Leaving Gotham, for Now

The familiar city gave Lynn no sense of connection to his parents. Judging by how he treated the old Adrian Family estate, he truly had nothing to miss or feel nostalgic about.

If there was one place in this city that felt most familiar to him, it had to be Arkham.

As a graduate, Lynn was undoubtedly an outstanding "alumnus" of Arkham. Not only had he torn down his own school's teaching building, he even returned from time to time to discipline the new students and spread the school's rotten ideas.

Last time he came, he had swaggered through Arkham and killed several freshmen from the Court of Owls in front of countless people.

The name Lynn was gradually becoming a legend of Arkham.

Deadshot Laudon, who had been forced to come to Arkham for a vacation for some unknown reason, now hated hearing that name more than anything.

Last time, someone had caused chaos in Arkham. Amid the confusion, Laudon's door had been opened. At the time, he had indeed considered going out himself. Even if he did not escape, he at least wanted to join in the chaos.

He had pushed open the door and stepped out in high spirits, only to run straight into Lynn dragging someone by the hair across the floor, painting the ground red with blood.

Lynn had even greeted him, enthusiastically inviting Laudon out for a chat and asking him for a favor.

Laudon's legs had nearly started trembling. Fortunately, years of being an assassin had trained him into wearing an icy expression, preserving his fearsome reputation.

Go out and chat with you?

And help you out?!

Why were you reaching over with hands covered in blood?! Who the hell wanted to shake hands with you?!

Laudon had immediately taken a step back, shut the door, locked it, shoved a cabinet against it, leaped onto the bed, pulled up the blanket, and started snoring.

That lunatic had not come in and forced him to help. That was what made Laudon happiest.

At least he had avoided getting mentally contaminated.

Still, as Laudon counted down the days, he had never expected his next meeting with Lynn to come so soon.

And in such a formal manner, too.

"...So you got in under the excuse of visiting family? They just let you in? Doesn't anyone here recognize you?!"

Looking at Lynn sitting before him, his face wrapped in bandages and looking even crazier than before, Laudon could not keep his voice from rising.

"Don't get worked up. I may be an old patient here, but look at my face..."

Lynn unwound several layers of bandages from his face, revealing flesh that had been burned away by flames and then regrown under the effects of medicine. It dealt a third blow to Laudon's psyche.

"You... There are still people here who can hurt you?"

A ripple stirred in Laudon's heart. A man like him could never entirely stop resisting.

"Oh, no. I burned myself. Mm... I wanted to run an experiment, and there was a little accident."

Laudon's expression remained as calm as a mirror, filled with a serene, detached air. His back suddenly straightened. "What can I do for you?"

Lynn casually wrapped the bandages around his face again. He did not do a very good job, leaving the section stained with black blood exposed.

"Don't be so stiff. Make yourself at home. Heh heh...

"Laudon."

"Yes."

"I came this time to say goodbye."

"Really?!"

"Yeah, I'll be leaving for a while... Why do you look so disappointed at the words 'for a while'?

"You aren't? Oh, then I must have seen wrong."

Lynn adjusted his hat and continued, "I only have one thing to tell you. If someone takes you out of here in the future, don't resist. Just go with them.

"Then become my undercover agent. No matter what you hear, record anything valuable. Understand?"

Laudon was not surprised.

He knew Lynn had forbidden him from leaving Gotham and insisted that he remain in Arkham because he intended to use him someday.

Honestly, hearing Lynn say it actually made Laudon feel relieved.

Before this, he had constantly feared Lynn would ask him to help with some experiment or something...

The man was either covered in blood or covered in scars. That was not something Laudon had imagined—it was something he had personally seen!

Without any surprise, Laudon agreed.

Lynn was equally straightforward. He simply said, "All right," rubbed Laudon's bald head, stood up, and left.

It left Laudon feeling a little uncomfortable.

Bro, aren't you going to kill someone, set something on fire, anything? At the very least, tear down a building before you go?

Of course, Lynn was not that bored.

He still had to catch the ferry and head next door to find someone.

At around three in the afternoon, Lynn appeared at one of Gotham's ports and boarded a departing ferry.

"Ahh~ Farewell, Gotham. Farewell, the city that gave birth to and raised—"

"Buddy, could you keep it down?"

Lynn's face was wrapped up tightly, but traces of bloodstains could still be seen.

And he was holding a black cat that kept staring at people while talking to himself nonstop. He did not look like someone easy to approach.

So after Lynn took his seat, the people around him quickly left him alone.

Lynn had not expected anyone to voluntarily sit beside him.

And be so familiar with him.

"Want a smoke, friend? Hahahaha, you probably don't like fire very much."

Before Lynn could say anything, the thin man with messy hair and a khaki trench coat sat down beside him.

Lynn gave the man, who insisted on smoking even aboard the ship, an interested look. The kitten curled up in Lynn's arms and scratched him with its paw.

After soothing the kitten, Lynn stroked the fur on its forehead and looked at the man's profile. "I'm actually quite interested in having one myself."

"Mm!"

The slightly unruly man raised his head, narrowed his eyes as he looked around, then slowly turned to look at Lynn. Their gazes met.

"Heh."

He laughed. "Forget it. Sorry, I forgot smoking isn't really allowed here. Oh, I even got on the wrong boat.

"Goodbye, brother."

The man pressed his palms together around the lit cigarette and rubbed them twice. When he separated his hands, the cigarette had vanished, leaving only a wisp of smoke.

"Oh, right, brother."

The man, who had already stood up and begun walking away, stopped and turned back toward Lynn. "If you're keeping a black cat, it's best to put it on a leash."

"Meow—!"

"Hahahaha, goodbye, brother."

The man got off the ship and disappeared into the dock.

Only then did Lynn have time to ask the kitten, "Why did you suddenly scratch me just now? Was that person special?"

The kitten was still staring angrily out the window. Tilting its head, it answered in confusion, "I don't know, but his scent was very strange. Very... familiar."

"Scent?"

Lynn had only smelled tobacco and alcohol.

"What scent?"

"The scent of sulfur."

The kitten turned to Lynn. "The scent of hell."

"Ah..."

Lynn suddenly understood. "I think I know who he was."

Across the aisle, the little boy sitting in the adjacent row looked at the kitten and tugged on his parent's clothes. "Mom, that uncle is talking to his cat."

The boy's mother looked up and gave Lynn an apologetic smile. "That means that uncle has a loving heart, and..."

"Pants."

"Ah? You..."

Lynn smiled, showing all eight teeth. "I'm talking to my pants."

Holding her child, the mother from the adjacent seat ran all the way to the very front rows.

"Ha, no sense of humor~"

Whooo—

The horn sounded, and the ship began moving.

Lynn looked back at Gotham, finally calming down.

The third update was messed up. If there wasn't one today, there would definitely be one tomorrow. It would be updated around three in the afternoon.