King Robin was a child, and this image had its pros and cons for him. The advantage was that it made him appear very special, especially when making some crazy and evil expressions, which looked particularly unnerving.
The downside was that once the aggressiveness in him lessened and his expressions were no longer so exaggerated, even showing fatigue and weariness, he could easily become somewhat pitiable.
The human race has a protective instinct for its young that is hardwired into its genes. Research has shown that humans' fondness for small animals such as cats and dogs is also because their facial features resemble those of human infants.
And the face of a drowsy baby could be said to be the least aggressive thing in the world. When it appears on other children's faces, you would think it a rare moment of tranquility and peace, but on King Robin's face, it was a disaster.
There was no doubt that King Robin, who insisted on going head-to-head with the illusion, had just experienced brutal psychic torment. Those who have gone through such ordeals all display common characteristics: distracted attention, numbed expressions, stiff movements, and a marked loss of vitality.
When their external output ports began to close up completely, it became difficult for them to exhibit any strong emotions, which was a heavy blow for a villain who was ranting about being crowned king of Gotham or even destroying the entire world, because he wasn't trendy enough anymore.
The previous King Robin did look a bit like someone with a secondary school mentality, but even that was much better than looking like a tired office drone worn down by life, a persona that stood out like a sore thumb in Gotham.
"Tell me just what's going on with that PhD!!!!!" King Robin's roar sounded like the desperate cry of a worker who learns about overtime two hours before the end of work on Friday.
"Oh..." Mr. Freeze drew out the word with a sarcastic tone that nearly spilled out of the sentence, saying, "I guess you just ran into a bit of trouble, so I don't think considering a doctoral degree is a good idea right now. Perhaps you could focus more on your current life, like... winning a victory at a primary school crafts competition?"
"I am not a primary school student! You two damn bastards." King Robin pointed his gun at the two of them and said, "Once I open fire, a mad electromagnetic storm will tear you to pieces!"
Professor Pig nodded perfunctorily, saying, "Yes, we'll try not to regard it as those small water guns sold at the school gate."
King Robin was on the verge of madness; he even doubted whether these two had ever been to school. His gun clearly had a powerful energy core inside, whirring crazily at that moment. Anyone with eyes could tell that it was a high-tech product, not some primary student's water gun disguised as an extraterrestrial firearm.
"I don't understand why you are so interested in the fog, but I don't think you need to worry too much," said Mr. Freeze, shrugging his shoulders. "I think you've noticed that as long as you keep your actions within the fog to a minimum, steady your mind, and maintain rationality, it won't have much of an effect on you."
"Don't talk to him about that," Professor Pig said as he put aside a piece of meat. "You know very well that when you tell any child not to run around, it sounds like encouragement. Perhaps, we should try to contact his parents."
Unable to bear it any longer, King Robin fired his gun. He pulled the trigger, and the electromagnetic storm shot out, but it wasn't as bright as the malevolent gleam in his eyes.
He saw the storm utterly shred the two men, leaving behind nothing but shattered flesh and blood, but as the storm dissipated, not even a trace of blood remained, just a vast expanse of white fog.
King Robin looked at the thick fog before him in shock, turning his head left and right, pointing his gun at every corner, shouting, "Come out, you come out to me."
"What's wrong, Little Bruce?" A familiar voice came through; Little Bruce realized it was Thomas's voice, "You've done something bad again, haven't you? As expected... as expected, Little Bruce."
"Shut up!!!!!"
"He's started yelling at his parents. When he was only 10 years old, we should have listened to his teacher's advice sooner and sent him to a special correctional school," Martha's voice also floated over.
"It saddens me, Martha, our parenting has completely failed."
"Look on the bright side, Thomas, at least we are dead already. Even if he destroys the world, it won't be our concern anymore. The dead, just like him, bear no responsibility."
The voices of Thomas and Martha surrounded King Robin in a 360-degree circle as Mr. Freeze and Professor Pig emerged from the fog, standing on either side of King Robin.
"What did I say? Your warning to him sounded like encouragement," Professor Pig snorted. "He still shot, and now you're accountable for our deaths."
"And yet we are not dead at all; that was just a potential future in the fog. If he came looking for us, it would have turned out that way, but maybe it could have been different."
"Did you truly see him?"
"I don't know."
Their ethereal voices kept swirling in King Robin's ears, then suddenly, the fog dissipated, and King Robin heard someone calling him.
"Are you listening? King Robin, are you really listening?"
The last wisp of fog dissipated, and King Robin saw a short figure, adorned with a large top hat and sporting two comical tufts of mustache.
"The brainwave invasion is about to start, if you keep staring off into space like this, you'll miss the secrets you want to see."
"What? What's going on?" King Robin said somewhat blankly, "What brainwave invasion? What's this all about?"
The figure in front of him walked up to him and wagged a finger, saying, "Hugo was right, your mental state is too unstable. It looks like I'll have to explain it all over again."
"Have you forgotten? You said you encountered some illusion in the dense fog, which left you in a very poor psychological state, so you found Hugo and me, Mad Hatter, and struck a deal with us."
"Hugo helped you remove that bad memory, and in exchange, you provided a large amount of energy for my Brainwave Machine, which allowed us to directly invade Batman's cerebral world. You take the secrets you want, and we control Batman's body."
King Robin's mouth fell open, he didn't remember doing any of these things, but after thinking it over, it did seem like something he would do. After all, his purpose in coming here was to uncover the secret of Batman's alliance with the Joker. Batman may have disappeared, but if they could directly invade his brainwaves, then no secret would remain hidden.
To King Robin, collaborating with others wasn't unacceptable, especially when things seemed irreversibly dire. If he hadn't been wise to the times, he would have never left with Mad Laugh.
But he still didn't trust this so-called Mad Hatter, so he said, "Do you really think this will work? Do you believe that your little machine can invade Batman's brainwaves? Show it to me."
Yes, testing the machine was the best approach, King Robin thought. It was a method that got straight to the point.
Now there were a few possibilities: the man in front of him was real, but his intentions weren't pure and he was aiming to trap himself with this plan; or the man and his plan and machine were all figments fabricated from the dense fog.
Either way, the machine was key. If there was tampering to be done on the machine, an inspection should reveal it, and if the machine itself was a virtual creation, then it would undoubtedly be full of loopholes.
If there was nothing wrong with the machine, then even if all of this was an illusion, as long as King Robin remembered its construction, he could make his own upon returning to reality, and make it bigger and better, truly capable of invading Batman's brain.
The mastermind behind the scenes had miscalculated this time, King Robin thought with satisfaction. Even if he remained trapped in an illusion without ever leaving, all the people and events he was interacting with now could be fake, but his knowledge and wisdom were certainly not.
If you dare to create a so-called machine capable of invading Batman's brain, I'm bold enough to scrutinize its principles. If its principles don't hold up, I can directly expose your plot, but if they do, it becomes the trump card for my plan. This time, the eerie Guest in the Fog managed to shoot himself in the foot.
To King Robin's surprise, the principles of the machine made perfect sense. At its core, it was a combination of a Brainwave Amplifier and a targeted brainwave assault device, capable of amplifying the connector's brainwaves and directly linking to another's brainwave frequency to achieve the invasion.
But the only issue was that the machine's power output seemed too low to reliably invade Batman's brain.
This time, King Robin was curious to see how you'd wiggle out of this, he thought. I'll play along with your plan. After all, I'm all too familiar with Batman's brainwaves. If you try to simulate the environment of Batman's brain with another illusion, you'll be thoroughly exposed.
King Robin believed his analysis made perfect sense. By following the plan of the mastermind, he could put them in a dilemma: actually invade Batman's brainwaves, aligning with King Robin's intention of uncovering Batman's secrets, or simulate Batman's cerebral environment with an illusion, only to be debunked by King Robin. Either way was to his advantage.
King Robin pointed out the issue with the machine, and the Mad Hatter acknowledged it, indeed, the machine lacked power. But you've provided plenty of energy, haven't you? Just funnel all that energy in, and invading Batman's brainwaves will be entirely sufficient.
King Robin smoothly went along, and when the Mad Hatter took out what he called the energy core, King Robin recognized it as something he might have crafted himself; the energy core's design was one he often used, a bit rough in appearance, but that could be due to it being hastily made.
This led King Robin to suspect that what the Mad Hatter said could partly be true. Nonetheless, the machine and energy were tangible, and as long as the brainwaves of Batman they were invading were real, he was sure to come out ahead.
As the machine started up, King Robin didn't rush over immediately but said to the Mad Hatter, "I'm not going to be your guinea pig. You go first, then send back Batman's brainwaves. Once I've confirmed their authenticity, I'll join. Don't think of pulling any tricks on me."
The Mad Hatter curled his lip, as if some petty scheme had been uncovered, but he didn't hesitate. He promptly went over, put on the helmet, and soon after, readings on the machine began to jump wildly.
Once the numbers stabilized, King Robin pulled out a small device resembling a phone from his belt, a Soul Frequency Storage Device. He had previously pressed it against the Batman of the Arkham Universe, and after comparing the readings, he confirmed that these were indeed Batman's brainwave frequencies.
The next second, he raised his gun, aiming at the Mad Hatter and the machine in the chair, and fired several shots in a row, blasting both machine and man into pieces.
"Hahahaha!" King Robin laughed maniacally, then wiped his mouth and said, "Boring fool, what made you think I'd actually cooperate with you? And you, oh shadowy Guest in the Fog, do you think I can't tell this is all an illusion?!!"
"While I don't know where you got this method of brainwave invasion from, now, it's mine. A bunch of idiots, hahahaha!"