Chapter 24 Chapter 24
Megan sifted the clean soil, attaching great importance to quality. She moved slowly but meticulously, as if this was a rigorous assignment to be completed.
The Riddler and the Scarecrow, two grown men, squatted beside her, kneading the soil intermittently. When Megan had selected the soil, they took it and put it in their pockets. Their attitude was not enthusiastic, but not too perfunctory either.
They were all silent, and finally, the Riddler, bewildered, asked, "So, Crane, what are you doing?" Could playing in the mud be contagious? Even Scarecrow couldn't resist it? Had Arkham Asylum become so unsafe?
Seeing the doubt on his face, the Scarecrow sneered disdainfully, "What do you think..." He didn't want to explain it too clearly, perhaps for the sake of his own face. After thinking for a moment, he showed his classic hypocritical look again.
"Wouldn't it be nice to play with our little Megan? I remember that before, in order to avoid trouble with the Penguin Man, you threw her over to divert the boss's attention."
The Scarecrow looked at the Riddler leisurely, "What are you doing here now? What kind of pit do you need the children to fill?" He clicked his tongue as he spoke, and his eyes fell on the other person with contempt.
The Riddler would not have been offended by such a look, as he was not easily angered. But he suddenly realized something, and his expression changed. He tilted his head and turned around. A monster with a hideous and terrifying appearance had arrived silently and stood behind them in a very intimidating manner.
He was speechless for a moment, but Killer Croc just stared at him with his vertical pupils full of murderous intent without moving. He might be safe for the time being. He turned around and looked at Scarecrow in disbelief, "So you just want to drag me into this?" There shouldn't be such a deep hatred between them, right?
Scarecrow wouldn't be so disgraceful as to play along with Megan just to trick him. His previous attitude wasn't an act, and the Riddler was well aware of this. Therefore, he understood the entire ins and outs of the matter, and instead laughed easily. "You're not bad, Klein. You even retaliate against a child. You really don't have any bottom line..."
He uttered the most venomous words: "It seems that you want to declare war on the clown. It turns out that our Mr. Scarecrow is so courageous that he dares to challenge the most insane lunatic here!"
He was also good at using words to provoke his opponents. The Riddler looked at the Scarecrow with sharp eyes, and his face suddenly fell. His gloomy temperament was revealed after he became furious.
The Scarecrow looked around, he was angry, but if he confronted the Joker... he would not end up well. He might not be well-informed, but his fear gas would always find a market, and someone would always pass on the news to him. So he knew what the last person who wanted to attack Megan, the serial killer, got from the Joker later.
It was a joke, a drama, that brought back to life the target that Victor Zsasz had once killed, made his scars a joke, and made him crazy but unable to get out of Arkham.
Both he and the clown used poison gas. One used fear gas to make people fall into extreme fear, and the other used laughing gas to make people laugh to death or control them. Is there a better or worse between these two types of poison gas? When the Scarecrow thought of this, his eyes darkened a little.
And now Killer Croc is watching them, he is the biggest threat at the moment!
He didn't even bother to refute, and said coldly: "Maybe, anyway, we have reconciled now."
But the Scarecrow didn't even bother to put on a good expression. He stretched out his arm to hold Megan, lowered his head and asked her, "Do we have any conflicts? I guess not, right? You didn't even see me, so how would you know that I was targeting you?"
The child has some minor flaws, which allowed him to ridicule her before, but now he has to feel that it is okay that she is a slow-witted child, she will not respond or answer, then he will feel safe.
You have to know that as mentally ill criminals in Arkham's high-risk zone, lunatics who use their brains, poison gas, and engage in scientific research are certainly difficult to deal with, but the most troublesome opponents are those guys who have brute force, a single-minded mind, and cannot be killed. They will stick to you like taffy and do bad things when you are not expecting them.
Killer Croc is a little different. He is a big guy with a brain and is more difficult to deal with than other monsters.
Nothing to do with romance
Megan was held in his arms, her body tilted a little, she still didn't look at him, lowered her head to look at the soil in her hands, neither nodded nor shook her head, not knowing how to respond, so she simply did nothing.
The Scarecrow, fully aware of her reaction, shrugged nonchalantly, "See, our little friend didn't say anything herself."
He was caught by Killer Croc and asked to play in the mud with the child. At first, he saw her alone, so Killer Croc waited for her. However, he still hadn't asked her what she was doing with the mud. Now he became curious, "What is she doing with the mud? Is she planning to build a sand castle in Arkham? Or is she learning plant care from Poison Ivy?"
Then why not have someone bring in a bag of sand?
Killer Croc answered his question, "Clayface needs it."
Scarecrow fell silent, and the Riddler exclaimed, "Megan is the most connected and popular person in Arkham Asylum, isn't she?" So, do the other criminals have extensive connections? They do, but whether it's friendship or enmity is questionable. Aside from partnerships and groups formed for mutual benefit, they have few friends.
Clayface needs some mud, maybe because something happened to him before or in Arkham, but not many people pay attention to this monster. After all, he has a low IQ and is usually difficult to convince to cooperate. Also, his whereabouts are a bit too obvious, and anyone can find him.
While they were talking, Megan sifted out some more soil. Since the Scarecrow was on strike, the Riddler came to help her put it away. In fact, after all this busy work, not much clean soil was sifted out. What's more, the soil that Mudface needed might not be of this kind. He might be from the magic side.
But Megan probably thought that was enough, so she clapped her hands and stood up, ignoring both the Riddler and the Scarecrow, and followed Killer Croc to wash her hands.
Megan was standing in front of the water washing her hands. Killer Croc saw that there was mud in her hair and used his sharp claws to dig it out to check, but it was a delicate job and he couldn't do it. Moreover, the mud was tangled in her black curly hair and could only be washed out.
Killer Croc warned: "Go back and wash your hair tonight."
She didn't know if she heard it or not, but she looked up and made eye contact with Killer Croc, then looked away and focused on the water. But she might know what "communication" was, because she could understand instructions, and had understood the Joker's instructions from the beginning. She was a clockwork puppet, but she had perception of the outside world.
Megan used to avoid making eye contact with people, with the exception of the Joker and terrifying monsters like Killer Croc. Perhaps in her eyes, they weren't "individuals," but rather some kind of existence that was naturally acceptable, just like in nature, animals would make friends and live in harmony with animals of different races. So, was there any communication between them that they could understand directly?
After unexpectedly making eye contact with the Penguin that day, she seemed to realize something... and finally began to pay attention to the differences in the people around her. The person she observed most often was undoubtedly Killer Croc. Sometimes, after looking into his eyes, she would not look away immediately, but he was the only exception for a short period of time.
Her actions were not at all shy or concealed, and were easily noticed by Killer Croc, but he said nothing and asked nothing. As before, he took Megan through the dimly lit corridors of Arkham, took her to the lawn and library, and taught her knowledge.
Now Megan listened to Killer Croc's muffled breathing and the sound of flowing water, as well as the sound of wind, birds singing, and the sound of some grass and leaves rubbing against each other.
They all rang in my ears, clear and direct.
Megan suddenly opened her mouth, took a breath, but exhaled the air again. This repeated several times. Finally, she opened her mouth and made a faint "Woo——" sound.
Even though it was low and short, she felt that the cry was very long. It took her all her strength to exhale all the air in her chest, but it was not enough. The air rushed out faster than the water in front of her eyes, draining all the vitality she had accumulated and returning her to her original dry and dead state.
Her heart, mouth, and chest were all empty. She had nothing. That "woo" sound took away everything she had.
The water flowing from the faucet rushed in the pool and would not stop until the switch was turned on. The same was true of the empty waves that affected her. They surged and repeated the tides in her small world, pulled by the huge gravitational force. In just a short breath, they could go through several days and moons, rolling up countless waves, but they were going to take away everything she had.
She felt the pain.
The innocent child holds clear water in her hands, lowering her eyes to watch the water droplets splashing in her hands, but the gurgling water flows through her fingers, unable to hold anything, and then some water droplets condense and fall out of her clear eyes. She doesn't understand anything at all, but the feeling of everything being passively lost brings her great panic.
Before the tears gathered and fell, Killer Croc's sharp claws rested on her shoulders.
Killer Croc bent down and exhaled a particularly heavy breath. His hands were heavy, but he restrained his strength a little so as not to put a huge burden on the child. He said, "Megan, it's a lovely day, the weather is great."
He looked at the child standing with her eyes downcast. She was the same as she was at every moment in the past, yet different from all her previous appearances. She had bravely expressed herself and proved her existence to the outside world, spending all her strength and energy, everything as a price - paid for that low cry.
She was asking for something from the outside world, something to fill her empty heart, eyes and chest, so he told her it was a lovely day and the weather was great.
Killer Croc expressed his kindness and tolerance in a roundabout way. There was no murderous or animal intent in the vertical pupils of the cold-blooded animal that was trying to look her in the eye, only peace.
The weather today is indeed very good. In the afternoon, some light peeked out from behind the thick clouds and scattered down. It did not look very bright and dazzling to the naked eye, and even the shadows of objects under the light were vague. But when they fell on the water, they sparkled with splashing water droplets.
Megan was still standing in front of the sink. She washed her hands and the faucet was turned on by Killer Croc.
Nothing terrible actually happened.
She blinked, but tears still fell from her eyes. Everything that was taken away from her did not come back, but something continued to fill her up, stopping her from shaking unconsciously.
Her water valve was also turned off. After enduring the pain, she was confused about the current situation. She subconsciously raised her hand and touched her wet cheek. She didn't know if it was the water stains on her hands or something else.
When Megan looked up at Killer Croc again, her eyes had become dry, but her perception seemed to have expanded. Scarecrow, who had probably observed this scene and was a former university psychology professor, knew something about various psychological and mental illnesses. He asked in surprise, "What happened to our little friend Megan?"
His tone was hypocritical, trying to show his halfhearted concern, but as soon as he finished speaking, he saw Megan turned her head when she heard her own name, and he was really surprised.
——You know, she never had this kind of response mechanism and reaction before.
The scarecrow looked at his hands, which were still covered in mud. Since he had to wash his hands anyway, he simply walked towards them, turned on the faucet to wash his hands, and glanced at Megan, as if he noticed something different.
Finally, he flicked the water in his hand towards her face. Under Killer Croc's gaze, he smiled fearlessly and said, "Don't look at me like that, head of the family. Don't you want to know about Megan's little problem?"
The author has something to say:
I didn't intend for Megan to speak, but she would 'woo--'
Megan: Woo-- (woosh attack)
Our Mei Xiaomei Meibao is so cute, but this is all she knows for now. It will take another year before she can officially call me dad.
See you Thursday,
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