Chapter 188: Arkham Daily Life (Part 3)

When Jack lay on the hospital bed at Arkham Psychiatric Hospital again, Shiler said gloatingly: "Now you know where your permanent home is, right? In view of the fact that you paid a lot of money, I can give you more painkillers."

"Do you think I'm a junkie?" Jack shouted irritably: "Don't compare me with those people whose brains are ruined by drugs!"

"Look on the bright side, at least you have a permanent bed here. You should have seen how much those gang bosses outside who can't get in want a bed like this."

Mentioning the words gang boss, Jack showed a disgusted expression. He muttered in a low voice: "You are the same as that bat. He doesn't want to laugh, you don't want to be crazy, you are all lying to yourselves..."

He stared at the ceiling, muttering constantly: "Why on earth do you have to be so serious? Why do you refuse to admit it? Why not be proud of your chaos and disorder?"

Suddenly, he became calm again, even with a philosophical tone: "In such a mediocre world, having a unique crazy soul should be something to be proud of."

"But you always trap this brilliant soul in a mediocre shell that makes people sick."

"Living seriously and earnestly every day, pretending to be no different from those walking dead, this really makes me sick..."

"Madness is not the only way to know this world." Shiler also sat down, his tone very calm. He said: "I have always firmly believed in this point."

"If you can't become a sharp knife and use madness to pierce the disguise of the world, then you will be tamed by those hypocritical orders."

Jack said some profound words like sleep talk, each word pausing in his mouth, as if he didn't know them, but each sentence was so complete and fluent.

"There is order only if there is disorder. If there is no order, chaos will no longer be chaos, chaos will become order. When you destroy order, you are precisely establishing another kind of order."

"Many people think that the ultimate answer to this world is chaos, but when they have this idea, it means they have been tamed by order. This world has no ultimate answer."

Romance

"Is this the reason why you and that bat would rather do nothing?" Jack looked at Shiler.

"I am still a bit different from him." Shiler poured himself a glass of water and said: "Batman is a warrior who maintains order in chaos, but I am not. I am just an ordinary person."

"Ordinary person..." Jack sneered at his statement.

"And you, you regard yourself as a savior, wanting to tell everyone that only madness can know all the truth, especially wanting to tell Batman that the answers he wants are close at hand, simple enough to just laugh."

"But he doesn't not understand this point, he just doesn't want to do it."

"That's why I think he's a mental patient." A trace of jealousy suddenly appeared in Jack's tone, "He has what I don't have, the kind of most fundamental darkness and madness that I dream of, but he just doesn't want to do it. He could have become a great god who tears through this mediocre lie, but he just doesn't want to laugh."

"This question echoes in my mind every day, making me feel puzzled and crazy."

"Why on earth are they so serious?"

Shiler shrugged and said: "Everyone is lying to themselves, only you told the truth. Everyone is pretending to be serious, only you laughed out loud, so you became the only Joker."

Jack stared at the ceiling and said: "When the laughter is about to overflow from their mouths, their first reaction is fear, resistance, and reflection. This is what's crazy."

"Being a Joker must be very happy, because there is nothing in this world that you can't laugh at. You want them to know how happy you are, but unfortunately, no one appreciates it."

"I have always felt that the person who dresses up as a bat is the mental patient." Jack looked at Shiler and said: "... the person who dresses up as an ordinary person is too."

Outside the window, the night of Cat Getan slowly fell, the city lights jumped, and after the weather warmed up, the whole city began to glow with new vitality, still a bit crazy and evil, still chaotic, and still prosperous and bustling.

In the morning, Shiler was in his office, holding a paint brush. Brand next to him took off his paint-stained gloves with some disgust. Shiler said to him: "I am very sure that this broken hospital needs a thorough renovation."

He pointed to the corner and said: "If it weren't for that madman's graffiti damaging my wall, I wouldn't have discovered that the brick joints there were cracked. Maybe it will collapse one day."

Brand sighed and said: "What you said makes sense, but this requires a long-term plan. We can't tell those patients that we are going to start renovating the hospital tomorrow and let them get out, right?"

He looked up at the corner of the roof and said: "In short, until now, we can only do it ourselves."

"You are just reluctant to give up the revenue of these days." Shiler said with a smile: "If it is renovated for two months, there will be no commission to take during this time, which is a big loss, right?"

Brand touched his nose and cursed in a low voice: "It's all the damn gang industry chain you created. I didn't know money was so easy to make in my life. If the work stops for two months, how much money will I lose?"

"Alright, then we'll do it ourselves, but the cracked corners and so on are small problems. The biggest problem is that there are not enough wards."

Brand also sighed, he obviously knew this point.

Arkham Psychiatric Hospital has a long history. When this building was built, Cat Getan didn't have so many people, and the carrying capacity of this hospital was limited. Even if Shiler created a big cycle of medical parole and prison parole, the wards were still tight.

Now the main contradiction of Arkham Psychiatric Hospital is the contradiction between backward facility conditions and the growing demand for gang bosses to make money.

After Cat Getan experienced the disaster, this contradiction became more prominent. Logistics facilities are being rebuilt, most gang bosses are free, so what better place to go than Arkham Club?

They reorganize industries here, exchange resources in their hands, form circles, expand contacts, and prepare for the next step of development.

Everyone communicates with each other, exchanges information, and advances layer by layer according to the level of the circle. If you don't join in quickly at this time, when the work really starts, you won't even be able to drink the soup.

Especially after Jack returned to the mental hospital, he was really a very troublesome guy. Cobblepot, Yin Wensi, and Jack, these three people, can be said to be incompatible.

Cobblepot and Yin Wensi can barely stay in one room, but it won't work if Alberto comes out. When the future Penguin Cobblepot and the Joker stay in one room, the two of them often fight because of different values.

Cobblepot belongs to the lawful evil faction in Cat Getan. Simply put, he is not crazy enough. In fact, the Penguin in the original work is about the same. He opens a big restaurant, talks and laughs with gang bosses, and even becomes the mayor. This is a promotion route that is normal to abnormal in Cat Getan, which is completely different from the chaotic evil of the Joker.

So Cobblepot thinks the Joker is a complete madman who cannot communicate, while the Joker thinks Cobblepot is an idiot no different from those gang bosses. Staying with him for one more second is an insult to him.

Cobblepot disdains to reason with a madman, and the Joker is too lazy to talk to an idiot. So the way they resolve disputes is to fight.

Neither of them has high enough force. Cobblepot won't mention it, he is thin and small, and his strength is not great. Because the Joker's brain is a bit crazy, he fights without any rules. Every time they fight, they are evenly matched. In the end, they are both bruised and swollen, tied to the hospital bed and staring at each other.

And the Joker and Yin Wensi have huge differences in artistic understanding. The two of them mainly argue, mainly because Yin Wensi doesn't like to fight, and Jack can't beat Yin Wensi at all. Their way of arguing has become competing in singing opera excerpts.

If Yin Wensi's singing can be considered pleasant, then Jack's singing level would make Batman fall over if he came in person.

As long as they live in the same ward, letters complaining about noise and disturbing the people will be sent to Shiler's office like snowflakes.

So these three people can only have one ward each.

There were not many wards to begin with, and these three patients with no profit output insisted on occupying one ward each. Shiler had been displeased with them for a long time, but these three people all had legitimate reasons.

Cobblepot was stabbed several times by Yin Wensi before, and he was really seriously injured. It is somewhat inhumane to let him be discharged now.

The contradiction between Yin Wensi and his father has not been completely resolved. Alberto firmly refuses to return to the Falcone manor, and the godfather has no intention of picking up his son, so it can only be dragged on like this.

Because Batman is busy with classes and has nothing to do, and considering Gordon's mental health and work pressure, Jack can only rely on staying here.

It was another afternoon when Shiler had just finished lunch. Jack stood on the balcony on the 7th floor of Arkham Psychiatric Hospital, with one foot across the balcony railing.

Inside the room, Bruce, Yin Wensi, and Cobblepot stood there. Yin Wensi said to Jack: "If you have something to say, say it well. Can you come back from there first? If you fall down, the professor will definitely be very angry."

Bruce just came to find Yin Wensi to hand over the club work. He didn't know about the various thrilling things that happened in Arkham Psychiatric Hospital during this period, so he turned to ask Yin Wensi: "What is going on? Why does he want to jump off the building?"

"Can't you see it?" Cobblepot sat on the hospital bed next to him and said to Bruce: "He is a madman, having an attack."

Yin Wensi was still earnestly persuading Jack: "This is the 7th floor. If you fall down like this, it must be head first. Brains and blood will stain a large piece of ground, and the professor will have to pay a large cleaning fee. He will definitely be very angry."

Cobblepot also said: "There are brick roads under the building, and blood is hard to clean if it splashes in. All the bricks must be pried up. If you really dare to do this, I have no doubt that he will hold a funeral full of copper smell for you."

A look of embarrassment actually appeared on Jack's face. He said: "Will he carry my coffin to a group of gang bosses and let them read a memorial speech for me? Let you idiot offer flowers to me, and let that person with no musical taste sing poems for me? My God! He is a devil!"

"But do you think I will be afraid?!" Jack patted the railing hard and said like an aria: "The brave Jack will not fear the devil. I will prove it to you now. I am the Arkham Knight!"

As he spoke, he leaned hard to the left and fell straight down. Bruce rushed to the balcony in two steps, and then saw Jack floating in mid-air. Shiler at the bottom of the building stretched out a hand and threw him aside with an annoyed face.

Jack, who landed, rolled on the ground laughing and said: "Hahahahahaha! Ordinary person, you say you are an ordinary person! Hahahahahaha, this joke is really too funny. I must listen to it again tomorrow, hahahahahaha!"

Yin Wensi looked back at the calendar, then looked at Cobblepot and said: "Let's make a bet, will there be a 15th time this week?"

Cobblepot stood up and walked out of the room, intending to return to his ward. He said: "I bet it will definitely exceed 20 times."

Only Bruce, standing on the balcony, looked back at Yin Wensi and Cobblepot, then looked down at Shiler and Jack. The wind on the balcony blew his hair very messy. He muttered to himself in a low voice:

"... Am I crazy?"

---Author's Note---

Hee hee. ===== CHAPTER 189 =====