Peter rubbed his face, and beside him, Tim said, “You look more like a robber than a vigilante… Are you sure you don’t want the mask I offered?”

Peter refused, “I can’t accept a mask that leaves the lower half of the face exposed. Does that really hide one’s identity?”

Tim shrugged, his gaze sweeping over the black hood on Peter’s head—with two holes cut out—at least better than a KFC paper bag.

“Let’s discuss tactics now,” Tim said. “Catwoman wants to cause trouble in this factory owned by the Mayor. I’ll look for Catwoman, and you try to find out what she’s up to. Catwoman usually doesn’t harm the innocent, so whatever she plans to do, she’ll likely act after most of the workers have left…”

“I’ll take the left side,” Peter said, “You take the right?”

They high-fived.

Just after the two boys entered the building, a rat touched its neck and quickly scurried through the underground passages, climbing onto the shoulder of a girl standing a hundred meters away.

The girl handed it a piece of cheese.

This girl, who could control and communicate with rats, was naturally the Rat Catcher, Sheila Flannegan. She had even stopped for dinner in pursuit of Catwoman—because Madam Mayor insisted on eating on time—but upon reaching here, Sheila didn’t recognize it as the Iceberg Pharmaceuticals.

…Simply because she couldn’t read.

Sheila, who had just started school, couldn’t keep up with the curriculum since she had never been educated before. It was too much to ask her to recognize all the words in just a few days.

She could only tell this was clearly a factory.

The scents of Catwoman, Robin, and the third person eventually converged in the same direction. Sheila tilted her head, pondering whether to sneak in. Finally, she clapped her hands and knocked on the gatekeeper’s window: “Uncle, my mom asked me to get the keys. She accidentally left them on her workstation.”

*

After setting down the standee, Vivi immediately contacted Sheila—Rat Catcher being here meant all rats were their allies.

Sheila responded: [Madam Mayor?]

Vivi told her, “There is an item at the location I’ve sent you. Have your little friends move it… Don’t worry, it’s not heavy.”

The human-shaped standee, although appearing like a real person, was essentially just a lightweight plastic board.

Vivi needed the rats to push the standee around the entire factory to attract attention and cover her actions.

She could have used her police status to request others’ cooperation, but she currently had no idea which of these workers Catwoman was disguised as.

After giving instructions, Vivi didn’t meet with Sheila or her little rat friends.

After waiting a while, exclamations came from outside, and the map showed NPCs leaving the area.

Vivi jumped down from above, quickly entering the nearby [Surveillance Room].

The person in the surveillance room had left. Vivi took a quick glance—the screens were still lit. She locked the door and turned back to see several screens flicker off in seconds.

It seemed Catwoman had started her action.

“Let me calculate how many gold coins I’ll need to spend on repairs…”

“Jar,” Vivi sighed, “Search online for keywords [East End] [Mayor], at least three years, no, ten years of related news. Combine it with the files on my computer and summarize it for me.”

She sent this voice command to the second-hand AI she had purchased from the Coin Shop.

After talking with Shelk, she realized that NPCs’ high compliance didn’t mean they wouldn’t misinterpret, misunderstand, overthink… lie or hide things—

“They’re like… real people.”

The AI named “Jar” quickly compiled a report.

[Regarding East End ordinances, since the 21st century, all Gotham mayors have implemented 72 initiatives, including but not limited to “providing free education for homeless youth,” “winter warmth for the homeless,” “job opportunities for ex-convicts in East End,” “environmental renovation,” “medical aid,” “orphanage charity support,” and more.]

[Out of these, a total of 1.779 billion 790 thousand 8000 gold coins were spent, with a net negative 3.77 million gold used for the people of East End.]

Vivi was startled: How could there be a negative amount?

[Out of this nearly 1.8 billion gold, 13% was diverted to various government officials and ordinance executors, 7% was wastefully spent during execution, and 80% went missing. The negative 3.77 million gold was extorted from the local people of East End, with only this amount recorded officially.]

She took a deep breath, covering her face, “What about the gold spent from my account this time?”

[No extra loss of gold coins, all used for labor and material costs.]

This meant that at least Shelk hadn’t embezzled funds and kept an eye on the execution process, preventing others from embezzling.

—But seriously, do normal construction games have an “NPC embezzlement possibility” indicator?

Gotham, you’re really toxic.

And just by looking at the data, it’s clear that past officials had a high possibility of corruption.

The dismissal list Shelk prepared for Vivi surely didn’t include high-ranking officials. Considering this, Shelk really did his best to protect the construction funds.

Gotham’s corruption ran from top to bottom. Vivi’s removal of Penguin didn’t truly change Gotham or establish her credibility. To the common people, she was just a lucky individual who reaped undeserved achievements during her term.

“Am I being too hasty?”

Perhaps she shouldn’t have taken action against the East End when the trust level of its residents in the Mayor was so low?

But the quest had already been accepted! Isn’t the purpose of a quest for players to complete it? There must be a way to complete it, just with a higher level of difficulty.

Maybe it would be better to start from within? That’s why she needed Catwoman.

“I need to successfully complete the 【Investigation】 side quest to get promoted, but the body has been destroyed, and I also need to complete the 【Catwoman】 side quest. She better not cause any trouble in my factory… wait a minute!”

Vivi took out her police phone and made a call: “City Hall? This is Officer Bella Bettywen. Yes, I’m at the Iceberg Pharmaceuticals. In the process of investigating a case, I’ve discovered signs of Catwoman’s activity. I’m making this call just as a precaution.”

After hanging up, Vivi immediately switched panels and noticed a new task appearing.

【To-Do Task: Little Kitty in the Chemical Plant】

【Please select an agent for this task within a 3-minute countdown. If the time runs out, an agent will be automatically assigned.】

She moved the task to GCPD and found “Officer Bella Bettywen” in the staff list of GCPD.

The next second, her phone rang: “Detective Bettywen, are you at the Iceberg Pharmaceuticals? City Hall just called asking you to handle a situation at the plant. Catwoman is suspected of being active there. I’ll send you Catwoman’s picture.”

【You have received a side quest: Second Investigation】

【A new case has fallen into your lap so quickly, rookie. Work hard.】

【Quest Reward: Level 1 upgrade of any police skill】

Vivi: “…Wow!”

So her Mayor identity could assign tasks to her officer identity, and by completing these tasks as an officer, she could get promoted.

This was the standard way to quickly increase professional reputation. After a quick grind, “Bella” would be promoted and receive a raise, completing the 【Special Forces SWAT】 side quest!

“…Is this what they call killing two birds with one stone, shearing two fleeces?” Vivi muttered to herself, staring at the screen thoughtfully.

“The Batman standee didn’t lure out Catwoman, but judging by the area where the screens went black, I can narrow down her location.”

Alright, time to get to work, Madam Mayor.

She pushed open the door, holding an electric baton in her left hand and a gun in her right, and thoughtfully hooked a red plastic bucket with her pinky.

Indeed, the Batman standee didn’t draw out Catwoman but caused a small commotion among the workers. After all, it was after working hours, and only a few workers were still on duty—those were the shift-changing gatekeepers and security guards.

But seeing a smiling Batman right upon opening a door was damn terrifying!

—The standee had five expressions, all quite ordinary, including [Light Smile], [Intense Gaze], [Thinking], [Anger], and [Crying], which could be remotely changed.

But Vivi wasn’t that bored. She wasn’t playing dress-up with a Barbie doll, so she chose the first expression.

With a warm smile, Batman, pushed by the rats at the bottom, quickly rolled forward inside the factory—

Then hit the wall due to a missed dodge, tilting slightly before racing down the corridor. After all, remotely controlled by rats, they might have their own ideas.

—This was the scene Tim saw from his perch on the beam.

In Vivi’s eyes, the standee remained flat, but to others, it wasn’t:

Batman, in a leaning-back position, could move rapidly forward without moving his legs—due to the prop’s effect, he couldn’t see Batman as flat and naturally couldn’t see the “mice” underneath. The man suddenly crashed into the wall as if he wasn’t looking at the road at all…

No, Tim wiped his face. That leaning-back posture meant he couldn’t see the road in the first place.

“Bat?” Tim hesitated for a moment, jumped down from the beam, and dialed Bruce while chasing after him.

He hadn’t informed Batman of his activities tonight because Bruce Wayne was invited to the Scott family’s dinner.

It was a circular corridor. Thinking quickly, Tim chose to chase in the opposite direction.

If nothing went wrong, he should be able to intercept Batman right ahead.

He did succeed. At the end of the corridor, Batman, in a leaning-back posture, rushed towards him without moving his legs, and the face under the mask still wore a creepy smile.

Even Tim was stunned for half a second and instinctively took a picture.

Then, he shot a grappling hook to the ventilation shaft above and swung over, trying to catch Batman—

If it really was Batman?

But Tim didn’t realize that swinging forward in a narrow corridor would create a gust of wind.

And a paper standee would be affected by wind pressure—

Tim: ?

He didn’t catch Batman.

Because at the moment he reached out, Batman, still smiling, ducked down!