"I feel like I'm in love." Dick muttered to himself during the break, slumped in his chair and looking at the ceiling.

"What?" The classmate sitting next to him said, "You changed your girlfriend again?"

"I'm not saying I didn't, I'm saying a man."

"..." My deskmate sat up straight. Then he slowly moved his butt away.

"It's family, man. How can two people who talk to each other for the first time for less than ten sentences get in touch again?"

"I'm still wondering what you mean by 'family affection'... Did you meet a like-minded brother when you returned to your hometown?"

Dick threw down his pen, not wanting to say that he felt like he had met a dad: "Well, that's about right."

"That's not that simple. Is he older or younger than you? Oh, is he your senior at work? Then use the excuse of seeking advice to flatter him and make him look familiar. You must be very familiar with this routine when you were chasing your girlfriend."

Dick hesitated. "But I think he had a general impression of me. I was usually the one doing the talking when we talked... I don't know if it was my illusion, but he was in a bad mood at that time. I mean, although we were doing a difficult job at the time, it was normal to feel heavy-hearted, but he looked like the type who was fully prepared and confident of success, and it was impossible for him to be affected by a little trouble. Well - to be honest, I just think it was because of me."

"And he ended up leaving me at the port without even calling a taxi."

"What?" My deskmate was incredulous. "Is there anyone who dislikes you when they first meet? Who is this person?"

"I don't know." The young man gradually faded away. "I remember now. I haven't asked his name yet. I don't know what he looks like. I don't have any contact information. I can't find him even if I want to."

My classmate's hand holding the pen trembled slightly: "You don't even know the name or the face of the person. Be careful when dating online, my friend. You don't know if the person on the other side of the line is a man or a woman, a human or a dog."

“…” It’s a bat. And fuck online dating.

The masked vigilante, whose identity was hidden, sighed and buried his face in his arms.

**

"I still think you should at least take the kid to the station." Alfred brought up the subject for the third time today. Moses was tying his bandages while staring at the computer screen in the Batcave. The old butler's words went in one ear and out the other. "He must think you don't like him now."

"Of course I didn't." Moses turned back and said in shock, "Why would he think that? Poison Ivy is full of venom, and I can't let her stay in the same small, enclosed environment with Nightwing."

Alfred's eyes moved calmly over the crisscross of old scars on his body. "So you're all right?"

"Batman's uniform is corrosion-resistant." Moses didn't care, and his thoughts were briefly brought back to last night when he sent Poison Ivy back to the police station.

The woman with strange patterns on her body woke up halfway and was shocked when she found herself lying in the back seat of the Batmobile: "You are so rude to ladies."

"Don't cooperate with Xiao Chou again." The driver threatened her, "otherwise it won't be as simple as breaking a few bones next time."

Ivy stared at him for a long moment without blinking.

"You're a pain in the ass," she said charmingly. "But since you're more interesting than the others, you can say whatever you want, as long as you don't touch my plants."

Moses ignored her. Although Poison Ivy was indeed very beautiful, she was not as friendly to humans as she was to plants.

But Ivy still persisted in talking to him. She didn't know why this guy was not nervous even when his hands were cuffed and he was half dead, as if he knew Batman would not kill her: "I heard about you. You showed up last night. Harley was very angry because her pudding had never cared so much about other people."

"She will see me again," Moses said coldly. "As long as you don't stop committing crimes, I will keep watching you."

"That's horrible," said Poison Ivy. "That's actually pretty good."

There was no conversation all the way to the police station.

After seeing Commissioner Gordon, who was covered in wounds and looked like a wretch after crawling around in the sewer all night, Moses grabbed Poison Ivy by the collar and threw her into the police car, saying, "I leave it to you."

"I said, can't you be more of a gentleman, Bat?" Poison Ivy looked up at him while lying in the back seat. "By the way, for revenge, I decided to tell you that Chou Hates You."

Gordon interjected: "He hates all normal people."

Poison Ivy said: "Chou thought that 'one bad day can turn everyone into him', and the city will always sink in the quagmire with him. Now you appear, although it is disgusting to say this, but people will feel that there is light shining into the city at night, right?"

Gordon on the side was stunned.

"Plants will grow where there is light, and Xiao Chou doesn't like plants." Ivy smiled, "I'm waiting for the day when you both fight to the point of being defeated."

She was taken away.

The chief watched the police car go away, then turned back to Batman and said, "I've never seen her talk so much in one go."

Moses shook his head. “She’s right. This is just the beginning.”

"...Are you really going to carry this city on your back?" Gordon finally couldn't help asking, not as a policeman, but as an ordinary person living in this city. "I have worked here for more than ten years, watching it go from being full of gangs to being full of madmen, and in the end everyone thought that only nuclear bombs could solve the problem. Although it may be a blow to you, you are just a human being."

"I know her better than you think." Batman's voice remained steady. "Believe me, this is not the worst."

"Isn't this...?" Gordon murmured repeatedly. He wanted to ask who are you? A madman or a wise man on the verge of death? If this is not the worst, what more hopeless situation have you encountered than living in this quagmire?

He actually wanted to ask, in this world, the righteous people walk alone, lose their partners, or fly into the fire, or be swallowed by the abyss. Since some people are not blindly confident but have already anticipated it, how can they still have the determination to stand up and walk with hell?

But when he turned around, he found that the huge Batman was gone.

“…”

He was forced to swallow a bunch of questions, which was both infuriating and funny. The director's bent back straightened up despite his age.

**

Moses didn't think too much after the memory ended. He felt that Commissioner Gordon must be a rare good man, but he had a hard time fighting alone in Gotham, which was plagued by internal and external troubles. His daughter Barbara was young and beautiful, but his old father was on the verge of baldness due to work pressure. He looked like three generations when he walked out of the door, and everyone who saw him would sigh.

Alfred looked at his expression and suddenly said, "Although I have always been grateful for your trust in me, as the saying goes, understanding is the basis of trust. I know nothing about your past, and this castle in the air relationship is really frightening. Would you like to take the time to explain the cause and effect to me?"

He did not miss the fleeting embarrassment on the young man's face as he came to his senses.

Moses really didn't know what to say.

He has been avoiding explaining his origins for a long time, because the Arkham incident has not been resolved yet. But difficulties must be faced, and Batman is not a person who avoids - bullshit.

All he wants now is to pretend he's dumb.

What can I say? Although he is Bruce Wayne and Batman now, he is actually in a state of amnesia. The only thing Moses knows more than ordinary people is parallel universes. He knows that in most cases there should be Bruce Wayne in the world, and Bruce should know some people and develop a relationship with them that can be friends, relatives or enemies.

Is he going to tell the butler that although we don't know each other in this fucked up world, Batman and Alfred have been working together for decades? Regardless of whether there is evidence, the system refuses to reveal too much to ordinary people.

System: "That will cause confusion and madness."

In the end, Moses could only adjust his words as much as possible and selectively said: "I come from a very far place similar to Gotham, and I am here for some necessary reasons. Don't think too much about it, Afu, please believe that our goal is to make this city a better place."

This is not my goal, Alfred thought. Besides, what is the necessary reason for a young man with great talent and a promising future to sacrifice his best years to fight a group of criminals? Moreover, judging from the scars on Mr. Wayne's body and his abnormally skillful skills, this is not the first time such a thing has happened.

Ha, a city similar to Gotha, it's really similar.

He felt a sense of resentment and powerlessness that an elder had failed to fulfill his duty of protection, but he still couldn't bear to blame the young man who was obviously unwilling to talk more, so he considerately changed the subject and asked, "What did you find out about the crocodile man's escape that affected New York?"