Escape, Though Shameful, Is Useful

Whirring, humming--

With a groan from the engine, Chen Tao made a clean getaway, shoving Bane's intended parting insults back down his throat.

For the first time, a look of dread crossed Bane's face.

His intelligence on Batman had been severely flawed.

What was that thing?

He replayed the sight in his mind, over and over.

How could human feet turn into wheels?

"You--"

By the time he reacted, he immediately stretched his long legs to give chase, pulling an earpiece to his ear as he ran.

"Zombie Man! Cave Dweller! Birdman!"

"We're here, Bane!"

Bane's subordinates replied over the comms channel.

"The plan has changed, all of you, come and chase him."

Subordinates: ?

Bane's gaze was deep:

"I need to figure out what exactly happened to Batman."

Even with four people on his back, Chen Tao bolted—no, rolled—and Bane couldn't catch up for a moment.

The Bat-Monster Truck was reviled in its own world; running away was naturally its passive skill. Chen Tao tensed his gluteus maximus—his liquid nitrogen thrusters.

"Goddamn!"

Killer Croc stared at Chen Tao's wheeled feet. "Batman, I had no idea you had this ability."

"Stop the nonsense, Deathshot, get your gun ready!"

"..."

My name is Floyd Lawton, twenty-seven years old, and I am Deathshot.

Right now, I'm being chased by a devilishly muscular demon over three meters tall. He just killed three of my companions, and I have no doubt he could flatten me into a pancake with a single punch.

But I'm not panicking at all, because he's not as fast as my horse.

"..."

However, there's still a problem, a very, very important problem.

The horse I'm riding right now, its name is Batman.

"Aoooooo--"

A giant boulder whistled past over Deathshot's head on Chen Tao's left shoulder, making him clench his sphincter.

Dada-da...

He pulled out his submachine gun and opened fire behind them. The recoil and the bumps shook the flesh on his face like waves rising on the Gotham River.

Even from this bumpy perch, his bullets accurately struck Bane's eyes, forcing the latter to cover his face with his palm.

"We're doomed!"

He shouted at Batman, "Why can't you just go up and fight Bane?"

Because I can't win, you idiot.

Chen Tao said, "To protect your safety, I can't fight Bane while also looking after you all."

Cheshire Cat immediately put on a look of being touched, like a cat being moved. Even though she was wearing a mask, it was impossible to tell what her expression was.

"It's okay, you don't have to..."

Deathshot shot Cheshire Cat a sideways glance. Did she really believe his nonsense?

He fell into thought. Batman must have a special reason, but he knew too little information now to see anything clearly.

"Your feet..."

"Shut up, you just ride along, I'll figure out a way!"

"You..."

Chen Tao executed a prostatic drift, narrowly dodging a giant boulder thrown by Bane, and said irritably, "What is it now?"

"Look ahead!"

Chen Tao turned his head and saw several large buses blocking the road ahead. Those subordinates of Bane were standing on them, waiting for him to crash right into them.

"So, do you have any ideas now?"

Chen Tao gritted his teeth.

"Super Baby" is a newly opened restaurant in Gotham City. To attract customers, the waiters are dressed as superheroes, quite alluringly.

Inside, two police officers sit by the floor-to-ceiling windows, enjoying a hearty breakfast.

"Beep beep beep... Help, the Joker just robbed our bank, you guys have to..."

The older officer exchanged a look with the younger one and indifferently switched off the communicator.

"Ah, it's fine, Batman will catch the Joker."

The younger officer said, "Right, it's just cleanup duty anyway, why bother with the effort?"

They looked at each other, finding common ground as slackers, and burst into laughter...

"..."

"Are you guys going to order more food or not?" the waitress dressed as Harley Quinn asked impatiently.

They ordered a bit more, and the older officer continued, "After so many years in Gotham, there's almost nothing that surprises me anymore."

"Yeah, the work is never-ending. Do you remember Poison Ivy robbing STAR Labs a couple of days ago? Gordon was in such a panic like something huge happened, and now? Hahahaha!"

"Exactly, anything can happen in Gotham," the old cop took a swig of beer. "I wouldn't even bat an eye if I saw a dinosaur wearing roller skates on the street now. But what's that saying, the sun still rises, and Batman can solve everything~"

The young officer froze.

"?" The older officer looked curiously at his stunned junior.

"Look... look behind you!"

He turned his head and saw a giant Tyrannosaurus Rex, at least 6 meters tall, walking down the street.

It was wearing a tattered uniform, just like Batman's, revealing its anthropomorphic strong arms and thighs, adorned with golden spiked armguards. It wore a mask – though the mask looked like it wasn't there at all on its dinosaur head.

In its left and right hands, it clutched a few indistinct small objects, seemingly a few people and a large lizard.

"???"

The clinking and clattering atmosphere in the restaurant fell silent. Everyone stared blankly outside, watching the dinosaur's tail disappear around the corner.

The two officers looked at each other.

"Hahahahaha—"

"We must be seeing things, how could something like this happen?"

They slapped each other's backs, laughing breathlessly, then fell silent.

With a loud BOOM, clearly the sound of a rocket explosion.

The dinosaur ran back, now sporting two wheels on its feet, pursued by three people with rocket launchers and a muscular strongman.

"Roar!"

The two officers looked at each other.

"Eek—"

BANG!

The restaurant door was kicked open, and a large number of customers screamed and rushed out, successfully skipping out on their bill!

The two officers ran out of the shop, trembling as they pulled out their small pistols, watching the giant green dinosaur on the street, blocked here, blocked there, running from this side to that.

Rockets flew, bullets whizzed, vehicles parked on the roadside were hit by rockets, flipping into the air amidst violent explosions, only to be caught by the muscular strongman who jumped up and threw them like shot puts at the dinosaur. People on the street wailed and scattered, leaving chaos and ruin everywhere they went.

Look at what you're protecting!

As the giant green dinosaur fled, it still remembered to save people. It scooped up a little girl who was almost crushed by a falling lamppost, then a middle-aged man who had fallen, only to casually discard them mid-way. It dodged and weaved, as agile as a great ape. The four pursuers behind it were furious, but how could they keep up with those long legs that could cover over ten meters in a single stride?

Finally, the behemoth seemed to have been thoroughly angered by the relentless pursuit of the four individuals. It actually turned around and beat up two of the rocket-launcher-wielding men. Before those two could escape and the muscular strongman could catch up, the green dinosaur slipped away again—

It leaped violently, using the tires on its feet to push off a wall, gaining momentum from the rotational force. WHOOSH, it shot up the wall and onto the rooftop, crushing a large section of bricks and tiles. The four pursuers climbed onto the roof as well. They chased and fled, quickly disappearing from sight. Only the two police officers were left looking at each other.

Someone nearby wailed, "My car!" The road was littered with flames and ruins. A fire hydrant exploded, drenching the two who couldn't dodge in time like drowned rats.

The older officer sighed with detached tranquility.

"Okay, what exactly just happened? Was that dinosaur Batman?"

The younger officer replied calmly, "Who cares? Our job is cleanup anyway. Damn it, sometimes I feel like an NPC living in a game."

"I feel the same way!" the old cop chimed in jokingly. "If this world were a book, we'd probably be those unnamed extras written in it."

"Right, Sean!"

"Exactly, Boris!"

They slapped each other's backs, laughing breathlessly, then fell silent.

"Damn it, more work to do."

"Yeah, motherfucker."

"Wait, after we clean up, there'll still be superheroes and villains messing up the streets, so does it make a difference if we clean now or later?"

"Heh— That makes sense! Let's go back to eating. I only took half a bite of my donut."

And so, the two stout-hearted old Gotham stalwarts quickly accepted it, wiped their brows, and went back to continue their breakfast.