Day 11 of customs clearance

Adrian leaned against the wall, twirling his hat in his hand, his eyes fixed on the crowds passing by on the street without uttering a word.

Before him was a noisy crowd, and above him was a girl's clear, melodious voice, like a nightingale's song. Adrian listened to her doubts about him.

He thought he should indeed have doubts.

"You've been traveling around for many days, and I think you've seen enough that Gotham is rotten, Gotham's lower levels are even more rotten, and the root of Gotham's decay is capital."

"Do you want to follow the knights to achieve fame and fortune, become a superior person, and then oppress 'us'? Or do you want to gain power to flaunt your power in front of us, the superior people, to control their lives and deaths, and to satisfy your own selfish desires?"

Elena squatted on the wall, gazing into the distance, her youthful face a mixture of sarcasm, doubt, and a profound understanding of human nature.

The upper part of her field of vision was a steel jungle, while the lower part consisted of buildings from the 1980s and 90s. It seemed that once you reached a certain height, the world would be divided into several classes.

The homeless and drug addicts lying on the streets are the best illustration of this. They stare at the passersby with dazed eyes, assessing whether they are worth taking advantage of in order to gain a greater chance of survival.

The people being watched were used to it and continued doing what they were doing. They were ruthless, but they might still have ways to protect themselves from wolves.

The glitz and glamour depicted in the promotional video are so different from the real living conditions. A city is divided in two; who is reveling on the high places, and who is becoming nourishment for the people on the lower levels?

"Alibaba, which type are you?"

Adrian didn't understand what there was to answer. He wasn't even surprised when he saw Elena's sadness and anger; he simply couldn't empathize with her.

But he could understand the hidden meaning behind Elena's words.

What did she want him to admit? Adrian gave a fake smile. He was just an ordinary, unremarkable out-of-town kid (player) who had been captivated by the charm of the Arkham Knight and wanted to follow him.

Based on the principle that if he's unhappy, no one else should be happy either, Adrian considered for a second and decided to follow his heart, not caring about being sarcastic or sharp-tongued.

Adrian turned slightly to the side, glancing around as he spoke to Elena, "You're wrong. I'm neither one of those who oppress you, nor one of you. These things have nothing to do with me. Are you venting your emotions, trying to dissuade me, or warning me?"

"Is the knight your spiritual creed? In other words, is he your god?"

Before Elena could ponder the seemingly disjointed statement, Adrian continued, "Is it my appearance that makes you, all of you, feel threatened? One of the worst human traits—jealousy. From having a special status before the knight to having your status lowered or even replaced, what did you do wrong? And I have a certain value to you, enough for the knight to allow me to join him."

Elena was speechless with shock. How did he know?

“Looks like I was right,” Adrian raised his eyebrows, his expression filled with a long-lost joy—joy at deducing the truth, and joy at exposing the darkness in people’s hearts.

There's nothing new under the sun. Human nature can be easily deduced by simply identifying the underlying needs, which are nothing more than money, power, and fame.

Physiological, safety, social, esteem, and self-actualization – people crave whichever they lack.

Elena seemed—no, she was just furious and embarrassed—and, taking advantage of her height on the wall, slapped Adrian hard across the back of the bed.

"You're so good at talking, you've said everything, good and bad."

Adrian clutched his shoulder: ?! How audacious.

He hadn't seen such a lively and bold NPC in a long time. No, wait, why was the NPC attacking the player who was helping her? He was going to appeal, appeal fiercely.

"So what if I am? What can you do to me, you outsider?"

"Why do you always call me an outsider? Is Gotham so fond of discriminating against people?"

Elena crossed her arms: "You practically have 'I'm an outsider, come and take me' written all over your head. Here's a piece of advice: the Knights are not to be trifled with. Gotham doesn't need non-natives to participate in the game. If you want to be cannon fodder, then never mind."

"So you and your sister aren't biological sisters, right? Five years ago, you escaped from the Diamond District because you were threatened by Black Mask, right? Robin saved you."

"The way you treat the Arkham Knights isn't the same as how you treat your boss."

Adrian could clearly see that Elena had a murderous intent in an instant, and was enraged by having her secret exposed.

"See, I was right."

Elena was so enraged by Adrian's barely concealed smugness that she wanted to kill him. She didn't deny it, "The more you know, the faster you die."

"Even in death, I'll know the truth," Adrian said, unconcerned about dying or not, since he wasn't going to delete his account anyway.

His intuition told him that Arkham Knight, the Elena sisters, and Robin had a secret relationship.

Who is whose family/lover/benefactor/friend? It's so hard to guess. Adrian thought for a moment and then crossed out the lover option. The Elena sisters were too young five years ago. Robin?

Adrian realized he had overlooked one question: which Robin was five years ago?

Adrian decided to leave this issue aside for now and find out more about it when he investigated Batman later.

"I was born into wealth and privilege, but a few years later my family suffered a tragedy. I even faced life-threatening situations and was forced to change my name and sell myself just to barely survive..."

Adrian skipped over the detailed suffering described in the system's character introduction. The two girls, one big and one small, not only survived in the crime alley but also became bar owners, undoubtedly paying a price that ordinary people could not afford.

“Stop looking at me with those pitiful eyes,” Elena said harshly. “I don’t need anyone’s sympathy.”

"OK".

Adrian waved his hand to suppress his excessive emotions. His heart always went against his brain; he was still prepared to move on to the next part of the story and finish the main plot as soon as possible.

It's frustrating to not be able to catch anyone for a long time and not be able to achieve the original goal. After the excitement comes the sudden fatigue. At least now most of his attention has started to shift. He has to make sure that he doesn't force himself to do the task in the end.

Batman? Joker?

It seems like the two of them always appear together, with neither of them missing.

Elena stared at Adrian's retreating figure, unable to believe that he would give up questioning her so easily. Or perhaps it was a strange feeling that if Adrian persisted in demanding answers from her, she would provide him with all the information she had, regardless of whose interests were at risk.

In a daze, Elena uncontrollably gave Adrian an ambiguous answer.

"The knight has been watching you."

—Complete the [Knight's Gaze] side quest—

Adrian smiled.