PFC Chapter 3763 Rapid Pursuit (8)
Chapter 3763 Rapid Pursuit (8)
Chapter 3763 Rapid Pursuit (Part 8)
Batman was walking briskly upstairs in the hospital, pondering the new patterns he had just discovered regarding Schiller.
He remembered that Schiller would target someone with their back to him and wouldn't change targets until they were killed. But just now, that rule was overturned, because the Joker wasn't dead, but Schiller abandoned his pursuit and went straight to attack the Maniac Laugh.
Batman had already noticed that the current Schiller was somewhat different from the one he had encountered before: his demeanor seemed more normal, although he still followed previous patterns at times, but now there was a change. This was giving Batman a real headache.
The "back view target acquisition" mechanic was already difficult enough, and now it's been changed. Thankfully, the "the more injured you are, the stronger you become" rule hasn't been changed... wait, shouldn't it have been changed?
Batman followed the trail of blood to the ward where the Joker and Jason were. It was an operating room. Jason had already passed out from blood loss, and the Joker, dressed in surgical scrubs, was rubbing his hands together, seemingly preparing to perform an arm reattachment surgery on Jason.
“Go outside,” Batman said. “Don’t touch him. I’ll perform the surgery.”
"Are you kidding me? That madman outside is chasing me! And you're going to kick me out just to have surgery on an adopted son you've never met and who doesn't even know you?"
The Joker's expression said, "You've changed. You're not the compassionate Batman I used to know."
As Batman's adversary who understands him best, the Joker knows very well that Batman will not abandon anyone and will save everyone he chooses to save, even if the person he is saving is the Joker. Batman will not hesitate to risk his life and death, otherwise he would not have left behind to cover the retreat.
The Joker was moved for a second by Batman's actions, and then Batman was about to break character. How could he tolerate that?
“He probably won’t be chasing you anymore,” Batman said. “I don’t know what went wrong, but he’s changed his target to The Batman Who Laughs.”
“That guy is here after all,” the Joker said, twirling the scalpel in his hand. “He kidnapped that idiot named Elliott, probably to find out where the real Batman is. Do you think he’ll get anything out of him?”
“I’m more inclined to think he’ll try to fabricate a Batman.” Batman began preparations for surgery, he said. “He’s always like this: when faced with difficulties, he chooses to give up, but then he’s unwilling to accept it, so he starts making things up. In the end, he fails again, then gets angry and prepares to retaliate, but that doesn’t work either, so he chooses to win through mental manipulation.”
“You seem to know him quite well,” the clown said, pouting.
“Because he’s easy to understand.” Batman ignored the Joker and focused on performing the arm reattachment surgery on Jason. The Joker didn’t leave the operating room, but he didn’t interfere either.
"What's wrong with that guy?" the clown asked again.
“Your evil is chaos within order, and its power comes from order within chaos,” Batman said. “Your actions always break out of some framework, making things unexpected. Nobody can guess what you’re going to do, so naturally they think you’re crazy.”
"But Schiller is the complete opposite of you. He compulsively follows certain patterns, such as using his back to lock onto enemies, rarely changing targets, and becoming stronger the more he is injured. All his behaviors have underlying patterns, which is another kind of madness."
Which one do you prefer?
"From the perspective of artistic creation, breaking the framework at will and pursuing the best result within the constraints of the framework can each have their own beauty. But if we're talking about two madmen, I'd rather choose you."
The clown was a little annoyed again. He said, "What do you mean by 'rather'? Do you think he's a bigger threat than me?"
“I’m just talking about two models,” Batman said. “You need to surprise me because you’re not that strong. If you don’t find a different way, you might mess things up. If you can beat me head-on, you don’t need to resort to any of those tricks. So dealing with you is just a matter of exposing your schemes.”
"For Schiller, it is precisely because he is strong enough that he is subject to certain limitations—otherwise, there would be very few living people left in this world. In dealing with him, we must always be on thin ice. In addition to racking our brains, we also have to face the pressure of force. It is also physically demanding for me."
"And what about his maniacal laughter? Which type do you think he belongs to?"
"He doesn't fit into either category. He has neither formidable physical strength nor fresh ideas. If I had to give an evaluation, I would say he's the kind of criminal that I would send to the Gotham Police Department rather than Arkham Asylum if I caught him."
"Where will you send Schiller?"
"Mars."
When the Batman Who Laughs saw Schiller at the hospital entrance, he truly felt like he'd seen a ghost. But when he realized Schiller had turned and was staring at him, he thought seeing a ghost was better than seeing this guy.
The Bat Who Laughs' eyes darted around, and he immediately stepped back, giving way to Elliott who was climbing upwards, clearly intending to use him as a scapegoat. But Schiller was not so easily swayed by his target. In a flash, he had already stepped over Elliott, who was blocking his way, and charged straight at the Bat Who Laughs.
"So why did the pathological change his target?" Greed asked, arms crossed, in the theater of the tower. "It doesn't seem like the hunting style. Did some other trait stop him?"
"Why do you think the hunters are involved in the chase?" Arrogance suddenly spoke up. "With this illusion of full vision, it seems like there's no difference whether you see a back or not, right?"
Everyone was stunned for a moment, but quickly realized what was going on.
The hunting target acquisition mechanism essentially sacrifices the range of the illusionary vision in order to maintain accuracy and target acquisition time.
Schiller's hallucinatory visions weren't constant either; without external stimulation, they couldn't last very long. Although those in a pathological state are more sensitive than those in a normal state, they usually couldn't maintain them indefinitely. Even with extreme concentration, they could probably only maintain them for a short while.
To hunt down an enemy, you must first lock onto the enemy, but you can't keep the illusion vision on all the time, otherwise you'll lose the target when you turn it off.
In order not to lose sight of his target, he would locate the enemy by looking at the backs of others, first opening up his illusionary vision, then locking onto the target, and then keeping it in a partially open state, meaning he could only see the illusionary lines created by the prey's mind, and could not see the others.
It's like concentrating all your energy on one point, which allows you to hunt for a long time.
But now, thanks to the potent stimulant from the maniacal laughter, the bullets that had pierced his body, and the various injuries, his hallucinatory vision was practically omnidirectional. At least until the effects of the drug wore off, there was absolutely no need to sacrifice anything. In other words, the "back view target acquisition" mechanism no longer existed, and Schiller could kill whomever he wanted.
“Wasn’t that already evident before?” Arrogance continued. “The morbid could have killed the Laughing Maniac, but he let him go. That proves he doesn’t need to lock onto a target. In the previous fight, he kept staring at the Joker, simply to make Batman think that this mechanism still works.”
"But he switched targets right in front of Batman, which is tantamount to telling Batman that this method is useless."
"No. Due to ingrained thinking, Batman probably wouldn't realize that Schiller is currently unrestricted. He would only think that the rules still exist, just changed. He's probably wondering what the new rules are, right?"
"Haha, Batman must be racking his brains trying to figure this out."
Batman was indeed thinking, because when the Maniac appeared, he saw the wound on the Maniac's chest.
Although the Joker was slashed several times, his regenerative abilities were incredibly powerful. After hiding behind Batman for a while, the wounds were almost completely healed. Jason lost an arm, but it wasn't a vital organ like his heart or brain. Dick and Batman were less seriously injured. In other words, the most seriously injured person present was the Laughing Maniac.
Would Schiller now attack the one who is most seriously injured?
This is not good news. Because if it's just a "back view," you can avoid it by not turning around; but if it's based on the severity of the injury, then it's going to be a bit troublesome.
If the person who is most seriously injured is being chased, then he will only be injured more severely, so wouldn't he still be chased until he dies?
Batman sighed inwardly. Just as he was pondering a solution, Jason slowly woke up and looked at him with a terrified expression.
"I've set your arm back up and it's being immobilized now. Don't move around, or I can't guarantee it will be fully restored." Batman was quite patient with Jason from another universe.
"What the hell is going on?" Jason couldn't help but curse. "Who is that madman wielding a knife and slashing around? What does he want? Where did Elliott go?"
“I clearly have more questions for you than you have for me,” Batman said. “Your headset’s control system is connected to the control systems of over 600 drones, smart defense weapons, and exoskeletons, as well as a lot of hacking programs. What are you using them for?”
“What’s it to you?” Jason slowly sat up in bed. He still couldn’t feel his arm, but he didn’t care. “I have to get Elliott back,” he said. “Red Line can’t lose such a big client.”
“Very ambitious,” Batman commented. “But you have to tell me, why is the head of Wayne Enterprises named Elliott?”
Jason looked at him with great surprise and said, "Of course it's because Wayne is all dead."
"Bruce Wayne is dead?"
"Spending so many years in a mental hospital is practically the same as being dead, isn't it?" Jason said dismissively. "It's normal for the Elliotts, as his guardians, to inherit the Wayne Corporation's fortune. It's a pity they died too young, so it naturally fell to Thomas Elliott."
Batman sensed a conspiracy, and the Joker bluntly said, "Kill the Wayne couple first, then send their only son to a mental hospital, then kill your own parents—wouldn't that make you the richest man?"
Jason seemed shocked. He said, "You mean Elliott did all this? How is that possible? Bruce Wayne was just a kid when he was diagnosed with mental illness."
“When I drove you crazy, you were just a kid,” the Joker said. “What nonsense am I talking about? Never mind, as long as you get what I mean.”
Then he glanced furtively at Batman, wondering if his hilariously ridiculous remark had enraged him. Unfortunately, Batman remained expressionless.
“It seems the answer to everything can be found at Arkham Asylum,” Batman said. “I have to go there and see.”
(End of this chapter)