The Death Knell

His consciousness was gradually withdrawn from the tide of memories, and Batman finally heard the call of the trench coat fighter beside him.

"I'm okay."

He replied in a hoarse voice. Although the voice changer changed his tone, there was nothing good about it.

The trenchcoat fighter quickly slapped his chest and took an exaggerated breath before pulling the needle out of Batman's waist.

"I gave you pethidine. Although in this case, you should choose military-grade morphine, but I can't get that thing... The dose is not small, but I think the addiction should be fine for you. .”

Batman nodded and left the wall. Although he was still affected by the hallucination, the auditory hallucination had disappeared and he returned to normal mobility.

At the same time, the large dose of Demerol suppressed the pain. The trench coat fighter's choice of medicine and timing were all right.

"Well done."

He offered a dry compliment, a Batman-style thank you.

The trench coat warrior shrank his neck and changed the topic as if he deserved it: "Are you sure you want to go in? Your current situation is really not good, why do you have to deal with the clown now?"

"He is too dangerous, I can't let him out of my sight." The corners of Batman's mouth turned down again.

"But with so many threats facing the world now, does he really have such a high priority?" The windbreaker took out a few more Demerols from his pocket and wanted to hand them to Batman.

Batman pushed his hand back. He had better medicine, but he suddenly lost the ability to move and couldn't get anything from his belt.

To the man in trench coat's question, he just replied calmly: "At least I think so."

The trenchcoat fighter didn't speak anymore. He just nodded, put Batman's arm on his shoulder, and the two walked into the small door of the maintenance room together.

The illuminated entrance is the most dazzling place in the darkness, because the noise and excitement behind the door represent the most essential chaos, which is the clown's territory.

Batman took off his arm, perhaps due to the effect of the medicine. He no longer needed support, and when facing the enemy, he couldn't play the two-person-three-legged trick.

The trenchcoat fighter naturally had no objection. He shrank behind Batman, clenched the cold handle of the pistol with both hands, and made a gurgling sound like he was swallowing saliva.

The inside of the door was transformed into a gallery by the clown, and a tunnel was dug out of what was supposed to be a small maintenance room. The clown not only dug it out, but even decorated it with his own aesthetics.

There were dizzying colored lights and graffiti everywhere. The moment you entered the door, the lights began to spin crazily, and the clown's crow-like voice sounded again.

"Hahahahahahahahaha ............ You finally come to Batman and let us guess a riddles? What do you like to hide in the rabbit cave?"

If you follow the general thinking, many people will think that the clown compared this place to a rabbit hole, then of course the clown is hiding in the rabbit hole.

But the clown has never been a shallow person. His thinking is frighteningly active, and he specifically emphasized that it is an 'thing', so the answer is an object or thing, not a person.

The most famous allusion to the rabbit hole comes from "Alice in Wonderland". The girl Alice followed the rabbit into a hole, where she encountered many incredible things.

For children, it is just a fairy tale. The heroine learns a lot in the rabbit hole, grows up quickly and becomes brave, succeeds in life, and returns to her family. Everything before was just a dream.

But for lunatics, in addition to enough wild thoughts, the dark madness hidden behind it is the most fascinating thing.

For example, the Cheshire Cat who always smiles and encourages Alice to kill enemies; Mr. Rabbit who successfully abducts a little girl and throws it away after use; and the Red Queen who likes to chop off people's heads to keep the loot.

Many of the characters in it seem extremely familiar from an adult perspective.

They are not straightforward monsters like those in Grimm's fairy tales. It is difficult for ordinary people to encounter werewolves or witches in their lives.

Behind the masks in "Wonderland", the characters represent the characters. Many people will encounter them in work and life. This sense of sight is what makes people feel hairy all over.

Most importantly, this story has a tragic ending.

Alice helped the Kingdom of Dreams overthrow the Red Queen, and she should have enjoyed the happiness and joy that victory brought.

But no, she was sent back out of the rabbit hole, back to real life, 19th century England, and continued to be an ordinary person.

At the end of the article, the author writes: "She will become a woman, and she will retain the pure and cherished heart of childhood."

Well, just like that, Alice, who had everything going smoothly in her dream, became ordinary when she returned to reality, oblivious to everyone, and of course she had nothing to say.

There's nothing better than this story to make people reconcile themselves to the ordinary.

There is also a follow-up to "Alice in Wonderland", "Through the Looking Glass", which tells the story of her experience in the mirror being used as a pawn by the red queen and the white queen. In the end, it was another dream.

From the story, we can learn that she lives in the countryside where she needs to chop firewood. She has a grandmother and sister Dinah at home, and a black cat named Mimi. In reality, what she wants to eat is a piece of meat bone.

It was completely different from everything in the dream.

It’s only after comparison that you see the cruelty.

The Joker's question is to make Batman think of this story and think about some of the problems this story brings.

Why return to reality? Why can't we live in a dream? Is it really bad to go crazy?

Batman's face became even more gloomy. The Joker was digging into the barriers of his mind, and his mind was so fast that he really thought of the meaning behind those stories...

However, he still suppressed his emotions and calmly said the answer: "Exit."

Yes, the thing hidden in the rabbit hole is the exit.

It is both the entrance and the exit, entering and exiting the world called dream but actually crazy.

It's no wonder that the Joker chose a subway tunnel, as rabbit holes tend to be dry and sewers are not suitable.

The clown's voice came from the speaker somewhere. He smacked his lips at the other end: "It's not very comprehensive, but it's still interesting. Come on, I've prepared a dinner for you, your Alice." I'm waiting for you too, hahahahaha..."

Gotham already has a Mad Hatter, a madman who likes to dress up his victims as Alice, fasten their corpses to chairs with barbed wire and force their corpses to attend tea parties.

So Batman is sure that the Joker will not do this. He is just quoting allusions rather than executing them himself.

The door in the passage opened again, revealing the hall behind, which was a banquet hall taken out from the ground. The long tables were covered with snow-white tablecloths and filled with all kinds of delicacies.

At the end of the long table is Catwoman. Although she is not tied up, the collar with flashing red lights around her neck also makes her sit stiffly on the high-backed chair covered with red velvet.

When she saw Batman come in, her eyes showed mixed emotions. She might have wanted him to come, but she felt that they shouldn't meet at this time.

And these emotions can only turn into an expression that looks like crying and laughing at the same time.

Batman rushed over without impulsiveness. He would never make this mistake. The Joker must be watching nearby.

Sure enough, from behind the high-backed chair, the familiar figure in a purple suit appeared. He pushed a small dining cart with several plates on it, all covered with beautiful silver dining covers.

"Oh, it's just the right time. I've prepared desserts. Please sit down."

There was a chair in front of Batman. The trenchcoat fighter was not prepared, but neither of them had any intention of sitting down.

The Joker waited for a while, and the smile on his face gradually faded. He suddenly took out a pistol from his arms, turned off the safety and put it on Catwoman's head.

"I said please sit down, you won't let the host of the banquet down, right?"

Batman took a deep breath, pulled out his chair, made sure there were no hands or feet underneath, and sat down slowly.

I don’t know how long the effect of the medicine in the body will last. It’s best to solve the problem at hand quickly, but it looks like the clown plans to eat first?

The main course has been placed on the long dining table. The perfectly cooked roast suckling pig still has a red apple in its mouth. The sweet soup for the appetizer is also placed in front of Batman. The black soup on the silver plate exudes a strange smell. The aroma.

The Joker had no intention of sitting down. He held the gun in one hand and held the back of Catwoman's chair with the other.

"Try it? I spent a lot of time. I heard that you like to name sugar 'Justice' when you drink coffee, so you will definitely like my 'Justice Sweet Soup', hehehe..." .By the way, it is cooked with rainwater from Gotham and has a spicy taste. Slow down..."

Batman looked down at the black soup on the table. Under the light of the candle, it looked dark, and he couldn't see what was under the soup surface.

But it is also a metaphor, which means peace under the cover of darkness, no waves, a stagnant water.

The Joker blinked and stood on tiptoes to look over from the other side of the long table, as if anticipating Batman's reaction after tasting it.

The trenchcoat fighter on the side was also looking at Batman's face and whispered: "My shooting skills are pretty good... You don't know if this soup is poisonous."

Batman shook his head. The Joker couldn't be killed, and the soup must be poisonous. It was almost a no-brainer.

But he must drink.

But just when his fingers touched the edge of the plate, the windbreaker stretched out his hand, picked up the plate, drank it all, and then threw the plate away. This is just a bowl of black water with no side dishes in it. Drinking the liquid only makes the masked lips of the man in the windbreaker become moist.

He wiped his mouth with his sleeve with his backhand, stood up straight and looked across.

However, amidst the clown's laughter, he soon fell to the ground clutching his stomach, rolling on the floor of the dark room as if experiencing uncontrollable pain.