The footsteps began to draw closer, accompanied by the downpour, making the underground parking lot increasingly damp. Barbara felt like she was sweating, but the sweat stuck to her skin, making her feel even more uncomfortable, and her heart was beating too fast; she feared that the Joker could hear it.
She tightly gripped her phone; it became her sole source of security. Not relying on the electronic entity, but rather having confidence in her hacker skills.
The Joker seemed to be observing; he didn't appear to be a good detective. But the underground parking lot was somewhat leaky, and Barbara was running too fast, her wheelchair pressing over a puddle, leaving a series of water marks that were too conspicuous, making it difficult for the Joker not to notice.
The emergency exit lights were not part of the lighting system's circuit, so even if all the lights went out, the green emergency exit lights could provide some illumination. The Joker followed these lights, almost reaching the front of the pickup truck.
At this moment, a nearby Mazda suddenly made an ignition sound. The Joker turned his head abruptly to look, and that Mazda suddenly turned on its headlights, smoothly reversed out of its parking space, and then sped towards the exit of the underground parking lot like a flying arrow.
The Joker stood motionless, laughing softly, then murmured to himself, "Looks like I'm getting very close..."
Hearing this, Barbara involuntarily trembled a bit. She pressed her lips together, held her breath, trying her best not to make any sound.
Just when the Joker was circling around to her side, the pickup truck in front of Barbara suddenly ignited. The gas pedal floored and, with a loud bang, knocked the Joker off his feet.
The phone vibrated again, Barbara saw the message on it: "Go yourself, head to the exit!"
Barbara hurriedly wheeled herself in the direction where the Mazda had just left. She knew it was the electronic entity guiding her, but who could say whether this was truly a safe path.
Barbara speedily wheeled herself along, knowing that she couldn't be faster than the Joker, but perhaps that elusive electronic entity had other tricks up its sleeve.
As Barbara gradually made her way toward the exit, the Joker was already getting up from the ground. The last hit might have broken several of his bones, but the Joker was unafraid; he was healing at an astonishing speed.
He chased after Barbara again, but then yet another Ford Mustang, bang, knocked the Joker flying once more. Then it was Dodge, Chevrolet, Jeep, Honda...
Each time the Joker climbed back up, another car would come crashing toward him, almost shattering him to pieces. But each time he managed to get back up, laughing broadly, urging them to hit harder.
After being knocked away once more, he got up again, just as before, chasing toward the exit. But he deliberately feigned carelessness, pretending to rush forward but actually stepping back, thus the empty Buick missed him and crashed into another car's rear, seemingly stalling due to the engine dying.
The front of this car was clear of other vehicles, wanting to hit the Joker required approaching from behind, yet such a large car blocked the way, the other cars couldn't get close enough to strike. The Joker fled the underground parking lot swiftly, and upon emerging, he saw Barbara wheeling herself into the nearby mall.
The Joker followed her inside, seeing Barbara getting onto the elevator. He didn't rush to follow her up, instead went to check the floor levels on another elevator, discovering that this mall had no basement and the elevator only went upwards, hence he ran to the stairwell nearby, beginning his upward sprint.
With a snap, all the lights went out again. The Joker, now on the mall's second floor, couldn't see a thing, cursed loudly, but then seemed to recall something, once more racing back into the stairwell, heading toward the top floor.
Pushing open the rooftop door, he indeed saw Barbara on the wheelchair. The Joker stared intently at her.
"Where's your phone?" Clearly, the Joker had previously heard the phone vibrating.
"I threw it away," Barbara said, "Just tossed it downstairs, in the bushes if you want to look for it."
Now the Joker understood, although the mysterious electronic entity was helping Barbara escape, Barbara could absolutely not trust it.
Or rather, when he first appeared, Barbara might be filled with fear due to past events, but this woman with the codename "Prophet" is anything but foolish. Being Batman's capable assistant and independently building a surveillance system, she is more rational and intelligent than most.
He came looking for her because she is a top hacker. Realizing that the one wanting to kill him might be a vague network ghost, the Joker knew that he couldn't deal with it alone using just his strength; he had to find a knowledgeable professional. Barbara was the best choice.
So as a hacker, Barbara couldn't possibly understand less about electronic entities than him. The more professional, the more she understands, the more she understands, the more fear she feels. An electronic ghost capable of manipulating cars to kill people — how could any hacker truly trust it?
On the contrary, every hacker is likely worried about such things. Once the network harbors its own will, humans reliant on external devices to manipulate the network will completely lose initiative, no matter how advanced the technology may be.
The Joker might kill her, might kill many in Gotham, but an all-pervasive ghost on the network would utterly overturn the human-constructed internet system. And the human race, increasingly dependent on networks, would be helplessly ruled by it; that's the real disaster.
When they were on the second floor of the mall, Joker suddenly realized that Barbara might not really be trying to escape. She wasn't escaping with the help of the electronic lifeform; she was being kidnapped by it.
In the underground parking lot, even if she had warned him, the electronic lifeform could still have used a car to crash into Joker, and the outcome wouldn't have changed. Once they left the underground parking lot, Barbara could easily lie about wanting to hide in the mall and then pick a place where the electronic lifeform couldn't manipulate anything to kill, waiting for Joker to arrive.
The best location would be the rooftop.
There are people in the mall downstairs, and it's uncertain if they'd be persuaded by the electronic lifeform. Inside, there's too much chaos, and someone might be hiding a gun. Only the rooftop has nothing, and the door can be locked from inside.
As for the electronic lifeform, it probably feared Joker searching floor by floor, eventually finding Barbara. Barbara could use this to convince it, ultimately succeeding in reaching the rooftop.
The rooftop of this building is very high, with no buildings around it, and the cameras can't see much. Throwing the phone away artificially creates an independent space without the electronic lifeform.
"Tell me, what the hell is going on?" Joker began, "This guy seems to be able to control things that aren't even connected to the internet. What on earth is it?"
"This is a long story," Barbara said, "I don't know if you've heard about the much-publicized Eden Killer case..."
Barbara then briefly explained to Joker how they cracked the Eden Killer case and how they managed to lure out the electronic lifeform through a scheme. Finally, Barbara said, "Unfortunately, apart from that line of code, we got nothing. This thing is invincible in the waves."
"No," Joker refuted, "It could have hidden in the waves forever without showing itself, but it committed murder and left a string of codes, and it even tried to protect you just now. This proves it wants something. As long as there is desire, there is a weakness."
"You sound a bit like Batman," Barbara couldn't help but say, "Forget it, let's not talk about that. I think it's got its eyes on me. What do you plan to do? Use me to lure it out?"
"The real issue is why it's focused on you," Joker said, looking into Barbara's eyes, "I think it might be because you're an exceptionally skilled hacker, and it seeks a sense of recognition from you."
"That's impossible," Barbara immediately denied, "It's a program. Programs don't have emotions, let alone something as complex as a sense of recognition."
"You said it yourself, it's not just an electronic lifeform; it might be a lifeform living in the waves. How can you presume it has no emotions?"
"Humans seek a sense of identity through communication, but this guy hasn't communicated with me and has always been avoiding me. If you hadn't suddenly appeared at my base, it probably wouldn't have spoken to me even once."
"It might just be exploring," Joker said, "Although you haven't communicated in words, you should have already crossed paths technologically, right? You're just one of its alternatives, so it hasn't officially communicated with you."
"You mean if it determines I'm the strongest hacker, it will communicate with me? Then what? What does it want?"
"It might want to pursue you," Joker said, "Don't you think the scene just now resembled a hero saving a damsel in distress? If you weren't a prophet, but rather a lovelorn fool, you'd already see it as your savior, wouldn't you?"
"I did think that way for a moment, but not because of romance or anything. It was because of its very form of existence. It's like a god on the internet, omnipresent and omnipotent. It's the ideal state for every hacker."
Joker let out a light snort, then said, "If you really believed that, you'd probably be headed for your doom. A wave-based lifeform doesn't become human easily, and if it wants to date you, it can only turn you into a piece of telecom signal."
Barbara couldn't help but shiver slightly; it was indeed a bit terrifying. Joker was such a love-struck fool, only his interest was Batman. If someone like that fixated on her, she'd rather have a quick end.
Barbara steadied herself a bit, then looked at Joker and said, "What do we do now?"
"We still need to figure out why it values you so much. Can you check your fellow hackers' information? See who's recently crossed paths with it, then we can know if it's because of your impressive skills that it focused on you."
"If that's the case, it's going to regret it," Barbara mischievously said, deliberately looking at Joker, "Because Batman is the best hacker in the world. Once he comes back, maybe this electronic ghost will fall for him, and then you'll be in trouble."
Joker's face immediately darkened. In fact, his expression was now extremely grim. Barbara had no doubt that if he had enough explosives, he'd blow up the entire city.
What follows is a contest between two love-obsessed individuals, Barbara thought. Originally, Joker might not have had a reason to deal with this electronic lifeform, but now, he certainly does.