Chapter 030: The Ruthless War Demon

Wang Bo was unwilling to go to prison, and Bruce Wayne had no way to force him. He couldn't tie Wang Bo up and make him go to prison, because Bruce knew he couldn't beat Wang Bo in a fight.

If he could defeat Wang Bo, he wouldn't mind sending him to prison to cool off.

But the reality was that he really couldn't beat Wang Bo.

Moreover, he had learned such a marvelous qigong as the Ripple Qigong from Wang Bo, thereby owing him a favor.

So in this matter, he could only try his best to help Wang Bo.

Of course, the most important reason was that he knew Wang Bo was not the real Adam Wang and had not killed anyone in this world; otherwise, he would never have compromised with Wang Bo.

Bruce Wayne was exactly that kind of emotionless superhero.

A few days later, Bruce Wayne quickly contacted a psychiatric expert, not the Scarecrow, but another specialist.

After throwing out a large sum of money, the psychiatric expert showed a complete lack of integrity, declaring that from now on, Wang Bo was his father and he was willing to give everything for Wang Bo.

This naturally included his own future.

The reason this expert was so desperate was mainly because Bruce had given him enough money.

So much that he could live out the rest of his life without worrying about food or clothing.

After securing the expert, Bruce Wayne began to work on the judge and jury.

These days, there are truly very few people who do not love money.

Especially in a politically corrupt place like Gotham City, no one knows how many of the prosecutors have been bought off by Falcone, let alone the judges and jury members.

Under a series of monetary offensives, this group quickly sold their conscience, indicating that on the day of the trial they would side with Wang Bo—as long as Bruce Wayne did his job properly, they would never let Wang Bo go to prison.

That night, Wang Bo and Bruce Wayne walked out of the last juror's home. Instead of taking a car, the two of them strolled casually along the street.

Wang Bo could tell that Bruce Wayne was in a bad mood. As for why Bruce Wayne was in a bad mood, he knew perfectly well. "You seem very disappointed in Gotham City."

Bruce Wayne was silent. After walking for a while, he said in a low voice, "Although I bribed these people, I had hoped countless times that they would reject me with righteous indignation."

"You hope these people still have a conscience, proving that Gotham City can still be saved," Wang Bo said.

"Yes, but they disappointed me. Not a single one refused me. Under the assault of money, they groveled, greedy and ugly, forgetting law and justice."

Bruce Wayne looked up, the night lights shining on his face, half in brightness, half in darkness.

"This is the Gotham I want to save," he said sarcastically.

Wang Bo said, "So, you're planning to turn dark?"

"Darkening?" Bruce Wayne looked at Wang Bo in surprise. "Darkening what?"

"Of course, by darkening yourself, turning into a villainous Batman—like the Batman Who Laughs, or the Dawnbreaker, or the Red Death, the Murder Machine, the Devastator, the Drowned, the Merciless."

Bruce Wayne indicated that he completely did not understand what Wang Bo was saying.

Wang Bo said, "These are all Bruce Waynes—to be precise, Bruce Waynes from other parallel worlds. They are all Batman, but due to various reasons, they eventually turned dark and became villains."

Bruce Wayne: ...

Wang Bo said, "Take the Merciless War Demon for example. I remember it was Universe No. 12, a multiverse of endless war. In this world, Bruce Wayne, also known as Batman, and a woman called Wonder Woman were lovers who fought side by side through life and death. They were very strong, until the war god Ares stood in their way."

"Yes, it's the Ares you're thinking of, the god of war in Greek mythology."

The war god Ares forged a powerful helmet that could amplify his divine power a hundredfold. Thus the war god became so powerful that even Batman and Wonder Woman were no match for him.

"But in the end, justice prevailed over evil."

Batman and Wonder Woman spent two years confronting Ares head-on, attempting to destroy the helmet and defeat the god of war. Together, they succeeded—Ares' helmet was knocked to the ground—but Wonder Woman gave her life in the process.

"After losing his most important lover, Bruce of this world swore to make Ares pay."

"But as a mortal, Bruce was clearly no match for a god, so he picked up the helmet Ares had left behind. Wonder Woman had once warned Bruce that the helmet had the power to corrupt the heart, yet Bruce firmly believed that with his own mercy and restraint, he could reshape the principles of war with fairness and justice."

Bruce Wayne gradually became captivated by the story Wang Bo was telling; hearing about his parallel universe counterpart, he was quite intrigued.

But when he heard that his parallel-world counterpart had decided to put on Ares' helmet, his heart skipped a beat.

A helmet forged by gods—can it truly be resisted by humans?

He said, "The me in that world didn't manage to do it, right?"

Wang Bo nodded. "Exactly, you're right. The moment Bruce Wayne in that world put on the helmet, everything he had once adhered to was irreversibly overturned. Batman killed the enemies he had spared, the heroes who defied him, and even the gods of Olympus."

"The Bruce of that world declared to the world, 'The helmet made me realize that my former principles and rules were too naive. The only thing that truly matters is victory. Now, my true self has finally accepted this.'"

"Thus, the former Batman changed, becoming more terrifying than anyone else."

"The God of War's helmet allowed Bruce of that world to release his long-suppressed instinct to win."

Deep within the heart of this Dark Knight, who had experienced too much death, defeat, and loneliness, the beast called war was also fiercer than any other.

"Now, this beast had escaped its cage, devouring Bruce's fragile humanity."

"Therefore, when Bruce discovered that Wonder Woman was still alive, when he learned that Ares had only knocked her unconscious, when he sensed that Wonder Woman wanted to reclaim her helmet, Bruce mercilessly eliminated his own lover, for this was the first new principle the helmet had taught him—war shows no mercy."

Wang Bo said this, looking at Bruce Wayne, whose expression was gradually turning silent.

"From this moment on, Batman was no longer Batman. Bruce Wayne had lost the identity of Batman and accepted his new identity... the Merciless War Demon!"