"Hello, three koyou, three koyou very much."
Su Ming spoke in English with a very strange accent, which left the Laughing Bat momentarily stunned, not knowing how to respond.
But Su Ming didn't need him to respond, instead, he clumsily started dancing very awkwardly, his limbs stiff like a puppet with rusty joints.
He sang while dancing, but it was hugely off-key: "Indian rice noodles, how are you? I'll give each of you a free rice bracelet, are you OK? Three koyou."
The smile on the Laughing Bat's face gradually disappeared, damn, this was too awful to listen to, even worse noise than Barbatos's wailing...
Anyway, Su Ming was determined to buy time; in a world like American Comics, singing and dancing is the way to stall, can't go wrong with that.
Change your style, and others will get confused.
If possible, he would've sung the theme song from "Frozen", but he's very much aware of his own singing limitations.
High-pitched songs were out of the question, so he could only sing some silly songs to stay afloat.
Indeed, the Laughing Bat was momentarily bewildered, Deathstroke's bizarre behavior left him completely at a loss for words.
He knew this Deathstroke was the source of all uncontrollable chaos, but where did he come from? India?
This was Su Ming's improvised strategy, on one hand to delay time, and on the other to test just how insane the Laughing Bat was. If he was insane enough, he wouldn't refuse to have a dance battle with Su Ming.
It all depended on how much Joker Virus had affected him. If he could still control himself, he'd certainly refuse. But if the illness was severe, even if he didn't admit it, the Joker inside him would never refuse something fun.
Yes, dealing with Batman requires meticulous planning, but dealing with the Joker requires being even crazier than him.
Mr. Lu Xun once said — 'let a madman deal with madmen.'
That's exactly what Su Ming was doing, dancing wildly and singing at the top of his lungs.
"Are you OK?"
"Three koyou."
"Three koyou very much."
The Laughing Bat crossed his arms, tilted his head, and watched Su Ming dance, the words he wanted to say swallowed back into his stomach.
Was this really the person who killed the other Batmen? Was there some conspiracy he was missing? Had the DC editors not left?
He decided to wait and see, whatever conspiracy there was, it would eventually show its hand with time.
It had to be said, the Laughing Bat was overthinking it, too much information sometimes leads to this kind of problem.
And for some reason, even though Deathstroke's singing was terrible, the song seemed almost infectious, making the Laughing Bat want to respond.
"I'm fine, and you?"
Not to mention the peculiar dance, he couldn't help but want to show Deathstroke what real dancing was, Deathstroke's moves were just like a resurrected zombie, unsightly.
Couldn't stand it, couldn't stand it, even though both were stalling for time, this dance was simply an eyesore...
As he pondered, Su Ming concluded his dance with a rapid spin, dramatically bowing to the air around him.
After accepting the nonexistent applause, he provocatively nodded at the Laughing Bat across the empty space between them.
For the Laughing Bat, stalling was necessary, he had something to say to Bruce in the Main World, and with Qiongji broken, he wasn't worried about anyone escaping.
He's not afraid of death, but there are things he wants to tell Bruce from the Main World.
This is a seed; as long as Bruce starts doubting the reality of the world, it's the most powerful virus.
Having made up his mind, the Laughing Bat accepted the challenge, getting down from the chair in front of the Brother Eye equipment, shooing away a few Robin Hounds, he lowered his head, found some empty space, and began his dance performance.
Clad in tight-fitting leather, Su Ming initially thought he was going for a goth style, unexpectedly he sang a song he'd never heard while doing the shuffle dance.
The singing was terrible, like fingernails on a chalkboard, and with too much laughing, his throat was completely ruined.
Yet it had to be said, he danced much better than Su Ming, evidently he was someone who had danced often before, his dance coordination far surpassed Su Ming's by miles.
Despite the terrifying smile on his face being somewhat off-putting, one had to acknowledge his technique.
However, Su Ming's attention wasn't on that; though with arms crossed he looked like he was watching a dance-off contest, he was actually waiting for news from Barry, strategizing in his mind.
He wondered if Barry had succeeded, if the first step of the plan couldn't be completed, then it was all futile.
He had no choice but to buy more time, hoping Batman and the others would act quickly, any Flash from any world would do fine as long as they came to assist.
The Laughing Bat soon finished his dance, provoking right back, he nodded at his Robin Hounds to applaud, immediately taking the upper hand.
He loved having an audience, even though his Robin Hounds were now mindless, not understanding what clapping meant, just doing as instructed, huffing and puffing on the ground, drooling black saliva.
Meanwhile, Diana, tied to a stone pillar, had long since awakened; originally, she was glad to see Deathstroke arrive, planning to unite forces and take down the Laughing Bat.
Unexpectedly, Su Ming started dancing without a word, leaving no room for her to speak, and the Laughing Bat actually fell for it, and the two had engaged in a dance-off.
Now her eyes and mouth were wide open, she'd never seen such a battle before, what was this even? She could only watch the scene unfold, speechless...
"Lost? Barry, hurry up, I can't hold on much longer..."
Su Ming kept muttering to himself, knowing he had no artistic talent, and neither did the old Slade.
But if the Laughing Bat keeps winning, he'll subconsciously want to continue the competition, that's human nature.
The greed for victory, the confidence in success, Su Ming intended to magnify these thoughts in him, subtly leading him into a trap.
But the Laughing Bat might catch on at any moment or get bored of the game.
On this battlefield where they couldn't harm each other, the Laughing Bat stood alone, while Su Ming had hundreds on his side, he felt the delay worked more in his favor.
No doubt the heroes would soon reverse the Cosmic Tuning Fork, utilize X Metal resonance to harness the power of everyone on Earth to repair the Blood Domain, and restore the Main World to its original position.
Su Ming just needed to ensure the Laughing Bat remained oblivious to this while gaining time for Barry...
"Not bad, pretty dope, I'm rooting for you."
After the Laughing Bat finished, Su Ming nodded, feigning reluctance, he removed his helmet and tossed it aside, using expressions to confuse the Laughing Bat.
"So let me ask you, do you have your own free style?"
Again, not waiting for an answer, Su Ming closed his eyes and began performing his rap number, lost in his own world.
"Yo, yo, check it out! Sunday, I went shopping, walked around, met two..."
Naturally, his skills were terrible, unlistenable, even Diana showed a pained expression, let alone the Laughing Bat, who now looked more miserable than laughing.
Su Ming was just stalling for time, not caring about their game experience. He only needed to know he could delay for another few minutes.
But Barry better hurry back, if not, he'll have to compete with the Laughing Bat on pop music and operatic techniques next.
Overall, he mustn't let the Laughing Bat use his brain, bringing everyone down to a madman's level would be best.
Little did they know, the Laughing Bat was also stalling for time with his won agenda, leading to a bizarre yet amusing impromptu dance battle.
.....................
On Challenger Mountain, many Steel Bones from the Multiverse had completed the reversal of the Cosmic Tuning Fork.
Now, they needed energy to return the Main Universe to its original position.