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Robin III, Tim Drake, sat at Batman's seat in front of the Batcomputer in the Batcave, wearing a pair of shackles and ankle chains, his face sour as if he were a housewife who had just discovered her husband was cheating.

"Alfred, something's been off about Batman lately. Definitely. Something is definitely wrong."

He lowered his voice and said sarcastically, "Ignoring Batman's orders is practically a traditional skill of every Robin, so I'm sorry, dear Tim, but I'm afraid I'll have to lock you up."

The moment he remembered how he had stupidly held out his hands when Batman told him to, Tim wanted to slap himself twice.

"Hahaha."

Alfred brought over a box of pastries. "Taking an occasional break is also part of a Robin's job. How about a sweet? Would you like toffee or chocolate?"

"I want both!"

Tim took the pastries gloomily and began stuffing them into his mouth. His voice sounded muffled because he had crammed in too much toffee.

"Mmff... thanks! But Alfred, seriously, I think something might really be wrong with Bruce."

He swallowed a huge mouthful of pastry.

"Maybe it's mind control. Maybe it's a magical soul swap. Maybe it's another one of the Mad Hatter's schemes—but I beat him up nonstop for two hours, and he still wouldn't say anything.

"Actually, whoever the soul living inside Batman's body is now, at least... I'm sure he isn't Bruce."

The young Robin placed the now-empty plate on the table, his expression gradually turning serious.

"I have to admit, he's the most incredible actor I've ever seen. Even Basil Karlo, Clayface's real name, a shapeshifting villain, would be left speechless after meeting him."

Tim paused, then continued:

"However, even an actor that brilliant can't imitate something he has no understanding of. His understanding of Batman is distorted—Bruce is only human, Alfred."

"No matter how terrifying Bruce acts in front of outsiders, he's still human. We all know he's only human. But he's portraying Batman as a god! A god walking among men!"

"The bearing, the expression, and most importantly, the presence—I've seen Bruce get angry more than once, but this impostor is a hundred times more frightening than the original. When he looks at me, I feel like my heart's going to stop!"

He said irritably, "Over the past three days, I've secretly used more than forty methods to verify his identity: irises, fingerprints, DNA testing, biological AI analysis, gait recognition... But no matter how I verify it, he's still the same old Bruce Wayne!"

He looked at Alfred seriously. "And yet? Hiring mercenaries to help him deal with those Arkham lunatics, deliberately leaving Robin behind to act alone—of course, 'abandoning Robin and acting alone' is also one of Batman's usual habits, but this is different."

His gaze gradually deepened. "And then there's all that nonsense about retiring... He definitely isn't Bruce. Maybe we should capture him, then interrogate him with a crowbar and a whip to find out where the real Bruce went."

"That's terrifying."

Chen Tao maintained Batman's lofty, condescending look of contempt, his heart pounding.

Fortunately, the fake Batman had scared away the real Bane, so he had managed to muddle through this crisis.

As expected, the current situation was exactly as he had predicted. Bane wasn't a simple brute, but a cunning hunter.

Until he confirmed that Batman was completely exhausted, he would never rashly engage Batman head-on. In the original history, he had waited for more than three months, allowing Batman to capture all the lunatics he had released from Arkham one by one. Only after confirming that Batman was utterly worn out had he hidden in his home and launched a surprise attack. A cautious man like Bane could never start the final battle here.

Chen Tao still had time—before he completely exposed the truth that he was strong only on the outside.

Chen Tao climbed down from the mountain of garbage and walked toward Deathshot and the others.

[Warning! Anchoring item detected: "Captain Boomerang's Broken Javelin"]

[...Anchoring item: "Slipknot's Broken Beloved Lasso"]

[...Anchoring item: "Tattooed Man's Severed Hand"]

Chen Tao stopped and stared at the silver-white explanatory text constantly appearing across his retinas, sinking into thought.

What does this mean, huh? I'm asking you. What does this mean?

Why could he pick up anchoring items when his teammates had died such miserable deaths?

Furious, trembling, and cold.

Could it be that he, the mighty Dark Knight, the Caped Crusader, Gotham's protector, the world's greatest detective, the famous Batman, would have to make a living by farming gold from his teammates' deaths from now on?

Looking at his teammates' remains, Chen Tao felt the tip of his nose sting. A poet's melancholy suddenly welled up in his heart.

No! Absolutely not!

Superheroes need dignity!

Even if I die, I'll never loot my teammates' corpses!

"..."

Half a second later, Chen Tao looted the bodies with tears in his eyes.

Never mind. Batman beating up his teammates was also an old Justice League tradition and a classic routine. A few more instances wouldn't matter.

[Captain Boomerang's Broken Javelin: Gunter Braun once used her to win multiple gold medals at the Olympics. Although she no longer has a head, the remaining material is just enough to make a flagpole.]

["This javelin is my wife!"]

Only then did Chen Tao learn that Captain Boomerang didn't merely lack a villa—his wife was a javelin too. He should have realized it earlier. How could someone like Javelin have a wife? The villains of the DC Universe all had one psychological problem or another.

[Slipknot's Broken Beloved Lasso: Christopher Weiss suspected everything, but he had absolute faith in his rope. When lonely in the dead of night, he would even use the rope to ***. Whenever he tied someone up, the corners of his mouth would curl slightly, and a confident smile would appear on his face.]

["Oh, ah, oh, oh, waah—my lasso answered me... I trust its judgment completely."]

This one was even more of a complete degenerate.

Chen Tao decided never to hire such a pervert again. Especially since the man had gotten himself killed through his own stupidity.

[Tattooed Man's Severed Hand: John Oakes had once been an utterly ordinary sailor, until he was imprisoned for fighting and brawling and met the first Tattooed Man, Abel Tarrant, in prison. He had always kept the anchor tattoo from his days as a sailor on his arm, to commemorate those youthful years.]

["It's slippery, I'm telling you! The deck really is slippery!"]

[Crisis Energy Units converted: 10]

Chen Tao was speechless. Three weaklings had given him only ten Crisis Energy Units in total. All three combined were worth no more than what the Ventriloquist had converted for him earlier.

But when all was said and done, how exactly was Crisis Energy calculated? Any one of these three could fight the Ventriloquist to a standstill, so why had they converted so little?

[Warning! None of the three anchoring objects currently held have found a Batman as a target! Randomly matching three weak, low-level Batmen...]

[Matched: Bat-Baby]

[Spend 1 Crisis Energy Unit to synchronize?]

Chen Tao noticed that, unlike the Bat-Monster Truck he had matched with before, this Batman had a line of tiny silver-white text beneath him:

[A Batman from a certain Dark Multiverse that was nearing its end reincarnated his memories into a baby, thereby gaining a baby's body. Later, because his head was too heavy, he accidentally fell down the stairs and died while attempting to walk upright.]

[Danger level: None]

Chen Tao's face immediately darkened. What was the use of becoming a top-heavy baby? Did he expect villains to spare him just because he acted cute and threw tantrums?

Please, no!

[Immediate synchronization abandoned. This data has been saved. You may spend one Crisis Energy Unit at any time to synchronize with this Batman.]

[Matching again... successful]

[Matched: Bat-Billionaire]

[A Batman from a certain Dark Multiverse bought the entirety of Gotham City, turning it into his medieval serf manor. He was then killed by Superman as a villain.]

"..."

Chen Tao was too exhausted to complain. Superman had actually killed someone? What kind of cruel, twisted world was this?

No synchronization!

[Matching again... successful]

[Matched: Mayor-Bat]

[A Bruce Wayne from a certain Dark Multiverse never became Batman. Instead, he became Gotham City's mayor, only to be assassinated, with his head hung from the gargoyle on Wayne Tower to warn people not to oppose the gangs.]

"..."

Another useless ability. Chen Tao sighed, then turned his gaze toward the three heavily injured people lying on the ground.

Stare~