Chapter 1438: The Bat Leaves the Nest (Part II) (End of Volume)

"Listen, Bruce, don't move, you can't..."

With a 'swish', Bruce pulled the dagger back. Fresh blood sprayed out, and the three of them froze completely in place.

But the scene of Shiler collapsing did not occur. Gray mist spread, Shiler's wounds healed instantly, and he picked up his suit jacket again, draped it over his arm, smiled at the three of them, and said, "Scared, aren't you? Remember not to break things next time you come to see me."

Clark's legs went weak and he leaned against the wall, Hal slid down along the doorframe instantly, and Diana clutched her stomach, let out a long breath, and squatted on the ground. Then, they glared at Bruce in unison.

Bruce spread his hands and said, "You should have guessed it long ago."

"I told you we shouldn't have gotten involved in a madman's business!" Hal immediately glared at Clark and said, "We shouldn't have gotten involved from the start!"

"My god, my shirt is soaked with cold sweat!" Diana sat on the ground, somewhat disregarding her image, and clutched her aching stomach, saying, "I really can't take it anymore! I can't stay in this crazy city for even one more minute!"

After saying this, the black-haired princess stood up somewhat disheveled, walked out, and waved her hand, saying, "Don't call me if any of them die. That's it!"

Clark stood up, feeling his legs still trembling slightly. He said to Bruce with some annoyance, "You were never on our side. You two madmen can go spend your lives together!"

After saying this, he also strode out the door, leaving only Hal leaning against the wall. After steadying himself, he said, "I won't attend the funeral of one with either of you, because even if you were dead and buried, you'd still be able to crawl out of your coffins and stab each other! I've seen it now. Goodbye!"

Shiler calmly reached out his hand toward Bruce. Bruce put the dagger back into his hand. Shiler returned the dagger to its sheath and asked, "I really can't wait. When does the good show start?"

"Soon."

"Where should I watch it?"

"Right here."

At this moment, Elliot was cornered by Amanda in the old Kane family mansion. Elliot pointed a pistol at Amanda, but Amanda was not afraid at all. She just stared fixedly at Elliot and said, "You don't have the guts to kill me, otherwise Bruce Wei En's identity will be finished too."

"I can completely wipe out..."

"You can't. If you really had Wei En's power, why not return to Wei En Manor? Why hide in a dilapidated mansion eating fast food delivered by takeout? Is this what you racked your brains to get?"

Elliot's expression began to twist. Because of her limited talent, Amanda really couldn't understand those natural-born madmen who shouted about art and philosophy every day, but she had very rich experience with serial killers below that level, such as criminals like Elliot who acted for profit, and she knew how to break their defenses.

"Is this what you wanted?" Amanda spread her hands and turned around, saying, "Or is it that you are far inferior to Bruce Wei En, and even with his appearance, you've messed up everything he could easily handle?"

"Shut up, or I'll shoot."

"Yeah, and then you won't even have Bruce Wei En's identity anymore." Amanda looked into his eyes and said coldly, "If I die, someone will immediately file charges against you. Believe me, the witness's testimony is enough for you to rot in the prison I built."

After saying this, Amanda turned and left. Elliot's finger on the trigger trembled, but until Amanda's figure disappeared at the end of the street downstairs, he still couldn't pull the trigger.

He only had this Bruce Wei En identity now. He had to keep this identity at all costs.

Elliot put the gun back into his waistband with trembling hands. He took a few deep breaths to calm his thoughts, then thought that it wasn't because he let Amanda go that she wouldn't file charges against him. Clearly, this damn woman already knew about his identity theft.

Did something happen to Bruce in prison? Elliot could only think of this possibility. Even though he told himself countless times in his heart that he was the real one, the moment he thought about the loser in prison potentially teaming up with Amanda to accuse him, he felt a sense of panic beginning to spread in his heart.

Elliot's initial motivation was that he would do better after becoming Bruce. Only such a thought could make him feel justified enough to regard this identity as something that should have been his.

But in reality, he had not achieved this; he was far from it. So, naturally, he felt insecure and shaken. The inferiority hidden deep in his heart swallowed him in an instant. The phrase "fake is fake" repeated tens of thousands of times in his brain within just a few short seconds.

Elliot tried hard to calm himself down. After experiencing such extreme emotional turmoil, he was nearing madness. He thought, no, there is nothing now that can prove who is real and who is fake among them. His disguise is perfect.

Batman's identity cannot be made public. Bruce disguises himself as a playboy to the outside world, so the jury cannot distinguish who is real and who is fake based on the gap in their abilities. If he has to demonstrate his IQ in court, Elliot also has many ways to fake it.

Then what is the reason Amanda is so certain he will go to prison?

Suddenly, a face flashed before Elliot's eyes: the only survivor of all the massacres he committed—the little girl, Belica.

Elliot killing people while on the run was entirely to vent his anger. He had a philosophy at the time: the more the people who caused me trouble didn't want me to do something, the more I would do it. The FBI was hunting me because I killed my parents, so I would go and kill more people's parents, or maybe not just parents.

He didn't leave that little girl on purpose. Her parents, until they died, only said she had gone to winter camp. Even when he dug out the husband's heart in front of his wife, they didn't reveal a single word about their hidden daughter.

Elliot only learned about the survivor from the news afterward. A tabloid reporter with no morals, seeking exposure, didn't care at all whether the survivor would be retaliated against and revealed the news that the little girl Belica had survived. That was when he learned there was still one living person left from his hands.

It was precisely because of this that he thought of the plan to use Belica to threaten Batman, who was hunting him, and perfectly executed this plan to obtain his current identity.

If anyone had the perfect evidence to accuse him and send him to prison, it must be Belica. This little girl very likely saw the entire process of him committing crimes against her parents, and more importantly, she saw the entire process of him threatening Batman.

Elliot was now kicked out of his home and had no way to use the Wei En family's resources to defend himself. Once the jury believed the little girl's testimony due to sympathy for the weak, then he would probably really go to prison. By then, Amanda would definitely make him die a miserable death.

No, that won't do. Elliot was trembling all over. He had worked so hard for so long, and although the situation was not satisfactory, he always had a chance to turn things around. But if he went to prison, it would all be over. He had to find a way.

And if he wanted to survive, Belica had to die.

Elliot walked down the stairs with quick steps and drove away in the car he had stolen. He knew he had to kill her before the FBI took Belica away, and perhaps someone would know where this little girl was.

The journey from Gotham to Kansas was very long, but if one drove without stopping and without caring about vehicle wear and tear, it wouldn't take very long. Night fell and then brightened. Elliot arrived at the home of the tabloid reporter who had previously revealed the news of Belica's survival and asked him where Belica had moved.

He stabbed the tabloid reporter, but didn't go to confirm whether he was dead or not. He had no time left.

When Elliot arrived at Belica's residence, he was panting like an ox. He gripped the gun in his hand, intending to knock open the door and then shoot everything that breathed. But he knocked on the door for a long time, and no one answered.

Elliot knew that if this continued, it would definitely attract the attention of the neighbors. This was not an FBI restricted area. He had to act as quickly as possible.

So, he climbed directly onto the second-floor balcony. Through the gap in the curtains, he saw that the door to the room opposite this one was open, and there was a lump on the child's bed. It looked like Belica hadn't woken up yet, and her current guardian might have gone out to shop.

Elliot pried open the window lock and tiptoed through the empty room. The moment he stepped into Belica's room, he raised his gun and aimed.

"Bang!"

The bullet passed through the quilt. There was no reaction, no bleeding, no screaming, no death.

"Bang!"

Another shot, but it wasn't Elliot who fired it. He was the one who was shot—a bullet passed straight through his right shoulder blade and shot into his lung. He let out a miserable scream from the pain and stumbled to the ground.

In the empty room opposite, a blonde little girl who looked to be in her early teens was holding a gun, looking at Elliot with a face full of tears.

"Damn murderer, go to hell!"

The voice was very childish and still carried a crying tone. It sounded pitiful and helpless, forming a sharp contrast with the death-knell-like sound of the gunfire.

"Bang! Bang! Bang!"

Blood bloomed on Elliot's body. It wasn't until Belica had fired all the bullets in the pistol that she finally dropped the gun and knelt on the ground, crying uncontrollably.

A commotion came from the front door. Amanda led a group of agents and rushed up. Seeing the scene in the room, everyone understood what had happened. Amanda immediately hugged Belica and said.

"Don't be afraid, don't be afraid, child. It's not your fault. You are a brave hero. You avenged your parents. This damn murderer deserves to die!"

Then she gritted her teeth and said to the agents behind her, "Call a doctor! No, not a medical team, no one here needs emergency aid. That damn murderer is already dead! Call a psychiatrist!... A bunch of losers, give me the phone!"

"Hello, Professor Shiler, there is some very bad news. Elliot rushed into Belica's home and tried to attack her... No, thank god, Belica wasn't hurt. This brave girl's marksmanship is very accurate, probably because she had been hunting with her father. The murderer received the punishment he deserved."

"Yes, she might have some psychological trauma, which is why I called you. Do you know any experts in child psychology? Good, you say, I'll write it down..."

In Shiler's office at the New Arkham Psychiatric Hospital, Shiler finished the phone number and put down the phone. He looked at Bruce and said, "You instigated an eleven-year-old girl to kill?"

"I didn't instigate her, and she wasn't killing."

Bruce looked out the window, thinking of that day, after Elliot, who had finally succeeded, left in triumph, he clutched his own face, which was cut and bleeding non-stop, and held Belica, who was crying and convulsing in pain, and said those words.

"I never mentioned revenge, I just told her that I gave up my identity and cut my own face, and that even so, I chose to stand on her side, which proved that I loved her just as her parents did."

"So, no matter what she did, I would always love her like that."

"The essence of manipulation is love and a sense of security, isn't it?"

Bruce looked at Shiler, his azure eyes seeming to contain a storm forever. The morning light outside the window shone on him. Shiler saw, amidst the light and shadow, the curled bat wings extending from the long scars on his back, showing a greatness that shrouded everything.

Shiler thought, a young bat leaving the nest on such a cold morning, it's not too late.

From now on, he can use the strong wings forged during the time of breaking out of the cocoon to create terrifying shadows, or he can break free from the shadows and flap his wings in the sunlight. He can soar in the vast sky, or return to his dark and warm nest to rest.

This bat that left the nest will fly across the abyss with a lonely lamp, allowing countless eyes sunk in darkness to catch a glimpse of light.

All of Shiler's painstaking efforts were only to allow thousands of orphans and knights who had never met him but were lonely and desolate, on a small boat that had long been eroded to nothing but rotten wood, to rely on this light to guard one more night of dawn.

If there is no dawn in the future, they can also guard this lamp alone and have one last night of good dreams.

(Volume Two: Leaving the Nest, End) ===== CHAPTER 1439 =====