Chapter 1 Afternoon

Afternoon, the gloomy weather made people drowsy.

It was a day perfect for an afternoon nap, but a sudden case unexpectedly busied many people.

【Who Stirred Up This Hornet's Nest Called Arkham?】—This was the headline printed on the front page of the Gotham Evening Post that day.

But that's a story for later; for now, let's talk about the people who were busy—the Gotham City Police Department.

No one expected that the "Fire Axe Thug" from last night would, in less than twenty-four hours, "pull off a big one" at Arkham Asylum.

Such lawless behavior naturally alarmed the Commissioner of the Gotham City Police Department—James Gordon.

When the news of the asylum's inmates' "mass escape" reached Gordon's ears, he had just walked out of a police officer's home; and that officer… was one of the victims who was hacked to death by the Fire Axe Thug last night.

Gordon always took on the terrible, difficult task of "notifying the deceased's family" himself, because he felt that as the Commissioner, he was responsible for the life of every one of his men.

After being bombarded by the bereaved family's tears and grief, Gordon returned to his police car… his mood was inevitably quite low. It was at this moment that he heard the news of last night's suspect committing another crime through the police frequency.

The Commissioner's reaction was predictable…

He immediately issued an order to surround and capture the suspect through the car's intercom, adding a statement at the end of the order: "Take any measures necessary."

His officers understood what that meant, which was… they didn't necessarily have to bring him back alive.

Within ten minutes of this order being issued, more than half of the city's police force swarmed toward the suburbs where the asylum was located.

Clearly, not only the Commissioner but also many officers had elevated the capture of Jue Ge to a personal vendetta. After all, he was a "criminal who murdered police officers," so receiving this kind of "special treatment" was to be expected.

Moreover, Gotham hadn't seen such a serious crime in a long time—attacking the police station last night, orchestrating a prison break today… at this rate, would he be attacking City Hall tomorrow? How could anyone tolerate that?

Also… the criminals he released, though not as ruthless as he was, were all "lunatics," many with violent tendencies; these people… even if just one of them ran back into the city, who knew what kind of chaos they would cause.

Therefore, the police's all-out response was not an overreaction.

…………

Four o'clock in the afternoon, more than an hour after Feng Bujue released all the escapees from the asylum.

The police encirclement had now formed within a few kilometers of Arkham.

There weren't many roads in the suburbs to begin with, so blocking every one of them wasn't difficult, and the police did just that. But… at least until four o'clock, no outpost had reported spotting the "Fire Axe Thug," though many of the other escaped inmates had been captured.

Meanwhile, in the main building of Arkham, in the front hall…

"This is the final list of personnel?" Gordon asked, looking down at a handwritten, scrawled piece of paper, speaking to one of his officers.

"Yes, sir, it's been verified twice," the officer replied quickly. "Six administrative and clerical staff, twenty-nine on-duty guards, four resident doctors, one consultant, and… seven support staff including cooks and cleaners… a total of forty-seven people. Of these, apart from some guards who suffered minor injuries, everyone else is safe and sound."

"Okay," Gordon replied casually, running the information through his head and making a gesture.

The officer nodded when he saw the gesture and went off to attend to other matters.

Gordon turned his head and looked back at the person he had been talking to before the report—Doctor Quinzel.

"Sorry, where were we?" Gordon asked, gathering his thoughts.

"We were talking about him releasing the other inmates," Quinzel replied.

"Oh… right," Gordon responded. "You said… that Jack and his accomplices had clearly escaped to the courtyard and were preparing to drive away, but they turned back because of a guard's words?"

"Yes, I was standing at the window on the second floor at the time, witnessing the whole process through the glass," Quinzel said.

"Hmm…" Gordon frowned slightly, lost in thought.

"Strange, isn't it?" Quinzel noticed his thoughts and said, "That's what I thought too…" She paused for a moment. "Judging from his reaction at the time, he did it on the spur of the moment because he was worried about the police encirclement, but his subsequent actions… made it seem as if he had planned everything and implemented it in the most efficient way."

"Yes…" Gordon muttered thoughtfully, "If he simply wanted to cause trouble for the police, he could have just opened all the cell doors and entrance gates in the main control room… and then run away. As for what would happen next… he wouldn't have to care at all.

"But the actual situation was… he chose to tell you about his plan to release the inmates over the broadcast, and used this as leverage to direct you in the main control room, gathering all the staff in the underground shelter and helping you seal the entrance… before releasing the prisoners.

"Not only that, but he also sealed the door to the main control room before leaving, as if…"

"No need for 'as if'…" A hoarse voice, like that of someone in the late stages of throat cancer, suddenly interrupted Gordon, joining his conversation with Quinzel uninvited. "The conclusion is already obvious. He did this for two reasons: first, to protect the staff here; second, to protect something inside the main control room."

As soon as his words fell, Gordon and Quinzel looked at him in surprise.

Not only them, but everyone in the hall had just become aware of this person's presence, as if he had suddenly appeared out of thin air an instant before he spoke…

In Gotham, the person who could do this, and often did, was undoubtedly… Batman.

"No matter how many times, I still can't get used to your way of appearing," Gordon glanced at Batman, and then complained to the latter in a tone of greeting an old friend.

"So…" Quinzel's attitude towards Batman was not friendly, but she maintained basic politeness. "The world's greatest detective, I presume you already know why Jack did this?"

"Protecting you first was to ensure that the prisoners would leave the asylum immediately after being released from their cells," Batman began to answer the question almost without thinking. "Because he needs these prisoners to run out and help him disrupt the police's vision. If the prisoners stayed in the asylum and spent their time 'assaulting the staff,' his plan would be greatly diminished.

"As for his motive for sealing the main control room, I can deduce two possibilities at this stage…

"First, to prevent the prisoners from using the control equipment inside—if the prisoners entered the main control room, they could directly open the doors to the shelter where you are, which would make Jack's actions to protect you meaningless.

"Second, he wants to preserve the surveillance footage there—this conclusion needs to be combined with the previous one… if he simply wanted to prevent the prisoners from using the switches in the main control room to open the door, he could have just smashed the equipment here. But he didn't do that, and the reason is… he must have another purpose, and this purpose requires the equipment in the main control room to be running normally and not be damaged.

"If you consider it this way… he must want to protect the hard drives that store the video files."

Batman methodically finished speaking, leaving Gordon, a professional police officer, and Quinzel, a psychology expert, stunned.

After a while, Gordon came back to his senses and said, "Uh… then why would he want to keep those surveillance videos? According to normal logic, he shouldn't save those videos at all, but rather destroy the things that record his appearance and actions, right?"

What he said made sense, but it didn't overturn Batman's reasoning, it just pointed out a point of doubt.

"Once we've seen those videos…" Batman also pondered for two seconds before continuing, "We'll naturally know what trick he's playing."