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

I had already figured it out: "Those who contribute more should get more."

He sneered, "Then do you think I've contributed the most? Should I take it all?"

……

Once again, once again I couldn't move my nimble tongue in front of Lucien, my heart was pounding.

How to say.

I think this doesn't seem right.

But well, I thought, I should have listened to him, he was always right.

Crime Alley, October 10

I'm not right.

There's always something missing.

And working hours.

Why do some people do a lot of things, but always have only enough to make ends meet, while some people just manage them and even take the opportunity to rest.

And some people...hid the food.

A lot of people.

I went and told Lucien... This is a big problem, it's definitely a big problem.

Otherwise, he will sooner or later fall into the quagmire like Gotham before and the court he criticized before.

Lucian was exceptionally calm, almost indifferent: "Come on, Zaven, make a friend."

One came out from behind.

The man I've seen who should have died in public is Mayor Andrew.

……

I was in great panic, even Lucien became possessed, cold sweat soaked my whole body in an instant.

----

Are you willing to replace your own consciousness with someone else's, and become a dog that wags its tail and begs for mercy, an insignificant tool?

Zaven is willing.

Before he saw Andrew, the mayor who was supposed to be dead.

Chapter 224 I'm Watching You

Zaven was originally just a street thug, no different from those he despised. Even after inheriting his father's property, he was still a scum who used a lantern to assess damages and steal auction films.

Later, because of a tenant issue, he was involved in the aftermath of the Assassin's League and the Court of Owls, and was left penniless due to insurance fraud... Zavin blamed all his experiences on Lucian and hated him deeply.

Zaven saw Lucian's revelation in court, but he paid more attention to Lucian himself - he tried to get Lucian to go to the police station, compensate him for his losses, and let himself go back to the time when he could make things difficult for others... instead of becoming a penniless cripple.

Unfortunately, no one sympathized with his situation. Zawen was also slandered as the murderer in another case that had nothing to do with him. In anger, he bit off the ear of the torturer, and his legs were completely disabled as a result.

Here, Zaven suddenly realized that what Lucian said was right. Although Lucian was the turning point of his destiny, he should hate other people... including his fellow inmates who bullied him in Blackgate Prison.

Later, because of Harvey's integrity, Zavin was lucky enough to get out before he died - but he was penniless and unable to walk. Gotham was in chaos at the time, and he was pushed into the Gotham River by someone's malicious intent.

……

What convinced Zavin about Lucian was that what Lucian said in that speech was right, and it gave Zavin something he could hate more and something that had been proven to exist - the court.

The most important person or piece of evidence in that speech was the deceased Mayor Andrew.

But now, Andrew was alive—standing right in front of Zaven, and Zaven's emotions were not anger or jealousy, nor did they involve selfishness or love.

But it was panic...a panic that could almost be called fear.

……

"Why that expression, Zavin?"

"Are you feeling unwell?"

In the past, Zawen would remember every word of it, but the sound of him tossing and turning in his dreams at midnight now became increasingly vague and distant.

The hazy feeling seemed to come from a dream - a nightmare.

Zawen recalled all the abnormal behaviors - the lax supervision, the disregard for private possession, and the rigid approach that allowed more people to fall into a subsistence environment.

He suddenly looked up and met Lucian's gaze, and finally read the strong malice deep in the false tenderness of those green eyes.

"You--" Zaven suddenly stopped and let out a laugh that sounded like crying. He almost wanted to go up and grab Lucien's collar and question him.

He had always been unable to control himself in front of Lucian, but now, as if with a split personality, a calmer and more rational consciousness dominated his body.

So Zaven said to Andrew, "Good afternoon, sir."

……

"What happened to him?" Andrew asked in confusion as he looked at Zaven's departing back.

"Don't worry about him. The agreement is complete, sir. You can leave at any time."

Lucien smiled.

Andrew hesitated again... In the current Gotham environment, leaving was obviously not a good option for him. He asked hesitantly, "Can I stay?"

"No~"

……

As the sky gradually darkened, Lucian left again and headed to the place where the bats refreshed every day.

After the radiation was cleared, the Silent Bat returned to its original location, the top of the church.

"What are you looking at?"

The spire was covered with lead, and Lucian stepped on it without feeling the slightest bit of apology for his rash arrival.

Silent Bat answered irrelevantly: "I thought you would show mercy to those who are loyal to you."

Lucian smiled: "Then you really think highly of me."

He sat down and leaned his back against the spire. "How's Jack?"

"same as usual."

Still that simple and melancholic literary youth.

"Do you think he is better now or before?"

Silent Bat didn't want to answer this question and returned to the previous topic: "You are trying to destroy Zavin's mind."

This was an affirmative statement, and Lucien readily agreed. "So, are you now going to condemn me as cold and heartless?"

This bat is still so unique. He ignores any criminal activities. Even if a wanted criminal who has committed a crime appears in front of him, he will remain indifferent.

Therefore, Silent Bat naturally wouldn't condemn Lucian for this, but rather objectively stated: "If you just felt disgusted with him, you could have made him realize from the beginning that Andrew was still alive, and he wouldn't have bothered you."

"Yes, but I didn't." Lucian couldn't help but continue: "I allowed him to pester me."

He paused: "Don't you find Zaven's uniqueness?"

The Silent Bat discovered: "After enough tragic experiences and a deep enough entanglement with the 'bat', you want to create a clown."

That's right.

But this time it is not Lucian's struggle to transcend the concept of "clown", but how to use known rules to transform dark diversity into light.

"Jack is not a clown, but since there are bats, there will be the next clown. Besides, I am not just torturing people."

He laughed: "Bat, even though you don't care about Gotham, if you want to truly change everything, Gotham must have a story, and someone must be in charge."

"There's no better person to go against The Bat than The Joker."

Lucian cannot stay in one universe forever. Instead of developing his own power or making Gotham do this or that.

What he should do is find someone capable enough to do it.

He talked to SilentBat - and was rejected. Jack was out of the question, as he was in a terrible state now. But with SilentBat's tacit approval, Lucian also went to find Harvey and Jason, and finally found that Zavin was a good choice.

Low-level characters, sexual orientation, Red Hood gang, "the worst day", etc., the buffs are stacked up.

"You should thank me. I'm doing this to save the world. You know, the trolley problem. This is the optimal solution. For a better future, I don't mind being the bad guy."

Silent Bat may or may not have morals, but at least he won't tell others what to do, and won't impose his own ideas on others. Therefore, he skipped the moral concept of taming people and just said:

“How do you judge whether the world can be saved?”

"...Interesting." Lucian added, "Only a world that is interesting enough and exciting enough can be saved."

Although the only successful case now is the one with Bruce Jr., this is not aimless, but a practical conclusion that Lucian has reached through almost all comic stories.

"Anyway." Lucien smiled and looked at him: "Will you stop me?"

No, of course not.

But, the Silent Bat said: "I will watch you."

"Oh, of course, you will watch... I have finally waited for this sentence." Lucian whistled: "Bat is watching me!"

The bat is watching me.

Below them was an abandoned church, an ancient and standard Gothic church.

One of the adjectives that can be used to describe Gothic architecture is eerie. When there is no light, standing under such a thin and tall building is like standing at the foot of a mountain, or under the shadow of a ghost.

Zaven was almost crawling in front of the statue of Jesus. There was no light in the church. There was only moonlight shining through the stained glass, blurry like ripples.

The head and face of the statue are not illuminated by the light because they are drooping, and are immersed in deep darkness, with only soft edges and corners.

"You already knew..." He rested his forehead on the damp tiles, "the loopholes in supervision, the food that was deliberately left behind, the majority who only had enough to keep themselves well..."

He suddenly recalled and saw clearly the true emotions beneath the surface courtesy of the man who had sold him insurance - exactly the same as when Lucian looked at him - the look of someone looking at livestock to be slaughtered.

Lucien deceived him, played with him, and paid him no attention.

Zaven was sure that Lucian knew what it meant to him that the mayor was still alive, and he could definitely guess how he would react if Andrew appeared in front of him.

It was because Zaven could guess that Lucian knew that he felt so sad - he didn't mind having no dignity, nor did he mind being a dog, but he couldn't.