"The identity of Batman is a wake-up call that you use to intimidate them and make them have scruples, you deliberately make yourself serious and silent, incomprehensible, uncommunicative, you have turned yourself into an evil god, so that all criminals walk in the darkness as if they were walking in your country."

Schiller said these words in a soft, psychedelic tone, as if he were praying, as if reading a book, and Batman's gaze became more and more focused on him.

It wasn't until a certain moment that he suddenly woke up, pulled himself out of that hazy connection, and looked at Schiller again with a deeper gaze.

"So, how do you do it?" Batman's tone is also starting to be a little psychedelic, as if they are talking in the real world, but in another realm they are communicating in a way that ordinary people can't understand.

"Get to know them, get to know them, bring them together, and build a new society for them." Schiller's voice was light and light, almost ethereal: "Establish a new set of social rules, fill in all the humanity and shame they do not have." ”

"Let them think about their status and reputation in another society before endangering ordinary people, so that they do not have to pour out their love and emotions in the process of killing ordinary people, but put these precious feelings above the connection with their soul mates."

"Let all their wisdom, philosophy, and ideas not be thrown in despair to fools who cannot understand them, but let them exchange with their fellow kindred the joy of the moment of soul tremor."

In an instant, Batman heard a "buzz" sound, and a stream of blood rushed out of his heart to his brain, and he understood that this wonderful feeling that made his calm brain buzz was called "understanding".

"You're crazy, but you chose it yourself, you're crazy, but you don't need help, you're crazy, but it's okay, I'm crazy too."

"That's enough."

The muscles of Batman's lips twitched, he still stared at Schiller silently, and then spat out a word: "...... Clown. ”

Bruce in the theater narrowed his eyes, sighed sickly and said softly: "Batman blocked his intuition and only communicated rationally, so he didn't find out until now that Schiller was the Joker." ”

"How did he find out?" Pathologically asked himself again: "Because Schiller wants to make him laugh, how does Schiller do it?" He's comforting Batman. ”

Bruce frowned, smiled sickly again, and said, "Yes, that doesn't sound like comfort at all, who would comfort someone by saying that the other person is crazy?" ”

"But a lot of times, the comfort that people need is not 'you're sad, but I can help you,' or 'you're sad, but it's normal,' it's 'you're sad, I'm sad,'"

"Too many people have said to Batman, 'You're crazy, but you're also forced to do so,' and too many people have said to Batman, 'You're crazy, but I can help you,' but that's not what Batman wants."

"He wasn't forced to do so, he chose it himself, he didn't need help, the misfortune in everyone's eyes was not his scars, but his weapons, those lonely, dark, and uncommunicative temperaments he created by himself to warn those criminals."

"He doesn't need a soft embrace, he doesn't need someone to pull out his fangs with warmth, he doesn't need someone to remind him 'you didn't turn on the light', he's not blind."

"But what no one in this world can refuse is that I understand everything about you, I know what kind of road you have embarked on with determination, and I am on the same path with you, moving forward side by side with you."

In an instant, Bruce's hand on the armrest tightened, and the green tendons spread from his forearm to his fingers, and after a while, he let go of his hand and said, "...... And Schiller pushed me down the other path. ”

"Yes, it is precisely because he has walked this road himself that he does not want you to embark on such a road."

"Doesn't he need someone to stand with?"

"Understanding is always short-lived, relief cannot be the motivation for anyone to move forward, and everyone is lonely when they go their own way."

Bruce took a deep breath, stared straight at the screen and said, "When I first met Schiller, there were many people who said that we were alike, including Gordon, Harvey, and Victor. ”

"He was older than me, he was my teacher, and I should have followed in his footsteps on such a path, but from the beginning I had a hunch that in the past few years, he was not gradually drawing me closer, but pushing me away, not looking for our similarities, but making us different."

"This is the root cause of our violent conflict, like a magnet that suddenly turns its poles, so that the two sides that should be attracted to each other become mutually exclusive."

"Whether you like it or not, the self you see will be your future, there is nothing wrong with this path, it's just that Batman and Schiller have not reached the end, since you have the opportunity to go the other way, then why not have one more possibility to add a little chance to the ultimate success?"

The sickly words fell, and Bruce let out a long breath and gradually calmed down, he bowed his head lightly and said, "They are like two parallel lines, going hand in hand in one direction, and we are like two intersecting lines, meeting and parting ways." ”

"Understanding and watching each other on the way to the mountain, or standing on the top of two successful peaks and looking at each other from afar, are two very different relationships, but equally romantic." The morbid tone was finally a little higher, as if he were singing.

"You will become a parallel line with many people, walk side by side with them, and you will also become an intersecting line with many people, reflecting each other in different fields, if everyone is an island, society and civilization are mountains formed by the parallel intersection of countless islands."

"You have passed the loneliest stage of your life, the stage of constantly snooping on yourself and finding your social position, and you have begun to converge towards the peak."

"What Schiller did was to make you not have to be alone in the mountains, using darkness and fear to make others look up to the mountains and not dare to approach."

"That's what he's done, and that's what Batman is doing, but you've turned around and bordered the mountains."

In a morbid whisper, Bruce turned his head to look at the crowd sitting on the other side of the theater, the light and shadow of the screen flowing through their silhouettes, undulating lines like one mountain after another.

All of them were once small islands in the middle of the ocean, and then they kept coming together, storms pushing them together, lightning grinding away incompatible edges and corners, sunlight growing upwards, waves rooting downwards.

Now, perhaps, this is not a majestic mountain, but another island, which has arrived a little late, still rushes into the embrace of the mountains with joy, and the communication of words is like a blending wind, and the outstretched hands are like mixed sand.

In this case, the two lonely and dark mountains, in pairs under the moonlight, are just a scenery on the skyline.

The understanding and resonance between them are like the low sound of a horn in the wind, no matter how wonderful the story recorded in it is, it still can't eliminate the young bat's impulse to look back at the mountains behind him, and the childish heart that wants to see the lights of thousands of homes.

Bruce's shoulders slowly relaxed, the deep sense of substitution vanished, and he finally pulled himself off the screen to see his partner who was also sitting in the theater with him.

The moment Bruce turned his head, Clark instantly realized something.

His gaze crossed the silhouette of the crowd, the shadow of the seat, and met Bruce's, the tallest mountain in the mountains, always so tall, sharp, and rock-solid.

Clark saw that Bruce showed a very faint smile, so faint that Clark thought it was an illusion caused by the light and shadow on his face, but this did not prevent Clark from showing him a bigger smile, the small town boy never cared about illusions and lies, and did not hesitate to smile at anyone.

The morbid laughed too, no longer so low and hypnotic, but with real amusement and ridicule.

"The only way to get rid of patriarchy is not to look for any love other than affection from your father, not to look for friendship and understanding from your father, which will only lead you to power."

"Boys are supposed to play with boys, aren't they?"

Bruce turned his head to look at him, but not with wariness, his gaze seemed a little reluctant, but he still said, "I'm going to sit over there." ”

"Go ahead."

Bruce stood up with his hands on the armrests, and just as he was about to leave his seat with smooth steps, a sickly voice rang out again: "Your seat will always be yours, like that hole in the tower...... Feel free to come back. ”

Seeing Bruce's stiff movements again, he laughed sickly and lowly and said, "Sorry, I didn't mean to......"

“…… Sorry, I didn't mean to. Schiller looked down at the tie sprinkled with red wine, he stood up and looked at Batman across from him and said, "I'm afraid I'll have to take some time to tidy up my image, and by the way, tidy up the room, and if you have any other questions, feel free to call me." ”

Batman also stood up, he didn't keep staring at Schiller, but turned his eyes away, looking at Schiller's outstretched hand, Batman hesitated, but still flicked the switch on the inside of his finger.

With both hands clasped together and neither one fell, Schiller stood by the patio on the second floor, watching Batman leave, the expression on his face calm.

Schiller began to tidy up the contents of the room, and the house, although a little messy, was clean, or rather clean for a house that had been vacant for several years, and only needed a little cleaning to move in.

Schiller put all the messy collections together and began to pick them one by one, and the audience in the theater looked at the pile of strange things and began to express their opinions.

"No, this one is too ugly, was this statue dug up from the tomb of the pharaoh? Why is it still sticking to the mud? I don't think Schiller would want it. ”

"Oh my God, he put it to the left, which means he's going to keep it, Konstantin, you guessed it wrong."

"What? Don't you want this? I'm a fan of orange, but Professor Schiller doesn't seem to like bright colors. ”

"I love the sculpture of the cat, and I think it would be nice to have it on the bookshelf."

Clark patted the place next to him and said to Bruce, who had just walked over, "Come here, what do you say is the matter with the former owner of this house?" How can there be so many different styles of collections? ”

"It wasn't left by the previous owner of the house." Bruce sat down and said, "It was Batman who stuffed it in overnight, it's the Wayne family's collection." ”

Everyone turned to look at him, as if waiting for him to reveal the secret, and Bruce shook his head lightly and said, "He's here to see what Schiller left behind and what he put away when he comes back next time." ”

"People's aesthetic taste can reflect a person's personality to a large extent, and people with the same aesthetic taste often have more in common."

"Batman wants to know how similar Schiller really is to him."

(End of chapter)