Time is pressing, and Theodore intends to flee tonight.

Night had not yet fallen, and the children in the orphanage had not yet slept. Theodore glanced out the door, at least four or five pairs of eyes.

"Theodore, is it true that Madam Dean said you were adopted?"

"How did you impress him, that big guy with the surname Wayne? Honestly, did he take a fancy to your ass/stock? ”

"Hey, man, will you remember to come back here and have a look?"

A small number of eyes flashed with kindness, and many more directly wrote blunt jealousy on their faces.

There is no doubt that if Theodore were to leave the orphanage openly now, his whereabouts would be betrayed to the director and Bruce Wayne in various ways before he could get out of the place.

With a sneer, Theodore raised his middle finger at several obviously ill-intentioned children and slammed the door shut.

Sitting back on the bed with a calm face, Theodore turned his bag upside down.

I can't even go to school, and it's useless to keep textbooks.

However, the schoolbag is made of sturdy material and excellent quality, which can be used to hold some necessary things for escape.

Speaking of which, which big guy sponsored the schoolbag to the orphans in the hospital?

Theodore flipped through the label on his bag and saw the word "Wayne" printed on it.

Theodore: "......"

In the past two days, has he been on a par with Wayne?

Why are there traces of this guy everywhere?

For some reason, Theodore felt like an ominous omen, representing that his next entanglement with Bruce Wayne could be endless, endless......

No, never.

He must have escaped today.

Otherwise, this imaginary future full of Wayne is too terrifying!

Drawing a large cross on the word "Wayne" with a marker, Theodore pinched his nose and continued to use his bag.

He stuffed a towel, a toothbrush, a raincoat, a change of clothes, and a pair of sneakers into it. The pocket money he saved these days was put in his pocket close to him.

After a moment's hesitation, Theodore pulled open the drawer.

He reached in and fumbled back and forth across the table above, and in a moment he reached a hard object, which was taped to the inside of the table.

It was a sapphire brooch, the color of which was as clear as his eyes.

The brooch is in a very different shape, with a silver bat with its wings folded and surrounded by a claw-shaped silver tray with an egg gemstone on it, which is very expensive at a glance.

However, Theodore pinched the expensive piece of jewelry with a look of disgust on his face.

He looked at the brooch for a moment, and finally rolled it around with duct tape and stuffed it into the bottom of his bag.

When he handled it, Theodore's eyes looked like there was some virus on it.

With all this done, Theodore put his bag behind his head and lay back on the bed.

It's not dark yet, so he can take a nap and recharge his batteries.

In the middle of the night, when everyone had fallen asleep and the entire orphanage was asleep in the darkness of the night, it was the best time for him to escape.

***

Maybe it was because he was thinking about running away, or maybe he saw the sapphire brooch.

This night, Theodore did not sleep peacefully.

In his dream, he returned to the deep, classical, and terrifying manor.

In the manor, large armor and gargoyles were placed in the hallways on either side of the hallway, staring with lifeless eyes at every visitor to the mansion.

And those huge carnivorous bats, hanging upside down in the cave behind the house, their blood-red eyes flashing with a cold, cruel light.

Their screams, through the dead back gardens for countless nights, reach the eardrums of children who are struggling to sleep.

“……”

A slender, pale, withered palm reached out to Theodore's chest and gently pinned a shiny sapphire brooch for him.

After all this, the cold fingers did not retract, but moved upwards and silently grasped Theodore's chin.

The man's sturdy body seemed to be an impenetrable high wall, and under the light, his shadow was endlessly elongated, like a bat spreading its wings with bad intentions, and the shadow blocked the light, completely covering the boy's figure.

"What beautiful eyes, pure cornflower blue, even more dazzling than this sapphire."

His adoptive father, with a bit of smugness, pinched Theodore's chin between his fingers and turned it back and forth, admiring it as if he were fiddling with a dead object.

"I should have plucked your eyes and sealed them in the ice, like two gems."

Hearing this, Theodore in his dream couldn't hold back any longer!

He jumped up suddenly, pushed hard at the man, and got out of the gap under the other's armpit!

The boy's fearful footsteps were amplified in the long, dimly lit corridor, and each step seemed to echo with a violently beating heartbeat.

Seeing that Theodore was about to rush out of the corridor, the light was ahead.

However, at this time, a cold, hairline figure with a rough beard and a black suit stood in his way with a polite manner.

"Good evening, little sir."

"I'm Fred, the housekeeper of the manor, and my master thinks it's necessary for me to say hello."

Theodore slammed his head in the chest of Fred, the butler, and it felt like a stone statue. Theodore's mind was dizzy, and the buzzing sound of the powerful impact echoed in his eardrums.

What he didn't notice was that Fred touched his chest and looked at Theodore's forehead, a look of surprise in his eyes.

The next second, Theodore was grabbed by the collar from behind, and then slowly lifted up.

Buttoned to the top of the shirt collar, tightly stuck in Theodore's throat, the man's movements were merciless, and Theodore's face was purple.

"Uh...... Boom......"

Suffocated, physiological tears gushing out of his eyes blurred Theodore's vision, and the other party bent down affectionately and touched Theodore's face with the back of his hand.

"Don't be afraid, child, I won't take off the eyes of a good child."

"But are you a good obedient boy?"

The muscular dark-haired man leaned over slightly, his bright silk nightgown open a little as a result of the movement, revealing his muscular chest.

“…… Ahem, ahem, I, ahem, yes. ”

Behind Theodore, the man chuckled in satisfaction.

"Good."

Then the next second, Theodore was firmly pressed by his neck.

The man's sleek arm muscles tensed, and like a crowbar, he slammed Theodore's forehead against the stale bat mural in the hallway!

Theodore's muscles tensed, and he gritted his teeth and didn't scream.

His vision was instantly covered in blood.

Blood splattered across the mural, and a string happened to spill on the bat's hideous fangs, as if a giant carnivorous bat had just sucked up human blood.

"Good boy, you're doing a good job and not screaming, and I don't like boys who are too loud - but you just hit the housekeeper and you're going to be punished for doing something wrong, aren't you?"

The hallway was silent, except for the diffuse smell of blood and Theodore's violent panting. Cease.

“…… Right. He gritted his teeth and replied word for word, "I'm sorry, Fred, and I beg your pardon. ”

"It's nothing, little sir, you're too polite."

The man was finally satisfied, and he let go of his hand, letting Theodore fall limply to the ground.

He cried out in a tone that was neither light nor serious: "—Timothy! ”

A dark-haired, blue-eyed boy, who looked slightly older than Theodore, quietly appeared at the entrance of the hallway.

"Take your new brother away and drug him."

Timothy silently picked up Theodore and carried him out of the corridor.

Behind them, the conversation between Fred the butler and the man continues.

"Are you going to go upstairs, master?"

"I'm in a good mood today, Ah Fu, I'm going to practice martial arts for a while......"

The boy, Timothy—the other Timothy, not the Timothy Drake adopted by Wayne in the class—helped Theodore and stumbled all the way to the bedroom.

The two boys finally met each other, and their sapphire-like pupils reflected a similar appearance of black hair and blue eyes.

“…… What does he mean when he says I'm your 'new brother'? ”

Spreading his dry lips, Theodore asked his first question since they met.

Timothy looked at him mockingly.

"How obvious, there have been two boys buried in this manor, I am the third, and you are the fourth."

“…… Two? ”

"Yes. Our eldest brother is called Dickie, my second brother is Jason, and my name is Timothy. ”

Theodore looked up in surprise and saw earthworm-like twisted lines on the ceiling, like some kind of marked character.

The bloody words came into view, and even if they couldn't read the meaning, they burned the retina like a brand.

"So what?"

"A Hebrew phrase – 'Repeat the mistakes of the past and repeat the mistakes of the past.'"

As soon as he finished speaking, the crimson Hebrew word that followed from beginning to end took the shape of a bat and pounced on Theodore!

Theodore suddenly woke up from his dream, opened his eyes and sat up from the bed!

The manor, Fred, the former adoptive father and steward known simply as "Ah Fu", his companion Timothy, and the string of Hebrew ......

Repeat the mistakes of the past and repeat the mistakes of the past. Repeat the mistakes of the past and repeat the mistakes of the past......

Countless complicated thoughts flashed through Theodore's mind.

Wait a minute, let him think.

Theodore looked up suddenly, and suddenly felt that something was not right.

What's that......

- What are the names of the three children that Wayne adopted before?!