Chapter 306 Three Detectives (10) (Patreon)

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In the past many years, the nights at Wayne Manor have always been very quiet because there is only one male master and his old butler. After the night falls in Gotham, the only lit light will soon be extinguished, and the large Manor will be completely swallowed by darkness until dawn arrives again.

But on this night, the lights in Wayne Manor were always on, and the sound of a ladder rubbing against the bookshelf broke the silence in the room. Dick frowned and coughed twice, waving his hand in front of his nose to dispel the dust in front of him.

He looked up at the row after row of thick books on the bookshelf, and his fingers stopped on a book named "Ten Great Mysterious Legends You Don't Know."

Dick reached out and took the book out from a pile of tightly squeezed books, then climbed down a few steps of the ladder and threw the book down. Aisha jumped up high from the ground, caught the books, and swung her short legs, placing this large and unwieldy book on a pile of books nearby.

Dick climbed up the ladder quickly and continued searching through the bookshelves. As he searched, he muttered to himself, "The life of the wealthy is even more prosperous than I imagined..."

He looked around the reading room. This was Wayne Manor's book collection, located in the western tower of the Manor. The entire reading room occupied a whole floor of the tower, with hundreds of rows of bookshelves and countless books, arranged in a circular pattern.

The reading room retained a strong British style, with reddish-brown bookshelves adorned with naturalistic decorations. In the center of the reading room, there was a row of circular sofas and several semicircular book tables.

"In the past, if I could live in a house like this, I would be so happy. But this place is just used for storing books."

Dick muttered softly. He took out another book from the bookshelf, climbed down the ladder, placed the book on top of the stack that Aisha had made, and then picked up the large pile of books. He walked towards the center of the reading room.

There, Bruce was bent over, reading one of the books. Dick approached, placed the thick stack of books on the table, and tapped the top book, saying, "Mr. Wayne, these are all the books in Section B related to the study of the occult. I have arranged them in chronological order, with the oldest ones at the top."

Bruce took a sip of water, nodded, and Dick led Aisha to another section to continue finding books for Bruce.

Even Batman had to admit that having an assistant like Dick really saved a lot of trouble. He and Dick had a great understanding, and Bruce was indeed reading these books in chronological order. He had never mentioned it, but Dick intuitively organized the books for him.

To explain why he was reading books here, we have to go back to the time after he and Constantine parted ways.

Batman learned from Constantine that Mrs. Sanchez might be using all the children in Gotham for her own training. He couldn't simply turn a blind eye to this matter, but Batman had almost no knowledge of the occult. Constantine seemed completely unreliable, and Batman didn't want to rely on others. Therefore, he decided to study this field of knowledge on his own.

But for a complete outsider, it was very challenging to train without a mentor. Batman could only seek out the old Father of the Gotham Church.

Batman didn't forget that when Father stayed in the Church, he could use the mysterious wine pool under the Church to obtain some special abilities. He thought, maybe this would help him in his research on the occult?

He arrived at the church at dusk, and Father wasn't surprised by his appearance. After hearing his intentions, the old Father shook his head and said, "As a clergyman, I certainly know that such a circle exists, but I advise you not to associate with them because most of them acquire special powers through deals with demons."

"Engaging in such practices will not lead to a good outcome. Perhaps in the short term, they can acquire immensely powerful abilities, much like the characters in fantasy novels who can manipulate the elements. However, they will inevitably pay an unimaginable price for this power, leading to excruciating suffering."

"You've misunderstood me. I don't intend to gain power through those means. Instead, I hope to find a way to counteract this kind of power," Batman said, standing in the shadow of the church.

Father paused as he wiped the cross in his hand and said, "If you merely wish to learn about this, you shouldn't have come to me."

"Then who should I seek out?"

"You should know that the heyday of occultism has long passed. Nowadays, most people have little regard for the supernatural and are skeptical of the divine, especially in Gotham. However, in the past, there was a surge of interest in black magic throughout the East Coast. If you want to learn about this knowledge, it would be best to search through history."

"In Gotham, there aren't many ancient families, but there are always one or two. Like all ancient families, they enjoy recording history and collecting artifacts. Perhaps you might discover some traces from that era within these things..."

And so, Bruce began searching through the Wayne Family's collection of books, looking for the hidden ripples beneath the surface of that era.

Anything related to the occult carries a sense of subtle and eerie beauty. Practitioners excel in using words and sentence structures that the average person wouldn't employ to describe an event. Their texts are filled with various allusions, as if rejecting any ordinary person's attempts to understand them.

However, when viewed with a rational mindset, these stories are merely stories. Their internal logic is no different from the tales written in children's fairy tale books. Many of the concepts mentioned are nothing more than speculations made by ordinary individuals about this enigmatic realm, lacking any substantiated evidence.

The clouds outside the window raced by as Bruce flipped through the books at an increasing pace. Dick paced back and forth, assisting Bruce. As Bruce finished reading more and more books, the remaining unread ones dwindled. Eventually, Dick had searched through all the books with occult keywords. He sat across from Bruce, joining in the reading.

Dick's reading speed was much slower than Bruce's. Bruce skimmed through the stories for information, while Dick was genuinely captivated by the mysterious tales. Aisha sat beside him, pretending to read as well, though every now and then a page disappeared from the book, promptly consumed by Aisha.

Dick was engrossed until the sound of Bruce setting down his glass broke his concentration. He looked up and noticed that Bruce had finished reading the entire stack of books. Dick closed his book and asked, "Did you find anything, Mr. Wayne?"

Bruce's eyes fell on the book Dick was reading. When Dick noticed his gaze, he glanced down at the book in front of him and said, "Oh, this is the 'Top Ten Mysteries' I just got. It's actually quite interesting..."

"What does it talk about?"

"Well..." Dick hesitated for a moment, unsure of how to respond. Bruce took a sip of water and said, "It's not an exam or a homework assignment to take notes from the book. I just want to try a different perspective and see if it leads to any new ideas."

"Alright, there are ten stories in here. I just finished reading the second one. The first legend is about werewolves, and the second story is about Suicide Town. I think the second story is more intriguing..."

"Do you think there might be any useful clues in there?"

"Clues?" Dick asked, looking very puzzled. "Isn't it just a ghost story? Where would there be any clues?"

Bruce redirected his gaze from Dick and turned his attention to the book in his hand. The book discussed various magic circles and hyped up their abilities, but most of them looked like childish scribbles. Moreover, the examples provided didn't match reality.

Bruce said to Dick, "If you're tired, you can go to bed. I'll continue reading for a while."

Saying that, he walked towards the bookshelf and started searching for history-related books. If these fantastical stories couldn't provide detailed and reliable clues, perhaps traces could be found in the historical development of Gotham City.

After finding a book, Bruce sat back down. However, Dick and Aisha didn't leave. Dick looked up and asked, "Is the legend of the witch true? That children who ate candy had their souls sold to the devil?"

Resting his hands on his face, Dick continued, "It feels a bit strange. If Mrs. Sanchez is truly a witch, why did she come to Gotham?"

"When my parents came to Gotham, they had no other choice. Apart from the circus here that was willing to take them in, they couldn't find any other jobs on the entire East Coast. So, we had no option but to come here."

"If there were other choices, we definitely wouldn't have come to this city. The weather here is unpleasant, it's dangerous, and the people have a bad temper. It's difficult to get along with them. We wouldn't have come here if we weren't desperate."

"But if Mrs. Sanchez is a witch, she should be much more powerful than us, right? Why does she insist on coming to Gotham?"

"The kids here aren't really any different from kids elsewhere, are they? If there's one thing to note, it's that the kids here are more violent and hard to handle..."

Bruce paused flipping through the book's pages, and Dick noticed the gesture. "Oh, sorry, did I disturb you? I just can't sleep right now. How about I sit at the Book table on the other side?"

"No, you go on," Bruce said.

"What should I say?"

"About that part concerning Gotham."

"I've already finished. It's actually a quite simple truth. If outsiders aren't desperate, they wouldn't come here, right?"

"Of course, I know there have been many outsiders coming here recently, but that's because Gotham has suddenly become cooler. However, Mrs. Sanchez has been here for a long time. When she arrived, Gotham should have been even more dangerous, right?"

"Indeed." Bruce's voice always had a steady frequency, and his tone didn't fluctuate when he spoke, making it sound drowsy.

"Laurena Sanchez didn't have any reason to choose a city like Gotham as her headquarters, but since she did, there must be a reason."

Bruce lowered his gaze, looking at the book in his hand. The book's cover read: "Notes of Solomon Wayne."

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