American manga: Batman after graduating from the madhouse

When I was a child, my father told me that there were no such things as spirits and ghosts, but he was wrong.

Solomon Grundy is proof of this, a walking zombie with powers comparable to Superman.

Grandy is not like Superman, and he is even more different from ordinary people. He is immortal. Even if I die, he will "alive" forever. ——Batman "Superhuman Research Files"

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It was a freezing night, and I came to a strange city.

I shouldn't be here, at least not in Gotham this late at night.

Anyway, I missed the last train and was not sleepy at all, so I had to wander around the streets and alleys near the station, and finally found a place to stay by the bonfire in the homeless camp.

There were a few tramps next to the fire, all wearing dirty windbreakers. Hey, tramps... Although I was in a mess myself, what the hell.

I'm a...at least I was a big shot, I've worked on Wall Street, I've seen a lot.

I took the bread and wanted to leave these dirty guys, but a voice stopped me.

It's an old man.He looked out of place compared to the other homeless people. He was just covered with a pile of old newspapers and huddled in a dark corner. "Come here, kid, come here."

He chuckled under his breath.

I wanted to leave, but his voice became lower and lower, as if he was about to cry.

What really made me damn determined was when he said my name.

You know, if someone calls your name in a strange place, you can't just walk away, that's the rule...

Well, at least that's the rule over there.

His face was ugly, his eyes were dull, with gray, black and red eye circles, and he was staring straight at the table without any anger at all.

His skin is gray and his body is as skinny as a stick, making him look obscenely thin.The scalp could be seen through the dirty hair and was covered in fleas.

"You look a little haggard," I said.In fact, he looked much worse than haggard, he looked like a dead man.

He chuckled, his voice a bit sad. "Anyone who goes through something like this will inevitably be severely damaged, kid."

"What have you been through?" I shouldn't have asked, but my damn curiosity drove me. This was probably a mistake.

“I came to Gotham a few years ago, and they were building an underground project sponsored by Wayne Group. Their family was quite wealthy, so I stayed.

I rented a room, an attic, in an old house behind Crime Alley.They only rent out the top floor, these damn rich people.

So there were only two tenants, Mr. Sellers and myself.We all lived in the attic, which had two rooms with doors next to each other.

But I haven't heard him move around, and he never seems to go out much.There is a cat at home, raised by the owner, and it comes upstairs to say hello from time to time. "He paused.

“I usually eat with the family but he never comes downstairs to eat, so it was a whole week before I saw him.

At that time, he just walked out of the bathroom upstairs. He looked very old, with a wrinkled face, like an old monkey. To my surprise, he was actually a disabled person - he only had his left hand.

After that encounter, I didn't see him for a long time.

One person mentioned that they hadn't seen him in almost a few months, and that the usual unusual noises in his room had recently disappeared, and asked me if I could go take a look.I said it doesn't matter.

So I went.The door was unlocked and he was lying on the bed, covered with a thin sheet. You could even see his ribs.His room was filled with odors, mostly from the bathroom, and oh my god I didn't want to stay any longer.

But he seemed happy to see me. Do you want to see a doctor? 'I said.

He shook his head. 'I'm not sick,' he said, 'I'm just hungry, that's all. '

"'Are you sure?' I said, 'I can go get someone. It won't be a problem. They will make house calls for the elderly.'

"He said, 'I don't want to get anyone in trouble, but I'm so hungry.'

'Okay, I'll get you something to eat,' I said, 'something to digest. 'He surprised me as it turned out.He looked embarrassed and finally said in a very, very soft voice: 'Meat.Give me some fresh meat, raw.I don't want anyone else to cook my food, meat, please'

"'No problem.' I said and went downstairs. I once had the idea of ​​stealing some from the cat food bowl, but of course I didn't do that. I always felt that it was not good for an old man. Nothing else Choice, I walked to the refrigerator and got him a package of the best tenderloins.

"The cat smelled the smell and followed me upstairs. I said, 'Get down, little kitty! This isn't for you, it's for Mr. Seigler. He's not feeling well and needs this meat for his supper.' But the little cat The thing whined at me, as if no one had fed it for a week. I knew this was impossible because its food bowl was still half full. Greedy cat, I shook my head and it followed me. Halfway up the stairs, he refused to move forward. He gave me two paws and jumped out.

I knocked on the door and he said 'come in'.He was still lying on the bed, and I handed the package of meat over to him. He said, "Thank you, you are so kind-hearted." After saying that, he lay on the bed and tore open the plastic packaging.There was a pool of brown blood under the plastic tray, dripping onto his blanket, but he didn't notice it at all, and I looked at Straight Hair.

When I walked out of the room, I heard the sound of someone grabbing strips of meat with their hands and stuffing it into their mouths hungrily.But he never got out of bed.

He got up the next day, and from then on, despite his age, he was in and out all day long, I think you know what I mean.People say raw meat is bad for the body, but it was surprisingly good for him.Have you ever eaten raw meat?”

The old man's sudden question made me confused for a moment, "Well... yes, but they taste terrible."

"I can't," he said, "I like well-cooked meat." He licked his lips, "But some people like it," and his eyes looked a little strange at that moment.

But he soon continued his story, "Just like that, a few days later, the greedy kitten suddenly disappeared. A few days later at night, I heard its cry. I was trying to sleep, But I just couldn't sleep... At midnight, I heard it meowing, meowing, meowing, meowing. It wasn't loud, but it's the kind of sound that always makes you nervous when you can't sleep.

I thought it might be stuck in the rafters or locked out of the house.No matter where it is, if it keeps screaming like this, I will definitely not be able to sleep.So I got up, got dressed, and put on my boots in case I needed to climb up to the roof.Then I went out to find the cat.

I came to the corridor and found that the sound was coming from the next room.I knocked on the door, but no one answered.I pushed it and the door was unlocked.I walked into the room and figured the cat might be stuck somewhere.Maybe he was injured.I have no idea.I just want to help it, really.

Mr. Seigler was not there, and the room was empty.There was just something meowing in the corner... I turned on the light to take a closer look. "

He took a breath, "I don't understand how it's still alive. I mean, it was still alive at the time, above a certain level...but..." I don't dare to describe that horrific scene here for fear of attracting... An irresistible mysterious force.

"But soon, it died. I was at a loss when I suddenly heard someone walking up to the attic. I thought what should I do? The scene didn't look good at the time. The door opened and it was Mr. Seigler.

He sees it all.Then he looked at me and said, 'Kill it. 'I thought his voice was a little weird, and I didn't know what it was at first.When he got closer, I realized he was crying. "

"Then he said, 'It's all up to me if I'm going to survive. But you killed it, after all the hard work I put in,' he said, 'to keep the meat fresh and the life alive. After all the hard work I put in, After so much hard work.'

"'I'm an old man,' he said, 'and I need my meat. It needs it too.'

I don't know how to answer, it?Who is that?

He wiped away the tears with his hands. 'I don't want to cause trouble for others. ’ He cried as he spoke, then raised his head and looked at me. 'I never wanted any trouble,' he said, 'that's my meat.Now,' he said, 'who will feed me now? '"

He slowly approached, "Who will feed it again?"

"It?" I asked doubtfully. "Well, it has been in Mr. Segler's room, and they depend on each other." The old man smiled.

A gust of wind blew over and blew up the old man's dirty sleeve on the right side.

"You should have heard this, young man." He stood up slowly, his wrinkled face looking so weird under the firelight, "Solomon Grandi was born on Monday, baptized on Tuesday, married on Wednesday, and dyed on Thursday. Sick, seriously ill on Friday, dead on Saturday, dead on Sunday, Solomon Grandi will live his life to the end.”

He sang, walking slowly towards me.I put my hands on the ground in fear and tried hard to stand up, but failed. "Solomon Grandi, never look back, he is waiting for you behind you..." He finally finished singing, "It has been hungry for a long time, and so have I." I turned around suddenly, and a huge figure was behind me. Standing quietly...

Strange creaking sounds often come from homeless campsites at night, and people say they are owls eating the bodies of homeless people.