Laughing American comics, I am becoming more and more like a clown

……

This is why Silent Bat and Alfred are in front of the screen, watching the review of Lucian's death.

"..." Silent Bat tapped the table with his finger, somewhat confused. "Use a sharp weapon to cut the restraints and trigger the bomb's self-destruct sequence..."

He frowned, still not understanding. Lucien's appearance and death were both very abrupt, with no reason. One was like the dominoes at the beginning of the story, and the other was like a videotape that was cut before the end of the story.

But now the Silent Bat's attention is more on Jack - Jack went to the Middle East, and after exchanging information with Lei Xiaogu, he went to the Soviet Union.

It is now the 1970s, the prairie fire is raging, and the Soviet Union is the natural enemy of the owl alliance composed of capital.

The League of Assassins collaborates with the KGB.

And the Silent Bat has also recently started his operation - using the Assassin's League as a cover, he assassinated the White Mask who was entrenched in Gotham.

Of course, in the eyes of the League of Assassins, he is a minion "controlled by the Court of Owls."

To put it more vividly, under Lucian's influence, Silent Bat and Jack broke up, one was on the side of the Court of Owls and the other was on the side of the League of Assassins.

As the Cold War dragged on, the friction between the two organizations grew more intense.

A week after Lucian's "death", this conflict was completely triggered by the assassination of Lincoln March.

……

A butterfly flapped its wings in Brazil, and a tornado appeared in Texas; the dominoes were pushed down, and a high-rise building collapsed... This is the fragility of the system itself. Even if it is not Lucian, a new variable will appear soon.

……

It was a burial, and Lucian breathed the thin air in the coffin. This was probably a reappearance of the classic. Wasn't that how Red Hood crawled out of the grave back then?

But Lucien was in a worse situation. Although the soil was soft, it had not rained, so it still took some effort to get out of the predicament from the bottom up. In particular, he could not curl up his legs and kick upwards. He could only try to support his knees and use his elbows and fingernails to grope and dig.

In 2010, there was a Spanish short film called "Buried Alive," in which the protagonist shares the same fate as Lucien, but he's lucky to die there. If Lucien hadn't struggled, he'd have been half-dead, half-alive, half-dead, half-alive, not knowing whether he was alive or dead...

……

The gravekeeper watched in horror as the heap of earth slowly collapsed. His feet felt like they were nailed to the ground, unable to move, and even his teeth were chattering.

"Boom-thump-thump-"

The dull sound of knocking on the coffin seemed to be knocking on the gravekeeper's head. He pulled the cross hanging around his neck, chanting "Amitabha" in his mouth, and staggered back to his hut. He closed the door and tremblingly tightened the lock. As if that was not enough, he moved a low cabinet behind the door and tremblingly took out a submachine gun from under the bed.

Submachine gun.

The smell of gunpowder gave him a sense of security. After a long while, he calmed himself down and looked out of the glass window with the gun in hand.

"Boom-"

The soil slowly fell, the coffin lid was pushed up, and a scarred hand stretched out.

The living dead, werewolves, vampires or ghouls?

……

Lucian naturally had no idea that someone's mind was full of the full moon, silverware, garlic, and the cross, and was pointing a gun at him. He just breathed in the air greedily and took a few deep breaths.

Yes.

He thought in a confused manner: Jason, if one day I become the Joker and torture you to death, I will definitely suggest that Batman prepare a Luoyang shovel and a portable oxygen cylinder when he buries you.

After spitting out the dirt in his mouth, Lucien finally looked in the direction of the gravekeeper, and then looked away before he was ready to shoot.

After emerging powerlessly from the coffin and hastily reburying himself in the pit he had dug himself out of, Lucian had the leisure to glance at the epitaph: "For the love of Jesus, my good friend, do not dig up this coffin beneath the loess; those who let me rest will be blessed by God, those who move my bones will be cursed by the dead."

Lucian recognized that this was Shakespeare's epitaph. He did not blame the Bat of Mute for being perfunctory. Lucian originally thought that it would read: "A fool who blew himself to death."

Fortunately.

"Whoever moves my bones will be cursed by the undead." Lucian was still thinking: "Curse it if you will."

Unfortunately, he came out at a bad time. It was dusk in Gotham, but the sun had already set, leaving only the afterglow as a source of light. However, the light did not last long, and soon it fell into darkness.

There are no lights in the cemetery. Instead of expecting lights, it is better to hope that one day the bones three feet below will decompose into phosphorus, which will then be ignited by room temperature and become ghost fires.

After doing all this, Lucian looked up at the gravekeeper's hut again. The man was cautious and did not turn on the light.

……

He poured out the mud and sand that had gotten into his shoes, and patted the mess off his body. The sand and gravel hidden in the gaps in his wool was difficult to clean, but no one could see it in the dark.

Lucien left, in the opposite direction of the gravekeeper's hut.

Gotham Cemetery is located in the Bristol district, an area that may not be very famous, but its neighbor makes it clear - Arkham Asylum.

The Arkham Asylum in this world is different from those in other areas. Lucian had already investigated it clearly. Compared to a mental hospital, it is more like an extremely luxurious Gothic castle.

Yes, the castle.

The design-rich spires, the towering exterior walls, the black tiles and stained glass inside, the ubiquitous mahogany furniture, silks, curtains, carpets, reliefs, antiques, calligraphy and paintings, sculptures...

Lucian had seen what the real Arkham Asylum looked like: a Victorian-style building connected to the land by a bridge, symmetrical along the central axis, with red bricks and black tiles, and the interior was paved with white marble tiles similar to those in a hospital.

Compared to the classic model, the asylum here is more like a creature's lair.

The lair of the Silent Bats.

All of Hushbat's skills were learned in Arkham, and his six teachers were all patients here. Even the image of "bat" was chosen because of the legend of Arkham.

Lucien was not in a hurry to go in. He first took a short rest in a nearby safe house. After dawn, he went to the pharmacy and bought the fear gas synthesis medicine and simple purification equipment that the Scarecrow mentioned.

He had a good talent for chemistry. Without any basic knowledge, he was able to create the terrifying poison gas after only a few failures.

After thinking about it, he puffed on the cigarette butt.

Lighted it up and took a puff.

……

The straw man is not lying, it is indeed the poison gas of fear.

Lucien saw the clown.

……

Very good, Joker. Compared to fear, Lucian has more complicated feelings towards him. It can be said to be attachment, or hatred.

But if the fear gas makes me see the clown, Lucien thought, that's fine.

But it's not just clowns.

There were also Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, Nightwing, Red Robin... many superheroes and super villains. There were so many people that he couldn't react. Lucian was still surprised: Was he afraid of so many people?

Am I too fragile then?

He is reflecting.

But soon, Lucien realized that this was not the case.

The picture began to flow, they started talking, some were arm in arm, some were confronting each other, and some even fought.

Smoke curled out of the smoke, and the poisonous gas of fear invaded his brain. Lucian frowned as he looked at the chaotic scene in front of him and wanted to drink it while it was hot.

……

If fear gas is just this, then what’s the difference between it and ecstasy or heroin?

The impact gradually wore off, and Lucien lit another cigarette.

It was the same scene, but Lucien didn't feel any fear.

But as the number of cigarette butts piled up at his feet increased and time passed, looking at the lively scene in front of him, when Batman hit the Joker but his punch went through Lucian's body, he suddenly realized something.

……

It turned out to be the case.

Lucien didn't light up any more cigarettes. Instead, he threw them into the water and burned them, then flushed them down the toilet.

……

It was so lively, but no one paid any attention to Lucian. They were living their own lives, fighting their own battles, being heroes or villains, or even being funny clowns on the stage.

But no one paid any attention to Lucien, who seemed so out of place in the whole illusion.

……

To be honest, Lucian watched as time passed and each character slowly disappeared like fine sand.

……

If there is someone who is used to being the center of attention, used to taking risks, used to having interesting things around him, even if he is spending these days in constant failure, failure, failure, failure... he can no longer bear to return to being ordinary.

In other words, if a normal person suddenly becomes color blind one day, or a color blind person who has always lived in a black and white world, or a color blind person who one day sees colors and then sees black and white again, who would be more willing to yearn for colors?

Lucian looked at the vial of fear gas and sneered at his naive hope of seeing a clown or laughter from it.

This is what should be feared.

His thoughts were a little scattered. Perhaps the scene Lucian could see now while taking drugs was probably similar to the one just now, but they excluded him from their conversation and Lucian became the one in the spotlight.

……

If you think about it carefully, Lucian doesn't have much aversion to "becoming a clown" or "becoming a madman". Rather than fear, it's more like an unwillingness to accept a fixed future.

...But he was even more unwilling to be an ordinary person.

……

The Joker will be born in the ACE Chemical Factory.

----

"Fuck your League of Assassins, fuck your Aug."

It's hard for the hapless Court of Owls not to curse lately.

The Soviet Union put pressure on the outside, and the Assassin's League backstabbed the president from the inside. Not only that, but occasionally unknown people would assassinate the backbone of the army.

After another gathering and discussion, Mayor Omosen returned to his residence.

"Sir." The maid stood by and helped him take off his coat.

Omosen was not in a very good mood. He walked into the study with a sullen face and said, "Don't disturb me."

"Yes……"

……