Chapter 459: grandfather

Chapter 459: Chapter 459: grandfather

"Sir, please forgive me for speaking out of turn, but who is the Young Master’s mother?"

Alfred switched his form of address so smoothly that it left Bruce somewhat speechless.

This butler of his was good at everything, except for being overly invested in his lifelong romantic affairs, always worrying that he would end up old and lonely, and that the Wayne family line would completely end with his generation.

Bruce sighed and eventually answered, "Her name is Talia al Ghul."

Darian stroked his chin. "You mean the daughter of Ra’s al Ghul, the leader of the League of Assassins?"

"You know about the League of Assassins?"

"I know a thing or two."

Ra’s al Ghul, codenamed the Demon’s Head, was rumored to have lived for seven hundred years.

The reason he could live for so long was because he mastered a BUG-like thing called the Lazarus Pit.

That was a magical pool; immersing oneself entirely in it could heal most injuries, restore youth, and even bring someone who had just died back to life, acting just like a fountain of youth.

However, such powerful functions did not come without a price.

Anyone who soaked in the pool would go through a period of extreme mania, chaos, and aggressiveness, and their personality would become increasingly radical afterward.

Bruce’s father-in-law, Ra’s, relied on the Lazarus Pit to resurrect himself time and time again, until he completely warped in the end.

He believed that human civilization was thoroughly corrupt and had to be restored to ecology and order through a massive purge, so he formed the League of Assassins in an attempt to destroy human society.

Of course, this League of Assassins wasn’t the kind of assassins who liked doing Leaps of Faith and running amok with hidden blades, nor were they assassins skilled in American iaijutsu and curving bullets, but rather a ninja legion similar to The Hand.

Ra’s greatly appreciated Bruce as a son-in-law, proactively matchmaking Bruce and his daughter Talia, and even planning to give away the entire League of Assassins as a dowry so that Bruce would marry into the family and become his successor.

In the end, this scumbag Bruce slept with Talia, then turned around and returned the dowry, refusing to marry into the family.

At this, the old father-in-law instantly flew into a rage.

You’ve eaten and wiped your mouth clean, and now you say you won’t marry in just like that?

Thus, he became one of Batman’s mortal enemies, constantly troubling his son-in-law Bruce, leaving Bruce in a position where fighting him wasn’t right, and not fighting him wasn’t right either.

Darian had ordinary interest in the feud between Ra’s and Batman; what he cared about more was that Lazarus Pit.

That thing could resurrect people; just that point alone was defying the heavens.

Although the side effects were massive, Darian was still very interested in the Lazarus Pit, wondering if this thing would have any effect on him.

Alfred pursued the question, "Where is that lady now?"

Bruce paused, his eyes drifting away. "This..."

Darian chimed in from the side, "Could it be that you, this scumbag, abandoned her?"

Alfred’s expression changed immediately, and he said earnestly, "Sir, if that’s really the case, I think you should find her and bring her back; after all, a child cannot go without a mother."

Bruce glared fiercely at Darian; this guy truly loved watching the world burn without minding how big the spectacle got.

Yet he couldn’t ignore Alfred’s thoughts; to him, this old man was practically the existence equivalent of a father.

Bruce rubbed his brow and explained helplessly, "It’s not what you think. I had no idea Talia was pregnant beforehand. Today she suddenly tracked me down, dumped Damian on me, and then left by herself."

Let alone anyone else, even Bruce himself still had a blank, dumbfounded look on his face right now.

Back then, some story had indeed happened between him and Talia; skipping the details, anyway, in the end, one figured things out and the other opened up, and the two naturally rolled between the sheets, discussing biological knowledge for an entire night.

When he woke up the next day, the person was already gone and couldn’t be contacted, leaving only a few hundred U.S. dollars on the nightstand.

Bruce: "..."

Was I whored out?

Bruce never expected that a single shot would hit the bullseye that night, and Talia didn’t even tell him, straight up running away with child, secretly giving birth to Damian outside, until now when she suddenly handed him such a surprise.

To be honest, his paranoia flared up again at that moment.

His first reaction was that he had happily become a father, doubting whether this child was really his or not.

But his reason told him that once those words were asked, Talia would probably fight him to the death, and by then another name would be added to his list of enemies, so he had no choice but to acknowledge Damian as his son.

Darian looked at Bruce with utter disdain.

"You’re Batman. If you really wanted to stop her, who could block you? I think you just didn’t want to stop her. Not proactive, not rejecting, not responsible—isn’t this the textbook definition of a scumbag’s behavior?"

Bruce was instantly left speechless.

Hearing Darian put it that way, his behavior really did resemble a scumbag, and there was no refuting that point.

Darian reached out to pat Bruce’s shoulder, comforting him, "But thinking from another angle, this isn’t entirely a bad thing. Anyway, you’re not young anymore, and those super-criminals in Gotham constantly attack your kidney region fiercely; that aspect of you is probably long past its prime."

"Now that Damian has dropped from the skies, at least it leaves an heir for the Wayne family. Isn’t this pretty good?"

Bruce’s complexion instantly turned dark.

Who was he saying was past his prime?

Every morning when he woke up, he was as stiff as a board; piercing straight through the bed board wouldn’t even be a problem.

Alfred nodded in agreement. "Indeed, sir. I think Young Master Damian is quite nice; if we keep him here, the household can also become a bit livelier."

Bruce was speechless. Why did they make him sound like some scumbag who abandoned his wife and child?

"I didn’t say I was chasing him away; didn’t I just bring him back?"

As he spoke, Bruce turned his head to look at Damian, only to find that the other party was already strolling around the Batcave on his own, touching this and poking that, completely treating the place as his own home.

In a sense, this truly was his home—Bruce’s only current legal successor.

Taking advantage of the time the few of them were talking, Damian had already made a round around the Batcave and then slowly walked back, expression very solemn.

"I feel it necessary to say a couple of things. I’ve only been here with you guys for a few minutes, and I’ve already discovered three problems."

Damian raised a hand to point at Darian, speaking toward Bruce, "First of all, your security measures here are terrible; you actually let just anyone break in. For a secret base, that is simply a failure."

Bruce raised an eyebrow.

He did want to stop Darian, but the question was, could he block him?

However, what was up with this lecturing tone? Who on earth was whose dad here?

"Second, your vigilance is also terrible."

Ignoring Bruce’s reaction, Damian raised his second finger. "I just walked around and found over a dozen hidden cameras. Someone has been constantly monitoring you, yet you remain completely oblivious to it. A failure among failures."

Bruce clenched his fists.

He actually knew about this long ago and was well aware that it was installed by this guy Darian, but he had intentionally chosen not to dismantle them.

Because if he dismantled them, Darian would definitely plant them even more secretly next time.

It was better to just pretend he didn’t see them; at least these were currently out in the open, and when he really didn’t want to be seen by Darian, he could still use some methods to temporarily block them.

But now Damian had blurted it out directly, so Darian would definitely change their positions, making it even harder to deal with them in the future.

This brat!

Damian didn’t know about these things. He slowly raised his third finger and continued, "Third, with such a huge place here, why have I only seen one butler until now? Where have all the other servants gone?"

Alfred smiled and answered, "Young Master Damian, it has always been just me managing this place."

"Ah?"

Damian was stunned, his little face showing a rare, blank expression.

Such a huge manor, plus such a massive Batcave, and just one old man was taking care of it?

This butler probably had some sort of superpower; otherwise, how could he possibly manage to handle it all?

"Ahem!"

Damian quickly recovered his senses, gave a light cough, and put away that country-bumpkin look.

Straightening his face, he said to Bruce, "Then that makes you even more in the wrong. Clearly you’re so rich, yet you only hire one butler, and an old man at that. You are abusing the elderly."

Bruce: (Tic)

Are you deliberately picking a fight or what?

That’s right, Damian was deliberately here to pick a fight.

Back then, Talia, just like Ra’s, wholeheartedly hoped that Bruce would inherit the League of Assassins.

To achieve her goal, she pulled out all the stops, even personally sleeping with... persuading Bruce.

But Bruce stubbornly refused no matter what, expressing that talking about money or feelings was fine, but this matter was completely out of the question.

If you ask why?

Because I love Batman!

Seeing Bruce act all righteous after pulling up his pants, Talia was furious, so she set her sights on his genes.

You’re not willing to inherit the League of Assassins, right?

Fine, then I’ll just give birth to one who is willing.

Thus, under the joint expectations of Talia and the Demon’s Head, Damian was born.

From the time he could walk, Damian was thrown into the League of Assassins, receiving all kinds of rigorous training every day, determined to become a better successor than Bruce and make the League of Assassins even greater.

However, they were truly overthinking it.

Batman was DC’s biological daddy, after all; how could Damian possibly surpass Bruce?

Seeing his mother and grandfather sighing and constantly dwelling on his biological dad, Damian was very displeased with this.

He wanted to prove that he was not inferior to Bruce in the slightest, and even superior.

Because of this, ever since he stepped through the door, he targeted Bruce everywhere, nitpicking and finding faults just to prove that Bruce was inferior to him.

"Filial, truly so filial!"

Darian read the thoughts in Damian’s mind and laughed out like a pig squealing.

The Wayne family really was brimming with talent; regardless of old or young, they all seized upon Bruce in the middle and tossed him around relentlessly.

Damian shook his head and sighed with the demeanor of a little old man. "Alright, I feel my words have already touched your soul. I won’t say much more; go back and reflect on it well by yourself."

Bruce: "..."

He regretted it; he shouldn’t have brought Damian back at all.

This was simply a demon pill.

Darian shoved the camera right into Bruce’s face, looking gloating and amused. "Bruce, you don’t even need a test to know this is your biological kid; he’s simply identical to you."

How is he identical!

Bruce was already annoyed, and seeing Darian still recording made him even more annoyed.

He said ungraciously, "This is my family matter; isn’t it inappropriate for you, an outsider, to be here?"

Darian was righteous and confident. "Who says I’m an outsider? I am Damian’s grandfather."

"???"

Bruce was so angry he laughed. "You guys just met for the first time, when on earth did you become his grandfather?"

Darian chuckled softly, pulling out a sci-fi-styled energy gun out of thin air from his hand.

"Come, Damian, call me grandfather, and this energy gun from Atlantis will be given to you as a welcome gift. The maximum firepower of this gun can actually destroy a tank."

Damian’s eyes lit up instantly, and he immediately shouted, "grandfather!"

"Good boy!"

Darian smiled with a benevolent face all over, handing the energy gun to Damian, who played with it fondly and even wanted to fire a few shots to test it out.

But before the brat could start wrecking the house, it was snatched away by Bruce with one hand.

Damian panicked. "What are you doing! This is a welcome gift given to me by grandfather!"

Bruce: "..."

If Darian was Damian’s grandfather, then what did that make him to Darian?

Bruce took a deep breath, tightening his face to make himself look like a serious father. "This thing is too dangerous. You are still young right now; I’ll return it to you when you grow up."

Unconsciously, Bruce had already entered the role of an old father.

Right now, his appearance was simply identical to those parents during holidays who coaxed children out of their red envelopes by saying they would help keep it safe for them.

But Damian wasn’t an ordinary child, so naturally he wouldn’t believe Bruce’s ghost stories, immediately pouncing forward to try and snatch the energy gun back.

Yet how could he possibly be Bruce’s match?

After a bout of struggling, Damian’s fingers couldn’t even touch the energy gun once, and in the end, he was exhausted to death, glaring angrily at Bruce.

Darian looked at the angry Damian and comforted him in a low voice, "It’s fine. grandfather still has plenty of good stuff here. Another day when your dad isn’t around, I’ll give you a few more pieces—just don’t let your dad know."

The gloom on Damian’s face vanished completely. "That’s great, grandfather!"

Bruce: "..."

If you guys want to keep secrets from me, at least don’t say it right in front of my face.

Watching Damian and Darian acting like such a cozy grandfather-and-grandson duo, Bruce’s heart involuntarily skipped a beat.

Damian had been trained in the League of Assassins since childhood and instilled with all kinds of extreme ideologies; correcting them was already not easy.

If he were to hang out with a guy like Darian and accidentally get infected by the latter’s goofball virus, this account would probably be completely ruined.

Just as Bruce was pondering how to reduce contact between the two of them, a red light suddenly lit up inside the Batcave.

Woo-woo——!

Accompanied by the sounding of rapid alarm bells, the screen to the side of the console automatically popped up a map of Gotham, where one of the regions was flashing red incessantly.

Bruce’s complexion sank. Paying no heed to the grandfather-and-grandson duo, he strode quickly to the front of the console, his hands typing rapidly on the keyboard.

Very quickly, he locked onto the specific location of the abnormal zone: Arkham Asylum, the frequent site of accidents.

Clearly, once again, some criminals had broken out of prison.

Darian poked his head over and instantly became amused. "Grandson, you’ve arrived at just the right time; you’ve happened to run right into Gotham’s large-scale event."

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