Godhood Unlocked: I Chose Sci-Magic Dual Cultivation

And now Harold had betrayed him. Though he was used to betrayal, Batman would surely still feel hurt this time.

In a place like Gotham, human nature could not withstand any test.

On the other side of Gotham City, Batman had already arrived at the clock tower, where he found Deathstroke in his yellow-and-black uniform.

"Look who it is. Batman."

Deathstroke said it deliberately. Of course, he knew Bruce Wayne was Batman.

But aside from money, Deathstroke was interested in nothing.

In the past, many people in Gotham had been willing to pay him to kill Batman, and Deathstroke had nearly succeeded several times.

But when he learned that the man beneath Batman's mask was Bruce Wayne, he abandoned the job.

Because killing Batman and killing Bruce Wayne came with two different price tags!

Deathstroke felt he had been fooled, so he decisively dropped the contract.

But that was how he and Batman became enemies.

"You paid so much to hire me. Don't tell me you just wanted me to stand here and enjoy the view with you?"

Batman spoke calmly. "Were you responsible for what happened to Nightwing?"

He had questioned Nightwing. Just like when Batman had been chasing Catwoman, Nightwing had fallen from a skyscraper during the attack.

But his suit was still the old model, so he had smashed his skull on impact.

He had even been besieged by gangsters who had been lying in wait around the landing site when he tried to get back up.

If Red Hood had not arrived in time, Dick would have been dead already!

Deathstroke did not deny what he had done. He admitted it openly.

"Someone paid ten million just to have me cut his rope. Why wouldn't I take the money?"

Batman clenched his fists. Ten million—that was exactly the ransom amount.

So his instincts had been right. All of this had been planned by the same person. What was his goal?

Then he suddenly remembered the scene of Poison Ivy controlling Superman.

In fact, that had been one of the many plans he had devised to deal with Superman.

In other words, Hush had most likely drawn inspiration from his computer.

"Do you have any other leads on that employer?"

Deathstroke sneered.

"You know how I am. I take the money and never care who the employer is."

"I'm a mercenary, not a detective."

"But for another twenty million, I'll give you one more piece of information."

"I know Clayface is working for him too."

After saying that, Deathstroke lost all interest in staying and turned to leave.

Batman silently memorized the intelligence, then returned to Wayne Manor with Catwoman.

When he went looking for Harold to ask about the Batcomputer, he discovered that Harold had vanished.

Batman realized that he might have been betrayed.

Hush had gotten ahead of Batman once again.

At that moment, Nightwing, whose condition had been improving, suddenly took a turn for the worse. His illness began to worsen.

"Bruce, Dick's condition is terrible! He says his head hurts like it's about to split open!"

Barbara rushed over to him anxiously.

Bruce immediately called Thomas and said he wanted to transfer Dick back to the hospital.

But Thomas sternly warned him, "His injury is in his brain. If you move him carelessly now, the consequences will be unimaginable!"

Bruce used the technology in the Batcave to examine Nightwing, and he had no choice but to admit that Thomas was right.

"You're right, Tommy. Could you... come to the Manor?"

With no other options left, Bruce finally agreed to let Thomas enter the Manor.

Thomas moved quickly as well. He arrived at Wayne Manor with a medical team within ten minutes.

"I knew you'd screw this up, Bruce."

Thomas's expression of I knew it left Bruce speechless.

After another six-hour operation, Dick was out of danger again.

But Thomas, who had been focused on the surgery, did not know that two people were watching his every move through the Manor's surveillance system.

One was Batman, but he did not notice anything suspicious.

The other was Dane. Using a system backdoor, he had hijacked Wayne Manor's surveillance feed. He was now certain that Hush was Thomas.

Because over at Gotham General Hospital, another Doctor Thomas was meeting with Harold.

This was another villain Hush had made use of: Clayface.

"What are you hiding here, Hush?" Dane muttered quietly, deciding to investigate Thomas's base.

Then, using the magic of Astral Projection, he infiltrated the hospital in spiritual form.

Beneath the place where Clayface and Harold were meeting lay a massive basement.

In that basement, he found an isolation room. Inside was the long-missing Harleen Quinzel.

Harleen could not see through Dane's magical invisibility, but she still keenly sensed something.

"Who! Who's there?"

Dane watched her perform alone with interest. At least she did not seem to have suffered any torture.

But Dane looked around the basement.

This was clearly a laboratory, filled with chemical reagents and equipment for researching biological tissue.

There was also an offline central computer.

What did that mean?

It meant Thomas had been preparing in Gotham for a long time. He had not decided to return only after hearing Bruce's request.

Chapter 56: Madness Is Like a Disease

As Dane turned on the computer and checked Thomas's research records,

Harleen in the isolation room saw it too.

The door imprisoning her was made of transparent, specially reinforced riot-control glass, giving her a clear view of everything outside.

She saw the computer suddenly light up in the otherwise empty hall, and she could vaguely hear the sound of keyboard typing.

Under the dim lighting, this classic horror-movie scene did not frighten Harleen. Instead, it excited her.

"I knew it! I knew someone was here!"

"Who are you? Can you let me see your face?"

Dane did not respond to Harleen behind him. He had found something interesting in Thomas's research logs.

Dane had originally thought he had completely eliminated Joker's remains, including his tissue cells and all his blood.

But now, it seemed that was not the case.

The log recorded that Thomas Elliot had once served as a neurosurgeon at Arkham Asylum long ago.

He had studied the brains of every psychiatric patient there, including Joker.

Joker had been one of his regular patients, and Thomas had also been deeply interested in Joker's inner world.

As a professional neurosurgeon, he could not resist a brain as diverse and complex as Joker's.

So he made the mistake every intelligent person working at Arkham Asylum made.

He foolishly tried to study Joker's brain.

As had been said before, anyone able to hold an important position at Arkham Asylum was likely to have a few screws loose. Thomas was no exception.

His curiosity about Joker's brain drove him to draw his blood and cerebrospinal fluid in violation of regulations.

Thomas recorded that part of the incident in his journal like this:

When I used my tools to pry open his skull and extract his cerebrospinal fluid, he suddenly woke up.

But that was impossible. I had calculated the anesthetic dosage. It should have kept him quietly asleep for an entire day.

I did not know where things had gone wrong. I even panicked somewhat. I knew that was unprofessional.

But I was still shocked by this patient named "Joke.r."

Because he did not scream, nor did he question or accuse me...

He was laughing maniacally.

Do you understand? He was actually laughing maniacally!

I suspect I made a fatal mistake...

The following entries calmly described Thomas's test results on Joker's samples, which showed that everything was normal.

How ridiculous. The results showed that he was completely normal!

Dane frowned as he looked at the string of "hahahahas" following that diary entry, as though they were mocking someone.

Thomas had probably been infected with the Joker virus.

Those infected by the Joker virus developed a Joker personality within their hearts, one that gradually became more and more like the real Joker.

Thomas had clearly discovered this as well, but he did not want to accept it.

Dane continued reading and soon found content related to Harleen.

I discovered a female student at Gotham University. Her name is Harleen Quinzel.

She is very talented, especially in criminal psychology, where she possesses extraordinary expertise.

I hope she can help me... help me get rid of that damned "Joker"!

Here, Thomas had realized that the Joker personality's influence over him was growing deeper and deeper, and he tried to save himself.

He had tried all kinds of methods, even conducting human experiments in Gotham.

There was so much trash in Crime Alley anyway. No one would care if one or two disappeared.

And for the wealthy Eliot Family, dealing with such nuisances was merely a trivial matter.

As the Joker virus infection grew more severe, Thomas accelerated his research.

But his medical skills had no effect whatsoever on treating the Joker virus.

Left with no other choice, Thomas sought psychotherapy.

He began to think the Joker virus might be a psychological mutation. Perhaps psychology could offer him a new approach.

That was why he set his sights on Harleen Quinzel.

At the time, his interest in Harleen was limited to her research into criminal psychology.

But after Dane killed the real Joker at Arkham Asylum, Thomas felt his Joker personality suddenly become more vivid.

In the past, the Joker personality had not fought for control of the body, so Thomas had shown no abnormalities.

But after the real Joker died, Thomas's Joker personality suddenly began actively competing with him for control of his body.

Thomas had nearly exposed his abnormality to others several times because of it.