The Death Knell

Nightmares often end when people are awakened, but from a story perspective, it doesn't end, right?

In the past, no one could stay asleep under the huge terror, and naturally no one could see the ending of the nightmare. This resulted in it having infinite possibilities and seemingly never ending.

This is not the kind of horror story children would read huddled next to the fireplace at night, or under the covers with a flashlight. Because you know what is in the book is false, and no matter how bad it is, it has happened to others.

But nightmares are truly everyone’s own.

In the endless nightmare that cannot be awakened, there is no winner. The nightmare can come back again and again. Even if people win once or twice, they can only be regarded as temporary survivors.

Time passed by, and it was already dusk. Some people continued to wait for the big fish to take the bait, while some people were running around and working hard.

"The situation has worsened, Master Bruce." The butler sitting in front of the Batcave host wore an operator-like headset and reported the situation to Batman on the other side of the city: "More and more madmen affected by nightmares are appearing. And the best among them have become a breeding ground for demons.”

After knocking out a crazy sleepwalker, the Dark Knight silently turned him over on the ground, then took out a small bat-shaped sticker and stuck it on the back of the other person's head, and then hid the person behind a trash can. .

Deathstroke gave him a lot of plastic pieces, but he couldn't trust that thing, so after some research, he improved his own props based on the principles of the original brainwave blocker.

The effect of this kind of thing is not necessarily better, but it is more convenient to carry and use, and the ultra-thin design will not even let the wearer feel the existence of the sticker.

"Tell me more specifically."

He exhaled, turned his head and looked at the crowds of people lying everywhere on the street not far away. He came to a dark corner and raised his arms.

The bat arm armor has a projection communication function, which is not commonly used, but if you need to play video intelligence, this erratic light screen emitting green light is more suitable.

Apart from the complex sewer environment in Gotham City, basically everything on the ground is under the surveillance of bats, so Ah Fu immediately played him a video record captured by an illegal surveillance probe.

You can see a madman with his eyes closed walking on the road. As he walked, he suddenly collapsed, clutching his chest and roaring for a while, and spit out purple mucus from his mouth, which looked like a melted candle.

After this thing landed on the ground, it quickly reshaped its shape and turned into a centaur creature with four legs and a deer head, wearing a mask made of white bones on its face.

A long-handled scythe grew out of its body, which was its weapon. The monster then looked around and quickly disappeared into the blind spot of the surveillance.

As for the person who had just vomited the nightmare, his cheeks and eye sockets were deeply sunken, and he looked weak, with more air coming out and less air coming in. It seemed that he would die soon.

"The nightmare is starting to come into reality." The corners of his mouth turned downwards, and Batman revealed his discovery: "Maybe it's using human life force."

"Is it the power of life? Is it the kind of power you said before that Aquaman had control of?" Afu heard Batman say this and played him another video. Obviously he knew his young master and had to see multiple videos. evidence.

Batman will not doubt his butler, but he will doubt everything else, such as the communication channel being hacked, such as problems with his eyes, such as he is still dreaming, etc.

He believed that everything had hidden dangers, so just watching one surveillance video was not enough for him to take any action. He had to watch at least two more.

"All living things have the power of life, and it is not controlled by Neptune. It is part of the power of connection."

The dark figure stood in the corner, and the afterglow of the setting sun could not reach him at all. He continued to watch the second video.

What I saw this time was a woman. She had just killed her husband who was loudly praising the eternal darkness while sleepwalking. Then she spit out a large amount of purple wax oil from her mouth. These strange substances formed a Huge monster.

It looked like a centipede walking upright. The sides of its flat body were covered with densely packed human arms and legs, but the position of its head looked like a flower bud, and it also looked like the one I had seen on the Mongolian grasslands. Plant a sandworm with a big mouth.

Sleepless Knight, he has come into contact with them in dreams, and already knows that they can transform at will, but now he comes to the material world with this ability?

But from Batman's point of view, this is actually good news. If the nightmares that enter reality are all like this kind of monster, it will at least be much better than them disguising themselves as ordinary people and blending into the crowd.

"First came the skeletons and centipedes, and then came the giant centipedes." Ah Fu sighed. The old man seemed a little tired and a little lucky: "Fortunately, there was no such weird stuff in my dream."

"Go on." Batman didn't answer. He could probably guess what was in Ah Fu's nightmare.

The third video should have been taken by a security camera of a fast food restaurant. The picture quality is not particularly good, but a fat chef can still be identified. Purple wax oil flows out of his seven orifices. These substances form a huge half-human and half-human body. A fly creature, this monster's weapon is nunchucks.

"There are more and more things like this, Master Bruce."

Alfred stopped what he was doing, leaned back on the chair, poured himself a cup of tea, and rubbed his aching temples a little:

"If everyone who falls into a nightmare is seen as a cocoon, then what they hatch out of is not something as beautiful as a butterfly."

"After spitting out the Sleepless Knight, these people haven't woken up yet."

Nodding slightly, Batman revealed his findings. He had a guess:

"These people have fallen into nightmares again, and it may not be long before they sleepwalk again. Then when certain conditions are mature, another nightmare hatches into reality, and the cycle continues until death."

"I also think so. Now our manpower and the number of props are far insufficient."

The housekeeper looked at the many monitors in front of him, and all kinds of tragedies were playing out on them:

"And I suspect that the situation will be worse elsewhere than in Gotham, because in some ways the people in Gotham have better mental endurance, and people in other places will just fall into sleepwalking faster."

"I know, I'm trying to end this completely." The Dark Knight walked out of the dark corner where he was hiding. At this time, the sunset had sunk into the horizon. It was originally raining, and the last trace of light disappeared over Gotham.

But today there was no neon-lit night scene. The whole city was pitch black and eerily quiet. There were no gunshots or screams, which made Batman feel that his city had become strange.

In fact, what the old butler said may not be correct. In other places, Deathstroke has most likely sent someone to intervene, but that person has not sent troops to Gotham for the time being. This is due to the last agreement.

Batman doesn't like others reaching out to his city. Deathstroke has recently gained more power, but that person's behavior has become more tactful. He didn't send an army of androids over. Doesn't he want to think too much about it?

But at this moment, a ray of light appeared in the city. It shot straight into the sky, illuminating the shape of a bat on some dense dark clouds.

For a moment, just a moment, Batman almost smiled in relief.