Watching the video chat window appear in his field of vision, along with the young man inside it, Old Bruce decided to tentatively believe that he really had become a member of this self-proclaimed "cross-world" Chat Group.
Although he couldn't figure out how the Chat Group had appeared in his field of vision or what kind of unknown technology it used, Old Bruce had checked its functions. Aside from [Life Swap], which seemed rather dangerous, the other features built into the Chat Group seemed fairly safe.
He was seventy this year, and he had stopped using the identity of Batman more than twenty years ago. Old Bruce couldn't imagine there was anything about him that anyone would covet now.
He was Bruce Wayne, once Batman.
The reason he had once been Batman was that the Dark Knight had fulfilled his mission, and so no longer appeared.
"You look a little familiar to me," Lu Bian said aloud.
"Do I?" The old gentleman smiled at the skinny young man.
At that moment, Old Bruce was in the kitchen of Wayne Manor, making himself a cup of coffee. At the same time, he had the Chat Group's video chat open and was talking to Shi Tianwu and Lu Bian.
"I remember now."
"You're the first Batman I ever knew!" Lu Bian exclaimed, his voice rising.
"Ah—!" Old Bruce choked after taking a sip.
Batman was his deepest-buried secret, yet someone from another world had exposed it in an instant.
More accurately, Lu Bian had recognized the face of the actor who played this elderly Bruce Wayne—Michael Keaton, the star of the first Batman movie in film history.
"Child, don't say things like that carelessly."
Old Bruce hurriedly wiped the coffee from his beard and chin, then picked up a towel to clean the coffee he'd sprayed onto the furniture.
"Are you still Batman? How are things in Gotham?"
"You don't have to hide your identity from us. Your heroic image, defending justice, was imprinted on my heart when I was a child," Lu Bian said.
"You?"
"I forgot to mention it. There are three of us in the group now, including you. The group administrator, Shi Tianwu, is in my body at the moment. We used the Life Swap feature."
"Why?"
"It's like this..." Lu Bian quickly explained the situation to Old Bruce.
"Oh." The old gentleman nodded to Lu Bian and Shi Tianwu on the other side of the video chat.
For a moment, an indecent thought surfaced in Old Bruce's aging mind. Could this be some kind of cross-world gay dating group?
"Gotham no longer needs Batman," Old Bruce said, bringing the conversation back around.
"Times have changed. Gotham City is now one of the safest cities in the world."
Even through the screen, they could sense the conflicting feelings of melancholy and pride in Old Bruce's heart as he said those two things.
But this was absolutely a good thing.
A world that didn't need Batman was a good thing.
"How did you do it?" Lu Bian asked.
"Do what?" Old Bruce asked in return.
"The Joker, the Riddler, all those evil supervillains in Gotham—how did you stop them from committing more crimes?" Lu Bian asked.
"The Joker?"
"I've more or less forgotten. He died many years ago."
Lu Bian froze.
"Was there something wrong with my answer?" Old Bruce asked, looking at the young man on the screen in confusion.
"No, nothing wrong."
"Hey, I didn't kill him. He died in an accident," Old Bruce explained, noticing Lu Bian's strange look.
"I know, I know~!"
"You're Batman without a no-kill rule."
"No-kill rule? How interesting." Old Bruce smiled.
The reason Gotham City could now be one of the safest cities in the world was that this Batman had never cared whether the villains lived or died.
Lu Bian matched all the plots from the Batman movies he'd watched as a child to this elderly Bruce Wayne.
In the first movie, Batman, Batman took out the Joker. In the second, Batman Returns, the Penguin died too. At that rate, all the villains in Gotham would die off one by one, or simply stop appearing.
You could say he was the most "hilarious" Batman when it came to how he dealt with them.
At that moment, Lu Bian felt proud that his Chat Group included this Bruce Wayne.
His favorite Batman had accomplished what so many other Batmen in other worlds had failed to do.
"Are you about to cry? Did I say something?"
Seeing Lu Bian's reaction, Old Bruce gradually grew at a loss.
He hadn't felt this way in a long time. It was like being taken back more than thirty years, to when a child who admired Batman watched him fight for justice.
"It's nothing."
"Are you doing all right these days?"
Old Bruce looked a little unkempt.
He hadn't properly trimmed his hair or beard in a long time. He looked like he could play a Viking pirate.
He wore a slightly shrunken wool jacket on top, with a few shirts thrown on haphazardly underneath. He had blue thermal pants on below, and his bare feet were tucked into a pair of fuzzy slippers.
You wouldn't have noticed the old master was wearing fuzzy slippers if you hadn't looked closely.
"I'm all right."
"I had pasta for lunch," Old Bruce replied.
"It's tea time for me now." He raised the coffee cup in his hand toward Lu Bian on the other side of the video chat.
"Are you living alone now?"
"Mm, that's right." Old Bruce nodded and answered calmly.
Lu Bian didn't press the matter any further.
If he kept asking, things would turn into awkward questions like, "Master Bruce, how many girlfriends did you have when you were young?"
Everything came at a price.
The price of setting Gotham to rights was growing old and lonely all by himself.
Besides, Bruce Wayne was no longer Gotham's richest man. Wayne Enterprises still bore the name "Wayne," but its business and development had nothing to do with Old Bruce Wayne. He only received some retirement money from Wayne Enterprises every month.
Many people in the world couldn't understand Bruce Wayne's choices. Why give up the wealth and status he'd earned?
If they could understand Bruce Wayne's wisdom, Gotham wouldn't have spent all those years in chaos, as if it had been invaded by chaos itself.
"I haven't left Gotham in many years."
"It'd be nice to have you show me the sights in other worlds," Old Bruce said to Lu Bian.
"Why not leave Gotham and travel somewhere else?" Lu Bian asked.
"To be honest, I'm still worried. Worried that the moment I leave Gotham, some monsters will crawl out of the sewers."
"..." Master Bruce fell silent for a moment.
"I enjoyed talking with you today."
"..."
[Video chat with Bruce Wayne ended]
Before you continue