Fear Upon Fear (Part 1)

It was very late at night, and Bruce was sleeping more and more soundly in bed, but even in his sleep, his brows were still furrowed.

Suddenly, his bedroom door opened a crack, letting in light. The slight creaking of the hinges was somewhat annoying, and Bruce's brow furrowed even deeper. He moved his arm and then rolled over.

A shadow of darkness enveloped his face. Bruce seemed to sense something, and the instant he opened his eyes, a bolt of lightning flashed outside the window, revealing a terrifying Joker holding a dagger aloft standing before his bed.

The moment the dagger fell, Bruce sat up in bed. He held his breath tightly, as if he were being choked. After a long while, he finally let out a breath with trembling shoulders. He looked at the empty room and confirmed that it was just a nightmare.

The cold sweat on his forehead and back had not yet subsided. Bruce pursed his lips, wiped his face, and sat up in bed.

He noticed that his room window was slightly ajar, and the wind blowing in from outside made the lampshade sway slightly, casting flickering Shade in the room. Bruce thought that this might be the reason for his nightmares, so he went over and closed the window.

With the wind gone, all the light and shadow in the room quieted down. Bruce slowly walked toward the bathroom, wanting to find a towel to wipe the sweat from his face.

After entering the bathroom, he leaned on the sink and quietly looked at himself in the mirror. This time, however, he did not have any hallucinations. He just noticed that his face was a little pale and the wound on his shoulder had reopened and started to bleed.

He gently touched his shoulder with his One Hand. The pain wasn't too intense but it was very persistent, probably caused by the excessive force he exerted when he sat up.

Bruce turned on the tap with a bit of a sigh, bent down, and wanted to wash his face.

Just as he lowered his head, closed his eyes, and scooped up the water, he didn't notice that the bathroom door slowly opened.

As he stood up again, looked up, and looked in the mirror, a terrifying dark figure stood behind him. At the same time as Bruce appeared in the mirror was a laughing, crazed Joker who raised a dagger and swung it down hard.

"Well!!"

Bruce let out a painful groan and sat up in bed. He took deep breaths and looked around in a daze. He was still lying in bed, and the room was still empty.

The windows were tightly closed, so no wind blew in. The lampshade wasn't swaying, and the light and shadow didn't change. More importantly, that crazy Joker wasn't there.

He sat stiffly on the bed, his breathing trembling. When he wanted to get off the bed again, he hesitated for a moment before standing up and reaching out to touch the edge of the desk next to him.

The sharp sensation traveled from his fingertips to his brain, giving him a sense of security. This time, Bruce didn't go to the bathroom. Instead, he went to the door of his room, turned the doorknob, and the moment he opened the door, a terrifying scene unfolded.

Outside the door wasn't the corridor of the Wayne Manor, but a black hole with howling winds. Bruce was sucked in almost instantly, and then, after a nauseating feeling of weightlessness and falling, he sat up in bed again.

Bruce squeezed his eyes shut, completely unsure whether this was a dream or not.

Bruce began to think: if this was also a dream, what could he do to wake up?

He took a few deep breaths to calm himself down, and then began to look around the room. The bedroom was no different from what he remembered; everything was in its proper place. The light he hadn't turned off before going to sleep cast a thin halo of light over everything.

What exactly caused these recurring nightmares in him?

Bruce stood up again, walked to the center of the room, paused for only a moment, and then stepped into the bathroom again. He turned on the tap, bent down, scooped up water, washed his face, and stood up straight. Sure enough, a Joker laughing hyster raised a dagger at him, and once again, he woke up from his dream.

Bruce now understands that he is trapped in an endless dream and must find a way to wake up.

Bruce sat up in bed and began searching, but everything in the room was incredibly real, unlike anything he had ever seen in a dream. The wood grain on the table was clearly visible, and the scratches on the edge of the chair were exactly the same as Bruce remembered.

If you lie down to sleep, a crazy Joker will come to your bedside with a dagger. If you go into the bathroom to wash your face, another crazy Joker will stand behind you with a dagger. If you try to open the bedroom door and go out, you will be sucked into endless darkness.

After all of the above occurs, Bruce will wake up in bed again and repeat the same nightmare.

Bruce tried many times and triggered more conditions. For example, if he stood still in the center of the room, a Joker hanging upside down would appear on the Chandelier and stab him with a dagger. If he crawled under the table, a flat Joker imprinted on the wall behind him would appear and stab him with a dagger. If he opened the closet, a crazy Joker would rush out and stab him with a dagger.

It's as if no matter where he is or what he's doing, there are terrifying Joker everywhere.

Once Bruce is stabbed by the Joker wielding a dagger, he will wake up from his dream to find himself back in bed, only to be woken up again.

This terrible nightmare keeps repeating itself, as if it will never end.

And so, in Bruce's bedroom at the Wayne Manor, one Bruce after another began to try all sorts of actions. Some moved their mattresses, some lifted the legs of their desks, and others moved their wardrobes. Whenever they triggered a certain condition, Bruce's figure would disappear, but then more Bruce would appear.

Once Bruce realized it was a recurring dream, he knew there was no other way but to exhaustively search for clues, because everything in a dream is illogical.

After all, in reality, with the Wayne Manor's security system, the Joker with a dagger would have no chance of getting into his bedroom.

In normal reasoning, Exhaustion Method and carpet search are undoubtedly methods used only when the thinking is stuck or there are no other new options. However, in such cases, these two methods are the most efficient.

Finally, everything changed when a Bruce in the room touched the lamp switch.

After he flicked the switch on the desk lamp, turning it off and plunging the room into darkness, the terrifying Joker did not reappear.

Whether she went into the bathroom to wash her face or lay back in bed to sleep, that crazy smiling face was no longer seen in the pitch-black bedroom.

But this doesn't mean that this endless nightmare is over.

Bruce was still unsure if he was dreaming. He walked to the window in the darkness, opened it, and felt the cold wind and rain on his face. The sensation was incredibly real, but Bruce didn't relax at all. He finally understood what the Joker meant when he said, "The game has begun."

After trying every possible action to trigger the Joker's appearance, and the Joker didn't appear, Bruce knew that "turning off the lights" might be the key to the puzzle.

Next, he walked to the bedroom door and opened it.

Outside the door is the corridor of the Wayne Manor.

But Bruce remained vigilant. Having experienced countless nightmares, he no longer trusted anything about "reality."

At this moment, Wayne Manor was also pitch black. Bruce walked along the dark corridor until he reached the edge of the stairs. The moment he stepped down, the next step disappeared, and he fell down, then woke up from his dream again.

He got up, turned off the lights, opened the door, and walked out. This time, Bruce changed direction and tried to go down the stairs on the other side. Then he discovered that no matter which staircase he took, the steps would disappear the moment he lifted his foot to go down, and then he would enter the next dream again.

What is the key to this puzzle? Bruce stood in the dark corridor, deep in thought. He showed no anxiety or impatience; rather, he found a brief moment of peace in this contemplation.

If he can't use the stairs, how is he supposed to leave this floor?

Bruce tried jumping directly down from the edge of the atrium. In reality, the height of two stories wouldn't be a problem for him, but in the dream, the sensation of falling would wake him up again. So he found that this method wouldn't work.

If he couldn't leave this floor, then perhaps he should explore other rooms, but the other rooms were the same as the bedroom. Many of Bruce's actions would trigger the deadly Joker, that Laughing Man figure who could appear behind him, beside him, above him, or even in front of him at any time, and then swing a dagger at him, waking him up again.

Room after room, puzzle after puzzle, Bruce's figure once again filled the entire third floor of the Wayne Manor, his movements, pauses, and thoughts were everywhere.

After waking up countless times, Bruce stopped going through the same routine and stayed in his bedroom.

As he had done many times before, he turned off the bedroom light, then knelt down, leaned over, and pressed his head against the floor to look under the bed.

Of the entire third floor of the Wayne Manor, the One place he hadn't checked was under his bed.

But Bruce knew why he had overlooked this place. His hand, which was resting on the edge of the bed, trembled very slightly. He could never forget the terrifying story he had heard when he was very young.

When you are sleeping in bed, there will be a shadow of the same person sleeping under the bed; that is your Shade.

If a child doesn't sleep well, his Shade will crawl out from under the bed, throw you off the bed, and then lie down in bed to take your place.

He will completely replace you, enjoying the care of your parents, playing with your friends, wearing your clothes, and playing with your toys, while you can only hide under the bed like Shade and cry sadly.

The memories of childhood trauma are the most profound, but even without this story, it takes immense courage for people to look into the even darker depths of the bed in complete darkness.

There, Bruce discovered something that shouldn't be in his room: a spinning... globe.

Next to the globe was a small note with a line of words written in a very messy and strange handwriting—

"This is Miss Globe, and her dance partner is Jack. Joker Jack wants to remind Batman that good kids should turn off the lights when they go to sleep!"

The instant he finished reading the note, a pale hand holding a dagger emerged from under the bed and stabbed Bruce.