Days as a Spiritual Mentor in American Comics

The pale knight was trembling all over.

He could no longer tell what he was feeling, only that his body was uncontrollably convulsing, his neck felt as if it was locked by something, gradually making it difficult to breathe.

He flailed his arms struggling, then rolled off the bed, his head heavily hitting the wall, knocking over the bedside table as well.

The nurse rushed in upon hearing the noise.

After that, he couldn't remember what happened, only seeing many blurry halos and hearing fragmented whispers, and when he woke up again, he saw Bruce's blue eyes.

The daylight in Gotham was always dim, making it hard to discern the time, but the pale knight managed to twist his neck and saw it was morning.

He struggled to get up, but Bruce quickly pushed him back down onto the hospital bed and said, "What are you doing? Do you know the state of your body right now? You almost died!"

"Let go of me!" roared the pale knight angrily, "I need to go to Natural Forest!"

Bruce's face showed hesitation as he said, "It might be too late for that now."

"I still need to go! Those bastards killed Willie! They must have bribed the police! I need to find Gordon!! I need to shut down the Charabang Chemical Factory!!!"

Bruce paused briefly and then said, "I already told you it's a bit late, the chemical factory..."

"What happened to the chemical factory?"

"The chemical factory has changed its form of existence," Bruce hesitated.

"Changed its form of existence?" The pale knight stared at him puzzled, then somewhat angrily added, "I don't have time for your jokes right now!"

"Well, you got sick at an inconvenient time," Bruce could only say, "And you don't really understand Shiller."

"What, what does this have to do with Shiller? Is this his plan?"

"No, it's precisely because this wasn't his plan that I said you don't understand Shiller's speed of vengeance."

"What in the world is going on?" the pale knight pressed Bruce, staring intently at his face, "You better explain everything clearly, or I'll put you back in ice!"

Bruce spread his hands and said, "You were unconscious for a whole day and night. During this period, the Charabang Chemical Factory, the investors, and the person in charge of the newly established Natural Forest Conservation Fund all changed their form of existence."

"What form?"

"They sublimated from carbon-based life."

The pale knight stared at him, astounded.

"Do I need to spell it out that clearly?" Bruce said somewhat disdainfully, "The Charabang Chemical Factory exploded, becoming the largest chemical plant explosion in New Jersey State in nearly a century."

"The Charabang family members who claimed to reform the chemical plant and visited to invest in the conservation fund were all wiped out in the accident, with the plant's owner William Charabang right at the explosion's epicenter, vaporizing his entire family of five instantly."

"Now, you need to think not about Willie or Charabang, but how to respond to the State Council's inquiry regarding this major safety incident, given that you're now the mayor."

The pale knight was completely stunned.

"The chemical factory exploded?!! How did it explode??"

"Um..." Bruce hesitated and then said, "If I said Joker did it, would you believe me?"

"What do you think? Why would Joker idle around blowing up this factory?"

"Isn't idling around causing explosions exactly what Joker does?"

The pale knight was left speechless.

Then he came around and said, "You mentioned Shiller's speed of revenge; was it him?"

"You know, there's no evidence," Bruce shook his head, "There are various signs suggesting it might be him bringing Joker there, or maybe even collaborating with Joker, but Joker might be the only one who knows, and you can't just capture him for interrogation."

The pale knight slowly leaned back, resting his head on the pillow, thoughtfully saying, "He must have collaborated with Joker."

"How do you know?" asked Bruce.

"He gave me medicine, and just before I passed out, I heard him say 'not counting on the pale knight's kindness, but leaving Joker with no choice', he did it."

"What?"

"Joker had no choice; Maria could only cooperate with Shiller," the pale knight muttered to himself, "The Joker inside me refused him, so he turned Maria into Joker, replacing the original Joker."

"And if Maria doesn't cooperate with him, he'll create another one, a second, a third, until one cooperates. Joker has no choice."

Bruce remained silent, not saying a word. After a while, the pale knight said, "I thought they might use violent means to drive out protesters, but I didn't expect them to resort to killing so quickly."

"That isn't difficult to predict," Bruce said, "It seems like they weren't pushed to a dead end, but Shiller must have done something to make them feel if they don't act fast, the last resort is a slow death."

"What did he do?" the pale knight asked.

"I don't know everything," Bruce sighed, "This Shiller isn't like anyone I've known before, he's always scheming behind the scenes, every move isn't just incidental, each opens a path, and countless paths weave a large net, no one can escape."

The pale knight slowly closed his eyes, then suddenly opened them and said, "I want to be discharged."

"You want to attend the press conference?"

"No, I want to attend a funeral, Willie's funeral."

Indeed, Willie's funeral was held today. When the pale knight arrived, quite a few people were already there, but from their attire, it was clear they were not wealthy.