chapter 170 part 1
Chapter 170: My Neighbor is the Joker. Should I Move?
After the Joker left, his wife walked to the doorway.
She looked at Bruce Ren across the hall. "Hello? My name is Janey Quinn. We'll be neighbors from now on."
"Ah, I'm Bruce," he said, looking at Janey Quinn's belly. "How many months along are you?"
"Six months."
"That's quite far along then."
"Yes! To welcome her birth, my husband works from early morning to late at night. I really don't know what kind of place needs a clown to perform so late. I hope everything goes smoothly."
Bruce Ren smiled warmly. "Perhaps it's a bar or a nightclub that needs someone to warm up the crowd. You should get some rest, Mrs. Quinn."
"You too, Bruce~"
After both sides closed their doors, Bruce Ren plopped down on the sofa.
"The Joker is my neighbor? From the looks of him, he probably hasn't gone crazy yet."
"It all started when two Red Hood Gang members and a failed comedian named Jack, who couldn't find work, went to a chemical plant to steal something. Jack was startled by Batman's sudden arrival and fell into a vat of chemicals."
"After his disfigurement, Jack frantically ran home, only to find his pregnant wife had died from a faulty appliance. Then he went mad."
Bruce Ren rubbed his chin. "I really thought that was just a story the Joker made up to tell Batman! I can't believe it's actually true?"
Main God Ren Arakawa: "The Joker truly loves Batman. He always mixes genuine emotions and truths in with a pile of lies."
"This is a bit problematic." Bruce Ren thought carefully. "Bro, there are too many villains in this place. I should run."
Stephen Fang: "Running is useless. The DC universe is constantly facing world-ending crises. It has multiple universes, so if one is destroyed, the story just moves to a parallel world. For starters, we can't even confirm which universe you're in. But regardless, given the terrible tropes in future DC comics, you'll be affected even if you hide at the ends of the earth."
Uchiha Boyu: "The DC universe is just like that. Take the story of The Batman Who Laughs as an example. Even if your universe is a relatively peaceful one, a day will always come when a grinning, sinister Batman appears in your universe, slaughters its superheroes, and turns the entire Earth into his personal hunting ground."
Stephen Fang sighed. "In many ways, the situation you're about to face is tougher than any of ours."
Bruce Ren slumped on the sofa, his emotions on the verge of collapsing.
However, even years of being suppressed and bullied had not erased the fact that he was a "Ren Arakawa." After some time to process everything, he stood up.
"Then I need to think about how to strengthen the warriors of my universe! This way, even if Darkseid comes to Earth, or The Batman Who Laughs comes to my world, at least we'll have the strength to fight!"
Stephen Fang: "Why don't you solve the Joker's problem first? That way, at least your world won't give birth to The Batman Who Laughs or the situation with Black Superman."
Main God Ren Arakawa: "That's thinking too far ahead. Remember the plot of a certain movie version of the Justice League? After Darkseid's army arrived on Earth, there were hardly any superheroes left. Black Superman became the main enforcer, and Batman had to work with the Joker to resolve the crisis."
"In many incidents, the Joker has also been Batman's mastermind. This guy can even be used as a trump card. Simply choking him to death in his cradle might not be a good thing."
Pirate Ren Arakawa: "So... just silently wait for your neighbor to go mad."
Uchiha Boyu: "The Joker's wife and the child in her belly dying isn't necessarily a bad thing. Didn't he later get a small room in Arkham Asylum as compensation for it?"
Bruce Ren: "I've long heard about your kind of hellish jokes. After hearing one today, it's obvious you're not going to heaven."
At the same time, Jack, who had just left the apartment, was grabbed by two Caucasians in suits and leather shoes. Together, they walked towards a nearly dilapidated car.
One of them, a man wearing sunglasses, grinned and asked, "Why are you going out dressed like a clown?"
Jack smiled awkwardly. "This... this way, my wife won't think I'm going to do anything bad. And the police won't know what my face looks like."
"Heh heh."
Jack got into the car, his mood extremely anxious. He looked at his two companions, whom he had only met twice, and swallowed before asking, "Will it really be alright? That... that chemical plant, doesn't it have security?"
The driver in the front, puffing on a cigarette, replied, "Heh heh, Jack, just leave these problems to the tools in our hands!"
Jack's face was still full of conflict, but when he looked out at the chaotic street and saw his clown makeup reflected in the car window, he thought of his wife waiting at home for him to bring back money for the rent, and their child who would be born in a few months.
Jack, prepare to be a bad guy for once!
The night was as black as ink, thick and impenetrable. Only a few faint lights in the distance illuminated the area.
Jack followed behind the two Red Hood Gang members, his steps unconsciously unsteady. His heart pounded fiercely in his chest, as if it wanted to break free.
They hurried along, the surrounding silence making the journey seem even more eerie.
Before long, a chemical plant exuding a hint of chill appeared before their eyes.
This was a plant that produced food additives on the surface but was secretly an illegal factory producing ecstasy pills.
Jack watched wide-eyed as the two men walked ahead, quietly approaching the old, Black security guard dozing at the entrance.
The security guard was quite old. Perhaps he was too tired, completely oblivious to the impending disaster.
In a flash, one of the Red Hood Gang members suddenly reached out, clamping his hands around the security guard's neck like iron pincers.
The old security guard's eyes instantly widened, terror and despair churning within them. He tried to struggle, his legs flailing, his hands weakly clawing at the man's hands, but it was all in vain.
The other man, seeing this, quickly stepped forward and covered the security guard's mouth, silencing his cries for help.
Before long, the security guard's body went limp. He became motionless, slumping to the ground like a broken puppet.
Jack's heart suddenly clenched, and a strong wave of discomfort surged within him.
He bit his lower lip tightly, his brow furrowed. His hands unconsciously clenched into fists, his fingernails digging deep into his palms.
"This... this is too ruthless," he muttered to himself, unconsciously taking a step back.
But at this moment, behind him was the vast darkness of the night, and ahead were these two dangerous companions. After much hesitation, he steeled himself and followed.
The three arrived at the entrance of a ventilation duct. The opening was narrow and dark, permeated with a pungent, foul smell.
The leading Red Hood Gang member skillfully removed the grille of the ventilation opening and was the first to climb in, moving as nimbly as a scurrying rat.
Jack took a deep breath, forcing down his inner resistance, and followed him into the ventilation duct.
The space inside the duct was oppressively suffocating. The walls were covered in sticky grime. Every movement made his skin crawl.
Jack could only hunch over, crawling forward on all fours, his knees and elbows chafing raw against the pipe walls.
After crawling for an unknown amount of time, they finally entered the chemical plant.