A planet slowly rotated through the boundless Dark Multiverse. Starlight soon illuminated half its surface, while the other half sank into an even deeper night.
This was a planet not particularly rich in water resources, yet cold rain fell that night. Such a rare water-cycle phenomenon should have drawn countless residents out to watch, but the streets were utterly deserted, without a single figure in sight.
Only the towering buildings flickered with cold mechanical lights. Whenever the light swept over certain parts of the streets, it revealed charred black ruins. Ruins of every size covered nearly the entire city. Then, all at once, a string of piercing laughter rang out over the city once more.
At the sound, the lights in nearly every building went out. In an instant, this advanced city of the future seemed to become a city of the dead.
Then the screen atop the tallest building in the city center suddenly lit up. First, a pair of hands gripped the camera. A figure wearing a Joker mask appeared on the screen and said:
"Evening news report! Is anyone listening? This is Mr. Joker's fifth day here, and I absolutely love this place!"
"I especially love your unique hairstyles. I really wanted to get one myself, but you all keep hiding from me. That makes me very sad..."
His voice suddenly became a faint whisper. "...You know? I'm starting to get a little bored. You're all really dull. All you do is wave those tentacle-covered heads of yours, make vicious faces, and then cry and scream..."
"Oh, come on, you bunch of monsters. Shouldn't I be the one crying? I was tricked into coming to this distant planet and stuck among a bunch of terrifying man-eating monsters. What did I do? Oh... I made seafood rice? So