Chapter 1137 Professor (IX)

In DC World With Marvel Chat Group : Table of Content/Chapter List

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After a while, Jason helped Bruce tidy up the books on the floor. Bruce was reading a book behind the desk, and Jason helped him find the relevant books and marked the chapters that might have clues in the table of contents.

Jason was focused on looking at the table of contents when suddenly a black shadow was cast on the desk. He turned around and saw Dick.

"Wow, how do you walk so quietly? Oh, I forgot, you're an acrobat." Jason was startled, and he was just about to make a joke to lighten the mood when he noticed that Dick's expression was not good.

"Yes, I'm an acrobat, and that's all I can do, especially not helping Bruce organize the materials!" After saying that, Dick turned and left. Jason immediately jumped off the chair, grabbed him and said, "What's wrong with you? Why are you being so moody? What are you angry about? If you want to do this, we can do it together."

Dick shook off Jason's hand angrily and said, "You can do all the work by yourself, so why do you need me? If Bruce thinks I'm useful, he wouldn't have asked you to come!"

Jason sighed, and just as he was about to explain, Dick stepped towards the staircase. Jason quickly rushed in front of him and said, "Bruce asked me to come because he's worried you might run into danger if you go out at night."

"But you live in Gotham, haven't you ever gone out at night?" Dick got even angrier, his face flushed, and he raised his voice, "You're younger than me, and you've never run into danger, so why can't I go out alone?!"

"It's not like that, Dick, you just haven't gotten familiar with Gotham's terrain yet, so it's easy for you to get lost, that's why we..."

"Then I'll never go out, and I'll never get familiar with the area!" 

"You can go out during the day."

"But I have classes during the day!"

Jason looked at Dick helplessly. It was obvious that Dick wanted everything - good academic performance, fighting skills, familiarity with Gotham, independence, and Bruce's recognition. This was a very typical emotional sensitivity period for a child.

At this time, hearing the commotion, Bruce came over. He saw the two were arguing again and felt a headache coming on. 

Bruce wanted to ask about the cause and effect of the situation, but he didn't know who to ask first. Whichever one he asked first, it might end up upsetting the other.

Fortunately, at this time, Alfred came over. Dick glared at Jason and hurriedly ran away, throwing a sentence before leaving, "I'm going back to school, and I won't come back this week."

Bruce watched his retreating back and shook his head helplessly. The most difficult thing now was that Dick seemed to completely not want to communicate with him.

Teenagers' emotional changes are always difficult to fathom. Their emotional outbursts have no memorable nodes, and Bruce didn't know when Dick started to be moody.

Although care and communication are the best ways to deal with this, the difficulty lies in the fact that children of this age do not want to communicate. They feel that listening to their parents means they have no independent views, and even talking to their parents is a sign of their own defeat.

Now, the three children living in Wayne Manor are at different stages of life. Aisha has made a lot of progress and has become the cute human cub that people generally perceive, although a bit clingy, but can still make people feel the joy of being parents.

Jason is at the peak of his physical ability, full of energy, likes to play wildly, and basically has no time to think too much. The only thing that makes people feel a bit tired is that his energy is too abundant, and in less than two hours, the books he has checked and marked have almost drowned Bruce.

Moreover, Jason also stares at Bruce with a shining eye contact full of expectation, hoping that his labor results can get feedback. And for a child who is good at reading, just praising him a few times is useless. Bruce feels that Jason may hope that he will finish reading all the books tonight.

As for Dick, he has become very emotionally sensitive. Jason's appearance has given him a great sense of crisis. The more crisis he feels, the more he wants to step into Gotham, but the more specific his actions, the more Bruce worries, and the more he will try to stop him, which will make Dick even more unhappy.

After Batman finally learned some communication skills, Dick began to refuse to communicate. Bruce knows that he has to go on a night patrol tonight, not to crack down on criminals, but to prevent Dick from wandering around.

After nightfall, Batman appeared on the rooftop of Wayne Tower again. He stood at the highest point of Gotham and looked down. Soon, he spotted a black shadow jumping across the rooftops of Gotham's buildings.

Batman swooped down, and sure enough, he saw Dick running on the rooftop. Dick had already seen the gliding Batman coming, but he had no intention of stopping, but instead accelerated and continued to run forward, even jumping high over the gap between two buildings.

This is a very dangerous move, because if the jump distance is not enough, he will definitely be smashed to pieces.

Instantly, Batman folded his cape and stood in front of Dick. Under the streetlights reflected on the glass curtain wall, he said to Dick, "Go back, Dick."

Dick stared at Batman with a tight-lipped expression, unwilling to back down, his face full of stubbornness. Soon, a trace of sadness appeared in his eyes as he looked at Batman and said, "I don't just want to learn some fighting skills from you, I also want to help you, help you accomplish your great cause. Why are you always rejecting me?!"

"I'm not." Batman looked at Dick and said, "It's just that you should be aware of how dangerous this city is."

"I'm not afraid!"

"But I am."

The sadness in Dick's eyes turned to shock. He didn't expect Batman to say that, so the psychological defense he had built up over the entire afternoon, like a city wall, instantly collapsed. He looked at Batman with great distress and said in a voice choked with tears:

"You look after Jason because he's more like you, and he can be adopted by you and become your good helper. So why don't you consider me? I'm not old enough and haven't finished school yet, isn't Jason the same?"

"Dick..." Batman gently called his name, but didn't look at him, instead looking down at the ground in front of him. "Everyone who gets dragged into the dark vortex can't get out unscathed, and this city really doesn't need one more orphan."

Dick clenched his fists tightly and shouted loudly, "I'm not your burden, I don't need your protection, I'll prove it to you!"

After shouting, he turned and ran away. Batman took a step forward, wanting to continue chasing after him, but Dick's emotions had obviously collapsed. If Batman continued to chase him like hunting prey, it would only put more pressure on him.

If there's one thing Batman has learned from his mutual torment with Schiller over the years, it's how to learn from this Professor to give people the greatest pressure, as well as how to reverse the operation to avoid putting pressure on people.

But soon, Batman had to chase after Dick's fleeing direction again, because a scream came from about two or three buildings away.

After hearing the scream, Dick didn't think twice and ran towards the source. Batman was almost there at the same time as him. As soon as he landed, he saw a black shadow raising a dagger towards a man in the alley.

Two batarangs sliced through the air at an extremely fast speed, hitting the black shadow. But the expected scene of blood splattering didn't happen.

The moment the light from Batman's utility belt shone on the black shadow, Dick let out a terrified scream and backed up two steps, falling to the ground.

Even Batman's gaze narrowed, because the appearance of that black shadow was truly horrifying.

It didn't look like a human, but a life-size doll, and a very realistic one with movable joints.

But even more terrifying was that the limbs of the doll, which were connected by ball joints after being separated, were not made of plastic or metal, but human limbs.

And it was evident that the limbs on this horrifying doll did not come from a single person.

The two legs should be from a woman, slender and fair, with high heels on. The left arm was muscular with a tattoo, clearly from a gang member. The right arm was much shorter than the other limbs, likely from a child.

The head of this doll was that of a young man wearing glasses, but his face was painted with a terrifying doll-like makeup, and he wore a crooked wig.

His lips had been completely removed and replaced with plastic, doll-like full lips, sewn together with iron wire. One of his eyes had been replaced with a doll's fake eye, while the other eye was wide open, expressing deep terror and pleading.

The moment Batman appeared, this doll-like creature collapsed to the ground, but Batman did not immediately go to check on it. Instead, he helped Dick up to the wall, patting his back as he retched, and sprayed a sedative on him.

Dick's face was deathly pale, because the impact of what he had just seen was simply too great. He had not been prepared at all to see the details of this monstrous creature.

It was a living, breathing human being turned into a doll. The congealed blood, the broken skin, and the terrified expression were all clearly visible.

Perhaps many people who have seen accident scenes know that the most impactful thing is not the visual, but the visual combined with the intense smell, and even the faint sound of blood spurting.

Being surrounded by various sensory experiences can make people involuntarily imagine how terrifying it would be if the tragedy happened to them.

This kind of association can directly break through people's psychological defenses, making them feel an overwhelming sense of fear and disgust. Dick is currently in this state.

Dick remained in a state of terror, and even the sedative spray didn't help. After the terror, he became angry and violent, trying to break free from Batman. Batman could only wrap his arms around him.

He kept patting Dick's back and saying, "Don't be afraid, don't be afraid... I'm here."

After a while, Dick finally calmed down. He started trembling and crying. Batman instinctively grasped his current state of mind and continued patting his back, saying, "I know, this is terrifying. I was sweating bullets too, my shirt is soaked."

Dick's crying lessened a bit, and Batman said, "Anyone seeing such a cruel scene for the first time would feel afraid. You're not weak."

After crying for a while longer, Dick finally calmed down. He sniffed and wiped his tears, looking at Batman and saying, "...You'd better go check on him, he seems about to kill someone."

After making sure Dick was fine, Batman released him and walked towards the horrifying doll. But before he could reach it, a small black figure suddenly emerged from behind the trash cans at the end of the alley and shouted at Batman, "You're Batman, right? You must be the great Hero Batman!"

Batman was taken aback. Great Hero Batman? He had never heard anyone call him that. For a long time, Batman's reputation had been quite poor, and people only thought of him as a weirdo in a tight suit. Even now, he was far from reaching the level of a great hero.

When the light from Batman's utility belt shone on the figure, the person shielded his eyes, seemingly irritated by the light.

But soon, he rushed to the side of the doll-like creature that had collapsed on the ground, helping the other man up, and said, "Oh my god, Uncle Veratti, you almost got attacked by a terrifying doll!"

After the chubby middle-aged man stood up, Batman realized he looked familiar and was likely the driver, holding the keys to an expensive car.

The chubby Veratti clutched his chest, seemingly still not fully recovered, and after seeing the terrifying doll on the ground, he let out an ear-piercing scream, rolled his eyes, and started to collapse.

"Batman! Quick, help Uncle Veratti! He's my dad's driver, here to pick me up from school!"

It was only now that Batman got a good look at this small black figure - a young boy with black hair and blue-green eyes. He didn't look frightened at all, but rather excited.

The boy rushed up to Batman and tried to grab his cape, though Batman dodged it. The boy then spoke rapidly, "Oh my god! I can't believe it! I'm going to meet my idol Batman! You have to give me an autograph, I've admired you for so long! I knew you were a great Hero, and you've saved me this time! I knew I was right about you!"

He said this while looking at Batman with hopeful eyes. Then he clenched his fists, stomped his feet, and said, "I just knew I'd run into Batman! I knew he'd be as handsome as I imagined!!"

Just as Batman opened his mouth to say something, the boy ran a bit further away and looked at Batman, saying, "Oh, right, you can take me home, then I can treat you to a late-night snack."

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Next Chapter>>Chapter 1138 Professor (Part Ten)