Chapter 34 Chapter 34 [VIP]

Megan felt dizzy from suffocating. After her neck was released and her blood circulation resumed, she seemed to be stuck in a quagmire, unable to move. She could only maintain a fixed posture and look at the person in front of her.

He said: "Meghan, you are rejecting pain, not life."

Megan stood in an empty world, there was nothing here, only dryness, dead silence and...death;

But in the outside world, perception is painful, response is painful, they demand a high price from her, carrying all she has, and rushing out madly.

Life is a loss.

And now someone connected them all and told her the truth that she herself did not understand, that she was afraid to face the terrifying world full of pain, and she escaped in a desperate attempt, even giving up her life.

However, the clown leaned over and looked at her at this time, with a smile that obviously had a strange and different meaning. He held Megan's face with both hands and asked her coaxingly: "But what are you afraid of?" As he asked the question, his expression became more ferocious, and the wrinkles on his forehead were deep, but he was asking knowingly.

"Arkham is your paradise, your nest for growth. You are here, by my side..."

He always smiles, and now is no exception. After all, you have to face the world with a smile! He is such a warm, generous, and open-minded person. One day in the past, he understood the truth of the world through laughter, and he wanted to bring laughter to everyone, and now is no exception.

The clown not only laughed himself, but also pressed his thumbs on both sides of Megan's mouth, pulling a clear arc on her face to make her laugh as well, but her smile was too awkward. She didn't know how to laugh at all. Her face was distorted and expressionless. In those eyes that slowly focused, there was only a huge and empty blankness.

She was still shedding tears unconsciously, and after his manic laughter, the Joker said to her word by word in an absolute tone: "What are you afraid of? This Arkham Asylum is the best growth environment I chose for you. I thought you would grow up well, after all -"

"Look at the treatment you get here, look at the garbage you pick up, oh no, your harvest,"

"Nothing you feared happened, did it?"

Everything she feared did not happen. For a child like Megan, staying in Arkham is much better than staying outside. You know, medicine cannot cure her, so the Joker created a "good environment" for her. No one here regards her as an alien. At most, they just think she has some minor problems.

Even if someone had bad intentions towards her, she was very popular in Arkham! Her friends could handle those problems for her.

In such a peaceful and friendly living environment, even her self-awareness began to gradually recover. Her perception, cognition, and the responses she produced unconsciously, and finally the "woo" sound she actually made, were all proof that her condition had improved.

But now, when he found that she was still stubborn, the clown decided to simply smash the glass jar covering her -

Anyway, the mechanism he had developed and adjusted for her was outdated and now needed to update the core code.

And this is exactly what the Joker is good at. He rubbed Megan's cheek, put down the fingers that were pulling the corner of her mouth, and saw the empty and confused look in her eyes. He was not surprised at all.

If a miserable and timid child could take action, change something, or gain something before, she would never be like this now!

She is still a pleasure worth looking forward to. It cannot be harvested too early, otherwise the real grand prize will not be obtained in the end. The clown has the patience to wait, and now he makes his classic hypocritical expression. He acts casually, but it is enough to deal with the child in front of him.

He would teach her anything she didn't understand.

The clown put his hand on Megan's shoulder, showing that this was a formal attitude, and even his tone and accent were no longer strange, "Listen carefully, my child,"

"You are here, by my side, and there is no pain."

He even gave her examples, "Look, you're the only one who's refusing. You're still immersed in the past and deceived by past experiences! But in fact, no one here treats you badly, no one asks anything of you, and what have you gained?" He showed his sincere joy, as if her gains were really something remarkable.

The clown stood up and saw that she was still standing there. Her tears had stopped, but her whole body might have been numb from crying and she couldn't move. He raised his eyebrows and went to pick her up. This was a rare moment of tenderness for him. He took Megan to the dark room, took out her box and opened it.

There were a lot of odds and ends in it, all of which Megan had brought back herself, as well as her small plastic fish tank and fish, which were also on the shelf.

They were all garbage she had picked up, but the clown glanced at them and said to Megan in a gentle tone, "I believe you are fully aware of these things, but you just didn't realize it before."

"So now you understand? You have all these 'good' things. Now it's time to cheer up and see how much tolerance the world has for you."

…

Megan's operating mechanism has been changed, from a "clockwork puppet" to a curious baby, still completely obedient to the clown's words, but beyond that, she is finally willing to actively try to contact and understand the outside world, be curious about things that are unfamiliar to her, and try to understand them.

She stayed in Arkham for a whole year, and slept by the fire in winter, which resulted in blisters on her legs. The Joker then decided to throw this child who lacked common sense out. After all, if she was kept in Arkham forever, even if she was smart, she would still be a fool.

The Joker made a decision and acted quickly. He asked Nelson to take her out of Arkham Asylum, back to the two-story building, and hired a tutor for her.

Megan's basic knowledge is almost at the level of third or fourth grade in elementary school. Her progress in mathematics is a little ahead, but she has only studied a few subjects in total. She knows nothing about the rest such as social studies, art, music, etc. After all, she didn't understand anything at all before.

Now she should explore and try to understand it, and even if she doesn't understand it for the time being, she should remember it in her mind.

The tutor hired by the Joker in the identity of Arthur Damon is very qualified. He does not discriminate against special children, does not express excessive and inappropriate concern, and has enough patience to teach a child who has no foundation in some subjects.

The Joker would sometimes come out of Arkham to see her, just like in the early days, he didn't see Megan often. After all, he was busy with too many things, and they were all more important than her. Occasionally he would come to see her when he remembered her, and then take Megan, who was afraid of the outside world, out for a walk.

Gotham's landscape is not flat, as it was originally built in a valley. The best land serves as the economic and administrative area, and food cultivation is also essential. Naturally, there is no shortage of hills on the edge, and some buildings are located unevenly among the hills, like a mountain city. Along the road going down the mountain are windows or roofs of other people's houses, and you can drive into them at any time, giving the owner a little surprise.

From the rooftop of the tallest building in the hilly area to the rugged coastline, they had seen all the sea-eroded landforms in Gotham, climbed the viaduct, or stood on the railroad tracks, only to jump off the tracks at the last moment when the train was approaching.

Those were deserted places, and the Joker took her to explore treasures buried in Gotham centuries ago.

A tall and thin man in a purple suit and windbreaker walked in front, while Megan lagged behind, walking slowly. She had been well taken care of for more than a year, and her cheeks finally had a plump curve, no longer the malnourished and skinny appearance she had at the beginning.

They stood on a cliff by the sea. The sea breeze blew his clothes and hair back. When he stood still, he waited for Megan to crawl to his side like a snail.

Megan held a few stones she had picked up on the road. The fact that they were picked up proved that they were a little special and had their own characteristics in her eyes. Now she held them in her hands and threw them out casually.

Her grip on the stone loosened slightly, and the stones fell onto the road at her feet. Megan saw that they had fallen to the ground and did not move before continuing forward, walking all the way to the clown without any sense of urgency.

"My child, are you afraid of such a world?" The clown asked calmly. He looked at the sea in front of him. There were ships passing by in the far distance. They looked so small, even smaller than ants on the ground.

Beside him, Megan, who could already respond reluctantly, shook her head. She was calm and the fear in her eyes had dissipated, but she was still separated from this world by a layer and was still unwilling to come.

The clown didn't get angry or force her to do anything. He held the cane in one hand, gently raised it and tapped it on the ground. The sound attracted Megan's attention.

"I'll tell you," he said with a smile, "I'll bring you these 'good' things to dispel your doubts."

He always keeps his word, especially when it comes to Megan! It's easy to trick a sick child, and it's a piece of cake for the clown, but it takes a lot of effort to turn her into what he expects her to be.

He lowered his head and saw her fluffy hair. The end of her black hair was curled and moved by the wind. He said, "Look up and look at me."

Megan was an obedient child. She looked up at him when asked to do so. However, when she looked up again half a minute later, she found that the clown was still looking at her. She didn't understand, but she didn't ask any questions. She just looked back quietly.

The clown was already used to her personality, and he put the top hat in his other hand on her head. It was so heavy for her that it almost fell down when he put it down. Megan reached out to hold it and let it stay on her head.

She looks like an obedient child, but maybe she has an empty head or doesn't want to communicate or socialize with others. After all, she still only accepts things silently and has no opinions or ideas of her own. She has made some progress, but not much.

After enjoying the sea breeze for a while and looking at the coastal scenery, they were ready to leave. The Joker was still walking in front. After all, he was tall and had long legs, so he walked fast. Megan, on the other hand, had not grown much in height... It was not yet time for her to grow rapidly.

When he walked in front, he could sense the gaze coming from behind him——

She had expressed it clearly enough, with a sense of concentration and a certain endearment and pity in it! It was just that the clown didn't like mediocre plays. He wanted to write the best script for the exciting content, and there had to be a good stage, and the audience was indispensable.

The author has something to say:

Gotham is built in Gotham Valley - a reference to the landscape described in "Batman: White Knight", which contains several pages of comics that look like a mountain city like Chongqing.

Speed ​​up the progress a bit, in the next chapter the clown will continue to make trouble, he does bad things every day, here a child will be deceived and call daddy (pointing)

Thank you for your support, please leave a comment on this chapter to receive a small red envelope~

The update time tomorrow is uncertain. I don’t have any drafts on hand right now. I’ll update as soon as I finish writing.