When Batman crawled out of the car, looking sowhat disheveled, his understanding of the vehicle's ergency safety system reached a new level.
He shook his slightly dizzy head, opened his eyes, and walked to the side of the car, intending to pull Joker out as well.
But at this mont, he noticed that the rear door of the car had been blown away in the explosion, leaving a gap for soone to crawl out. While he was struggling with the airbag, Joker had already slipped away from behind.
Batman took a deep breath and looked through the Batmobile at the large pit that had been blown up by several rockets in front of the steps.
Then he looked up and surveyed the surroundings, confirming that he was indeed in the waiting hall of Arkham Asylum, not Gotham's Elizabeth Street or the Living Hell Waterworks.
During the ti he was struggling to get out of the car, the situation at Arkham Asylum had changed once again.
Since Ghost appeared on the third floor, the patients on that floor were the first to take action. After the fourth and fifth floors were alerted, they provided firepower support to the third floor. Poor Ghost didn't last long and turned into a faint green light, disappearing on the spot.
But the people of Gotham were always ready to take revenge. In order to ensure that Ghost was truly dead, they used so safe and compliant weapons to thoroughly eliminate the threat.
Most of the patients here were not well-educated, and they didn't understand load-bearing walls or architectural chanics. They just attacked any corner they could find, using not only guns but also explosives. As a result, the corner of the third-floor corridor collapsed.
Fortunately, Arkham Asylum was not a high-rise building, and the overall structure was large and stable. It didn't collapse entirely just because one corner had crumbled.
However, the unlucky ones were the people on the third floor. After the ceiling of the third floor collapsed, the unfortunate individuals in the corresponding rooms on the fourth floor fell directly onto the third floor and were injured by the falling floorboards.
Many of the people on the third floor were subordinates of the injured individuals, and when they saw their leader getting hurt, they rushed up to defend him and angrily accused others of being too reckless.
"Fisherman! Do you have eyes on your nose? Can't you see that the corner of the wall has cracked? How dare you throw grenades?!"
"Shut your mouth, Lawrence! You and your father are both softies from the West District. When the shootout happened, did you really have to check if the corner of the wall was cracked?!"
"You Pelican Gang just want trouble! When the water supply was allocated, you took two pipelines from us. It's only because of Schiller Doctor that I didn't co looking for trouble!"
"I'll blow your dog head off, Antonio! Do you have the right to speak here? Have you forgotten how your uncle died?"
"Shut your stinking mouth, Fisherman! Bang!"
"Bang! Bang! Bang! Rat-a-tat-tat..."
In an instant, the entire corridor descended into chaos. Everyone grabbed weapons nearby and started a shootout. The corridor was illuminated by the flas, making it as bright as day. The scene could not be described as peaceful negotiation or friendly communication; it was a settling of scores and grievances.
The shootout began on the third floor, and the fourth floor couldn't escape either. Soon, the leaders of the Living Hell's southeast, northwest, and Elizabeth Street's four giants joined the fierce battle. The leaders of the Twelve Families also wanted to help, turning Arkham Asylum into a ss.
In an office on the edge of the second floor, a small figure held a telephone and said to the other end:
"Yes, I'm looking for Copperpot... Yes, please tell the boss that the situation here is a bit chaotic. It would be best if he ca in person..."
"Well, it all started with Fisherman from the South District. Do you know him? The bearded guy suddenly started shooting and claid there were ghosts. The people on the third floor said they saw ghosts..."
"...I don't know because I didn't see it with my own eyes. After they started fighting, they asked to go upstairs and call the others..."
"Correct, that's what I think too. If they fight too fiercely, the doctors and nurses will get angry..."
"If he's coming, he'd better co quickly..." The freckled little boy turned his head and looked out the window, saying:
"Look at the weather, it's probably going to snow again."
Looking out through the window, in the dark sky, snowflakes were falling gently, followed by more snowflakes.
When the snow fell, everything beca silent. But as the breeze picked up, the drifting snow turned into sharp blades, accompanied by a chilling sound, sweeping up the thin layer of ice that hadn't lted on the Gotham roads, rushing through the Gotham Manor district.
Inside Schiller's manor, the atmosphere remained calm and peaceful. The fire in the fireplace rose, casting various shadows on the wall behind it. Hal looked at the flickering shadows, slightly distracted, but soon, Schiller ca down from upstairs with Dick and Aisha.
rkel imdiately approached and said to Schiller, "Mr. Hal has been waiting for a while."
"Oh, it's alright. I ca too early," Hal quickly replied.
"No," Schiller patted Dick's back and said, "Today's lesson is quite important, so I delayed it a bit. I hope you don't mind."
"But why did you co to pick them up?" Schiller asked with so confusion. "Where's Alfred?"
"Oh..." Hal showed a sowhat embarrassed expression. He rubbed his hands and said, "This is a Wayne Family matter, and I feel like I shouldn't..."
Schiller looked at him from above his glasses, and Hal sighed, reluctantly saying, "Well, Alfred went to deal with Constantine."
Schiller signaled to rkel, who imdiately approached Dick and Aisha and said, "Miss, and young master, Mr. Rodriguez recently acquired two new picture books. Let's go to the book room and take a look."
After the two children left, Hal sat back on the sofa, leaning against the soft backrest, and sighed. He said, "You should know that Batman has been investigating that Constantine..."
"His thod of investigation is to follow him in all his spare ti, and recently, it seems like he's been following him particularly closely.""Alfred was dissatisfied with this. Initially, I didn't quite understand. I thought Bruce was an adult and it was his own choice how he wanted to do things. But later I found out that Constantine actually..."
Hal wore a rather speechless expression, mixed with a hint of disdain. He said, "He went a bit too far with his antics. If I were Alfred, I wouldn't let Bruce get involved with soone like that."
"So, Alfred plans to warn Constantine?"
Hal pursed his lips, recalling Alfred's expression when he left and the shotgun he had in his hand. He said, "The word 'warn' might not be accurate..."
"But why did he choose today to go?"
"I didn't dare ask, but I heard on the radio that this guy called Joker seems to have planned so kind of explosion. He should be keeping Batman occupied, and Alfred knows this. He has enough ti to 'warn' Constantine."
"And..." Hal hesitated for a mont and said, "I feel like the old Alfred wouldn't have been so impulsive, but ever since he went to tropolis and ca back, his mood seems a bit off. Do you know why?"
Schiller lowered his head and studied the patterns on the table. Hal wore a skeptical expression, but his eye contact wasn't as intense as Batman's. If Schiller didn't say anything, he couldn't do much.
"Oh, by the way," Schiller suddenly rembered sothing and said to Hal, "I was actually planning to invite you over at so point, and since you're here today to pick up the children, it works out."
"What?"
Schiller reached into his pocket and took out a piece of mineral emitting green light.
Seeing this strange mineral, Hal instinctively moved aside, but soon he widened his eyes and stared directly at the mineral. He said, "Is this... Green Lantern energy?"
"Correct," Schiller nodded, acknowledging this. He said, "During my trip to tropolis, I made quite a discovery. The most important one being that I obtained a certain type of mineral."
"This mineral was originally ant to weaken people with superpowers, but after so processing by , it turned into... this."
As he spoke, Schiller took out a transparent, colorless crystal from another pocket. He turned the crystal around and said, "So glutton ate the energy here but spat out the mineral like a peach pit."
"Previously, the radiation here was also green, just like Green Lantern's energy. So I thought, could this mineral also carry Green Lantern's energy?"
"After conducting so experints, I found that my speculation was correct. This mineral can indeed serve as a vessel for Green Lantern energy."
Hal hesitated, pondered for a mont, and asked in confusion, "Putting that aside for now, where did you get the Green Lantern energy from?"
"Oh, you an this," Schiller said casually, "I suffer from a rare ntal illness called dissociative identity disorder. Among my multiple personalities, there happens to be one that can summon a Green Lantern ring. So I summoned a Green Lantern ring and conducted a little experint..."
Hal looked at the mineral filled with Green Lantern energy. He had also been a Green Lantern before and knew the nature of Green Lantern energy. He shook his head and said, "...The amount of Green Lantern energy contained in that thing you have in your hand is not sothing a single ring can provide."
"I never said this was provided by a single ring."
"But..." Hal reached out his hand and said, "Alright, even if you have so ntal illness and multiple personalities, Green Lanterns are chosen based on the number of physical beings. Two Green Lantern rings wouldn't find the sa Green Lantern."
"Moreover, Green Lantern rings have safety locks. Green Lantern energy can only stay in the ring or be infused into a Green Lantern's body. It can't be extracted. If everyone could extract Green Lantern energy from the ring, it would be chaotic."
"That's true."
To Hal's surprise, Schiller not only didn't deny it, but also acknowledged it seriously. He said, "You're right about what you said. But how I managed to do all this, we have to start with what you said."
"Start with what I said?" Hal was completely puzzled.
Schiller played with the green crystal in his hand and casually said, "Do you rember what happened after you broke into Wayne Manor before?"
"I rember, but how did you know?... Oh, I see, that little traitor Dick, he actually told you everything!"
"Yes, including your embarrassing mont when you begged for rcy with a shotgun pointed at you."
Hal's face fell, and he muttered softly. Schiller continued, "Do you rember how the ring fell off your hand?"
"Aisha attacked and bit onto my arm. I tried to shake her off, but she flew out with my ring... Wait, you can't be..."
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