Chapter 14 You Should Make Him Laugh (Ch 827041926)

“Great men are great because we kneel.” The clown slowly read out the words from the book again and smiled: “Stina’s point of view.”
“That’s my point of view as well.”
Lucien heard him continue, “You regard Batman as a great man, and you regard me as a great man…How can you see the whole picture in a kneeling position?”
“My death itself will emit a chemical substance, which will react with what you and Batman inhaled and injected… This is the Joker virus.” The Joker did not keep it a secret, and his tone was somewhat innocent:
“You haven’t forgotten that I’m a chemist.”
“Just me and Batman?” Lucian looked up at the Joker who lowered his head slightly, trying to see something from him.
“Of course!” The Joker asked back, “You have seen the Batman Who Laughs, but have you seen the Superman Who Laughs, the Flash Who Laughs, and the Wonder Woman Who Laughs?”
“…Please look at me, dear, as if I were a human being. Everything is traceable!”
Lucien stood up. He was a little shorter than the clown, but no matter what, the green eyes he saw were blurred and buried deep in the darkness.
“Then why five people?” He seemed to be asking the Joker, or talking to himself: “What about the remaining three people? They are not asymptomatic…”
“Guess what.” The clown held his shoulders lightly with both hands and said in a gentle and persuasive way, “Don’t think too highly of anyone.”
“It was normal until they were out of my sight.”
“right.”
“It would be abnormal for me to see them again.”
“That’s right.”
“There was a gap of time in between… a day, maybe half a day.”
“continue.”
“I was knocked unconscious by Batman, and the first person to know and contact them would only be Batman…”
“I don’t know if you’ve ever read Sherlock Holmes.” The clown opened his arms, and a smile could no longer be controlled on his face, his eyes fixed firmly on him:
“When you eliminate the impossible, whatever remains, no matter how implausible, must be the truth.”
As if in line with his words, a voice came from the intercom again:
“Mr. Lucien, may I ask about the symptoms of Laughing Robin?” It was still the old man’s voice, but it was unconsciously a little hurried.
“Barking, laughing wildly, eyes turning green, and no reason.” Lucian closed his eyes and asked dryly, “Can I ask who has these symptoms?”
Penny was a little surprised by the question, but he didn’t hide it: “Jess, John, Annie.”
Jess, John and Anne are the three members of that family.
Lucien took a deep breath: “Did Batman do this?”
“Do you still call him Batman?” The Joker smiled, but looked a little sad.
“Yes,” Penny replied.
“You should make him laugh,” said the clown.
——
John is a timid, cowardly, unintelligent, ordinary boy.
He is lucky. He has a harmonious family and normal friends since he was a child. He has never been bullied, blackmailed, sexually assaulted, or abandoned… He is luckier than most Gotham children.
But he was also unfortunate, for the only misfortune he encountered in his life killed him completely.
He was killed by his own city’s very own hero when he was completely unprepared.
Now he was trapped in hallucinations, his brain nerves were completely destroyed by the drugs, he just grinned exaggeratedly, green shadows covered his eyeballs, his skin was pale, and he was on all fours, looking completely inhuman.
“Hahaha.”
A laugh leaked from his throat, and his whole face was stiff and unnatural, as if it was just a body and the soul had long disappeared.
“The symptoms are similar to those experienced by people affected by laughing gas.”
“Is it possible to save him?”
“It’s just similar. The special medicine developed for laughing gas now is useless to him.” Red Robin pointed at the bar graph displayed on the Batcomputer:
“It’s like trying to turn a hard-boiled egg back into a raw egg. I don’t think it’s possible to turn it back into a raw egg.”
“Do the other two have the same symptoms?” Red Hood asked.
The blue data reflected in Red Robin’s goggles looked cold:
“Although Jace’s sanity was retained the longest, but, this is it.”
“I think they can be frozen and kept temporarily – at least to stop them from getting worse.”
“Then we started looking at mitigants… We can’t turn a hard-boiled egg into a raw egg, but we can cut a hard-boiled egg into shreds so that it tastes similar to a raw egg when it’s re-cooked under certain conditions.”
“At least we can find a research direction.”
Red Hood nodded slightly, “How about the one who started it all?”
The instigator is naturally Batman, who we don’t know whether he should be called Batman or not.
“This is a comparison of his muscle tissue, blood samples, gene sequences, and brain CDs.” Red Robin tapped the keyboard and other data appeared on the screen.
“There was no change in muscle tissue, but the activity of platelets in the blood increased by ten percentage points. OCA2, HERC2, and TYR in the gene chain all changed, and the activity levels of the orbital cortex and ventral prefrontal cortex of the brain decreased.”
This results in increased self-healing abilities, a change in iris color to green, and decreased self-control, empathy, and moral cognition.
“It doesn’t look like there’s much of a difference.” Red Hood frowned as he compared the data on both sides. “With such a minor change, I think he’s still sane and can still be trusted.”
Red Robin said, “But we don’t know what else is affecting him yet. Being undetected doesn’t mean you’re safe.”
“So what’s the research direction?”
“Batman’s research direction is to compare with Lucian’s.”
“The Joker virus has almost become one with him, and his personality has changed. These changes are so different and yet so natural that they have quietly transformed him into another person.”
“Lucian is the exact opposite. He is completely separated from the Joker virus. They each have their own personality. They coexist without affecting each other. It can even be considered a peaceful coexistence.”
“Is this a thing?” Red Hood couldn’t help but question.
“I know you’re going to find this hard to believe, but I have to say this: Lucian has all of the changes that Batman has, but in addition, the DMN in his brain is hyperactive and hyperconnected.”
“In short, Batman is a born sociopath or a serial killer, and Lucian is also a sociopath and a serial killer, but that is another personality of his.”
——
“You succeeded in convincing me.” Lucian watched the communicator go silent, turned his head and said to the clown: “Laughter is born… and then what?”
“Your theory is correct, but as you said, I am just an ordinary person. If you want me to help you with something, I am afraid it will be difficult for you to get what you want.”
“Are we going to cross the line of trust and talk about cooperation?” The Joker asked, “Is this progress too fast?”
“So what do you want?”
“Maybe… I want you to see reality.”