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

Oliver Queen, my childhood friend, persecuted by the Court of Owls and transformed into a clawed figure, held us captive and tricked me into thinking I was his target.

Jack was captured, and when I used the locator to find him, I saw the person who disrupted the plan again.

I had to look him in the face.

I had to pay the price for my previous neglect - Jack died in front of me.

my family.

……

If a person's eyeballs are not covered by eyelids for a long time, they will become increasingly dry, making it impossible to sleep well and clean the eyeballs. Within a few weeks, the eyeballs will be filled with impurities, cracked, and ulcerated, eventually leading to permanent blindness.

When the Silent Bat walked in front of Lucian again, he saw a pair of eyes that were a mixture of scarlet and green. The two colors were too bright, making people feel uneasy and nauseous.

He lifted his chin with his hand, an action that was really unnecessary because Lucian's eyes were always on him.

"Why are you doing this?" asked the Silent Bat.

Then he heard someone jokingly saying, "Isn't this funny?", as if he was feeling proud of having turned the abuser into a trapped animal.

This was provoking. Silent Bat knew what Lucian was going to do. He had already prepared himself mentally and was not moved by this. He said, "You don't find these things interesting. You are hiding something."

"What are you hiding? Please tell me." Lucian turned over in the water, revealing his back muscles. "Could you give me a back rub?"

The thin muscles covering the bones were ignored by the Silent Bat. He untied a container from his belt and poured golden liquid into it.

It was Amber Gold, healing Lucian's wounds. Lucian, sensing something strange, looked back. If he had eyebrows, he would definitely raise them.

As both are faceless men, the Silent Bat can judge Lucian's expression from his muscles, but Lucian cannot judge the Silent Bat's emotions through his bandages.

"Are you going to let me go? What about Jack? He'll cry in hell, and maybe even become a ghost to haunt you... Bruce, you saw how he died with your own eyes. The murderer tortured him right in front of you, but he let him go after torturing him for a short time... You really disappoint us."

"I resurrected him." Silent Bat interrupted Lucian, but said silently in his heart: Fake.

He did not resurrect Jack. The price of resurrection was much higher than death. The Silent Bat buried Jack in Wayne Cemetery and engraved "My Family" on the tombstone.

"Can resurrection heal the pain?" Lucian still asked, "How?"

"you."

"Oh..." Lucian sighed with a smile, "Do you think that's a good thing? Don't blame me for not reminding you, it will give you a surprise."

"No matter what, I have to bring him back to life." Silent Bat said, "I will erase his memory. He won't remember that time."

"Okay," Lucian drawled. "So what do you want me to do? Wear a tuxedo and celebrate my newborn's 100th birthday?"

"I forgive you." It was impossible to forgive, but the Silent Bat did not lose his mind. If he continued like this, he would not be able to understand the cause, process and result of the matter, nor could he find Lucian's real weakness. Compared to venting, this was more of a meaningless mutual torture.

"You forgive me? Then you are too kind, and your forgiveness is too cheap."

Silent Bat ignored him. "I will sue you for disturbing public safety, inciting the public, killing others, illegal entry, kidnapping and extortion, and causing panic."

"Harvey will give you the most fair sentence, and you will have a cell of your own in Blackgate Prison."

"After saying all this, you're actually telling me—are you going to set me free?"

Yes.

The Silent Bat didn't speak.

Amber Platinum was healing Lucian quickly, and before long, Lucian had regained his mobility. He raised the chain on his wrist and said, "Are you testing me, Bruce? Aren't you worried that I'll go on a killing spree once you're out of sight? Don't you take Gotham seriously now?"

"Only for Jack?"

Letting Lucian go was a risky thing, the Silent Bat knew, and he had made many preparations for it, including magic - he could use the skin to see Lucian's location, and he would follow him all the time.

But at the end of the day, it was an adventure, and Lucien was right, for Jack.

Family is more important.

Silent Bat can still remember his impoverished childhood after being sent to Arkham Asylum - darkness, loneliness, electric shocks, violence, and mind control.

He was once forced to be locked up in a house full of bats, injected with fear gas to repeat the tragedy, and subjected to numerous hypnosis and psychological suggestions, making him feel uneasy...

The situation did not improve until Alfred sent Jack to a mental hospital.

Jack taught him to pretend to be sick, pretend to be crazy, pretend to be a mental patient, until the final fake death - Silent Bat dared to say that if it weren't for him, he would have really gone crazy long ago.

……

The Silent Bat left, his cloak a silhouette, and with him went the ominous song sung by Lucian, which followed him like a ghost:

"He hit me, He hurt me, He threw me down, He struck me—and it felt like a kiss."

He hit me, he hurt me, he pushed me down, he bit me - and it felt like a kiss.

"He made me cry, He made me blue, He made me bleed—and it felt like a kiss."

"He makes me cry, he makes me sad, he makes me bleed — it feels like a kiss."

(A simplified version of "He Hit Me (And It Felt Like a Kiss)", a song satirizing domestic violence, has been highly controversial)

Chapter 196 The Bat Lantern Classroom Begins

There are still some cowards in Gotham who did not follow the crowd to rob, but instead went about their business as usual.

"Andrew! Where is your colleague?" The leader walked hurriedly to the side of the assembly line in high heels, took a quick look around and questioned the employee closest to him.

Andrew didn't look up, his hands still busy tightening the screws, and replied, "I don't know."

"What about you? Does anyone know?" The leader looked at the remaining people, and the remaining people were more taciturn than each other, and shook their heads.

"Okay, okay, if they don't come...I'll lose my perfect attendance this month!" Due to policy reasons, the salary is divided into many parts, among which attendance and overtime pay are the biggest parts.

Without a word, there was only the sound of the conveyor belt rolling, accompanied by the frequent clatter of stiletto heels hitting the ground as the director left.

Andrew reached out again and tightened the screw. He had been working for two hours straight, and the mechanical physical work had left his brain somewhat blank.

He wasn't thinking about the strange things happening in Gotham, but was calculating his children's tuition and this month's expenses.

……

After tax, there are $2,800. Minus $1,300 for rent, $300 for tuition, another $300 for medicines at home, $600 for meals reserved for next month, and $200 for gas... I can only save $100.

Andrew stretched his numb feet. He was not old, but heavy physical labor had caused moderate varicose veins in his legs. He needed to raise at least three thousand dollars for surgery.

This disease is not urgent. The risk of varicose veins is that if the blood vessels are accidentally punctured, the person may bleed to death. Andrew will pay more attention to it in the future.

Buy an insurance company in the second half of the year... Wayne Insurance has the best reputation. He can't afford the surgery, but if he dies from an accidental blood loss, it will still keep his family going for a while.

In addition, Andrew took out one hand, clenched his fist, and tapped the back of his temple. Perhaps due to lack of sleep, he had been having a migraine recently.

This is even less of a concern. Andrew watched the conveyor belt slowly pass by, touched the next screw, and turned it hard.

Andrew was not originally doing this job, but because of a machine failure and Gotham's current situation, he couldn't find a repairman and had to use manual labor temporarily, so he was unlucky enough to be assigned here.

The money you get is the same, so it doesn’t matter if you’re a little tired.

Andrew didn't care much about this, of course. To put it bluntly, he didn't want to disrupt his precarious family life.

……

A monthly salary of 2,800 yuan is already very high, especially when compared to other cities where people like him only earn around 1,000 yuan.

Andrew comforted himself in this way.

……

But one issue he overlooked was Gotham's high cost of living.

He needs to spend more money than other cities to have enough food and clothing for daily necessities, and he has very little disposable money.

The consumer group does not have extra money to buy products from the production side.

If you are familiar with American history, you will find that the current situation is strikingly similar to the early stages of the Great Depression - "people cannot afford the products they produce."

Right.

How could the Court of Owls, born out of the solidarity of capital, not trigger an economic crisis? Or rather, it would be strange if an economic crisis broke out so late.

……

"The economic crisis is widespread. Fortunately, Gotham is now an isolated city, cut off from the outside world. Although this will cause a large number of people working in the transportation industry to lose their jobs, it will ensure that Gotham is less affected by the national crisis. We can start here."

Lucian listened to the bat lantern on the table and said that it was indeed acting as an external brain diligently, giving plans abcdefg every day and analyzing what was going on in Gotham through case studies.

Lucien, however, was like a bad student and didn't really want to listen. His mentality was probably: It might seem stupid if I did it without understanding it, but the unknown would be interesting. If I understood it, everything would be as planned, which would be boring.

The Bat Lantern could naturally see his mental state, but he didn't point it out, nor did he stop his long speech.

Lucien listened for a while longer and couldn't help but interrupt: "Isn't it to deal with the laughing ones? What do they have to do with me?"

Bat Lantern then raised his eyelids: "I thought you had some ideas about that speech."

"...No." Lucian added, "It's just fun that way."

"Including becoming Gotham's current Batman?"

Lucien groaned. "Don't you think this is funny?"

"The Joker who doesn't kill takes over the identity of the Batman who kills...isn't that interesting?"

This is indeed very interesting, but the same cannot be said of Bat-Lantern. Lucien was deeply influenced by the Joker. Even if we don't explore his origin or identity, his behavior is driven by the so-called "fun".

The Bat Lantern wanted to be broken back for him, to help Lucien confirm his precarious beliefs, so he said: "If you become a real Batman - do what Batman does, fight criminals, save the city, and truly become Batman."

"Then you can tell any Bruce Wayne or Joker."

He deliberately lowered his voice, using Batman's standard throat cancer voice: "I am Batman."

Lucian: “…”

"Are you seducing me?" His tone was almost certain. He looked at the bat lantern with a serious expression, and looked into the blue eyes inside through the glass.

A cat suddenly realized the danger of its situation and the ill intentions of the people around it, and became alert and thoughtful.

The Bat-Lantern seemed not to notice his strange mood and repeated, "I am Batman."

Lucian: “…”

He shuddered as if he had been electrocuted: "...You succeeded in seducing her." Still speaking in that serious tone:

"Tell me more about the economic crisis. What happened? I remember Roosevelt saved it by devaluing the currency."

……