Starting from scratch, Batman crushed my dream of getting rich

Chapter 228 No Dream Can Replace Reality

In front of Alice, the Mad Hatter took out his revolver, his fingers stroking the gleaming metal gun as if trying to confirm whether he was in the real world through the cold touch.

Alice didn't react at all, she just kept watching the drug-addicted madman babbling on and on.

"After drinking the tea, thinking about those happy memories makes me feel as if I am there, feeling so sweet and so real."

As he spoke, the Mad Hatter's gaze fell upon the cake and the glass bottle. He recalled the cake and drink he had eaten that day, and how sweet they were.

"Imagine it as a dream world where you can live, where you can run and jump through it."

His gaze slid to the room with the caterpillar and the cat, but his eyes were unfocused and seemed somewhat unfocused. The phantom images of the boy and girl ran and jumped across the trampoline in that room.

"Imagine you are a knight in full armor, tall and strong, riding a white horse. The whole world exists only for you, revolving around you, and every detail of those moments is perfect."

He looked at the dessert stall.

"The sweetness melts on your tongue."

He looked at the shimmering pool of tears.

"Golden sunlight shimmered on the water's surface."

He looked at Alice beside him, and the girl's voice seemed to echo in his ears again.

“You know what, Jervis, I wasn’t sure if I would have any fun, but I’m so glad I came with you today.”

At that moment, the girl's soft fingers tightened in his palm.

"What a perfect day it was, you never want it to end."

He murmured about the joy he had felt then, like a delirious dream, like talking to himself. Although his eyes were on Alice beside him, his gaze seemed to pass through her, looking into the distant void.

"and then?"

"And then, the fairy tale ended."

"Alice, do you want, uh, do you want to go to the ball with me?"

“Oh.” Alice Dee looked at Jervis, who was a whole head shorter than her, and smiled at him. “I think we’ll all go, a group of friends together, you know? We’ll have a lot of fun.”

"okay."

“Jervis, the doctor doesn’t recommend you take this medicine. He said the side effects are very serious. It will cause problems with your mental stability, increased aggression, morbid obsession, paranoia, and mental abnormality. Kid, these are not good words.”

“But I want to grow taller, Father. Everyone at school is taller than me. I’m becoming more and more like a little kid.”

"Can"

Finally, at the junior high school graduation dance, Jervis, who hadn't grown taller, walked up to Alice Dee, who looked even more beautiful that night in a pretty green dress.

When Jervis saw her chatting and laughing with some friends, he went over and, just like last time, took her hand, wanting to invite her to dance.

However, this time the girl didn't hold on tightly; instead, she shook him off.

“I’m sorry, Jervis.” Although she spoke politely, her face didn’t seem to show much remorse; instead, it carried a hint of disdain and mockery. “I like you, really, but not in that way.”

If her expression had been more genuine, and her apology more sincere, would he still have taken that drug? Jarvis didn't know.

"The fairy tale is over, and Alice has grown up. She left me there." The Mad Hatter looked at the "Alice" beside him and said to her, "But the real Alice would never have left me there. She would never have cared about my height."

“Yes,” the blonde Alice replied, “I won’t mind your—”

"Shut up!"

Upon hearing this "Alice's" reply, the Mad Hatter suddenly erupted in a furious roar: "You are not my Alice! You are not as beautiful, gentle, kind, generous, or radiant as she is! You are just imitating her!"

He raised his gun and pointed it at Alice in front of him. The more she resembled that person, the angrier the Mad Hatter became. Every second she was in front of him reminded him of the Alice of the past, of those memories, and every second reminded him that the real world in front of him consisted only of this theater and this fake Alice.

The real Alice will never come back; she was killed by her own hands.
He didn't want to be dragged back to reality because, for a long time, what had made him addicted wasn't drugs, but fairytale-like dreams.

"Get rid of her! Get rid of all of them! Replace them with a new batch!"

He screamed hysterically, his distorted face becoming even more ferocious and ugly. He pointed the gun at Alice in front of him and pulled the trigger.

bang!

Gunshots rang out, but no one fell.

"You're such a pathetic wretch."

Alice's voice suddenly lost its gentleness and innocence, becoming calm and composed. Her expression carried a hint of mockery, and her demeanor shifted towards maturity, as if she had grown from a girl into an adult in an instant.

"You'll never find your Alice in your lifetime, Mad Hatter. Even if your Alice does come back to you, she'll only find an ugly, madman."

A mutated, hardened vine rapidly emerged in front of the woman, shielding her from the bullet. Immediately afterward, more vines sprouted from her body, tearing her Alice dress to shreds and revealing soft, plant-woven inner armor.

“I went to the trouble of dyeing my hair blonde and doing a disguise just to deal with this pathetic madman. It was completely unnecessary—I might as well have just sent in a potted plant.”

"Poison Ivy, how dare you! How dare you impersonate her and deceive me! How dare you say such things to me while claiming to be Alice!"

The Mad Hatter clenched his fists tightly, his bulging eyes bloodshot, almost bursting out of their sockets with rage. He gritted his teeth, threw a tea bag into his mouth, and raised his gun at Poison Ivy once more.

"I want you to die!"

"Face reality, Mad Hatter." Poison Ivy sneered as she removed her mask. "Your Alice will never come back, and even if you become a supervillain, you'll still be the lowest of the low."

The Mad Hatter's eyes widened in fury. He pulled the trigger repeatedly, emptying the chamber of bullets, but they were all blocked by the barrier of vines.

"Kill her! Kill her!"

His angry voice echoed in the theater lobby. Logically, at this moment, everyone should have rushed forward and overwhelmed Poison Ivy in the crowd, but at this moment, the theater fell into an eerie silence.

The actors on stage, the set designers, the lighting crew, the prop masters, the patrolling hat guards, and even the gangster gunmen outside the door all stopped moving.

"Don't count on it, Mad Hatter," Poison Ivy coldly responded to his roar.

"You've been checked."

(End of this chapter)