There is no Batman in Gotham City comics.

Chapter 94, Act 3

After the Red Hood was reorganized, Jason visited Joseph, who was being held at Arkham Asylum, as a family member.

"I want to lead the Red Hoods. How can I become like you?"

His question was met with a series of harsh laughs. Joseph's skin was now deathly pale, and his hair looked like a clump of green algae dredged from a dock drain.

"Honey, let's find a pool and jump in."

"Will you continue to lead us when you come out?"

"Of course, Gotham needs to be reformed, but our old methods seem too complicated. Actually, the truth is very simple, as simple as reforming a teddy bear with its strings undone. All we have to do is cut off its ears, gouge out its eyes, and stuff a bundle of TNT into the wound."

"The path has always been there; I've been running away from it for too long."

"The road has always been there, I've just been running away from it for too long, hehe!"

"The road has always been there... Hahahahahahahahahahahaha!!!"

Looking at the man laughing heartily in the visiting room, Jason unconsciously rubbed his shoulders, perhaps to comfort the man, or perhaps to soothe his own sensitive nerves.

"Joseph, are you alright?"

"No no no no no no no no no! Don't call me Joseph anymore, just call me Joe, with my last name."

"Joe... Cole?"

"Hahahahahahahaha!!!!"

Joseph, hidden inside the straitjacket, was laughing so hard he was almost breathless. Jason looked at the ochre leather straitjacket with some concern, as if something was about to break free and run out of it at any moment.

Visiting hours were quickly coming to an end. Just before Joseph was about to be taken away, he suddenly broke free of his restraints and slammed his head hard against the glass.

That really hurt; blood trickled down his forehead.

Under the yellowish light of the visiting room, Joseph's face was bathed in shadow, with only his eyes flashing with a crazed light.

"Jason Todd! Do you believe it? One day I'll hold a crowbar and torture you to death. This is our inescapable fate."

Jason had a premonition that Joseph was dead and had crawled out of the chemical pool as a monster in human skin.

……

"Where did you take Royce?"

Qin Wei looked down at the clown, stepping on his face.

"Oh, darling... don't do this! I asked the question first, how did you guess I was faking it? Tell me, tell me, tell me!"

Under the repeated rubbing of the thick soles of the shoes, half of the clown's face was covered with pebbles and blood, but he seemed immune to pain and continued to ask questions in his neurotic tone.

"Royce has been a heavy smoker ever since he threw away his lighter while burning money."

"Oh ho ho ho! Please! I actually realized it at the time! But you know what, that move was just too cool!"

"You're judging me not by just one gesture? Isn't that a bit too hasty?"

"It's alright, but what exposed you was a single sentence you uttered."

"What did I say? Wait, wait, let me think... could it be that 'green-haired guy' thing?!"

Hmm, you guessed right!

Qin Wei was the only one who saw the clown in the pickup truck that night. Royce kept watch from a distance the whole time, and Qin Wei never revealed what the clown looked like afterward.

"Qin, you're really interesting! I'm getting more and more excited for the rest of the game!"

"Later? Are you kidding me?" Qin Wei pressed the muzzle of his rifle against the clown's temple. "I'll burn paper money for Royce when Qingming Festival comes, but before that, I'll have to trouble you to go down and keep him company."

"Hehehe, it seems the Flying Graysons haven't taught you a lesson. You selfish bastard, you'd sacrifice your companions unconditionally for your own benefit."

"You're right."

Even so, Qin Wei still took a deep breath under the other party's verbal onslaught. He had to admit that the clown's topic was both accurate and ruthless.

"Fine! Come on! Kill me!!! That way Royce and Dick can go to hell together, embracing each other!"

Qin Wei was on the verge of a mental breakdown; the other side had even kidnapped Dick!

But he knew that neither cursing nor beating would cause any real harm to the clown at this moment. Only by making a move that the opponent did not expect could he turn the tide.

They swaggered in front of me, just because they had two hostages in their hands and felt so confident.

With two fingers gripping the bolt of the M16 and pulling hard, the sound of the metal spring recoiling was so crisp and pleasant.

"JOKER, I bet you never expected to die here."

As soon as he finished speaking, the clown's smile vanished.

"What's wrong, darling? Don't you find my jokes funny?" Qin Wei pouted, his eyes revealing deep disdain.

To be honest, he's incredibly conflicted right now, but he absolutely can't lose face.

Both sides are in a lot of pain right now; it's just a matter of who loses their temper first.

"Oh! Never mind... I want to play games, not life-or-death struggles. This is not fun at all." The Joker lost his temper and moved aside, gripping the gun barrel.

"I have one more piece of information, plus two more lives, in exchange for my safe departure! How about that deal?"

Qin Wei also breathed a sigh of relief. Regardless of what the clown's information was, he had temporarily won this covert battle.

He's not the type to hold grudges, but if the Joker gets his way this time and takes advantage of him, he'll likely face just as much harassment and threats as he does in the future.

On the other hand, the clown has been humiliated this time, and he will have to carefully consider the consequences of infiltrating Qin Wei's inner circle under a false identity in the future.

Therefore, Qin Wei agreed to the other party almost without thinking.

He was prepared to accept whatever intelligence he received, since Royce and Dick were the most important people.

But the information the Joker provided truly shocked him—Maroney might have hired Deathstroke to hunt them down!

"How did you know?" Qin Wei asked.

"That guy found me a few years ago because of some trivial matter." The clown dusted himself off and pulled out the pebbles embedded in his face one by one.

Now half of his face is a bloody mess. Gotham always needs a Two-Face.

"It's truly laughable that the death knell demanded half of the Romans' wealth..."

"Get to the point!" Qin Wei poked the clown with the muzzle of his gun.

"You're such an impatient person. Where were we? Oh right, the deal fell through, but Mr. Deathstroke still came to me out of curiosity."

"So guess what? Maroni isn't willing to spend that money on me, but would he be willing to spend it on you?"

Qin Wei put his thumbnail in his mouth. If what the clown said was true, and a mercenary with an enhanced body had joined the battlefield, then he would have to prepare in advance.