This Basic Welfare Has Big Problems

[Warning! Detected anchor item "Ventriloquist's Tear of Personality Destruction"]

[Searching for a Batman that this anchor item can target...]

[Warning! No targetable Batman found for this item]

[Randomly matching a weak, low-level Batman... Success]

[Matched: Bat-Monster Truck]

[Danger Level: F]

[Synchronizing... Success]

[Your current Crisis Energy: 0]

[Warning! This Batman originates from the Dark Multiverse, with a more twisted mindset that may corrupt Batman's morality and sanity!]

Cells... boiling! Wailing in ecstatic joy!

Genes toppled like dominoes, intangible phantom particles kissed and tangled with the entity called [reality] on his body, then merged into each other's truth, manifesting visions beyond the reach of human language!

[File "Bat-Monster Truck's Memories" synchronized]

[You may synchronize other...]

[@#$^&%!$#!... Detected no other anchor items, Crisis Energy at 0, synchronization of other Batmen temporarily unsupported]

...In the parallel universe where the Bat-Monster Truck resided, Batman had embedded a part of himself into every technology that governed the world...

...He became a part of the people's lives, providing the flock with comfort and safety...

...But the flock revolted. They didn't want peace and prosperity—these idiots only wanted freedom, along with all its accompanying flaws...

I was erased from this planet by the system. My electronic technology and physical personality were both destroyed...

...I could only upload my consciousness into this massive vehicle body...

No!

I'm not the Bat-Monster Truck! I'm not even Batman—I'm Chen Tao!

Chen Tao snapped awake after only half a second, the chaotic memories pounding against his brain, making his temples throb incessantly.

Wait.

Temples?

Laughable. There were no temples at all. Chen Tao looked down and saw wheels replacing his arms, spinning uselessly in the air.

A crash—the sound of shattering glass. Chen Tao tried to turn his head—but there was no head to turn. From the rearview mirror, he saw his swollen body smash the glass door of the adjacent room to pieces.

I've fucking... turned into an off-road vehicle?

???

"Ugh..."

Vast memories continued to pour into Chen Tao's brain—the Bat-Monster Truck's entire life. Love, hate, passion, vengeance. All that resentment and sorrow. An uncontrollable surge of violent emotion welled up in his heart, a desire to destroy all of Gotham!

He looked at the Ventriloquist, and the urge to kill and annihilate surged instantly. He just suddenly really wanted to bathe in the other's blood.

Chen Tao felt that if he were living in an online game, a string of "-1 Morality, -1, -1..." would probably be floating above his forehead right now.

"..."

"This must be the side effect of receiving memories—utter spiritual contamination... Falling to evil? But that doesn't align with my moral code—what good would killing the Ventriloquist do me?"

In a flash, the dark, violent emotions in Chen Tao's mind were swept into the trash bin. The ease of it left even himself speechless.

"Got it. A good Batman raises the moral ceiling, an evil Batman lowers the moral floor. And me? I have no morals."

Proud.jpg

He wasn't Batman at all. He couldn't identify with the other's worldview, let alone understand the moral choices and struggles in those memories.

Since he couldn't empathize at all, naturally he wouldn't be affected. It was like the trolley problem—while others debated which person to save, he was the one standing off to the side wondering how to take a photo and sell it to a newspaper for money.

The two weren't even on the same frequency.

Of course, this was only because the Bat-Monster Truck was too weak, its negative emotions too few, and he couldn't empathize anyway. If it had been one of the stronger, evil versions of Batman, would the result have been different?

But for now, that remained unknown. Chen Tao quickly shifted his attention to another issue.

"Can I change back to how I was before?"

The moment he thought this, half his body dissolved into dark red specks of light, then recondensed into flesh and blood. The memories that had been playing nonstop in his mind also came to an abrupt halt.

Perhaps a long time, perhaps an instant... Everything returned to normal, as if it had all been just a phantom dream.

Chen Tao rubbed his thumb against his palm, confirming he had turned back into the normal Batman from the start, not even a shred of his clothes torn.

With a thought, his left hand shwooshed into a spinning off-road vehicle wheel, then changed back the next second.

"As long as I want, anytime, anywhere, I can fully turn into that Bat-Monster Truck..."

But when it came down to it—what use was the superpower of turning into a super off-road vehicle?

Listen to Me, I'll Run You Over?

And this Alfred Protocol... forget it, his original plan sounded more reliable.

Chen Tao shook his head. Entrusting the success or failure of his actions entirely to unknown variables had never been his style.

He turned his gaze back to the Ventriloquist. Fortunately, he had driven the hostages out right after subduing the Ventriloquist, so now the other man was the only witness who had seen him turn into a car.

The middle-aged, balding white man stared back at him with wide, blinking eyes, while the Bat-Baby in his hand kept shouting encouragement like, "That's right, that's what a good dog does!"

"Don't tell anyone about what just happened."

"Woof!"

"Speak human."

"Okay."

Ignoring those details, so far, his original plan was going smoothly. The snowball had started rolling. With the Ventriloquist, he could finally stay behind the scenes and manipulate him into subduing more villains.

He could also borrow the Ventriloquist's identity and use Batman's money power to hire some international mercenaries. Then, the villain army plus the mercenary army, disregarding martial honor, would swarm in together. Even if Bane had three heads and six arms, he'd be pounded into a little cookie!

What personal involvement? Nonexistent.

He'd rather jump off Wayne Tower, die out there, than ever...

After all, he was a transmigrator.

He really liked Batman comics, sure, but that didn't mean he had to be Batman in real life.

What kind of person would give up their vast wealth and go out at night like a giant bat, venting chaotic emotions in the streets?

And he even instigated teenagers to wear colorful clothes, go without pants, and fight murderers and lunatics. Admit it, Bruce Wayne had been crazy for a long time.

But this transmigrator was different. He wasn't crazy. He was a normal person.

Chen Tao only wanted to deal with the ticking time bomb [Bane], who knew Bruce's true identity, then retire peacefully, live it up every day, and waste his last shred of energy on those socialites in Gotham City.

That's right, this was the life he wanted!

Hadn't he struggled and climbed in Hollywood in his past life just for this kind of life?

As for Gotham's future...

He'd already thought it through. Did he really think the Man of Steel's Kryptonian and the 5000-year-old demigoddess princess from the Amazon were just sitting around eating for nothing?

Although after transmigrating, Chen Tao hadn't found Clark Kent at the Daily Planet in Metropolis for now, nor had he found antique appraisal expert Diana Prince in Boston.

But the Daily Planet already had Lois. Based on the timeline, those two would soon show up and stir things up. So now, he just needed to take care of Bane, at least keep himself alive until those two big shots made their grand entrance, and then the beautiful billionaire life was waving at him.

As for those cosmic crises... at worst, he'd just be a spoiler. The Justice League had so many superpowered beings and demigods; how could they possibly lose completely and need him, an ordinary mortal, to save the day?

Chen Tao's heart was filled with hope for a comfortable future.

But for now, the priority was defeating Bane.

Hmm, more specifically, right now, the Ventriloquist needed to make a call to find some cannon fodder... ah, no, mercenaries.