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

"Idiots!!" Joseph roared. "Do you think Batman is the reason we've ended up like this?"

"No, isn't that right?" Everyone was greatly puzzled upon hearing this.

Could there be a mastermind behind this?

In their minds, who could destroy the upper echelons of the Court of Owls in such a short time and still dare to manipulate the entire parliament?

Aside from Batman, such a person simply doesn't exist.

"Hmph, let me tell you: there is a traitor among us." Joseph's tone was icy cold. "If that traitor hadn't poisoned everyone in the council beforehand, we would have captured Batman alive long ago. I'm back here today for no other reason than to find this traitor, dismember him, and put his organs in a lunchbox. That's our top priority."

After discussing the "great cause of eliminating traitors," everyone looked at each other, no longer daring to speak so loudly and disrespectfully to their leader. Kelvin followed up on Joseph's words, saying, "Leader, who is the traitor? We are all the claws of the court, ready to go through fire and water for it. There must be some misunderstanding."

“Yes! There must be some misunderstanding!” the other claws chimed in.

An uproar erupted in the council chamber.

Fearing Joseph would anger him again, one of the claws quickly silenced everyone and said in a hoarse voice, "Chief, what you say makes sense. The court has people in every level of society, and you may not even be able to access some of their files. Finding a traitor among so many people is like looking for a needle in a haystack."

“You’re right, but there are always some clues that can’t be erased.” Joseph smiled calmly and pulled a strangely shaped vine from inside his clothes. “I found this at the scene of my accident. You’re not stupid; you should know who this thing points to.”

"Could it be Poison Ivy?" Kelvin asked in surprise.

“That’s right. Poison Ivy is extremely skilled with poison. I suspect that the traitor must have reached some kind of agreement with Poison Ivy to easily carry out this coup!”

"So what do you mean?"

"Find her and bring her back to me." Joseph scoffed. "That's what I mean."

"But Chief, her whereabouts are unpredictable."

Do you want me to say it again?

For some reason, everyone felt that Joseph was so cold and ruthless today, which sent chills down their spines, so they could only reply respectfully:

"As ordered!"

The claws obeyed and left, even the owl was shaken away. In less than two minutes, only Kelvin Ross remained standing in the huge council hall.

“Kelvin,” Joseph said in a low voice, “you stay outside. Whoever comes to me, tell them I’m looking through classified files.”

"clear."

After saying that, Joseph turned around, pushed open the hidden door on the east side, passed through the secret passage that Kelvin had told him about, and stepped into the court's archives.

The moment the door closed behind him, he leaned against the bookshelf and let out a long sigh.

……

[Several traces of the deceased detected]

[Experience points +500!]

For Wang Baixi, playing Joseph Powers was more demanding than he had imagined. He not only had to rely on an electronic mask, but also needed some of Zatana's magic to help him with some disguises in terms of voice and physique.

Fortunately, they had the most crucial weapon: Poison Ivy's mysterious plant.

With Tim's help, they quickly produced a powder that could exert simple mind control over people. Kelvin successfully dispersed the substance when he arrived at the court, thus managing to deceive everyone.

He now silently browsed through the court files on the bookshelf, curious not only about Poison Ivy but also about how the court had monitored the city for centuries.

At that moment, a book called "Bruce Wayne" caught his attention. Without thinking, he opened the book and quickly began to read it.

Well, it seems the court has been paying attention to Bruce for a long time. They have made some simple records of his height, weight, academic records, and travel itinerary. Although this information may be deliberately fabricated by Bruce, it is enough to show how seriously the court has taken collecting information, and they even specially bound it into a book.

He was flipping through the pages when he suddenly stopped.

The title of that page successfully caught his attention.

"Bruce Wayne's brother?" Wang Baixi frowned and read aloud.

He turned another page, and a faded old photograph slipped out from between the pages and fell to the floor. Wang Baixi hurriedly picked it up and looked at it closely:

There are two people in this photo, and one of them is surprisingly Thomas Wayne!

In the photo, Thomas Wayne is posing with a woman with a South American look, and below the photo is the caption: Santa Priscilla.

Next to this line of text, someone heavily marked a question mark in red pen.

"It's strange."

He then flipped through the pages.

A photocopy of a medical record from Liulin Children's Hospital appeared before his eyes. Much of the information was unclear or deliberately highlighted, but the annotations below were relatively clear.

"...Martha Wayne was in a car accident while pregnant. She gave birth prematurely to a boy, who died less than a day later..."

Wang Baixi wondered what was so interesting about recording a premature baby, but being cautious, he still scanned all the contents of the book with his contact lenses...

Chapter Ninety-Five: Heading to the Metropolis

Wang Baixi did not leave the archives immediately.

It wasn't because he was particularly eager for knowledge, but rather because the Court of Owls did indeed have many secrets he was unaware of, such as their claws planted throughout Gotham and the court's contacts in various branches, but these were just the tip of the iceberg.

Even including those top-secret files that were destroyed, there are still many files that even the court leaders do not have the right to access, which shows how tight the organization is. Even the leaders are not hereditary, which makes it seem much more powerful than the Freemasons.

He scanned the bookshelves row by row, page by page, checking the placement of the remaining claws.

These coordinates are scattered across several abandoned nodes in Gotham's underground sewer system. If it weren't for the readily available court files, even turning the entire sewer system upside down might not have been able to find them all.

After doing all this, he closed the file and returned along the secret passage.

Kelvin was still guarding outside the hidden door. When he saw Joseph come out, he immediately stood up straight.

"leader."

“You guys keep an eye on things here,” Joseph said in a low voice. “Notify me immediately of any news about Poison Ivy.”

"clear."

……

Ten minutes later.

It was afternoon when Wang Baixi left the abandoned courthouse. Sunlight streamed through the gaps in the clouds, illuminating his Joseph Bowers face.

He turned into an empty alley, changed his expression back to normal, took off his suit jacket and draped it over his arm, leaned against the brick wall and dialed Tim's number.

"Tim, did you receive the file I sent you?"

“Received, I’m sorting it out.” Tim’s voice was tinged with weariness. “But, King, I also have some news for you: the Riddler has escaped from prison.”

"...When did this happen?"

"About two hours ago, the guards at Arkham Temporary Detention Center found his cell empty during their shift change, with a riddle left on the wall. Do you want to hear it?"

“Forget it, let’s just kick him out of Gotham.” Wang Baixi rubbed his head and said, “But the fact that he was able to escape at this critical moment means that he had anticipated something would happen outside, or that we would come looking for him.”

“Indeed, do you have any insights, Chief?” Tim asked.

“My super brain tells me we should ask Batman what to do now,” Wang Baixi said calmly.

"It takes at least twelve hours to fly from the eastern United States to the Middle East, and you have to transfer to other means of transportation after landing. You won't be able to contact him until tonight."

“Well, classic busy man,” Wang Baixi sighed. “You know what? Even his enemies are busy helping him find his brother.”

“Whether we’re looking for Batman or his brother, the most important thing right now is to find Poison Ivy and the Riddler,” Tim said, sounding like a little adult.

"If I had known, I should have had the court staff look for the Riddler while they were at it."

……

An hour later, at the Bat Cave.

Wang Baixi stood in front of the Batcomputer, where a 3D model of Gotham's underground pipe network was displayed on the main screen.

Most of the courthouse locations that Joshua had previously marked have been cleared away, and the remaining few have been marked with a red cross.

But Wang Baixi stared at the dense network of pipes, still distracted.

"First it was Killer Croc, then Poison Ivy and the Riddler. My gut feeling tells me that someone is playing a big game behind all this. I even think that Lincoln March is quite suspicious."

“Spending so much time with Batman has made you more paranoid,” Tim said, sitting in his swivel chair with a cup of coffee in his hand. “Stop overthinking it. Scarecrow was crippled by Bane, Bane is dead, the Joker is frozen, and you have temporary control of the Court of Owls and the Penguins. Who else could be playing the big game? Two-Face?”

“Don’t make such a prediction,” Wang Baixi shook his head. “Tim, in Gotham, the calmer things seem, the more likely something is swimming underwater.”

Don't act like you know this city better than anyone else!

Just then, Wang Baixi's dedicated communicator vibrated. He glanced down and saw an encrypted message from Kelvin Ross appear on the screen:

"Chief, Poison Ivy has been spotted in the Metropolis. Reportedly, should we continue the pursuit?"

Wang Baixi handed the communicator to Tim, and the two exchanged a glance.

"She's in Metropolis? If she wants to avoid Superman's gaze and still conduct her scientific experiments in peace, she can only live in the sewers."

Wang Baixi joked, "My first reaction was to let Superman grab her, since it's just a sneeze for him anyway."

“I think this is a bit of a waste of talent, and Superman might not be able to find the time recently. Besides, given Poison Ivy’s style of doing things, she is unlikely to expose herself to Superman’s sight. Even if Superman can catch her, someone will need to lure her out of her hiding place first.”

Tim's analysis was well-organized and received Wang Baixi's approval, so his answer was:

"Then you'll go?"

“Me? I still need to track down the Riddler. As for Poison Ivy…” Tim paused abruptly, looking at Wang Baixi with a meaningful gaze, “Isn’t tracking Poison Ivy your mission?”

"My mission? When did it become my mission?" Wang Baixi was stunned for a moment.

"What, scared?"

“Hey, that reverse psychology won’t work on me. It’s not that I’m scared. But I can’t just run off to Metropolis without a reason, can I? What would my status be? The chief engineer of the Gotham underground sewer renovation project? Metropolis’s sewers aren’t under my jurisdiction.” Wang Baixi scratched his head.

“That’s easy. Wayne Group is one of the major investors in the Daily Planet, and the Daily Planet’s editorial office is located in Metropolis. With your current status, it’s the perfect time to go to the Daily Planet to discuss business cooperation,” Tim replied calmly.

"Cooperation? What kind of cooperation?"

Tim put his coffee cup on the table and counted on his fingers: "For example, get the Daily Planet to help with some positive public opinion regarding Gotham's rebuilding. You know, some people have been relentlessly attacking Wayne Enterprises lately, even buying several press releases saying that Wayne Enterprises' rebuilding plan is 'driving out the poor,' forcing the lower-class residents out of the old city. If that gets out, Joshua won't be able to do anything else but deal with the media until next year."

"What a powerful evil force! We are people's entrepreneurs!" Wang Baixi said indignantly. "So, my trip to the Metropolitan City is not only to track down Poison Ivy, but also to handle the company's public relations crisis?"

“That’s right, and you’ll also get to see your colleagues from the Justice League and report on your assessment,” Tim said with a smile, taking a small sip of his coffee.