Batman immediately bent down to check on the condition of the Windbreaker Warrior.
But the Windbreaker Man didn't show any other signs of poisoning, he just looked like he was in unbearable pain.
The Joker timely stopped his mad laughter, leaning on a chair and gasping as he said, "Don't worry, this toxin just causes stomach pain. If you drank the soup, you'd probably be fine, but he doesn't seem to have your tolerance. But then again, most people can't endure stomach pain, hahaha..."
Batman roughly understood what was going on.
Earlier, he was injured and exposed to a new type of hallucinogenic laughing gas. If he drank the painfully-causing soup now, his willpower might collapse.
It's just that the Joker didn't anticipate the appearance of the Windbreaker Warrior. From the moment this person escaped from the bathtub, everything went beyond the Joker's control, and he truly had the courage to come forward to help.
And now, the Windbreaker Warrior took this attack for him, foiling the Joker's plan. But that's also why the Joker found it amusing and couldn't stop laughing.
Batman took out military-grade morphine from his utility belt. He didn't have much of this prepared because he rarely needed painkillers, but he still gave his only supply to the Windbreaker Man with an injection.
The effect was slow, or perhaps the Joker's poison was potent. It took a while for the Windbreaker Warrior to get up.
Meanwhile, the Joker just pulled the apple out of the roast pig's mouth and began to chew it.
Seeing the Windbreaker Man stand up again, he even clapped a few times.
"Not bad, not bad at all. The way you howl is captivating, hahahahaha..."
Batman remained expressionless: "Enough, Joker. You wanted me to find you, and here I am. Now let Catwoman go."
"Oh, I almost forgot," the Joker said disdainfully, pressing a gun to Catwoman's head, "Go to the Bat, you're of no use to me anymore."
Despite a hint of relief at hearing this, Catwoman didn't forget that she still had a bomb around her neck with both remote-control and timed modes, not to mention a mechanism that would explode if her heartbeat was too fast or too slow.
She kept silent to prevent fluctuations in her heart rate.
As a thief, she had strong psychological resilience. While she liked to talk to herself when stealing, it was just out of boredom.
The Joker said she could return to Batman, but could she really?
Everyone knew the Joker's attitude toward useless people. She feared that as soon as she returned to Batman, the Joker would detonate the bomb. Even if it couldn't harm Batman, at least it would spray him with blood and drive him mad.
So, after a moment's thought, Catwoman just looked at Batman across the table and shook her head slightly.
"I'm not leaving."
"Hmm? Ha? Not leaving?"
Like a reptile, the Joker flicked his tongue along his lips. Hearing Catwoman's answer, he first pretended to be very surprised, then laughed again.
Laughing, he suddenly punched Catwoman in the face with the handle of his gun.
The Joker wasn't strong, but the gun handle made Selena involuntarily tilt her head to one side, a trickle of blood appearing at the corner of her mouth.
"Still not leaving?"
The Joker kicked her, laughing wildly and punching and kicking Catwoman.
Poor Selena was like a lone boat in a storm, knocked back and forth in the chair. Even though she tried to protect her head, the Joker's bizarre fighting techniques were unpredictable.
The Joker shrugged, wiping his eyes with his wrist as if touched, took a deep breath, and said to Batman, "Ah, it seems she doesn't want to leave me. You're all the same, aren't you? You can't bear to leave me, huh? Hehehe..."
Even though he knew the Joker was trying to blur the lines between Bruce and Batman, Batman couldn't suppress his anger. Under his mask, his forehead veins bulged, and his fists clenched under the table.
"Enough! Stop playing games, what do you want?"
The Joker recoiled as if frightened, a look of grievance on his face: "Oh? I'm sorry, are you angry? Why be angry? Smile? Hahahahahaha..."
He started rubbing the gun barrel under Catwoman's chin, as if teasing a cat, but neither Bat nor Cat had any inclination to smile.
The Windbreaker Warrior just clutched his belly, leaning against Batman's chair back, his mask appearing eerie in the dim room, the fluorescent green looking like the eyes of a fierce beast.
"Disable the bomb and let her go, I'll stay with you," Batman thought of a strategy, secretly taking an EMP Bat Dart from his belt.
As long as Selena trusted him and didn't panic or let her heartbeat race when the dart flew at her, he was confident he'd rescue her.
"Would you like to die with me? If you don't kill me, I'll drag you down with me."
To Batman's surprise, the Joker casually took out a remote control from his pocket, and in front of everyone, deactivated the bomb. The small light on Selena's collar immediately went out.
The Joker kicked Selena away, sat in her place, waved his hand as if tired, signaling her to scram, and tossed the remote to Batman in a shooting gesture.
Though Catwoman wanted to take down the Joker, he still had a gun.
The Joker's fighting style was incredibly odd. Though untrained, with his mix of random gadgets and self-destructive fighting technique, he was one of the few on Earth that could stand toe-to-toe with Batman.
Of course, that's when he wants to fight; most of the time, he prefers being hit by Batman rather than fighting Batman.
Selena has been mixed in Gotham for so long, she naturally knows Joker's skills, she gritted her teeth and quickly ran to Batman's side.
Batman held her hand, "Are you alright?"
Batman first checked her injuries, then the collar, instantly feeling relieved, although it's unclear why Joker so easily gave up his trump card, but Joker's actions are always unpredictable.
He put away the remote, already disconnected, dismantling the collar was a bit troublesome, better to leave here first, let her go back to the Bat Cave to seek help from Ah Fu.
"I'm still okay." Selena hugged his neck and nodded affirmatively; these are just minor injuries.
"Take her away from here." Batman said to the Windbreaker Warrior; outside, there might still be Joker's ambushers, but the Windbreaker Man should have no problem dealing with the Joker Gang's thugs.
Selena isn't the sort of person who can't distinguish between priorities; she wouldn't say some melodramatic line like 'I won't leave, let's die together'; she just nodded to Batman, sizing up the Windbreaker Warrior.
"Be careful."
Batman silently nodded, refocusing on Joker, and the Catwoman dressed in black soon disappeared into the corridor outside with the Windbreaker Warrior.
"Now it's just the two of us, truly a rare opportunity for solitude. When was the last time we had such a face-to-face meal?" Joker raised the glass on the table, shaking the liquid in the candlelight, watching the enchanting red light cast shadows on the white tablecloth.
The last time they dined together?
That was when Joker placed chairs on four pressure-sensitive mines, forcing Batman to sit down and be fed, not only wanting Batman to eat the eyes of unknown creatures but also trying to make him laugh....
Thinking of this, Batman checked his chair once more, confirming there were no mines beneath him, while calculating time, ensuring Catwoman and the others had gone far enough.
No point in continuing the meal; despite Joker still holding a revolver, that's not a concern.
Batman suddenly exerted force, grabbing the tablecloth and flipping it; under the flickering candlelight, roasted meat, red wine, fruit, all soared into the air.
Using the covering of the white cloth and food, Batman jumped onto the table, charging at Joker, while Joker, without hesitation, fired his gun, knowing it posed no threat to Batman, but the gunshot and combat matched better.
Batman remained in a state of heightened focus, everything around him seemed to slow down, like slow-motion; flying bullets, splashing red wine, yet in his sight was only that ghastly smiling face.
He grabbed the slowly falling roasted pig mid-air, using it as a shield to block incoming bullets, then seized a large iron plate to deflect another bullet towards the wall.
Quickly moving his feet, everything was calculated, he charged with terrifying momentum, black bat wings unfolding behind him.
On the tabletop, he slid a kick right at Joker's chest, sending him flying along with chair.
"Hahaha! Hahaha, yes, yes, just like that!"
Joker's eyes widened round, tumbling over backward before agilely getting up again, his purple suit covered in filth with a dark footprint on his chest.
Yet he laughed even happier.
He pulled out a small knife from his pocket, directly charging and tangling with Batman.
Batman punched fiercely at his head, Joker's head burst open with red like splattered tomato sauce.
But Joker didn't mind at all; he laughed more delightedly, facing Batman's fist, watching it land heavily on his eyes, feeling the explosive pain like eye bursting.
He reached into his suit, then the flower pinned to his chest sprayed a stream of green water, Batman quickly dodged, those liquids splashing onto the ground raising a cloud of white smoke.
While Joker took advantage and lit a detonator, throwing it under his own feet, laughing loudly as the fuse grew shorter.
Batman immediately rushed forward and tackled him, rolling both far away.
"Boom!" Joker made explosive noises with his mouth, then a burst of mad laughter, "Hahahaha!"
The explosives were fake, only bursting out a large cloud of colored paper strips.
But Joker knew Batman would come to save him; taking advantage, he stabbed the dagger into Batman's stomach, as if Batman himself had run into it.
The hit landed at a spot previously torn by Antlion Butterfly, Joker's stab directly slashed Batman's intestines.
Joker crawled and scrambled to distance himself from Batman, tongue entirely out, squinting and gaping at the dagger's blade.
"Ah, cut your intestines; sorry about that, but what's this? Undigested corn? Had Mexican for dinner? I haven't seen Alfred in ages; it seems an old dog can learn new tricks, hahahahaha...."
Batman reached into his abdomen, using emergency methods to fasten the intestines temporarily; this might buy him a few minutes, he must defeat Joker before his body shocks.
"...." He pulled out several Bat Darts, each with various effects, eyes squinting, calculating the angle of deflection.
Joker seemed unaware, continued rambling, "I'm curious, why does what Bruce Wayne ate appear in Batman's stomach? Aren't they supposed to be two people? Huh? Two people!"
Then, Joker held up one finger with one hand and two with the other, jumped into a strange dance, even started spinning on the spot, clapping and laughing.
This is too amusing, Batman learned the magic of transferring items through walls, moving Bruce's food into his own stomach, isn't this hilarious?