American comic book: After mastering resurrection, I became incredibly popular.

That damn killer crocodile!!

The penguin lost its balance and staggered back a few steps. "Hmph! You think I'd be stupid enough to carry that around with me?"

However, under the moonlight, the bulge in his tuxedo stood out quite prominently.

"..."

Tim punched the Penguin twice, then quickly squatted down, pulled two small glass bottles from the inside pocket of his tuxedo, and waved them under the streetlight.

It was a reagent bottle containing a green liquid.

“Penguin, if you don’t want to be sent back to Blackgate, I advise you to be a law-abiding and Gotham-loving citizen for the time being,” Robin said helplessly.

"Who do you think you are, you brat! Even Batman is gone..."

Before Penguin could finish speaking, Tim kicked him again, and this time Penguin raised his hands to beg for mercy.

"Wrong, wrong! I can talk too, I can love Gotham too!"

Tim then put the glass bottle into his tool bag with a clear conscience and smiled slightly at Wang Baixi: "Wang, how come you've suddenly become so bold?"

Not far away, Wang Baixi helped Cassandra walk over. Her steps were still a little unsteady, but her complexion had recovered.

"What are you talking about? I've always been pretty brave!"

After taking four or five steps, Wang Baixi suddenly stopped, turned around, and smiled at the slumped penguin.

"Your Majesty, I apologize. I was just drunk. Please be merciful and let me off the hook. You know, the last time I committed a crime was last year."

"Mr. Cobblestone, to be honest, what I hate most is being threatened and then having to apologize afterwards!"

The penguin was in a real bind, thinking that the only way to apologize was after the fact.

This guy's origins are unknown, and he's accompanied by a girl with exceptional martial arts skills who can even command Robin! Could he be Batman?

“Forget it, there’s no need to capture the Penguin right now,” Tim stopped Wang Baixi. “You and Cassandra go back first. I have some information to ‘verify’ with the Penguin.”

After hearing this, Wang Baixi could only shrug, but his tone was far from friendly. "Alright, for Robin's sake, I'll let you off this time. By the way, about the reward you mentioned... I'll come back to collect it later."

Chapter Twenty-Four: Suspicious, Why Are There Claws?

Later that day, inside the Bat Cave, on the supercomputer that occupied an entire wall, densely packed data was scrolling endlessly.

On the surveillance screen, Gotham's night view remained as gloomy as ever.

Wang Baixi sat on the old sofa that had been moved from the corner of the Bat Cave, holding a cushion in his arms, sinking into the sofa cushions, watching the group gather in the Bat Cave at dawn, pondering what to do next.

Yes, the Angel of Death, Robin, Alfred, and even Joshua have arrived...

The meeting was opened by Tim Drake, who addressed the crowd in a formal tone: "Gentlemen, we need to check the information we have first."

He sat on the stool, swiped his tablet a few times, and then brought up a timeline chart on the main screen of the Batcave.

"First, there's the deal between the Penguin and Killer Croc. According to Killer Croc, he and the Penguin agreed to make the deal in the early morning, and the item in the deal was the 'Venom' used by Bane."

“Venom?” Joshua frowned in confusion; he had no idea what the word meant.

“Venom is an enhancement drug that greatly increases the user’s strength, speed, and stamina after injection, while suppressing pain,” Tim explained in a concise statement. “Bane used this to defeat Batman, and Killer Croc may want to use it to get revenge: Bane broke his arm before.”

“However, Killer Croc failed to show up on time,” Death Angel added.

"Yes, he said he was attacked by Bane's men while he was traveling, so he had to circle around in the underground river several times before he could shake them off."

"By the time he finally arrived at Adams Dock, the Penguin had already evacuated with most of his men, and he was attacked again as he returned underground."

"Just as I guessed: he fought Claw all the way to the vicinity of the crevice, but he was outmatched and died."

Joshua exclaimed in surprise, "So, the Court of Owls killed the Penguin's henchmen first, cleared the area, and then waited for Killer Croc to come to the dock? It seems they knew the time and place of this transaction perfectly. Good heavens, I've never even heard of the Court of Owls when I was alive!?"

“Theoretically speaking, only the core members of the Penguin Gang and Killer Croc himself know the details of the deal, but there is another person who may also have this intelligence capability: that is Bane!!” Tim rested his chin on his hand. “Bane’s men attacked Killer Croc before the deal was scheduled to take place. This doesn’t seem like a coincidence. It seems more like they deliberately delayed his arrival so that the court’s people could set up an ambush at the deal location early on.”

"Perhaps Bain leaked the transaction information to the Owl Court?" Wang Baixi pondered.

“They must have joined forces.” The Angel of Death made the judgment immediately.

"It's too early to draw a conclusion, but the possibility is not low." Tim frowned.

"No, there's one more thing to prove it!" the Angel of Death declared righteously. "A multi-vehicle collision occurred on the Splendid Bridge tonight! And this accident was caused by Bane. Now, the emergency rooms and intensive care units of hospitals, including those under the Wayne Group, are overflowing with injured people..."

Joshua, who had been frowning, sighed upon hearing this. "When a power wants to devour your company, it will keep spreading panic. Now, Mr. Bain is doing the same thing. Once you're exhausted from fighting, he will deliver the fatal blow."

“Indeed, Mr. Joshua.” Alfred opened the folder in his hand. “Wayne Corporation’s stock price continued to fall after the market opened today, dropping another fourteen percent from yesterday’s close. At the same time, several hedge funds registered in the Cayman Islands have begun to buy large amounts of Wayne Corporation put options. Just as Tim feared: a hostile takeover has been launched.”

He pulled a sticky note from the top of the folder, on which several names were written.

"Mr. Lucius has identified the actual controllers of these hedge funds. Two of them are closely linked to several shell companies that Mr. Bruce investigated before his death. The actual controller of the other one is a private collector named Sebastian Clark."

This is clearly related to the Owl Court.

Upon hearing this, Wang Baixi immediately sat up straight on the sofa and moved the cushion away from his arms.

“I don’t think we can go head-to-head with the Court of Owls right now, and neither can Bane. But we can start with Bane’s men, like that ‘Little Bird.’ The Penguin said he was near the body disposal site. If we can catch him, we might get some clues.”

“‘Little Bird’ is Bane’s direct subordinate. How do we make a move? Are we supposed to go to Bane’s lair and knock on the door saying, ‘Hello, is Mr. Bird home?’” the Angel of Death asked rhetorically.

“Please, let me know you’re in a hurry, but don’t rush.” Wang Baixi said, the scene he saw in the photos provided by Penguin already flashing in his mind. “He has a pet falcon, doesn’t he? That falcon killed Penguin’s pet bird a few hours ago, so it must have left some traces, like bird droppings or something.”

“Wang is right. I’ve dealt with ‘Little Bird’ before. I think we can use drones to drop bait beacons in the airspace above the dock to simulate the flight posture and calls of an injured pigeon. As long as that eagle comes out to patrol in the next few days, the probability of it taking the bait might be very high.” Tim put down his hand that was supporting his chin and agreed with Wang Baixi’s idea.

Wang Baixi grinned, "Robin versus falcon! I bet you'll win!"

"Alright, stop joking. For now, Bain and the Court of Owls' strategies and actions are still quite mild, which means that what they want is to legally take over the Wayne Group. After all, the Court of Owls is a clandestine organization. We need to find Dick before they become desperate."

"So you're planning to go to Adams Pier again?" Wang Baixi asked.

"No, I intend to..."

Just then, a piercing electrical hum suddenly erupted from the Batcave's loudspeaker, interrupting Tim's words.

Barbara Gordon's voice followed immediately from the communication channel.

"Robin! Are you in the Batcave?"

"I'm here, Barbara. How are things on your end?"

“I made an exception and monitored the entire Gotham communications network, filtering by keywords such as ‘Claws’ and ‘Court of Owls.’ Five minutes ago, two men were discussing what to do after sending Claws out.”

Tim rushed to the main console, his fingers tapping on the keyboard to synchronize the audio signal from the communication channel to the main screen.

"What are they saying? Can you be more precise?"

"It was two men talking, their voices encrypted. One said, 'I've received good news from Claws; the troublesome guy has been dealt with.' The other replied, 'This is what happens when you spy on us. Let's see how the court handles it tonight!' Then nothing more. They had very distinct Caribbean accents..."

Bain's hometown happens to be near the Caribbean Sea.

They're so bold as to discuss claws and the courtroom? Could it be a trap?

“Barbara, can you pinpoint the location of these two people?” Tim asked immediately.

“I’m already working on it… Got it! One of the signals is coming from a private building in the Diamond District. I’ll send you the coordinates. But I can’t find the owner of the building; it’s nominally owned by a disbanded foundation.”

“Death Angel and I are on our way right away. It's 9:45 now. If their move is scheduled for 'tonight,' we'd better get those two under control before midnight!!”

Upon hearing this, the Angel of Death decided to head towards the armory.

Tonight, he's going to pick out two handy weapons for himself.

Joshua watched the two men busily working, hesitating to speak. Alfred, meanwhile, had already begun pulling up a diagram of Wayne Manor's security system on his tablet; for security reasons, he planned to add extra electronic locks to every door and window.

Wang Baixi stood up from the sofa and stretched. "I'm not going over there, you two. I haven't slept much for two whole days. Today I went to the docks, crawled through holes, climbed through cracks, and fought people. If I keep going like this, I'll be going to see Bruce!"

As he spoke, he glanced at Alfred, "Mr. Pennyworth, I think I probably won't be able to get back to the hotel, because I suspect the Penguins might still have people there..."

Hmm, is that too subtle a way of putting it?

“Wayne Manor has prepared guest rooms for you, Mr. Wang.” Alfred’s reply came almost without thinking. “You are a distinguished guest of the Wayne family, so leave everything to me. Also, Miss Cassandra can stay at the manor as well; I have prepared two adjacent guest rooms for her.”

Wang Baixi nodded slightly, clearly quite satisfied with the arrangement.

Great, I can enjoy the luxurious life of capitalism again!

He was about to follow Alfred toward the elevator when he realized that Cassandra was not with him.

He turned around and looked around, only to see the silent girl standing in front of a Batman suit.

The suit was displayed in a transparent, bulletproof glass case. The suit was entirely black, with the bat emblem on the chest gleaming matte under the flashlight beam. The surface was covered in scratches of varying depths, and there were obvious signs of repair on the ribs and shoulders.

Cassandra stood in front of the glass case, tilting her head slightly as she looked at the suit. From the side, you could see that her lips were slightly parted.

“Cassandra, you seem to really admire him?” Wang Boxi walked up to Cassandra.

Cassandra merely turned her head to look at him, then nodded slightly, "Hero."

Wang Baixi turned his gaze to the battle suit and carefully examined the details.

"This battle suit seems to have been with him for many years, and the scars on it are the best proof. Look at that scorch mark, how shocking it is... Such a person is truly admirable, and his death is also regrettable."

There are two kinds of heroes in this world: one kind of hero's greatness comes from his death, and the other kind of hero's greatness comes from his life.

Batman naturally belongs to the latter category, and no one is without regret for his death.

During the time he traveled through time, Wang Baixi always treated these natives as comic book characters who were not on the same wavelength as him, and regarded Batman's lesbian relationship and the death of Superman as stories that could be repeated one after another.

But only today did he realize that he could not remain uninvolved.

"Ahem, Your Majesty, actually..."

Just then, Tim's voice came from the direction of the main control panel, interrupting his sentimental musings.

"Actually, that suit is a highly adaptable mobility suit created based on Batman's original research, making it easy for Dick or others to use. Before you came, we were thinking about who should inherit Batman's mantle, and this suit can be used even by untrained rookies. In other words... this is not Batman's own suit."

"Huh? What about the scars on it?"

"It's decoration! I specially used lasers to burn it on, to make it look like it's been through countless battles, to intimidate those villains!!" Tim said proudly.

Wang Baixi looked at Tim speechlessly: "How could this kind of decoration scare people!"

Cassandra, watching the two bickering, couldn't help but laugh out loud. Wang Baixi looked over at the sound and realized that although he had known Cassandra for twelve hours, he had never seen her so happy.

But the next second, Cassandra put on a stern face and made a face at Wang Baixi: "Idiot."