"Pfft! I..."
Venom Robin wanted to spit, but he didn't possess the function to secrete saliva. Most importantly, Batman held him mid-air with one hand, while the other hand produced a piece of chocolate like a magic trick.
The moment he saw the chocolate, Venom Robin's eyes locked onto it, and whatever words he wanted to say were swallowed back down.
Batman's hand moved, and Venom Robin's gaze followed the chocolate in that hand.
"Robin, even though your body has taken form, neither moonlight nor regenerative gel can provide you with the phenethylamine contained in chocolate."
"According to my calculations, you can last at most another ten minutes before you must ingest a certain amount of phenethylamine."
Batman held the chocolate out of Venom Robin's reach. Watching the little guy suspended in the air, limbs flailing, his voice contained no trace of emotion:
"In the short term, you need to eat a large amount of chocolate, but the phenethylamine contained in regular chocolate cannot satisfy your needs."
"On the way back from South Brother Island, I already purchased a chocolate factory specifically to produce chocolate that meets your requirements."
Batman was just about to say something along the lines of "Do you choose to be Robin, or do you choose to be the savage Venom," when the little guy he was holding in the air spoke up:
"Thanks, Dad! I knew I was your favorite Robin!"
This sentence blocked the semi-threatening words Batman had prepared. He stood there, allowing Venom Robin to break free from his palm, snatch the chocolate from his other hand, and stuff it into his mouth.
It wasn't until the chocolate was finished and Venom reached out to beg for more that Batman ended his silence, taking chocolate from his utility belt and handing it over:
"For the coming period, I will put you through a series of training exercises until you have completely mastered all the abilities of your new body and met my requirements."
Venom Robin chewed the chocolate in big bites. The one who was just screaming and wanting to give the Bat a whack had turned back into an obedient child, mumbling a question:
"What kind of requirements?"
Batman brought over the paper he had just written on.
Venom Robin took it with both hands, staring wide-eyed for a long time without understanding it. He scratched his head and rotated the paper, only realizing he had been looking at it upside down the whole time:
"Rule 1: In front of Batman and during public operations, must use the 'Robin' codename and standard tactics, prioritizing the role of Batman's assistant..."
"'Moon Eclipse Knight' form and title are to be used only in independent operations explicitly authorized by Batman or during supernatural threat missions..."
Venom Robin looked up at Batman: "Dad, are you fighting for custody with that birdman?"
Batman didn't answer the question. Instead, he signaled with a stern gaze for Venom Robin to continue reading the text below.
Venom Robin's mouth quirked up. Although Batman hadn't answered, he already had the answer in his heart. He continued reading:
"Must systematically study the tactics and failure cases of all previous Robins..."
He casually crumpled the paper into a ball and tossed it behind him: "Why do I have to study them?"
Very quickly, before the paper could hit the ground, Venom Robin spun around with a thump-thump-thump, caught the paper, smoothed it out again, and re-read the two sentences written on it.
While reading, Venom Robin stole glances at Batman, then folded the paper and stuffed it into his shroud-suit like a treasure.
"When does training start?"
Venom Robin seemed somewhat impatient.
"Starting tomorrow night." Batman's voice was as waveless as ever.
Venom Robin huffed:
"Then I'm going to watch cartoons."
Batman didn't stop him, letting Robin mess around with the computer on the workbench, while he himself began to throw himself into work.
His eyes were on the cartoons, but Venom Robin's mind obviously wasn't. After watching for a while, he leaned over to Batman impatiently:
"Old Bat, what are you busy with?"
"A broken stone tablet from the Middle Ages," Batman said. "A gang of thieves went to the Roman Hall tonight to steal this item, but I haven't analyzed the secret of this stone tablet yet."
"Need my help?" Venom Robin asked with some anticipation.
Batman glanced at Venom Robin, remained silent for a few seconds, then spoke:
"Help me find a complete image of this stone tablet."
"Piece of cake!" Every finger on Venom Robin's left hand differentiated into two or three tendrils and placed them on the keyboard; the sound of crackling typing was incessant.
With Venom Robin sharing the workload, Batman immediately turned his attention elsewhere.
He looked at the window-breaking tools and other professional equipment taken from the thieves.
These were not off-the-shelf goods. With Batman's eye, these tools were completely military-grade standard.
Given the professional level of that gang of thieves, possessing professional window-breaking tools shouldn't have been anything strange.
But Batman would always dig deep into any seemingly insignificant clue. It wouldn't take him much time.
This digging immediately allowed Batman to discover where the problem lay.
"The thieves belong to the Dark Wind Group. According to my investigation, the Dark Wind Group is a comprehensive conglomerate established in Yokohama, Japan..."
"On the surface, it is a legitimate enterprise, but trade information from this company and local information from Japan indicate that this is more like a large-scale yakuza enterprise."
"...The founder is named Kenji Oyama, calling himself 'Lord Dark Wind'."
The Japanese names Batman had encountered since crossing over were very few—so few that apart from a handful of Japanese employees in Stark Tower and Oscorp Tower, there was only one Japanese person related to crime fighting.
That person's name was Kenji Oyama. Batman had previously hacked into the American CIA and INS, and even queried S.H.I.E.L.D.'s database, but ultimately found no further information on this name.
Clearly, the previous Batman was in a place similar to an "information cocoon"; the name Kenji Oyama had absolutely nothing to do with the United States. The other party was the Lord Dark Wind of Yokohama, Japan.
Superb memory immediately made Batman recall the incident on Riker's Island where, aside from Kingpin, all other prisoners escaped.
It was on that night that Batman heard the name Kenji Oyama from the mouth of a captured fugitive. Because he couldn't find any clues temporarily, he had saved this name together with Kingpin in a folder named "King" within the Batcave. (Chapter 142)
"Morbius destroyed Riker's prison, and Kingpin used that to break out, after which there was no news."
"Is the theft at the Metropolitan Museum related to Kingpin?"
"What is his purpose for wanting this broken stone tablet?"
Batman fell into thought, but the movements of his hands didn't stop; he swiftly hacked into the Dark Wind Group's transaction records.
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