April 15th.

“The Penguin’s men came to me five times to sell mercury, totalling only one litre.”

——And what did you do?

“I offered a higher price each time than the last.”

—— Very good.

“They wanted to sign a contract, and I deliberately showed more eagerness. It’s a seller’s market right now…”

—— Did you sign it?

“Yes,” Shelk replied, “the contract stipulates that as long as the goods are delivered by April 16th, we will purchase at a price of…”

A price of 300,000 gold coins per litre, no matter the quantity, and the contract is officially recognized, so there’s no worry about anyone fleeing—If Shelk breaches the agreement, then the city hall will bear this costly purchase.

“But not today,” he said, “everyone knows we close at 17:00.”

Vivi looked at the investment panel.

The Penguin’s liquid assets exceeded one million.

And the Pharmaceutical account balance turned into 180,000.

Clearly, the Pharmaceutical funds had all flowed to Penguin.

Now it was six in the evening, the time was ripe—

She made another phone call.

The other side picked up quickly, and Vivi spoke rapidly: “I need to leave Gotham.”

“Damn it! They’ve found me…” she mumbled vaguely, “Let’s do the final trade tonight, I must leave here!”

Penguin: “You want to liquidate your inventory?”

He instinctively wanted to doubt it, because it was a huge order, and even if he put all his liquid assets into it, it wouldn’t be enough, and the trading partner was a stranger. If something went wrong—

“It’s me who’s eager to sell,” Vivi hesitated deliberately, “I can lower the price a bit more, but not by much.”

After some haggling, Vivi finally sold all her goods at a price that barely covered the Penguin’s liquid assets. After this, her personal funds reached 1.2 million gold coins, while the Penguin’s liquid assets fell below 100,000 gold coins.

——Both parties were satisfied.

The Penguin thought he could make a big profit tomorrow, coincidentally, Vivi thought she could make a big profit tonight.

She had earlier placed a total of fourteen litres of mercury in the cathedral and sent this address to Penguin.

Then, she stared at the screen, beginning some tedious work—watching every moving red dot, confirming when Penguin’s men would go to collect the goods, and then tracking their final destination—the Penguin’s smuggling warehouse.

When the final moment of the plan arrived, Vivi was ready to close her net, her attention highly focused.

At times like this, she wished she had a reliable AI to monitor the map for her, but unfortunately, today’s gold coin shop hadn’t refreshed that [Second-Hand AI].

Around ten o’clock at night, most of the people heading to the cathedral had arrived in the autonomous county of South Hinkley in Gotham’s Lower City District, an area Vivi had never been to before. After all, the map of Gotham was too large.

——The entire population of Gotham is about 7 million, corresponding to a [City Population] level of 7.

South Hinkley still follows some centuries-old traditions, often ignoring orders from the city government, whether it’s the police station or the county government, treating the nearby modern city with a closed and sluggish attitude.

It was clever of the Penguin to hide his real smuggling warehouse here.

After identifying the target location, Vivi took off her glasses and walked three hundred meters to an old jeep.

The driver was her secretary, Millie, with the sleepy Sheila in the passenger seat. Vivi got into the back seat and said, “We’re going to South Hinkley.”

She couldn’t entrust everything to Shelk, as it’s not easy to replace a familiar NPC if they die.

——Considering Gotham-10’s public safety, Vivi felt she needed to prepare in advance.

Millie looked a bit nervous, as she hadn’t seen Vivi in this identity, but Vivi didn’t explain.

After getting off the jeep in South Hinkley, Vivi and Sheila entered the sewers one after another.

“Are we doing the right thing?” Sheila suddenly spoke up as they trekked through the dark sewers, one behind the other.

Vivi paused, turned to look at Sheila’s face, suddenly raised her hand to hold the girl’s cheeks, bringing her close, and whispered, “Of course, what are you doubting? We are dealing with a tax-evading criminal, a nefarious arms dealer. It’s just that we have to use some special methods.”

Sheila: “My father said the same thing, so he kidnapped those inactive officials. Later, he lost his way on his path of ‘justice’…”

“Do you have a list of those officials?” Vivi’s eyes sparkled.

Sheila: “?”

Vivi coughed, “Let’s walk and talk.”

“He,” Sheila paused, “was acknowledged by a certain will, and thus gained the ability to communicate with rats. After his death, I inherited this ability. Do you understand? It’s like a legacy. I don’t know if one day I’ll walk the same path as him…”

“It’s okay,” Vivi patted her shoulder firmly, promising, “If you become a real criminal, the mayor will definitely take you down.”

Sheila: “…”

She looked at her rat companion “Scott” in her palm, hesitated for a moment, then nodded firmly: “Okay.”

Vivi gazed at the image in the void and unfolded the map in her hand, pointing out to Sheila, “Here’s the surveillance, first deliver the drugs to the two people in the surveillance room, then have the little rats bite through the surveillance circuit. There are also two guards at the main entrance, um, I’m entering through the side door, so I just need to knock out these four people…”

Sheila frowned, “At this distance, I can summon more companions.”

Vivi: “No, we need to leave them behind. We don’t want to cause too much commotion.”

The two exchanged a glance, and without further objection from Sheila, the squeaking of numerous small creatures could be heard as they approached.

*

Warehouse.

Though called a warehouse, this place was large, with tight security and surveillance, as the Penguin’s most expensive goods were here—including mercury, whose price had skyrocketed. Thus, after careful consideration, Penguin had his men bring the mercury here too.

The metal door had three layers; the outermost could only be opened with Penguin’s voice, and the innermost required his retina, while the walls were sandwiched with dual layers of nickel alloy.

When the guards fell, Vivi emerged from the sewer manhole cover, touching the wall and remarking:

“…This is even more secure than the mayor’s office.”

Speaking of which, her office walls hadn’t been repaired yet, with just a curtain covering the holes. It was as shabby as it could get.

Envious.

She casually picked the pockets of the two men at the door but didn’t bother with the main door, instead taking out a hammer and gently hitting the corner of the wall—

“Whoosh”

A gust of wind blew, and a half-meter diameter hole appeared on the smooth wall, turning steel and concrete into dust. Vivi quickly entered, not wanting to waste any time. She landed softly and saw a huge armory.

Penguin’s main business was smuggling arms.

He had been caught and sent to Blackgate Prison several times, only to be bailed out. Even if caught red-handed at the scene, he always found a way to escape prosecution. Vivi was sure there was something wrong with either Gotham’s upper echelons or its laws, but as the mayor for now—

【Your prestige is insufficient to amend the law】

【Prestige module not yet activated】

【Current Public Awareness is 11%】

Tsk.

The warehouse in front of her contained explosives, not mercury. Upon entering the building, Vivi could view the internal map, with a total of four warehouses.

But Vivi wasn’t picky. She started from the closest area, stuffing everything into her system bag. Any identical items could be stacked without limit.

After emptying this warehouse, Vivi moved to the door, then took out a red bucket and placed it near the door. Two people were stationed outside, still unaware that the warehouse they guarded was empty. Opening this door would lead to a corridor with many patrolling people—

“I need to find a way to distract them without raising any suspicion, and quickly enter another warehouse.”

She reached into the bucket.

Chocolate, handgun, risqué novels, wallets, cell phone, huh?

She opened the phone, accessed the contacts, and began composing a message: “Bro, I have to say this, I’ve been secretly in love with you and always wanted to do xxx with you!”

Then, she selected “Send to All (187 people)” and confirmed.

[T/N: this was so unexpected. Lol]

The red dots outside started moving, and Vivi faintly heard the sound of an argument. Soon, the two men headed towards the restroom. Vivi wasn’t sure if they were going to fight or… something else.

Once they left, Vivi quickly opened the door and dashed into the opposite room, beginning her raid.

It seemed the timing was right. After clearing the second warehouse, Vivi took out a bat-shaped button from her bag and put it in her pocket.

— That was a tracker Batman had placed on a mercury box during his second deal with the Penguin. After Vivi removed it and put it in her game bag, it seemed unable to track anymore.

She calculated the time and ran towards the third room, her hammer raised towards the warehouse wall.

*

“B, a new location has appeared. This tracker number was once on a mercury box.”

Batman was always busy.

When he received Robin’s message, he had just returned Poison Ivy to Arkham, and was now on Nāi Hé Island.

“I think we can get there together,” Robin said from the other end, “We should arrive at the same time. You might need my help.”

Batman calculated the time and replied, “Okay.”

He set off in the Batmobile.

His estimates were usually accurate—

Until he encountered a “Speed Limit 60” sign directly ahead.

All vehicles, whether trucks or buses, were moving at a snail’s pace on this road.

Next to the Batmobile was a tour bus.

“Wow,” someone pressed against the window, taking pictures with their phone, “Wow! Batman? Is it real? Are they shooting a movie? Look here!”

Batman: “……”

Robin: “I’m already here, Batman. Where are you?”