Chapter 1 Gotham River

Gotham River, a black river.

Before Gotham became a commercial city, it was a typical industrial city. Years of pollution had permanently changed the color of this river that spanned both ends of the city. Even with a lot of funding today, its original appearance cannot be restored.

Many things in the world are like this. It's easy to go from clear to murky, but difficult to go from murky to clear. It's easy to go from white to black, but from black to white... it requires a high price.

Glugluglu—

The sound of the propeller turning underwater, carrying with it wisps of bubbles, floated to the surface.

In this dark night, no one would notice what was quietly happening in this wide, murky river.

At this moment, a "Bat-Submarine"... if you'd like to call it that... was slowly moving along the riverbed.

And the person driving it was naturally Batman.

About an hour ago, after disguising himself as a taxi driver and ambushing Feng Bujue, Wayne entered an underground passage not far from the Pioneer Bridge.

These "passages" that crisscrossed the city were something he had slowly developed over many years (the slow progress was not due to technical reasons, but simply because he had to find ways to avoid places that might become subway lines in the coming years). The entrances were scattered in every corner of Gotham and required a scan of Wayne's own iris to open.

The passages were equipped with simple tracks and small maglev moving capsules, which could help Wayne travel quickly around the city. In addition, some "Bat-Gear" was hidden in certain locations within the passages for emergencies.

Of course, these spare "gear" did not include large items like a "submarine."

Therefore, Wayne still had to return to his Batcave first, start the submarine, and then enter the Gotham River along the river's tributaries, heading towards the location where his fake taxi sank.

This process undoubtedly took him a lot of time.

If he could successfully find "Jack's" body in the wreckage of the destroyed car, then this time would have been well spent, but...

"This kid... actually escaped?" Looking at the image on the scanner, Wayne was both surprised and doubtful, and then he fell into deep thought. "How did he do it... From the surveillance footage at Arkham, apart from a slightly stronger physical fitness than the average person, he didn't show any other special abilities... Could it be that his strange accomplice rescued him?" He quickly rejected this speculation. "No... that's impossible. To do that, he would have to have his accomplice waiting underwater in full diving gear in advance, and get him out of the car within a second of it entering the water... Unless he knew the precise point of impact in advance, with no more than a meter of error, could he have made such an arrangement; but the exact point of impact... is something even I, the driver, couldn't control..."

So-called "reasoning" is like walking through a maze, with the exit of the maze being the "truth." In this maze, when you enter a dead end, you often have to take a few steps back and find another path to continue. You must not stubbornly stick to that dead end – wasting time is a small matter, but being trapped there forever would be terrible.

"So... did he break the car window at the last moment and escape from the car?" Wayne was obviously a veteran at navigating the reasoning maze. He immediately retreated from the dead end and found another way. "My timing for the explosion was undoubtedly perfect. Any earlier, the sound of the explosion couldn't be covered by the river water... Any later, and he would have more time to react and act... Within those few seconds near the limit, the rushing water would severely hinder his movements. Even if he really broke the car window, he wouldn't have had time to escape the car... At the moment the car exploded, he would have at most gotten half his body out..."

Thinking of this, Wayne's gaze moved away from the scanning device. He immediately turned the submarine's direction by dozens of degrees, aiming it at the downstream of the river.

"In that case... perhaps the shockwave of the explosion pushed his body out. I should search downstream again, maybe I can..." Wayne thought to himself as he started accelerating the submarine.

"Wait!" But in that second, a flash of inspiration suddenly passed through his mind.

Inspiration was like a surge of heat, pouring a series of thoughts into his mind.

The gesture Feng Bujue made at the surveillance camera, and every word he said before falling into the water... all reappeared before Wayne's eyes.

"He wanted to invite me into the game from the beginning... and predicted that I would inevitably enter." Wayne couldn't help but mutter to himself. At this moment, he had to say these words to help himself think more clearly. "When he got into my car, he had already seen through my identity... He could have pretended not to know, and suddenly attacked me from behind without saying a word, or... simply jumped out of the car and ran away." He paused for half a second, and then recited, "Even at that last moment, he still had a chance to escape... He even specifically pointed out that there was a button behind my steering wheel, which means he had anticipated the danger ahead."

Thinking of this, under Wayne's mask, cold sweat had soaked his stern and handsome face.

"Think carefully... this 'Jack' is always one step ahead of me, but he didn't take advantage of that 'step'... why?" Wayne felt fear. In "this world," he had never been so afraid.

"Time!" Perhaps fear had stimulated his brain in some way. Wayne's thinking became more acute. Two seconds later, he found the correct answer. "He's been 'hiding his abilities' from the beginning! He guessed what I was going to do before I drove the car into the river... or at least had considered the possibility, but he didn't care... because he had already prepared to face every possibility.

"He not only has some special ability that I don't yet know... and... it's very strong.

"If he wanted to kill me, I would have died long ago, but for some reason... he wants me to live, and at the same time doesn't want me to hinder his actions, so he jumped into my trap... in order to buy himself... 'time'!"

After Wayne resolved his doubts, he quickly operated on the panel in front of him, instructing his communicator to start receiving police communication signals.

In less than thirty seconds, he learned about the incident at the Twin Towers from the police's communication frequency.

"Damn it!" Wayne could no longer remain calm. He couldn't help but curse, then stood up and ran to the rear compartment of the submarine.

Because of the Arkham breakout in the afternoon, more than half of the city's police force was still in the suburbs, and this half was the elite who usually handled major cases. The police officers in Gotham's urban area right now were barely able to maintain basic law and order in various places. Expecting them to save the mayor... was nothing short of a pipe dream.

Therefore, the only person the mayor and others could count on now... was Batman.

"Prepare to activate the 'Three-Pointer' program." Wayne, who had entered the rear compartment of the submarine, used very skilled movements to firmly secure himself in a reclining seat and gave a voice command to the computer.

[Sir, according to the results of the last test, the safety of this program...] The computer did not immediately execute his command, but instead tried to inform him of the risks involved.

Wayne didn't let the computer finish speaking and interrupted directly, "Activate the program, target the 'Twin Towers' in the city center, quickly!"

[Yes, sir.]

["Three-Pointer" program activated, target point calibrating—]

Accompanied by the computer's emotionless voice, a layer of translucent light film was projected from under the metal cabin panel, wrapping around the seat Wayne was lying on, turning it into an oval-shaped capsule device.

[Calculating the probability of obstacles appearing, adjusting the optimal parabola—]

[Entering the projection process in five seconds, five, four, three, two, one...]

When the countdown ended, this ultra-long-range "three-pointer" shot out from a duct above the submarine, broke through the water of the Gotham River, and flew diagonally into the sky...

…………

At the same time, in the ballroom on the top floor of the Twin Towers.

"Gentlemen, I know you're all confused right now, let me help you clear your minds." Feng Bujue said as he continued to approach, "If any of you open fire on me, there's a very high probability that all five of us will perish together, and if I open fire on you..."

Bang—

As he said this, he actually fired a shot.

However, his shot was not aimed at anyone. He simply shattered the building's glass behind the mayor and the others.

Before the shock brought by the gunshot could fade, a gust of "high-rise wind" blew in from the large hole in the glass. The four people closest to the gap almost instinctively knelt on the ground, lowering their center of gravity... afraid that they would be carried out of the building by the strong wind.

"Hehe... it might not lead to worse results, might it?" Looking at the reactions of the people in front of him, Feng Bujue opened his arms, faced the cold wind, and laughed wantonly.

"You're a madman!" Dent shouted, pressing his hand against his hair that was being blown around by the wind, "What exactly do you want?"

"I just want... to ask you, and the mayor... a question..." At this moment, Feng Bujue no longer approached, because he knew that if he continued to approach, the two bodyguards would have a certain chance of directly shooting him in the head without triggering the bomb, "As long as you answer me truthfully... I'll leave on my own, without you having to ask."

After speaking, Jue Ge flicked his arm, slung the gun over his shoulder, and then staggered towards a nearby dining table like a drunkard, picked up a glass of champagne on the table, and downed it in one gulp.

His actions seemed crazy, but in fact, every step had a deep meaning – the gun barrel slung over his shoulder, the unpredictable movements, the exaggerated style of drinking champagne... all of these were measures to prevent others from aiming at his head. Coupled with the interference of the strong wind... even though the other guests in the ballroom had already left, the two bodyguards still couldn't fire at this madman covered in explosives.

"What do you want to know?" Two seconds later, Mayor Cobblepot also spoke, of course, he was also shouting at the top of his lungs.

"It's very simple..." Feng Bujue turned his eyes to the two of them and replied, "Please, both of you... clearly... state your full names."

This request was a bit inexplicable, but in the eyes of the four people by the window – the request of a madman, whether it was logical or not, didn't matter. Since he was in control of the situation now, such a request... fulfilling it was the thing to do.

"I am Oswald Chesterfield Cobblepot." Mayor Cobblepot waited for a second and then stated his name.

"I am Harvey 'Apollo' Dent..." Dent followed closely behind.

[Mission progress has been updated]

After they stated their names, the system voice sounded in Feng Bujue's ears.

At this point, his hidden mission progress had reached 9/10. The nine "super villains" whose whereabouts he already knew were:

Harley Quinn – currently a psychiatrist, married to Bruce Wayne.

Killer Croc – imprisoned in a secret room in the sewers, and already dead.

Mr. Freeze – currently an ordinary researcher.

Poison Ivy – currently an ordinary college student.

Scarecrow – currently a psychology professor at Gotham University.

Riddler – currently a bartender suffering from a brain disease.

Zasz – now a permanently disabled parolee.

Penguin – current mayor of Gotham.

Two-Face – currently a district attorney in Gotham.

He only needed to find the whereabouts of one more villain to complete the hidden mission. At that time, he would probably also uncover some kind of hidden... truth behind the facade of this "world without villains."

Clangclangclang...

Just as Jue Ge received the response he wanted, the building's glass at the other end of the ballroom also shattered.

But this piece of glass was not shattered by someone using a gun, but by an oval-shaped capsule body crashing in from the outside.

Tsk—

Before the capsule that had crashed through the window had completely stopped sliding, the sound of gas being ejected announced that it had been opened.

Immediately afterwards, in a cloud of white smoke, a black figure wearing a cape slowly emerged...

"You know what annoys me the most?" That voice like someone with terminal throat cancer arrived as expected, "It's that you can clearly be three steps ahead of me, but you always wait until I'm only one step behind before you move..."

"Ha!" Feng Bujue looked at the person who had arrived, smiled, threw away the gun in his hand, and quickly took off the fake explosive vest on the inside of his clothes and threw it on the ground, "Do you think you're only three steps behind me?"

Wayne ignored his provocation and continued, "I can feel... you enjoy this process. 'Losing' or 'winning'... doesn't matter to you."

"But... it matters to you." Feng Bujue interjected.

"Sigh..." Wayne sighed. He turned his gaze to the mayor's two bodyguards and raised his voice slightly to ask, "Why aren't you shooting?"

The two of them were stunned by his question.

Wayne's question was indeed to the point – it was said that Feng Bujue had now thrown away the "explosives" and was facing away from them. They could completely shoot him in the back. At this distance, if not a hundred shots a hundred hits, then the hit rate for the torso should at least be eighty percent.

"He has already disarmed, we should arrest him according to procedure!" A few seconds later, Dent was the first to react and gave such a serious answer.

"Hmph..." Wayne snorted coldly and then said to Jue Ge, "I think... you should understand? Why... I want to win, why... I must win."

"I understand." Feng Bujue said, "But I don't agree."

"Oh?" Wayne asked suspiciously, "Are you saying that what I'm doing is wrong?"

"Of course it's wrong." Jue Ge replied.

"Absurd." Wayne evaluated in a cold tone. He was clearly not shaken in the slightest by Jue Ge's denial.

"I don't expect you to understand right away." Feng Bujue said, "But I'll leave these words here – if a person's principles transcend everything, then it is an extreme form of selfishness."

"Oh?" Wayne heard something in the other party's words, "It sounds like you think you can still leave here?"

"I've achieved my purpose, why would I stay here?" Feng Bujue spread his hands and replied in a matter-of-fact tone.

"Purpose?" Wayne's gaze moved once again, looking at Cobblepot and Dent, "What did he do?"

"He..." Cobblepot hesitated for a second and replied, "Just asked our names."

"Names, huh..." Wayne said as he began to take steps. At this moment, his entire body was ready. Under his cape were more than a dozen pieces of equipment that could help him subdue the man in front of him. Even if those equipment factors were set aside, he himself was one of the most outstanding martial arts masters in the world. In a one-on-one fight, at least in terms of skill, he would never be at a disadvantage, "Speaking of which... I seem to have forgotten one very important thing..." He walked straight towards Jue Ge, "'Jack' isn't your real name, is it?" He paused, "...what is your name?"

Feng Bujue did not respond to the other party, because when Wayne started to walk, Jue Ge had already turned around... and started running.

His goal was obvious, it was the gap that he had just opened with a gun.

In terms of speed, Bruce Wayne could be compared to a world champion sprinter, but Feng Bujue's pace was at a level that broke the limits of ordinary people, so... he was bound to be faster.

In an instant, Jue Ge ran past the mayor and the others, his speed so fast that the two bodyguards had no time to react.

At the same instant, two batarangs also flew out of Wayne's hands, drawing two arcs, bypassing Cobblepot and the others, and heading straight for Feng Bujue's back.

"I'll be waiting for you 'there,' Batman!"

As the saying goes, no sooner said than done. Just as Jue Ge shouted these words, he turned around in a backflip, leaped out of the building, and after turning back... used only one hand to steadily catch the two batarangs that were attacking him.

And his other hand took out something from his pocket – a flashlight.

In the split second before gravity pulled him down, Feng Bujue turned on the flashlight and threw it into the building through the hole he had jumped out of.

Then, he fell down.

"Ha... hahaha... hahahaha..."

His body was falling, but his mad laughter was rising.

The figure quickly disappeared into the night, but the laughter echoed between the buildings, lingering for a long time...