"Batman!!!! Gurgle gurgle gurgle…"
A shriek followed by the sound of choking echoed through Gotham's upper city area, while Batman, who had been brought to the rooftop by the Flash, heaved a silent sigh in his heart.
If one were to ask Batman which Robin he understood the most, some might think it was Nightwing, who had been with him the longest, or Red Robin, who was most like him. But Batman would say it was Damian — not just because Damian shared his blood, but because Damian's assassin-bred logic seemed easier to grasp than the erratic thinking of the average teenager.
Because Batman understood Talya, he naturally understood Damian as well. Despite his similarities with Batman, Damian resembled his mother more. Recollecting his encounters with Talya was necessary to understand what sort of person she was.
These weren't pleasant memories, but Talya had indeed left a profound impression on Batman. She was a decisive, obsessed, and even somewhat cruel woman, but there was no denying her audacity and her willingness to go all-out.
The latter sounded simple, but Batman knew that most people thought they could do anything until they were in dire straits. But Talya was someone who could, as was Damian, although this time, he went a bit too far.
Batman never dreamt that Damian, the demon boy bred in the most elite environment, would use the most extreme method of retaliation after locating the Owls - pouring sewage.
However, Batman's understanding was slightly off this time, for he hadn't witnessed the method Shiller used against the Owls. Two Cosmic Owls would have met the same fate drowned in poop.
Back then, the Owls built their base underneath the Living Hell, and Shiller, who had partnered with Cobblepot, connected the sewage pipe of the Living Hell directly above the Owl's base. This was a pure dumping strategy, intended to disgust the Owls.
But Damian's dumping operation was different.
The pipe Shiller connected to only discharged household waste from the Living Hell, including excrement and kitchen garbage. It was disgusting but not undegradable, more of a psychological attack than a threat of chemical toxicity.
However, the sewage that Damian discharged came from Gotham's largest cesspool, containing not just household wastewater but also the waste from the chemical, smelting, and energy industries. This wasn't just fecal water; it was genuinely toxic and polluting.
It was challenging to determine whether the drowned Owl was drowned or poisoned, but clearly, the expensive pre-water filters in the residential area of the upper city could only handle regular tap water contamination. They were useless against this industrial-level wastewater, which could pollute the drinking water and air by seeping into the ground.
The other members of the Court of Owls, who came to the scene to inspect the situation, naturally judged this through the site's condition. They realized that this wealthy district might experience water and air pollution due to this irregular sewage discharge.
No one valued life more than the rich, who couldn't tolerate even the easily washable residual pesticides on fruits and vegetables. Having them breathe air filled with industrial pollutants was akin to killing them.
All at once, the wealthy people in the upper city area, alarmed by the news, began moving out of their homes, desperately fleeing, only to realize when their luggage was packed: where could they flee to?
With ongoing battles turning Gotham into a war zone and the upper city half fallen due to the extension of the frontline, were they to squeeze into the slums of the lower city?
They could stay and accept the pollution or leave without a better place to shelter. In the end, some pampered, pretentious, and fearful wealthy locals decided to leave this rotten city altogether and leave Gotham by plane.
But others, too deeply tied to the city to leave, or madmen whose minds had merged with the city's darkness and were not afraid to die, decided to stay.
Of course, their decision to stay wasn't a death sentence. They were sure to choose the least terrible path from a plethora of awful options.
The best solution now was not to stay in the polluted upper city area, rather to move to the territories they had conquered in the middle city area, and use the manpower there to secure their safety.
And so, the generals, who formerly commanded from afar, finally came to the actual front line.
This time, they couldn't just stand by and watch as humans moved like chess pieces across the board of the world. Their ability to command battles and deploy defenses would determine their fate.
When they sat in their luxurious villas in the upper city area, directing operations over the phone, it was like playing a video game. No matter how many characters died in the game, it couldn't harm them in reality.
However, this time, with them personally holding up the battlements at their family's stronghold, it felt like a real-life war. In the game, a missed aim could only lead to a loss, but in reality, it could lead to death.
Many people should have heard of a term called "forced error," simply put, it's when people are under enormous pressure, they often find it hard to fully utilize their intelligence, because the interference that pressure brings to people is real. People who are not resilient to stress are more likely to make some basic mistakes in high-pressure environments.
Some people who hide behind screens when typing appear as eloquent as modern-day Zhuge Liang. But when you ask them to give a speech at a large auditorium filled with hundreds of people, they might stutter and fail to speak, many leaders of the Gotham families are in this situation right now.
When the threat does not directly affect themselves, they can make decisions promptly. But now if they fail to arrange a single defensive task, a bunch of lunatics could barge in and shoot them into sieves, many people inevitably become overly cautious, inhibited, without the charm they exhibited when they were previously strategizing tactics and looking powerful.
Richest families relocated, everyone got busy for a while, and those families unable to settle down and perform tasks to their original standards were promptly eliminated, completely wiped out from the historical stage.
Like this, those with weak will were eliminated first, followed by those with weak organizational skills. The remaining families, if not all exceptionally talented, could at least be described as above average.
More importantly, those families that were determined to stay in Gotham until today necessarily have great courage in seeking wealth amidst dangers, as there are no restrictions to come and leave Gotham. The faint-hearted would have already escaped on a plane, those who stayed, well, no one could say anything about them, each of them dark as coal, not just in color, but also full of cunning in every way.
So, how is the Wayne Family doing?
It's impossible for the Wayne Family to leave Gotham. Bruce was confident he could cleanse the water and air within Wayne Manor, but once Butler Alfred heard that here could be polluted, he packed up his belongings overnight and insisted on leaving.
Recently, Bruce has been reluctant to upset him, because not long ago, double the Robins returned home to visit him, which pleased him for quite a while. However, Bruce still failed to keep these children, which left Alfred disappointed for quite a long time. Even just to appease his old butler, Bruce moved out of Wayne Manor along with him.
Batman has always been participating in this conflict as Bruce Wayne, although he hasn't been too prominent. He only gained control of a decent-sized territory in Midtown.
The territory he owns is in a prime location in Midtown, where most of the industries on several streets belong to the Wayne Family. It's quite normal that Bruce Wayne made heavy defenses there.
After experiencing the initial chaos, the war has entered a profitable period. There are ample territories and wealth in the Upper city area waiting to be divided, everyone started charging into cities and regions like a starved wolf, they didn't even have the time to attack each other.
Under the leadership of Batman, the Wayne Family also pretended to reclaim their original manor and incorporated it into their own sphere of influence. But in fact, Bruce has no interest in the current childlike cake-snatching situation. He's simply waiting for Robin to make his next move.
In theory, Batman wouldn't allow Robin to cause so much chaos in his city. But after experiencing Robins leaving home one after another, and the emptiness of their absence night after night, Batman realized that the Robins really had important things to do, and they weren't simply trying to distance themselves from him. He felt an oddly relaxed feeling, similar to "I knew he still loves me."
This emotional state greatly affected Batman's insatiable desire for control. Although ultimately the desire for control would still prevail, at least for a short period of time, Batman paid more attention to the tasks the Robins were undertaking, rather than the nature of their actions.
As it turns out, everyone has an innate desire for fun, the inherent curiosity and exploration desire makes everyone unconsciously curious about the follow-up of a mysterious event. Batman is no exception.
Now Batman feels that he understands the thought process of the Robins, so, following this line of thought, Batman already has a prediction for the Robins' next move.
The war cannot go on indefinitely. As the saying goes, all wars are fought for the interests at the negotiation table. When the territories in the Upper city area are also divided, and everyone still wants more, they have to sit at the negotiation table. That will be another major reshuffle of Gotham allegiances.
Batman doesn't think that the Robins would miss the opportunity to redraw the power of Gotham at the negotiation table after all they have done. Or it could be said that the purpose of all their endeavors was the final play.
So, how are they going to deliver this decisive blow, to gather the fragmented Gotham families and form a new community and class of shared interests, to achieve their goal of restoring Gotham to the Mob Order era?
What's the leash of the dog? And who's the owner of the dog?
With these questions in mind, Batman arrived at the base of the Naiwei Family. Essentially, he didn't want to see his own children making mistakes at the final crucial point. Since they have come this far, they should naturally put a perfect end to it.
Black bat wings swept through the sky as Batman landed silently on the balcony of the seventh floor of the family's residence. However, when he heard the noise from downstairs, he jumped to the balcony of a bedroom downstairs.
When the wind blew the curtains, allowing Batman to get a glimpse of the bedroom corner, he froze on the spot like a statue.
Because standing in the bedroom were Thomas Wayne and Martha Wayne - his parents, the biological parents of Bruce Wayne, Batman.