[Zhongyingmei] The clown is actually me

"Jack?"

"You know my name?" Jack was taken aback for a moment, then smiled: "Well, this name is not a niche."

Bruce looked at him incredulously. Jack had curly short black hair. His complexion was still conspicuously white. But at least he wasn't as sick as before. He had a pair of gold-rimmed glasses on his tall nose, golden green. His eyeballs are hidden in the deep eye sockets, and the flickering light like will-o'-the-wisps has disappeared, replaced by calm, soft, and even somewhat lukewarm colors.

After a few months, the Dionysian factor completely healed his body, allowing him to return to what he was before he fell into the chemical waste pool—an ordinary person.

Bruce considered the words for a while, and tentatively said calmly: "Sorry,? You look very similar to a friend I knew before,? He was affected during the riot/riot in Black Gate Prison, and unfortunately passed away."

"Then maybe we have some fate,? I was also injured in the Heimen riot."

"Injuried?"

Jack said and pointed to his head with his finger: "Yes,? There was a heavy blow here,? I can't remember many things before."

"Do you live near here?"

"Is that so? I used to live in economy housing nearby, and I'm moving tomorrow, to the apartment on Poole King Street. Today is my last night here."

Bruce was silent for a while, he was not used to talking to Jack like this.In the past, Jack was very skillful in speaking. He would be able to reduce the amount of information contained in his words, and instead use various wordings to induce others to say more things.Saying his address to strangers like now? It was something he would never do before,? Maybe he has really become stupid,? Normal people who need so many fancy eyes.

He couldn't tell what he was feeling at the moment, but Jack didn't think about it so much at all. He just felt that Bruce had a special hit with him, so he handed him a bag of fish food: "Are you interested in feeding the fish? I guess you never Squeezed fish food with the hand you hold bills and checks, Mr. Bruce."

"You know me?" Bruce felt like he had said something stupid after he finished speaking. Whether he was wearing a mask or not, he was a household name in Gotham City.

"Your picture hangs on TV, computer, and advertising screens every day, and you can hear voices praising you every day, 'Mr. Wayne donated a school', 'Mr. Wayne founded a new charity foundation' , I don’t know if you’re annoying or not, but I’m tired of listening anyway.” Jack snorted a few times, grabbed a handful of fish food, squeezed it hard, and threw it into the pond, “Forget it, I’ll take yours too. Kindness, you and the government have drafted the 'Guidelines for the Use of Economical Housing', so that people like me who have no money and no ID can live in a house and find a new job, instead of going to sleep in a bridge hole as a homeless person."

"You can get a job without ID?"

Jack scratched his hair: "It's just that a job in an office requires proof. I've only been doing odd jobs. I've worked as a cashier in a convenience store, a tutor, and a butcher shop clerk. Anyway, I'm the only one eating, so it's not too tight. .I still have time to do other things after work.”

Bruce couldn't imagine Jack wearing an apron scanning a barcode at a convenience store, so he could only say, "Anything else?"

"Painting." Jack shrugged, "Economic housing has a loft, and no one lives in it anyway, so the landlord will use it as a studio for me."

Bruce was silent again, and Jack didn't force him to speak. The two sat side by side and fed the fish. After a long time, Bruce said with a little difficulty: "Since you know that I am Bruce Wayne, do you think I do it?" Does everything make sense, is Gotham getting better?"

"If you ask me this, I don't know. I haven't seen what Gotham looked like before." Jack shook his head: "However, I hope this will not change. What will happen in the future, what will happen, who I don’t know, now is the best time.”

For a moment, Bruce remembered what Jack once said: "...Although I don't know what I will become in the future and what I will choose, at least for now, I don't want to be a bad person."

Bruce looked at Jack's side face. He lost his abnormally pale complexion like a plaster wax figure, his black-green hair like algae, and his bright red smile. Jack looked completely different from the colorful clown. No one recognized him, and he lived safely in Gotham City alone for several months, like a reclusive hermit.

Maybe it was his own will to forget everything. The Dionysian factor repaired his sick brain and mutilated limbs, and Jack who returned to the world is no longer the Jack he used to be.He had forgotten about the Joker, and he had forgotten about Batman, without them in his newborn brain.He didn't want to let himself fall into a bad person, and it would be painful to force himself to be a good person. The last choice was to stay away, stay away from the stories of the past, stay away from the source of pain, and start a new life with the name of Jack Napier.

Thinking of this, he couldn't help but feel a little sad. He might not be able to face Jack as Batman in the future.

"Gotham will definitely get better, thank you for giving me this confidence." Bruce whispered, then put on a Gotham sweetheart smile, and stretched out his hand to Jack, "Would you like to take me to see you?" I can have such a happy chat with the painter, maybe I have some fate with his works.”

Jack smiled, and threw the last bit of fish food into the pool: "Forget it, I can only paint some still lifes and portraits."

"Here again?" When he spoke, Jack was taking the newly painted oil painting off the easel and putting it in the shade to dry.

He wore a cheap apron and an equally cheap shirt rolled up to the elbows.Showing white and slender arms.He first took off the apron that was messed up by the paint, put his hands in the sink to wash clean, then stroked his messy black hair back, walked to the tea pot, and poured Jason a cup of black tea.

"How are you doing recently?" Jason was dressed as a college student, wearing crisp jeans, with a schoolbag slung over his shoulder. This is the standard dress of "Bruce Wayne's adopted son" that often appears in media shots. .

"What else? It's just ordinary." Jack threw him the key to the studio, "Go in and see for yourself, you don't need to pay, just take whichever one you want."

Since the last time we met and chatted by chance, Jack, Bruce and the others got acquainted unexpectedly. Occasionally, Bruce would buy a few paintings as decorations at a moderate price. However, the Wayne Group has been busy recently. Instead, his adopted son did it for him.

Jason knew that it wasn't that he didn't want to come, but that he didn't dare to come. He was afraid that if he appeared too often, it would remind Jack of something, but he couldn't let Jack live alone. Jack was like a kite, which could give him a broad space, but the kite line must be firmly grasped in hand.Therefore, Bruce justified Jason to pay attention to his situation on the grounds of buying the painting.

Jack is in very good condition now. He lives on the first floor of the apartment. The landlord raised the rent and allowed Jack to use the garden. Hydrangeas, English roses and zinnias.

He completely forgot about the Joker and Batman, and only heard some news about heroes on the TV. He didn't care too much about Batman. In his eyes, Batman was just a symbol hanging over Gotham. It has nothing to do with him as an ordinary citizen.He cares more about the prices of vegetables and meat, about the community insurance issued by the government, about the fluctuations in his savings card, about the flowers he raises and the neighbors' free-range cats.When Batman and Jason looked at him, there would be a subtle flash of gratitude that he was once a little man, who was whitewashed by fate and pushed onto the stage of madness, and now he was a little man again.

Jason didn't bother, he just picked a smaller oil painting because it was easier to hold.

He walked out of the studio door, and Jack brought him a cup of brewed black tea and a bouquet of zinnias tied with ribbons.Of course he knew that his paintings could not be sold at the price Bruce offered, and he was able to pay for the studio and the park when he rented an apartment without ID, mostly because Bruce paid for his blood transfusion.So he prepared bouquets for Bruce and others every time, and he would send a greeting card to show his silent thanks during the holidays.

"Aren't you smoking?" Jason took the cup of black tea.

Jack raised his eyebrows suspiciously: "I've never smoked before."

Only then did Jason realize that he was about to miss the point. Fortunately, Jack didn't care about this detail. He cared more about the kitten poking out from the bushes and meowing at him. Obviously, the thick-headed neighbor forgot to give it Add cat food to the food bowl.

He took some leftover chicken and mackerel out of the fridge for some cat meal.Jason was teasing the cat, but suddenly he stood up and scared the cat back into the bushes. Jack saw that his face was full of vigilance, his ears were pricked up, and he seemed to be listening to the voice in the wind. want to laugh.Jason couldn't laugh. He tore off the tablecloth from the round table and put it directly on Jack's head. He stretched out his arms and threw Jack to the ground. At the same time, he yelled at the neighbor who was trimming the grass on the other side of the fence: "Get down!"

Almost at the next instant, the ground trembled, the earth trembled violently, and the houses trembled in the explosion.Tongues of flame shot up into the sky, and the scorched residue splashed on the two people.

"What's going on?!" Jack yelled, his ears ringing from the blast.

The neighbor yelled hoarsely: "Fear/horror/attack/attack, it is terror/horror/attack/attack!"

"Don't move here!" Jason pulled the tablecloth over his head, "I'll deal with this kind of thing, you just stay here...don't let them see your face!"