"Where could the Joker be?" Harley furrowed her brow deeply. "Logically, the entire East District has been destroyed, he shouldn't have anywhere to hide, so why haven't we seen him?"
"It's impossible on the surface," Tim deduced, "Could it be deeper underground? Maybe we should try digging down?"
"But there must be a specific location," Pamela shook her head, "We can't dig up the entire East District underground."
"Ah, I have an idea!" Harley suddenly said. Everyone looked at her, and Harley looked at Bruce.
"There is an inexplicable bond between Batman and the Joker," Harley said, "Even if they're not in the same universe, they'll still sense each other. Batman, have you sensed anything?"
Bruce chuckled in disbelief. Sense something? He wasn't even Batman, how did this turn into a Turing test?
Even taking a step back, assuming he was still Batman, his Joker was either teaching at Gotham University or driving a truck, not some game system's monster mimicking the Joker.
Bruce sighed internally; he still had to think of an ingenious solution in response to this test.
"Batman indeed has some research on this," Bruce said, "The darkness inside Batman resonates with the Joker Virus, which is why they can sense each other. But this is within the Game World, Brainiac shouldn't be able to simulate the Joker Virus, so this might not work."
He didn't forget to internally threaten Brainiac, "You better not have mimicked the Joker Virus, or I'll tell Batman you created terrorists."
"They sent you here, and I haven't even accused them of illegal invasion," Brainiac coldly said.
"What the heck!" Bruce said incredulously, "I'm a local, coming back home is illegal invasion now?"
"You're welcome back on your own, but dressed like that, I seriously suspect you've brought Batman's bad luck back," Brainiac was still annoyed, "Polaris almost blew up my servers just now, dare you say this has nothing to do with you playing Batman?"
Bruce had nothing to say. Batman's luck was truly miraculous; he hadn't felt much before, but it's gotten worse since the multi-universal war. It's becoming a law-level force, that affects everyone, is that right?
And he's not even Batman, he's just wearing the suit, and still gets influenced this much, isn't there something wrong here?
Bruce wondered internally, but now wasn't the time to dwell. Luckily, Charles smoothed things over for him, "Although I can't probe the mind waves of monsters well, I also don't believe monsters here can completely conceal the Arkham Knight's mind waves. But I truly haven't sensed his mind waves' presence, proving they've used other methods."
Harley pondered briefly, then said, "Professor, can you probe into the sea?"
Charles furrowed his brow slightly, then said, "In this situation, I wouldn't risk engaging with the sea, I'm not sure if I can probe."
"The Joker and Arkham Knight are likely in the ocean," Harley said, "Only there can make you completely unaware of clues."
"But how do we get into the ocean?" Pamela was worried, "Seagulls are land creatures after all and can't take us down. Besides, who knows what's under there..."
"Find Arthur," Tim said, "I'll log off to contact him."
"Hold on," Nightwing stopped him, "Aquaman can't join the game right now, can he? Or did he bury his Trident somewhere?"
"No, that's not it," Tim said, "It's just that in our universe, there's a US-Mexico Undersea Tunnel, maintained by Atlanteans."
"What???!!!" Damian was shocked, "A tunnel from where to where???"
"From the East Coast of the United States to Mexico," Pamela also realized, "Originally used for smuggling, later turned into a transport channel for grains and vegetables; now possibly for transporting bulk commodities."
"Jesus Christ," Nightwing exclaimed, "Who would build a tunnel connecting the East Coast of the US to Mexico???"
"It's a last resort," Pamela sighed, "Both Gotham and Mexico have experienced lockdowns; opening an undersea tunnel was the only option, fortunately, it proved useful."
Prime Universe's Robin was at a loss for words. If it was a tunnel from California to northern Mexico, it wouldn't be shocking, but starting in the Northeastern United States? Frankly, it would be better to head to low Earth orbit.
Tim quickly returned after logging off, he said, "The tunnel entrance is just south of the dock, and 12 nautical miles offshore, there's a maintenance station established by Atlanteans, it's perfectly safe. This way we can enter the sea without touching water."
Polaris also calmed down, and the group once again rode on the back of seagulls, heading south. But upon reaching the entrance of the South District, they noticed something was amiss.
Tim squinted his eyes and looked up at the sky. In the Game World, the sky was foggy, but the brightness was still decent—it was like a foggy noon with fair visibility. However, at this moment, it seemed as though the sky over the South District had darkened.
Or rather, it wasn't exactly a darkening of the sky. It was more as if there were suddenly substances in the air that blocked light, similar to the omnipresent fog, which had changed its color from white to black, making light propagation difficult, and everything appeared darkened.
It wasn't like this before; their base was in the South District, so they were fairly familiar with the environment. Tim immediately realized that it was very likely the boss of the South District, the monster inspired by Batman, had gone wrong.
Tim recalled that he had previously used a clever plan to almost eliminate the South District boss. With the boss now vanished and such anomalies appearing in the South District, could it be that the boss had evolved?
Bruce obviously noticed the anomaly too, and he understood what was happening better than anyone else—Batman's darkness had overflowed.
Although most of Batman's darkness came from Barbados, in reality, it was a more primordial power. Bruce had also confronted his inner darkness before, an overwhelming black tide far stronger than the dark power of Barbados that he now commanded. This power exists in the hearts of every Batman.
Now the situation in the South District seemed like the black tide within Batman's heart had suddenly spread. What puzzled Bruce was how Brainiac knew about these things, given that, as an electronic life form, he shouldn't understand such mystical powers.
"Greed is my investor," Brainiac said, as if knowing what Bruce was thinking, "He once described your past situation to me, mainly its Professor saw something."
Bruce understood. He already knew that Greed had intervened, and much of what Brainiac knew about Gotham's past likely came from Greed since Shiller shared the memory bank.
"So, your design for the monster inspired by me is supposed to progressively darken?"
"Yes," Brainiac said, "The more severely injured it becomes, the more the dark power within it will intensify the corruption of this area, strengthening ordinary monsters significantly and generating some new ones based on the dark side of human hearts."
"Stay calm," Charles suddenly said, "This environment will interfere with your brainwaves, causing you to experience various negative emotions and even illusions. But don't worry, I will protect you."
As soon as Charles finished speaking, everyone felt immediately relaxed. This wasn't just a simple psychological effect; Charles had indeed done something to ease their minds and make them less tense.
Professor X is truly powerful and provides a strong sense of security, so it's understandable that Mutants often find it hard to grow up.
However, mere psychic protection isn't enough, as the monsters in the South District have been completely strengthened. The bat monsters from before have not only grown larger and stronger but also have sharp talons on their hands, longer fangs, and when their wings flap, they create gusts of wind.
Tim raised his gun and fired, bang, hitting the root of their wing. Previously such wing shots would disrupt their flying motion, causing them to crash down tilted, but now the bullet was deflected.
Seeing things weren't going well, Pamela immediately extended her hand and summoned countless vines from the ground. But as soon as the vines touched the monsters, it seemed they too were corroded by some dark power, quickly becoming powerless.
Pamela squinted her eyes and clenched her fingers into fists. Countless tougher roots drilled up from the ground, vines and dry roots covered the sky as if forming a primordial jungle, grinding the monsters before them into mincemeat, and blood rain fell from the sky.
The Prime Universe Robins all turned aside. This Poison Ivy seemed different from the one in their universe; they had never seen Pamela Isley showing such a violent side.
Pamela actually didn't often use this trick because she didn't enjoy appearing violent. But again, disliking and being unable to do something are two different things, and the funding deceived from All Things Green wasn't meant for her to timidly endure frustration.
They cleared the path this way all the way forward, initially with Pamela making the moves, but then Polaris grew impatient. She disregarded the slight exhaustion in her physical strength after bursting forth, firing electromagnetic cannons shot after shot, ultimately turning into an electromagnetic storm that swirled around them, shredding any monster that came close.
The group realized that the so-called limitations of physical strength and abilities were all subjective for a Mutant like Polaris. Like when Scarlet Witch feels tired, it's merely because she believes she is tired. If she doesn't think that way, her strength is infinite.
Polaris had completely forgotten she should be tired, so she could use her ability endlessly without needing to pause for recovery. And so they fought their way to the entrance of the South District.
The entrance appeared completely unremarkable, giving no hint of the legendary construction it connected to. The Prime Universe Robins looked around with curiosity, but Tim quickly unlocked the door with a password.
"What's 'I don't want to go to work'?" Red Hood couldn't help but ask, watching as Tim typed this phrase.
"For Arthur, maintaining the undersea tunnel is his job," Tim led the way in and then said, "Nobody likes going to work."
The Prime Universe Robins looked at each other, puzzled. They really couldn't understand, as none of them had ever actually gone to work.