Vivi arrived at Blackgate Island on the evening of the 25th, assuming her new role as the warden of Blackgate Prison. She didn’t rest that night, instead opting to measure the entirety of Blackgate Prison with her footsteps.

Located on Blackgate Island, the prison encompasses the entire island. Blackgate Island is connected to Gotham’s old district via the Rand Bridge. To prevent prison breaks, the bridge is heavily guarded, and identification is required for anyone crossing it.

Sometimes, prisoners come up with special “IDs”, such as cannons.

In extreme cases, guards stationed on the bridge would opt to blow up the bridge to escape, trapping the rioting (this has happened before) prisoners inside the prison. These large-scale prison breaks are rare, with only three occurrences in the past twenty years. After all, Blackgate mainly houses regular gangsters, unlike the neighboring Arkham, which contains those who can hardly be classified as human.

In one of these three riots, even blowing up the bridge didn’t stop the escape, as the leader managed to acquire an airplane. Clearly, the escape was orchestrated with internal and external collaboration.

The leader was someone Vivi knew—

Indeed, it was Black Mask.

This prison, taking up an entire island, detains exactly 2,723 people.

Including the prisoners and other staff members, the total exceeds 4,000. High-profile criminals like Penguin are held in solitary confinement, with half the outdoor time and equal workload as other prisoners, while regular criminals are housed in four or six-person cells, living conditions akin to a rural high school, with ample personal space and even the option to order meals if dissatisfied with the regular food.

Vivi: “…Wow.”

She exclaimed upon opening the annual financial reports and the prison guard mortality rate spreadsheet, almost overwhelmed by the figures.

With yearly requests for various materials to fortify the prison and expenses for weapon consumption running into tens of millions of dollars, she wondered, were all those bullets used to execute every prisoner one by one?

Late at night, Vivi took a deep breath and called MCU.

“How is the interrogation of Martin Joseph progressing?” she asked sternly over the phone. “I heard he’s already been targeted for assassination twice, all because he divulged a list? Maybe it’s better to transfer him to Blackgate ahead of time—rest assured, I swear on my personal honor that he will not die in Blackgate.”

It was clear that someone was backing former warden Joseph. When MCU apprehended him, they narrowly thwarted an assassin sent to silence him. That night, while in MCU’s custody, there was an incident where an inside agent was bribed to poison Joseph.

This left MCU extremely weary, and it would be bad if he died while under their custody.

The choice to take him in was made by Blackgate Prison, and MCU’s head, Morris, ultimately agreed to it.

After hanging up the phone, he sighed, “Who would have thought that in just four days, this new officer would become the warden of the prison? And I heard she once mentioned to others that working hard was for the opportunity to join MCU.”

His partner laughed and added, “Not necessarily.”

Morris’s partner spoke in a hushed tone, “I heard that our mayor is standing behind Warden Bettywen. The current situation in the East District clearly shows the mayor’s determination for reform… So, she will definitely push Bettywen to rise in the ranks.”

His partner had heard about the simultaneous replacement of the head of the Homicide Division in GCPD and the deputy warden of Blackgate Prison. “Luckily, the top brass at MCU is fine, or else it would probably have been us who were replaced.”

Morris, looking at former warden Joseph through the one-way glass, knew that the evidence found at his home was enough to prosecute him, especially some videos on his computer. They had questioned him and barely managed to extract some information.

He suddenly said, “Joseph was fired on orders directly from the City Hall… What do you think…”

His partner gestured for him to be silent, implying that it was all self-explanatory.

Unlike others, Joseph was first fired and then incriminating evidence against him was found—

The mayor’s determination to promote her own people was all too obvious.

And Joseph thought the same.

For his safety, he was kept in a car, guarded by four prison guards, all of whom he recognized; until today, they were his subordinates.

It was Anna Alek who ruined everything for him!

Now, being sent back to Blackgate Prison, he had imagined how the female warden would torture him. He had once mocked her over the phone as an internet-famous minor police officer, a nobody. Now he believed that this woman had not ascended to her position through normal means—what normal person becomes a warden within four days? She must have had some shady deal with the mayor. Joseph only trusted his lover and believed the mayor and Bella had a closer relationship.

Then, Joseph, hooded and gagged, was pushed out of the car. He calculated the direction and knew he was being taken to the interrogation room in the basement.

“Damn it,” he thought, “it must be Bettywen! She will humiliate me, beat me, but I will also loudly mock her, exposing her unscrupulous methods of climbing beds for her position, and I will not yield to her torture—”

“Swish”

The lights turned on, and his hood was removed.

A woman with honey-colored skin casually wore a black trench coat, one shoulder exposed, selecting torture tools like a novice.

Then she seemed to have made her choice, nodding coldly at him.

---

After reaching the maximum level in interrogation, Vivi used this skill for the first time. She activated her ability and used an electric baton on Joseph, which caused orange [Submissive] and red [Health] status bars to appear above his head.

The [Submissive] status bar had filled up a bit from that action. Vivi, an experienced player, quickly understood that each action’s effectiveness in making the criminal speak could be gauged by the status bars, with the [Health] bar ensuring the criminal doesn’t die during the interrogation.

Moreover, Joseph seemed to become submissive rather quickly, perhaps a result of the skill itself having a boosting effect. Vivi noted that regardless of her actions, the status bars would increase, to varying extent.

Reflecting on her high interrogation skills and how easily the criminals she previously interrogated confessed, Vivi realized that they all seemed to be very timid and quick to answer. She had even joked about how these small-fry gangsters gave in to threats so easily, wondering what they were doing in the underworld.

It turns out she had misunderstood.

Vivi quickly filled Joseph’s [Submissive] status bar to the max, akin to playing a game with a guide. She then began recording on her phone and re-asked her question: “Now, confess your crimes honestly.”

Joseph confessed to his abuse of power for personal gain, his use of prisoners for entertainment, how he covered up evidence after tormenting death row inmates to death, and his vile fantasies about young girls, choosing his hunting targets purposefully – Crime Alley was not his only hunting ground.

He also revealed who he traded with to become the warden—

Indeed, it was Black Mask.

Vivi thought to herself, “No wonder Black Mask hasn’t stayed in Blackgate Prison for long since the last major breakout.”

So even the prison warden was one of Black Mask’s people.

“Then, I took over Black Mask’s new drug trade,” the former warden said blankly, “I had informants in the prison sell the drugs for him.”

Vivi’s interest was piqued: “Is this drug sold in Bludhaven? What is it called?”

“It’s quite popular in the Bludhaven underground. I like to use a bit before going to bed; it gives a feeling of immense power. It’s called… THE5.”

Having extracted everything useful from Joseph, Vivi ordered, “Keep him in solitary confinement for three days, only liquid food, then transfer him to the 12-person cell with the most inmates.”

What happens next, whether he survives or how he survives, would be up to Joseph’s own “efforts.”

Vivi silently rooted for him in her mind, promising that she would do her best to arrange for his death penalty… if he managed to survive that long.

After leaving the interrogation room, Vivi edited the recording, sending the part about the drugs to Dick Grayson. Receiving no immediate reply from Dick, probably busy, she registered a new Twitter account under the name “Bella Bettywen.” With the system’s assistance, she verified the account and made her first tweet, posting the recording excluding the part about Black Mask.

Soon after, Officer Grayson messaged her: [I’m investigating THE5, never expected this… Thanks for sharing the info ❤️]

[No problem, you helped me before too.]

Minutes later—

Dick: [Joseph was arrested? My God, I was busy working, I should tell Riti, she’ll be so happy.]

Dick: [You became the warden of Blackgate Prison… ah, I mean, just surprised, congratulations ❤️]

Dick: [I saw your tweet!]

Dick: [This is Joseph’s confession? He’s such a scumbag, glad he’s been dealt with now! But isn’t it risky to post it on Twitter, I mean, for you… Black Mask will definitely pay special attention to you!]

Black Mask had been “paying special attention” to her since the day she logged into the game. Vivi thought, it’s time to end this.

She typed: [No worries, I’ve been famous for a while now, haven’t I? Think of that video. I’m sure every Gotham criminal is paying attention to me, my identity isn’t hard to find out.]

[—I’m waiting for Black Mask to come to me.]

Dick put away his phone, spinning his baton and catching it again.

Joseph was arrested in secret; he really hadn’t heard the news. Currently, as Nightwing, he was patrolling the Eastern District before dawn.

“Sigh,” he sat on the edge of a rooftop, taking out his phone again, “If I were Black Mask, I’d definitely send ten snipers to target her…”

The audio Bella released was like a challenge to Black Mask. She could interrogate about the first half, so naturally, she could extract information about Black Mask too… Once she stepped off Blackgate Island, Black Mask’s assassins would surely strike.

Dick acknowledged Bella’s impulsiveness, but she was also brave and intelligent, firm in her convictions. Although… well, her rapid career advancement… But Dick believed that even if she cooperated with the mayor, it was only to achieve her goal of combating crime!

Just like what Bella said in the burger shop—so long as she could achieve her goal of eliminating crime, she didn’t care if it was procedural justice.

…Thus, it made sense why she would collaborate with a like-minded Mayor Alek.

Dick swung over to MCU’s rooftop for a broader view. Upon arrival, he noticed the Bat-Signal was missing.

Dick: “?”

He immediately called home, answered by Alfred.

“Alfred,” he sighed in relief, the butler was always reliable, “What happened, was the Bat-Signal stolen?”

“No, Master Dick, just taken down by the City Hall’s construction team, currently in MCU’s first-floor hall,” Alfred’s tone was ever calm, “It was removed while you were volunteering at the cathedral, as the MCU building is being demolished and reconstructed, they’re moving out everything.”

Dick coughed awkwardly: “Then… Batman?”

“I believe you’ve seen, the entire Eastern District is well-lit, City Hall’s work is still ongoing, just rotating breaks. Under these circumstances, Batman wouldn’t appear,” Alfred informed, “So the master has already gone to bed, and Master Tim as well.”

“I hope the master wakes up early tomorrow and comes up with a reason for wanting to buy the ‘Bat-Signal.’”

No, Alfred, Dick thought.

Regardless of whether he slept early or not, Bruce definitely won’t be waking up early.