Origin of all things Arkham

Chapter 169 Gotham's Biggest Secret
Quietly, Jonathan Klein completed a successful prison escape.

The guards' eyes widened in deep sleep, their faces flushed an unhealthy red from the blood gushing from the unknown fear, hoarse shouts came from their throats, their hands scratched and waved unconsciously, and finally fell silent.

Until the moment of death, they have never seen the culprit of all this.

They were terrified to death.

……

"Hmm... the long-lost sweetness."

If Jonathan enjoyed the taste of fear just now inside the fence, then at this moment, outside the fence, under the light of the stars and the moon, Jonathan, who stretched his arms, closed his eyes and took a deep breath, is enjoying It's called the taste of freedom.

"Freedom, really, it's been a long time."

…………

The crow on the branch watched all this indifferently. In the dark night, this kind of black bird camouflaged itself very well.

Jonathan is like a crow, calm, indifferent, and with a superior IQ, but he likes to show his existence in a way that others don't like.

Having escaped the pursuit of the Arkham guards, Jonathan felt amused, but also deeply felt unworthy of himself.

It's such a place, it's guys of this level, and he was imprisoned for so long.

"This is a shameless waste of life!"

However, Jonathan vaguely felt that those who searched did not seem to have much enthusiasm for work.

"That would be even more shameful."

Watching the shining car leave, Jonathan tidied up his hairstyle and left calmly.

……

As a decent, rich gentleman, at least once, he was imprisoned in Arkham for more than a year, although they almost forcibly changed Jonathan's hairstyle, clothing, eating habits...etc. However, the knowledge, knowledge, insight, and calm self-confidence and proud mental outlook in his mind cannot be taken away.

Therefore, despite having nothing and being hunted all over the city, Jonathan still successfully defrauded others' trust by virtue of his own advantages.

Using a fake name and a non-existent address and adding a half-truth to a sympathetic story, Jonathan was able to get a new suit, a hot shower, a shave and some cash .

So, when Jonathan once again took the initiative to walk in the sunshine and on the streets of Gotham, he had already recovered the feeling he had a year ago.

That was something that the narrow special ward with white walls, fixed meal times, and day-to-day repetition could not bring him.

Sometimes that feeling can be called what it is: loneliness.

……

Walking into a coffee shop, Jonathan couldn't wait to enjoy his freedom and unrestraint. He even wanted to shout, laugh, and throw a gas bomb to kill the waiter serving coffee.

"No, no, no, no...it's not the time yet..."

Convincing himself in time, Jonathan felt his hands and feet trembling due to uncontrollable excitement, and this feeling became more intense when he wanted to suppress it by drinking coffee.

Because he suddenly realized that he was really free, and he could do this.

"so."

Taking out two small bottles, Jonathan opened them.

Ten seconds later, Jonathan pushed open the door of the coffee shop, and politely helped the lady who was about to pull the door open for a while longer.After leaving a gentle scene, Jonathan left here facing the westward sunset without looking back.

Another ten seconds later, there was a piercing cry in the coffee shop, and soon, it returned to silence.

……

Jonathan doesn't care much about ordinary people.Those stupid people who can be replaced at will, in Jonathan's eyes, it is hard to say that they are worth killing.

Now that he has left Arkham, and now that he has returned to Gotham, what Jonathan is interested in is still some special people.

For example, when he was in Arkham, the two names he heard the most.

Batman, and Lynn.

There was a time when, limited by the lack of information and the difficulty of obtaining information, Jonathan thought that Batman and Lynn were actually the same person in the various fragments he heard.

The former is a code name, the latter is a name.

Just like Jonathan the Scarecrow.

But later, as he was imprisoned for longer and more "patients", Jonathan still got some useful information with enough time and superb acting skills.

Batman, when Jonathan was a famous professor of psychology, was not a name that he paid attention to.

It was just a weirdo wearing a weird outfit trying to attract people's attention.

Otherwise, why does this guy always appear in the crime-related newspapers.

The guy is a criminal, that's all.

At that time, Jonathan's "diagnosis" of Batman was: this is a person who hates loneliness and enjoys loneliness.Ability to stay away from loneliness, but always take the initiative to get close to the lonely guy.

What a monster.

After entering Arkham, Jonathan changed his opinion.

He discovers more interesting things about Batman.

For example, very strong principles.

Arkham has many patients like Jonathan, and more of them are patients sent in by that Batman.

Their unified feature is that they suffered fatal beatings, but they did not die.

That guy did it on purpose.

why?

Because he was trying to fight against himself!I am restricting myself, oppressing myself!
Jonathan was almost certain that Batman did it, every time, every time!They definitely attack the enemy with the idea of ​​killing each other.

However, he held back every time.

every time.

Strong self-control means that the thing he is fighting against, the thing that comes from the bottom of his heart, is equally powerful, but it is... frightening.

Batman, he's afraid of himself...

The night Jonathan came to this conclusion, he was so surprised that he couldn't even sleep.

What an interesting, what a weird existence.

With such a theoretical premise, Mr. Jonathan Klein, the most outstanding professor of psychology at Gotham University, came to another interesting conclusion.

The shape of the bat, the logo of the bat, the batmobile, the bat dart, the bat signal light, the bat bat...

This level can no longer be simply said to be deliberate, it is simply taking the initiative to put a mental stamp on oneself.

But why.

This guy, this evil spirit that roams the night sky of Gotham, Batman, seems to be fighting against not only his inner self, but also other things.

What he is afraid of is bats!

Batman is afraid of himself, and also afraid of bats!
God!Is there anyone in this world who is more distorted, more interesting, and more worthy of studying and enjoying fear gas than him? !

…………

That is to say, from that night, from the moment he learned everything, Jonathan, who had never had any contact with Batman and had no enmity with him, decided that Batman must die in his hands, and must die under the influence of poisonous fear. shrouded.

Looking forward to how interesting it would be to kill Batman over and over again, what a shocking scene he would see and hear, and when he performed this gorgeous killing in his mind over and over again, Jonathan gradually Access to another person's intelligence information.

Lynn.

Unlike Batman, the existence of Batman is well defined by "homogenization".

Whether it's the guys who are seriously injured but still immortal, or his "saving" of Gotham day after day, or his bat logo all over his body, Batman is just Batman almost all the time.

Batman, just Batman, has to be Batman.

But Lynn, this guy gave Jonathan the impression that he seemed even more weird and elusive.

He was actually a patient of Arkham, the kind who had been imprisoned here for several months with three injections of sedatives every day.

Lynn is a killer.Jonathan learned of this not through his fellow patients, but by overhearing the conversations of the doctors.

The original sentence is probably: If Lynn is as efficient as Batman, so that he appears every night, then there is no need for Arkham to exist.

Because Lynn would kill everyone.

……

There is no [discipline] like Batman, which is a very interesting difference.

The difference between Lynn and Batman is that Lynn implements the standard principle of chaos and ambiguity in the so-called crime fighting.

That is: in principle, everyone is guilty, everyone is innocent, everyone can be tried, and everyone can not be judged.

Lynn's existence is chaotic and vague.

There were very few patients in Arkham who were sent in by Lynn, because those people were sent directly to the cemetery not far from the next door.

However, what Jonathan couldn't figure out was why wouldn't someone like Lynn kill Batman?

Why wouldn't someone like Batman stop Lynn?

Why why why!

Once the thoughts of doubt and curiosity start to breed, they will soon be like weeds, densely crawling all over the whole heart, and engraved in the depths of the soul. Answer.

It was precisely because of this that Jonathan couldn't wait to plan this escape.

He wanted to kill Batman, he wanted to verify his theory, and he wanted to hear how people who have been facing their fears would cry when they died in despair in the fear of poisonous gas.

He wanted to see Lynn, and wanted to know what people like Lynn were afraid of, and if they... were like him.

Because of fear, choose to be fear itself.

If everything really went as he expected, Jonathan felt that it was not impossible to keep Lynn's life and let him live in long-term fear.

That must be something very interesting.

........................

Gotham is no different from before. To be precise, the people of Gotham a year ago have not changed much from the people of Gotham now.

With only a very simple method, relying on money and the poison of fear in his body, Jonathan easily obtained a lot of information he wanted.

And these news about Lynn and Batman once again convinced Jonathan that his previous guess was correct.

The two of them are indeed two completely opposite individuals.

Absolute order, and absolute disorder.

The former has been trying to bring Gotham into a kind of order. Jonathan doesn't know what order Batman wants, but he can determine in advance without doing research that he will definitely not like Batman's order.

As for the latter, what Lynn did seems to want to overthrow and destroy Gotham. He seems to yearn for a completely different Gotham.

Jonathan also didn't know what kind of Gotham Lynn wanted, but he was also sure that he wouldn't like a Gotham controlled by a disorderly person.

"So, why can the two of them live together in Gotham! Why don't they kill each other, entangle each other, and destroy each other? Who can tell me why!!"

Broke the table and cut the palm.Jonathan had some vague thoughts and guesses, but the thought was fleeting and disappeared from his mind.

I don't know why, maybe it's intuition, Jonathan felt that he might have deciphered this puzzle.

And the answer is absolutely satisfactory.

"Now, I must go to see them with my own eyes, kill them with my own hands, and verify my thoughts in person!

I have to know..."

In the dark room without light, the blood dripping from the palm of his hand fell on a weird scarecrow mask. Jonathan put the scarecrow mask representing his own fear on his face, picked up the sickle as a weapon, and quietly Staring at himself in the broken mirror, his eyes gradually brightened and he murmured to himself: "I must know...

Batman and Lynn, aren't they...

It was originally a person! "

……

It was raining again outside the window, and Jonathan took the initiative to create a little chaos, hiding in the dark, waiting quietly.

As the patron saint of Gotham, even if no one wants to say it clearly, everyone has to admit that at any time, Batman will always arrive at those places that need him the fastest.

really.

Jonathan, who has turned into a scarecrow and hides behind old furniture on the street corner, waits until Batman appears here.

only……

There seems to be something wrong with this Batman.

Why isn't he going to save people, but looking for... wait a minute!
The Scarecrow pulled a thorn that covered his eyes. What did he see? It was...another Batman!

Two Batmen... NO!More!There is a third!
Under the gaze of the Scarecrow, the three Batmen fought on their own regardless. I fell down, and suddenly there was something...

fear.

Originated from ancient times, inherited in genes, fear.

And, just looking at it makes me feel some pain.

Maybe I shouldn't be here today.

At this second, Master Fear, Professor of Psychology, Mr. Scarecrow, was a little excited, a little excited, and a little... regretful.

But soon, he no longer regretted it.

Because he saw, Batman, kill.

He also saw the familiar faces of the fighting Batmen after pulling off their masks.

That is, Lynn's face.

"Sure enough...it really is like this! It really is like this!"

The scarecrow's excited fingers were stiff, and he pointed forward tremblingly: "I knew it! Lynn is Batman! Batman is Lynn!!"

Gotham's biggest secret has been revealed by me!

　This chapter is so hard to write.
　　
　
(End of this chapter)