Chương 2402: Chapter 1661: Going to Death Without Hesitation (24)_1

The second target Spiderman had his sights on was the recently active Riddler.

The Riddler's modus operandi remained the same, leaving riddles behind after committing murder, enticing Batman to solve them.

The reason why Spiderman targeted the Riddler was because he was currently involved in a serial killing case, with already two victims.

Spiderman saw the photos from the two crime scenes in Batman's archive room, and then went to the Gotham Police Department to retrieve the victims' physical characteristics, fingerprints, and genetic traits.

He personally visited the home of the first victim, a single young male, aged twenty-six, living in a middle-class apartment near the Gotham River, with no notable characteristics.

The man lived on the twenty-third floor of the apartment building. Spiderman climbed up the apartment wall and entered through the window, where he found the riddle left by the Riddler.

The riddle was inscribed on a wall stained with blood, in the center of which was written in blood red, "What makes life disappear and life regenerate?"

Spiderman inspected the area but found no useful clues. The victim's autopsy report stated that he was stabbed to death from behind, but there were no murder weapon or footprints left behind.

To Batman's surprise, Spiderman did not linger here at all. He didn't even seem to be looking for clues and hastily left, without giving the riddle a second look.

Next, he went to the home of the second victim, this time in a log cabin on the outskirts of Gotham, again a bachelor, with no particular distinguishing traits.

The riddle left on the wall this time was, "What makes the seed grow and then abandon the seed?"

Spiderman briefly inspected the place again, then found an open space near a graffiti wall in the old city area, picked up a piece of chalk on the ground, and drew a rough map of Gotham on the wall.

He marked the locations of the two victims on the map, then randomly pointed to other areas, and finally marked a central point on the transportation route.

Half an hour later, a huge light projection appeared at Central Gotham's roundabout, which read,

"Riddler, I have guessed your riddle! The password representing the answer is: the only strong solution to Navier-Stokes equation plus the positive second digit of the Zeta function in Riemann's Hypothesis plus the ordinal number of non-1 results in the Collatz Conjecture plus the first digit of the maximum cardinality ...,"

Upon seeing the reply as long as a small thesis, even Batman was taken aback. Most of the mathematical conjectures were yet to be accurately answered by the human race. Cracking even one of them would take mathematicians half or even all their lives.

Batman knew that the Riddler has a powerful mathematical ability, but that leaned more towards cryptography, not mathematical conjectures. He did not believe that the Riddler would dive into these conjectures because of this.

Batman's intuition was right. The Riddler did not dive into the sea of math; instead, he jumped out of the vast sea of Gotham criminals, angrily yelling at Spiderman, "Damn it, kid! You are trying to fool me, you are insulting my riddles!!!"

By the time Gordon arrived, Spiderman had the Riddler pinned on the rooftop. Seeing the Riddler handcuffed and put into a police car, Spiderman said very seriously, "I did figure out your riddle, I didn't lie to you, the answer is 'man'."

The Riddler immediately burst into a shrill laughter. The two male victims he chose had both forced their girlfriends or wives to have abortions for them, signifying the end of life and the beginning, the growth and abandonment of seeds. In a way, the answer "man" was right.

But the riddle also concealed a deeper answer, which was Batman. The two riddles alluded to the relationship between Batman and Robin. Batman gave birth to Robin and led to Robin's death, let Robin grow, and then drove him out of Gotham.

Just as the Riddler was about to gloat and reveal this hidden answer, Spiderman shrugged and said, "I know you have another answer, but I've hidden this answer among those myriad conjectures. Until you figure it out, how can you deny that I didn't figure out your riddle?"

"But, but those are all unproven..."

"I come from another universe. How would you know these things haven't been proven there?"

Suddenly, the Riddler's mood was darker than the night of Gotham - someone would presumably be up all night, but certainly not Spiderman.

The third target chosen by Spiderman was the Joker. It was clear that he was deeply angered by the Joker's previous actions, but Batman did not hold out hope that Spiderman could handle the Joker.

The Joker was indeed the most comprehensive villain in Gotham City, or rather his capability was the direct opposite of Batman's.

Using the most recent example, Batman made a fireproof and waterproof suit for Spiderman, while the Joker could immediately find a metal material that could be made into needles, piercing through the suit into Spiderman's skin.

This seemed more like a rule. Batman could always counter the Joker, and the Joker could always counter Batman. It's a necessary law for the operation of the universe.

Because Batman was the embodiment of the pinnacle of intelligence in the universe, so the fact that the Joker could counter Batman meant that he could counter anyone. If Spiderman appeared before him for the first time, his spider-senses would give him an advantage. But now that the Joker was prepared for Spiderman's abilities, it would be harder to succeed than to reach the sky.

What happened next took Batman by surprise.

Spider-Man had found Joker's place, which in actual fact was not difficult at all, too many people in Gotham City knew where Joker lived. Batman, of course, knew this as well. But what was he supposed to do about it? Beat Joker up and throw him into the insane asylum again, only to watch him escape and listen to his taunts about "Batman disregarding the laws"?

But Spider-Man did not charge into Joker's home. Instead, he asked Batman for a credit card and then bought up all the discounted goods in all the cheap supermarkets within a ten-kilometer radius of Joker's home.

Joker, coming back from work after orchestrating an explosion, planning to do his grocery shopping, was dumbfounded when he saw the completely cleared-out discount fast food section and the exorbitantly expensive gourmet vegetable section next to it.

He ran out of the supermarket as if fleeing from a disaster, arriving at another one before they closed, only to find that the French bread, hamburger buns, and soon-to-expire luncheon meat that should have been on sale were all gone.

And there was this kid called Spider-Man, greeting him with a shopping cart full of soon-to-be-expired foods.

"Hey, Mister Joker, so you're here. Have you gotten off work from the circus? What a coincidence, you're here to buy discount fast food too?"

"I'm afraid all I can tell you is that you're late. During the day today, I helped the supermarket's stock boy move some stuff. He liked me a lot, we even exchanged contact information."

"He told me that as soon as there's a sale, he would let me know half an hour in advance. As soon as the discount price tags are put on, I can take them and pay."

Spider-Man snapped his fingers, and then pointed at Joker: "Here's a little trick for you: usually, you don't get supermarket points for buying discounted goods. But if you buy the combo products the salesperson is promoting, they can count the discounted goods you buy towards your points."

"Supermarket points can be exchanged for many good things. About two weeks of saving up can get you a large roll of toilet paper. If you save up a lot, you can even get a VIP card. Did you miss out on all that before? That would be a real pity!"

"Alright, I've bought everything I need. Have a good life, Mister Joker. Goodbye."

Whistling, Spider-Man pushed off his shopping cart full of discounted goods, leaving Joker alone to stand in disarray before the empty shelves.

Half an hour later, Joker returned home empty-handed. Just as he was about to catch his breath and rest on the couch a bit, he heard a sharp noise of "Zzzz" coming from the floor above.

Joker looked up at the ceiling. As soon as the noise stopped, and he was about to breathe a sigh of relief, he heard a "Thud, thud, thud" coming from the floor above.

Joker clenched his fists. His brain, which was already somewhat chaotic due to his madness, began to buzz with irritation. After hearing the noise from upstairs for the fifteenth time in an hour, Joker couldn't take it any longer.

He knocked on his neighbor's door with a fire ax, but the one who opened the door was not his skinny, dark-skinned neighbor Richard, but Spider-Man.

"Oh, Mister Joker, you live here? Well, isn't that a coincidence! I was just helping my new friend Richard fix his crooked door frame. He lives alone and has tuberculosis, so he doesn't really have the strength to straighten it up. But don't worry, I'll hammer in a few nails and ensure that it won't get crooked for a year."

Joker gritted his teeth, and before he could say anything, Spider-Man held up a finger and said, "Don't worry, I've already filed a report in the local community. All the construction work will be completed within the specified time and will not disturb the neighbors. I also called the police and reported all the tools I'll be using."

"I specifically made a trip to a suburban home improvement store. All the wood, paint, and glue I bought are in compliance with New Jersey's environmental regulations. I checked the store owner's tax situation to make sure he hasn't been evading taxes. I also checked Richard's lease and his landlord's background to ensure everything is legal and compliant."

"When I was at the supermarket earlier, I bought a few extra bags of candy and gave them to all the neighbors. They all agreed that I could do the construction work because they think that the loud noise Richard makes when he opens his door at night is due to the crooked door frame. If I fix it, there won't be any problems."

"Oh, while I was distributing candy to the neighbors, I heard that Aunt Mary on the floor below has a broken stove. I did a preliminary check, and it might be a problem with the gas line. The wiring in her house is too old; I plan to contact the gas and electric companies to re-lay the lines, and also adjust the height of her stove which is not ergonomically suitable."

"When I went to the rooftop to confirm the building structure, I found that this old apartment seems to have some leakage problems. I went to the nearest construction site and asked if they could give me their unused plastic sheets. They agreed, but in exchange, I have to work part-time as a brick carrier. After two days, I can re-lay a waterproof layer on the rooftop."

"In this case, from Monday to Thursday, I'll fix the door frame, wait for the gas and electricity companies to come on Friday, rest on Saturday and Sunday, then rebuild the stove from Monday to Wednesday; apply the waterproof layer on Thursday, Friday, and the following Monday. After that, I'll change the wheelchair tire for old Bond in unit two and clean up his place."

"By the way, Mister Joker, I noticed that your house number plate seems to be a bit crooked, probably because a nail fell out. I happen to have some extra nails here. While the glue is setting, I can go and replace it for you."

"I don't need... Stop right there!"

"As I thought, the nail was crooked. Have no fear, give me five minutes, and I can make your house number as good as new. Good Neighbor Spider-Man: You Can Trust... "

"Mister Joker, you left your door open. Goodness, why's your house so messy? You must be either too busy with work or having some trouble moving around. How about I get some cleaning supplies and help you tidy up?"

"Oh my, God, your bedroom door frame is also crooked, and your stove—is this meant for a three-year-old child? It's too low, bad for your back. Luckily you've got a shovel and an awl here, I can help you fix it... Holy moly, Mister Joker, what happened to your face?!"

"Stay back! … Batman!!!"

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