Fear Bat

"Wh-when?"

Zombie Bane's grayish-white eyes spun. "When did you exactly..."

Chen Tao ignored him.

He forcefully sank his teeth deep into the other's body, trying to bite longer.

His fangs grew long and sharp. Zombie Bane felt them pierce like tiny syringes, sinking deep, then injecting some unknown liquid.

Was it poison?

Ridiculous. What kind of poison could affect The Black?

Even the most potent venom couldn't kill a corpse. Fundamentally, the word 'dead' simply didn't exist in The Black's vocabulary.

Loneliness, indifference.

Chen Tao's heart was ice-cold.

The indecisiveness and hesitation unique to a transmigrator living in a peaceful era faded from him. The brute force and cruelty of Bane, combined with Batman's composure and calmness, merged with the dinosaur's massive physique. Under Venom's enhancement, a chemical reaction unimaginable to ordinary people erupted.

"Foolish creature, daring to get so close to me... Let The Black corrode him. After all, in the end..."

Zombie Bane's eyes darted. "This guy called Batman, even if he has special abilities, he's ultimately just a mortal. And mortals can never resist The Black..."

"Wait, why isn't it working?"

Zombie Bane's movements froze. He couldn't possess Killer Croc because he was an agent of The Red. He couldn't control Poison Ivy because Poison Ivy and Plant Master belonged to The Green.

Solomon Grundy was a zombie, neither alive nor dead, but this person before him—even with superpowers—shouldn't be able to resist him!

Wait...

Zombie Bane's gaze shifted downwards, seeing Chen Tao's originally dark green dinosaur muscles, starting from the tips of his teeth, gradually transform into gleaming, pure metal.

The Black's power only encountered inanimate, dead things. It was bewildered and helpless, like a toad trapped in a glass tank.

The insect-like limbs extending from Zombie Bane's back struck Chen Tao's face with a clang.

Chen Tao slowly opened his mouth and gradually pulled back.

"Hoo..."

Zombie Bane appeared somewhat helpless. Poison Ivy didn't know that dead monsters like them could still have emotions like "helplessness."

"So, my dear Ivy."

Poison Ivy almost said, "We're not that close," but she decided not to provoke him right now, as Batman stood quietly nearby, not launching an attack.

She had already vaguely guessed what Batman had done.

"You still don't plan to join The Black? I value you highly, Ivy. Why do you think I didn't kill you, but let you play with me for so long? But playtime must end now."

Zombie Bane sized up the Batman-dinosaur standing there. "You're relying on him? Do you really need me to defeat him before you give up hope? Just like that zombie lying there? Oh, little girl."

He said, "You really don't make things easy for me."

But he felt Poison Ivy looking at him strangely, as if she were looking at a dead man, though he was one.

He heard her say with pity, "You've never lived in Gotham, have you?"

"What does that have to do with what we're discussing?"

"It does, of course, it does."

Green plants gathered behind Poison Ivy, weaving into a rattan chair. She slowly sat down, like an audience member waiting for a movie to begin.

"Let me teach you some rules for living in Gotham, some common sense. As a supervillain living in Gotham, how can you not know this knowledge?"

Poison Ivy extended a slender, green finger and then said.

"First."

Pfft!

Zombie Bane's body suddenly stiffened. A strong green color spread from his back. Half of his body was uncontrollably activated into green plants, a stark contrast to its rotting, foul-smelling other half!

"How is this possible—it's you! It was when you bit me just now—"

Poison Ivy's clear, cold voice followed.

"First, Batman never fails, and he cannot fail. Because if he fails, countless people will die because of him.

Therefore, Batman never fails. He will win. He won in the past, he wins now, and he will win in the future. He will just keep winning like this."

With a thump, Zombie Bane knelt on the ground. He violently tore at the half of his body that had grown plants. Countless rotten flesh and fresh meat were pierced by the growing plants. Every piece of plant he pulled off brought with it a stream of black blood.

"No matter what opponent he faces, no matter how seemingly invincible the enemy, Batman will win. Even if it's a narrow victory, even if he pays any price. And when Batman wins... it means the criminals lose. That's why Gotham's criminals fear Batman, because they can never defeat Batman."

Poison Ivy's voice lowered slightly. Those youthful years... that golden era when even Poison Ivy was just starting out.

"You will, again and again, exhaust all your wisdom, try every method you can think of, like Sisyphus pushing a boulder—but you will never win! That is Batman. He is always one step ahead of you. Always has been, always will be."

Gurgle, gurgle, gurgle, gurgle...

The Venom canisters on Zombie Bane's back suddenly activated without warning, constantly pumping Venom into his body.

Zombie Bane wailed loudly, "No! You're already under our control, damn it—get out of our heads!"

"Second, Batman doesn't die. That's a fact."

"You can't kill Batman with a gun;"

"Even if you see him disappear in an explosion with your own eyes, he won't die;"

"You can't kill Batman with a knife, nor can you kill him with a tank;"

"Poison won't kill him either. No matter how fatal the attack, no matter how many people claim they've killed Batman and present convincing evidence, as long as crime continues, Batman will appear. He will stand before them and end their criminal careers with his fists."

"Even if he's covered in scars, even if he's been shot multiple times, he will still appear before the criminals."

"No! What have you done to me!"

The zombie Bane writhed on the ground, howling. His two voices resonated at the same frequency, emitting a piercing shriek. "Let me go!"

Poison Ivy's voice continued to echo.

"Third, Batman has the most unwavering conviction. No matter what you say or try to bribe him with, it's useless. No one can shake his beliefs, make him abandon his cause or his identity.

He's a man of few words and won't listen to anyone's nonsense. He only needs to know if you intend to surrender."

Poison Ivy said with genuine feeling:

"This is Batman. Difficult, even impossible, to communicate with. His appearance is completely unpredictable; sometimes he's like a shadow, other times he's infinitely close to human. He's difficult, even impossible, to kill.

Her tone held a hint of pity:

"Batman is a monster like that. Unbreakable, unconvincible, un-negotiable. He only wins...

He never loses!"