Chapter Summaries

Su Ming and Diana investigated a building full of murdered bodies and concluded that the killer could lead them to a surviving supervillain with information about the mind-controlled world. They decided to wait for the killer’s next delivery and camp in the building.

• Su Ming recognized that the smiling pedestrians were under some form of hypnosis and inferred that someone still controlled the world behind the facade.
• Su Ming examined the corpses and deduced that a serial killer had been murdering victims with increasing frequency.
• Su Ming proposed finding surviving supervillains to learn information unavailable in public records.
• Harley suggested waiting for the killer to bring another body, and Kara noted that only a few hours might remain until morning.
• Su Ming shut the door and chose the building’s storage room as a place for the group to camp and eat hot pot.

Su Ming and the women camped in a shop while investigating a city whose residents behaved as if controlled, and Diana learned that her counterpart on this Timeline had vanished during the battle against Perpetua. Hours later, they heard the serial killer return with another body and prepared to ambush him.

• Diana found online records saying she disappeared into space during the battle against Perpetua and wondered whether she might still be alive on this Timeline.
• Harley comforted Diana, and Kara asked Slade to restore her memories of Superman.
• Slade told the women to focus on surviving as they ate and prepared for the night.
• Several hours later, the group awoke to sounds of the killer dragging a fresh corpse into the shop.
• Slade recognized the killer’s voice and signaled the others to begin their ambush.

Su Ming and his team captured a blood-soaked killer who looked like the Joker but was not him and could not remember his own identity. Harley began testing and treating the Man Who Stopped Laughing, who showed signs of recognizing people and wanting to learn who he was.

• Su Ming, Diana, Deathstroke, and Harley watched the shadow arrange corpses while Supergirl circled around to block his escape.
• Diana used the Lasso of Truth to bind the shadow, and Supergirl guarded the entrance.
• The captive identified himself as the Joker before correcting himself to the Man Who Stopped Laughing and breaking down in confusion.
• Su Ming recognized that the captive was not the Joker and asked Harley to treat his identity recognition disorder.
• Harley tested the captive by asking whether he recognized her and Supergirl, and he correctly identified Harley Quinn.

Harley helped The Man Who Stopped Laughing recover his memories, revealing that he was Jason Todd, the Red Hood and the last Batwoman on Earth. Su Ming treated Jason’s failing body, and the group settled down to eat as Jason faced the weight of his past.

• Harley questioned The Man Who Stopped Laughing and learned he had fought the Batman Who Laughs in the battle that wiped out the Justice League.
• Su Ming told Diana to release The Man Who Stopped Laughing, and Harley used a mirror to help him recover his memories.
• The Man Who Stopped Laughing remembered that he was Jason Todd, the Red Hood and the last Batwoman on Earth.
• Jason sat by the campfire and reflected on the corpses in the front hall and his diminished condition.
• Su Ming gave Jason Invigoration Potions, used Strangle to repair his injuries, and injected him with Leech Serum before the group ate.

Jason recounted how he became the Man Who Stopped Laughing after helping Joker avenge Batwoman and later fighting The Batman Who Laughs. Sugar Bean then questioned his account after noticing that the murders appeared to have begun only recently, despite Jason claiming his memory loss started fifty-seven years ago.

• Jason explained that Joker rescued him after Perpetua’s invasion and recruited him to help lead the Arkham Knights’ resistance.
• Joker became Emperor Joker and defeated Perpetua, but The Batman Who Laughs emerged as their next enemy and killed the remaining resistance fighters.
• Joker made Jason inhale the Fifth-Dimensional Joker Toxin, turning him into the Man Who Stopped Laughing while he retained part of his identity.
• Jason said he and The Batman Who Laughs died together, and he had no memories of what happened afterward until Harley woke him.
• Su Ming asked whether Jason still had Fifth-Dimensional power, and Jason said he had lost it.
• Sugar Bean pointed out that the murder evidence dated back only about half a year, contradicting Jason’s claim that his memory loss began fifty-seven years earlier.

Su Ming considered whether Blank had altered events across the Timeline, including Manhattan-Bat's creation and several past betrayals, while explaining his suspicions to the others. Jason's amnesia left Su Ming without the intelligence he wanted, so he planned to take Jason along and went to make him dentures.

• Deathstroke explained that Doctor Manhattan and Blank could make the world lose time, while Jason said Batwoman and Joker had told him about the lost ten years.
• Su Ming wondered whether Blank had secretly influenced Manhattan-Bat's creation and past events such as the Upside-Down Man's betrayal, Merlin's resurrection, and Darkseid's departure.
• Su Ming explained Doctor Manhattan and Manhattan-Bat to Diana and the others, who realized The Batman Who Laughs should not have been able to reproduce an experimental accident without time repeating.
• Su Ming told the group to stay cheerful and said Jason's amnesia had disrupted his plans, so he would use a backup plan and take Jason with them.
• Su Ming left the storeroom to gather materials from the corpses in the front hall and make Jason a set of dentures.

Su Ming and his companions learned why Jason had killed civilians and discovered that the Batcave’s Brother Eye could help with their investigation. They flew to Wayne Manor in a ruined Gotham, where Jason explained that the city had fallen after Bruce and the others died and Perpetua targeted it.

• Harley explained that Jason had killed people after seeing his reflection in their eyes and doubting his identity.
• Diana accepted Harley’s explanation, and Jason remembered Brother Eye in the Batcave as a possible source of information.
• Su Ming decided the group would go to Wayne Manor, then used the Cloak of Levitation to fly them there from New York.
• Harley saw Gotham’s ruined southern districts and mourned the city’s devastation.
• Jason said Gotham had declined after Bruce and the others died, and Su Ming told him to lead the way to his home.

Su Ming and his companions entered Wayne Manor to seek Brother Eye, but Jason found Alfred’s remains and broke down in grief. Su Ming and Harley headed for the Batcave to check the AI, while Diana and Kara stayed with Jason.

• Su Ming accepted Jason’s suggestion to look for Brother Eye and hoped the mission would help the unstable Man Who Stopped Laughing feel useful.
• Su Ming opened Wayne Manor’s front door, and the group found Alfred’s skeleton seated in the entrance hall.
• Jason recognized Alfred, fell to his knees, and wept over the old man’s remains.
• Harley and Su Ming discussed Alfred’s death and the danger Blank posed to their Earth-0 and Timeline.
• Su Ming and Harley went upstairs to open the hidden elevator to the Batcave, while Diana and Kara stayed with Jason.

Su Ming and Harley explored Batwoman’s neglected Batcave and reasoned out the password to its computer. They left the password unentered so Jason could solve the riddle when he arrived.

• Su Ming cleared bat droppings and dust from the Batcave while Harley joked about the cave’s bats and tested its defenses.
• Su Ming tried Martha as the computer password, but the system rejected it.
• Su Ming, Harley, and Sugar Bean ruled out passwords connected directly to Jason and considered what he would do if he survived the Bat-Family.
• Harley deduced that the password was a funeral home’s phone number, with the Gotham Yellow Pages serving as Batwoman’s clue.
• Su Ming confirmed Harley’s deduction and decided to wait for Jason to solve the riddle himself.

Su Ming and Harley looted Batman’s storage rooms while Jason grieved for Alfred, then Jason revived Brother Eye to help investigate whether any Superhumans remained. The group left Jason searching for evidence that could lead them to Doctor Manhattan and Blank.

• Su Ming showed Harley the Batcave’s stores, where she found and joyfully tested her old cork-firing revolver.
• Su Ming gathered equipment and awakened a frozen Talon assassin, whose brain Strangle ate.
• Jason recovered enough to return to the console, found the password in the Gotham phone directory, and brought Brother Eye online.
• Su Ming asked Jason to search for surviving Superhumans, reasoning that Doctor Manhattan and Blank might pay closer attention to them.
• Jason used Brother Eye to gather and analyze intelligence while Su Ming and the three women rested nearby.

Su Ming and his companions discussed their next steps while Jason searched the Batcave’s records for potential allies and survivors. Jason found someone who appeared to be Superman, giving the group a possible lead.

• Su Ming distributed Bat-Communicators while Jason provided intelligence support from the Batcave.
• Diana said Vandal Savage was likely alive at this Time Point, and Harley joked about how Diana used to insult him.
• Diana worried about Paradise Island but resolved to focus on the mission and prevent this Timeline’s tragedies from happening in their world.
• Harley suggested that Su Ming take Diana to Paradise Island, but Diana insisted they handle the important matter first.
• Jason called the group over after finding someone who appeared to be Superman.

Jason found a series of family murders with wounds resembling Heat Vision, and Su Ming led a team to investigate a recent crime scene in Ivy City, New Jersey. They arrived at the house and discovered four headless bodies seated around the dining table.

• Jason showed Su Ming and the others photographs of families killed at their dining tables, with parts of their heads melted by what looked like Heat Vision.
• Diana noted that other beings besides Kryptonians could fire beams from their eyes, and Su Ming told Jason to stay in the Batcave and support them remotely.
• Su Ming, Diana, Harley, and Deathstroke traveled to Ivy City to inspect a recent murder scene.
• The team found a quiet suburban neighborhood with no visible pets, then followed bloody footprints into a house with its front door open.
• Su Ming and the others found four headless corpses seated around the dining table.

Su Ming investigated the deaths of a family of four and concluded that their killer had cooked breakfast for them before murdering them when they failed to give him what he wanted. Harley interpreted the crime as a failed robbery rather than evidence of insanity, leaving Diana troubled by the killer’s slaughter of the children.

• Su Ming examined the four corpses and the breakfast, discovering that none of the victims had prepared or eaten the food.
• Su Ming deduced that the killer had restrained the family, cooked for them to obtain something, and killed them when his demand went unmet.
• Harley suggested that the killer had acted like a robber with a clear goal, rather than a serial killer seeking pleasure through prolonged suffering.
• Diana questioned whether someone who murdered a family, including two children, could be considered sane.
• Harley argued that people could kill without being mentally ill and compared the killer’s conduct to Ares’s use of killing as a method.

Su Ming investigated the households on the street and found that their bodies acted like empty shells while their minds seemed to be online. He identified the Milkman as the likely murderer and got the milk company’s registered address from Jason.

• Su Ming led Kara, Harley, and Little Dai into nearby homes, where they found residents lying in bed and using their terminals without reacting to visitors.
• The group inspected kitchens across the street and found that the victim’s household alone had milk bottles on its dining table.
• Su Ming discovered that residents passed out when their terminals were removed and resumed their blank routines when the devices were restored.
• Su Ming asked Jason to check whether the victim’s family had subscribed to milk deliveries, and Jason confirmed that no such subscription appeared online.
• Su Ming concluded that the Milkman was likely the murderer and asked Jason to use Brother Eye to trace the milk truck.
• Su Ming examined a bottle, found a phone number on its cap, and had Jason locate the dairy company’s registered address.

Su Ming and his companions investigated the Dairy Company after Harley noticed that Ivy City’s technology and a bottle of milk seemed out of sync with the Timeline. They searched the factory for the Milkman, reasoning that a delivery driver would be the most suspicious person there.

• Harley told Su Ming that the milk had been fresh and warm, and that Ivy City’s homes looked decades behind New York despite the year being 2077.
• Harley concluded that the city’s strange inconsistencies might stem from someone tampering with the Timeline, though the group lacked enough evidence to confirm it.
• Su Ming took the group to the Dairy Company, where smiling workers operated machinery in silence as if they were sleepwalking.
• Kara used X-ray Vision to search the factory after Su Ming directed her to focus on the warehouse and parking lot.
• Su Ming reasoned that the Milkman would be loading bottled milk for delivery, and that anyone making deliveries in this city was likely the killer.

Kara tracked the missing milk van to a farmhouse near Atlantic City, where Su Ming and the others watched the Milkman approach a family. Harley suspected he was hearing voices, and the Milkman entered the house after claiming its residents needed his help.

• Kara found the tire tracks of the missing delivery van, and Su Ming led the group after it on the Cloak of Levitation.
• The group followed the van toward Atlantic City, while Kara told Harley she had never had time to visit an amusement park.
• Kara tracked the van to a farmhouse, but Deathstroke stopped Diana from attacking so they could learn the Milkman's motive.
• The Milkman carried a crate of milk to the farmhouse and repeatedly knocked, though nobody answered.
• Harley explained that the Milkman might be experiencing auditory hallucinations, and he entered the house after saying the residents needed his help.

Su Ming watched the Milkman through a hidden Doom Bot as he froze a farmhouse family to their chairs and prepared them breakfast. The Milkman served each person a bottle of milk, while Su Ming's companions watched from outside and Harley distracted Diana with Justice League gossip.

• Su Ming sent an invisible Doom Bot to spy on the Milkman and broadcast what happened inside the farmhouse.
• The Milkman froze five family members to their chairs, then cooked them breakfast while cheerfully chatting to them.
• Harley gave Su Ming, Diana, and Kara sweets and steered Diana into talking about Justice League gossip.
• The Milkman served the family breakfast and placed a bottle of Daily Fresh Milk before each person.

Deathstroke, Diana, and Kara confronted the Milkman after he murdered a family for refusing his milk. Deathstroke struck him with a Kryptonite-infused gauntlet, but the Milkman remained standing and called out to him.

• The Milkman killed a family with Heat Vision after they refused to thank him for the milk he served.
• Deathstroke spotted the Milkman leaving and ordered Diana and Kara to help capture him alive.
• Diana attacked the Milkman from above, but he blocked her sword strike and blasted her into a field.
• Deathstroke followed with a coordinated attack and punched the Milkman with his Kryptonite-infused gauntlet, sending him through the farmhouse and across the fields.
• The Milkman stood unharmed in the trench and asked Deathstroke if he wanted to subscribe to fresh milk.

Su Ming and his allies confronted Milkman Superman, a powerful figure who demanded that they subscribe to fresh milk. Su Ming provoked him by stealing and desecrating his milk, prompting Milkman Superman to attack.

• The Milkman shed his disguise and revealed a white Superman-like suit marked with an embossed M.
• Su Ming questioned the stranger about his identity and learned that he called himself Milkman Superman and the Milkman God Among Men.
• Su Ming realized milk was central to Milkman Superman's motives and used the milk crate to provoke him.
• Milkman Superman fired Heat Vision at Su Ming, who reflected it with his Lightsaber and poured a bottle of milk over his own head.

Su Ming used milk to provoke Milkman Superman into losing control, then defeated him with help from Diana and Kara. The group escaped with the unconscious Milkman Superman before Black Hand could notice, leaving the area in ruins.

• Su Ming covered himself in milk and charged Milkman Superman while Strangle carried the remaining bottles.
• Su Ming and Strangle enraged Milkman Superman by breaking a milk bottle and blowing bubbles into another, driving him into a mindless attack.
• Su Ming fought Milkman Superman, splashed milk in his face, and struck him with Omega Beams.
• Diana and Kara bound Milkman Superman with the lasso, and Su Ming knocked him unconscious with a Golden Frying Pan.
• Su Ming, Diana, Kara, and Harley fled on the flying carpet, leaving ruins behind.