"Cobolt," the prison guard knocked on the cell door, "it's time to work."
The penguin man suddenly opened his eyes. In fact, he woke up half an hour ago, but he hadn't slept so soundly for a long time.
The warden, Bella Bettivan, is a man without any humanity. Everyone has the right to rest, except the penguin man himself. He still remembers that when he complained, the woman glanced at him dimly and said, "Isn't this the consciousness of a leader? Come on, Cobert, when you make more money than others before you go to prison, you should expect that you will have more work than others after you go to prison."
Shut up, you inhuman capitalist!
The penguin man worked in the morning and at night, and during the time of exercise, he tried his best to catch up on sleep. He had long discovered that Betiven didn't care whether he would die suddenly, even if he showed his talents, so he had to work hard to survive and survive in his own way.
After working day and night for many days, the penguin finally had a short and relaxing sleep last night. Although it was only a few hours, it made him lie in bed and was reluctant to get up.
"Working hours?" The penguin man walked to the door and noticed that this was the prison guard who was in charge of guarding every night when he led the "volunteers" to work. He called the other person's name to get closer, "Locke? I don't think it's working hours now?"
The sky was getting dim. It was early morning now, but after driving to the East District and working for a while, the sun would rise. These "volunteers" were only wearing hoods and had no insurance, so they might be discovered to be abnormal.
"This is the order from the warden. You are obliged to complete your assignment."
The penguin man noticed that Prison Officer Locke looked energetic and in good spirits. He shook his head and followed him.
Along the way, the penguin man saw some prisoners lying on the bed with comfortable smiles on their faces, while others had already gotten up and were even doing yoga.
He called on his temporary subordinates - those serious criminals whose minimum charge was murder, and turned them into unconscious puppets, and then a group of people got into the car.
Ever since they found a fainted prisoner in the warehouse last time, the Penguin Man would always watch them put on the hoods to make sure everything was safe.
A heavy truck carrying people from Blackgate Prison was driving on the road in Gothenburg.
The world before his eyes seemed to be thoroughly cleansed, presenting an unusual brilliance. The penguin man touched his eye sockets. Could it be that his vision had improved?
The sky was still gloomy at night, with only the vehicles and street lights on the road shining brightly. He breathed in the evening breeze and felt his mood suddenly relaxed.
The penguin man stuck his head out and looked at the lighted Wayne Tower in the distance. His expression suddenly changed: "Hey! Hey, what is that?"
The only people in the car with him were prison guards and serious criminals, and the criminals naturally did not answer him.
With the naked eye, you can see dozens of winged monsters spreading their wings and flying among the city's tall buildings. From time to time, lights flash by, as if it is the filming scene of some large-scale fantasy drama.
Some people stopped to take pictures, but the penguin man was the only one who seemed surprised.
The prison guard in front turned around and glanced at him: "Cobert, don't stick your head out of the window."
Then he just didn't care, yes, he just didn't care!
Is the Penguin Man the only one who saw all this? Or is it all his hallucination?
When the car drove into the old town, the penguin man finally understood what was going on.
The large advertising screens on the exterior walls of some buildings were showing these "monsters", but the penguin people discovered that they were actually gargoyles that could be seen everywhere in Gothic. They had hideous looks, horns on their foreheads, and looked like gargoyles with wings spread. However, these creatures, which looked like living statues, had colorful balloons tied to their claws.
The promotional footage was obviously shot in Kota Kinabalu.
Facing the moonlight, these gargoyles came to life one by one. They took the balloons from a man dressed like a magician, with only a small part of his back and slender fingers showing. Then, the gargoyles flapped their wings and flew up. They landed in front of the children's windows, looked at the sleeping children with cautious and cute eyes, then wrapped the balloons outside her window and continued to distribute balloons.
The voiceover said: "In order to welcome Children's Day, Wandering Magician C has prepared a city-wide magic show for everyone. It is currently in the preview stage. If anyone gets a balloon given by the gargoyles, they can use the balloon to go to the Iceberg Construction Company to get a handful of candy. The lucky person who gets the golden candy wrapper will get an unimaginable prize!"
There are at least 20 days left until Children's Day!
What kind of magic can make a gargoyle come alive? This is simply magic!
Moreover, this wandering magician C... the penguin man had an extremely ugly expression. He looked out the window. Most people were taking pictures or driving after these monsters. One of the monsters landed lightly. The statue still looked weird and scary, but it took off the balloon and handed it to a little blonde girl.
The little girl cried out in surprise!
The penguin man silently slammed his forehead against the car window. He stared at the group of demons dancing in disorder. As the truck passed by, he heard the second half of the man's words in the video promotion: "Only good children who abide by the rules of the game can get rewards. I wish you a happy Children's Day."
The Penguin Man's pupils moved. He realized that he might be able to seize this opportunity.
What if Mr. C needs him to maintain order in the game?
He was tired of being a plumber, especially when he thought of the red-haired man he had met before. He couldn't remember the guy's name, but he remembered that he was his subordinate, and he remembered this face! The other party talked to the prison police openly, but the penguin man didn't dare to show his face at all. He was tired of this kind of life, and he wanted to do everything he could to climb up.
Even game players have their own preferences for playing games. Mr. C sees the world as a game, but he definitely has his favorites!
The penguins have to prove their worth to each other!
In the next lane, a luxury car drove past quickly, heading in a different direction from the truck, heading towards Bristol County.
Dick was driving and Tim was the passenger.
After waking up, Tim immediately checked the surveillance and found that it was a city-wide "sleep", but it did not cause any disturbance. It was like a hand caressing the city with gentle power, sending everyone into a dreamland. However, not everyone, "darkness" passed through the city and swept away all those humans who intended to destroy the city, and disappeared without a trace.
When Tim repeatedly checked the surveillance, he found that the advertising in the city had been replaced. The overwhelming video ads were first spread on the Internet, and then directly cut in line and appeared on the streets of the city. The eyes of the gargoyles in the surveillance lit up one by one, and then flew towards Bristol County - it was indeed Bristol County.
Contact with Vivi is lost, and when Tim checks the surveillance, the gargoyles have already flown back to the city, taking the balloons with them.
The person behind the scenes said in a clear and frank manner: Yes, it was me who did it.
"We still can't contact Vivi and Bruce," Tim frowned and sank into the soft back seat of the car, "and no one has reported a missing persons case to the police."
"Think about who those missing people are," his foster brother Dick said calmly, "Murderers, gangsters, poisoners... Do you expect Harvey's men to call the police and say their boss is missing?"
"It's possible that they're not the only ones missing," Tim swiped the mobile interface with his finger. "I'll ask Barbara to help check. What if someone else is missing in their house?"
"To be honest, Tim," Dick said as he drove, "I don't want to find Scarecrow at all. He's a complete lunatic. I can understand why Vivi refused to communicate. I found out when I was on night patrol. What she hates most is those who destroy public facilities when committing crimes, or those who intend to make bombs. She hates people who destroy this city the most..."
"Look, no one even called the police, because the first moment they called the police, they would be thrown into jail first," Dick stopped the car and waited for the red light. Colorful balloons were floating in the sky. Not far away, the gargoyle that accidentally let the balloon fly away was staring at its claws in confusion, causing others to laugh. "What often causes us fear are the unknown, enemies whose good and evil are difficult to distinguish. Unknown enemies, those things hiding in the shadows. If I were in Batman's position, I would definitely be anxious, so I can't be Batman, I can only be Nightwing..."
He turned his head, wondering why his brother hadn't said anything, only to find that Tim's finger was still on the screen, but he was already fast asleep.
Those four hours of high-quality sleep seemed to turn on a switch, allowing the always sleep-deprived vigilante to sleep soundly and sweetly.
"Well..." Dick turned down the music in the car and whispered to himself, "I hope Mr. C is a person who follows the rules of the game, not the one who makes the rules of the game."
The luxury car drove to the Rose Manor, but was turned away by the thick fog.
Batman was also thinking about this problem after waking up. Because of the information asymmetry, he stayed in the manor after waking up and only noticed that his communication tools had been confiscated. What happened?
As time passed, the yellow rose, which was originally in a bud state, opened completely. Batman's vision was unrestricted. The edges of the petals were curled. It was placed in a vase. He saw the brown-haired girl leaning back on the bed, reading a thick stack of materials.
Batman tried to break free, but what actually restricted him from escaping was not the stamen that was entangled with him, but the stamen that was connected to his body. This made him feel that he and the flower were one, and he could also know when the flower would completely wither.
If he breaks it by force, he will be committing suicide.
The bedroom was extremely quiet. Batman checked the time and found out that the construction team would demolish the Wayne Memorial this afternoon.
Before he fell asleep, he seemed to see a scarecrow?
But now, the scarecrow is gone.
Something must have happened during the time he was asleep that caused Vivi to show signs of refusing to communicate, and so far, there has been no sign of Nightwing or Robin in the manor, and it is likely that his children have also been denied entry.
Batman knows what he needs to do. Even if he waits until the flowers wither, he still has the contract and cannot completely extricate himself.
The girl in front of him seemed tired and put the stack of documents on the coffee table, so Batman saw -
18 Ways to Arouse Fear in People - You Might as Well Do This - Jonathan Cline
This is a collection of papers by Crane, aka the Scarecrow, on the research of "fear"!
Recalling that they were dealing with matters related to the Scarecrow before, while Vivi was leisurely reading the other party's paper, and there was no further discussion about Two-Face, Batman inferred that the Scarecrow and Two-Face had been dealt with within these four hours.
The vigilante could not accept the solution used by Vivi, so she unilaterally cut off contact with her side.
"Vivi," Batman said, "I think we should talk."
But his voice was too soft, and the girl in front of him couldn't help but yawn because the thesis was too boring.
"I should tell you who I am," Batman said. "Let's talk openly and honestly."
The girl raised her head and her eyes fell accurately on his face.
——So you were just pretending not to hear me, right?