American comics: Starting in Arkham, a system-based Batman

Chapter 105 Smiling Faces and Bats

The flashlight fell to the ground, and the light it emitted was only slightly angled upwards, making the bat's shape appear particularly distorted under the light.

Gordon picked up the flashlight and, still in a half-squatting position, tilted it upwards. The shadow cast by the corpse on the wall changed with the angle of the light source, the distorted and elongated shadow gradually becoming more recognizable.

It was a huge bat with its wings spread.

Actually, one could easily make this connection by looking at the mayor's corpse alone, since the skin on his back was cut open and sewn to his elbow; the only similar image is that of a bat. But the perpetrator seemed to think that wasn't enough, abandoning the corpse itself and instead focusing on the shadows.

"This guy really's got a knack for messing with bats."

Brock lit a cigarette and put it in his mouth. "Not only did they make the mayor's corpse look like a ghost, but they also deliberately staged the pose, and even managed to project a bat onto the wall."

"To be honest, it's hard not to think of some guy who dressed like a bat and spent his days fighting criminals on the streets." Brock circled the corpse. "Perhaps in his eyes, the mayor who colluded with Falcone was also a criminal."

"You know he wouldn't do that."

Gordon couldn't find any more clues and could only watch with Brock as the arriving medical examiner removed the mayor's body from the semi-fixed wall.

"Of course I know that," Brock said, exhaling a puff of smoke. "I was referring to other people's opinions."

Thanks to Gordon, he had a lot of dealings with Batman, and through these interactions, he gained an understanding of Batman. But compared to Gordon, who was only focused on solving cases, he was more perceptive of the reactions of the other people in the police department.

Gordon's private dealings with Batman haven't been exposed yet, but the others aren't fools; they've guessed it to some extent.

Brock wasn't sure if this would affect Gordon. "If possible, it's best to keep your distance for now." After everyone else left, he became more blunt. "Rob is no pushover. We still work for him."

Gordon didn't want to continue the conversation, so he looked out the window and, when he caught a glimpse of a head sticking out of the window, thought he was seeing things.

Otherwise, how would he have seen Jung Eun here?

You have to understand, they are standing in the third-floor studio of the villa. How could anyone possibly stick their head out of a window at this height?

Gordon took off his glasses and rubbed his temples, thinking he was hallucinating from working overtime for the past few days. When he put his glasses back on and looked again, his head, which had only been showing a third of its length, was now sticking out even longer, with half of his face hanging outside the window.

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After making eye contact with him, the other person slowly raised their hand and waved, as if to say hello.

Gordon's heart skipped a beat. Following his gaze, Brock's heart pounded, and half of the cigarette he was holding fell from his mouth.

After waiting a long time for someone to come and open the window, Zheng En knocked on the glass. Gordon, recovering from his shock, quickly came over. "What are you doing here?"

Zheng En confidently climbed in through the window, saying, "I'm a nice person, I came to help."

Gordon and Brock fell silent upon hearing this. Putting aside the fact that he was just an ordinary citizen, what was he doing getting involved in the commotion, and how he ended up outside the third-floor window? His attempt to bypass the GCPD and climb in through the window was suspicious enough.

Jung Eun: "What's wrong? I've helped you guys a lot before, what other explanation could there be besides me being a good person?"

"Isn't it because you're incredibly unlucky?" Brock's eyes flashed with a sharp light. "You ran into a murder company while job hunting, got robbed on the street, and the school you liked was rejected because it was a breeding ground for crime—"

"Stop, stop, stop!"

Zheng En didn't want to listen anymore. Although they were all very familiar with each other and knew each other well, there was no need to say hurtful things, as it could easily damage the relationship. "Let's talk about the mayor's matter instead."

Gordon nodded, then asked, "Where's Batman?"

"I'm here."

A figure emerged from the dark corner. Brock stared in disbelief as he walked out from the corner of the room, half of the cigarette he was holding falling from his mouth. "How did you manage to hide in such a small space?"

Jung Eun helped lift his chin, "He's Batman, after all!"

There were so many absurdities in what he said that Brock didn't know how to respond for a moment.

Gordon was quite pleased to see Batman appear. "You saw what happened just now, right? This criminal seems to have an obsession with bats. Do you have any leads?"

Jung Eun: "Does loving bats count?" He kept talking while his eyes scanned the room.

The mayor was murdered in his studio, where easels and several unfinished paintings were scattered around, and various paints were piled on the floor and table, emitting a faint odor.

Jung Eun didn't think these paintings were anything special, but according to rumors, the mayor's paintings could fetch high prices after being commissioned to professionals for sale.

The buyers probably have no idea that there is a mayor-painter behind these works.

Batman ignored his teasing and just stared at the wall.

The mayor's body was partially fixed to the wall, with his upper body leaning forward, so the forensic pathologist used dotted lines for the upper part of the scene.

"Did you figure it out, Detective?" Brock stood to the side, and Batman held out his hand to him. "Give me your cigarette."

"The wall smells of linseed oil, a common fuel thinner."

"This is an art studio; perhaps he accidentally knocked it over," Brock retorted as usual.

Batman pressed the lit cigarette butt against the wall. "Or perhaps the criminal left us some message."

Tiny sparks instantly rose up, and the raging flames flew along the linseed oil that had soaked into the wall, instantly forming a pattern in front of the four people.

With curved eyebrows and a beaming smile, she looked delighted.

"A smiley face."

Brock recalled the Scarecrow, the Riddler, and the Calendar Man he had captured before—he had a feeling that this time, the criminals would also be locked up in Arkham Asylum.

"So this time the perpetrator is another lunatic? A mentally ill person whose defining characteristic is a smiling face?"

He initially thought it was cult members, but cult members wouldn't paint a smiley face on the wall. Seeing the others' expressions turn serious, he realized his guess might be bad, and quickly added, "Or maybe bats?"

Zheng En glanced at him, her voice strained, "Please, stop talking."

A smiley face is usually synonymous with a clown, but a smiley face plus a bat—haha, that makes it an even more indescribable thing.

Jung Eun didn't want to face the Joker, but compared to the Laughing Bat, he realized how good the Joker was.

Brock didn't understand his worries. Seeing that the other three seemed to have figured something out, he rolled his eyes and said, "I'll go out and keep watch for you guys, okay?" He muttered to himself as he walked away, taking a policeman's salary while doing the work of a robber.

"No—" Gordon tried to call out to Brock, but he was already halfway there. "I just remembered that little Barbara was kidnapped."

Police officers working together are often partners who can rely on each other and have a good relationship. Brock had heard Gordon mention this before, and stopped halfway through his walk, saying, "I think I can keep watch here too."

This means you have to keep listening.

"I found a playing card on her, a laughing clown."

Gordon sighed, his gaze fixed on the forensic diagram. The mayor's gruesome state was still etched in his mind. He closed his eyes, as if the corpse were still before him. "I don't know if there's any connection between the two."

There is a high probability.

Zheng En silently replied in his heart that in the Killing Joke, Barbara was shot in the spine by the Joker and was confined to a wheelchair for a long time afterward. He just didn't understand why the Joker would suddenly kill the mayor.

He enjoys forcing Batman to play a game of choosing between two options, and he also enjoys trying every means to drag Batman down, but he doesn't do things he finds boring.

"I will find him."

Jung Eun realized that this was Batman's response to Gordon.

One is also for the clown.

After saying this, Batman was about to leave. Zheng En watched his retreating figure and realized that the Joker's purpose was simple.

He wanted Batman to see him.

This is a timeline where the Joker did not become Red Hood. He has no connection with Batman, no chemical plant, no poor soul who fell into the chemical pool in a panic, no Red Hood leader who opposes Batman, and he would not fall into the chemical pool while planning an attack.

Zheng En felt he should have thought of it sooner, but at the same time, he felt it didn't make sense.

The Joker had undergone a transformation at some point, yet he had no connection with Batman. Zheng En couldn't understand why the Joker would still be so fixated on Batman under these circumstances.

A beginning may not necessarily have an end, but every effect has a cause.

He needs to find out the reason.

"Anyway, remember to let me know if you find anything." Zheng En waved to Gordon and Brock. "You know how to contact me."

With that, he pushed open the window and jumped out.

He routinely uses the fake identity Jean, provided by Jason, initially only to prevent his own troubles from affecting Jason and the others. Back then, he had just arrived and had already gotten into trouble with the Romans and the Scarecrow, so he had been using [Shinpachi's true form] as cover.

Afterwards, I had more contact with Gordon and Block, and forgot to switch accounts, so they all found out.

Zheng En didn't see anything wrong with it; even without this incident, he planned to tell them about it at some point. After exchanging identities, it would be much easier for him to ask for their help using Jean's identity.

Otherwise, if Jung Eun had wanted to catch Mrs. Guen red-handed, he really wouldn't have known what excuse to use.

But as a result, he was also unsure of what kind of image he had among them.

Seeing Zheng En chasing after Batman, Gordon also went to the window and looked out, only to see that the other was following closely behind Batman.

"I told you they were in cahoots."

Brock walked over. "When we were dealing with Arkham, I suspected that Jung was a spy planted by Batman. Otherwise, how could Arkham, who had been doing such dirty work for so long, have been so careless and easily given that evidence?"

"So it's a secret society?" Gordon pondered.

Brock shrugged. "Who knows?" He walked towards the door, a cigarette dangling from his lips. "All that needed to be investigated. Time to clock out."

.

When Gordon left the window, Jung Eun was still close to Batman.

He was driving very fast, and Zheng En used the power of the bamboo dragonfly to float cross-legged by his car window and stare at him. "Honestly, it'll be hard for you to handle that guy by yourself."

"So this was the Joker's doing."

Batman is the kind of guy who can turn a question into a statement. Jung Eun knew that his attitude had given away the information, so he slapped his face.

"Okay, you guessed right."

"You care about him a lot." Batman drove his Batmobile without looking at him. "Much more than when we were dealing with Scarecrow."

"right."

Zheng En had no intention of hiding this from Batman. "That guy is a huge troublemaker, and I don't know how far he can go, so you need help."

"Like me."

Batman glanced at him. "Okay."

"You might not believe it, but the Joker is truly different from other supervillains. His level of danger is absolutely incomparable to guys like the Scarecrow or the Riddler. Trust me, you'll need my help—"

"Wait, you agree?"

Jung Eun looked at Batman with a strange expression. He had already prepared most of his speech before he realized that the other party had agreed from the beginning. "I thought you would say that Batman is acting alone."

Although Oracle was providing logistical support to them in the Batcave when he said this, and Nightwing, Red Hood, Red Robin, and other family members were on his earpiece, Batman was acting alone.

The main theme is that even if the sky falls, someone's mouth will hold it up.

Faced with his subconscious question, Batman remained silent and simply continued driving.

The mayor's death was significant, but the daily night patrols could not be neglected. Criminals would not stop committing crimes because of the mayor's death, and during each night patrol, he was able to help citizens who had been robbed, assaulted, robbed, or harmed for some other reason.

Batman's prestige needs to be built up, and he has only been in the industry for less than six months. People may have heard of Batman, but most just consider it a hyped-up rumor.

The citizens of Gotham don't ask for help, and criminals run rampant. Only when crime is stopped and villains are chained do they realize that Batman is real.

In the alley, the man who committed the violence was strangled until he lost consciousness and collapsed on the ground.

Out of the corner of her eye, she only caught a blurry black shadow. Realizing she was safe, the woman quickly got up and left, wiping away tears from her face as she walked away.

Her figure disappeared around the street corner, while Batman had to rush to the next location.

This wasn't the first time Zheng En had witnessed Batman's night patrol. He could sense that Batman's speed and efficiency had increased significantly compared to before, saving at least half as many people in one night.

He always manages to arrive at the scene shortly after an incident, nipping the crime in the bud.

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