Capítulo 3154: Chapter 2302: Gotham Music Festival (Part 4)_1

The evening in Gotham grew cool, and with a cheer from the mayor of Gotham City, the opening ceremony of the Gotham Music Festival began.

As the prelude to the theme song "Dream of Fool's Village" sounded, a massive cheer erupted from the audience, and a figure dressed in a gorgeous purple gown took to the stage, gently lifting the hem of the skirt while revealing a radiant smile and waving to the crowd below.

Bruce looked up at the dazzling Selina on stage; he had never imagined that this girl who came from the slums now looked every bit the Hollywood star.

Selina, who had appeared in several films as a supporting actress, hadn't become an overnight sensation, but her abundant vitality, wild charisma, and cat-like mystique left a deep impression on audiences worldwide, amassing a considerable fan following. Many tourists present were there for her.

To promote the music festival, the government, of course, funded the creation of a theme song. Although rap was good, it wasn't quite a mainstream music genre. Therefore, the theme song was still vibrant and dynamic jazz music.

This type of music was perfectly suited to Selina's singing style. Perhaps it was due to her African American heritage or her time spent in the lower echelons of society, but her pronunciation had the unique deep and resonant tones found in brown populations, with a very stable resonance in the chest and brain cavities—in short, a diva's flair.

The music style was ideal for thrilling the crowd. Once Selina started singing, the audience's cheers grew louder and louder, and everyone was moving to the beat of the infectious music. Bruce saw Selina wink in his direction.

At the end of the song, the atmosphere reached a climax. The host began the opening speech in an exuberant tone, and the audience was entertained by one darkly humorous joke after another.

Next up was a stand-up comedian, also a Gotham native, who used to be a mid-level mobster, so his mob stories were both authentic and interesting. His bold satirical humor had many of the rappers from the mob sweating bullets.

Then came two rap songs from artists under the label of Blusterous Big Daddy, clearly in cooperation with the organizers.

Next was a performance by the famously cheerleading team from Gotham University, which pushed the excitement even higher. There were also two other dance troupes that sandwiched in a soft advertisement for the Imperial City Casino through their dance performance, but since the atmosphere was fiery enough, the effect was very noticeable.

"I think everyone might be a bit tired after watching so much dancing for so long. What? You're not tired?" The host made an exaggerated expression of shock as he said, "I must ask the gentlemen in the audience to restrain themselves a bit and look at the expressions on your female partners' faces. What? What did this lady say? No, no, no, we can't have a Magic Mike show here, but you know, meet upstairs at the Wayne Building tonight at 8."

"Alright, friends, let the blood return to your brains. Next, we must introduce a comedy master. Perhaps you don't often hear his name, but his brilliant comedy act will definitely leave you all stunned."

When the host said this, the Batman below had a bad feeling. Nearly all the Batmen were somewhat allergic to the term "comedy master," but they didn't think the Batman of this universe would be crazy enough to invite Joker up on stage.

Joker did come up.

But it was not Joker Jack of this universe; he wasn't a comedian but a truck driver, who should be on his way delivering the penultimate shipment to the Wayne Hotel and hadn't finished work yet. It was Phoenix Ugly Arthur, whom Bruce had encountered in Battleworld before.

Dressed in his classic red suit, he had dyed his hair back to a vibrant green and redone his white face paint. Stepping onto the stage, he moved with rhythmic strides like a dancer, one hand in his pocket and the other holding the microphone.

The other Batmen covered their eyes below the stage, wondering what Joker Arthur's first words would be, "I went to see a psychiatrist yesterday..."

Great, now Joker wasn't the biggest problem anymore. Which psychiatrist could he possibly go to?

"You all must have had this experience: one day, people say you're crazy, but their only solution to your madness is to recommend a lousy doctor who works only two days a week and can't even prescribe medication, doing nothing but look at you with impatience every day,"

"Then you laugh along with him," Arthur let out a dry laugh, suddenly revealing a slightly tentative, timid expression, as if he were really sitting opposite some ferocious psychiatrist. "Just like this, feeling like he's the teacher, and you're a student who scored zero on a test. This was all I knew about psychology in the first half of my life."

"Unfortunately for me, a good friend of mine—whom you might know better than I do, Bruce Wayne, the world-renowned wealthiest man—changed my perspective on these lousy doctors... because at least they graduated from a psychology major, whereas our illustrious Mr. Wealthy nearly flunked out."

The audience erupted into fierce laughter, apparently Bruce didn't have any qualms about his poor grades in college, and since he got along well with his classmates, many had joked with reporters about the trials and tribulations Bruce went through to graduate from college and how close he came to the embarrassment of failing to graduate on time.

Who wouldn't love to make fun of the world's richest man? This shtick was reused by hosts of various radio media, and stand-up comedians often used it as material, resulting in Bruce Wayne being known not only for his riches and looks but also as the guy who almost didn't graduate college.

Bruce standing below immediately let out a shout, pointing at Arthur on the stage, who also smiled and pointed back at him. Then Arthur gestured towards everyone below, saying, "Don't rush to laugh—do you think he needs to pay off student loans like you? Please, spending an extra year in school means he's making money!"

The audience immediately erupted in a fervent call, cooperatively letting out groans as Arthur bowed his head with a cold snort, paced slowly on stage, and said, "You see, that's the way these rich guys are, they never worry about money, that's their confidence."

"I know none of you care whether my illness got better or not." Arthur walked while gently lifting his hand, downturned the corners of his mouth, and said, "On such a joyful day, nobody wants to listen to me ramble about the psychiatric hospital, but you'd never guess my stay in the mental institution had anything to do with Bruce Wayne's father."

The crowd went dead silent in an instant, the audience members looking at each other, what's this, is there something going on?

This moment piqued everyone's curiosity, and Arthur suddenly stopped, pointed his finger and said, "I know you're all acting surprised, but you must be thinking, 'Oh, here's another liar full of lies, who'll do anything for a show.'

"But just a few months ago, Thomas Wayne punched me and broke my nose." Arthur curled his fist toward his nose and threw a punch, then staggered back as if he had really been hit hard.

The audience gasped, but Arthur suddenly stood up straight, laughed and said, "Okay, it wasn't that bad, but of course, you're all wondering what the hell I did, perhaps gave his son a beating?"

"On the contrary, I believe I am his son."

Arthur's shocking revelation made the audience boil with excitement, as the topic of illegitimate children has always been hot in Europe and America, with many shows even dedicated to helping them seek justice from their parents. The topic's popularity never seems to wane.

Even those who weren't paying attention to the stand-up comedy began to shift their gaze from their phones to Arthur's face, as if trying to find any trace of resemblance to the Wayne Family members.

Bruce could only smile helplessly, knowing what this was all about.

During their previous movie viewing, Bruce had promised Arthur to invite him to perform his comedy routine at the music festival, and while Arthur didn't take it seriously at first, Bruce actually went to find him.

In fact, when Arthur entered Battleworld, he was already the Joker, meaning the tragedies that befell the failed comedian named Arthur had reached their conclusion.

"Joker," the movie, had a very simple plot: no superhero feuds, no world or cosmic destruction events, just the story of how a failed comedian turned from a madman into a criminal.

Without a doubt, Arthur appeared as a mentally ill person with an uncontrollable laughing disorder, which led to all sorts of accidents.

However, his mother was the decisive factor, constantly reminding Arthur that she was waiting for Thomas Wayne to reply and that he wouldn't abandon them. This convinced Arthur beyond any doubt that he was the Wayne Family's illegitimate child.

He went to see Thomas, but Thomas called his mother insane and constantly harangued him. Arthur didn't believe him and attempted to get closer to Thomas, only to get punched by him.

Later, thoroughly disillusioned, Arthur went to Arkham Psychiatric Hospital to investigate his mother's psychiatric records, only to discover that she indeed had been a mental patient, that he was not her biological child, but adopted, and that she had abused him from a young age, which led to his uncontrollable laughing disorder.

Unfortunately, government cutbacks closed the community hospital's mental health clinic, and without treatment, the further traumatized Joker became even more unhinged, eventually killing Franklin on his talk show and getting sentenced to prison.

It was while being transported to prison that Arthur entered Battleworld, by which time he was already the complete Joker, not just a mentally ill person having an episode.

And on the last day of his release, Bruce came with a large sum of money and posted bail for Arthur.

Arthur knew he wasn't from this universe and was very curious about where Bruce's money came from, but Bruce casually mentioned he had conducted some systemic macroeconomic borrowing.

It was only when Arthur saw Bruce on the computer that he realized this crazy teenager had hacked into the Federal Reserve System and directly modified his bank account balances without bothering to cover his tracks.

The inevitable result was that the Federal Bureau of Investigation came knocking, and the two were on the lam together.

What was more infuriating was that Bruce actually found it amusing and laughed nonstop on the run, as if he were the one with the uncontrollable laughing disorder.

And Arthur thought Thomas really needed to improve his boxing skills.

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