Superman's super brain, apart from having super intelligence, also has super mory. While he does not often use it, it is actually a passive skill. Superman can fully rember everything he sees, and every detail is very clear.
He won't notice abnormality when he does not recall this part of mory, but as long as he wants to reminisce, he can recall every detail of all the things that have happened since he started to have mory.
When Lord Superman turned his attention to so possible abnormalities where Batman might exist, he imdiately rembered so fragnts.
Batman indeed had not just recently shown signs of abnormalities.
Lord Superman's mory began to constantly trace back to the past, until it stopped at a very special point in ti, that was the night when they finally completed the managent of public security on Earth and held a celebration banquet.
The party and the revelry were as usual, Batman's silence was as usual too, but he surprisingly did not leave early. Instead, he stood in the corner of the party dance floor, quietly watching everything.
Lord Superman could feel that he was very happy, because of his far beyond normal observation ability, and also because of his familiarity with Batman. Although Batman did not smile, this posture was already the happiest expression he could make.
So where did the turn of events occur?
Lord Superman rembered that he drank so wine that night and surprisingly allowed himself to feel a bit drunk. So, he put his arm around Batman's shoulder, and the two went to the rooftop to get so fresh air.
He was enthusiastic and waved his arm, saying that he could definitely bring such peace to all the cosmos. From then on, people would no longer need to suffer the threat of criminals, and they would certainly lead a well-ordered and happy life.
Then what did he say? Lord Superman brushed away the illusionary fog brought by alcohol. He heard Batman say that although there was no threat from criminals, people's lives were not necessarily happy.
Lord Superman expressed his puzzlent, as he thought Batman always wanted to build a society without criminals. Wasn't this considered a perfect society?
However, Batman said that many people in this world live in underdeveloped areas, which are often remote and backward, with harsh natural conditions. They are living in long-term poverty and can't enjoy the conveniences of modern urban life at all.
In other words, there are only a few people in this world who can enjoy safety and convenience at the sa ti. Most people always lack sothing, and Batman felt that he should fill in the gap.
Lord Superman vaguely rembered that Batman seed to have talked a lot about urban construction, technological developnt and even the idea of colonizing space, but he did not listen carefully that night.
What he enjoyed was constantly annihilating criminals, seeing the relieved expressions on the faces of people living on Earth when they looked up at the sky. That made him feel the aning of his existence and made him feel that what he's doing now is right.
He began to crave this feeling more and more. That night, he almost couldn't wait to have Batman make a portal for him, so he could go to other Earths and continue doing such things.
Batman didn't refuse, but Lord Superman felt Batman's disappointnt.
Maybe everything changed from that mont on. Batman closed the slightly opened door to his heart again. He no longer felt that any of them in the team were his kind, not even Lord Superman.
Upon recalling this, Lord Superman felt both angry and wronged. He instinctively said, "I just wanted justice to spread further, and I just wanted to save more people."
"What do you think is considered saved?" Constantine suddenly spoke up. He took a puff of smoke, blew a smoke ring, looked at the sky with a sowhat lost gaze and said, "Do you think a human society without criminals is the ultimate form?"
Lord Superman suddenly widened his eyes. He had not told anyone about the situation of his cosmos, so how did this Constantine know about it?
"Don't be puzzled, I co from the sa cosmos as you. But while you were causing havoc on Earth, I hid in the Spirit Prison. I haven't been back to Earth for a long ti."
Constantine coughed heavily a few tis, sniffed his nose, and then said, "I know I will definitely be categorized by you as a criminal, and then get my brain burnt. But sorry, I still have things to do, so please spare my brain."
Lord Superman's eyes were flashing red at this ti, but it was then that the Joker, Arthur, spoke up and said, "What do you think is a cri? Is murder a cri?"
"Of course, it violates the law."
"What if he kills this person to save many others?" The Joker, Arthur, chuckled and said, "Isn't that the sa as what you're doing?"
"And if causing pain to people is considered a cri, why are the businessn and politicians who make us holess and hungry still alive?"
The Joker lowered his eyes and said, "The law protects their interests and you protect the law. This is your justice."
If it were before, Lord Superman's heat vision would have been fired. But in Lord Superman's mind, Batman's words kept spinning around. Batman once said to him, "Annihilating the criminals on Earth is not the end, but the beginning."
Originally, Lord Superman interpreted this sentence as an endorsent to his idea. Of course, extinguishing a criminal on one Earth is not the end. They still have to save more Earths in other cosmos.
But did he misunderstand it?
Lord Superman felt a headache coming on.
After hesitating for a while, Lord Superman still looked at the young Bruce next to him and said, "The cosmos we live in..."
He briefly introduced the situation of his Earth and said, "And then Batman told that night, 'Annihilating the criminals on Earth is not the end, but the beginning', what do you think he ant by that?"
Bruce was taken aback, and then he said, "'I hope you can stay and build our Earth with ', that's what he ant."
Lord Superman was completely frozen.
Then he covered his eyes with his hand, feeling his brain buzzing.
How in the world is the previous sentence translated to the next one? Is there any connection between them at all?!
At this mont, Bruce spoke again: "But what he wanted to say really was, 'Our lives will have a new start, so will our relationship.'"
Then Bruce asked curiously, "How did you respond then?"
Lord Superman covered his face with one hand and propped himself up with the other on the table before him and said: "I said, 'Yes, if you could build your portal fast enough, we could indeed start dispensing justice in more parts of the cosmos.'
All those present, including Owen on stage, hushed Lord Superman.
"Your response is just like saying 'If the car could co pick you up a little earlier, we could go ho sooner and start chatting online."' Bruce shrugged off.
"I didn't... but why wouldn't he just make it clear? Could he just straightforwardly say, 'We've been getting along quite well, I hope we can continue to be together,' or simply say, 'I don't want to build a portal, we should stay on Earth together'. Why wouldn't he?"
"Because he is Batman."
In Shiller's ward, it was noon, and his hands were freed so he could hold his oatal porridge by himself.
And then Batman ca in. He slightly lifted one of his eyebrows at Shiller and asked, "How's it going?"
"I was just about to talk to you about it," Shiller motioned to the chair next to him with his chin, and Batman sat down.
As soon as Batman sat down, Shiller said, "I ca to a rather astonishing conclusion."
"What?"
"This Batman is not sick."
Batman exhibited the largest shift in expression since the start of the ga, barely holding it together.
"I know it's surprising, but don't be stunned yet," Shiller stirred the porridge in his hand and continued, "After hours of deep thought, I arrived at this conclusion. Despite being quite shocking, and sowhat unbelievable, this universe's Batman is almost not sick."
"Almost not sick, which implies he still is?"
Shiller gently shook his head and said, "He exhibits so minor signs of depression, but not enough to be diagnosed as clinical depression. He also has a little generally ordinary work-related anxiety, but it's not enough to be categorized as an anxiety disorder."
Batman's hand froze completely.
Then, turning to him, Shiller dropped an even bigger bombshell: "He hasn't been healed; he was simply never sick."
Batman fell silent in contemplation.
"But the final result is not firm yet," Shiller recalled after sipping his porridge, "What matters the most to you is how he views his parents' deaths, it's the criterion to define whether his ntal state is normal or not. Yet it's not an easy topic to broach."
"What do you want to do?" Batman asked, staring straight at Shiller. He then added, "I'll cooperate with you as much as I can."
Shiller looked at him in silence. After a while, Batman spoke again, "You know, every single Batman that we, Thomas, Martha, and I have encountered, the state we exhibited, it made them feel imnse guilt."
"They believe that their deaths completely shaped us, created a suffering patient, or were at the very least tortured in the past. This is a devastating truth. I'm sure they've been trying hard to accept it, but have not entirely succeeded."
"And you hope to let them see that at least one Bruce has bravely weathered it and managed to pull through, almost without any sequela."
"Is there?" Batman asked.
Shiller's hand, stirring the oatal porridge, paused, he said, "The vast majority, like you, have already been etched with scars. A small portion, like so of my students, have been barely cured. There are others..."
Shiller shook his head without uttering a word, but Batman understood his aning - there are also others who were inevitably sliding further into the abyss, until the character is utterly unrecognizable.
After a brief pause, Shiller said, "Secured an examination room for that's going to be empty for the whole night. I'll take care of everything else."
Batman nodded and imdiately left.
When Shiller turned to look out the window, he saw Beihan playing basketball with a male nurse in the courtyard below. Beihan jumped high, dunking the ball into the hoop, and his black hair fell from his temples.
Shiller closed his eyes, the scenes from the Batman trilogy flashing in his mind.
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