73. Gotham: Labyrinth
81.
Darkness and weightlessness, either of which can scare a bunch of children to tears, are powerful weapons, but when they fall on Robin, it is as easy as throwing a snowball.
With the sound of a heavy object falling to the ground, Aria's back finally reunited with her dear mother, the earth.
She released her hand that was steadying Robin and was about to praise him for being a brave boy when Damian jumped up from the ground as if his butt was on fire.
Robin could have appeared calmer if his hands on his belt hadn't relaxed and tightened.
…Although Damian usually uses his enemies as buffers during fights, that situation is different from now.
"...How do you feel now?" There were some medicines in his belt, but they were only temporary pain relievers and hemostatics. If the farmer was more seriously injured, he would probably have to wait until he got out to receive treatment.
He watched her get hurt at the hands of the claws, and now she was recklessly rushing to the front in the face of danger - no one knew how deep the gap was, and if she was not careful, she could easily get seriously injured.
The farmer's fighting style was so bizarre, Damian suspected she hadn't learned how to protect herself from a fall like that; she was simply messing around! They weren't exactly teammates he could trust to death, and he'd even just recently turned his sword against the farmer... Damian couldn't imagine how anyone could do such a thankless task.
Robin couldn't understand why the development of things seemed to have unconsciously deviated from his previous logical track and developed in an incomprehensible direction.
"How do you feel?" the farmer looked at the spot where she'd been wounded. The claw marks on her body were like graffiti, a real-time calculation within the game, disappearing with a new map. Because she was waterproof, there were no bloodstains on her clothes. "I'm fine." Aside from the low health, everything was going according to the farmer's plan.
"But you," she turned the conversation back to Robin, a little helpless: "Didn't I tell you to leave? Why did you come back?"
Aria came up with two theories: "Did he come back to help after the mission was complete? Or did he change his mind midway because he was worried I couldn't defeat him?"
Damian choked and became angry: "What does it have to do with you?"
"Ouch!" the farmer suddenly cried out, "My back hurts, and my hands hurt too."
She stretched out her voice, as if she was really enduring pain: "My heart feels cold..." Being disliked by the kids today was a complete setback for the farmer's social career.
"..." Damian was speechless: "Sometimes there are children here..."
Since the Wayne Group's construction plan began, the expanded orphanage has gradually taken in many orphans, some from the streets of the slums, and some from the sewers of Gotham. Although these children now have basic security, they sometimes still find odd jobs elsewhere and scavenge items from the sewers to sell - Wayne's promises cannot completely reassure them.
Everyone knows that there was once another Wayne who wrote Gotham a check for the future... and in the blink of an eye, he died in an alley.
When a battle breaks out, immediately clear the scene and surrounding civilians. This is a task that Batman often assigns to him when he is on a mission. Although he is not very happy to do it, Damian Wayne has completed it successfully almost every time - this time is no exception.
At this point, that arrogant look returned to his face, and Robin puffed out his chest: "You are too weak."
Suspected of being questioned about his use of force, the farmer wanted to show off his powerful arms on the spot: "How can claws be so powerful? I beat them like bats, one punch each!" There were still a lot of bat wings that were shot down in the box.
This is a plan, do you understand? A plan!
"Hmph." He snorted, but his next words weakened his momentum: "Besides, you don't have to do this at all."
Being protected was a shame for Robin - although the farmer was not that ordinary, this emotion was like a fishbone stuck in Damian's chest, making him feel uncomfortable, so he decided to say it out loud.
Aria didn't think too much about it. The farmer glanced at the amount of health he had lost and answered calmly and simply, "Because you're a child."
Even though they saw very few children that year, Aria still fully practiced the virtue of respecting the elderly and loving the young - although this evaluation of her respecting the elderly and loving the young is usually followed by "beat the one in the middle hard", the farmer thought it was fine to just listen to the first half.
If it weren't for the NPC following her, Aria's exploration would be much easier - if she could defeat the Court of Owls, she would beat them up; if she couldn't, she would just roll her eyes, have a sweet dream on the spot, and return to the farm to recuperate.
With Robin around, there was more to consider.
But this is not his problem. Before, Aria was thinking that this child did not seem to be taught by Batman, and his actions and words were always murderous and violent. Now she doesn't think so - if you blow away the superficial decorations, he is a good child.
Damian got so angry when he was praised: "I'm not a child!" Don't treat him as so childish!
"So how old are you now?" the farmer asked sincerely, but Robin seemed to think that she was deliberately looking for trouble. She took out a fluorescent stick from her belt and explored the surrounding environment without talking to her.
The farmer was not discouraged by his setback, but rather found it quite interesting. She put on the small glow ring again and stood up with the help of the light.
It was a small, semi-open space, spacious enough for one person, but cramped for two people, large and small. The farmer reached out to feel the wall in front of him and felt a few uneven marks on it.
"Robin," Aria raised her voice, "Look at what this is?"
Damian had originally walked to the small exit with a glow stick in his hand, but when he heard her call, he turned back, but still with a sullen look on his face.
"What's wrong?"
Aria leaned over and motioned for him to come forward and touch it: "I feel some scratches here..." Because the marks were shallow, they could not be seen even with a light, so it was normal that he did not notice them.
Robin took off his gloves and fumbled with the wall for a moment. He traced the entire line as if reading a sentence, deciphering it. "It's Latin, roughly meaning 'Your decline is my prosperity.'"
Damian hesitated after saying this. This was not a good sentence. No matter it was a curse with real magical effect or ordinary words engraved on it, it would be more likely to become a psychological suggestion in this environment.
Perhaps the Court of Owls would not resort to violent violence, but rather to more precise and subtle psychological manipulation - if they wanted to destroy them, they would first have to drive them crazy, and thus they would be able to rip off their heads without expending too many claws.
Thinking of this, he managed to utter two dry words of comfort: "It's just a scare tactic. We can solve it quickly."
Unexpectedly, the farmer was much more excited than him, and looked like she was ready to roll up her sleeves and get to work: "Is this a riddle? Does it mean there will be monsters in the maze?" She was ready for a big battle with the maggots, and the insect meat she beat down was instantly refined into insect meat blocks!
Thinking of this, Aria was a little moved.
...Why does Aria look so greedy? Damian got goosebumps. For a moment, he wondered if the court had imprisoned him like a Minotaur. Who knew this guy was going to bite someone soon?
He silently handed the glow stick in his hand to the farmer, took another one for himself, and stood a little further away from the farmer before saying, "Don't waste time here, let's look somewhere else."
Two people, one big and one small, walked out of the only exit provided by the space, and what appeared before them was a fork in the road -
Leaving the starting point, there was a dazzling white light everywhere, and it felt like standing under a spotlight. Damian reached out to adjust the brightness of the eyes of the domino mask, and found another piece of Latin inscription on the ground at the fork in the road.
Blood flows backward, the heart burns, the curse forms in the chest, and then...
Another meaningless statement.
Damian frowned at this and walked ahead of her: "Follow me."
The terrain here is complex, and it would be dangerous if the two people got separated. He has more experience in reconnaissance than the farmer, so he can respond promptly to any situation ahead.
Aria nodded. She didn't care who was in front of her or behind her, but her thoughtful expression could easily make her companions feel uneasy.
"Do you think these pure white walls resemble a white prison?" the farmer said slowly. "Because of the lack of color and visual stimulation, the senses are completely deprived. It's especially easy to get lost and lose your sense of direction in this environment..."
"Have you been there?" The farmer's description was so detailed that Damian couldn't help but look sideways.
"How is that possible?" Her farm was so spacious it could even run horses, but the maze-like structure sparked a puzzlement in Aria. "It feels a bit like the maze from All Souls' Day in autumn..."
"Halloween?" Even though Damian liked to act cool, he was still a kid who was interested in festivals. He even slowed down his pace when he heard the topic. "Are you going to the maze on Halloween?"
"Oh, yeah, everyone's going to have a big party in the town square, and a maze will appear that day—a pretty scary maze." At least the NPCs are all stuck for various reasons.
"...and the winner who finally reaches the end of the maze will get a prize." The person standing in front of him was the previous winner of the maze grand prize, an AAA agricultural and sideline products distributor.
Damian wasn't interested in the prizes, but he seemed to be interested in the maze idea: "We can make a maze here during Halloween." It's already there, so all we have to do is add some decorations.
In his mouth, the Court of Owls' meticulously designed maze became a toy that would soon become Batman's property. Aria laughed wickedly, "So, should we scatter some beans along the way? Or at least get some yarn and lay it out as we go? That way, even if we end up at a dead end, we can still find our way back."
"That's a fairy tale," Robin took out the knife he carried with him and marked the corner. The relationship between the two quickly became familiar with each other because of a series of jokes: "Now the incident happened suddenly, and we don't have so much material." Although making marks is a bit troublesome, it is still a strategy.
"I actually thought of an interesting thing about the maze," the farmer said, walking behind him. Compared to Robin's cautiousness, she looked more like she was participating in the maze game she was talking about. "I once had a conversation with the designer of the maze, and he said, 'I created this maze because the elves wanted a chance to observe humans.'"
Aria looked up, and the sky above her was extremely dark. If people didn't know they were underground, they could easily mistake it for the night sky. "So I think—"
"Could it be that, just like before, there is a group of people observing us?"
A pickaxe appeared in the farmer's hand. She curled her lips, swung the pickaxe and smashed it against the wall!
"The audience members are right behind the stage! Let's call them out, okay?"
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Damian, let the farmer protect you without worrying about it ()
*Said by the Stardew Valley wizard
One person entering a maze is a horror story, two people entering a maze is a crosstalk
Master Mi and Master Ya haven't started working yet, the author is working hard to write
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