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

What do you plan to do now?

“If Batman built a hideout for Killer Croc, he’d definitely have a backup plan,” Wang Baixi said, immediately using his access to the Batcave to find Batman’s “backdoor.” A glint flashed in his eyes. “That’s right, he placed a miniature ultrasonic device in Killer Croc’s little house. I can…”

"Wait, are you sure this won't kill him or the hostages?" Zatana asked worriedly.

“He’s tough and won’t die. As for the hostages, don’t worry about them. Crocodiles have a much wider hearing range than humans. The key thing now is that he will completely lose his judgment during those few dozen seconds of the attack. You distract him while I go in to rescue them.”

Zatana nodded, then glanced at the enormous figure clumsily shuffling cards deep inside the cave. "Shall I distract her?"

"Yes, you just need to lead him to the fork in the road and make sure he doesn't see me go in."

"Then you'd better not get flattened by his claws."

"Don't worry, even if he does that, he can't kill me."

Seeing this, Zatana didn't say anything more and could only take a few steps closer to the firelight deep inside the cave.

Wang Baixi took a deep breath and pressed the switch on the sound wave generator.

A high-frequency sound wave, almost inaudible to the human ear, rang out.

The killer crocodile, who was shuffling the deck, suddenly stopped. His pupils contracted sharply, and his thick tail lashed out spasmodically against the mattress, tearing a half-meter-long gash in the old fabric. He clutched his head with his claws and let out a muffled roar.

"What! What is that?!"

"It's me." Zatana's voice came from the side road, unhurried. "Killer Crocodile, it's time for you to come out and get some fresh air."

Killer Croc abruptly turned his head, his yellow eyes flashing erratically in the firelight. He dropped his playing cards and pounced on all fours toward the fork in the road.

That was a purely animalistic reaction!

As he charged, Zatana slid sideways into another side passage, with Killer Croc close behind. His tail scraped against the pipe wall, tearing off a large patch of rusty iron filings.

Only the little boy, trapped in the middle of the tires, remained in the cave. He huddled up, clutching the four of spades tightly in his hands, terrified that the killer crocodile would return.

Wang Baixi silently crept into the cave from the other side. He squatted down next to the pile of tires, looked at the little boy, and put a finger to his lips.

"Don't be afraid, I was hired by your parents to rescue you. Don't make a sound, just follow me. Nod if you understand."

"You must be a kidnapper, right!" The little boy glared at him, first shaking his head, then whispering.

The kids in Gotham are pretty wary!

Is his face really that scary now?

Wang Baixi had no choice but to raise his voice, "You brat, don't talk nonsense and question me. Should I just leave you here for that big crocodile to have as a midnight snack?!"

"No! I... I understand," the little boy said, holding back his tears.

……

Outside the cave, Zatana led the Killer Croc to the widest section of the main tunnel, the maintenance shaft. There was enough space there for her to cast spells, but the Killer Croc was clearly fed up with the chase.

He used his left claw to grip the iron ladder on the pipe wall to steady himself, his chest heaving violently.

"Wayne, what exactly do you want to do by kidnapping that child? Did Poison Ivy order you to do it?"

“Poison Ivy… Poison Ivy? I… I didn’t…” His yellow eyes darted wildly in the darkness. “Get out! Get out of my head!!”

He lunged at Zatana, his right claw slamming down on her where she was standing. Zatana leaped backward, landing on a slippery tile.

Before she could readjust her posture, the killer crocodile's second claw swept down.

The angle of this attack was extremely tricky, sealing off all her escape routes.

But just then, a purple beam of light shot out from a crack in the pipe behind her.

"Hey, crocodile!"

It was Wang Baixi's voice.

He rushed over, his disguise gone. He had already settled the little boy in a relatively safe place and was hurrying back to help Zatana.

“Crocodile, calm down. Look at me, I can help you,” Wang Baixi said again.

The killer crocodile was frozen in place, emitting muffled whimpers.

He didn't seem to recognize Wang Baixi.

You can't!!!

He reached his hand into the tattered tactical belt around his waist and pulled out a vial of dark green liquid.

It's Bane's Venom!

“What is that…?” Zatana’s pupils contracted.

The killer crocodile didn't answer her; it simply plunged its horn into its own neck...

But Wang Baixi was even faster.

He flipped and leaped down from the maintenance walkway, simultaneously firing three miniature batarangs.

The first pin was embedded in Killer Crocodile's hand, followed by the second and third pins, which were set into the back of his hand in a triangular pattern.

The next second, all three batarangs were detonated simultaneously!

boom!

The damage from the miniature explosive grenade wasn't enough to pierce the Killer Crocodile's scales, but it was enough to make its claws, which were already raised to its neck, fall limply.

The tube of green liquid slipped from his loosened fingers and fell to the ground.

The killer crocodile swayed twice before finally falling backward into the waterlogged maintenance well.

"Killer Crocodile, what are you doing?" Wang Baixi crouched down. "Why did you kidnap that child?"

The killer crocodile's eyes were half-open, its vertical pupils so blurred that they were almost unrecognizable.

“I need medical treatment.” His voice suddenly became unusually clear. “I’m sick… I’m not a crocodile.”

"Treatment? So you need money?"

At that moment, Wang Baixi suddenly thought of something else:

Killer Croc became like this because of an atavistic disease, and he resurrected Killer Croc once at the dock. Based on Mr. Freeze's successful experience, the resurrection technique should have been able to eliminate his atavistic disease like it did with Nora's heart disease, but it didn't. His scales were still there, and his tail was still there.

Does his magic not consider atavism a "disease"? Or is it that in the system's judgment logic, atavism is an inherent attribute of Wellen Jones's race?

"Your Majesty." Zatana withdrew her magic and walked to Wang Baixi's side. She glanced down at the killer crocodile lying in the puddle, then turned her gaze back to him. "Is that child alright?"

"Everything is fine. By the way, the GCPD people are on their way and should be here in about ten minutes."

"What about this thing? What should we do with it?"

Wang Baixi crouched down, turned over Killer Croc's still bleeding hand, and looked at his face. This monster, which once struck fear into the hearts of all of Gotham, now lay motionless in the puddle, like a broken doll abandoned on the roadside.

“Wayne, if you need money, you can come to me for help instead of kidnapping a child,” Wang Baixi sighed. “Now tell me where Poison Ivy is? That way, I might be able to get the police to treat you leniently.”

Killer Croc's fingers twitched slightly, and his voice was so low it was almost inaudible.

"I...I don't know where Poison Ivy is." He said, as if he were exhaling the last breath from his lungs, each word deliberate and forced. "Besides, I don't want any money..."

Those vertical pupils finally closed completely under the stark white light of the emergency lamp.

He was still breathing, but his consciousness had slipped into a darkness from which he could not be awakened.

“He said he didn’t need money,” Wang Baixi muttered to himself.

This is clearly not some self-righteous statement, but rather the heartfelt words of Killer Croc, that big idiot. But what else could he be after if not money? Wasn't he trying to get treatment?

The two people looked at each other.

"Then why did he demand a ransom of ten million from the Raymond family?"

"It seems there are more mysteries behind this than we imagined."

Chapter Ninety-Three: Both are Possible

“The two best puzzle solvers in all of Gotham aren’t here,” Wang Baixi scratched his head bitterly, then looked at Zatana, “Zatana, can you use magic to shrink him?”

"Shrink?"

“Yes, shrink him. I don’t want to send him back to Arkham; that place will only make him worse. We need to take him back and figure out who’s behind this.”

Zatana looked down at the enormous structure that almost filled the entire maintenance well and fell into deep thought.

"I've never tried using this kind of magic on living things."

"Then let's consider today as an opportunity to expand our business scope."

“My conscience is extremely troubled.” Zatana shook her head helplessly, but still raised her hands.

"Small reduction".

A pale golden halo erupted from her fingertips, spreading out like ripples on water after detaching from them, enveloping the Killer Crocodile's body in layers.

Finally, the Killer Crocodile's body actually shrank slowly under the light patterns, transforming from a mountain of flesh into the size of an adult crocodile, and eventually shrinking to about the size of a medium-sized dog.

“That’s enough.” Zatana lowered her hands. “But my magic won’t last long, at most three hours. He’ll return to normal after that. And I don’t know if it will affect his intelligence.”

“His intelligence has reached its limit.” Wang Baixi bent down and scooped the miniature killer crocodile out of the puddle. The shrunken killer crocodile was incredibly light.

The thick tail drooped limply on the outside of Wang Baixi's forearm, swaying gently with his steps.

Hopefully, he won't suddenly do a fatal roll.

Meanwhile, the sound of sirens grew closer in the distance. Wang Baixi looked back at the maintenance well that had been wrecked by the Killer Croc, then shoved the Killer Croc into Zatana's arms: "Zatana, take him to the car first, I'll go back and check those vines."

"you alone?"

"Don't worry, the vines won't bite."

Zatana rolled her eyes at him, but still held the unconscious mini crocodile and turned to walk back the way they had come.

Wang Baixi then retraced his steps and returned to the killer crocodile's lair.

The vines remained in place, hanging down from the cracks in the pipe walls, their dark green color appearing unhealthy in the dim light.

The texture of these vines is coarser and denser than that of ordinary ivy, and some parts have even swollen into dark purple nodules. If you smell them up close, they also have a very faint sweet and fishy smell.

"At a time like this, let's not talk about Shennong tasting hundreds of herbs. Speaking of which, how should we bring it back?"