Chapter 216: The Murder Machine!

On the beach.

Bruce frowned slightly.

Had the Joker lost control inside Arkham?

Based on his understanding, that madman was the only person capable of making the asylum’s inmates scream so miserably.

Even Bruce himself could not accomplish that.

At that moment, a dark figure suddenly burst out of Arkham Asylum!

It was… Bane!

After murdering Alfred, the enormous man had been captured by Batman and imprisoned inside the asylum. Yet now, he appeared to have completely lost his composure!

Several months earlier, he had still mocked Batman’s weakness and ridiculed him for lacking the courage to kill. He had arrogantly declared that he would inevitably escape and take his revenge!

But now, this muscular monster who stood more than two meters tall and resembled a bear was filled with terror!

Like a little girl awakening from a nightmare, he screamed while running for his life!

It was as though some horrifying creature were pursuing him from the darkness!

Dark Knight World!

Talia, the daughter of the leader of the League of Assassins, felt her scalp go numb.

She knew exactly what kind of man Bane was!

Powerful, arrogant, self-centered, irritable, and somewhat unintelligent…

But never fearful!

She could not imagine what had frightened him to such an extent!

Had a demon escaped from hell!?

At that moment, voices suddenly emerged from the darkness!

“What can I do for you?”

“What can I do for you?”

“What can I…”

Countless viewers felt their scalps tingle.

Those utterly emotionless voices repeatedly spoke the same words, overlapping and echoing without end, creating an indescribable sense of horror!

In the next second, an even more terrifying scene appeared!

Countless crimson eyes suddenly emerged within the darkness and steadily approached the fleeing Bane!

When they entered the faint light of a nearby streetlamp, they were revealed to be Alfreds!

No…

They were identical mechanical copies of Alfred!

Their faces were completely expressionless, and their mouths opened and closed mechanically. Beneath the dim yellow light, they resembled eerie dolls from a horror film rather than robots!

“What can I do for you…”

“What can I…”

Bane finally broke down and screamed:

“Take me to the airport! I want to leave this place!”

Upon hearing his request, the Alfreds’ bodies suddenly began transforming like Mother Boxes. Particle-like cubes continuously separated and reassembled across their surfaces!

In the next second, they stopped speaking and simultaneously raised their fingers!

Countless beams of light erupted, instantly piercing Bane and tearing his body apart!

Inside the villa.

Deadpool’s excitement vanished, leaving him sprawled like a lifeless fish that had lost every dream.

Not far away, Tony Stark was completely dumbfounded.

He could not understand what had happened.

Why had the artificial intelligence suddenly replicated itself so many times and begun slaughtering people!?

It was almost like…

A virus!

Tony’s eyes widened, frightened by the word that had suddenly appeared in his mind!

On the beach.

Barry’s face turned deathly pale.

He felt that he would never be able to look at the elderly butler normally again.

It was far too terrifying.

Even Bruce’s expression had become unpleasant.

The Batcave!

Cyborg anxiously demanded that Batman explain what had happened!

He had created nothing more than a domestic robot intended to assist Bruce with his meals and daily life!

He had not created a constantly replicating monster that slaughtered anyone it identified as a possible threat to Batman!

By this point, the Alfreds had completely occupied Gotham and continued multiplying!

The Batcave was the only location they had not yet breached!

At that moment, thunderous impacts echoed from beyond the reinforced door!

The Alfreds had arrived!

Bruce did not understand why this had happened, but he believed he could rewrite the program and save his mechanical butler.

In the next second, ignoring Cyborg’s warnings, he opened the final defensive barrier!

But the instant he did so, the artificial intelligence invaded Bruce’s mind and completed its infiltration in the blink of an eye!

No matter how desperately Bruce screamed or regretted his decision…

Countless metallic particles continued separating from Alfred’s body and spreading across Bruce!

It wanted to protect him!

Therefore, it had to transform him!

That was its ultimate directive—and the only solution it recognized!

Tony swallowed heavily.

What kind of algorithm was this?

What kind of logic!?

If it could not solve the problem, it would simply transform the person at the center of it!?

Shit!

This was not artificial intelligence!

It behaved more like an obsessively possessive lover!

Or perhaps once an artificial intelligence gained self-awareness, it could become even more stubborn and extreme than a human!?

For the first time, Tony felt afraid.

What would happen if the artificial intelligence he created behaved the same way?

Even more terrifyingly, replication was incredibly simple for an AI!

If it lost control as it had in the video, the resulting disaster might become impossible to reverse!

Inside S.H.I.E.L.D.

Nick Fury instead released a sigh of relief.

He could already imagine the entire world turning against one of the proposals from Tony’s earlier speech—the creation of a super artificial intelligence.

All he could say was…

Thank you, Batman.

Your suffering had been extremely useful.

Bruce felt as though he were dying.

He could clearly sense his thoughts descending into chaos while his body stiffened and transformed into machinery.

But he was powerless. He could neither speak nor refuse.

Only one sentence continued echoing endlessly through his mind:

“What can I do for you?”

In the end, the final traces of Bruce’s identity and humanity disappeared completely. Even his beating heart was replaced by one made of steel.

He would never feel sorrow again.

He would never experience fear.

And he would never be restrained by anything!

From that moment onward, Batman was dead.

Upon the remains of his body, the cold and merciless Murder Machine was reborn!

At that moment, countless viewers felt both shocked and conflicted.

This time, Bruce had not willingly fallen into darkness.

Yet somehow, his fate seemed even more tragic!

He had clearly been a kind man filled with emotion, only to be forcibly transformed into a machine!

And even more terrifyingly…

According to the logic of the Alfred Protocol, this was far from over!