Chen Mo looked at the Batman Who Laughs on the screen and couldn't help but sigh.
"What era are we living in? Still solving the trolley problem?"
He pointed to the flashing red dots.
"It's nothing more than replacing the trolleys with 1.37 million people and the switchboard with a motherboard. Do you villains particularly like this kind of thing? Don't you have anything new to say?"
The Joker stood to the side, his face even more unpleasant than the cold light on the server.
He secretly made a few hand gestures to Chen Mo.
retreat.
Retreat immediately.
As long as Chen Mo doesn't touch the motherboard here, they still have a chance to find a way to rescue him.
Chen Mo saw it.
But he ignored it.
The Batman Who Laughs saw it too, but the smile on its lips remained unchanged.
"You knew you'd say that."
He tapped the virtual screen lightly, his tone even carrying a hint of pleasure.
"If you're gripped by fear over a mere 1.37 million lives, that's truly boring, and my carefully prepared surprise would lose its meaning."
"You spent so much time preparing, and all you got in return was a city map?"
Chen Mo glanced around.
"If I had known it would be like this, I wouldn't have come. You don't even have popcorn here, the movie-watching experience is terrible."
The Joker's lips twitched.
Being able to crave popcorn at a time like this can't be considered having a good mindset.
This is clearly heartless.
Chen Mo ignored the Batman Who Laughs and slowly closed his eyes.
The next moment, a massive amount of psychic power emanated from his body.
It didn't smash through the walls or destroy the servers; instead, it spread like an invisible net, instantly covering the entire Night City.
One million three hundred and seventy thousand faint life signals appeared in his perception at the same time.
Someone was repairing prosthetic bodies on the street.
Someone was sleeping in the cramped rented room.
A child, clutching a worn-out toy, nestled beside his mother, running a fever.
Many people are still working in factories and mines, with the identification chips around their necks constantly uploading information to data centers.
Chen Mo's mental power landed precisely.
The data, permissions, positioning modules, and life support programs inside the chip were disassembled layer by layer, and all parts that could affect the human nervous system were individually removed.
He did not forcibly remove the chip.
That would only cause harm.
He simply unloaded the chip from the control network and then conveniently erased the permissions for remote control.
The entire process took less than three seconds.
Throughout the city, the red lights went out one after another.
The vital signs of 1.37 million people remain stable; only their identity chips have lost connection to the data center.
The Joker froze, staring at the changing data on the screen.
"That's it?"
V opened his mouth, nearly dropping the pistol in his hand.
"My God, what did he just do?"
Theoretically speaking, the chip should have been shut down remotely.
Harley Quinn answered seriously.
"Just like turning off your bedside lamp before you go to sleep."
V remained silent for a moment.
"But those were 1.37 million lamps."
"Yeah, thank goodness he's here, I couldn't possibly turn off so many lights."
After speaking, Harley Quinn silently picked up the medical needle again.
On the central screen, the previously densely packed red dots have been completely cleared.
The Batman Who Laughs raised his hands and clapped softly.
"Pretty."
The applause echoed through the data center, sounding particularly jarring.
"I knew this level of problem wouldn't stump you. You can directly analyze the connection between living and mechanical things, and your telekinesis can bypass most physical firewalls."
"You don't even need to understand this city; just seeing it is enough to dismantle it."
Chen Mo opened his eyes.
"You know about this, yet you still bring up such a trivial question and embarrass yourself?"
"Because that's not the question I really want to ask."
The Batman Who Laughs leaned forward, its pale face close to the screen.
"I just want to know, what were you thinking when you heard that 1.37 million people would die?"
Chen Mo smiled but did not answer.
The Batman Who Laughs's smile deepened.
" Chen Mo, you paused for half a second."
"In that half-second, you calculated the cost of killing them, and you also calculated how to save them. You felt no anger, no pity, not even hesitation."
"You just find it troublesome."
The Joker's expression changed slightly.
He looked at Chen Mo, seemingly trying to find the answer on the other's face.
Chen Mo simply picked at his ear.
"Your analysis is quite engaging."
"What? Did I say something wrong?"
"More or less."
Chen Mo nodded.
"My main thought at the time was, if you keep talking nonsense, I'll take your skull off and use it as a bowl."
The laughter on the screen paused for a moment.
The Batman Who Laughs was not angry; instead, it laughed even more heartily.
"Look, this is what I love about you."
"You said you didn't care, but you still saved them. You clearly have the power to easily reshape a city, yet you choose to put yourself in chains called humanity."
" Chen Mo, if you stop once for the sake of these 1.37 million people, you will stop a second time for the sake of the next 1.37 million people."
There will always be a time when you face a choice where you can't have it all.
"When that time comes, I'll really look forward to seeing what you're like."
Chen Mo narrowed his eyes.
The tentacles of Blacklight suddenly swelled and rushed towards the screen along the data center's wiring.
But just as the tentacles were about to touch the black crystal, the central image suddenly began to split.
The figure of the Batman Who Laughs was sliced into countless pieces, each jumping into a different data channel.
Chen Mo's senses immediately locked onto one of the signals.
He had long ago secretly concealed the Blacklight within that cross-dimensional communication fluctuation.
As long as the enemy retreats, he can follow the signal to catch up.
"Trying to run?"
Chen Mo sneered.
The Blacklight spread wildly along the signal, instantly penetrating the data center's firewall and disappearing into the deeper network gaps.
However, the signal suddenly dropped the next second.
All traces disappeared at the same time.
No coordinates.
There is no loop.
Even residual energy fluctuations were thoroughly cleared away beforehand.
The central screen went completely black.
Chen Mo stared at the screen for a few seconds, then pursed his lips.
"Damn, that bastard can really run."
The Joker approached cautiously.
"You didn't catch up with him?"
"We caught up."
Chen Mo withdrew the Blacklight and turned to walk outside.
"Then he ran away again."
"We still haven't caught up, have we?"
"Idiot! Just say you didn't catch up, how embarrassing would that make me look bad?"
Looking at the mechanical wreckage swallowed by the Blacklight, V couldn't help but ask, "So what do we do now? Should we still dismantle the data center?"
Chen Mo stopped in his tracks.
"Of course, demolish it."
He glanced back at the central motherboard.
"But first, copy the documents inside. We're already here; we can't just smash things and not take any souvenirs."
On the other side.
In the dark space, several figures surrounded the Batman Who Laughs.
The Red Death asked in a low voice, "You were almost targeted by him just now!"
The Dawnbreaker also looked at him.
"The communication nodes we spent months setting up are all useless now, and we've lost three cross-border lines."
The Batman Who Laughs sat in the darkness, the smile on his face still undiminished.
You don't understand.
He raised his hand to wipe away non-existent blood from the corner of his mouth, letting out a suppressed laugh.
"We almost all died just now."
The Dark Knights fell silent simultaneously.
What is this madman saying? What does it have to do with what we're talking about?
The Batman Who Laughs slowly raised its head.
"That was really exciting."