The dark dungeon was almost pitch black, with only a dim, flickering yellow light far in the distance, occasionally reminding Bruce Wayne that he was still alive and not lost in an endless world of darkness.
A sharp pain occasionally shot through his lower back, giving Bruce a faint sense of relief.
This meant he wasn't completely paralyzed; true paralysis would leave him without any sensation below the waist.
Bane hadn't held back.
That knee strike had nearly broken Bruce's aging back.
Bruce's current situation was far from good.
He had lost all his Batman gear, and malnutrition had left his body weak and in desperate need of recovery.
Just then, a series of footsteps echoed through the dungeon.
Three peculiar-looking individuals arrived, leading a group of more than a dozen armed thugs.
Bruce glanced at them and immediately recognized Bane's loyal followers—Zombie, Bird, and Caveman.
Without any unnecessary words, they dragged Bruce out of the makeshift cage.
They were careful, binding Bruce's hands behind his back, not only with handcuffs but also wrapping each of his fingers with some kind of tough material.
The famous Batman felt a sinking feeling in his heart.
Before long, they brought him to a massive blood pit.
The scene before him left Bruce stunned.
It was horrifying!
Cruel beyond words!
Hundreds, possibly thousands of people were slaughtered like livestock, with their throats and leg arteries slit, left at the edge of the funnel-shaped pit to bleed out. Blood gushed out, flowing down the sloping structure and ultimately into a ten-meter-wide pool at the center.
When a person is drained of blood, it totals about four liters—roughly the same as three large bottles of soda.
In reality, this brutal method didn't yield that much blood. Often, less than half would drain before the person died or the wounds sealed, stopping the flow.
The bodies were hauled away by slaves dressed in once-respectable clothing, only to be dumped into the sewers leading to the ocean.
Tragically, after disposing of the bodies, these once-proud "elites" were also killed by the thugs and thrown by the blood pit to be drained.
In this enormous underground cavern, the victims' cries of agony and pleas for mercy echoed constantly.
A true hell on earth!
"Bastards! How can you do this?!" Bruce was nearly shaking with rage.
Even the Joker, Gotham's most infamous villain, had never used such savage methods.
Bane's hulking figure appeared behind Bruce, coldly mocking the once-vigilant protector of Gotham: "Don't worry! You're the main course of this sacrifice. You won't be left out."
Before Bruce could react, he was shoved violently into the blood pit.
"Glug glug! Cough cough!" The thick, foul-smelling blood nearly drowned Bruce on the spot.
Barely managing to struggle up from the slippery, sticky pool, Bruce leaned against the 70-degree sloped edge, gasping for the rancid air.
Was it just an illusion, or did he feel some sensation returning to his lower body during the struggle? He quickly concealed this fact, still playing the role of the bound, paralyzed prisoner.
"What a pitiful sight, Batman!" Bane tossed Bruce's Batman mask into the pit as well, causing the other captives awaiting torture to wail in despair.
"Oh no! Even Batman is going to die here?"
"We're doomed."
Perhaps some of the men had still been resisting moments ago, but now they had all given up, like lambs awaiting slaughter.
Bruce shouted, "Bane! What are you trying to do?"
"Nothing much, just bringing pain to this hypocritical, selfish world. Enjoy your last moments, Batman—Bruce Wayne!" Bane waved dismissively and left the place in the hands of his thugs, taking his three loyal followers with him.
By all accounts, this should have been the end for Batman.
Unnoticed beneath the surface of the blood pit, Bruce used the lubrication of the blood to quietly free himself from the bindings on his arms. Then he made a painful decision—dislocating his own left thumb.
Unless interrogated by a true professional, few people think to lock handcuffs so tightly that they're impossible to escape. This gave Bruce a chance to break free.
It took him nearly two minutes to slip out of the cuffs.
From the guards' perspective, Bruce was no different from the other prisoners struggling on the brink of death.
Not only had Bruce freed himself, but he also clearly felt sensation returning to his lower body.
It was truly miraculous!
Even though everyone said Batman was just an ordinary man, they shouldn't forget—this was the same man who once fought Superman in hand-to-hand combat and survived.
Even as a mere human, his physical condition was unparalleled.
He silently told himself, "Bruce, you only have one chance!"
He remained calm, resetting his dislocated thumb, as the blood level in the terrifying pool continued to rise, submerging his neck.
As the ritual progressed, he could sense the tension in the thugs starting to loosen.
In this blood-soaked chamber, a TV was playing footage of Bane's public trials at City Hall, where he was executing the wealthy.
"The rich are the cancer of this world! Every rich person is born with original sin! They all deserve to die! Yes—even Iron Man!" Bane boasted, waving a remote in his hand.
This was such a huge spectacle that even Iron Man himself had been alerted. In fact, Tony Stark had rushed back on the first day of the incident. However, the nuclear fusion device in Bane's possession forced even Iron Man to proceed with caution.
One wrong move, and not only would 12 million Gotham residents perish, but nearby New York would be dragged down as well.
Clearly, Bane was using this brazen act to divert everyone's attention.
Bruce focused on the television, glancing at the makeshift tribunal where the names of executed wealthy individuals hung.
He scanned the names carefully, and for a moment, he felt a tiny bit of relief—his annoying illegitimate son's name wasn't on the list.
Given that, it was time for him to act.
Like a hunter stalking its prey, Bruce closed his eyes as if he had given up, but in reality, he was half-squinting, using his peripheral vision to track the thugs' positions.
"Ah!" Another victim was slain, their scream drawing most of the thugs' attention.
Bruce leaped into action.
The scene was almost absurd!
One moment, he appeared to be on the brink of death.
The next, he transformed into a swift shadow, running along the slick walls of the blood pit with lightning speed.
In the blink of an eye, he had reached the edge of the pool.
With a rapid over-the-shoulder throw, one of the armed thugs was hurled into the blood pit. And because of the constant noise of the victims' screams, the fallen guard went unnoticed by the others.
It wasn't until Bruce had taken down his fifth thug that one of the guards finally opened fire with an AK, spraying bullets.
"Rat-a-tat-tat!" The sound of gunfire finally alerted all the thugs.
By then, Bruce was like a tiger unleashed, charging toward them.
The limits of human ability are often mysterious. Bruce Lee could kick with a force of 1,680 pounds and deliver six kicks in one second.
Batman wasn't quite that extreme, but when he pushed his attack speed and movement to the maximum, he was still terrifying.
Unfortunately, as he took down his fifth thug, disaster struck.
"Rumble!"
The ground shook violently.
What Bruce hadn't anticipated was that there were two blood pits. The one he had escaped from was the smaller one, but the entire slaughterhouse was one enormous blood pit.
A thug activated a mechanism, and the floor beneath Bruce and the others deformed, collapsing into a 40-meter-wide vertical pit.
Without any equipment, Bruce had no way to fly!
Just as Bruce plummeted, a chain suddenly flew from above. Instinctively, he grabbed it.
When he looked up, he was shocked to see a familiar face—Atreus!
Bruce's mind went blank: "Why are you here!?"
"Why I'm here isn't important. What's important is, if you want me to save you, you know what to call me!" Atreus grinned wickedly.
With the sounds of thugs and victims screaming all around him and the sound of guns being cocked, Bruce knew he didn't have much time. Dangling in mid-air, he was the perfect target.
He could sacrifice himself here, but he couldn't rest until Bane was defeated and the 12 million people of Gotham were saved from the brink of destruction.
A thousand thoughts raced through his mind, and all of them condensed into a single sentence:
"Sugar… Daddy!"
"Good boy!"
In the next instant, Bruce felt as if he were soaring through the clouds.
Gasping for air, he took a moment to survey his surroundings and realized they were in a hidden passageway one level above.
Narrowly escaping death, still shaken, everything seemed to be turning in Bruce's favor.
That is, until someone spoke, causing Bruce's fists to clench tightly.
"Dear Father, I originally just wanted you to call me 'Son.' But since you're so obedient, I'll reluctantly accept 'Sugar Daddy.'"
"..."