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

----

"...If I hadn't gotten the news, even if you survived the fire, you would have been stabbed to death by them."

That's all Lucian heard when he woke up. His green eyes moved, and then his head turned. Seeing Arthur sitting beside the bed, the corners of his mouth twitched, a smile forming... The fragile skin that had not yet healed from the burns of the flames was pulled, and blood and pus flowed out, staining the gauze:

"I won't die, don't worry."

……

-22 The Dionysus factor that the Joker brought to Lucien has gradually lost its effect... This conclusion was drawn from the fact that when he was helping Batman with rehabilitation training, his wounds healed slower and slower, and even in the end, external forces such as ointment were needed to heal the wounds.

But Lucian also has the ability of "immortality" related to the law of causality.

This allowed him to face the explosion head-on, and the few remaining Dionysian factors prevented his body from being torn apart, keeping it intact... until Arthur could rescue him.

……

"Compared to that, I'm more curious, where did you get the news? And why did you come to save me?"

"What a coincidence," Arthur said without further explanation, looking at Lucian, who was wrapped like a mummy in gauze. "Also, there's no guarantee we can save you... Your white blood cell activity is very low. Just to remind you, the normal platelet count is (100-300) x 10⁻³/L. Now your index 10 on top of 9 has become 8... Your chance of dying from the infection is over percent."

Lucian was very carefree: "Don't worry, dear. Even if the probability of my death is 99.999%, the final result will only be 0.001%... Even if I really die, I will always find a way to come back to life."

"Even if I can't survive, it's probably because in this world of death... heaven or hell, I have a role to play."

Arthur admired his optimism and continued, "Globally, the person with the largest burn area who survived is Qiu Caikang, whose body was burned 89.3%... Yours is 92.5%. If you survive, congratulations! You will receive a Guinness World Record certificate upon your recovery."

"…Although I'm honored, I'm curious about one thing."

"How did you get so many burns? Isn't that unscientific?" Arthur shrugged. "I don't know... Besides, the fact that you survived the explosion head-on and remained intact is truly unscientific."

"No, that's not what I'm curious about." Lucian stretched his neck hard to raise his head, and nodded his chin to indicate:

"I mean, does my thing still work?"

Arthur:......

He met those eyes filled with hope and expectation speechlessly:

"Anyway, it's not cooked... maybe you'll understand if you stand up and take a look."

"...I can't get up." Blinking innocently.

"Oh? So do you need a picture or a video? Male or female? Top or bottom? Human or animal?" Arthur said, puzzled: "Why do you care about this?"

Lucien looked at him, noticed the genuine doubt, and said, "Because of the clown."

"Is this also the fault of the Joker?"

"Of course, didn't you notice the Joker has no beard?" He said as a matter of course: "The Joker's testosterone is low... This will make him weak and ejaculate quickly."

"In a way, it's kind of in character for the male organ to be damaged."

Arthur:......

Chapter 134 Protagonist

Lucien was truly optimistic and his will to survive was strong enough, but there was still a gap between ideals and reality... The high fever made him drowsy all day long, and he was on the verge of death several times.

When he regained consciousness, Arthur was changing his dressing.

Cutting off the gauze stuck to the skin, pus mixed with blood oozed out... This was a delicate job, and he had to be careful not to cause secondary damage to the fragile flesh and blood.

"...Honey, it stinks." The person lying like a dead body suddenly spoke.

"That's good, at least my respiratory tract is healthy." Arthur carefully opened it with tweezers. "Were you woken by the smell?"

"I woke up from the pain. It felt like you were cutting into my flesh piece by piece." The corpse sighed, "It really hurts..."

"Who's to blame?"

"What a weird bat! He's really amazing." Arthur wanted to say something, but before he could, he heard another sentence:

"... Blame it on me. I went even though I knew he was going to blow up."

……

Arthur reapplied the ointment, wrapped it with gauze, and continued the IV. He looked down at Lucian, who seemed to be in a coma with his eyes bulging. "I may not be able to save you."

"...Yes, don't worry." His eyelids were heavy. This was the first time Lucian had suffered such torture since he could remember.

"I'm worried. It feels like I'm setting a flag (internet term)."

"Flock? Interesting."

Apparently, the fever had impaired Lucian's hearing, and his logic chain was somewhat broken. He didn't realize the irrationality of Arthur's word "flock of sheep", but instead began to think of the "flock of sheep" in -22 and -32.

“…Why does it feel like the flock of sheep isn’t exerting any strength this time?”

He saw the confusion on Arthur's face, so he slowly closed his eyes and said peacefully, "In the name of the people, my dear."

Arthur:?

He didn't match the brainwaves.

"flag…the internet noun flag."

"Then there's even less need to worry." Lucian thought for a moment and asked:

"Have you read the comics? Or the movies? The Marvel ones?"

"……Seen."

"Have you noticed a pattern?" Lucian said slowly:

"Once the editorial team kills off a popular character, sales will plummet. The next generation, no matter what their image, will be compared to the original..."

He opened his eyes, but didn't focus, blinking slowly as if fighting sleepiness: "It's just a pity that the second generation can never be as good as the first generation."

"...If it were at the historical level, this would be called epic, but now it's fake—commercial behavior, profit maximization, capital power, so this will lead to other results."

"...especially with the DC editorial team's lack of taste—when indecisive, the universe restarts."

"So." Lucian looked at Arthur.

"So?" Arthur shook his head. "I don't think this has anything to do with whether you die or not."

"...This is very abstract and difficult to explain, especially when the listener is neither the Joker nor Batman." Lucian smiled.

"So, even for my sake, don't dig too deep."

As expected, Arthur didn't ask any more questions. He took care of him day after day, and the result was just as he concluded... After several high fevers, infections, and near-death experiences, Lucian's body gradually stabilized.

A month later, he regained the most basic mobility.

"What did I say? And remember to apply for the Guinness World Record for me." Lucian stood in front of the mirror. He was still wrapped in gauze, like a mummy, and the exposed skin had an uneven texture.

……

"...This is a miracle." Arthur stood behind him and said slowly.

"It's not a miracle." Lucian smiled, his pale gums showing as he looked up through the mirror. "This is a curse... No matter what, I won't die."

"My dear, do you know what the greatest freedom a person has?" He answered himself: "It is the right to decide life and death. The right to decide your own life and death."

"My immortality isn't just a benefit; it deprives me of the power to escape. Whether I like it or not, I must move toward that future... I can't die along the way, and I can't walk into a crossroads."

"That sounds very sad." But Arthur was sure he didn't see any negative emotions in those green eyes, so he said: "But I'm sorry, I can't sympathize with you."

"You have the ability to be immortal. I dare say that many people... most people would sacrifice a lot for immortality, especially since your price is so simple, it can be said to be no price at all."

"I should be envious." Lucian didn't refute. "Sometimes I always feel greedy and think I should enjoy this... I can still use this superpower to do anything sensational, but..."

He still said it but: "Arthur, you are not a clown, you don't understand this...life or death is the least important thing to us."

"Besides, this ability isn't difficult to acquire... Even if you're a clown or not, you can still gain this ability. Do you want to know how?"

"think."

Arthur thought he would talk about potions, bloodlines, high technology, or ancient rituals, but what Lucian said was really unexpected:

“The solution is to become the protagonist.”

……

At least the protagonist will not die before the end.

……

"But the righteous protagonist will die in the so-called salvation of the world, so the villain protagonist lasts longer... Perhaps you will ask me, how to become the protagonist?"

Lucien smiled slightly: "I don't know."

He smiled again: "I know."

"You need to have your own place in the main publication. That is, you need to leave a strong and colorful mark beside the main character... let readers see you, your popularity will increase... then you can become the main character of a supplement."

"So who is the protagonist?"

"Batman...?" Lucian looked at him and laughed, "You thought I would say that?"

"No, Arthur." There was an indescribable emotion in the smile, like excitement:

"I'm the protagonist!"

……

We often wonder whether the protagonist in a work is aware that he or she is a character in a work?

They always wonder…why their lives are so unique? Why are there so many coincidences? Why do disasters keep happening? Why is there so little happiness left?

Perhaps the people who can think of this the most are those who travel through books and carry the memories of the original work.

The ones who think of it the fastest are the protagonists of the books where this situation already exists.

What about the protagonist who realizes this?

They may be wondering whether they are the protagonist or the supporting role? Are they important or insignificant?

They will be full of doubts and will be cautious and test things out... In the meantime, life or death is not important.

……

"I'm certain this is a story told from my perspective... but I'm also certain the protagonist is me, the Joker."