[Zhongyingmei] If you don't dig a hole, you will die

At this moment, Pamela's mind regained a brief clarity——

She felt as if something had been touched in her chest.

This little girl with black hair and green eyes seems to have come alive from the black and white portrait, facing her with a face that looks expressionless but has an inexplicable sense of gentleness, her eyes are greener than the forest after the rain The thick green eyes stared at her quietly, but just such a simple look would make one's heart soften and tears would flow down his cheeks.

She was only 17 years old when she died, she should have just finished the college entrance examination and was about to enter university at a good age.

Probably would have gone to NYU if she hadn't died.After all, the newspaper that published the news of her death is a local specialty in New York;

It is also possible to go to any other school, anyway, with her mother's genes and family conditions there, she will not be mediocre anyway;

If she is not afraid of Gotham's local law and order and the lunatics who may run around at any time, it is also a good choice to study in the Natural Science Department of Gotham University.

From the time point of view, it will take some time before Pamela Eisley and Harley Quinn will become Poison Ivy and Harley Quinn.

In other words, if she really successfully entered Gotham University, she would become the junior sister of the two of them;

Maybe they will know each other and become true friends who can talk about everything;

Maybe he will give them a hand after they become Poison Ivy and Harley Quinn, so that they will not go further and further down the wrong path.Even today, where there is no way to retreat, everyone regards them as street rats...

It's just that all these possibilities came to an abrupt end in front of her death.

The black-and-white posthumous photos are like an unshakable benchmark, drawing an insurmountable boundary between "Hetty Brown who died at the age of 17" and "the little girl hidden in the room by the knight".

Even if the little girl who is still alive is wearing exactly the same formal dress as her in the posthumous photo.

Even though their faces were both young and beautiful, with an exotic oriental aura, Pamela could keenly tell from their completely different eyes that they were not alone.

How can a person with empty eyes and a will to die and a person full of vigorous vitality be the same person?

However, the boundary between life and death is insurmountable.No matter how time flies by in the outside world, but for Hetty Brown, she always stays at the young and beautiful 17-year-old every moment, and her time is forever from the moment she dies. , Forever solidified.

Since then, everyone outside the newspapers has undergone changes that even they can't believe. The world has lost Pamela Eisley, Harley Quinn, and the second-generation Robin. Ivy, Harley Quinn and Arkham Knight.

However, Hetty Brown, who was forever frozen in the black and white portrait, would never change again.

Although there was no expression on her photo, and I didn't have any expression changes when I looked at Poison Ivy, but Pamela had an inexplicable premonition.

If she laughed, it would make people want to dedicate the whole sky to her.

Because she is the most brilliant warm sun, she deserves it.Her delicate and beautiful eyebrows and eyes should be full of high spirits, and her high-spirited look is unforgettable at first sight.

Arkham Knight also noticed her abnormality, and naturally saw the obituary.

However, he didn't have the slightest abnormal reaction, and even quite naturally snatched Hetty's obituary from Pamela's hand, stuffed it into his breast pocket, and said in one go: "Let's go..."

Only then did Pamela react: "God! Did you already know?"

Arkham Knight has already started to pursue Black Mask.Even if Pamela asked something that she would never ask in such a gaffe, his footsteps did not stop for her at all, not even the shortest and most instant pause, only his voice gradually Far away blurred: "I said I have a sense of proportion, what do you think?"

But Pamela couldn't face this fact.It's strange to say that her mind has been confused for so long under the torment of plant toxins, and in such a long time as Poison Ivy, there are not a few moments when she can regain her will.

However, in front of the portrait of this girl whom she had never met before, she was able to maintain sobriety for such a long time.

Not only that, but an inexplicable force was calling out from the bottom of her heart, asking her to take a look at Hetty Brown's tombstone after all the dust settled.

Just one glance.She quickly convinced herself, and then followed the knight to hunt down the black mask:

Nothing will happen, just take a look.

If at that time, she can still maintain this hard-won sobriety.

It seemed like even God was helping her.In the end, after the Arkham Knight pierced the black mask through the forehead, Pamela still maintained her sanity.She held out her hand to Arkham Knight, and motioned, "Let me take another look at her obituary."

However, Arkham Knight didn't mean to lend her the old newspaper at all. He just asked her, "What do you want?"

"I want to see her gravestone," Pamela explained.

As soon as she said this, even she felt that she couldn't explain it:

She doesn't know Hetty Bronx, and the girl's current identity is very mysterious.

It seems to be able to go to worship others.And according to her usual style, this kind of behavior is totally unjustifiable, it's almost like her brain is broken again!

Arkham Knight didn't laugh or refute her right away, but just took a look at the obituary: "19 Green Avenue, 35, Block H, Public Cemetery."

Then he put the old newspaper into his pocket again, without any intention of showing Pamela another look.

Pamela:

Fortunately, it is night now, even if one is red and the other is green—now the Arkham Knight’s external identity has become the red hood——

This combination of color matching bullshit walks on the street, and no one will notice them.So the two came to No. 19 Green Avenue with ease.

The gates of the public cemetery are locked at night, so as not to disturb the rest of the dead by dirty homeless people or fugitive criminals who can draw their guns to fight at any time.

Especially at night in Gotham, then this safety measure is absolutely necessary.

Just a mere lock couldn't stop these two people. They easily climbed over the high wall and entered the public cemetery, and came to No. 35 in H area.

They saw Hetty Brown's grave.

The dates of her birth and death are engraved on the pure black marble, surrounded by patterns of thorny vines and roses, and a line of epitaph written in beautiful cursive script is displayed in the center:

【Pain is so long-lasting, moving patiently like a snail; happiness is so short-lived, like a rabbit's tail gliding across an autumn grassland. 】

There is also a line of small characters below, which is very small, and it is getting late now.Even with Pamela's good eyesight, she couldn't see clearly.

She glanced at the Arkham Knight next to him, and found that he seemed to be a little relaxed. When he was fighting with the black mask and his party before, all the killing intent surged around him, almost turning into a solid body. Converged edge.

So Pamela felt that this sentence must be very important. Could it be some key word that can restore people's mind to normal?

As soon as she thought of this, Pamela became curious and bent down to see what was written in this line of small characters.

In the end, she just bent down, but still couldn't let her see clearly. She had to move forward and walk a little bit. Only when her feet guessed the edge of the raised tomb did she see clearly the words written on it. who what:

【Hey, you stepped on me——】

[It's rare to get so close, fate, my friend, do you want to rent the advertising space at a low price? 】

At the end of the first sentence, a rather playful tilde is added, which really uses strength to explain what is called "I am skin, therefore I am".

Pamela suddenly felt like laughing and crying.In the end, she still didn't show any emotions, and suppressed herself as much as possible. Using her ability to control plants, she forcibly gave birth to the withering rose on the tombstone next door, and put the fresh and fragrant white flowers on He In front of Ty Brown's grave, they left quietly.

The Arkham Knight stayed here longer. At least Pamela didn't see the knight leaving when the public cemetery was out of her sight.

Even so, when she returned to Arkham and wanted to pry open the door of the knight's room to take a look at Hetty Brown, the knight himself was already in the room, and he even gave the group the plant she used to knock on the door. It's stuffed out.

When he looked at Hetty again, he found that the little girl had fallen asleep leaning against the wall.He took a closer look and found that the formal suit the girl was wearing was indeed the one she wore in the portrait, even the hot silver pattern on the neckline and the dark pattern embroidery on the tie were exactly the same, very thin, Then he sighed, carried her to the sofa, found a quilt by the way, and wrapped her up from head to toe.

There is an old saying that what you think by day is what you dream by night, so Arkham Knight had another dream that night.

It's just that this dream is different from the previous ease. The oppression and suffocation he felt from it was no less than what he felt when he was Robin and when he was trapped in Arkham by the clown.

He finally saw thoroughly and clearly that Hetty Brown's life was forever frozen in her 17-year-old life.

I don't know if it's really because of the excellent genetic blessing brought to her by the mother of a geologist. She is a very smart girl, and she has shown extraordinary talent in the field of natural science since she was a child.

However, because her mother is an excellent product cultivated under exam-oriented education.So she has to use the same method to ask her daughter.

Under such an overly strict education, her talent is no longer something to make people happy, but a burden.

But her talent, in other words, has more than one burden on her path of "study hard and make progress every day":

She is also very good at writing.

As a result, the relationship between mother and daughter became more and more tense. While the surrounding peers could live in a leisurely and free environment, comparing the two, this completely different education system brought Hetty only Endless sense of oppression and suffocation.

The more she tried to resist, the more severely her mother would suppress all her struggles, and in the process of suppressing them.

He even disciplined her strictly with the sense of superiority, responsibility and mission unique to Chinese parents:

I am doing it for your own good, you will understand in the future!

It's just that she couldn't make it to the day when she "understands" or "understands".

The girl who just took the college entrance examination has not had time to receive any systematic education in the university, so she borrows her place

Relying on his talent and self-study in the research room of high school, he has made a remarkable progress in botany.

With this scientific research as a foundation, not to mention New York University and Gotham University, all prestigious universities in the United States will offer olive branches to her!

However, her scientific research achievements, reports, papers and other achievements were all stolen by a certain teacher who had been secretly planning to steal Hetty's research.

Fortunately, many of her classmates knew about it while she was busy doing experiments. After discovering that Hetty's scientific research results had been embezzled, her classmates immediately gathered together and wanted to appeal for her.

They have prepared all the evidence and are waiting to discuss with Hetty a charter.It turned out that when they gathered at Hetty's house to discuss what to do next...

Hetty's mother came back.

She doesn't believe her daughter has this ability at all.In other words, she believed it, but the fact that "my daughter carried out repeated orders from me saying that she should prepare for the college entrance examination and secretly conducted experiments" brought her unprecedented anger and impact.

"How dare you? How dare you do this, Hetty Brown?" Even in the dream, the woman's voice was shrill to the point of harshness.

Even Arkham Knight, a spectator, thinks it would be nice if he could wear his helmet in his dreams:

"Who asked you to do these unnecessary things? I told you to study hard, how dare you obey? Do you know how important the college entrance examination is? In China, this is a major event that can determine your future life!"

In front of Heidi's classmates, she didn't save her any face, scolded her daughter bloody on the spot, and didn't think there was anything wrong with her actions at all.

After all, for many years, Chinese parents have come here like this: "Is it because you don't listen to what I say, and you have to make me angry to make you happy?"

Normally, these are just the words that mothers and daughters would say during bickering, but now they are the last straw that breaks the camel's back:

Even her classmates believed in her, why did her flesh and blood relatives still reprimand and scold her for such a trivial matter of "not being obedient"?

Suddenly, Hetty raised her head and smiled slightly at the nearest male classmate who was trembling under her mother's roar:

"You remember what I wrote in my class? The "How to Write a Creative Epitaph for Your Tombstone" writing class? "

The male student was suddenly asked by Heidi, and then he suddenly raised his head as if shocked: "Remember, remember!"

Too bad Arkham Knight wasn't the Jason Todd Hetty knew.Otherwise, he would have recognized this guy as Flash, Hetty's "ex-boyfriend" coming.

"Okay..." Hetty nodded slightly to him again, as if she had let go of some burden, and for the first time in her life began to talk back to her mother: "Over the years, while you gave me life and raised me, Using this method again, I was mentally suffering to the point of death all the time, and I was going to kill me a second time. In this way, mother, I don’t owe you anything.”

"Okay, your wings are hardened, you have grown up, and you dare to threaten me?" Her mother kept reprimanding her: "How dare you say that——"

Immediately, the harsh and angry tone stopped abruptly, and a broken scream burst out from her mother's throat: "--Hetty?"

Under the shouts of shock that filled the room, the 17-year-old black-haired girl slammed into the window with all her strength, and directly knocked the opening and closing glass window open.

She was still wearing the formal dress she would wear to the graduation ceremony, and she jumped down from the 22-story building. That graceful figure was like the swallows that pass by the Great Lakes every year, light, agile and free, even if it was only a short time. For a moment, she also breathed the unfettered air.

The sky was spinning, and the sun was too bright to shine into her emerald green eyes. The sun was shining brightly, the blue sky was high and far away, there were still cicadas singing among the green trees, and white clouds swept across like strands of yarn.

It was an unprecedented, sunny day.

Later, the geologist couldn't accept the fact that "my daughter was forced to death by my own education method", so he published an obituary to prove his love for his daughter.

It seems that this can make up for the fact that for a long time, she was busy with work and scientific research and neglected to take care of her daughter, and only blindly used the things she had experienced to force Hetty, which eventually led to Hetty's death. fault.

In the year Hetty died, she adopted another little girl with black hair and green eyes, and planned to teach another obedient child this time;

The students who were still complaining about Hetty also forgot about this girl one after another.

After all, this incident was too scary, so it's better to forget it; only Flash lived up to Hetty's entrustment, and after her mother unilaterally decided the inscription on the tombstone for her, she used her family's relationship in private, He found the factory responsible for the carving, and secretly added these two sentences to Hetty.

The Arkham Knight was so shocked by Hetty's last leap that he couldn't recover for a long time.

He has never been able to experience how terrible it is to have such a parent. For a while, he doesn't know whether the pain he has suffered is more cruel, or this long and blunt knife-like torture is more cruel.

After he finally woke up from this long dream, he felt cold sweat all over his body.

And since he took root in Arkham, he has felt this way for some time.

Hetty woke up at some point, and was looking at him worriedly.

It's just that Hetty didn't expect him to open his eyes so suddenly.So Na Ming couldn't put away the worried expression written on his face.

The two stared at each other in silence for a while, and finally Arkham Knight spoke first. His voice was a little hoarse, as if he had just experienced some unbearable emotional fluctuations.

But this only abnormality was quickly covered up by him under the calm appearance:

"Earlier...why didn't you come to me?"

For a moment, Hetty didn't understand what he was talking about, so she could only look back at his green eyes blankly, and whispered, "Are you sleepy? I can't understand what you are talking about at all."

Only then did Arkham Knight realize that the Hetty Brown he had seen in his dream had stayed forever at her 17-year-old age.

And this Hetty Brown who came from another world was lucky enough not to have experienced these things.

This cut off the only possible topic between the two, and Arkham Knight realized this problem like never before:

She is not from this world, and she will go back sooner or later.

This is not his Hetty Brown; but in this world, the person who can bring her freedom and dependence comes so late, so late, until everything is irreparable, he is playing tricks on people's fate Guided by her, she was able to review her overly complicated and difficult life in a dream.

In this case... For a moment, a sense of resentment developed in his heart uncontrollably:

If this is the case, why did you come to me?When will you leave, and who will you return to?

Before he could say anything, he saw that Hetty's figure suddenly became uncertain.

He subconsciously stretched out his hand, and grabbed Hetty's hand, as if he wanted to pull her over again and keep her by his side, but after hesitating and struggling for a long time, Arkham Knight finally let go took her hand.

With just such a brief grip, he could feel Heidi's hand was as cold as ice.

He looked at Hetty's blurred face, but finally he couldn't suppress the resentment in his heart, and said angrily: "Must mess up my world, and then you want to leave? You're too willful. little girl?"

Hetty was once again overwhelmed by the same dizziness that had struck her before.At the same time, the voice of the system sounded again in her mind: "Little Heidi, get ready, we are going back!"

Two voices sounded in Hetty's ears at the same time. It was difficult to distinguish when they were mixed together. In addition, she was so uncomfortable now that she couldn't hear the Arkham Knight's words clearly.

Fortunately, he spoke again, but this time his words had a greater impact on Hetty than what "the system is back" brought to her: "Forget it, you'd better go."

He finally let go of Hetty's hand, and in those green eyes like frozen lake water, there was finally a slight emotional fluctuation: "Before I repent, Hetty Brown—"

He took the obituary out of his breast pocket and stuffed it into Hetty's palm: "Go to me in another world, he needs you."

Hetty's eyes widened suddenly, and just when she was about to ask him how he knew these things, the belated darkness tightly closed her again.

She walked so quickly and silently, and suddenly disappeared from the closed room with the half-yellowed newspaper.

If it weren't for the cold temperature still remaining in the palm of Arkham Knight, he would have thought that what happened just now was just another dream under his insanity.

He looked at his empty palm, and thought it was fine, everything was over.

At least they in that world will definitely have a happy ending. This is already the best result. Looking at the caring eyes that the little girl secretly cast while dreaming, I know that they not only know each other, but also have a good relationship. It's so bad, it's just a matter of finishing it off.

It's a good thing, he told himself over and over again, it's a good thing.

But he was still very sad.Not sad as Arkham Knight, just as Jason Todd.

He admits he still misses it.Miss the past in the Batcave that can never go back, miss Hetty Brown, who will always stay in the 17-year-old age, miss those glimpses of the sky but remain in my heart for a long time. sunshine.

There was a knock on the door. It should be Poison Ivy who came to him to discuss how to deal with Black Mask's assets next.

I don't know whether Poison Ivy is still sober now, is it Poison Ivy or Pamela Eisley, but even if she changes back to her original form, what can he do?

The earth still rotates, the sun still rises in the east and sets in the west, and the seasons of spring, summer, autumn and winter are still alternating and orderly. It is not because there is a girl named Hetty Brown in the world, and it is not because someone gave her a belated but sincere letter. Sad and stop functioning for a moment, everything in the world still has to run normally.

But in this momentary trance, he was truly in pain and miserable.