New Friend

There were plenty of places in Gotham that could be used for "education," but Lynn did not know much about any of them. Arkham, though...

That would not be convenient. A graduate returning to school could not exactly bring a newcomer along as a souvenir.

So after thinking it over, Lynn decided to take this guy to Gotham's Underground Labyrinth.

It had been a long time since he had returned. Perhaps because the weather had warmed up, Lynn saw many little sprouts of grass at the entrance where he and the old Batman had gone in before. They had pushed through the hard ground and struggled to grow in a place that received almost no sunlight.

"Sadly, they still won't be able to live out their lives in peace.

The crows are here~"

After chasing away the annoying crows, Lynn brought Poison Gas Guy and jumped straight into the passage.

Along the way, Lynn saw many horrifying things: stark white bones, Talons that had been half-eaten by crows, with the other half left behind.

"Stop shaking. I said, stop shaking!"

Lynn's nerves could handle this sort of thing, but he apparently did not understand just how much of an impact mutilated corpses scattered throughout a dark, gloomy cave could have on ordinary people.

Especially since those bones did not look human at all. Some of them even had skulls with curved horns!

So after walking only a dozen meters or so, the fellow Lynn was supporting could not take it anymore. Lynn certainly had the strength to keep carrying him for hundreds or even thousands more meters, but the man was vomiting and relieving himself at the same time. It was truly unpleasant to look at, and the smell was... a little too much.

"You sit here and wait for me. I'll be right back."

Lynn set Andrew down and prepared to walk a little farther by himself, perhaps to reminisce in front of the photo wall.

"Don't, don't go... Please... don't leave me alone..."

"Hm? Hahahaha, you're an interesting one."

Lynn looked at Andrew clutching his pant leg, then squatted down with a smile. One arm rested across his chest while the other propped up his chin. "Could it be that you want to come over there with me and take a look?"

Andrew shuddered violently, closed his eyes in despair, and withdrew his hand.

Boring.

Lynn got up and strolled deeper into the labyrinth with his hands behind his back.

"When they built this maze, they should've put in emergency exits or safety signs or something. What if someone got lost in here? Which way was I supposed to go again...

Whatever."

He pulled out his meteor hammer and smashed the wall beside him.

"Hey! My teacher was right—the shortest distance is a straight line!"

After breaking through one wall, Lynn indeed saw that familiar wall covered in photographs.

"Let me admire my... huh?"

It had not been long since Lynn last came here to steal the Dionysus Factor, and he remembered it clearly.

At the time, he had taken one of the two ugly photos of Batman, put up one of himself in its place, and even included a portrait of Darkseid.

The photo wall was packed with row after row of pictures. The bottom three had been those three.

The old Batman, Lynn, and Darkseid.

But now, those three photos were gone.

There was nothing there at all.

Lynn frowned slightly, lifted his chin, and lowered his eyelids. With his hands in his coat pockets, he slowly walked toward the wall, one step at a time.

There were fine marks left by a sharp weapon.

He reached out and touched them. The stone was no longer crumbling, so the marks had likely been there for quite some time.

Lynn stood where he was and thought calmly.

After a long while, Lynn laughed. "Ha. Good thing I kept a spare."

He took out the ugly photo of the old Batman that he had privately collected and hung it back on the wall.

Then he took a camera from his spatial bag, held it up, and snapped a forty-five-degree selfie of himself, flashing a V-sign.

The camera quickly spit out the photograph. The lighting was a little dim, so the result was not great. Lynn's cap brim obscured part of his eyes, while the light and shadows blurred the rest. The peculiar angle and Lynn's exaggerated grin made his face look especially old in the photo, with deep nasolabial folds and teeth that were a cold white.

"Not bad..."

Lynn waved the photo around, then pressed it onto the wall as well.

With both hands in his pockets again, he prepared to turn and leave. But suddenly, as if remembering something, Lynn turned back and used a small knife to carve a square frame the size of a photograph beside his own picture. Inside it, he carved a sentence.

"This is the spot I saved for you. No need to thank me."

There was basically no need to look at the level below.

When Lynn had found the next level in search of the Dionysus Factor and discovered that spring, he had emptied out every last bit of Dionysus Factor with the ruthless determination of wiping out an entire household.

Forget water—even some of the mud and stones from the lakebed had been dug up by Lynn. He had truly dug three feet into the ground.

If someone could still receive a heaven-sent gift under those circumstances, Lynn had nothing to argue about.

As for investigating who had visited the Underground Labyrinth, that seemed like a meaningless question.

After all, since they had taken those three photos, they would definitely cross paths again someday.

Whether they would be enemies or friends... that was still hard to say.

"But I should still tell the old Batman about this. I need to warn him that his official love interest may have just been born."

"Heh! I'm really looking forward to life in Gotham from now on. The good days are still ahead of us~! Hahahaha!"

Taking out his personal aircraft, Lynn rode away from the place in a balloon.

"You said you saw something in the Underground Labyrinth? Photos? What necessary connection do photos have to any of this?"

Bruce Wayne simply was not as likable as the old Batman, because when he was not wearing a cowl, he talked way too much.

"Oh, relax~ It's not just you. My photos don't have beauty filters either, so what does it matter, buddy..."

"Lynn, you know I'm asking you something serious. Can you act normal?"

"Ahem, fine. Um... where do I start? Basically, I found something good over there, then I took it. Then I went there today and found that someone had visited, and they took your photo, mine, and Darkseid's. That's it."

Bruce Wayne furrowed his brows again. "You didn't mention who this Darkseid was just now."

"I didn't?"

"You didn't."

"Really didn't?"

"Really didn't."

"He's a farmer. That's not important. What matters is..."

Whenever Lynn got genuinely serious, Bruce Wayne always felt that it would be better if he went back to acting unhinged.

"Bruce, as a friend, I'm warning you: whoever came out of that place may be someone like me.

"The difference is that I like to play, but I'm afraid of dying.

"That guy, though, prefers to treat people who are afraid of dying as toys to play with."

Lynn stood and patted Bruce's slightly puzzled shoulder. "Believe me, he might be the most difficult person you encounter in your life."

"The most difficult person I've encountered in my life is you."

"How can you say that? Do you even have a conscience?"

"You're asking me that? Where's the person you took away yesterday? Did you kill him, or toss him somewhere?"

"I shouldn't have come today. I should've let that big red-lipped guy come deal with you!"

"Lynn, I've put up with you for a long time!"

"Come on, one-on-one! One-on-one! One-on-one!"

"Master Bruce, Mr. Lynn!"

Alfred's timely arrival stopped the two cowards from uselessly barking at each other without actually fighting.

"Mr. Lynn, your phone has been ringing for quite some time."

"Huh? Oh, thanks, Alfred."

Without changing expression, Lynn took out his phone.

"Oh, Alfred, remember when I said I'd introduce you to a new friend?"

Lynn's call was from Jonathan Kent.