Because of that body, Sheila returned early—she couldn’t get through to Millie’s phone.

When enrolling, Sheila chose not to stay in the Gotham Academy dormitory, instead commuting daily between the old city area and Arkham Island, as the Mayor might need her at any time.

Just like last time.

However, today, the door of the apartment she shared with Millie was slightly loose.

A black rat crawled out of the water pipe on the external wall, and from her sleeve emerged a grey rat named Scott. The two rodents touched heads, quickly exchanging some information.

Then, Scott scampered onto Sheila’s shoulder—

“A woman brought Millie back… then two oddly dressed boys arrived? So it was them, one of them was Robin, yes, the one you saw in the sewer last time… And the other? Wearing a KFC paper bag over his head with only two holes, and able to climb walls?”

“…They all left, but Millie stayed?”

Sheila pushed the door open and fell silent.

The glass vase was shattered, the roses changed just this morning were trampled, her homework for the week, originally on the coffee table, was now half-soaked, the sofa was askew, and there were two and a half footprints on the pristine white walls.

Sheila first checked Millie’s condition. She was sleeping soundly, seemingly unharmed.

Then, sitting in the living room, Sheila gazed out at the drizzling rain and dark skies, calling out to her companion Scott, “Which would be easier to find, that woman or Robin?”

“Is that so… The woman stayed longer and left enough scent behind…”

She touched Scott’s nose, “Then, let’s go.”

Madam Mayor said not to become a criminal, but in a city like Gotham, you can’t let yourself be easily bullied, as that signals vulnerability.

But “Rat Catcher” was not one to be easily bullied. Whoever messed up their house would have to pay!

*

Three hours earlier.

Joe frowned as he handcuffed the car thief, who was unconscious, but the price was losing the car.

He checked his phone, “Those two boys said they had to leave for some reason, why is everyone suddenly busy?”

The rookie straddling the motorcycle opened the trunk to check the body… Joe put away his phone, feeling a headache coming. This rookie didn’t seem very obedient.

“Should we take the body back to the station first?” the rookie asked, “Will it be sent for an autopsy?”

“The cause of death is clear, a Remington, a type of long-range sniper rifle,” Joe glanced at her, “You still have a lot to learn… The real problem, however, is the body itself.”

Joe grabbed the wrist of the female corpse and then exerted force, feeling as though he was holding something harder than steel—

He released his grip, leaving no marks on the body.

The girl’s eyes were open, with a total of four wounds on her body, no other injuries, not even scratches, which was illogical.

The place where the body was found was obviously not the real crime scene. Moving the body from there to the drain, it didn’t have a single scratch. She didn’t look dead but more like an exquisitely crafted doll.

Joe, with an unlit cigarette in his mouth, muttered softly, “Might have to hand it over to the MCU.”

Vivi: Wait, our case is just dropped like that?

Nobody can snatch a reward from her, especially since she already knew who the culprit was!

Vivi: “Do we have to hand it over to the MCU? Can’t we investigate it ourselves, aren’t we doing that?”

Joe glanced at her, “Why do you think I agreed to come to Crime Alley first instead of taking the body back to GCPD? Rookie, at your age, I also wanted to make a mark. Satisfied now? If so, let’s head back to the station. This isn’t a case we can handle.”

He shook his head, patted the front of the car, and muttered, “Okay, it can still drive. You take the motorcycle… huh? Where’s your bike?”

“It’s okay,” Vivi squeezed into the back seat with the body, “My motorcycle will drive itself back.”

Drive itself, do you think it’s the Batmobile?

Joe commented sarcastically, “Your bike also transforms into a robot, right?”

He didn’t bother anymore, just cautioning—

“Don’t tamper with the body.”

Of course, Vivi would tamper with the body!

As soon as she touched it, four options appeared before her eyes.

【A body with “VV” branded on the back of the neck, someone seems to have seen her】

The description changed?

The original description was, “An unnamed body.” So, does this kind of description update in real-time based on player actions?

Clearly, the options were also updated.

【Players can choose—

a. Spend 1000 gold (personal funds) to cremate

b. Spend 2000 gold (personal funds) to buy an ordinary tombstone

c. Grab the body, the Iceberg Lounge is at your service (chance to get the buff: Batman’s Special Attention)

d. Spend 50 diamonds (personal funds) to buy a super-luxury tombstone and publish an obituary in all Gotham newspapers (chance to encounter investor Wayne)】

Poor as Vivi was, although she had enough gold, she only had 80 diamonds in total. Before her game currency was freely available, she wouldn’t choose option D.

Regarding option C, Vivi frowned. Just minutes ago, the AI sent her a screen recording, and she had received—

[You have gained a fixed status: Batman’s Watchful Eye]

[As the guardian of Gotham’s darkness, Batman is gradually intensifying his attention on the Mayor. He could be an enemy or a friend, everything depends on how you act]

What would happen if she added another layer of this watch? Vivi, who had never stacked buffs before, was tempted to try.

But she decided against it… Batman, a hardworking vigilante who roamed the night, deserved a good night’s sleep.

Vivi actually had no ill feelings towards Batman. Who would dislike a vigilante who works diligently every night without expecting a salary? After all, fighting crime is the government’s responsibility. Batman’s appearance was solely due to Gotham’s inadequacies in the past.

However, she also had no intention of exploring Batman’s true identity—though it wouldn’t be difficult with the map—and then using that information to exploit him. If she exploited someone who was already working voluntarily, Vivi felt it would be utterly unconscionable.

After all, everyone was striving to make Gotham better. As long as the goals were aligned, even if the methods differed, there would be no hostility towards each other.

—She firmly believed in this.

She decided to fight for this case a bit more.

She chose option A.

[Spend 1000 gold (personal funds) to cremate]

…Nothing happened.

Ah, not exactly nothing—

[You have spent 1000 gold of personal funds]

Vivi: “?”

As the car with a dented hood drove down the street, something unexpected happened in the blind spot of the two passengers. A stone gargoyle suddenly came to life from above.

The winged creature swooped down, smashing through the car door. Vivi reached out her hand but hesitated for a moment. In that instant, the gargoyle snatched the body and flew upwards rapidly.

The small-time thug in the passenger seat, just waking from unconsciousness, witnessed this bizarre scene and fainted again, rolling his eyes back.

Joe was stunned. In the cars alongside them, many people started recording the spectacle of the gargoyle snatching the body. Joe slapped the steering wheel and shouted at Vivi, “You guide me, we’re following it—”

It wasn’t too late to chase it!

But Vivi guessed… they probably wouldn’t catch up.

They drove all the way to the Iceberg Pharmaceuticals. After undergoing an explosion once, the plant was now back in operation.

Unlike the previous fake operations, this time it was genuinely hiring workers for processing building materials, all of which would be used for underground construction.

Though Shelk, as the person in charge, still only earned 1 gold in salary, others were paid normal wages—Vivi had chosen the lowest wage scale suggested by the system.

Currently supervising the start of work was the deputy factory manager, a portly man recommended by Shelk.

After seeing Joe’s badge, he wiped off his sweaty forehead, “Indeed, a flying gargoyle came here, to be honest, if it weren’t for the surveillance proving it, I would’ve thought the workers were lying.”

He sighed, “But at that time, we were operating. The gargoyle broke open the furnace and threw someone in it. We now need to spend money on repairs… really, officer, I’m not lying, it’s so strange—”

“It’s not a person,” Joe pushed past him, striding forward, “It’s a body.”

“That’s good then…”

Whether it was a person or a body, clearly, everything had been thrown into the flames.

Joe stood in the hot factory, the firelight reflecting in his eyes. After a long moment, he said, “…I have a daughter.”

He pulled out a cigarette and lit it this time, saying, “Let’s go.”

He turned around: “！？”

The rookie had disappeared as unexpectedly as her motorcycle.

Vivi had initially just wanted to check her own factory. Although the factory’s operation costs were always covered by the municipal government’s public funds… wasn’t the government’s money hers as well?

So, to ensure the money was used properly, during recruitment, she first screened out the red names among those recommended by Shelk—Gotham had too many red names, throw a motorcycle out and hit ten people, at least three would be red names, Vivi didn’t blame him—then she also screened out those without the “Diligent” attribute.

Ambition was fine, but diligence was a must—because you can’t always find [Red Spray Paint] in the coin shop, and the factory was too large, so resources had to be used sparingly.

But she had just glanced over and noticed some people slacking off.

A few people were gathered together, whispering. Vivi quietly approached, casually opening the map—

But the moment she saw the map, she fell silent.

If the screen is only so big and the map covers all of Gotham, players can only see many small dots. To see the occupational information on the dots, one must zoom in on a part of the map. To view specific information (limited to Vivi’s employees), one needs to get close enough.

Explaining this is to say, that when Vivi idly looked at the map and noticed the entire factory was green names, she wouldn’t bother zooming in on that area to check every green name for changes.

Now there was a change—

[Ordinary Worker 1 (Bought by Catwoman)][Ordinary Worker 2 (Bought by Catwoman)]

[Gatekeeper (Bought by Catwoman)]

Vivi: “？”

She was furious.

Catwoman was buying off workers, but to what end?

If she had the money, why not directly try to buy off the Mayor?

^[1]T/N: I will be using Iceberg Pharmaceuticals and Iceberg Chemical Plant interchangeably. So if you notice a description of a plant. This is what it means