The Death Knell

"grandfather?"

"oh?"

Bruce sat up from the sofa. He didn't know when he fell asleep. When people get old, they tend to get confused easily.

This is the study room of Wayne Mansion. The fire is burning in the exquisite and beautiful fireplace. Although there is lightning and thunder outside the window and the rain is pouring, the room is still very warm.

He was sitting on the sofa not far from the fireplace, with a blanket covering his legs. There was a half glass of unfinished whiskey on the small round table next to him, glistening in the firelight.

The person who called him just now was his little granddaughter, Damian's daughter, who is four years old this year.

At this time, the little girl was wearing a white tutu, standing at the door of the study with her hands behind her back, looking at him with her big watery eyes.

"What's wrong? My little princess? Why don't you go play with them?"

Outside the door, many children could be seen, laughing happily and playing strange games. Bruce felt that he was really old and he could no longer understand what was so fun about those games.

"Grandpa, I want you to tell me a story."

"Okay, how about I tell you the story of Zorro fighting against the Governor and winning the heart of the Governor's niece?"

"No, those are all lies. I want to hear the truth." The little girl shook her head, her braids dancing in the air, with a dissatisfied expression on her face like "You still think I'm a child."

"Okay, then go pick a Batman story from the bookshelf and I'll tell it to you."

There are more than a dozen tall bookshelves placed against the wall in the study room, all of which are about his early experiences. More than ten years ago, he finally put all the bad guys in the world into the most secure prison. It's time to retire.

On the bookshelf are not only the memoirs recording these events, but also various souvenirs sent to him by the Gotham government, and photos of him and some old friends.

The little girl approached the bookshelf, with her hands behind her back, walking around and looking at the names on the spine of the books, as if she was choosing something.

"But this is too much."

Bruce pinched his eyebrows, and he felt his eyes were a little blurry: "So I need to record them all, but even so, half of them are contradictory and incoherent, but I assure you, they are all it is true."

He lifted up the blanket on his body, opened his hands, and spoke to her with a smile, full of kindness.

He is old, just a retired old man.

The little girl quickly ran to his side, climbed onto his lap skillfully, and used her pink hands to pull up the blanket to cover her belly.

She handed the book in her hand to Bruce, and Bruce took it and discovered that the title was called The Chemical Company Mystery, which was the beginning of everything.

"Grandpa, I want to hear this!"

Bruce's eyes couldn't help but shift. He saw the photos in the book, and memories came flooding back. That was the first time he participated in a Gotham case as Batman.

"Strange, I remember the story didn't start like this..."

"Don't be confused, grandpa, that's how it started."

The little girl hugged his neck, stared at the book, and whispered in his ear.

"Ah, yes, what was I thinking? I'm so sorry. It all started with that window."

He smiled and touched the little girl's head and raised the book again.

....................................................

It all started with a window and a scream.

"Come out, I know you are there!" A young man raised a pistol and pointed it at the darkness in the corner of the house.

A batarang flew from the other corner and knocked the pistol away.

"I was already in, and it wouldn't be a good idea for you to go back to the scene of the crime."

Young Bruce stepped out of the darkness, wearing his old-fashioned uniform, the blue and gray one that he didn't like very much.

"Who are you?" The man covered his injured wrist and looked at him in horror. In his eyes, there was only a human-shaped bat.

"I'm here to help." Bruce answered him coldly. The man was already frightened, and he judged that whatever the man said next would be the truth.

"You, like the police, think I killed my father, right?!"

"No, we are different." Batman simply denied it. The man's fearful look did not make him soft-hearted: "Your father has died a long time ago. You just pulled out the dagger stuck in his chest, making your Fingerprints were left on it.”

"I didn't kill him. I saw a black shadow outside the window! I wanted to save my father."

Batman did not speak, but gradually approached the window. When the human heart was penetrated, if the dagger had not been pulled out, he might have survived for dozens of seconds longer, but once he pulled out the dagger, he would immediately bleed heavily and die on the spot.

However, this man obviously did not have the courage to kill his father, so it is better not to mention this knowledge.

Batman got closer to the glass, which was densely covered with various blood stains. The blood stains were located on the other side of the glass, seeming to show a strange pattern.

"It's birds. They often bump into this window inexplicably." The man answered Batman's doubts.

"There's something wrong with this blood stain."

............................

"This blood stain is wrong." Bruce on the sofa rubbed his temples. He stopped flipping through the book, and the picture stopped on the window.

"There's nothing wrong, Grandpa, keep talking. There's always blood there anyway."

The little granddaughter Janet shook her body and acted coquettishly at him.

He looked at her kindly, smiled and continued to flip the book.

But the story changed. He saw the destroyed earth. He himself was wearing an animal skin apron and standing on a hillside.

Below the hillside, there is a group of indigenous people wearing bat headdresses fighting with a group of people dressed like birds. To be precise, it is a war.

A strange white-haired woman appears behind him and explains to him that this is his origin.

This is the battle between birds and bats, a battle that spans human history, with bats wielding strange metals to defeat birds.

Birds symbolize reincarnation, and bats terminate this cycle.

"This is all false."

The animal skin on Bruce's body suddenly turned into a bat costume. He watched the people of the bat tribe bowing to him. It was very clear, but his reason knew that they were all fake.

He seemed to remember that he was trapped somewhere and he needed to find a way out.

............................

The book in my hand turned the page again, and the story returned to Gotham.

Yes, it’s the same case just now. It turned out that the murderer was the deceased’s partner. After the murder, he framed the blame on the deceased’s son, so that he could monopolize the chemical company.

In the picture at this time, Batman and Gordon were tied up by a huge glass cover falling from the sky, and the murderer wanted to drain the air out of it to kill them.

Batman pulled out his Bat-Diamond Glass Knife, broke the cover, and the fat prisoner climbed up a ladder and escaped.

Bruce chased after him, but next to the upward ladder, another ladder suddenly appeared, leading underground.

....................................

"I don't want to tell this story anymore, Janet."

"Why, Grandpa?"

"I have to find a way up, or a window..."

"No, Grandpa, you have to climb down that ladder, now!"