When Bruce woke up from his dream, he felt a wave of weakness. He thought it might be because the dilapidated house they found was a bit drafty, causing him to catch a chill. But deep down, he knew that dealing with these supernatural events would inevitably damage his spirit. Yet, for the sake of more clues, he had no choice but to proceed.
As dawn broke, an orange mixed with purple morning fog rose from the horizon, giving off a dreamy and ethereal feeling. Big Creek Town was indeed beautiful, but everyone knew it was not a paradise. Contrary to such serene and beautiful scenery, there must be a dark and evil story behind it.
With a creak, the door was pushed open. Kent walked in from outside. He took off his glasses, rubbed his brow, and then said, "I couldn't find any living person in the town. Maybe there are some hiding in houses or basements, but I couldn't find them."
"Not surprising," Bruce said, "When the fire started, none of them came out, proving that there likely aren't many living people left here. We shouldn't be investigating in this direction. Maybe we can go check out the waterfall."
Kent nodded and said, "My colleague said that some people shortened the name to Waterfall Town."
Bruce frowned slightly and said, "Waterfall Town is a real place in Utah, America. And in the memory I saw, the hometown of the Joker is in Utah. Could this be Waterfall Town?"
"But the real Waterfall Town, regardless of how much it has declined, shouldn't have so few people. And I've heard it's considered a decent tourist spot; even tourists should be plenty."
"This proves that the Waterfall Town we're in now is abnormal. Have you heard of The inner world?"
"I can somewhat imagine," Kent said, "but I don't think everything here is illusory because there's not only no people, but no monsters either."
"I'm afraid not necessarily," Bruce shook his head and said, "For some reason, I have a bad feeling, perhaps we need to speed up."
The two set off immediately, heading towards Big Creek Town's waterfall. But upon seeing the waterfall, they were a bit disappointed because it wasn't a very large waterfall, only about three or four meters high. The sound of the water was loud, but upon closer inspection, the flow speed wasn't fast.
The pool under the waterfall was beautiful, with the cold fog rising up under the morning light, making the surrounding forest even more mysterious. There used to be a path here, but it had been overgrown with weeds from disuse, making it somewhat difficult for the two to traverse. They finally made it to the base of the waterfall, but staring at the endless lake, they couldn't see any clues at all.
Soon, Bruce discovered a series of footprints. Kent was a bit surprised, thinking they had found other people. But Bruce said, "These are Mr. Rodriguez's footprints. There's also a woman's, which should be Linda. They went into the water to fish and might have grilled the fish here, because I smell the scent of entrails."
"They came here to fish and grill fish? Quite a leisure activity," Kent said, "I think he's probably trying to get some information from his girl. But that won't be easy, Linda seems to have past trauma."
Bruce gave him a surprised look and asked, "How do you know?"
"They're all like that," Kent simply said.
Then they also turned around above the waterfall, but found no clues here either. However, on the way down, Bruce looked over at the spray behind the waterfall.
"Is there a rock over there?" Bruce asked.
Kent leaned over and took a look, then nodded and said, "There is indeed one. A very small rock, what's up?"
"That doesn't look like naturally formed rock," Bruce said, "It looks somewhat man-made. Can we go over and take a look?"
Kent calculated and then shook his head, saying, "I'm afraid not. That rock is too small and not securely fixed; if the two of us go down, we'll definitely fall."
"There should still be some leftover things at the burned warehouse; we can bring them over to make a path. I suspect, there might be clues there," Bruce said.
Kent didn't argue, he just said, "You're lighter, so it's better for you to go, but getting close to the waterfall will definitely get you wet. Are you sure you're okay?"
"Thanks for the concern, I'll be fine."
"You should really look in a mirror," Kent said, "Do you know how bad you look now? You're as pale as if you haven't eaten in days."
"I said, thanks for the concern." Bruce said, heading toward the small town without looking back. Kent pursed his lips, looking a bit angry. But he glanced up at the void and, in the end, said nothing.
They went to the burned-down warehouse and brought over some things. Most of the items there had been burned to ashes, but some metal objects remained, like the bars of cages and such. Bruce spent quite a bit of time pulling some off, and they also found some ropes nearby. With these things, they returned to the waterfall.
After returning, they tried tying the rope to the tree, but it wasn't long enough, so they used the railings to anchor it in the ground before tying the rope. Kent was responsible for watching over it from above the waterfall, ensuring the rope didn't slip. Bruce, being lighter, went down to explore.
The waterfall had not just a stream of water, but also spray and mist. As soon as Bruce descended using the rope, his pants were mostly soaked, and further down, his whole body was drenched. He confirmed his suspicion— the stone that suddenly appeared on the side of the waterfall, somewhat abruptly, was indeed nailed there by someone; the marks from chiseling into the rock wall were still visible.
But what puzzled him was why someone would nail a stone there?
Bruce swung to the other side of the waterfall, landing directly above the stone. He then noticed there was a crevice behind the rushing waterfall, very thin and narrow, almost invisible except from this angle.
Bruce hesitated slightly but still crouched his body and, with a vigorous push against the rock wall, leapt directly into that crack. He pulled at the rope, and Kent poked his head out from above; Bruce said, "There might be a cave behind here; I want to check it out! You stay outside!"
Kent crossed his arms and darkened his face without speaking. However, Bruce ignored him completely. He untied the rope and squeezed through the crevice, which was just wide enough for an adult man to pass sideways.
Just upon entering, he found the area suddenly expanded; it was quite a large cave and not at all damp but rather somewhat dry. Moreover, Bruce discovered signs of human activity here.
There was a pile of firewood on the side of the cave, seemingly unburned, but in the center, there was a fire pit, already charred black. Bruce approached and knelt to examine it, and at the moment of contact, another memory rushed into his mind.
"One fish, two fish, three fish... Looks like the fishing device worked well this time. If only I could get a few more."
A very childish voice came across, followed by the crackling sound of flames, then the sight of fish skewered on rods being rotated.
"Hiss... It's really cold here. If not for... wouldn't have come to this place. Damn it. It's about to burn!"
"Binger, oh Binger, you can't even roast fish properly. This salmon on the strap is the most fragrant, and now it's burnt, sigh."
"Forget it, let's head back early. If they find out, I'm done for. Time to go, time to go."
After the memory ended, Bruce was somewhat dazed. From the voice, one can tell the child was very small, possibly no more than five years old.
This also explained how the child managed to use a slab nailed into the rock wall to enter this crack— because the slab wasn't meant for gripping, a four or five-year-old child could jump onto it directly.
But even so, it was quite risky, requiring great courage and skill that children of that age typically don't possess. However, the child in the memory was clearly different. Who was this little boy named Binger? What was he doing in this cave?
Bruce felt puzzled. Unfortunately, the memory was first-person, preventing the view of his own face, but he instinctively felt the little boy was linked to that Joker actor.
Searching around the cave, Bruce indeed found some fish bones, but very few. For an adult, it might just be a few meals' worth, but for a child, he might have eaten quite a bit.
Risking so much just to catch fish and roast them, this kid was either mentally troubled or desperately hungry. Bruce leaned towards the latter—no one understood America's hunger issues in the lower class better than him.
To this day, about 20% of children in America are starving. The definition of starving here is failing to ensure basic nutritional supply leading to malnutrition. To starve a child to this extent typically means the family can't even ensure one fast-food meal a day.
America's fast-food is already quite cheap, but families able to fill themselves on frozen fast-food would be considered fairly well-off. Many can't even afford such food, as their parents might nearly spend all their money on drugs. Such families often quickly become homeless; why there aren't visible homeless children on the streets is somewhat akin to a hellish joke.
Bruce sighed. He indeed felt some sympathy for little Binger—look at what the kids are being driven to, trekking mountains to roast fish. If this kid had skills, plus if the nearby natural environment supported, he would have been quite a character in Gotham... Still, in Gotham, he mightn't be able to catch fish.
After gathering all the clues here, Bruce left. But perhaps due to being drenched all over and having crossed the waterfall twice, he was now shivering in cold, his jaw couldn't stop chattering.
"Stop showing off, you damn fool!" Kent couldn't help cursing, saying, "Come over, I'll carry you down!"
Bruce truly could no longer put on airs, for he felt himself getting warmer, a precursor to hypothermia. This isn't something that will can overcome; he urgently needed a heat source, a warm environment, and sufficient food.
Yet Bruce was also puzzled; he had already checked, though the module restricted superpowers, it hadn't altered physical fitness. When exercising, he would also do fat reserves to prevent rapid hypothermia and energy depletion. Before going into the water, he had estimated not to be in such a sorry state.
But soon, he knew why.