Someone tampered with Barbara's computer and also the computer at the Iceberg Restaurant. Could this be a coincidence?
Batman had never heard of such a prophet-like brilliant hacker in Gotham. Even if it were the mastermind Scarecrow, it wouldn't make sense. Even if he had such a talented technician under him, his regular military vehicle couldn't match the maneuverability of the Batmobile.
Batman reorganized the timeline in his mind.
At 8:02 this evening, individual victims appeared, and Scarecrow announced his plan to destroy Gotham with fear gas.
At 9:10, the Bat Light turned on. Batman officially began to fight Scarecrow. He first resolved the street conflicts caused by the fear gas, while Barbara tracked Scarecrow's whereabouts in Gotham City.
At 10:00, Batman was scratched on the arm during a street fight and saw the illusion of the Joker in the mirror for the first time. At the same time, Barbara found a clue about the military vehicle.
At 10:20, Batman caught up with the military vehicle and subdued two people inside. After obtaining the next clue, the military vehicle was brought back to the Batcave.
At 10:40, Batman rescued Poison Ivy from Scarecrow's safehouse and, at Peter's request, brought Poison Ivy and the toxin seized from the driver back to the Batcave.
At 11:00, an unidentified gas anesthesia spread throughout the city, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation's plane appeared.
Obviously, 11:00 is a turning point. Everything was within Batman's expectations before this time, but after the spread of the unknown gas, things gradually started to get out of control.
At 11:10, a call came in from Barbara, and Batman learned that Peter had been kidnapped.
At 11:30, Batman found a clue left by Scarecrow, followed it to ACE Chemical Factory, but was ambushed. When he woke up, Nightwing, who came to support, was there.
At 11:40, Batman began tracking Scarecrow again, discovering four of his safehouses along the way.
At 12:00, he confronted the Arkham Knight on the rooftop, and Gotham was hit by missile bombing.
This was another turning point, Batman realized that he was beginning to lose control during this period.
At 11 o'clock, an unknown gas spread in Gotham, resulting in nearly everyone in the city getting anesthetized. Shouldn't he investigate the source of the gas? The first thing to do was to rush to the Weather Control Center.
But Batman didn't. Instead, he pursued Scarecrow like a madman.
No, he wasn't chasing Scarecrow, Batman suddenly realized. When the Arkham Knight appeared on the rooftop to stop him, that strange sense of urgency disappeared.
This urgent sense was targeted at the Arkham Knight.
But why was that? The amount of evidence currently available was too little, so Batman had to carry on remembering.
At 12:10, Batman woke up again in the Batcave. He remembered that when he was beating the Arkham Knight, the effects of the fear gas and the Joker virus started, letting the Arkham Knight escape, and he returned to the Batcave.
At 12:20, after talking to Peter, Batman learned that the Penguin might be the main culprit behind the military bombing of Gotham, so he set off for the Iceberg Restaurant.
At 12:30, he arrived at the Iceberg Restaurant, but did not find any suspicious traces here. Penguin was rude, so Batman broke his leg. Just as he was about to leave, a message came from Nightwing, and Batman left for the vault.
At 12:40, he arrived at the vault and found traces of violent break-ins at the vault door. After investigating, he suspected that Harley Quinn had abducted Gordon and others, and kidnapped Barbara.
At 12:50, the Penguin appeared on the screen, claiming that he was the one who killed Jason Todd.
At 1:00, the illusion of the Joker appeared, claiming that he had imprisoned and tortured Jason Todd. An explosion occurred in the neighboring street, and Peter was being chased by the Arkham Knight.
There is an obvious question here, the biggest problem Batman is facing at this time is the disappearance of Gordon and Barbara. What does this have to do with the Penguin? Why did he insist on pursuing him?
Oh, because the Penguin colluded with the military, and the military bombed Gotham. But having already bombed without any casualties, he could look for evidence at any time. Why did he want to go to the Iceberg Restaurant instead of immediately going to the vault to save Gordon and find Barbara?
Batman felt that his actions were very strange after 11 o'clock. Running from one place to another, chasing one person after another, but he didn't catch anyone. Gordon and Barbara were missing, Peter got kidnapped, got out, and was being chased again. Robin's communication channel had been silent for a long time, and he didn't catch the Penguin, Scarecrow, or Harley Quinn.
He investigated one case halfway and then started another, but hadn't fully investigated any of them. He didn't know who released the mysterious anesthetic, how to solve the fear gas, who kidnapped Gordon and Barbara, or what the Arkham Knight wanted to do.
He had been busy all night and achieved nothing, and wasn't able to answer any questions.
Could it be that the Joker virus and fear gas made him lose his mind?
No, that's not right, Batman became alert.
The error in his judgment was clearly not a forced mistake. In this half-night, he didn't face any life-threatening dilemmas, and none of his judgments were made in extremely dangerous situations.
When people are panicked, they often go blank and don't consider the causes. They would arbitrarily pick one, with a vindictive or gambling mentality, and then watch the situation develop with a sense of desperation. The mistakes made in this situation are called forced mistakes.
Batman felt that all his choices were well thought out.
Looking back now, he realized that the reason he didn't notice the problem for several hours was precisely because of this - he felt behind each of his choices there was a reason.
However, the Joker virus and the fear gas that only exist in his brain clearly don't have the ability to create a cause in reality. If they were strong enough to control Batman's body to do harm, why would they even bother with illusions?
In other words, the problem isn't him, but rather there's indeed someone creating problems in reality, creating a whole slew of side quests, and completely disrupting the entire plan against Scarecrow.
And every problem he creates successfully leads Batman off the main path, the seeming reward lies at the end of the diverting road, yet before Batman can get there, another diverting road appears.
Thus, Batman begins a cycle of futile efforts: discovering one incident, finding a clue, following the clue, discovering another incident, finding another clue.
This is akin to Batman using a max-level account to repeatedly clear tutorial missions, you can't say there are no rewards, but the rewards, compared to Batman's level, are virtually insignificant.
Meanwhile, the hostages or heroic companions waiting at each level, also disappear for various reasons because Batman is trapped in the tutorial.
Conversely, there must be a final boss setting these traps intentionally, because if Batman simply rushes through the levels, this person would be the most victimized.
Who could this boss be?
Batman first excluded Scarecrow and Penguin Man. According to his understanding of them, these two have three main tactics: poisoning, bribery, and mid-stage champagne celebration.
Joker? No, Joker does not have this style. Batman does not feel any mental anguish or face any interrogation of humanity throughout these series of suggestible traps.
This is a very distinctive style. It's not about causing pain to anyone, there is no clear benefit-oriented goal, and it doesn't contain any emotional undertone – it's marked by a slightly mocking indifference, an academic indifference.
He harbors no hatred toward any chess piece, he doesn't rely on winning the game for any benefit, taking a step in the game or even throwing a piece off the board isn't a result of rational judgment, it seems more like a whim.
A thought suddenly flashed through Batman's mind, "An experiment? … A test?"
And his next thought was, Gotham is about to have another troublesome super-villain, perhaps the most troublesome since the Joker's death.
Batman's judgment was not made out of thin air.
Firstly, each bait-like clue appeared just when Batman wanted to take the next step but hasn't acted yet.
So why hasn't he acted? Because an incident occurred, for example, the first city-wide anesthesia incident successfully disrupted Batman's pursuit of Scarecrow.
Then a clue appeared, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation arrived. Their coincidental timing made Batman suspect they were involved, so he went after the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
Just when Batman was about to attack the FBI's plane, Barbara called, telling Batman that Gordon was trapped and that Peter had been kidnapped, forcing Batman to interrupt his investigation of the FBI once again.
And just when Batman was gearing up to rescue Gordon while investigating Peter's kidnapping, a clue left by the Scarecrow appeared, leading him to the ACE Chemical Factory where he was ambushed.
This, apparently, was another incident, completely disrupting Batman's multi-step plan to investigate the FBI, rescue Gordon and Peter. Then new clues appeared…
After that, it was a complete cycle, an incident, then a clue, then another incident…
And in the process of revisiting these events, Batman keenly discovered that the function of the incidents was not only to disrupt his investigations but also subtly manipulate his emotions.
"Very good, Peter." A deeper, even gentle voice echoed in Peter's ears.
Peter shuddered. He had once encountered this personality in the tower. He knew this personality was called "Manipulation".
In that one second, Peter Parker learned for the first time how loud his spider-sense could ring.
They barely spoke directly, because Peter Parker really couldn't hear what he was saying, the deafening noise of his spider-sense completely drowned out his voice.
Yet, in the moment his voice sounded, Peter shuddered again. His ears buzzed, and afterwards, he couldn't hear anything again.
Then Peter heard the other sigh somewhat helplessly, the voice quieted down as if he was communicating with other Shillers. After a while, the voice of Dr. Shiller, the one he was most familiar with, came to his ears.
"Peter, don't worry, your plan is going smoothly, right? We all give you high praise."
"However, we want to know if you used emotion manipulation tactics in your plan and we want to hear your thoughts. Do you have time to discuss now?"
"Uh, I'd be happy to talk, but I'm kind of busy right now."
"What are you busy with?"
The observer's viewpoint switched from Batman to Peter. At that moment, Peter was dragging a man and threw him onto a truck.
Upon closer inspection, the unconscious man being dragged was nothing other than Robin, and in the shadowy interior of the truck were the equally unconscious Barbara and Gordon.
"Busy sending them where they are supposed to go."