he saw the iconic dark red skin and sharp teeth, he almost guessed what he was facing when he realized that even William's attempts to use five-dimensional magic to shift his position couldn't break free from the Bat of Laughter.
"Oh my god, the Bat of Laughter. Heavenly Blood?"
"Looks like I don't need to tell you what I've been through, my brother. I'm really curious about you; sometimes you seem to know everything and be everywhere."
Now you're calling me brother?
You disgust me!
Chen Tao's mind was racing with nonsensical thoughts, but he was still trying to decipher the maniacal laughter.
He heard the other person continue, "We are both miracles in the Dark Multiverse... I admit I'm an ambitious person. But if you had experienced what I've experienced... I'm sure you wouldn't be as kind as you are now."
Chen Tao heard the laughing bat sigh.
"Sometimes I really envy you, you know? You always believe that everything you do has meaning, and you always believe that our lives are really about heroes defeating villains and justice defeating evil, and not just an absurd one-man show."
Okay, Chen Tao understands.
The Bat Who Laughs is at it again, trying to justify his actions by presenting them as some grand, incomprehensible goal, thereby glorifying himself...
This is the Joker's most effective tactic. Once you genuinely begin to empathize with the Joker, believe his lies, and believe that he does those crazy and evil things for some reason, once you try to deconstruct them, you fall into the Joker's trap and are manipulated by him like a puppet.
Just like Harley Quinn before her, although Harley herself said that she was not driven mad by the Joker, but that she chose madness herself, the Joker still inspired a certain madness within her.
But—the Laughing Bat is also out of his mind. Who do you think I am?
Chen Tao narrowed his eyes.
Did he think such methods would work on me?
But if he's willing to indulge in romance and poetry, what's wrong with Chen Tao playing along with him?
He needs to know what the Batman Who Laughs is thinking.
"But only I know that everything is nothing but a wasteland; love, hate, and even the whole world are nothing more than a corner turned on a giant page..."
He wiped away imaginary tears with a maniacal laugh, and then Chen Tao heard him say, "I wonder what you think of Mandrake..."
"I know everything."
Wow, that's a really intimidating statement.
Such certainty shows that Batman has absolutely no doubt about this matter, but how he knows all of this is completely unclear.
No matter how you look at Batman Dragon's resume, he is still just an ordinary Batman who came out of the Dark Multiverse...
This is the place that can truly deter the maniacal laughter.
"Alright." His laughter subsided, and he said decisively, "I've run into a little problem... or rather, I might have slightly lost my right to sit at the poker table..."
Although he said that, he still put on an arrogant, "let's just say that" attitude, as if he wasn't showing weakness, but rather that "everything is going according to my plan."
"But I'm not leaving like that, you understand?" he laughed maniacally. "Neither the Worldmaker nor the Monitor, nor the Counter-Monitor, nor even Perpetua... none of them are my allies. So, I'm here to offer you help, Batman, generous, albeit unconditional, help."
The Laughing Bat released William Hand, who immediately appeared behind Chen Tao.
Then Chen Tao beckoned to him and teleported him to another room.
Chen Tao quickly stepped forward, separating the Laughing Bat from himself within a barrier composed of fifth-dimensional divine power and dark matter cosmic energy.
"Many years ago, I followed the footsteps of history, exploring the darkest past of the three brothers of the sixth dimension, my friend."
The Laughing Bat said, "You and I both know that the Hypertime Stream does not possess self-awareness; it is merely a grand, generalized concept of consciousness, similar to something like Gaia's consciousness."
"It can be deceived, manipulated, exploited, and even contradict itself. But all of this does not mean... does not mean that the trans-time stream never had the opportunity to obtain a complete consciousness, even if it is only mechanical."
As the laughing bat opened its palm, Chen Tao saw countless lights and shadows reflecting a magnificent silhouette within its palm.
It has muscles that are so angular and sculpted that even the original Superman doesn't have, and one eye flashes red while the other flashes green.
"When the great demon Mandoraq, who devours the universe, awakens, no one can stand against him, and countless universes are nearly destroyed by him..."
"That was the day the DC multiverse came closest to destruction," said the Batman Who Laughs. "Superman's power comes from the stars, and so does Ultimate Man. How could a mind-based Superman created from the two of them possibly possess the power to defeat Mandrak's wrath?"
The Batman Who Laughs is wrong here. Mind Control is not a combination of Ultimate Man and Superman, but rather a combination of the two of them plus a mind armor created by the Watchers.
It's like flying a fighter jet with your teammates, but you can't say you = the fighter jet.
"There must be some force that amplified them, a force from the DC multiverse itself... stemming from the most basic self-preservation instinct of a multiverse."
The Bat Who Laughs said, "An opportunity for the DC multiverse to truly give birth to consciousness. But that mind robot born of the will of the multiverse perished along with Mandrak's.
"What exactly are you trying to say?"
"Come on, look at me, look at me now." The Bat Who Laughs stretched out his claws: "If I were to possess the Heavenly Blood, if I were to become another Mandrak, then tell me, my brother, under that eternally red sunset, does the fact that [Mind Control and Mandrak perished together] still hold true?"
Chen Tao narrowed his eyes: "You can't possibly be...?"
"We are enemies, bats, but now I'm going to give you a trump card."
The Laughing Bat stretched out his hand, and a small wisp of energy, resembling some kind of golden hair, appeared in his palm.
"Everything is relative, and yin and yang coexist. The strength of one side will bring strength to the other. Mandrak's escape naturally brought about the resurrection of the Mind Robot... And in the current history, Mandrak's death at the hands of the Mind Robot remains an irreversible truth..."
"I intend to give you an opportunity, a chance to summon the Mind Robot when you face Mandrakal," said the Bat Who Laughs. "It's a spacetime loop. Based on the facts of what the Mind Robot did during the Final Crisis, it should have destroyed all of Mandrakal. Therefore, no matter how small this bit of Mind Robot's energy is, it will expand to infinity when it encounters Mandrakal."
"Don't think you can find this energy by traversing the timeline yourself... The history of Mandrakal and Mind Control is frozen in time. It's the same now. If I didn't possess the blood of Mandrakal, it would be almost impossible for me to enter that history. I prepared to obtain this energy many years ago, but I never had the identity of Mandrakal, so I kept putting it off. Now only I can obtain this energy, and only I can bring it to you."
"Of course," said the Batman Who Laughs. "After you gain control of this energy, you will become a thorn in Mandragora's side. He will stop at nothing to defeat and kill you without ever appearing before you, trying to seize this energy. This is something you are bound to experience. But conversely, even if I don't give you this energy, you will not allow Mandragora to be resurrected, so..."
"You wouldn't be too cowardly to take it, would you?"
Chen Tao looked at the Laughing Bat and knew that the other party was definitely up to no good. He was certain that the energy was real. Once he took it, Mandrak's malice would be directed at him, which would buy the Laughing Bat more time and distract Mandrak's attention.
Chen Tao didn't believe for a second that the Bat of Laughter had so sincerely surrendered to Mandrake.
He was using Chen Tao.
"And I can give you some information... Mandrak's desire to corrupt isn't limited to me; the Worldforger's infant multiverse is also his target. You don't think the Worldforger will obediently offer up his little treasure, do you?"
Chen Tao ignored what the Laughing Bat said next; everything he said afterward was utter nonsense.
With this amount of energy, he only has two problems:
1. Mandrake's Malice
2. A weapon to counter Mandrak's attacks!
"Give it to me."
Chen Tao naturally extended his hand.
He was 100% certain that what the Bat of Laughter had given him was a trap, but so what?
He already had a plan in mind: the Batman Who Laughs was trying to frame someone who already knew him very well, which was simply asking for humiliation.
He reached out and took the energy, then asked, "How do I use it?"
He no longer needed a reply; he had already sensed it.
He only needs to release this wisp of energy to activate the DC multiverse, and then...
Chen Tao sealed away this wisp of energy.
"We are all bats. This time, we need to unite against a common enemy, my friend," said the Bat Who Laughs.
"How can the world-builders, monitors, anti-monitors, and these high and mighty sixth-dimensional gods possibly manage the multiverse? Right?"
He laughed wildly and said, "Mandralak is my enemy, and also your enemy. There is still room for cooperation between us. I want to destroy the DC multiverse, yes, I never deny that. But none of this was caused by Mandrakralak."
That maniacal laughter is just another way of fooling people.
Chen Tao pretended to be fooled: "Destroying the multiverse... Bat of the Laughing, what exactly makes you so twisted?"
Chen Tao looked at the maniac with a pitying expression, then saw the feigned look on his face that suggested he was looking back on a painful past.
Chen Tao felt like Harley Quinn, the Joker's sympathy girl, in Arkham Asylum.
But unlike the real Harley, all of this... is fake.
Kuangxiao left, and Chen Tao stood there, watching the spot where he had gone with amusement.
You mean? The Bat of Laughter has now been corrupted by the Blood of God and turned into Mandrakal?
You mean? The Bat of Laughter is no longer the same laughing creature it once was, but has become some kind of Mandrakalpak-like being, with not a trace of its former laughter remaining on its body?
You mean...
Chen Tao didn't even have time to chat with William and the others before he vanished from the spot in a flash.
He flew into the Metal Spirit's alternate dimension, rummaging through a jumble of artifacts until he found a head...
A head with unseeing eyes, the head of a laughing bat.
Chen Tao poured out the juices inside, and even made a hole in the top, almost turning it into a chamber pot. However, it was obvious that Chen Tao was busy with other things after making it halfway, and this thing was just piled up in his collection, along with some other useless things.
Chen Tao had almost forgotten about this thing, and it was obvious that Kuangxiao had also made a stupid mistake and forgotten about it too... Oh?
On the surface, this head doesn't seem to serve any purpose.
Curse, mind control, or even mind manipulation?
What other tricks can you come up with? Do you think this will work on making people laugh hysterically?
Oh no, my friend, we can't use this as a chamber pot now. Chen Tao has realized what Kuangxiao really wants to do. This may be his only chance in this life to completely control Kuangxiao...
Right? My old friend?
As Chen Tao grasped the head he had almost forgotten, the energy of the mind robot also appeared in his palm at the same time.
Chen Tao channeled the power of the Crimson of All Beings into the head of the Laughing Bat. Immediately afterward, the brain matter that he had taken out to put as a crown nearby flew into the Laughing Bat's skull from the top of its head like a siphon.
Then, in the next instant, something miraculous happened: large amounts of flesh and limbs began to extend and lengthen from beneath the head—
Finally, it grows into a complete body.
Meanwhile, Mandrake the Laughing Bat, who had already broken through space and was outside countless parallel universes, also slightly curled the corners of his mouth.
"Thank you, thank you very much, my friend."
When the maniacal laughter that had grown from the head in Chen Tao's warehouse fell to the ground, Chen Tao knew that it was all part of the maniacal laughter's plan.
"You're using me to get rid of Mandrak's influence, and I'm willing to help you, so, old friend... you owe me a favor."
With a wave of his hand, Chen Tao sent a seed flying to the hole in the head of the Laughing Bat, where plant roots began to grow.
As he relentlessly subjected the maniacal laugher to various forms of torture, he said:
"You'd better give me a good return."
"Mandralak knows I gave you the method to summon mind robots," he laughed wildly. "As a result, Mandralak also needs an opportunity to devour mind robots."
Completely oblivious to the fact that he was being manipulated by Batman, the Batman Who Laughs laughed:
"Now that you know their purpose, I think you know how... to turn the tables on them, right?"
"My dear old friend?"
He reached out his hand to Batman Dragon:
"This is our first and only collaboration. You trust me because..."
"Should I temporarily entrust everything I have to you?"
The Bat Who Laughs declared, "From this moment on, you are the Bat Who Laughs!"
(End of this chapter)