OBS Chapter 2501: Battle for the Cloak (57)
Chapter 2501: Battle for the Cloak (57)
Chapter 2501: Battle for the Cloak (Fifty-Seven)
"Yes, Jason, I heard that. I have the same opinion as you. Now is not a good time to leave the city." Peter walked around the room with the phone and said, "There will definitely be traffic jams on the road. If that madman comes with a bomb, we will all be stuck."
"I suggest you prepare a first aid kit first. Even if the bomb doesn't explode, if it causes a riot, someone might get hurt. Okay, I got it."
“No.” Peter’s expression changed slightly and he said, “After I recovered from my illness, that strange strong power and predictive ability disappeared. I guess it might be the disease that freed me from muscle restrictions, but that is not normal after all.”
"Yeah, I was thinking that too. It would be nice if that ability still existed. At least I could protect Gwen and you guys. Well, we are definitely not at the age to think about such unrealistic things. Be safe. Bye."
Peter put down the phone and sighed. What Jason had just said reminded him of the past. It was such a coincidence that Jason and he fell ill at the same time. Jason lost his memory due to the illness, but he gained powerful strength due to the illness, but it disappeared soon after he recovered.
But these two illnesses also made them best friends. Over the past few decades, they watched each other grow and mature, get married, have children, and live a stable life.
After Peter hung up the phone, he also listened attentively to the news on TV in the living room. The reason why he didn't go out was that he felt a little uncomfortable, and a feeling of anxiety spread in his heart, but he couldn't explain why he was anxious.
The Joker appeared on the screen.
At this moment, he was standing on the rooftop of a building. The camera did not give him a close-up. It had always been like this. He was always far away from the camera, as if he was afraid that others would capture his true face.
But even from a distance, people could see his arrogant smile, so crazy, cruel and indifferent.
He was about to announce the location of the second bomb, but he didn't know if it was an operational error, because there were several red dots on the map he prepared.
There was an unexpected event in this live broadcast. The clown was explaining something quickly, but a homeless man suddenly rushed out from somewhere, knocked him down and strangled him by the neck.
The camera didn't turn off until the clown broke free, punched him several times, and knocked him out with an electric shock device.
"Did you see the homeless guy?" Peter called Jason again and said, "I think he looks familiar. Is he from our neighborhood?"
"I seem to have run into him a few times," Jason said. "My daughter seemed to have been harassed by him, and I got so angry that I beat him up."
"Are you sure it's that lunatic? Are you sure you recognize him?"
"Yes, he kept mumbling something like this wasn't real, it was just a dream, and he told me to wake up soon. I called the police and the mental hospital, but it was no use. He would be back soon. He was such a persistent lunatic."
"But he's also a hero." Peter lowered his head and said, "If you dare to cause trouble for the Joker now, you will definitely not end up well."
Then the two of them fell into a long silence.
"Honestly, I feel a little uncomfortable." Jason lowered his voice and said, "I don't know how to say it, but I really want to punch that clown. I even... I even want to kill him."
"I kind of want to go rescue people." Peter looked at his family who were sorting things in the yard with concern and said, "I know this is irrational because I won't be of any use if I go. It's better for me to stay here and protect my family. Gwen and Annie both need me."
Then there was another silence. Jason suddenly laughed and said, "Should we say we are indeed friends? We even had our sympathy attacks at the same time."
"You think this is just simple sympathy?"
"Isn't it? But now we can only take care of ourselves, so we should not think too much."
Jason hung up the phone, but he didn't feel as relaxed as he described. When the homeless man rushed up to beat the Joker, maybe he was too close to the microphone worn by the Joker, Jason heard him say "It should have been Batman" or something like that.
Jason was also inexplicably familiar with the word Batman.
He couldn't remember anything more, but kept repeating the word over and over again until he saw a figure in the Joker's next live broadcast, a figure with pointy ears.
The second bomb exploded anyway, still killing countless people who didn't have time to escape. But this time people discovered that when the Joker announced the second bomb, the red dots on the map might represent the third, fourth, and fifth bombs.
The location of a bomb was announced only once an hour. If they knew the next bomb in advance, they would have at least an hour to escape. One hour was plenty of time for four kilometers, and even if there was a traffic jam, they could always walk out.
The people in the area marked with red dots began to move out of the area with an attitude of disbelief.
The Joker appeared on screen for the third time, laughing and warning everyone to remember another rule of the game.
But before he could repeat the rule, he was knocked to the ground by a punch from a figure. The figure with pointy ears roared, "Shut up! Do you want to destroy the world?!"
"Batman, you're finally here!" A voice sounded nearby, and a homeless man with messy hair and a big beard rushed up and shouted to Batman: "Quickly subdue the Joker! Make him tell us the location of the bomb, we have to defuse it!!"
But Batman didn't care. He kept beating the Joker until he was pulled away by the homeless man.
"What are you doing?! Batman!!"
Superman's face appeared in Batman's hazy vision, but he was no longer as strong and handsome as he remembered. Although his frame was still tall, he had become very thin, and his cheeks were sunken. Except for the still bright blue eyes that proved that he was Clark Kent, he did not look like the powerful Superman at all.
boom!
Clark punched Batman, and Batman touched his cheekbone, which was still intact, in shock. Clark looked at him with an extremely disappointed expression and said, "Batman, what's wrong with you?! Are you crazy? We have to go and save people!!!"
"I have to save Jason first." Batman said, "This world cannot be destroyed. His family and children are here!"
"Will killing the Joker help you save someone?!" Clark roared, "Ask about the bomb first!!"
"But he just wants to destroy Jason again, and I can't let him succeed." Batman grabbed the Joker's collar tightly and said, "He must have shown up for this. I couldn't stop him before, and he won't do it this time."
Clark had to pull Batman away again. He looked at Batman with red eyes and said, "What on earth are you talking about? Do you know how many people died for this?"
"It's just a dream." Batman said, "Dreams always end, and they always die."
Bang! Another punch, this time Clark knocked Batman to the ground. He looked at Batman with tears in his eyes and said, "You are not Batman, you are a lunatic."
"You are crazy! Why do you treat virtual reality as reality? Why should we save people in dreams? We can't save them in the end, because dreams always end."
"Of course you're a human being, Batman!" Clark looked at him in disbelief and said, "When you see your compatriots in trouble, you shouldn't be able to suppress your sympathy. When you see criminals committing crimes, you shouldn't be able to restrain your sense of justice. This is the most basic human nature, isn't it?!"
"Why on earth can you stand here indifferently and analyze rationally and calmly that this is a dream, but remain indifferent to those broken limbs, their blood, their wailing, their crying and their death?!"
Batman was speechless.
Clark took a few steps back, shook his head and said, "Maybe they are right. Batman is a lunatic. You are a born sociopath. You don't have normal emotional feedback at all."
"But I do." Clark looked into Batman's eyes and said, "I'm not like you. I bleed, so I have to save those who also bleed, because if I see them crying, I can't calm down, and there is no reason to convince and comfort myself. When their helpless voices reach my ears, this is my unshirkable mission."
"Even if you can't save them at all?"
"I only acted for my own conscience, and I thought you understood me."
After saying that, Clark turned around and left without looking back. Batman stood there for a long time, and finally threw the Joker away.
Crying and shouting began to appear in the neighborhood where Jason and Peter were. The location marked by the third bomb was not far from their neighborhood, and all the people rushed over here.
Many people were too scared to take anything with them, some wanted to take advantage of the situation and snatch survival supplies from others, and some locals had their eyes on these fat sheep. The community next door was much richer than here, so if they could make a profit from the robbery, they wouldn't be too embarrassed when it was their turn to run away.
When he heard a woman's scream, Jason finally couldn't help but rushed out. He pushed away the gangster who was tearing the woman's clothes, punched him in the side of the face, and kicked him to the ground.
Just as he helped the woman back to her house, he saw two children standing on the side of the road crying. Jason had to run over to help them find their parents. Just as he put them back in their parents' hands, a car in the campground next to him caught fire again.
Jason rushed over as fast as he could, only to see a familiar figure. Peter rushed out from another street not far away. The two met and looked at each other in silence.
"I can't help it." Jason said as he picked up the fire extinguisher and walked around the car. "When I heard the scream, my mind went blank. When I reacted, I was already on the street."
"Who isn't?"
It was not Peter who spoke to them, but another uncle who was much older than them. He took another fire extinguisher and sprayed it towards the car and said, "I haven't been a firefighter for more than 20 years. Come on, young man, take this axe and break the car door open."
Jason took the axe, swung it open and broke the car door, pulling out the driver who was almost choked to death in the car. The two women nearby hurried up and started pouring water on him.
The driver was quickly sent to the campsite. His arms and feet were burned, and more importantly, he inhaled a lot of smoke and felt a little confused.
A doctor was treating the injured nearby, and some residents were maintaining order.
"Everyone, get out of the way! Get out of the way!! Don't compete with the patients for oxygen!! There are new casualties here. Oh my God, are you the driver of that car?! Quick, quick, quick, lie down."
Peter soon walked over and helped those people carry the wounded, while Jason dealt with a few thugs who wanted to get closer to the camp. Everything was busy but orderly.
This feeling was a little familiar, but Jason couldn't put his finger on it. He didn't lie just now. When he heard someone screaming in pain outside the door, he couldn't think rationally at all. He just wanted to rush out to help.
But now he found that he was not the only one. As the chaos spread faster and faster, many people heard the screams while sitting at home and went out to offer help to whatever extent they could.
There was really nothing they could do. At most, they could use the weapons they had at home to threaten those who wanted to take advantage of the chaos to rob, disinfect and bandage the injured, spray medicine on those with sprained ankles, and hand a cup of hot coffee to the panicked.
They were not thinking about anything, Jason noticed. They were like worker ants in an ant colony, acting only on instinct.
Most ordinary people are unable to think rationally in the face of disasters, but it is precisely this irrationality that prevents them from evaluating their own abilities and conditions in most cases, and many people's first instinctive reaction in such situations is to save people.
It has nothing to do with ability or responsibility, it’s just paying for certain emotions in your mind, and maybe one day you will have to pay the price for it.
But by then, even the tiniest mayfly will be able to understand the saint's state of mind and say, "All I ask for in this life is to have a clear conscience."
(End of this chapter)