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

Put it aside, on top of the sticky note... Under the mask is an envelope, signed in a cool handwriting:

【The Joker's Dad】

Lucien: ...

He guessed who the sender was, the director of this copy - the clown in this world who should be in his seventies or eighties.

Even Lucien, the one who put the little gift in his room, could guess it.

Arthur, who completely abandoned his clown image and joined the resistance as an ordinary person.

……

There were no words in the letter—who would expect a clown to write a letter with words in it?

There are three photos.

The first one shows a woman living in a room. She has yellow-brown hair and eyes.

Lucien recognized her - it was his fake wife - Jenny.

The time is marked on the corner, it was taken a week ago.

The second photo is an aerial photo taken from a drone's perspective, with the area circled in red, which is probably the house where Jenny lives.

As for the third one, it is a still from "The Truman Show"... Truman's wife made a "fake marriage" gesture when taking a photo with him.

……

Lucian raised his eyebrows, shuffled the three cards like playing cards, and put them aside. Perhaps he was talking to himself, with a smile in his tone:

"I knew someone would use this to seduce and mislead people."

"...using something I don't care if it's true or not... How stupid! I didn't even go to her funeral."

……

Lucien didn't care whether Jenny was dead or alive... From any perspective, to him, Jenny was dead, and most of his feelings were worn away by the two things of "joining the resistance" and "becoming a clown", and what was left was only to support occasional longing.

……

He reached out and picked up the mask, as if he was facing a person:

"You are really old, clown, to be so naive as to resort to such tricks... You actually think I will be influenced by her."

"Have you forgotten what Harley means to you? You don't care about her... why do you expect me to care about Jenny?"

Lucian said regretfully:

"This isn't working... Next time, find a better excuse. Don't expect me to be persuaded by this. Some Batman, some Joker, something interesting."

The mask was empty, and since there was no one there, naturally no one would respond to him.

Lucien threw it, along with the photos and silverware, into the trash.

Chapter 124 Son

After dinner, Lucien took a shower.

After a while, the sound of water stopped, and she came out wrapped in a bathrobe, leaning on the edge of the bed with a book in her hand.

It is neither Dante's "Divine Comedy" nor Tagore's "The Crescent Moon"... it is a mathematics book... and on the bookshelf, there are only chemistry and physics.

----

The Joker of this world is still alive, but he is very old.

He was so old that wrinkles accumulated on his face, his body was hunched, and his steps were unsteady... He even had to buy himself some glasses to see things far and near.

He was old enough to be even ordinary and harmless.

"Sigh... maybe I really should retire?"

The old clown in the mirror was still fair-skinned and beardless - this made people wonder if it was because the stimulation of the chemical pool had caused him to lose some of his male hormones, just like a eunuch who had his reproductive organs removed.

Behind him was Arthur, a man with brown hair and gray eyes, dressed in rebel uniform, looking a little disheveled and dusty. He looked at the old clown with some helplessness:

“I sent the stuff over, but there was no response.”

"Do you think he rushed over and killed Jenny in the same hot-blooded way as you did?"

The old clown snorted disdainfully: "Then that's not a clown...that's you! Idiot!"

His eyes grew darker and more formidable as he grew older.

Arthur lowered his head and said nothing.

The old clown squinted at him for a long time, and finally walked towards the door... with a cane - he was too tall to support himself.

Arthur moved aside to make way, but he didn't expect him to stop in front of him. Then he felt the touch of a palm on his shoulder... He couldn't help shaking.

"This is the biggest joke. You are the biggest failure in my life."

The old clown patted his shoulder heavily. "If it weren't for the genetic test, I really wouldn't believe it... You! Are actually my son! "

"What the hell! I actually have a son with genes like yours! He's a fucking natural born good man! What the hell went wrong with my upbringing?!"

"I should have learned some parenting tips from that bat... His three sons look more like my own than you do!"

The skinny and shriveled hands grasped Arthur's collar, and the purple veins and pale joints were clearly visible on the almost transparent skin.

"Listen, idiot! You should have killed me earlier instead of supporting me foolishly!"

Arthur stammered, "I'm sorry, Father."

This sound obviously made the old clown even more angry... But his anger did not come from shouting. Instead, he narrowed his eyes, patted his face with his other hand, and whispered:

"My dear son...I have been abusing you since you came into my hands at the age of five."

He said: "I didn't let you sleep in a bed, didn't let you go to school, didn't let you make friends, didn't let you have any entertainment... When you were ten years old... I still remember what you looked like, and then when you were twelve years old..."

The old clown counted the evil deeds he had done one by one, his ghostly green eyes staring straight at Arthur.

"You should become a little lunatic..."

Arthur's eyelashes trembled, and he just wanted to avoid it.

Seeing his reaction, the old clown laughed twice. It was very dry, like a broken bellows, playful and pathetic... even mixed with a bit of relief: "My dear son, tell me, how did you resist the urge to kill me when you grow up?"

He was silent for a long time, and the old clown waited patiently... His broken skeleton couldn't even support this skin, so most of the weight was on Arthur.

Arthur held him, standing still. He was not thin, but strong. He reached out to support his old father.

"...Because you're a rotten person, and I know perfectly well that if I kill you I'll become just as rotten as you."

The old clown nestled in his son's arms, looking into his gray, ordinary, and sad eyes, and said, "No... That's not why you're here."

……

Clowns are such incredibly sensitive creatures, they understand human nature far better than human nature itself, and they understand humans far better than humans themselves.

Even if this is an old clown who is almost a mummy.

……

Arthur understood this matter, and he was unable to speak:

"…Because I love you."

He sighed and started talking: "I don't want to kill you."

"Even though you didn't treat me well, you hugged me... even though it was cold and scratchy. You beat me, but you also applied medicine to me when I was in so much pain I couldn't sleep. You didn't let me communicate with anyone, but you left me many books, which I loved reading. You sent me to that scumbag's bed, but then killed him... You held my hand and stabbed me. You got me addicted to drugs, but you also helped me get off them yourself... even though you'll get me addicted again later."

Arthur still didn't dare to look at him. His eyes were empty, falling into the air, but his voice was very gentle:

"I know this is Stockholm, father, but I don't want to be cured... I'm a little lunatic, a little psychopath, but father, that doesn't mean I'm willing to inherit your mantle. I don't want to kill you, and I don't want to be a rotten person like you."

……

A bony hand touched his face, rough and cold. "Who's your mother? Winna? Perez? Kerna? Cooper?"

"It was Lina, Lina Jean Edward," Arthur replied. "She was the one who sent me to you when I was five years old, and you killed her in front of me."

"I remember now... it's a cousin who likes to wear red clothes." The old clown asked, "Even so, you still don't want to kill me?"

Arthur shook his head. His face bore some resemblance to the Joker, but his most striking feature was distinctly different… He lacked green eyes and hair, pale skin, a thin frame, or even an overly tall stature.

"I know clearly that killing you is what you want. That way I will have to live in your shadow for the rest of my life, unable to escape."

He inherited the Joker's clever mind and insight into human nature, so he can be described as gentle:

"Don't worry, father. I will always forgive you, I will always love you, I will never dare to look you in the eye, and I will never kill you."

……

The old clown might have really driven Arthur crazy, but the degree and direction of his madness were different from what he expected.

He sneered at his good son and said, "What if I asked you to help me kill someone, boy?"

Arthur lowered his head again, feeling awkward and nodding in agreement.

Chapter 125 Fairy Tale

"If it's your order... I'll do it."

Arthur allowed himself to lose himself in front of the old clown, but the old clown never wanted a yes-man.

He wants a cunning, rebellious, independent successor or rival... not a mere follower.

The old clown propped himself up with his cane and moved away from him: "That's no fun, dear."

"Go, go, join your resistance army and fight for your freedom... You don't have to support me anymore."

----

The laboratory was silent at night, with only occasional flashes of red and blue light. Bruce was sleeping in the warehouse, with nutrient solution spreading over his body.

This was the scene Lucien saw when he pushed the door open.

……

Bruce has always had difficulty sleeping, often having dreams and waking up easily, so the liquid also contains ingredients that can cause coma.

……