Chapter 106 Cultural Differences: We speak the same language, but our cultures differ...

"What happened? Where is everyone?" The Penguin took off his monocle, wiped it with a handkerchief, and put it back on. "Batman, wasn't there a bomb here just now?"

The penguin merely averted his gaze; he even remembered that the bomb was bright yellow.

Batman ignored the Penguin, gave Elliott's wound a quick stop to stop the bleeding, stood there for a moment, and then walked deeper into the laboratory.

"Forget it, who cares where those lunatics went," the Penguin yelled at Batman. "Bat! Give me a hand! I can't get down!"

God knows how Thomas Wayne managed to dig such a massive basement in Gotham. The Penguin estimated he was at least ten meters from the lab floor, and his custom-made black umbrella, which could serve as a cushioning device, had just been requisitioned by Thomas and was nowhere to be found.

If he could, the Penguin would certainly want to get back to solid ground on his own, but now he has no choice but to ask Batman for help.

"Did you hear that, Batman?" The Penguin grabbed onto the roof beam and looked down. "What are you doing? Is the Joker still there?"

Batman remained silent as he walked to a machine in the laboratory that looked like landing gear, occupied a considerable area, yet was completely inconspicuous.

At least the Penguins hadn't noticed it at all before, because it looked exactly like the supercomputer that was a must-have backdrop in every science fiction work.

Batman opens the "computer" in an attempt to find some clues, but only receives a pop-up message indicating insufficient permissions and failure to overwrite.

“Batgirl and I are done here. We successfully rescued all the hostages, Batman,” Robin’s excited voice came through the earpiece. “I’m still with Batgirl now. Hey, how’s it going on your end? Do you need us to come and help you right away?”

Batman removed his fingers from the keyboard, opened his mouth slightly, and tried to give Batgirl and Robin instructions in a calm and steady voice: "No, you have another mission. Head to Wayne Enterprises immediately and open the secret room in Thomas Wayne Jr.'s office..."

"The one with the giant Coke freezer?" Robin asked疑惑地, "Does he want me to bring him a Coke? Tell him for me that I want one too, and you want..."

“No, it’s not Coke,” Batman interrupted Robin. “He said there’s a videotape under that freezer. Take it out, take it to the Batcave, and don’t plug it into the computer until I get back.”

“No problem, Batman,” Robin agreed. “In that case, could you tell Thomas for me that I absolutely need to get a few bottles of ice-cold Coke from his freezer? It’s one thing for Penny to be on a strict sugar diet lately, but Jason and I are too…”

Robin's voice gradually stopped, and now only their breathing could be heard over the communication.

Quiet, unusually quiet.

"So Thomas Wayne Jr. is in trouble." Robin's voice became urgent, trembling slightly. "How...how is his injury?"

“Calm down, Robin,” Batman said, trying to keep his breathing steady. “He’s just temporarily missing. I’m doing everything I can to find him.”

Silence fell again on the communicator.

“Don’t worry, stay calm,” Batman said in a low voice. “It’s precisely at times like these that we need to stay calm.”

“Okay, Batman.” Robin took a deep breath, trying to calm himself down. “Did you tell Penny One about this?”

“Not yet. The situation is complicated right now, so I’ve temporarily cut off communications,” Batman said, placing his hands on the keyboard again. “My identity has been exposed… There are other people in the Batcave.”

“I understand,” Robin’s voice calmed down. “I will get the videotape you wanted back.”

The communication was cut off. Batman completely ignored the Penguin's loud shouts, took out the small accessory from his all-purpose belt used to communicate with Batman in the multiverse, and attached it to his arm armor.

"This is the Oracle," a somewhat familiar voice rang out. "I have connected to three universes. Is Night Owl behaving strangely?"

"So Night Owl is really not dead?" It was a young voice. "My God, Alexander was right after all."

“No, to save lives, I need to pinpoint the location of this bomb,” Batman stepped back, scanning the giant machine as thoroughly as possible. “The situation is urgent; I don’t have time to dismantle it piece by piece, and coincidentally, I’ve seen a similar teleportation gun in your possession before.”

“Okay,” the oracle agreed, “we will transfer the information from our side to you and keep in touch.”

Another Batman quickly joined their communication: "Are you talking about the Quantum Starter?"

"If you're talking about that teleportation gun that shoots purple beams, then yes."

“Okay, now you can look around,” the Batman from the multiverse said sternly, examining the massive machine with its distinctive personal style. “If I’m not mistaken, there should be a spare quantum starter on this, which can communicate with the other one.”

"What a bizarre product design. I've been wanting to ask about this for a while now," Batman could hear someone muttering on the other end of the communicator. "How could anyone attach so many unrelated things to a bomb?"

“Found it,” Batman said with unusual ease, flipping a quantum activator from the side and turning it on. “And then?”

“What’s shown above is the final landing point,” Batman from the multiverse continued. “Take a look and see if it shows the original Earth.”

"no."

“Then there’s still time,” Batman from the multiverse breathed a sigh of relief. “If the coordinates above suddenly jump back to the original Earth, be sure to notify me.”

"good."

Batman calmly agreed, raised the Quantum Activator, and pressed it.

A flash of purple light, and he was still standing in the same spot.

“Lockdown,” the multiverse Batman frowned even more. “It seems the other side planned this all along.”

How do we crack this?

“The process is complicated, and it might be too late if you want to save people,” another Batman thought. “But it should only be locked down on that quantum activator. We have similar equipment here. Tell me the coordinates, and I’ll go for you.”

"what can I do?"

“If possible, that instrument in front of you should be able to observe some of the conditions at the point of impact,” Batman stood up. “It would be best if you could determine the landing coordinates and the target location for me. The operating instructions are in the file I just sent you…”

"Is it normal that it's completely dark?"

“This is not normal,” Batman from the multiverse stopped in his tracks. “You can check the situation on Earth in other universes to confirm.”

“Observations of other universes have shown Earth,” Batman asked, trying to remain calm. “Is it… because of that lock?”

He actually had some premonitions.

“No, it’s the same here,” Batman from the multiverse denied. “If the coordinates you gave me are accurate… then it was the quantum bomb that exploded on that Earth.”

Neither of the two Batmen spoke the second half of their sentence.

Is there any chance of survival?

“Almost none. A quantum bomb can unleash virtually limitless destructive energy in a short time; it was originally designed to destroy Earth,” Batman from the multiverse said cautiously. “But if the other side possesses a quantum trigger, they should be able to teleport themselves to another universe for refuge, and you can see the coordinates after the connection…”

Before he could finish speaking, Batman grabbed the spare quantum starter.

There was no coordinate change.

He loosened his grip, and the quantum starter fell to the ground.

“So he really is dead this time,” Batman repeated in a trembling voice, “He really is dead, I should have known… Do you remember, Thomas Wayne Jr…”

The Batman of the multiverse did not hang up the communication, but listened quietly, even though his version of Thomas either hadn't lived for 24 hours or had been taken away by the Court of Owls and was going crazy trying to kill him.

All he knew was that the younger, more inexperienced, and somewhat immature Batman across from him might need someone to confide in, or perhaps he might need guidance and help from another Batman, a senior figure on the same path as him…

"Who died? Thomas Wayne?" The young liaison officer from Earth-Three interrupted Batman, his voice tinged with a hint of excitement. "Congratulations! We can finally breathe a sigh of relief."

...

“The communication has been cut off,” Batman from the multiverse frowned, trying to call back. “The signal has also been completely blocked by him.”

With Batman-like learning speed, the instructions were sent out and the other party had successfully mastered the advanced techniques of sealing/locking the universe in no time.

“Great, so how are we going to explain to him the fact that there can be huge cultural differences between universes?” Red Hood stood by. “Write a letter, put it in a bottle and throw it over there, ‘Hey Batman, it’s more common for people on Earth-3 to say congratulations when they hear someone has died.’... That kind of custom might work on me, but I don’t think any old man or young old man would be able to stand it.”

“That’s a stereotype,” the Earth 3 liaison officer retorted loudly. “We wouldn’t easily congratulate someone at their funeral if we couldn’t inherit their estate.”

Batman turned around and looked at the liaison with disapproval.

"...I'm not surprised at all." Red Robin leaned to one side, and no one knew whether he was referring to Earth-3, Red Hood, or both.

"And isn't it a good thing that Night Owl is dead?" the liaison officer continued. "With him dead, we don't have to worry about that madman coming back to rebuild the crime syndicate, or constantly being on edge, watching out for someone trying to destroy the multiverse..."

"Who?" Batman frowned and asked the operator sharply.

“Night Owl,” the operator said, somewhat surprised, “Thomas Wayne, one of the Big Three of the crime syndicate, the creator of the Quantum Bomb, the madman who plotted to murder his parents and brother when he was eight, and who ruled Gotham with violence and terror…”

Thomas Wayne.

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Author's Note: The correspondent is just a passerby, so let's just say it's like the Loser boss from Earth 3 recruiting new people after he's become big (). After all, it's not really appropriate for anyone's counterpart to make such a low-EQ statement (eyes shift).

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I just realized I missed some questions on the margins and lost points because I have a macroeconomics exam tomorrow. I'm already desperate.