dmims Chapter 5 Arnold's Friendship
Chapter 5 Arnold's Friendship
I'm so damn stupid.
Zheng En mentally slapped himself repeatedly. He was caught off guard when a cookie was suddenly shoved into his hand, the serrated edge of the packaging pricking his palm.
After handing him the things, Arnold resumed his bent-knee position with his hands wrapped around his legs, his forehead touching his knees, completely shutting himself off.
Before Scarface appeared, the ventriloquist seemed like a somewhat cowardly and neurotic nice guy.
Zheng En whispered a thank you and went back to his own bed. Looking across the middle bed, he could clearly see Arnold's appearance.
Bald, mediocre, and slightly overweight, he is a very typical image of an American working-class person.
Zheng En felt a brief pang of guilt, not long, just a second.
"He knew this hospital was wrong."
Batman's reminder made Zheng En realize, "Right, if he didn't have other plans, he wouldn't have needed to be so careful about hiding the food."
Following Batman's line of thought, Zheng En analyzed, "Arnold didn't tell me before that this was a mental hospital, but now it seems that he has realized something, but he's just not sure."
"Batman, what kind of person do you think Arnold is?"
Zheng En didn't know much about DC, having only read some comics and watched some video explanations. When it came to truly understanding these supervillains, he had to rely on Batman, who had fought them for many years.
At this point, Zheng En couldn't help but ask curiously, "Speaking of which, I still don't know why you became the system's mentor. Are you the Batman of this world?"
Besides that, he also really wanted to know which version of Batman this was.
Even without counting the countless fan creations, there are many different versions and stages of Batman in DC Comics. In the early stories, Batman did not have the taboo against killing, and some even killed people with guns.
But just as he suspected, Batman avoided the topic.
"Ventriloquist Arnold Wesker may not have been born with schizophrenia."
Regarding Zheng En's second question, he pretended not to hear it. "As a member of a disadvantaged group with a poor economic level in Gotham, he must have been under a lot of pressure in his daily life, but he didn't develop the alternate personality Scarface until he was old."
"If his mental state had improved before this, perhaps the scars wouldn't have been formed."
Zheng En glanced at Arnold. He couldn't do the work of a psychologist, but he could blow up Arkham.
"Wouldn't his mental state improve considerably after leaving Arkham?"
[Beep]
[Task: The Possibilities Triggered by a Butterfly]
Everyone knows that Gotham City harbors countless sins, where villains, scoundrels, and psychopaths run rampant.
A butterfly flapping its wings can stir up a storm on the other side of the Atlantic.
An outsider's action might prevent this city from having a madman in its future.
Mission objective: Help Arnold Wesker escape Arkham.
[Task Reward: Five thousand US dollars (a small amount of money)]
Ventriloquist Skill: Ventriloquism (A Gift from a Friend)
Arnold's friendship (maybe it will come in handy someday)
If there's a task, why not take it?
Compared to Zheng En's ideas, Batman considers more things; he will speculate on the conditions for starting the mission and the principles for distributing the rewards.
Why didn't the mission trigger when I encountered Arnold, but it was triggered when Jung Eun changed her mind?
Why are all the skill rewards issued related to specific characters?
He tried to unravel the clues one by one to find a connection, but there were too few leads at the moment.
Batman is the world's greatest detective; he never stops investigating, nor does he stop thinking.
Even if such problems cannot be solved in a short time, he will keep them deep in his heart and wait for the right opportunity to connect and uncover them so that the truth can be revealed.
When Zheng En entered Arkham, it was afternoon. There was no clock in the ward, so they could only tell the time by the sky.
At dusk, the caregiver brought the meal.
The tray is pushed in from a small compartment under the door. Normally, when the door is closed, it looks no different from a regular door; it's only used during mealtimes.
The white tray contained rice and beans, with the rice clumps stuck together on one side and yellow chickpeas and a muddy sauce on the other.
When Zheng En saw the food, his face turned green. "Batman, I really want to escape."
Batman: "Before that, you need to eat enough to ensure you have enough energy."
Jung Eun said helplessly, "I wanted to run away because I didn't want to eat these things."
He went to Arnold with a plate in each hand, but the latter was still withdrawn.
It wasn't until Jung Eun walked to his bedside and put the plate down that Arnold realized what Jung Eun had done, and he thanked her repeatedly, feeling flattered.
Each bed had a matching bedside table and chair. In order to get closer to Arnold, Jung Eun sat directly on the chair on the middle bed.
Perhaps it was because he had been withdrawn for a long time, or perhaps it was the feeling of fullness from the food that improved his mood, but Arnold calmed down and became interested in answering Jung Eun's questions.
"Outings?" Arnold shook his head. "Basically none. Apart from regular checkups and a series of tests, I haven't left my ward at all."
He noticed that the food on Zheng En's plate hadn't decreased at all over the past few days. "Is it because you don't like the food here? You might prefer the biscuits or bread for breakfast."
"But since you've just arrived, they'll definitely be giving you a medical check-up, so they won't be providing breakfast tomorrow," Arnold kindly reminded him. "You should eat more."
"Thanks, Arnold."
Jung Eun listlessly stirred the food in her plate with a spoon, chatting with Arnold as she ate, and eventually finished it.
While they were talking, he learned from Arnold that all of Arnold's previous patients had been discharged, but he, due to his old age and frailty, needed to stay for a while longer, perhaps a few months or even a few years.
She was supposed to be discharged from the hospital, but she was probably actually sold.
Zheng En thought that, based on the information he had previously learned, Arnold's delayed "discharge" was actually because he had not found a suitable use for him.
Arnold was too old to sell his organs. Human trafficking mainly targets young adults or women who are engaged in manual labor. As for human experimentation, there were already others who had done it before him, so he was even less likely to be included.
But letting him out is also impossible.
They were made into specimens, faked mummies, and sold to the upper class as supplements, or used for other purposes that Jung Eun could not even imagine.
It's not easy for people to live a safe and healthy life and make money, but people are still very valuable.
"So, what do they do before they're discharged from the hospital?"
Zheng En wanted to ask if there were any signs, but that would be too obvious. Seeing Arnold shake his head, he deliberately stammered and asked, "Didn't their family, friends, or anyone else see them?
These words seemed to trigger Arnold's panic. "No, no family, no friends, I'm constantly being called out and undergoing tests..."
His breathing became rapid, and his eyes widened as he looked at Zheng En, bloodshot veins struggling in the whites of his eyes.
"Watch out, watch out."