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For many years in the past, the nights at Wayne Manor have always been very quiet, with only a single master and his elderly butler. After dusk falls in Gotham, the only light that would be on would quickly extinguish, and the vast manor would be engulfed in darkness until the dawn arrives again.

But this night, the lights in Wayne Manor remained lit, the sound of a ladder rubbing against a bookshelf breaking the silence in the room. Dick coughed forcefully, frowning, and waved his hand in front of his nose, trying to drive away the dust.

He looked up at the rows and rows of thick books on the shelves, dragging his finger across their spines, then suddenly stopped at a book titled "Top Ten Mysterious Legends You Don't Know".

Dick extended his hand, took the book from among the tightly packed collection, then climbed down a few steps of the ladder. He tossed the book down where Aisha, who was on the ground, jumped high to catch it and then, swinging her short legs, placed the big book she could hardly hold in a pile next to her.

Dick climbed back up the ladder in a few strides, continuing his search through the shelves, muttering to himself along the way, "The lives of the rich are even more prosperous than I imagined…"

He looked around the reading room, which is the library of Wayne Manor, located in the tower on the far west side of the manor. The entire reading room takes up a whole floor of the tower, filled with hundreds of shelves and countless books, arranged in concentric circles.

The reading room retains a heavy British style, the reddish-brown bookshelves feature naturalistic decorations, and the center of the reading room has a row of circular sofas and several semi-circular tables.

"If only I could have lived in a house like this in the past, I would have been overjoyed, but here it's merely a place for storage of books."

Dick murmured to himself as he took another book from the shelf, then climbed down the ladder himself and put the book on top of Aisha's neat pile. He picked up the pile of books and headed towards the center of the reading room.

There, Bruce was engrossed in a book. Dick went over and put the thick pile of books on the table. He patted the book on top and said: "Mr. Wayne, these are all the books from section B that contain keywords related to mysticism. I've arranged them in chronological order, the older ones are towards the top."

Bruce nodded after taking a sip of water, and Dick, with Aisha, moved on to another section to continue searching for books for Bruce.

Even Batman had to admit that having such a little helper could really save a lot of work. Moreover, Dick was in excellent sync with him. Bruce indeed was reading these books in chronological order, a fact he had not mentioned, yet somehow Dick spontaneously organized the books accordingly.

As to why he was reading here, it started after his last separation from Constantine.

Batman learned from Constantine that Lady Sanchez might be using the children of whole Gotham for her practices. This was something he couldn't ignore. However, Batman was essentially unversed in mysticism, and Constantine seemed utterly unreliable. Batman didn't want to depend on others, so he decided to explore this knowledge himself.

But for an utter outsider, self-study without any guidance is very difficult. Batman could only seek help from the old father of Gotham Cathedral.

Batman hadn't forgotten that when the father stayed in the church, he could use the mysterious Dionysium pool beneath the church to acquire some special abilities. He thought that this might help his research into mysticism?

He arrived at the church at dusk. The father was not surprised at his arrival. After hearing his intention, the old father shook his head and said, "As a clergyman, of course, I know such a circle exists, but I advise you not to deal with them, since most of their special powers are gained through dealing with demons."

"There won't be any good end to this. Perhaps, for a while, they can have unimaginably powerful abilities, just like the fantasies in fairy tales, but they will inevitably pay an unimaginable price for this power. It will be a pain worse than death."

"You misunderstand, I'm not seeking to gain power this way, but seeking a way to combat this power,"

Batman stood in the shadow of the church and told the father, "Currently, many people are in danger because of this terrifying power, but I know nothing about it."

The father paused in his work cleaning a cross in his hand, saying, "If you're merely seeking to understand this kind of knowledge, then you shouldn't have come to me."

"Then who should I seek?"

"You should know, the heyday of mysticism has passed. Nowadays, most people neither revere ghosts nor believe in gods, especially in Gotham. But in the previous era, there was a tide of black magic throughout the East Coast. If you want to know about this knowledge, it's best to search through history."

"In Gotham, there aren't many ancient families, but there are still one or two. All ancient families have a common trait: they like to record history and collect artifacts. Perhaps you could find a trace of that era amongst these…"

From there, Bruce began to search in the Wayne Family's collection for the undercurrents of that era hidden beneath the surface.

Anything related to mysticism has a vague and weird beauty. They excel at using uncommon words and word orders to describe things, and there are all kinds of cryptic languages between the lines, as if refusing any ordinary person's inquiry.

However, if one adopts a rational attitude towards these stories, one would find that they are merely stories. The logic of the stories is no different from those found in a children's fairytale. And many concepts mentioned are merely ordinary people's speculations about this mysterious circle, completely baseless and unprovable.

The clouds outside the window flew by faster and faster, and Bruce flipped through the books ever quicker. Dick went back and forth, fetching more books, but the pile of read books was increasingly becoming larger than that of the unread ones. By the time Dick had found all the books with keywords related to mysticism, he had to sit across Bruce and began to read too.

His reading pace was much slower than Bruce because while Bruce was looking for information from these stories, Dick was genuinely fascinated by the mysteries they recounted. Aisha sat beside him, seemingly reading but with a page disappearing into her stomach every now and then.

Dick was entranced by his reading until the soft clink of Bruce setting down his cup startled him. He looked up to see that all the books by Bruce's side had been read. Closing his book, he asked, "Find anything, Mr. Wayne?"

Instead of answering Dick, Bruce was eyeing the book that Dick was reading. Upon noticing his gaze, Dick glanced at his own book and said, "Oh, this is the 'Top Ten Mysterious Legends You Don't Know' I just picked up. It's quite interesting..."

"What's in it?"

"Um…" Dick hesitated, unsure of how to respond. Bruce took a sip of water and said, "This isn't a test, nor is it a task to take notes on what you've read. I'm trying to find a new perspective, trying to see if we can find a new lead."

"Okay, it records ten stories. I've just finished the second one. The first legend is about werewolves, the second one is about a suicide town. I find the second story more interesting..."

"Do you think there might be any useful clues in there?"

"Clues?" A bewildered Dick asked. "Aren't these just ghost stories? How would they have any clues?"

Bruce collected his gaze from Dick and turned to the book in his hand. The book introduced various magic arrays, each described with the kind of awe that was not reflected in the scribbles that seemed more like a child's doodles, and the examples provided contradicted reality.

To Dick, Bruce said, "If you're tired, go to bed. I will continue reading for a while."

Having said that, he went to the bookshelf, starting to look at some books on history. If these fantastical stories couldn't provide valuable clues, perhaps the history of Gotham City's development might reveal some traces.

After Bruce found a book, he sat again but Dick and Aisha didn't leave. Dick raised his head to ask, "Is that witch story real? The one about children who've eaten the candy have their souls sold to demons?"

Shielding his face with his hand, Dick said, "I find it odd. If Lady Sanchez really was a witch, why would she come to Gotham?"

"When my mom and dad came to Gotham, they had no choice. The only place on the East Coast that would take them in was the circus here, so we had no other option but to relocate here."

"If we'd had a choice, we would've never picked this city. The weather is awful, it's very dangerous, and people are hard to get along with. We ended up here only out of desperation."

"But look, if Lady Sanchez was a witch, she should've been much more powerful than us, right? Why did she insist on coming to Gotham?"

"What sets the kids here apart? If anything, the kids here tend to be more violent and troublesome..."

Bruce's hand, flipping through the pages of the book, stopped. Upon noticing this, Dick said, "Oh, I'm sorry. Did I annoy you? I'm a little restless, should I go sit on the other side of the table?"

"No, go on."

"Say what?"

"About Gotham."

"I have said all there is, it's quite simple. Outsiders shouldn't come here unless they are desperate."

"Of course, I know plenty of people have been flocking here lately because Gotham has suddenly become a pleasant place, but Lady Sanchez has been here for a long time. If I recall correctly, this place was even more dangerous when she arrived."

"Indeed." Bruce's voice was always steady, and there was no fluctuation in his tone when he spoke, it was somewhat soothing.

"Lorena Sanchez had no reason to choose Gotham as her base. If she did, there must be a reason."

Bruce lowered his gaze to the book in his hand, on the cover was written, "Solomon Wayne's Notes".