Batman carefully sealed the banana in a clear bag for fingerprint testing, ignoring Robin’s teasing.

He then had Tim scan the shoe prints at the scene.

“Estimated height is 162 cm, consistent with the girl I met last time. But considering the mercury box weighs around 100 pounds, even if she’s strong enough to carry it with ease, the footprints left on the ground wouldn’t look like this.”

Batman: “Is there a fourth party involved?”

“It could be her accomplice,” Tim shrugged on the other end of the communicator. He seemed relaxed, but his eyes were focused, and he spoke rapidly, “Our primary target must be that unnamed accomplice. I’ve been checking for residual air components – not a single unique scent left behind. I’ve been monitoring the sonar device during your bomb disposal, and it didn’t capture any human figures. This fourth person is more like a ghost—”

He exhaled: “I’m now leaning towards Penguin not actually preparing the mercury at all. It was an empty box, and the girl took the opportunity to take away the box.”

However, the marks on the ground indicated the weight of the box.

This theory didn’t hold up.

“This doesn’t explain the banana,” Batman said before swiftly following Vivi’s departure direction. The tracking device he had placed on her had once again failed, but he could rely on his own experience and observation skills to find her.

Tim’s expression turned strange for a moment: “Yes, that banana…”

He muttered something under his breath, now finding it less amusing.

“I’m reverse tracking the call you received. The other party is skilled. I can’t crack it quickly.”

He had to admit his limitations, and acknowledging this was also frustrating for him.

“Don’t be hasty,” Batman consoled him, though his altered voice didn’t sound very comforting, “I think I’m close to catching up with her. We’ll soon have the answers.”

He confirmed the location: [Diamond District]

With a real-time updating detailed map, Vivi pondered for a moment and then headed towards Diamond District.

Since Penguin wanted to trap her, she, of course, planned to immediately retaliate, being a person who doesn’t hold grudges.

Thus, Vivi’s goal was simple: sneak into Penguin’s headquarters, throw a bomb into the Iceberg Lounge, then dust off her hands and leave. She didn’t care about Batman, as in her view, the previous game storyline had already ended, the mission was completed, and she had successfully… run away…

Huh?

On the map.

Batman’s marker was getting closer and closer to her location, as if he also had a map. Vivi tried to shake him off several times, but instead of losing him, he got even closer.

…Brother, where did you get that cheat?

Vivi silently looked down, staring at the straight and moist fresh shoe prints on the ground, then glanced at the rapidly closing distance. Not only was she not angry, but she also curled her lips into a smile.

The game was really interesting.

She climbed up the ladder in one leap, and after stepping on the ground, she took off her shoes and dropped them into the sewer manhole with two “plops”. Those long-time companion shoes floated and sank along the water stream, destined for an unknown destination.

The moonlight was like silver.

Barefoot, she walked on Diamond Boulevard, where there was no standing water. The place was as clean as if it belonged to a different world from the one underground. Straight ahead was the brightly lit Iceberg Lounge. Vivi quickly unbuttoned her coat and swiftly took it off, holding one corner in one hand—

“Bat,” in the Batcave, a small screen suddenly enlarged. Tim said, “I’ve found her.”

The girl in the surveillance footage ran barefoot on Diamond Boulevard without any care, standing out starkly from the formally dressed men and women around her. Suddenly, she raised her head, as if having a brief, miraculous eye contact with Tim behind the screen. Then, she tossed the brown coat in her hand.

The coat flew up, blocking the camera’s view. Tim almost immediately switched to another angle. At the same time, he heard a light laugh.

When the coat fell, the girl had disappeared, and the surveillance footage was filled with chaotic screams—

In front of the Iceberg Lounge, there was no girl, only a familiar bomb.

Realizing what had happened, Gotham’s citizens screamed and ran in all directions. Their reaction speed was proportional to the volume of their screams; in almost an instant, an open space was cleared out. Tim sent the coordinates to Batman and stared at the chaotic scene, momentarily speechless.

After a while, he slowly said, “Wow…”

Gotham is a fascinating city; it always breeds charming madmen.

*

By the time Batman arrived, Vivi had already changed into her glasses, stepped into her high heels, pressed down the hat she pulled out of thin air, and blended into the crowd to leave the chaotic epicenter.

However, the bomb probably wouldn’t explode. She felt a bit regretful, yet not too regretful about it.

*

As of April 6th, the sixth day of the game, Vivi had obtained a total of 6 liters of mercury.

Penguin was indeed miraculous; he did provide the real goods, but he also intended to kill the customer and Batman together. The system mentioned when describing the remote controller that the bomb’s electromagnetic device connected to the detonation had to be controlled from a close distance, giving Vivi a chance to survive—otherwise, she would have to dispose of another body.

Apart from the “kind” Mr. Cobblepot’s free contribution of mercury and what Vivi managed to purchase using her privileges, Shelk was very capable. Although Vivi didn’t disclose her plan to him, he often completed tasks more efficiently than expected—

For instance, realizing the boss wanted to buy up all the mercury in the market, he simply found a way to cut off Penguin’s supply.

“Thanks to a little help from Mr. Black Mask,” the secretary had said at the time, “after all, in his eyes, I haven’t betrayed him and am still a useful collaborator.”

He laughed, “I indeed have never betrayed him, because I was never his man to begin with.”

Shelk’s ambition didn’t allow him to be subordinate to anyone. He wanted to climb upwards at all costs, such as ascending to the position of mayor.

At this moment, it seemed he had already achieved this—

At least he was doing all the work that the mayor was supposed to do.

While the actual Mayor, Ms. Anna Alek, always had other things to do, like playing computer games all day, finishing a detective novel, whiling away time on old gossip magazines and laughing heartily at the photos of playboy Bruce in the magazine, tweeting daily selfies, appearing and disappearing abruptly, and then issuing strange and inexplicable orders.

Anna Alek was not a qualified mayor, and Shelk Banorlov was not a qualified secretary, but now he wanted to see what kind of changes Anna would bring to Gotham.

—And when this woman would eventually die.

Until her death, he would be her ambitious and loyal dog.

“Most people know that Iceberg Pharmaceuticals is buying materials, right…” The mayor, who had obviously just returned, removed her silk wide-brimmed hat, “I want you to leak this information, not letting anyone doubt the authenticity of the event itself, but whatever they suspect about me, I don’t care—”

“Anyway, this factory is going to be blown up eventually.”

The woman in front of him adjusted her blonde hair, her movements lazy: “When the time is about right, find a way to leak the news to Penguin that ‘the experiment in the factory has achieved great success’, any experiment will do.”

“I hope Batman doesn’t come to interfere, he’s not the one I’m targeting.”

The woman seemed to think of something, tilted her head, and smiled slightly at Shelk: “You can do it, right?”

Behind the lenses, her silver-grey eyes were cold and metallic, almost immediately prompting Shelk to lower his head.

“Of course.”

*

This chaotic night had not yet ended.

Because Batman went directly to Penguin himself—since he couldn’t find the buyer, at least the seller wouldn’t run.

However, Penguin didn’t know much either. He hadn’t connected these two transactions with “Mr. C”. In fact, his business was quite extensive, and mercury was just a minor part. The only thing that somewhat puzzled Cobblepot was why he had sold all his inventory, as if he would sell it as long as the other party wanted it.

…But this vague feeling of strangeness wasn’t strong, and he quickly pushed it to the back of his mind.

Batman returned without success—apart from giving Penguin a beating.

If he couldn’t find solid evidence, he couldn’t throw Penguin in jail, and even if he did, Penguin had plenty of ways to get out.

This is Gotham.

But he gave Penguin a beating.

Hm… This was one of the reasons Penguin was in such a bad mood.

Close to midnight, his subordinates who went for the transaction were finally carried back. The small leader struggled to tell the boss what happened:

“Our trading partner seemed to know everything, Batman’s location, and the bomb arrangements. We couldn’t overpower Batman, nor could we successfully trigger the bombs—”

“What good are you!”

The Iceberg Lounge was a mess, Penguin sat on a clean seat, while the injured subordinates lay on the ground, surrounded by others. As Penguin’s voice fell, the rest stared at these troublemakers, their expressions turning sour.

“My bomb arrangements were foolproof,” Penguin gritted his teeth, “Who deactivated the interlink?”

The atmosphere became extremely oppressive for a moment.

“No… they were all unconscious at that time,” the small leader said, “When I was conscious, it seemed like Batman hadn’t realized I was lying and didn’t discover that Hawk was the one with the remote. What happened after that, I don’t know…”

But they weren’t the kind to betray Penguin easily. The so-called “betrayal” under Batman’s interrogation was just a ploy.

Just a few minutes, and they could have taken Batman down with them.

So theoretically, the remote should never have been discovered.

Penguin slowly walked over to “Hawk,” his loyal subordinate who was willing to die for him. As if to prove himself, Hawk immediately pulled out the remote from his pocket and spread his hand to show it to Penguin—

The lounge, which was somewhat restless, became deathly silent for a moment.

Or rather, the silence became a bit terrifying.

Hawk suddenly looked up, only to see Penguin’s furious expression.

He was stunned for a moment, realizing that the feel in his hand was wrong.

Whatthefxxk!?

What he pulled out wasn’t a remote.

What the hell is this xx toy—

Before he could explain, an umbrella with immense force “bang” swiped past his head and smashed into the ground!

Penguin: “Fxxk Batman!”