Laughing Bane

"What? How many people did you say died?"

"I don't know, I really don't know... sob sob sob..."

The soldier standing before Gordon covered his face. He was at least 1.8 meters tall, a head taller than the half-century-old Gordon, but at this moment, he was crying like a giant baby.

"There are dead people everywhere. Bane killed most of our men. The National Guard is finished, everything is finished!"

"Where's Bane? Where did Bane go?"

"He..."

The soldier suddenly clutched his forehead. " Sob sob sob... He went to find Batman!"

Gordon wanted to ask something else. "You..."

" Sob sob sob... Sob sob sob!"

Gordon urged him twice but got no response. The soldier just kept crying, making Gordon incredibly anxious.

"I think his post-traumatic stress disorder has kicked in. We won't get anything out of him. Calm down, Gordon. Find someone to give him a sedative, and then—"

Chief Brock, standing beside Gordon, was halfway through his sentence when he saw the soldier lift his head. On his face, which should have been filled with grief... a smile now appeared!

"Hahaha, hahaha, hahahahahahahaha!"

Chen Tao looked at the massive body of Plant Master Jason Wood. The latter was slumped on the ground, barely regaining some strength, but Poison Ivy's vines were tightly binding him, making him look like a crab waiting to be cooked.

He grunted twice in dissatisfaction. Poison Ivy pursed her lips. "Jason, I don't want to do this. I'm sorry, but..."

"Pamela, go to hell," the Plant Master said concisely.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah," Poison Ivy nodded immediately. The next second, her vines extended upwards, sealing the Plant Master's mouth. Chen Tao even saw Poison Ivy summon a vine and shove it directly into his mouth—well.

You really can't underestimate a woman's vengefulness. Is this the meaning of going all the way once you've betrayed someone?

Fortunately, the Plant Master was essentially a tree, not a human. Otherwise, this kind of sealing would have caused a human to suffocate.

"Batman, do you mind—"

"Ivy, do you mind saying a few words?"

Harley Quinn squatted nearby, looking at one then the other, feeling like an outsider.

She pouted angrily, but no one noticed her little mood.

Poison Ivy said thoughtfully, "You first."

She had originally wanted to ask Batman about his plan for dealing with the Plant Master, but the words that came out of Batman's mouth immediately caught her attention, even making her shudder: "I suspect The Black is still among us."

"Don't turn around," she heard Batman say in a low voice. "I need you to protect Professor Goldbloom. That potion that can greatly enhance The Green could only have come from his intellect. If I were The Black, I would never let him live."

"We can't guard the Professor forever. Rather than passive defense, I prefer to proactively weaken The Black's power so they don't have the strength to murder the Professor. Just on the matter of keeping the Professor alive, Ivy, I think we can reach a consensus."

He said, "I know that for you elemental avatars, rebirth through a host is a common trick, but this kind of rebirth is not without its cost."

"We've already dealt with one of The Black's pawns. The other, or others, hiding within the team—I don't plan on letting them live either."

Chen Tao said, "I have a plan."

Rumble rumble rumble... A huge figure was rampaging through the forest, smashing through trees with brute force...

"The mercenaries have been eating and drinking what I provided these past few days..."

Poison Ivy was somewhat distracted. Although she was multitasking, and Batman's "I'm your teammate" tone was a bit unusual, she still gestured for Batman to continue.

"I've made preparations—and then lure out The Blac—"

The huge figure stepped into a muddy swamp. Such soft, dangerous marshland was a veritable death trap. Even a mammoth would be forced to sink into it, yet it couldn't stop the giant figure's advance.

His speed was almost like teleportation. The ground he stepped on exploded with water from the swamp due to his powerful push, turning into propulsion that allowed him to charge forward like a nimble great ape.

"We can at any time... Poison Ivy, are you listening to me?"

Chen Tao said, "What are you thinking about? We're discussing something very impo—"

But he quickly met Poison Ivy's serious gaze. "A big guy is coming. Get ready, it looks like an enemy—"

"Hahahahahaha—Hoo hahaha, hoo hahaha..."

That laughter, as joyful as that of a pure child, came from afar. Chen Tao turned his head and saw Bane, who was letting out continuous wild laughter, emerging from the woods. In his hand, he held a weapon that looked like a wooden club, which he had probably ripped from a large tree by the roadside.

His muscles writhed like living things, both disgusting and terrifying.

Before, no matter how Bane used Venom, or how Venom modified him to look like the cover of a "Muscle Man" magazine, complete with terrifying varicose veins, Bane had seemed like a normal person. Just a bit taller, a bit stronger, a bit more varicose.

But now...

The infinitely growing muscle lumps had broken through the limits of the space normally occupied by human muscle tissue, so they could only pile up on top of the original muscles, layer by layer. The skin was stretched open by the suddenly enlarged muscles, appearing an abnormal white.

Soon, the skin, which had been stretched to its limit, also tore like rags, only to heal instantly. All of this made Bane look like a slime composed of a giant pile of oversized muscle balloons.

Chen Tao was stunned.

He was completely stunned by Bane's unconventional move. Weren't they supposed to meet each other halfway, sort out their forces and military strength, and then have a decisive battle? Why was it you again? Was all the understanding they'd reached before wrong? Was I deluded? Huh? Wasn't it you who went to great lengths to send me away to stall for time and prepare your plan???

In the few seconds after he first saw Bane, Chen Tao almost began to doubt himself: Is it possible that I was overthinking things, that Bane just wanted to rush over and kill me, and that all my previous chaotic analysis was wrong?

But soon, as Bane turned his head, Chen Tao overturned this thought.

In addition to his bulky, muscle-covered limbs, what was even more striking was that the lower half of the mask on Bane's face was now broken, revealing a smile that Chen Tao found incredibly familiar.

"Ha! Ha! Ha!"

Bane cackled, his blood-soaked mouth filled with blood, whether it was someone else's... or his own.