Chapter 68 Chapter 68 Who doesn’t know how to say a cool line...

This story actually starts with Batman leaving Gotham to attend a meeting at the Justice League Watchtower.

Not long after Batman left Gotham in the morning, Scarecrow was jailbroken by a group of gangsters at noon, and then the gangsters were fighting somewhere to expand their territory.

At first glance, the events in this issue seem very serious, but the above incidents are commonplace in Gotham. Considering the standards of the Batcave and the current combat power left behind, it is far from necessary to urgently notify Batman to rush back.

Considering that Scarecrow was jailbroken by gangsters, there was a high possibility that Scarecrow had poisoned the prison or plotted against him at the scene of the shootout.

Li Hua knew that he lacked experience and the cards he had would not be of much use in this situation. So, when the combat power over there was already sufficient, he did not choose to go with his friends to the front battlefield which required reconnaissance and strong on-the-spot reaction capabilities. Instead, he took the initiative to evacuate and stabilize the masses.

This is a very reasonable decision. After all, there is no such thing as cheating in ranking. Such critical moments should be left to professionals.

So Li Hua's proposal was passed unanimously, but he was told to keep in touch and call for help in case of emergency.

So Li Hua changed into the Jenga suit Batman had customized for him, sat sideways on his flying wand and circled over Gotham. Whenever he saw a commotion, he would pull out his wand and land on any high spot on the rooftop streetlight, then cast the [Earth] card.

If you are facing fleeing citizens, use raised earth walls to block the danger behind them or divert the crowd to avoid being trampled until they reach a safe location.

When faced with small-time gangsters engaging in gunfights or those who want to take advantage of the situation to rob people who buy things for free, Li Hua would raise several slabs of earth and rocks from the ground to surround the criminals, leaving only their heads free to breathe air, thus making a low-profile "standing cage" on the spot.

Anyway, they have so much energy to rob, fight and have fun, so there should be no problem in standing for a while.

"Magic boy, how are you doing over there?" Jason's voice came from the headphones. From the background sound of American-style firecrackers, it can be known that things are quite exciting over there.

"Pretty good." Li Hua strolled across the rooftop. The buff allowed him to traverse alleyways without any mental burden. "I dealt with a few people who were probably from the outer reaches of the fight. The police might have to use hammers and chisels to arrest them now."

"It's okay. I don't think the officers will mind," Jason said. "Keep an eye out over there for anyone wearing a gas mask or someone sneaking around with a rag bag on their head. We can't find any trace of the Scarecrow yet."

Li Hua: "Who should I focus on? The members of the firefight?"

Jason: "No, the gang isn't looking for Scarecrow to fight on the front lines, but to get his poison gas. Keep an eye out for chemical labs or banks. If you find any clues, tell us immediately. Don't go in and engage in close combat yourself. That guy's poison gas is disgusting, so it's best to deal with it remotely."

Li Hua: "I understand chemistry labs, but why is there a bank?"

Could he be robbing a bank? Scarecrow, a high-end technical talent hired by the Black Gang for a prison break, didn't look like someone who was short of money.

"I can tell you've never been involved in a chemical crime. The R&D and preparation of raw materials, site rentals, tool purchases, and hiring personnel are all very expensive. Oh, and they still have to pay taxes. After all, the IRS, if they catch you evading taxes, is more formidable than the FBI and CIA combined. They can even ignore the law and take action."

Jason uttered a grotesque murmur about the absurdity of reality.

"So for those technically gifted people in Arkham, committing personal crimes is a hobby, and robbing banks to make money is their livelihood."

Whether you are the Joker, the Emperor of Crime, the Scarecrow, the Master of Fear, the Riddler, the Riddler, or the Law Star Two-Face, your men, bombs, equipment, and taxes will not grow on their own. If you want to fulfill your grand ambitions, you must first start by making money.

Either start your own business and rob a bank or get hired to work for someone else, in any case you have to make money and then pay taxes.

Yes, in the United States, even if you are a criminal or a mentally ill person, you must pay taxes on your illegal income!

Even the lawless clown has paid a certain amount of tax over the years.

Because of the above reasons, not every time someone escapes from Arkham Prison will there be a big scene immediately. After all, those who are released from prison will either rush to grab money and then quickly hide their illegal gains, divide the spoils, count them, and pay taxes before Batman and the police arrive, and then prepare to purchase the equipment needed for the big scene.

"Got it. I'll go to a bank or something like that and keep an eye out for the scarecrow." Li Hua saw a police car drive into the street below. The officers who got out tried to arrest the criminal but were stumped by the huge pile of dirt and rocks. They fiddled with the mound for a long time but couldn't get it cleared. "Let's not talk about that for now. I'm going to help the Gotham police unpack a box."

With the number of times he used magic today, Li Hua will be able to draw another card soon.

The last time Li Hua drew cards was the night before yesterday. Originally, he wanted to save up the experience points to do a five-draw or three-draw combo, but Batman persuaded him to give up the idea of ​​increasing the difficulty of the dungeon and he just drew whenever the experience points were full.

But perhaps it was because the previous [Dou] card had used up all of Li Hua's luck. Even though Li Hua respectfully asked No. 666 to play "Good Luck" as background music in the room when he drew cards before going to bed the night before, he still couldn't take out a single offensive card from the card pool.

Not only is it not an offensive card, it is also not a card that can be used remotely, which makes Li Hua wonder if becoming a melee mage is his destiny.

"Magic boy!" Li Hua heard the police waving at him as soon as he landed. "Hey man, is this your masterpiece? Get this guy out of the way! We need to handcuff him."

Unlike the Bludhaven police, who are corrupt from top to bottom, submissive to most crimes but take strong action against the masked vigilantes, the Gotham police, especially the lower-level police in Gotham, are very kind to the masked vigilantes, and sometimes even chat with Li Hua and his friends, becoming true teammates.

"Coming, coming." After hearing this, Li Hua immediately trotted over with his wand in hand. "These guys have guns. I'll first clear the dirt and rocks where the guns are. Once I get the gun out of his hands, you can torture him."

The police officer standing at the front was as thin as a stick and he was afraid that he could not withstand a punch from those big and strong criminals.

"Thank you, kid. You're so kind."

The skinny officer thanked Li Hua, and the other officers quickly made way for him. Li Hua leaned forward, intending to first release some of the earth and stone restraints used by the gunman. However, as he approached, a powerful jet of green gas suddenly erupted from the gap between the earth and stone and the neck of the gunman, nearly catching the entire gas in Li Hua's face, who was only wearing a fancy mask to cover the upper half.

All I heard was the skinny police officer say, "Good boy, please do me another favor."

"Cough... cough cough cough!" Accompanied by a series of violent coughs, Li Hua quickly moved away from the gangster who suddenly released the poison, trying to spit out the green smoke in his throat again, but anyone who has been choked by secondhand smoke or car exhaust while walking on the road knows that this is futile.

"Don't get close to him yet. This kid's abilities are incredibly strange. Don't even remove the nasal filter; just wear the gas mask."

The skinny police officer tore off the human skin mask on his face, put a rag sack and a gas mask on his head, and was obviously a fleeing scarecrow. He instructed his subordinates disguised as police officers around him.

"I gave him a drug that's more than ten times stronger than an average person's. I'll wait until the drug takes effect and he loses his ability to resist before I take action."

At this moment, Li Hua suddenly realized something was wrong.

Wasn't Scarecrow's fear gas supposed to cause hallucinations? But why didn't he feel anything besides a bit of choking?

Could it be that... the magic boy BUFF is still taking effect!

[Looks like you've finally discovered the problem.] 666's telepathic message rang out, [This guy drugged you too hard, and the buff didn't completely clear the poison. You're truly poisoned now, and it'll probably take you a whole night to completely metabolize it.]

Li Hua: [Since I was indeed poisoned by fear, why didn't I see any hallucinations? Or am I already hallucinating?]

"You're indeed hallucinating due to the poisoning, but I'm not." 666 said, "This kind of hallucination, caused by a purely chemical substance that only affects the human body and has no effect on the soul or spirit, can be cured by simply adding a cognitive filter to the host."

The so-called hallucination will erase the anchor of people's cognition of reality, making it difficult for "people" to distinguish between reality and fantasy. However, it is useless for artificial intelligence like No. 666, which has no flesh and blood and thinks independently of the host.

The purpose of AI like me is to assist the host. Helping the host maintain their sanity is naturally part of my function. We can help the host resist not only hallucinatory poisons, but also possession, mind control, and hypnosis. We can even help the host maintain their original cognition despite a certain degree of cognitive pollution.

Li Hua seemed to understand: [Does that mean... if I take you with me, I can also be immune to cyberpsychosis?]

No. 666: [You can understand it this way.]

Li Hua suddenly realized: "I understand, you are Johnny Six Hands!"

No. 666: ...

If it hadn't been constantly observing Li Hua's cognitive filter and mental index, and knowing that this kid sometimes had jumpy thoughts, it would really have wondered whether this poison gas could affect the human brain in terms of IQ.

"What Johnny Six Hands... What kind of illusion did this kid see?" One of Scarecrow's men saw that Li Hua didn't fall down for a long time, but started talking nonsense, and couldn't help but ask their boss Scarecrow.

"How should I know?"

The Scarecrow was also puzzled. The boy's expression and voice didn't sound like fear. If it weren't for his reaction that seemed like hallucinations and auditory hallucinations, and the gang member next to him who was wearing a mask but still contracted the fear gas and screamed in fear hallucinations as a control group, the Scarecrow might have suspected that the effect of his concentrated fear gas had weakened due to improper storage.

Just as he was thinking about it, the young man in the skirt suddenly straightened up, raised his hand and slashed the neck of the black gang member who was almost scared to death, giving him physical calmness and allowing him to temporarily escape the illusion of fear gas.

"No, he's not affected by the hallucination!" Scarecrow was very familiar with this scene. Not long ago, when he was on a business trip to Bludhaven, he was beaten down by Nightwing who was poisoned and relied on willpower to resist the hallucination. The memory of being beaten drove him to immediately order his men to shoot, and he wanted to take the opportunity to slip away under the cover of fire.

But the scarecrow had barely taken a few steps when several walls of earth and stone suddenly rose up, blocking all his escape routes. Given the speed at which the earth and stone were rising, if he had been just a step faster, he would have been catapulted into the sky like a pinball in a pinball machine.

"Are you good at poisoning?"

In the gap of the cage made of earth and stone, the scarecrow saw the boy in the goose yellow lace skirt dodging bullets nimbly, waving his pink wand to bring a peaceful sleep to the scarecrow's men one by one.

When he and the scarecrow were the only ones still conscious and standing, the young magician in a cute goose yellow skirt walked towards the scarecrow with a determined smile and stood face to face with him across the earth and stone cage.

"You know how to poison people, but what good is that, you little jerk."

The boy raised his hand and tugged at a certain part of his body. The dusty and bloodstained yellow skirt slipped off like a magic trick, and a brand new pink dress became his new outfit. He then shook the new skirt, as if mocking the scarecrow for going to such great lengths to only soil one of his clothes.

"Heh, aren't you just relying on your super powers?"

But Scarecrow is a Gotham villain who has been in the industry for many years. He has strong psychological endurance and professional qualities. Even when he sees that there is no hope of escape and failure is inevitable, he is not at all afraid.

Anyway, he was just hired to do the job this time. He did what he was supposed to do and got the money he was supposed to get. He could just say a few harsh words and leave.

The Scarecrow said disdainfully, "Do you think having special abilities is amazing? There's never a shortage of freaks in Gotham."

"I'm sorry, but having special powers is amazing."

Li Hua played the card he had just drawn, which he thought would be useless for the time being. He tapped the smooth surface of the card lightly with his blood-stained bird-beak staff. The card with the word [Illusion] instantly dissipated and turned into a light curtain with flowing strange patterns, covering the entire earth and stone cage of the scarecrow and enveloping him.

The last words the Scarecrow heard from the real world were the young man's eager and calm declaration, concealing a fanaticism:

"Dive into your greatest fear!"

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The author has something to say:

【Catch the bug twice】