Capítulo 3273: Chapter 2416: Spirit Assault (Thirty-Four)_1

Batman hung up the phone and turned to Rachel, saying, "The whole system is running smoothly, and the revenue is quite impressive. At least we don't have to worry about the next quarterly report."

Rachel opened her mouth, then closed it and turned her head away with her arms crossed, saying, "I'm now somewhat uncertain whether taking down Falcone is still our top priority?"

"Relax," Batman replied with a smile, walking over and hugging Rachel. "At least our pressure has been greatly reduced recently, hasn't it? You should take a long vacation, and when you come back, you can deal with those annoying criminals."

Rachel sighed and said, "Although I don't think it's a long-term solution, it's good to have some respite. While at it, make some money, so you don't have to answer to the board anymore."

"That's exactly what I was thinking," Batman responded. "If this plan can improve my financial status, all the better, but more importantly, it's not about losing my conscience for money."

"Really not at all?" Rachel began to doubt herself, saying, "No matter how you put it, is it not somewhat lacking in humanity to trap a person in an ambulance for two days and nights?"

"But Harvey has said it already, hasn't he? It's completely legal," Batman said, spreading his hands. "I didn't harm them; I just didn't actively help them. But not helping someone you think you shouldn't help, someone you dislike, can't be called lacking humanitarian spirit."

Rachel seemed to find no better argument, so she said, "What about the little girl from your distant relative's family? Do I need to pick her up from school?"

"No need, her family is taking her home today, and after that I can focus more on my wealth enhancement plan."

"Oh, that's a pity," Rachel said with a shake of her head. "She's a lovely girl. I thought I'd get to spend a few more days with her."

"Don't worry," Batman assured her, "she will come to play again in the future, I promise you that." He smiled and saw Rachel off. A little while later, the nanny brought Aisha over.

Upon seeing Aisha, Batman hastened his pace, bent down, and ran towards her, scooping her up in his arms. Aisha let out a cheer and kissed Batman's face.

"How was it? Did you have a good time with your kindergarten friends?"

"It was alright," Aisha said, smacking her lips. "It wasn't as fun as playing with you, but it's a shame I have to leave soon."

Batman kissed Aisha's cheek as well and said, "I just promised Miss Rachel that you would come back to play with her again. You will, right?"

"Of course," Aisha cheered, then turned her big blue eyes, looked up at Batman with a smile, and said, "You like her, right? Next time I come, I promise I'll help you win her over."

Batman's eyes widened instantly. Just as he was about to retort, Aisha snorted and said, "Come on, you can't fool me, I can hear emotions."

"I'm getting more and more curious about who your mother is," Batman said as he took the jacket from the nanny's hands, helped Aisha put it on, and added, "The person picking you up will be here soon. Will you go straight back to school?"

"No, I'm going on a business trip to another cosmos," Aisha said, apparently having just learned the word 'business trip.' Her strange accent made Batman laugh. He didn't take it seriously, thinking that Bruce was going to take Aisha on a trip to another universe. He tightened Aisha's jacket and escorted her to the portal.

Aisha stepped through the portal and just entered the office in Battleworld when she let out a big yawn. Harley rushed over and touched her head, saying, "You actually took almost a month off; that's so unfair, we're pushed to do homework every day."

"I'm only in a few grades." Aisha rolled her eyes and said, "Your present is my future."

"Your speech has improved a lot." Barry said with some surprise, "Weren't you not very good with grammar before?"

"Because they talked to me every day, I had to speak even if I didn't want to," Aisha sighed, "It's hard to imagine Batman liking to talk so much."

Harley and Barry exchanged glances and shrugged. Despite Bruce's youthful appearance and seemingly cheerful demeanor, that was only relative to other classic Batmen. In reality, he wasn't much of a talker, and usually only spoke when necessary.

"It should have been like this a long time ago," Barry said. "If you don't teach, you'll never learn. Although not being able to speak isn't a big issue, chatting is so much more fun."

Aisha yawned again and said, "I have to go to school today, I woke up too early, I'm going to take a nap first. We'll leave after I wake up."

After Aisha left, Harley and Barry began to study the huge Book of the Dead that Harley was holding. Barry said, "Are you sure this is reliable? Just for your shopping district construction plan, you want to make a deal with a Evil God?"

"Firstly, it's not just for my shopping district construction plan, and secondly, that's not an Evil God. Moreover, this can't be considered a deal, at most it's giving him a little taste of the sweet first."

Barry disagreed and pursed his lips, and then Harley explained, "Look, we have a lot of money, I mean, the clowns at Wayne Manor and I. Before the Gotham Music Festival, we made a lot of joint investments which have turned out to be hugely profitable, and we're still earning from them. You have a share in it too."

"Yes, that's a lot of money already, isn't that enough?"

"Of course it's not enough. Although it's not about surpassing Wayne, we also need to make our own mark, and can't just lie on the achievements of Wayne Enterprises. But they have no such awareness, nor any business acumen, so I have to step in."

"And then your business acumen is to mumble to a book in the middle of the night about wanting to strike it rich? Please, didn't Professor Strange say that the ones who respond to such excessive requests are definitely Evil Gods?"

"But he also said that as long as you can defeat the Evil God, you can push his head down and make him help you fulfill your wish."

"But the problem now is that we can't defeat him."

"Who says?" Harley's eyes darted around, then fixed on Barry's face, saying, "I might not be able to defeat him, but you and the guys at Wayne Manor, maybe not, to put it plainly, we have Batman and Professor Shearer backing us."

"I still think it's a bit too risky," Barry said frowning. "And the cosmos that the Evil God is sending you to, can it be anything good? Moreover, he hasn't even told you what he wants you to do, which is very fishy."

"So as I said, I don't plan on just rushing over there recklessly." Harley moved closer to Barry and said, "I've overheard Constantine and Zatanna talking before and learned where the highest institution of the mystic world is, which possesses almost all of the mystic knowledge accumulated by the Human race throughout history. I think we could have a look there."

"You're not just thinking of having a look," Barry said. "You're thinking about Doctor Sophocles, but I must remind you, if you mess around at All Souls College, the consequences will be similar to pooping on the top of Kamar-Taj, we could get hunted down by the entire mystic world."

"Why do you always assume I'm going to cause trouble?"

"Because you do," Barry said helplessly. "Every plan you involve me in never ends well."

Harley was not pleased to hear this. She put her hands on her hips and said, "Let me ask you, hasn't your ability improved?"

"Improved is an overstatement; it's just gotten a little better."

"And haven't you gotten better at controlling the Dark Power that comes with the Divine Speed?"

"I can't fully control it, but it's less likely to go haywire now."

"And haven't you gotten wealthier?"

"That's true. My parents were shocked when they saw my account—they even thought I had become Wayne's adopted son."

"And isn't your studying going better now too?"

"I'll say it again, you did tutor me in grammar, but my good grades are also because I studied all night."

"See, everything is getting better for you, yet you accuse me of causing trouble. You might as well say it's those fools at Wayne Manor who are truly messing things up."

At a loss for words, Barry then said, "Alright, I'll take you to Oxford, and I should also be able to find that PhD, but you have to promise me..."

"I know, be polite with my words and proper in my behavior. Let's get going."

Barry instantly took Harley to Oxfordshire. They entered Oxford University and wandered around All Souls College. Initially, it was just a casual stroll, but when Barry didn't find any clues, he thought about leaving with Harley using his Divine Speed.

But as soon as he tapped into the Divine Speed, Barry saw many blurry fragments. His innate sensitivity to time made him realize that it wasn't that there were no clues; the clues were just hidden deep within time.

Quickly, Barry found the entrance point. In a flash, the two of them tumbled to the floor of the study room.

Harley clutched her head that had just been bumped and let out a cry of pain. She was about to scold Barry for such a rough landing when the sight inside the study room caught her eye.

"Wow, this looks like the office of an evil medieval alchemist."

"I am no evil alchemist, miss," a gentle voice came from behind, startling Harley.

The instant Harley turned around, she saw a man with black hair and brown eyes, and was immediately drawn to his eyes.

"Uh, sorry, sir," Barry's voice came from behind; "I mean, Dr. Sophop, we came here to look for some information."

Barry signaled with his eyes for Harley to take out that book, but she just kept staring straight at Sophop, as if trying to find something on his face.

"No, we're fine," Harley suddenly shook her head and said, "We've just heard Constantine mention you, so we wanted to come and see."

"See what?"

"Nothing really, it's just that some stories sound so mystical that we wanted to see for ourselves." Harley took two steps back, and the hand behind her back subtly tugged on Barry's arm twice.

This was the secret signal they had agreed upon, and Barry promptly took a step, but before he could enter the Divine Speed, a thick fog engulfed them both.

"You really are..."

"Shh..."

In the fog, they saw the man signal with his hand, and soon the mist dispersed. Harley, like a wary wolf, stared intently at Sophop's face.

"You really are his follower," Harley took a deep breath and said, "What do you want to do? Kill us?"

"Of course not, the deal between you and him is complete. Now go on and do what you must," he replied.

Barry was confused. Turning to Harley, she whispered, "He's a follower of The Nameless Fog."

"You mean the Evil God you made the deal with?"

"Shh—!"

Barry immediately realized his indiscretion and looked at Sophop, but the man was still smiling at them.

But he hadn't told us what exactly we were supposed to do. Barry still voiced his confusion, "What's the point of just being in a cosmos?"

"Then go," Sophop said, "Sometimes, lack of meaning isn't a bad thing. Without a purpose, it can't be called a plan, hence there's nothing to counter. Just go."

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