Half an hour later, Vivi finally figured out that the weak point of the Talon was low temperature—thanks to Penguin generously providing various weapons. While the Talon’s body was extremely difficult to destroy with strong regenerative abilities, low temperatures could put him into a dormant state.

During this time, she ordered a freezer and stored both the Talon and her own corpse in separate compartments, making them neighbors in the freezer. She set the temperature to the lowest, but doubted this would restrain the Claw for long.

Then, while contacting Wen, Vivi hurriedly left the house, brushing past Millie who was carrying a large bag of cat food and canned cat food.

Wen brought some unsettling news: the Court had sent the Talon not only to assassinate her but also to target Penguin’s subordinates.

【The East District remained chaotic precisely because the Court had their eyes on it, wanting it to continue in disarray…】

Wen, while being beaten, couldn’t have known that the Violin was leading others to take over the East District. This came to light when he returned to his post and was informed of these individuals’ movements. They were not subtle, with a large number of people, prompting the Court to dispatch a SWAT special forces team and a few of the Claw.

While riding her motorcycle, she issued an order in her capacity as the Mayor, demanding the SWAT to stand down—but who knows if they would comply.

However, Vivi also tweeted a photo, regardless of whether they listened or not. At least for this street battle in Gotham, she refused to take the fall for the Court!

“They are now my people… and they have no criminal records,” she muttered. Of course, if they had records, they would have been in prison with Penguin. Now, at dusk, the sky was a gray-blue hue, and Vivi’s motorcycle merged into the stream of Gotham’s traffic like a streak of black light. “SWAT is even more arrogant than the Mayor…”

The Mayor was green with envy!

So envious that she wanted to take the opportunity to tackle the Court in the city area!

“What reason did the Court use?” she asked Wen.

【No reason】

There was only one line of text, but Vivi could sense the gritted teeth behind it.

Meanwhile, the Violin kept sending messages to “Mr. C,” seemingly agitated and a bit of a chatterbox.

What was his mental image of Mr. C? And why did everyone assume C was a man?

Because of the Violin, Vivi always had an update on his whereabouts.

The Violin was surprisingly efficient. While Wen was stalling, the SWAT team was still organizing, but the Violin had already taken over a third of a block on the other side. Of course, these were weaker and poorer areas.

“What reason did you use?” Vivi asked him.

【Of course, ‘recruitment’】 She could almost imagine the redhead’s carefree yet shy smile. 【We’re a company, after all】

Vivi was genuinely touched and said, “Don’t worry, I’ve taken care of the company registration process.”

Under her somewhat distracted exploitation, the all-capable and useful secretary Shelk started work earlier than everyone else and finished later, working 16-hour days (voluntarily), full of energy. Vivi had habitually assigned all conceivable tasks to him—

In reality, Shelk wasn’t that busy. He delegated tasks to suitable employees, as there were many employees in City Hall. But he seemed to be a worrywart, preferring to keep tabs on everyone’s progress, even in a coordinating role.

Vivi was both speechless and impressed. This man was born to toil.

But the other employees occasionally whispered, “Is Secretary Shelk trying to usurp the Mayor…”

The Mayor was too happy to be ‘usurped’! She loved being out and about!

Gathering her thoughts, Vivi parked her motorcycle below a building, ensuring there were no surveillance cameras. She then climbed upstairs and out of a window on the other side, transforming into “VV”.

The brown-haired girl descended from the sky, wearing only a thin garment. As the crescent moon peeked from behind clouds, she walked along the shadows, slipping on her shoes and coat. By the time she appeared before the Violin, her disheveled appearance was nowhere to be seen.

The Violin looked at her scrutinizingly, but soon his expression softened considerably, “Miss Vivi?”

That was because Vivi had messaged him as “C,” indicating an emissary was coming to guide them.

Bella wasn’t suitable, as she was a police officer, and the Mayor was out of the question. Since C had no real identity, she had to use her true self.

“Yes,” she said, “Hello, Violin.”

The redhead smiled twistedly yet shyly.

He bowed slightly, kissing the back of Vivi’s hand before following her into the building, adopting a subordinate’s posture.

This would be the future headquarters of “Iceberg Construction Installation Company,” but for now, it was just a dilapidated seven-story unfinished building. Vivi suspected they chose this place because it was the tallest around.

“This place belongs to Old Smith, but he hasn’t been to the East District in a long time. It’s getting messier,” the Violin said with a mix of happiness and shyness, “We’ve currently rented it—”

“For a dollar a month.”

Vivi was astonished and praised, “Well done!”

But she quickly briefed him on the SWAT special forces and Talon’s plan. After all, compared to the unseen C, Violin was the real leader of these people: “You don’t need to worry much about SWAT, but the Talon, I suspect they are much faster than the special forces team.”

The Violin was momentarily startled upon hearing “don’t worry,” as if he had thought of something, then immediately bristled—Vivi suspected he had concocted some grandiose narrative for C.

Then she heard him say, “We will be prepared… but we lack sufficient weapons, I’ll think of a way!”

His eyes were dark, as if brewing ideas that didn’t belong to a “construction company boss.”

Vivi coughed lightly, “I’ve brought enough weapons.”

Penguin, always Penguin, thank you, generous Penguin!

The Violin was particularly enthusiastic, perhaps determined to show Mr. C his achievements. So, Vivi providing weapons was a great help. She didn’t want to ask what image of Mr. C he had in mind, fearing an answer like “Dad.”

In this game, such absurd answers were indeed possible!

She was then led by the redhead to the central area on the fourth floor, where she found a sofa deep enough to sink into, a fluffy blanket, a cup of hot cocoa, and a dozen subordinates patrolling the building to protect her.

It was… surprisingly comfortable.

She tucked her upper body into the blanket, warming her hands with the cup. The building had a frame, but the glass had been taken away by vagrants to sell—had they had the tools, they might have taken the steel bars from the walls.

The cold wind blew through. The only furnishings on the entire fourth floor were two sofas and a coffee table between them. The only light source was a glass bottle on the table, filled with clear water and a forearm-length tree branch.

The branch emitted a faint blue light, flickering like breathing.

【Colorful Street Tree Branch】

【Preserved with inferior methods, freshness lasts for 3 days, still retains the lighting effect of the original body during this period】

Vivi called over a tall, thin subordinate and asked, “What’s this?”

“Do you like it, Miss?” he explained. “This is a branch from a tree in Crime Alley. It sometimes emits lights of different colors. When it rains, the raindrops knock the branches down. If you put them in a bottle, they still glow, but not for long.”

“The branches cut down deliberately are useless; only those that fall naturally work. So now, many children go there to collect leaves and branches to sell. They don’t earn much, but it’s something.”

Vivi propped her chin on her hand, “Oh,” she said, interested. “So they can save money and improve their lives a bit?”

The tall man glanced at her, “No, it’s children because adults don’t want to do such low-profit physical work. They send the children, who follow their orders and hand over the money, leaving them just enough food to survive.”

So, Gotham remains the same Gotham, unchanged.

Vivi’s green pupils reflected the blue light, flickering as if about to extinguish at any second, but then lighting up again with each breath.

“Maybe not,” she said softly, without elaboration.

Indeed, Gotham was still Gotham, but there were always some clever children who found a way out of the mire, like… the once young Shelk.

But didn’t the less clever ones deserve a good life too?

Vivi was here to save those ‘less clever’!

She wanted them to be able to eat well just by working hard, to receive education, to ensure no corruption with all funds reaching their intended destinations, to get paid for work, and to be safe from harm as long as they didn’t harm others.

Good should be rewarded, and evil should be punished.

—That’s the purpose of the Mayor.

Vivi constantly had a map open in front of her, zooming in and out to track the Talon’s location—

Soon, a red dot named Talon appeared on the map!

Coming from the direction of Gotham Cathedral, but if they could hide in Gotham, she thought, not in the sky, then underground.

“But the underground maps I’ve explored before didn’t include under Gotham Cathedral,” Vivi switched to the underground map, silent, looking at the blank areas, “These areas have no pipes or roads… because not even rats can get in, they’re not part of the underground pipeline system.”

So, was the previous main quest (1) not a complete exploration of Gotham’s underground?

Vivi thought, “Not exactly. The purpose of the main quest was to lay pipelines and optimize the underground structure. These areas don’t have underground passages, so the quest was still completed without exploring them.”

If there were no underground passages… could there be a secret chamber?

She stroked her coffee cup, focusing on the messages from Wen and the Violin. Wen was still stalling, but he couldn’t reveal himself as a double agent, so he probably couldn’t delay for long. The Violin had already distributed the weapons. Vivi took out the phone the Violin gave her, “Be alert, the Talon is nearing, use low-temperature weapons to freeze them.”

After a moment, she brought the phone back to her cheek, “Wait… Batman has arrived too.”

Is Batman chasing the Talon?

Vivi stared at the map, noticing a green dot named [Nightwing] above her location overlapping with others. For a moment, she couldn’t tell who this Nightwing was hostile towards, whether it was Anna, Bella, or Mr. C. Then the green dot above her flashed and unsurprisingly turned red.

Vivi: “……”

She couldn’t guess which one of Anna, Bella, or Mr. C had developed a hostile relationship with this Nightwing.