Clearing Gotham's Old Bat

Looking at the video chat window that had appeared in his field of vision and the young man inside, old Bruce chose to tentatively believe that he had indeed become a member of this self-proclaimed "cross-world" Chat Group.

Although he could not fathom how the Chat Group had appeared in his vision or what unknown technology it utilized, old Bruce inspected the group's functions. Aside from the [Life Swap] feature, which seemed somewhat dangerous, the rest of the built-in functions were quite safe.

He was seventy years old this year, and he had retired from the identity of Batman over twenty years ago; old Bruce could not imagine what he possessed now that would be worth coveting.

He, Bruce Wayne, had once been Batman.

As for why he had "once been," it was because the Dark Knight had completed his mission and therefore no longer needed to appear.

"You look familiar to me." Lu Bian spoke with his own mouth.

"Familiar?" The old gentleman smiled at the thin young man.

At this moment, old Bruce was in the kitchen of the ancestral Wayne Manor, brewing a cup of coffee for himself while using the Chat Group's video call to talk with Shi Tianwu and Lu Bian.

"I remember now."

"You're the first Batman I ever knew!!" Lu Bian said in surprise, his voice rising.

"Agh...!" Old Bruce, who had just taken a sip, choked.

Batman was his deepest buried secret; to think it had been exposed so suddenly by someone from another world.

To be precise, Lu Bian had recognized the face of the actor who played this old Bruce Wayne—the face of Michael Keaton, the lead actor of the first Batman film in cinematic history.

"Child, don't talk nonsense."

Old Bruce wiped the coffee from his beard in a fluster and grabbed a towel to clean the coffee he had sprayed onto the furniture.

"Are you still Batman now? How is the situation in Gotham City?"

"You don't need to hide your identity from us. Your heroic image of upholding justice was already imprinted in my heart during my childhood," Lu Bian said.

"Us?"

"I forgot to mention, there are three people in the group now including you, and the group administrator Shi Tianwu is currently inside my body. We used the Life Swap function."

"Why?"

"It's because of this..." Lu Bian quickly explained the situation to old Bruce.

"Oh." The old gentleman nodded at Lu Bian and Shi Tianwu on the other side of the video chat.

For a fleeting moment, an improper thought crossed old Bruce's aged brain; he wondered if this was some sort of cross-world gay dating group.

"Gotham no longer needs Batman," old Bruce said, steering the topic back.

"Times have changed. Gotham City is now one of the safest cities in the world."

Hearing him say these two sentences, one could feel the conflicting emotions of loneliness and pride in old Bruce's heart, even through the screen.

But this was definitely a good thing.

A world that did not need Batman was a good thing.

"How did you do it?" Lu Bian asked.

"How did I do what?" old Bruce countered.

"Joker, Riddler, all those evil supervillains of Gotham—how did you stop them from continuing their crimes?" Lu Bian asked.

"Joker?"

"I've somewhat forgotten; he died many years ago."

Lu Bian froze.

"Is there a problem with my answer?" old Bruce looked at the young man on the screen, somewhat bewildered.

"No problem."

"Hey, I didn't kill him. He passed away due to an accident," old Bruce explained, seeing the strange look in Lu Bian's eyes.

"I know, I know~!"

"You are the Batman without a 'no-kill' rule."

"A 'no-kill' rule? Interesting." Old Bruce chuckled.

The reason Gotham City could now be one of the safest cities in the world was because this Batman had never cared whether the villains lived or died.

Lu Bian matched all the plots of the Batman movies he had watched in his childhood with this old Bruce Wayne.

In the first movie, Batman, Batman had finished off Joker; in the second movie, Batman Returns, Penguin had also died. Following the rhythm of the two films, Gotham's villains had either died out one by one or simply stopped appearing.

He could be called the most "humorous" Batman when it came to taking action.

At this moment, Lu Bian felt honored to have this Mr. Bruce Wayne in his Chat Group.

The cause that many Batmen in other worlds had failed to complete had been finished by his favorite Batman.

"Are you about to cry? What did I say?"

Old Bruce felt increasingly at a loss as he observed Lu Bian's reaction.

He hadn't felt this way in a long time, as if he had returned to over thirty years ago, when a child who worshipped Batman saw him upholding justice.

"It's nothing."

"How are you doing these days?"

Old Bruce looked rather disheveled now.

His hair and beard hadn't been groomed in a long time; he looked like he could play a Viking raider.

He wore a shrunken wool coat over several haphazardly layered shirts. Below, he wore blue thermal leggings, his bare feet shoved into a pair of fuzzy slippers.

If one didn't look closely, one wouldn't even notice the master was wearing fuzzy slippers.

"I'm doing alright."

"I had pasta for lunch," Old Bruce replied.

"It's my afternoon tea time now," he added, raising his coffee mug toward Lu Bian on the other side of the video call.

"Are you living alone now?"

"Mm, that's right," Old Bruce nodded and answered indifferently.

Lu Bian didn't continue to press the matter.

If he kept asking, it would turn into awkward questions like, "Master Bruce, how many girlfriends did you have when you were young?"

Everything had a price.

The price for fixing Gotham was to grow old and die in solitude.

Furthermore, he, Bruce Wayne, was no longer the richest man in Gotham. Aside from still bearing the name "Wayne," the development and business of Wayne Enterprises had nothing to do with him, Old Bruce Wayne; he only received a pension from the company each month.

Many people in the world couldn't understand his, Bruce Wayne's, approach—why give up the wealth and status he had already attained?

If those people could understand his, Bruce Wayne's, wisdom, Gotham wouldn't have been in such a state of chaotic lawlessness for so many years, as if invaded by chaos itself.

"I haven't left Gotham in many years."

"It's not bad to have you all show me the scenery of other worlds," Old Bruce said to Lu Bian.

"Why not leave Gotham and travel somewhere else?" Lu Bian asked.

"I'm actually still worried—worried that the moment I leave Gotham, demons and monsters will crawl out of the sewers."

"..." Master Bruce fell silent for a moment.

"It was a pleasure chatting with you today."

"..."

[Video chat with Bruce Wayne ended]