Shattering Everything

"Pfft!"

Chen Tao spat his coffee all over the screen and slammed his head into the car ceiling.

He realized a terrible and horrifying fact: this was the real world, and Bane wouldn't obediently wait in a cave like a boss in an online game, waiting for heroes to farm equipment, level up, gather allies, and finally come knocking.

If transmigrator Chen Tao had changed Batman's behavioral patterns and methods, then it was only natural for Bane to make corresponding adjustments.

As the mastermind behind the Arkham breakout, Bane's plan had essentially been to use the escaped lunatics to wear Batman down until he was exhausted, then defeat him while he was fresh. But with Chen Tao's transmigration, the "tire out the Bat" plan had gone bankrupt.

Bruce Wayne's endless urge to save innocent people had dragged him down. Thus, even though he had seen through Bane's plan, he still had no choice but to spend his energy fighting all kinds of lunatics.

But Chen Tao?

Chen Tao simply didn't give a damn about a bunch of lunatics throwing a party in his city.

Ding-ding-ding-ding!

The alarm inside a bank somewhere in Gotham blared wildly.

A crowd screamed as they fled through the entrance, with Joker and his men following close behind, carrying bags stuffed with cash.

The Prince of Crime threw his arms wide at the entrance and laughed uproariously.

"Hahaha! Come on, Bat! It's party time!"

Nobody came.

"Bat? Batman?"

The street was deserted. There wasn't even a police car in sight.

A gust of wind blew by, sending a flyer tumbling onto Joker's face. It read: Cast your sacred vote for Mayor Carlo!

Joker stroked his chin.

"Hey... everyone, I've suddenly had an idea. Haha, haha, hahahahahahaha!"

The scene cut back to Chen Tao.

Someone as intelligent as Bane could never ignore Batman's changes or the mercenaries who had suddenly appeared in the city.

Perhaps Bane didn't even know whether these mercenaries were friend or foe. Perhaps he had guessed something through instinct. But either way, all he had to do was intervene against the unstable factor between himself and Batman and eliminate it directly with violence.

That was right. This was Bane's way of doing things. The simpler and more brutal, the more effective.

The highest-level struggles often took the simplest forms. Those who were always trying to pull fancy tricks would ultimately end up like Killer Croc.

So the plan had changed.

They were no longer "waiting for Batman to collapse from exhaustion, then killing him."

Instead:

"We'll charge over now, kill the mercenaries first, and then kill Batman."

Holy crap!

Weren't villains supposed to let the protagonist develop before dealing with him at the very end?

Calm down. Calm down.

Chen Tao thought silently.

Bane's decision had been even more decisive than he'd anticipated, but Bane still had one flaw in his intelligence: he believed Batman remained powerful.

That also meant that until he had confirmed the elimination of the disruptors who might put him in a [surrounded state], Bane wouldn't rashly launch the decisive battle.

In other words, if Deathshot and the others could counterkill Bane...

Bang!

Then Chen Tao saw Killer Croc get smashed into the ground by Bane, his head sinking into the earth.

Chen Tao immediately picked up the microphone.

"Hang in there! As long as you stay alive, that's enough!"

"Fuck!"

Cold sweat appeared on Deathshot's forehead.

The two submachine guns in his hands and the portable rifles mounted on his armguards made four muzzles in total. Together, they wove a powerful web of fire in front of him.

Deathshot was confident that with his control, not even a fly could get through.

Yet a miracle was happening right before his eyes—it was Bane!

Spinning and leaping, that muscular freak swayed through the hail of bullets like a butterfly flitting through flowers!

Boom!

Deathshot drew an anti-tank rocket launcher with his other hand, but such a bulky weapon was useless against the agile Bane at such close range.

"Damn it, if only I had..."

His eyes bulged with fury, but all he could do was watch helplessly as Bane rapidly approached.

"Somebody save meeeee!"

Clang!

Bane's eyes narrowed slightly beneath his mask.

Cheshire Cat's slash pierced his skin. The catlike woman's flexible body unleashed monstrous strength far beyond that of an ordinary human. The slash was powerful enough to cleave real steel, yet it only broke the skin of Bane, who had injected himself with Titan Venom.

With one punch, Bane tore Cheshire Cat's blade apart inch by inch as if it were made of paper. Then he spread his fingers and struck her as she crossed her arms, sending her flying like a meteor and crashing through part of a building.

"Damn it!"

Deathshot glanced at his teammates from the corner of his eye.

Cheshire Cat was nowhere to be seen in the rubble, Killer Croc lay collapsed on the ground, and Tattooed Man...

Tattooed Man stood casually to the side, watching his teammates attack while shaking his head. "Sigh, that's not how you do it."

Bastard!

Deathshot turned toward his teammates and shouted, "Retreat! We can't—"

"Really? I don't believe it!"

Deathshot almost failed to catch his breath.

Slipknot attacked.

He overtook the retreating Deathshot, the corners of his mouth curling upward. His white teeth and Mexican-style braids flew through the air.

In an instant, he threw more than a dozen lassos, wrapping Bane up like a dumpling in a spiderweb. He bared his teeth and laughed.

"You bunch of losers need me after all! Look, he's not dead!"

"Don't get cocky, watch out!!!"

But Deathshot's warning came a step too late.

Idiot! Why hadn't he considered that if Bane could dodge his bullets, how could he fail to dodge these lassos?

The next second, Bane tore apart the drug-reinforced ropes as easily as straw. He then grabbed the lines. Before Slipknot could react, his body was jerked uncontrollably toward Bane, where it was whipped around and slammed against the ground like a yo-yo.

Deathshot kept firing, but it was useless. He simply couldn't believe Bane could dodge his bullets while beating Slipknot at the same time, moving as nimbly as a speed skater.

Tattooed Man said, "If there were knives underneath, he'd already be dead!"

"Shut your stinking mouth!"

Furious, Slipknot released his own lassos and then unleashed a bewildering series of grappling techniques on Bane.

His name was Slipknot, and his fighting techniques were like lassos—suffocating and deadly.

"I refuse to believe it! We're all human. Could it be that you—"

He heard Deathshot shouting from a distance, "Don't do that!" But he had no time to consider anyone else's opinion.

He stared intently at Bane. His opponent looked dazed and stupid, as if he had yet to react. The corners of Slipknot's mouth lifted slightly.

The next second, Bane seized his palm and tore his body apart as easily as straw. The motion was virtually identical to the way he had torn apart the ropes.

Bane specialized in suppressing all flashy tricks.

"AAAAAAAAAAAH!"

Slipknot screamed at the top of his lungs, but soon he could no longer make a sound.

Splurt!

Actually, muscle and bone were almost identical to rope fibers. The only difference was that when they broke apart, they sprayed a bright-red fountain. Bane peeled the muddy remains of Slipknot off his body, then wrung him dry like a rag.

Tattooed Man was still jabbering nearby. "Wow! He really is dead!"

Deathshot was exasperated.

"Don't get bogged down. Retreat quickly..."

He heard the employer's orders coming through his earpiece, but Killer Croc in the distance had already completely lost his reason.

He climbed to his feet and charged toward Bane with a roar.

...But his openings were far too obvious, and he was in poor condition.

Bane grabbed his arm and snapped it like a twig. Killer Croc's scream shook the heavens.

"Ba—ane!"

But Killer Croc didn't retreat like before.

His eyes turned red. No, not just his irises—his entire pupils and even the whites of his eyes became a vivid, bloody red!

"Roar!"

He let out a beastly roar that sounded nothing like a human voice. Deathshot almost felt that his facial features had grown longer and narrower, becoming more... crocodilian!

Killer Croc had grown stronger!

Killer Croc had gone berserk!

Killer Croc had powered up!

The muscles all over his body swelled as he charged Bane like a train!

Then he was sent flying back at an even greater speed.

"This is impossible!"

Killer Croc protested, "You—"

Before he could finish, Bane struck him in the face with a physical silencer.

"That's enough! How dare you—"

Bane grabbed Killer Croc by the ankle with one hand, swung him in a circle through the air, and smashed him violently into the ground. Once, twice—he looked like he was wielding a plastic whack-a-mole hammer.

"I am Killer—"

Bang!

"—Cro—"

Bang!

"—Croc—"

Bang!

Killer Croc lay on his back with his limbs splayed out. His pair of crystal-clear, vertical-pupil eyes gradually lost their light.

"Vermin."

An indifferent killing intent appeared on Bane's face. He had grown tired of Killer Croc repeatedly doing sit-ups like Luffy.

So he turned up the output of the venom injection by another notch. As the Titan Venom gurgled into him, the muscles throughout his body swelled like balloons, transforming him into a small monster nearly three meters tall.

Deathshot raised his guns.

"Take Killer Croc and get out of there!" the employer's voice continued rambling in his ear.

"I know! Shut up!"

Deathshot gritted his teeth, then pulled the triggers. Flames spurted from the muzzles as he unleashed a metal storm capable of shredding an ordinary person to pieces. This time, Bane didn't even dodge.

Deathshot couldn't help but rejoice.

Bang bang bang bang bang!

All four muzzles fired together. Dozens of bullets exploded against Bane's chest within a few short seconds. Deathshot saw white smoke rising from the bullet impacts as the heat built up, and then...

They left behind pale-red depressions in his skin, with a faint trace of blood seeping out.

"Fuck!"

Deathshot cursed loudly. "Is this motherfucker even human?!"

He was already thinking of retreating.

But just then, he saw Tattooed Man step in front of them.

"You bunch of losers, get out of the way. Tattooed Man will handle everything!"

Deathshot wore a strange expression.