Batman looked around before turning his head and saying to Shiller, "Do you think the situation is favorable for me to fight him right now?"
As a tactical master, Batman was not the kind of blind self-confident man, he saw hundreds of madmen attracted by the smell of wine, those infected madmen were surrounding him in layers.
With the continued spread of the Dionysus Factor, there began to be lively sounds from the distant buildings, it was clear that more people were getting infected.
"If I say you can, then you can." Shiller shrugged and said, "This is a mock exam, if you can't pass, be prepared for a real beating by the formal examiner."
"I always feel that you're hinting at something."
After Batman had spoken, nonetheless, he threw two Batman darts at Alberto. He knew that he must draw the attention of these madmen. If he were to retreat, the group of crazy monsters rushing into Gotham would cause countless tragedies. Therefore, although he knew it would be best to retreat, he couldn't leave.
Alberto dodged the Batman darts with a wild laugh and lunged forward, beginning the fight between them.
On the other side, Shiller had already entered the church. He was standing at the edge of the green pool, looking at the liquid in it, whispering to himself, "Is this the one who fell into the Dionysus Factor... or was it the one who fell into the chemical factory? Or the one from the circus? Could it be... "
Then he continued a little confused, "I thought Batman would have chosen him…"
At this moment, a person wearing a bird-shaped mask stepped out from behind the base of his Jesus statue, and said, "So it's you, you have been interfering with us."
With an eye roll, Shiller said, "Don't disturb my thinking."
"You will pay the price for defying the Court of Owls."
Shiller seemed a little annoyed by him, "What, the fate of your compatriots, hasn't made you guys behave?" he asked.
"Are you referring to those idiots trapped by you? I am not like them..."
"I'm talking about those who drowned in shit."
The person across him choked a bit, seemingly disgusted by his own immediate association, "You dare to mention that vile trap?" he spat.
"It's still much better than your stupid, unimaginative plans. The water source plan? Anything other stupid thought? Fire plan?"
"Stupid plan?!" The person across raised his voice, "Just watch, we used Dionysium to create a truly immortal madman! He will become an eternal nightmare of Gotham! Look outside…"
Outside the church, Batman was trapped in a tough fight because the first batch of infected madmen have already surrounded him. He fell into a beating by dozens of people, his superior martial arts skills didn't give him much advantage. He had already sustained some injuries.
"It doesn't matter what you created, what matters is, Batman didn't choose him."
"What are you talking about? Haven't you seen it yet? Dionysus has already boiled over! It will spread to the whole city of Gotham! What you have done is in vain! This city will soon fall into madness..."
Shiller sighed as he looked at Alberto, who was beating up Batman with a crowd, "If I was Batman, I wouldn't choose him either."
The man across in the bird-shaped mask continued his self-important rant, "This is the greatest achievement of the water source plan! Gotham's perpetual nightmare! As long as he exists, destruction and chaos will never cease! He will drag the whole city into the abyss!!"
"...how should I put it."
"Your formula is correct, but the values are filled in wrong."
Then he added with some emotion, "No one can control Batman or his opponents, not even the Court of Owls."
"Batman? You mean, the stray dog outside the door who is about to be beaten to death?"
"I advise you to go save him now, otherwise, it will be too late."
"Are you threatening me? Such a cliché..."
"No, of course not."
The man in bird-shaped mask stared at him, and then asked," You still have the mood to talk in riddles? In less than ten hours, most of Gotham will be infected with madness. Do you understand how terrifying that situation is?"
"It's not terrifying, you don't understand, the real horror is not a city surrounded by zombies... "
Shiller sighed again, apparently losing interest in further talking with the man across. He vanished in front of him, teleporting to the top of the church bell tower, where he finished his unfinished sentence, "The real horror is... the return of the Joker."
Below, the situation was getting tougher and tougher for Batman, too many people were besieging him.
Batman doesn't have abilities like those from heaven or earth, suddenly trapped in such a tough fight, it was hard for him to obtain an advantage. More importantly, these madmen didn't care about anything, some of the ways to disturb the opponent couldn't be used, they didn't care about it at all. Even if they were hit by the Batman dart in crucial parts like their eyes, they would still howl and charge forward.
Batman had never had to deal with such fearless opponents, he was at a great disadvantage because of his lack of experience.
Batman felt the blood from his forehead seeping into his eyes, blurring his sight with a red overlay. He was hit in the lower leg by a brick, intense pain from his ankle put him directly into a kneeling position on the ground. Following that came raining fists and weapons. He began to hear various chaotic sounds in his brain and felt as if his internal organs were being rearranged.
Batman fell, panting heavily.
In his blurred vision, he saw a flash of bright light on the main street in front of the church entrance. He saw numerous legs surrounding him, like a dense forest. Outside of this forest, a fierce light intruded, dissolving the dark trunks.
In his delirium, he saw the headlights of a truck, with screams coming from the distance, a large truck charged directly into the crowd, knocking countless people flying, then stopped in front of Batman.
Batman lay gasping on the ground. The moment he looked up, he saw a pale face on the truck seat, coupled with a strange smile.
Suddenly, endless fear rose from his heart, and the dark tide in his heart began to surge. As he lay on the ground, under the strong light of the car's headlamps, he saw a night sky he recognized. In the flickering of the shadows, it seemed that the bats he was familiar with had flown by again.
It was as if he had reverted to the helpless Little Bruce, with blood dripping from his forehead and splashing on the ground like a string of bloody pearl necklaces.
A burst of laughter rang out, not as loud or harsh as he had previously heard. Instead, it was low and soft, as if it had risen in his own heart, driving Batman mad with the desire to rise and see who it was.
Alberto turned to look at the truck. The driver, dressed in overalls, was laughing quietly. His shoulders heaved in a way that suggested he was enjoying his own masterpiece.
The laughter did not sound crazy at all. Instead, it carried a tinge of childlike innocence. It was as if he had knocked over the toy soldiers with his toy truck, happily spreading malicious joy whilst watching his toys fall over.
Alberto and the other crazies only stopped for a moment before they began to attack this unknown intruder.
Surprisingly, the truck driver screamed as if he had just reacted. He started to run away, ducking his head and running away like a scared rat.
He ran to the other side of the street, hiding beside the wall of a building and peeking around the corner to satisfy his curiosity about the situation here.
Alberto lowered his head, intending to continue dealing with the fallen Batman.
Then, the truck exploded.
A loud roar erupted, flames splattering all around, turning the entire church along with the street in front of it into ruins instantly.
Only a small part of the church far from the street survived. Shiller's figure appeared again at the top of the tower there.
A figure appeared from across the street, limping. Apparently, he too, had been affected by the explosion. He was covered in blood and appeared injured, but he still rushed towards the center of the explosion as if he was overjoyed.
Upon arriving, he looked around, confused, as if he couldn't find what he was looking for. Suddenly, a figure appeared not far from him. Shiller pointed to the right and said, "Batman was just blown away; he's over there."
The truck driver looked at Shiller and blinked as if he did not quite understand how Shiller had appeared.
Shiller ignored him and said to himself, "The person I am looking for... let me see... ah, here he is, how did he fly so far?"
"That's because I made a HUGE bomb!" A series of snickers accompanied the raspy voice.
"Hmm, the bomb is indeed powerful, you solved the problem physically," Shiller said, in a tone that was rather perfunctory.
The truck driver stared at him and asked, "Are you saying I'm too violent? How could you say that?"
"I suggest you quickly find Batman, or he will die soon."
That man seemed to have an epiphany and immediately limped toward the direction Shiller had pointed.
Shiller walked past the front door of the church and found Alberto in the ruins across the street. He walked over and said with schadenfreude, "The Dionysus Factor only prevents you from dying, not from feeling pain. How are you feeling, Mr. Falcone?"
Then his tone gradually grew cold as he said, "Or should I call you the Court of Owls' Talon, Alberto?"
Shiller turned his head to see the man wearing a bird mask also lying on the ground, covered in blood and appearing near death.
Shiller again gloated, "I told you something terrible would happen, but you didn't listen. You dared to get so close to the center of the battlefield without an escape plan - I don't know whether to praise your bravery or call you foolish."
As the only person still standing perfectly unhurt on the battlefield, Shiller turned on his merciless mode of mockery. He mimicked the member of the Court of Owls and said, "Look there, that's the great creation of your water plan!"
"Oh, that's not accurate. He's not your creation, nor does he listen to you at all."
The member of the Court of Owls coughed violently, whether from anger or from choking, and his face and mouth were bloody.
Shiller turned again to Alberto and said, "If Batman chose you, maybe things would have been different. But unfortunately, he did not."
"Not just him, no one chose you, including me."
Alberto, who had extraordinary recovery capabilities due to the Dionysus Factor, soon escaped from the brink of death. He had a bad feeling.
He suddenly realized that he had lost control of his body.
He looked at Shiller in fear and saw the gray mist overflowing from his eyes. Alberto clutched his own throat and said, "No, no!!!"
Shiller said to himself, "This is indeed my Easter gift to you..."
A wisp of gray mist, shimmering with a faint green light, floated from Alberto's eyes. Then Shiller took out a jar and caught the wisp of mist, closing the lid.
"Happy Easter, Evans."
The blond young man lost consciousness and fell to the ground.
Shiller held the jar and walked in front of the member of the Court of Owls. He shook the jar in front of him and said, "Thank you for helping me extract the pure Dionysus Factor."
The last thing the member of the Court of Owls saw before his death was Shiller's chilling smile.