Solomon Grundy

Boom!

Poison Ivy drove the wooden dragon into Bane along with the plant crab, slamming into him viciously. Bane, standing over four meters tall, needed only one hand to swing the plant-made crab high into the air, flip it over, and hurl it to the ground. Then he leaped onto it, laughing wildly as he raised his fists and began hammering it like a drum—once, twice, three times.

Chen Tao had absolutely no idea what to say.

Robin stood beside him and asked, "Want me to call Ventriloquist?"

Chen Tao's lips trembled twice. "I'm not a violent man."

"So are you going to call or not? I don't think Poison Ivy can beat Bane. The fact that she can suppress him for this long is already quite—"

"Damn it, call for backup! Hurry!"

Chen Tao was stomping around angrily in his mind, but outwardly he maintained an expression as calm as a still well. Standing on a massive bluestone in the swamp, he held the pose of a superhero looking down from above and forced himself to say:

"No problem. I anticipated this outcome." He tried to encourage Robin a little, then said:

"Everything is within the plan of my Batman Who Laughs... ah, no, my Batman!"

Below them, five people were being brutally beaten by Bane alone. So far, there had yet to be any injuries—

Pfft!

Dizzy Earl suddenly charged into Bane's attack range as if he had lost his mind.

Deathshot had no idea why this idiot was doing that. Oh! Perhaps he was relying on his ability to inflict dizziness, which grew more effective the closer he got. He was actually trying to press his head right against Bane to activate the ability, hoping to achieve a decisive strike—

Deathshot could only call him an idiot.

His strength, speed, experience, and combat skills were all being completely crushed. Stealing something right in front of the shopkeeper—what else could that be but stupidity?

Before Dizzy Earl could get close, Bane grabbed his body. He seized his upper half with both hands, raised him high above his head, and exerted force—

Ssssh! Dizzy Earl's black blood poured all over Bane's head.

Every Saturday, the Gotham Gazette set aside a small section for a lifestyle column called "Gotham Is..."

In this column, randomly selected citizens of Gotham City completed the sentence "Gotham is..." with no more than three words.

When Bane first came to Gotham, he took a liking to the column.

Here were the words used to describe Gotham over the past few weeks:

"Damn."

"Cursed."

"Asylum."

"Murderous."

"Gotham is utterly vicious."

"Gotham is a long shot."

"Gotham is utterly hopeless."

Bane deeply agreed. He had once believed that a city this wicked ought to be conquered by him. If such evil were not held in the palm of his hand, it would be one of the greatest regrets of his life.

But he had already said goodbye to those past thoughts.

At this very moment, he felt nothing but exhilarated and cheerful, as if he were floating in heaven.

All the troubles and discontent he had suffered during this period vanished amid his loud laughter.

He felt as if he had inexhaustible strength. He was happy and delirious—

How strange. In the past, he had been so serious, so weighed down by hatred and suffering. Yet all of that had lost its meaning after he inhaled the laughing gas. What plans? What conquering the city?

None of that mattered to him now.

All he wanted was to kill Batman. Whoever wanted this lousy city could have it. He did not like it anyway.

He felt that he could do it.

Because, because he was the righteous Warrior, the hero who punished evil—

Bane!

Thinking this, Bane split his mouth into a grin and burst into loud laughter.

That horrifying laughter made Deathshot's legs go weak.

The trees could not stop his advance. The twisting, coiling branches that slithered across the ground like pythons were fit only to be torn apart by his monstrous strength.

Bane felt better than ever. No one could stop him. He did not need to consider any plans. He only had to tear apart Poison Ivy's thin green shell of protection bit by bit, then charge straight into the heart of the enemy, kill everyone present, and then—

Until a dark-gray giant zombie emerged to stop him.

Solomon Grundy.

Unlike the many monsters of Gotham, this giant zombie had almost no intelligence. To control him... required special methods.

"Solomon Grundy... born on Monday."

Killer Croc stood beside Chen Tao, panting heavily. He was dripping wet, and his tongue lolled out of his mouth.

"My God! This zombie swims about as fast as I do. I thought I was the amphibious one. And I had to carry that cow, too. It took me forever to lure him here."

The giant zombie was greedily devouring the golden cow in his arms. Killer Croc said to Chen Tao, "All right, Batman, uh..."

He turned his head away and muttered, "This feels really strange."

"You'll get used to it after a while, Killer Croc." Chen Tao answered him, "Times change, and Batman has to keep up with the times."

As he connected Alfred's call, he said to Killer Croc, "You know, 'A good hero needs three helpers.'"

"Solomon Grundy, born on Monday!"

The giant zombie mumbled as he gnawed at the meat, "Solomon Grundy, Tuesday—"

"No, Solomon Grundy was born on Tuesday!"

"?"

The giant zombie paused even in the middle of eating. The next second, he flew into a rage.

"Lies! Born on Monday!"

"Batman, can you hurry up? We're not going to hold out much longer!"

Deathshot screamed, "Once we've all been hammered flat, we'll have died today!"

"Solomon Grundy, deceased on Monday!"

"Married on Wednesday!"

"Baptized on Saturday!"

A booming voice rang out from the sky. A confused, furious expression appeared on the gray giant zombie's face.

"No, no, it's all wrong!"

Just as expected, the gray giant zombie was enraged.

He abruptly raised his head toward the sky, trying to find the arrogant fool who dared alter his nursery rhyme. But beneath the clear sky, how could he possibly see the shadow of Batman's invisible fighter jet?

Thus, his furious gaze... predictably turned toward Bane, who was slaughtering everyone in his path.

"Who changed Grundy's nursery rhyme?"

Deathshot and Poison Ivy exchanged glances. Then they neatly stepped aside and pointed at Bane together.

"He did it."

"What? Gahahaha..."

Bane was still laughing maniacally. The next second, the gray giant zombie's fist slammed into his face.

Bang!

His face caved in violently under the blow, like a cake pressed down by a hand.

The sound of bones tearing rang out. Even the combined effects of Titan Venom and Joker Toxin could not stop the immense pain.

Bane let out a cry of agony and instantly stopped laughing.

"Solomon Grundy, born on Monday! Grundy already told you, Grundy was born on Monday!!!"

"Why can't you understand? Born—on—Mon—day!"

"Damn it, I didn't say that!"

Bane, barely regaining his senses, raised his head. Half his face had been split open by Solomon Grundy. "You..."

But at that moment, before anyone could react, the pool of black slime on the ground suddenly lunged at Bane's face and fused with the black blood Dizzy Earl had previously dripped onto him.

Chen Tao's heart jolted.

The Black, which he had been waiting for all this time... had finally made its move.

He saw Bane's pupils turn gray-white.

Wow, many thanks to the mighty Lord Love My China 1002 for the reward!