Chapter 154 Chapter 154 [VIP]
"Relax, it's not the first time he hits you."
Megan, her hand held by the clown, stared blankly up at the Scarecrow who had spoken these words. But the Scarecrow's fake smile betrayed no trace of guilt; he even seemed to be leisurely waiting for the show to begin. After some thought, he offered something that might have been comforting: "I know he's a good father to you. He certainly wouldn't want to hit you."
Scarecrow felt that he had performed beyond his normal level. At any other time in the past, he would have been even more sarcastic, but now he was able to appease two difficult guys with just a few words. He raised his eyes and glanced at the Joker, perhaps because they had a common creditor, the little Arkham star!
Moreover, he watched Megan accuse him, but the clown behind her kept smiling. Although that terrifying and hideous face seemed fixed on it, the clown would occasionally reveal other expressions and show his attitude, but he was indifferent to what Megan said...
Scarecrow is a psychologist, but he is not very happy to study crazy people like the Joker, Two-Face, and Black Mask, even though he can sometimes get clues and conclusions.
Bending down to touch Megan's head, he said, "Good luck to you, okay." He was always hypocritical, but at this moment there was a real smile in his eyes, and he was not worried about what the clown would do to the child.
He stood there and watched the clown drag Megan away, then shrugged and left.
"Our creditors are going to be beaten, but who says this isn't the beginning of a new drama? Bah, someone will fall into this trap anyway, so why not come and see who the idiots are..." When he mentioned the word "drama", he seemed to be infected by the clown and couldn't help but spit out disgust.
But the Joker hitting Megan? He's so protective of his possessions, knowing everything that happens in and around Arkham, and he'll seek revenge for her. You could say he's ruthless, but what good does he gain from harming Megan for no reason? The Joker always has a purpose. His beating of Megan was nothing more than a lesson for a clueless kid, or a fishing expedition to see if anyone would take the bait.
The Scarecrow thought for a moment, but this matter had nothing to do with him, so he could just wait and watch the show. However, he could add fuel to the fire, and things would be more interesting if he was a little involved, and it would not offend the clown.
Megan was dragged into the training room again. She squatted on the spot, refusing to cooperate. However, when she looked down, she saw the leather shoes on her father's feet. They looked finely made and sophisticated, just like his suit, expensive "high-end goods". He also wore white shoe covers. Her attention was immediately diverted and she reached out to pull them off.
The clown took a step back so that she wouldn't touch his shoes. He was still baffled!
"Who did you learn this bad habit from? You touched me." His tone was exaggerated and fluctuating, but it was usually difficult for people to hear any extra meaning from his words, nor could they detect his emotional changes. This was the trick of the jester. He was unpredictable and unpredictable, a complex character that was difficult to interpret.
Megan squatted on the ground and snorted, but after a while she raised her head and looked at the clown with innocent doubt on her face. She asked, "Are there a lot of dangers and harm in the world?"
Her father had brought her here before, saying it was a game to teach her how to deal with crises, and also to observe the effects of new drugs on her nerves after strenuous exercise. She was so tired from being chased that day that she didn't know what happened after she left the training room. When she woke up, it was the next morning and she also experienced muscle soreness.
She didn't know why, but she felt a little unhappy.
The clown squatted down, stretched out his arm and gently put it around the child's shoulders. His expression gradually became crazy and cold, and his low voice also revealed a sense of madness. "You actually think about this problem? Although I really want to tell you that it's not, you should know the truth-"
“Madness is not a natural phenomenon but a product of civilization.”*
But Megan cannot understand this sentence, or most people in the world cannot understand it. At most, they think it is an excuse made by a crazy person to justify himself, but in fact this is the truth!
He knew Megan's brain couldn't comprehend that logic, so he patted her thin back and continued, "Don't dwell on this. Chasing the truth too much will only drive you crazy. Oh, you're asking about danger and harm. Then I can only tell you... society is governed. Don't ask downwards; the only way to get the answer is upwards."
"But I can answer you superficially. This world is full of danger and harm. No matter if you are good or bad, everyone has the potential to become a victim. They may even be hurt multiple times in their lives. Even their death may be caused by harm."
"There are so many people like this, Megan. You were once one of the victims..."
The clown turned his head and stared at her, the wrinkles between his eyebrows were deep, and the grin on his mouth became more and more hideous. He seemed to be really watching a farce, and suddenly his tone became high-pitched, "Oh! I almost forgot! You are also a victim now." Megan was his victim.
He couldn't help laughing, and reached out to pinch the child's cheek, seeing that she still didn't understand. She was so pitiful and cute. She was the actor and partner chosen by him personally, and she was the best. They performed a heartwarming drama together and immersed themselves in it. Their stage was so big, so big that there was no sober person left in the world!
"Okay, my child, you know danger and harm are everywhere, so why don't you join this game?" He complained, "I knew the teacher you hired wouldn't teach you wholeheartedly. He didn't teach you to escape? He didn't teach you to dodge attacks. That's his dereliction of duty."
Watching the clown stand up beside her, his swallowtail that had been dragging the ground returned to mid-air and dangled behind him, Megan tilted her head and said slowly, "Dad, what you said at the time was that you just wanted me to be healthy."
The clown sneered indifferently, "But who told me to change my mind?" He was still very confident, having imitated Megan's temper sometimes. This father and daughter like to do this kind of thing.
In short, the special training was about to begin, but the clown no longer had the cotton doll in his hand. Instead, Megan moved closer to him little by little, grabbed his hand, and pressed herself against him, "Dad, you're worried that I'll get hurt again." She was a child who could express her inner thoughts frankly, but her perception ability was really limited, so she always said some nonsense.
The clown raised his eyelids and said in a pretentious manner, "Yes, I am too worried about you. If you die at the hands of others one day, all my efforts will be wasted."
Megan grabbed his leather-gloved hand, put her cheek against it, and said seriously, "Then I will definitely guarantee your baby."
"Wow, that's an amazing promise."
But this guarantee seems to have almost no effect at the moment. It can only be regarded as sweet words that Megan spits out, but no one can coax her here.
The special training method was changed this time. The clown installed a launcher on a wall, but those fluffy dolls were inconvenient to recover and the efficiency was too low, so only the initial wave was attacked by dolls, and then ping-pong, badminton, and three rounds of attacks were mixed and rotated. Anyway, they couldn't hurt anyone.
Megan's dynamic vision is average, and she has the same problem as most untrained people, that is, her body reaction speed is slow and her movements cannot keep up with her consciousness. The Joker didn't want to talk to her about gradual progress. This was not the time to be cautious about her mental condition. He directly used the simplest and crudest method to train her.
He stood in the 'safe zone' reserved for himself, with a few small objects falling at his feet from time to time, which he kicked away. He watched Megan's clumsy movements in the field with cold eyes. His launchers were not arranged so densely, but Megan would still be hit.
She kept dodging, running all over the field at first, but a child's energy is limited. When she got tired and realized the problem, she learned to divide her attention, paying attention to attacks coming from all angles. However, the stupid child sometimes forgot to watch her feet and was severely tripped many times, and objects on the ground could also bump into her...
When Megan was exhausted and distracted, she dodged a flying doll, but then the ping-pong ball hit her eyes. She didn't want to move at all and stood there rubbing her eyes. Because of the pain, tears couldn't stop flowing.
She was sobbing and sobbing. This was not the cry of an ordinary child who was crying to achieve his goal, but she was crying uncontrollably. More and more tears fell, and in the end, even her hands could not catch them. They were all over her face and fell down her cheeks.
The transmitter in the training room stopped at some point. The Joker watched her crying alone. She didn't even think of complaining to him or acting coquettishly. She was just like she was throwing a tantrum. It took him a while to walk over. He knelt down and took away Megan's hand that was wiping her tears. He saw that her hair was wet with sweat and tears, and she kept her eyes down and didn't look at him.
But she had obviously cried so hard that her nose was blocked, so she could only breathe through her mouth, and some snot even dripped out.
The clown kept smiling at her from beginning to end, but didn't say anything at this time. He just picked up the child. Even though she was throwing a tantrum, she didn't struggle. Instead, she snuggled in his arms more dependently, and her tears and snot were all smeared on his suit. He carried all her weight with one arm, and patted her back with the other hand to comfort her.
Walking down the aisle, Megan couldn't stop crying, and on the way they met the two-faced man.
This criminal with a split personality who always pretended to be profound stood beside the passage, watching the child crying in the clown's arms. He keenly sensed the subtle atmosphere between them. The half of his face corroded by sulfuric acid had no eyelids or eyelids covering it, and his white eyeballs were particularly prominent, and his gaze shifted to the clown.
A gentle smile appeared on the other half of his intact face, and the two-faced man asked, "How rare! You don't feel sorry for this child anymore?"
"If you don't really want her, I don't mind taking her."
Look, there are many well-informed people in Arkham, and someone has already jumped out to test the waters, but the fundamental reason is that Two-Face never thought that the Joker would indulge in such a funny and ironic family drama. He took a step forward, turned to Megan, and then took out a coin from his suit jacket.
When he presented the coin to Megan, she took her hand away from wiping her eyes, looking pitiful and aggrieved, but as she stared at the coin, her crying slowly subsided.
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*Excerpt from Madness and Civilization by Michel Foucault
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