Years had passed, and the Gotham Police Department had not only sufficient officers and proper equipment but had also significantly improved its technical methods. At least their cutting technology was far superior to that of the robbers. The equipment for sawing trees operated silently, and it wasn't until the tree crashed down that the robbers realized it had been sawn through.
He looked towards the door in some despair, but didn't expect Shiller to gesture for him to get down. The robber reacted quickly. Instead of crouching, he lay down on the spot, and the sniper's bullet flew by, barely missing his scalp.
The robber scurried out the door, but Shiller still pointed the gun at him and said, "Now go and tell the few accomplices under you. After they grab the money, they should rush out of the back door and storm into the underground sewer through the area shielded by that large tree."
Although the robbers were unprofessional, they weren't foolish. Knowing that the sniper missed, and to prevent the police from becoming angry and endangering the hostages, the robbers had to flee immediately; otherwise, it was certain they wouldn't escape because they hadn't taken any hostages in the first place.
Indeed, Gordon, seeing that the shot had missed without panic or discouragement, simply took out the walkie-talkie and said, "Attack immediately. Don't worry about the vault for now, go upstairs and rescue the hostages!!"
There was a series of crashes downstairs, clearly indicating the police had broken in. The robber, seizing the moment when Gordon was giving orders, took the elevator downstairs where several accomplices had already opened the vault door and were busy packing money.
The robber Shiller warned, who acted as their minor leader, quickly stopped several underlings still stuffing money into sacks and led them at top speed toward the back door upstairs.
Of course, they were almost immediately discovered by the police. The leader of the robbers shouted that he still had hostages, refusing to let go of the technician they had abducted, while the others rushed towards the back door.
The police, of course, knew they intended to break out, so another group lurking on the side of the bank immediately rushed over.
But the recently felled large Chinese parasol tree lay across the road, its thick foliage obscuring much of the view, making it impossible for vehicles to pass and difficult for guns to aim.
Initially, they could have circled from the other side to deal with the robbers, but these robbers didn't plan to run on the road at all; they rushed over and immediately opened the manhole cover, jumping in one after another.
By the time the police from the other side clambered over, the robbers had already fled without a trace through the sewer.
Even so, the police still had to pursue, and Gordon dispatched two teams of officers, one entering from this sewer entrance and the other driving to a further sewer entrance to perform an encirclement.
However, they also had no experience chasing people through sewers, so Gordon had to lead a team back to the station to find the sewer map, and meanwhile to visit Wayne Enterprises to check if the surveillance systems Bruce had set up in the sewers were still functional.
This case was extremely vile in nature, because prior to this, Gotham's situation had been relatively stable. But once someone opened up this loophole, allowing those with declining living standards to discover such a quick way to make money without paying a price, the situation would be completely out of control.
Therefore, Gordon decided to apprehend the fugitives with a thunderous approach, to deter those still lurking in the shadows, and naturally committed a large number of police forces to the pursuit of the fleeing robbers.
Just as Shiller had predicted, the robbed bank was almost ignored after the incident, with only two officers coming to check the condition of the main door, and the staff being sent home.
After everyone had left, Shiller walked up to the second-floor balcony. From there, he looked down and, as expected, saw a figure standing next to the fallen tree—it was the Joker.
To be precise, it was Beihan's Joker, the version of the character portrayed by Heath Ledger in the movies.
He held a remote control in his hand, smirked, looked up at Shiller, and suddenly displayed a vicious expression which then returned to calmness.
"Good afternoon, Professor. Please forgive me for greeting you this way... because you've given that Bruce Wayne a hell of a bad idea!!!!!"
Shiller, leaning on the rail, listened quietly to the Joker's rant. When the Joker finished, Shiller said, "First, I must tell you that the idea was not mine. I suffer from dissociative identity disorder. In layman's terms, that's split personality."
"My other personality has his own views on economics, and Bruce Wayne happened to strongly agree with these views and also had the capability to implement them. I deeply regret this."
The Joker just stared at him darkly, the muscles around his mouth tensing upward, creating a look that was serious and comical, and seemed both to laugh and to cry.
"Did you come here just to take revenge on me?" Shiller asked, knowing the answer.
Before leaving, Beihan had asked Greed for a business plan, which was fundamentally meant to address his own economic situation, looking to gain more substantial control in Wayne Enterprises while also building a little nest egg for himself.
The main content of the business plan was to profit from criminals by building private prisons and acquiring private hospitals, then combining medical parole with house arrest to exploit every last bit of value from the criminals.
Although it sounded somewhat cruel, Beihan's moral standards were not particularly high. In his view, exploiting the economic value of criminals was also a contribution to society.
He had originally targeted Black Boss and had not intended to harm the Joker, but at that time the Joker had just robbed a bank. He wanted to go to the prison to make a deal with Scarecrow to continue striking at Batman, but he ended up in Beihan's hands.
It was, in a way, a fortuitous event. The test version that Beihan was using to verify the feasibility of the obtained business plan was based on a 1:1 restoration of the plan's layout. Greed was not mild in his approach, so much so that he quite literally had that unfortunate group lying in an ambulance for days and nights, unable to enter a hospital or a prison.
So, before the Joker could teach Batman a lesson, Batman taught him one first: I have money, I am impressive, and I can capriciously change the rules of the game.
Joker wasn't angry about the injuries he sustained, he was just angry that Batman saw it that way and acted on it.
Joker had always been despicable, framing himself within a set of game rules with his morality, while Joker took advantage of his own amoral methods to break those rules for an advantage. But once Batman started breaking the rules too, Joker would become furiously embarrassed.
But facing Bruce Wayne, Joker was initially enraged, but before he could find an effective method for revenge, he realized that this wasn't Batman's own idea—Batman had a mysterious aide-de-camp.
Beihan actually hadn't hidden it at all, having participated in Battleworld, Shiller's renowned name couldn't really be concealed. Joker had heard of it, but he hadn't expected Shiller, this so-called mastermind behind everything from alien invasions to knocked-over trash cans, to really live up to his legendary reputation.
Joker hated the person who influenced Batman more than the adapted Batman himself, and it just so happened that the Prime Universe's Joker wanted to form Joker's Gang upon learning about Mad Laugh's existence, and he sought him out.
Joker agreed to the Prime Universe Joker's request to join the gang, but the condition was that he had to come to Shiller's universe.
The Prime Universe Joker said it was a bit difficult as that universe was quite special, not just anyone could enter. After some bargaining, the Prime Universe Joker still agreed, and the way he sent this small favor over was by directly finding Bruce.
As everyone knows, Bruce has a bit of a Joker collecting fetish. He had just lured Phoenix over before, and now, with Phoenix on a global tour and Bruce himself incredibly busy, he warmly welcomed the idea of another Joker coming to visit.
But what he hadn't anticipated was that this Joker wasn't here to play with him, but to find Shiller.
"You want to be an ordinary person, right?" Joker said, hands stuffed into his crumpled trouser pockets. "Otherwise, you could just move all the people out of the bank."
"Then Gordon would know it was me," Shiller shook his head and said, "Every paranormal phenomenon in this city is assumed to be my doing, so that's why I'd rather be an average Joe."
"No no no, of course not," Joker shook his head vigorously, specks of saliva flying from his lips as he spoke, "You think you have the ability now to handle all the trouble ordinary people go through."
"But that doesn't include getting caught up in a bank heist."
"Then what you should do is just like the other employees, wail for your parents and jump down from the upper floors to break your ankle."
"But if I did that, Gordon would only think I was feigning distress. Since they're already prejudiced against me, why can't I just get away on my own?"
"Do ordinary people get away using that method in the face of prejudice?" Joker scoffed coldly, pointing out incisively, "They would make futile arguments, unable to convince anyone, and then just get misunderstood and face more trouble because of it."
"I don't think ordinary people are all idiots."
"They are, and yet you plan to join them wearing that damned human skin of yours, enjoying their peaceful and dull lives while not letting go of your desire for control, satisfied by your ability to influence others."
"Everyone has talents, don't they?" Shiller said. "Must I be a completely worthless ordinary person and live a failed life?"
"But your talent comes from your morbid state; that's the real reason you can't be an ordinary person. Are you really content to give up both talent and morbidity to become a truly foolish, ordinary person who expects no trouble and can't control anything?"
Shiller suddenly paused, then his gaze became unfocused before slightly sharpening on Joker's face. He spoke slowly, "If we disappear one day, it's not because someone gave up on us, but because we got what we wanted, what Shiller wanted."
"Is it really what Shiller wanted? Or did someone say Shiller wanted it, and you believed them?" Joker said.
Shiller fell silent and didn't answer; after a while, he came back to himself. The state he was in when he said that last line vanished, and he just looked at Joker and said,
"What I really want isn't determined by what anyone says, but by how much each person who wants to change me has paid for it."
"Some people hope I can be an ordinary person, and they've put in countless efforts I've never seen in my life for it. Since I didn't really want anything to begin with, why shouldn't I accept that?"
"And you, what you hope I become isn't something you've paid for; you've just moved your lips. Why should I give up that for what you're offering?"
"Because what I'm saying is right, of course."
"Do you think I'm Batman? Right and wrong have never mattered; I've never lived by the truth."
"Isn't it sad to live for others' expectations?"
"Comedy was never the savior of tragedy."