Chapter 1203 Lamb's Cry (Twenty-four) (Patreon)

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The night wind in Gotham was so cold that the tears were almost frozen. When people cried, all the lights they saw became blurred and dreamlike, like a sad romantic poem.

Sitting on the edge of the building, Dick felt the cold wind blowing his tears on his face, almost freezing his skin. Suddenly, he heard an unusual footstep behind him, steady but heavy.

Dick turned around, and when he saw the tall, dark figure, he instinctively shuddered. But the next second, he realized that it was not the Batman he knew.

Normally, facing a strong stranger, he should feel nervous, but when he realized this fact, Dick felt relieved. He would rather face an enemy than Bruce.

"You shouldn't be here." The voice was much deeper than Bruce's.

Dick turned back, sitting on the edge of the rooftop again, and sniffed, saying, "I don't know you, so you can't tell me where I should be."

"He didn't teach you not to turn your back on strangers." The strange figure said, but there was no intention to attack. He just slowly walked over and stood beside Dick.

"He didn't teach me a lot of things, and I don't need him to teach me." Dick said, leaning on the eaves.

"He is not a good father." The strange Batman said, "Batman will disappoint everyone."

"It's me who disappointed him." Dick said quietly, looking at the lights of the city below. He took a deep breath and said, "I know I made him angry and disappointed, and I feel sad about it."

"I don't know what's controlling me to do this." Dick shook his head, "I have so many negative emotions in my heart when facing him, like an ocean."

"I worry that he thinks I'm stupid, but I also feel that he should have realized I'm stupider than others earlier. I'm afraid he'll find out I'm not as good as others, but I also feel he must have already thought I'm not as good as others."

"I'm afraid he'll lose patience, but I also want to know what he'll do when he loses patience. I know that making him angry will hurt him, but I can't help but want to see him lose control and look very embarrassed."

Dick covered his face with both hands, and his voice was muffled, "I want to make him happy, but I'm also happy when he's not happy. I'm the worst child in the world."

"It's not your fault." The strange Batman said, "He made the wrong choice between career and family, and he never thought about correcting it. He deserves the consequences."

The strange Batman turned his head to look at Dick. The boy's reddened eyes were like fragile and brittle ice after being blown by the cold wind.

"I can't find an answer." Dick shook his head slightly, "For my inexplicable malicious thoughts, for my inability to resist angering him, for my unreasonable and rude behavior."

He then turned his head and looked up at the strange Batman standing beside him, asking, "Who are you?"

This time, the strange Batman did not answer "I am Batman." He looked back at Dick, reached for the edge of his mask, and then took it off.

As Dick had expected, it was not Bruce, but the man in front of him was remarkably similar to Bruce, only much older and more weary.

"Do you have time to listen to a story?" The strange man said in an affirmative tone, squatting down and standing on the edge of the building, looking at the city.

"In my world, Gotham also has, but after the gunshots of the crime, Bruce Wayne died, and Thomas Wayne and Martha Wayne lived."

"But perhaps, at that time, we also died, only not yet buried, leaving a little room for imagination for this sad world."

"Martha couldn't accept the death of her son, she went crazy, cut open her own mouth, and became a forever-smiling madwoman, and I, for revenge, for the elimination of Criminals, became Gotham's Dark Knight, became Batman."

"For years, I have been running in every corner of Gotham, striking at the never-ending crime, eliminating the never-ending darkness, without a moment's rest, without a moment's leisure."

"Such days have eroded all the happiness, and made the once beautiful memories blurred. I became the unhappiest person in the whole city, and Martha wanted me to be a little happier, she hoped I would smile, and the method was to cut open my mouth."

"I couldn't let her do that, I was struggling against her, against the wife I once loved the most."

"I thought this life would last forever, until one day I learned that the Flash Barry could reverse time and change the past by running at extreme speed. So I found him, and I wanted Bruce to live."

"Barry was a kind person, and he agreed to my proposal. I was overjoyed and found Martha, telling her that our son would be back soon, and everything would be back on track."

"But later, Martha and I knew that if it was us who died that day, Bruce would become Batman and repeat this dark and tragic fate. Martha became even crazier, and she couldn't even laugh anymore, so she died."

Dick listened quietly, as if he was really listening to a story. When he turned his head to look at the man next to him, he didn't see any sadness on his face, only the same old numbness and fatigue.

"Barry has an enemy called Professor Zoom, who can also run very fast and travel through space. Barry and I wanted to stop him from doing evil, and at the last moment, he took me out of my space."

"He said he would send me to a new space to see how my son was being tormented by the darkness."

"He succeeded, so I came here, to a world where Bruce Wayne is Batman."

"And in this world, I have already died, killed by a gunshot from a criminal suspect, along with Martha... Yes, I am Bruce's father, Thomas Wayne."

"He should not have become Batman." Thomas' tone finally had some fluctuation, becoming more somber.

"The world does not need Batman. Gotham's Dark Knight cannot change anything, he should return to Bruce's life, end the tragedies that may occur, and be an ordinary person, or a good father."

As Thomas spoke the last part, his gaze fell on Dick's face. Dick pursed his lips, revealing a hint of hesitation, and after a moment of silence, he spoke.

"Sometimes I feel very wronged, Bruce doesn't seem to understand me at all, maybe my talents are not enough for him to value me."

"In the past, he may have had no choice, he needed an assistant and an heir, he encountered me, so he took me back. But now, he has encountered better ones, and he should indeed value and cultivate them, so that he can have a better heir."

"As for me..." Dick tilted his head slightly and said: "I shouldn't stay here anymore, I should go back to Brooklyn and be a small-town boy."

"But the reason I haven't done so is that I'm not reconciled. My parents simply didn't have the ability to investigate my grandfather's death case, they were just ordinary acrobats, if someone pointed a gun at them, they couldn't escape."

"I want to follow Batman to learn, and after acquiring the skills, I will avenge my grandfather and protect my parents."

"If that's the case, why should I care whether Bruce values me or not? I'll just treat him as the teacher who teaches me skills."

"So, I will also think about whether I want too much. He is not my biological father, he has no obligation to raise me, I shouldn't get angry with him, I shouldn't fight with him, and I shouldn't run out like a crying baby after making mistakes."

"Why did I do that?" Dick asked himself softly.

"Because you love him," Thomas spoke up. "You love him, so you want to know if he loves you too... but he has disappointed you."

Thomas looked down at Dick and said, "Batman wants to select an excellent assistant, but he doesn't understand that in his efforts to cultivate an heir, he will miss out on so much more."

"Miss out on the most precious things in the world, miss out on others' love for him, and miss out on the love he once had for others in his mind, this will be a complete tragedy."

"The evils of this world will not disappear completely because of one person, if someone takes this as a goal, even abandoning all love, then he is the biggest fool in the world."

Dick's hand suddenly clenched, his Adam's apple moved, and he took a deep breath and said, "I hope he's not so lonely."

"But Batman is destined to be lonely," Thomas sighed, his voice drifting away.

"Are you here to persuade me?" Dick turned his head and stared at Thomas' profile, asking, "Do you want me to go and convince him not to be Batman anymore?"

"You're very smart."

Dick's heart was filled with a sense of being used, but he suddenly realized that the person in front of him was Bruce's father, who understood Bruce better and was more intimate with him than Dick was.

Dick stood up and walked back, saying as he went, "I won't let you use me to say anything to Bruce, our arguments are just between us and have nothing to do with you."

Thomas stood up and looked at his retreating back, saying in a low voice, "Even if I don't use you, one day you'll understand these reasons."

The next moment, he fell from the high-rise building, only to be met with the gleam of a batarang, which nearly grazed his skin.

Thomas leaped from the high-rise building, sinking into the shadows of the staircase, and then used a grappling hook to swing up to the rooftops, jumping between them.

Another figure, almost identical to him, was chasing after him, but while Thomas' running was in the shadows, the other Batman was leaping among the neon lights.

The two dark figures jumped onto the roof of Wayne Tower, and Thomas had already put on a mask, so Batman, seeing this identical version of himself, felt a sense of bewilderment.

"Who are you?"

"I am Batman."

After saying this, Thomas jumped off the building again, but Batman did not pursue him, as he was stunned by the answer that had shaken his mind's judgment of the truth.

A click of the lock, and a figure wrapped in a cape appeared in the dimly lit interrogation room. Thomas removed his mask and sat down at the table, facing a pair of gray eyes.

"Have you seen the results?" The gray eyes blinked.

"You're right, I'm not a good father... and he isn't either."

"Do you want to stop him?"

"I must stop him, and you will help me. This is also to help yourself. This is why I approached you, Professor Schiller, or should I say... Joker."

The little bat is in trouble.

[Read at www.patreon.com/shanefreak, and thanks for the invaluable support!]

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Next Chapter>>Chapter 1204 Lamb's Cry (Twenty-five)