RNP Chapter 3895 The Nameless Bat (65)
Chapter 3895 The Nameless Bat (65)
Chapter 3895 The Nameless Bat (Sixty-Five)
The footsteps grew closer, accompanied by heavy rain that made the underground parking lot increasingly damp. Barbara felt herself sweating, but the sweat stuck to her skin, making her increasingly uncomfortable. Her heart was also beating too fast; Barbara worried that the clown might hear her.
She gripped her phone tightly; it became her only source of security. Not because she relied on the electronic life form, but because she was confident in her hacking skills.
The Joker seemed to be observing; he didn't look like a good detective. But the underground parking lot was leaking, and Barbara was running too fast, her wheelchair driving over a puddle and leaving a trail of water stains that were so conspicuous that it was impossible for the Joker not to notice.
The emergency exit lights weren't part of the lighting system's circuitry, so even when all the lights were off, the green emergency exit lights still provided some illumination. The clown followed these lights and almost touched the front of the pickup truck.
Just then, the sound of an engine starting up came from a Mazda next to him. The clown turned his head sharply and saw that the Mazda had suddenly turned on its headlights and taillights, smoothly reversed out of the parking space, and then sped off towards the underground parking lot exit.
The clown stood still, chuckled softly, and muttered to himself, "Looks like I'm pretty close..."
Upon hearing this, Barbara involuntarily trembled. She pursed her lips, held her breath, and tried her best not to make a sound.
Just as the Joker was circling around to this side, the pickup truck in front of Barbara suddenly started up, floored the gas pedal, and slammed into the Joker, sending him flying.
Barbara's phone vibrated again, and she saw a message that read: "Go to the exit yourself!"
Barbara quickly wheeled herself in the direction the Mazda had left in. She knew it was an electronic life form guiding her, but whether it was a path to survival was anyone's guess.
Barbara rocked her wheelchair rapidly, knowing it couldn't be faster than the Joker, but perhaps the elusive electronic life form had another way.
Just as Barbara was slowly inching her way toward the exit, the Joker had already gotten up from the ground. He must have broken countless bones in that fall, but the Joker wasn't afraid; he was healing himself at an astonishing speed.
He chased after Barbara again, but then another Ford Mustang came along, and with another bang, the Joker was thrown into the air once more. Then came Dodges, Chevrolets, Jeeps, Hondas…
Every time the clown gets up, a car crashes into him, nearly smashing him to pieces. But each time, the clown manages to get up, even laughing and urging him to try harder.
After being knocked away again, he got up and, just like before, chased after the exit. But he deliberately played a trick, seemingly rushing forward but actually retreating. The empty Buick missed him, but crashed head-on into the back of another car, which seemed to have stalled and become immobile.
There were no other cars in front of the vehicle; to hit the Joker, the crane would have to come from behind, but with such a large car blocking the way, other cars simply couldn't get past it. The Joker fled the underground parking lot like lightning, and as soon as he stepped out, he saw Barbara spun around in her wheelchair, heading into the nearby shopping mall.
The clown followed her inside and saw Barbara get into the elevator. He didn't rush to run upstairs, but instead went to check the floors in another elevator. He discovered that the mall didn't have a basement, and the elevators could only go up. So he ran to the stairwell next to it and started sprinting upwards.
With a click, all the lights went out again. The clown, who had reached the second floor of the mall, couldn't see anything. He cursed loudly, but then, as if remembering something, he rushed back to the stairwell and headed towards the top floor.
Pushing open the rooftop door, they saw Barbara sitting in a wheelchair. The clown stared intently at her.
"Where's your phone?" Apparently, the Joker had heard the phone vibrate earlier.
“I threw it,” Barbara said. “I just threw it down from upstairs. If you need it, go look for it in the bushes downstairs.”
At this moment, the Joker realized that although the mysterious electronic life form was helping Barbara escape, Barbara would never trust it.
Or rather, when he first appeared, Barbara might have been filled with fear because of what had happened in the past, but this woman codenamed "Oracle" was by no means a fool. To become Batman's right-hand woman and to have independently built a surveillance system, she was calmer and smarter than most people.
He came to her because she was a top hacker. Realizing that the person trying to kill him might be some ethereal cyber ghost, the Joker knew he couldn't handle it on his own; he needed a professional. Barbara was the perfect choice.
As a hacker, Barbara couldn't possibly understand cyber life less than herself. The more professional one is, the more they understand, and the more they understand, the more terrified they become. How could any hacker genuinely believe in a cyber ghost capable of manipulating cars and killing people out of thin air?
Rather, every hacker has worried about this. Once the network develops its own will, humans, who can only manipulate it through external devices, will completely lose control, rendering even the most advanced technology useless.
The Joker might kill her, or he might kill many others in Gotham, but a specter that permeates the internet will completely upend humanity's internet system. And humanity, increasingly reliant on the internet, will be powerless to resist its domination—that would be the real catastrophe.
On the second floor of the mall, the Joker suddenly realized that Barbara might not have really wanted to escape. She hadn't escaped with the help of the cybernetic lifeforms; she had been kidnapped by them.
Even if she warned them in the underground parking lot, the cybernetic lifeform could still run the Joker over with its car, and the outcome wouldn't change. Once she left the underground parking lot, Barbara could easily lie and say she wanted to hide in the mall, then find a place where the cybernetic lifeform couldn't control anything to kill, and wait for the Joker to come.
The best place is the rooftop.
There are people in the shopping mall downstairs; it's hard to say if they'll be swayed by electronic lifeforms. Besides, the mall is too cluttered; someone might be hiding a gun. Only the rooftop is empty, and the door can be locked from the inside.
As for the electronic lifeform, it probably feared that the Joker would search each floor and eventually find Barbara. Barbara could then use this as a pretext to persuade it, ultimately leading to its successful arrival on the rooftop.
The rooftop of this building is very high, and there are few buildings around it, so the security cameras are basically out of sight. By tossing the phone aside, you've essentially created an isolated space devoid of electronic life.
“Tell me what’s going on,” the Joker said. “This thing seems to be able to control things that aren’t even connected to the internet. What is it?”
“That’s a long story,” Barbara said. “I don’t know if you’ve heard about the infamous Eden Killer case…”
Barbara then briefly explained to the Joker how they solved the Eden Killer case and how they lured out the electronic lifeform through a scheme. Finally, Barbara said, "Unfortunately, we got nothing except that code. This guy is invincible in the airwaves."
“No,” the Joker said, “it could have remained hidden in the radio waves forever, but it committed murder, left behind a string of code, and even tried to protect you just now. This proves that it had something to gain. Where there is desire, there is weakness.”
“You sound a bit like Batman,” Barbara couldn’t help but say. “Never mind that. I think it’s got its eye on me. What are you going to do? Use me to lure it out?”
“The point is why it’s targeting you,” the Joker said, looking into Barbara’s eyes. “I think it’s probably because you’re an extremely skilled hacker, and it’s looking for validation from you.”
“That’s impossible,” Barbara immediately denied. “It’s a program, and programs don’t have feelings, let alone such a complex emotion as identification.”
"You said it's not just electronic life, but could be a kind of organism living in radio waves. How can you assume it has no feelings?"
"Humans seek recognition by communicating with others, but this guy hasn't communicated with me and has been avoiding me. If you hadn't suddenly appeared at my base, it probably wouldn't have said a word to me."
“It might just be exploring,” the Joker said. “You two may not have communicated verbally, but you must have clashed technically, right? You’re just one of its options, which is why it hasn’t formally communicated with you.”
"You mean, if it's convinced I'm the best hacker, then it'll communicate with me? And then what? What does it want to do?"
“It might be trying to woo you,” the Joker said. “Don’t you think what just happened looks like a hero rescuing a damsel in distress? If you weren’t the Prophet, but some love-struck fool, you’d probably see it as your savior by now, wouldn’t you?”
"I did think that for a moment, but not because of love or anything like that, but because of its very form. Like a god on the internet, omnipresent and omnipotent. That's the ideal state for every hacker."
The clown scoffed and said, "If you actually believe it, you're probably doomed. An electromagnetic being doesn't turn into a human so easily, and if it wants to fall in love with you, it can only turn you into an electrical signal."
Barbara couldn't help but shudder slightly; it was indeed a bit terrifying. The Joker was that kind of love-struck fool, only his target was Batman. If she were to be entangled with someone like that, she'd rather just give him a quick death.
Barbara composed herself slightly, looked at the clown, and said, "What do we do now?"
"We still need to figure out why it values you so much. Can you find information about your competitors? See who has recently played against it, and you'll know if it's because of your outstanding skills that it's interested in you."
“If that’s the case, it will definitely regret it,” Barbara said mischievously, looking at the Joker. “Because Batman is the best hacker in the world. When he comes back, this cyber ghost might fall for someone else, and then you’ll be in danger.”
The Joker's face immediately darkened; to be precise, his expression became extremely sinister. Barbara had no doubt that if he had enough bombs right now, he would blow the entire city to smithereens.
What follows is a showdown between two love-struck individuals, Barbara thought. Originally, the Joker might not have had any reason to deal with this electronic life form, but now he certainly does.
On a building a little further away, Schiller put down his binoculars and nodded in satisfaction.