Days as a Spiritual Mentor in American Comics

Primary Universe Batman paused for a moment, showing a slightly puzzled expression and said, "Elliot? He's not even Batman."

"Who says?" Shiller walked over again, putting down the head of Mad Laugh, not even giving it a glance, as if he thought it could neither see nor hear anything.

"Are you saying he wore the bat suit before? But if I may, from any aspect, he doesn't seem like Batman."

"But he did wear the bat suit and considered himself Batman. Although I don't know why he'd think that, he could be considered a novice Batman. Plus, there's nothing wrong with his body, he's in his prime, died a regular death, and the integrity is pretty good."

"I think we have better options," Primary Universe Batman said. "Don't forget, our goal is to instigate a fight between the two Laughing bats, so they can't be too different."

"Do you really think there's a big difference between Elliot's body and Laughing bat's original body?" Shiller also sat down and said, "Although Elliot hasn't had any professional training, Laughing bat isn't that strong either, especially in terms of physical fitness—he's as thin as an old goat. Wouldn't it be wrong to give the old Laughing bat too strong a body?"

"Makes sense." Batman nodded, looking as if he'd been convinced by Shiller, he said, "But Elliot is somewhat of a celebrity, and died on the eve of the elections; the police will definitely get involved. This body has to take a trip to the station, and when it comes to the funeral and burial preparation, we can swap him out then."

"Alright, help me solve the identity issue in the meantime."

"Special Agent?"

"Yes. You'll also need to find a safe place to store this head." Shiller tapped on the table and said.

"I thought you were going to take it away."

"No."

"Why not?"

"Troublesome."

After Shiller left, Batman acted as if he didn't believe Mad Laugh was still alive, picked up the head and examined it like it was some experimental item.

After a long while, he called someone over and said to them, "Take me to Wayne Enterprises' laboratory."

Batman took the head of Mad Laugh to the laboratory, casually found a glass jar, placed it inside, and then left.

At the moment he left, Laughing bat opened its eyes, but the previously insanely laughing corners of his mouth couldn't help but turn down heavily. Just from the expression on his mouth, one could see how angry he was.

Back in the office, Shiller was indeed waiting there again. Batman scrutinized him, confirming his status as an agent, then asked, "What's wrong? Did you change your mind all of a sudden?"

"No." Shiller briefly explained the possibility of Mad Laugh seizing a body. Batman pondered and said, "I understand, you want Mad Laugh to know that we plan to create two of him and make them fight. He would absolutely avoid finding a good body for a new self, maybe even prefer as weak as possible, so that after his resurrection, he could quickly eliminate the impostor."

"Exactly." Shiller laughed and said, "He wouldn't transfer the Laughing Egg possibly existing in Silent Batman's body to Arkham Batman, nor to you. Perhaps Silent Batman's body isn't satisfactory either. He will try every means to transfer the egg into a particularly weak Batman's body. We must give him such a Batman."

"A particularly weak Batman?" Primary Universe Batman frowned and said, "I really can't think of any Batman particularly weak, in any case stronger than Elliot. Besides, does it have to be Batman?"

"Perhaps not, but Mad Laugh may not be satisfied to put the egg into just anyone's body. From some of his actions, it's evident that laying and transferring the egg isn't easy. He won't act rashly without a satisfactory target."

"Who do you want him to transfer the egg into?"

"Let's not talk about that for now." Shiller skipped the topic and said, "Do you think this Batman, who is left with just a head, will willingly let us revive him using Elliot's body?"

"Of course not, I feel like he's about to explode with rage." Batman chuckled, sitting down, and said, "Even with just a head, his teeth are gnashing loudly, didn't you hear?"

"He certainly wouldn't be willing, but not because Elliot isn't Batman, but because Mad Laugh made him into an imitator of you. How could he possibly want to be a counterfeit?"

"No wonder you brought up the 'bat suit'; seems like it was meant to provoke him. But now he's just a head, what else can he do?"

"Don't forget, he still has that eyepiece."

Batman's fingers paused on the desktop, he said, "I know that eyepiece can do Mind Reading, does it have other abilities?"

"How do you think he made Elliot become Batman?"

"I almost forgot about that," Batman said. "Elliot never knew anything about Batman. He's actually very afraid of death and definitely shouldn't be walking the streets in a tight suit. This move is too out of character, probably not of his own will. Does that eyepatch have memory-altering capabilities?"

"Exactly," Shiller nodded and said.

"That's a bit troublesome," Batman said, slightly frowning. "How does it compare to that professor who's good at mind reading?"

"You mean Arrogant? He'd have me tell you he doesn't have mind-reading powers."

"I was talking about the one from the neighboring universe," Batman said with some helplessness, "I think he's called Charles Xavier."

"That's way too far off," Shiller waved dismissively. "Even if every Batman in the entire Multiverse wears that eyepatch, they still couldn't deal with Professor X. The mental strength of ordinary people, no matter how strong, cannot counter such a natural anomaly. Just think of him as God in the Psychic Battlefield."

"But it's enough for ordinary people."

"Yes, that's exactly what I meant. These coming days, you'll need to keep an eye on the group's insides, see if anyone's behaving oddly. Laughing Bat might use the eyepatch's mind control function to make ordinary people do stuff for him. He might want to get himself a better body."

"Who would his target be?"

"I don't know, no one knows how arrogant he may get," Shiller shook his head and said, "Just keep an eye on him. I need to go back to that previous universe with Mr. President to bring others over and retrieve the equipment for brain preservation and transfer."

Batman nodded. Shiller quickly left. Batman called up the surveillance on the computer, keeping an eye on the lab through the cameras. It wasn't a secret lab; employees occasionally came and went at the entrance.

Before long, an employee with a badge walked somewhat stiffly toward the front door of the lab. Batman narrowed his eyes, it seemed Shiller's intuition was spot-on, Laughing Bat seemed eager beyond words.

The employee staggered inside, and not long after came out again, but didn't take the glass jar containing the Laughing Bat's head, just heading toward the end of the corridor, destination unknown.

Batman thought for a moment, then headed to the break room to change into his Bat Equipment, following the direction the employee left.

Tracking the controlled employee, Batman raced through the Gotham night. He also kept contemplating:

Currently, Laughing Bat is just a head now, and he has two options left: either find the universe of the Broken Bat with that interchangeably used head technology, like a true Broken Bat, put his brain in another person's body, and then use his body to act. This way, he can fundamentally thwart Shiller's plan to create two Laughing Bats; or go with the flow, and when Shiller executes the two Laughing Bats plan, put Laughing Egg into a particularly weak body, so that upon revival, he can thoroughly trounce the opponent.

Whichever route he chooses, Laughing Bat must leave here immediately, because he genuinely fears being placed in Elliot's body. Laughing Bat, harboring ambitions higher than the heavens, would absolutely not tolerate being put in such a mediocre body. If he still had legs, he'd undoubtedly run with the train overnight, fearing that a moment's delay would awaken him as Elliot.

Fear can make one lose their sanity. He wouldn't have considered the groundwork needed beforehand for a brain swap or the extent of preparation required. He no longer had the patience for these calculations; he just wanted to escape quickly.

But perhaps because his feet left the ground and his IQ retook high ground, he also knew that having a regular employee carry such a thing wouldn't allow him to escape, so this time, his control of an ordinary person must be to seek reinforcements.

Batman silently followed the Wayne Enterprises employee, driving onto another street not far from Wayne Enterprises. This street also housed numerous renowned enterprise buildings. The car stopped at the entrance of one building, and Batman raised his eyes to see—"Gotham Red Line Defense Group."

"Jason Todd?" Batman muttered to himself, "Why would Laughing Bat think to seek him?"

Batman knew that the president of the Red Line Defense Group was his universe's counterpart of Red Hood. Precisely because of this, he found it baffling: that Jason Todd could become a president was as bizarre as Tim Drake taking up acrobatics.

For this, he even took a photo of the company's entrance, planning to show it to Jason from his own universe later.

Batman watched from the entrance for a while. Sure enough, it wasn't long before Jason left the company building in a luxury car, driving towards Wayne Enterprises.

What surprised Batman a bit was that almost simultaneously, Talya also arrived. Uncertain if Talya was looking for him, Batman had no choice but to return to his office, taking off his bat suit to change into a suit and sitting at his desk, feigning a look of being overwhelmed with work.

The office door was promptly knocked. Batman cleared his throat and said, "Come in."

Talya entered with grace; even at this late hour, she wore a beautiful evening gown, makeup meticulously done, and a potent scent of perfume filling the air.

She sashayed over to sit in front of Batman, fixing her gaze on his handsome face, propping her chin with her fingers, she said, "I knew my choice was right. But you're being a bit overly eager, handsome."

Batman's hand paused slightly. Could Laughing Bat have found someone to send flirty texts to Talya using his account?

Keeping a straight face, Batman said, "I called you here for serious business, we need to discuss the election..."

Talya didn't seem too disappointed, placing her bag on the table she said, "The Assassin's Union will fully support you, but we also hope for corresponding compensation. Your current biggest opponent is March, backed by the Court of Owls, I'm looking for an opportunity to kill him."