下載應用程式
75.26% Days as a Spiritual Mentor in American Comics / Chapter 3228: Chapter 2372: Gotham Music Festival (74)_1

章節 3228: Chapter 2372: Gotham Music Festival (74)_1

Bruce suddenly tackled Gordon, and Gordon narrowly avoided being struck by a piece of flying wood debris.

The tremendous noise of the complete collapse and the debris that filled the sky, along with the dust, made everyone step back a great deal, some even sat down on the ground with a thump.

Gordon stared dumbfounded at the completely collapsed old building, and finally managed to choke out, "Seems like our luck isn't very good."

Bruce, however, frowned. He said, "I'm afraid it's not that simple. From my observations just now, although this house is old, it was far from falling apart on its own. Otherwise, the victim wouldn't have chosen to run here."

"Who was the victim?" Gordon turned to ask.

"A fisherman, Chief. David once had a fishing boat, but later he became addicted to gambling, lost all his money, and even gave his boat to the creditors. Since then, he became homeless."

"So he's a local from Gotham."

"Yes, when we came to investigate, many people talked about his mother's story. She sounds like a poor woman, but this also indicates that at least from his parent's generation, he's been a Gothamite."

"Then it further proves that if there was an imminent danger of the building collapsing, a local homeless man would definitely not have chosen this place."

"You're suggesting it was a trap," Gordon caught on to Batman's implication and said, "Someone lured us here and then collapsed the house to bury us."

"I can't rule out that possibility." Even if Bruce already had suspects in mind, he chose not to voice them.

He knew that during the music festival, maintaining order in the Gotham Scenic Area was difficult enough. To ask them to investigate a cross-border drug trafficking organization of such a large scale would be asking too much; if he told Gordon, Gordon's pressure would be tremendous.

This task was better suited for him. Although he had been too busy to be Batman for a long time, it didn't mean that he couldn't assume the role. Batman was clearly the best identity for handling this situation.

Looking at Bruce's expression, Shiller couldn't help but think to Gray Mist, "Without even watching or thinking, I'm sure he's going to be out night prowling tonight, one hundred percent."

"Because you made the building collapse."

"You did it."

"You told me to do it." Gray Mist huffed and then added, "But I really didn't want to go in; it was kind of scary in there."

"Did you see the body?"

"Of course." Gray Mist replied, "And it wasn't just one."

Shiller understood. Although he had guessed who the murderer was by now, his greatest strength was to never forget his original purpose. If he said he came to create chaos, then chaos would surely ensue.

So he cleared his throat and said, "I think you're overlooking a key piece of information."

Bruce and Gordon both turned their heads to him, and Shiller continued, "From the first crime scene to the second, it's almost halfway across the city. Even without traffic, it would take more than two hours to drive."

"And the medical examiner determined that the two bodies died at almost the same time, without any signs of having been moved or transported. At two such distant locations, both being the primary crime scenes, how did the killer instantly traverse such a distance?"

Bruce had actually been pondering this question. He said, "It's possible the killer is not acting alone. They may have coordinated the crime, simply adopting the same method."

Bruce analyzed, "Decapitation is not a particularly creative execution method, nor is it difficult to carry out. The scenes themselves don't hold any special meaning; their intimidation factor outweighs their artistry, very much in line with the modus operandi of certain organized crime groups."

"Upside down," Shiller said indifferently.

Bruce furrowed his brow and replied, "Perhaps it's meant to more directly display their intimidation power. The vertical positioning of the bodies would let people clearly realize these were headless corpses, and the scattered blood provided more visual and olfactory impact."

As he spoke, Bruce realized something was amiss. If it was indeed done by the Penitent Cartel, they would have had better ways of showing their power, such as broadcasting executions on TV, which many terrorists like to do, or conducting public executions to instill fear.

Just leaving a couple of bodies in some obscure place only meant the police would see the scene. But since the police are obligated to do their job regardless of fear, staging such a scene to intimidate them was meaningless.

Also, the idea of inverting bodies to show their headlessness and using blood to enhance the visual impact of the scene was nearly exclusive to artistically driven serial killers. A group of drug traffickers would neither have the knowledge nor the leisure to do such things.

To put it bluntly, a transnational drug trafficking group like this earns millions in the blink of an eye, so who would bother with beating around the bush? For the sake of exporting drugs, they dare to kill even Oliver, if you're in their way, the most efficient method is to find someone to shoot you on the street; there's no need to do anything else.

Could it be a deliberate misdirection, a copycat crime? Then who would want to imitate the Penitent Cartel to create a series of murders?

Batman's instinct to question everything played its greatest role at this moment, and even if he didn't want to admit it, he had to acknowledge that the most likely perpetrator would be the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Penitent Cartel have an unclear connection. They might be some sort of secretive partners; to put it bluntly, the Penitent Cartel does the dirty work for the Federal Bureau of Investigation, which in turn turns a blind eye to the cartel's drug trafficking business to make money.

This kind of pattern isn't uncommon in America's law enforcement agencies, and naturally, Bruce is very clear about the ins and outs of it.

There's a limit to nurturing a threat. One keeps a dog to reduce the burden of safeguarding oneself, not to endanger one's safety, so once certain nefarious vines grow too vigorously, they need pruning, or even destruction.

Based on his own experiences, Bruce judged that the scale of the Penitent Cartel might have already crossed the line, especially since they got involved with Mexico's affairs, which is quite sensitive and dangerous.

If the Federal Bureau of Investigation thinks they can no longer control this dog, then it must be slaughtered, because the Bureau has already paid a heavy price for letting this pattern get out of control, and now they have become more cautious.

Solving the Penitent Cartel isn't so simple, however. The nature of a transnational drug organization means that solving only the parts within America is easy; the problem can re-emerge like wildfire in the spring breeze, and then things will become more troublesome.

And judging from the current situation in Mexico, the Federal Bureau of Investigation right now probably also doesn't have the capacity to deal with another venomous snake entrenched in Guazhou, thereby making using a borrowed knife the best method.

Guiding the Penitent Cartel to Gotham was indeed Bruce's plan, but he also wasn't confident enough to believe that no one else would turn the tables. If the Federal Bureau of Investigation planned to use Batman as their tool, then a few suspicious cases would be the perfect bait.

Gordon and the other police officers of Gotham City were incapable of investigating such enigmatic cases; in the end, they would have to rely on Batman. After discovering clues related to drug cultivation, Batman, who had some understanding of the Penitent Cartel, would probably aim his accusations at this organization.

If Batman clashed with the Penitent Cartel, the Federal Bureau of Investigation would have solved two big problems in one fell swoop. Bruce couldn't believe that as the conditions in Gotham gradually improved, the Federal Bureau of Investigation wouldn't reignite their interest in meddling with Gotham.

Bruce was now eighty percent sure that the Federal Bureau of Investigation was indeed involved. The current question was where Amanda and her special case task force stood in all this, whether they were aware, or if they were actually part of this whole setup.

This wasn't out of the question. Although he always teased about the capabilities of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, it was also because of their infamously almost non-existent bottom line that they had a history of notorious deeds.

"I guess he's suspected everyone he could in this lifetime," Shiller thought to himself, "and now he must have just turned to the old accounts of the Federal Bureau of Investigation."

"You're so bad," said Gray Mist.

Bruce didn't want to waste any more time and immediately said to Gordon, "Something's fishy. I'm afraid we won't be able to solve this entirely tonight. Let's go back; we'll talk more in the morning."

Having said this, he got into the car without looking back. Gordon could clearly sense his annoyance, so he didn't ask further, just left some police officers to clean up the scene and also got into the car.

It was almost dawn by now, and as Shiller sat in the backseat resting with his eyes closed, he couldn't help but show a hint of tiredness. Still, Bruce was there asking, "Professor, what do you think of Amanda as a person?"

"Amanda Waller, former head of the Federal Bureau of Investigation's special case group..."

Bruce frowned. He thought Shiller was going to tell him about Amanda's psychological weaknesses, but instead, Shiller told him an obvious fact and said that within this fact, there was information he didn't know.

Bruce had heard of the special case task force, which can be described as the Federal Bureau of Investigation's agile unit. It usually takes on cases that no one else can handle or that are of a special nature.

You can tell from this job description that it's not a significant group because, compared to other issues the Federal Bureau of Investigation has to deal with, serial killer cases are not that important, given even the most vicious serial killer is unlikely to kill more than 20 people in a lifetime. For the Federal Bureau of Investigation, this is an insignificant loss.

As for superpower crime, the Federal Bureau of Investigation doesn't care about that either, because they don't have jurisdiction over anyone with superpowers. In essence, we're all ordinary people, so why should we be the ones to catch superpowered criminals?

Wait, if the number of serial killings within the Federation suddenly spikes to the point that it gains public attention and causes an uproar, then the Federal Bureau of Investigation would have to intervene, even if they didn't want to, and if there aren't many within their ranks experienced in such cases, then Amanda would inevitably come back into their sights.

Bruce didn't think Amanda could be that clever, manipulating both him and the Federal Bureau of Investigation to cast a wide net just to get a step ahead; if she had that sort of ability, she wouldn't have to go in such large circles.

Countless clues swirled in Bruce's brain—a part about the Penitent Cartel, a part about the serial killer, and a part about the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

The Penitent Cartel in conflict with Batman, serial killers continuing to commit crimes until they draw attention, the Federal Bureau of Investigation pressured to bring Amanda back and reboot the special case task force—who could benefit from all three of these events simultaneously?

A name slowly emerged in Bruce's mind—Green Arrow Oliver Quinn.


next chapter

章節 3229: Chapter 2373: Gotham Music Festival (75)_1

Without a doubt, up until now, the two biggest adversaries Oliver has faced are the Penitent Cartel and the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and if both of them were embroiled in trouble, the pressure on Mexico would be greatly reduced.

Oliver and Amanda had collaborated on the ship before, and they may have reached some kind of agreement: Amanda helped Oliver implement the plan, while Oliver helped Amanda climb the ranks. It was a win-win situation.

No matter how Bruce analyzed it, he always arrived at the same conclusion. However, he didn't believe Oliver would resort to such methods; if Oliver had, he wouldn't have been expelled from Mexico.

Conversely, when countless strands of evidence ultimately converged on one point, with no trace to be found at any juncture, it was always him benefiting from the most inconspicuous position. It was hard for Bruce not to think of that name—Schiller Rodriguez.

As for the benefits this situation brought to Schiller, there were none concrete. Schiller had hardly any dealings with the Penitent Cartel and his grudges with the Federal Bureau of Investigation were from a previous life, so whether either of them got into trouble was irrelevant to him.

But he did gain many intangible benefits. For instance, Schiller had always wanted to help Oliver because, aside from their friendship, they shared revolutionary camaraderie from standing on the same side.

Additionally, Schiller wished for stability in Mexico not just because of his stance; if Mexico, during what should be a stable period for development, continued to be plagued by constant internal strife, then even if things improved later on, they would always be a step behind, which was not what Schiller wanted.

As for Amanda, Bruce knew that Amanda was once Schiller's student, but he had never heard of any bitterness between the two. Given their mentor-student relationship, embedding a wedge within the Federal Bureau of Investigation could be beneficial in the future.

More importantly, the least likely suspect in this series of maneuvers was Schiller because nearly everyone involved and everything that happened had absolutely no connection of interest or past conflicts with him—it was improbable for anyone to suspect him.

Especially since these murder cases were so clumsily executed, entirely lacking in artistry, which virtually eliminated Schiller as a suspect, because everyone knew that if Schiller were a serial killer, he would be the best at it.

By suspecting Schiller, Bruce had to question much more, specifically whether their previous collaboration on the Dakotazo, or rather the scheme they completed together, also concealed benefits for Schiller that Bruce was unaware of.

Reviewing all the clues in his mind again, Bruce keenly grasped the key point.

Schiller had a group of serial killers, which was now an open secret.

The reason this terrifying secret did not trigger the disgust of righteous heroes was because anyone aware of it could understand that it was actually a means of limiting serial killers.

The group celebrated artistry over quantity, with many serial killers taking pride in orchestrating a grand murder that took years to plan, significantly reducing the frequency of killings.

Even Superman had to admit that though he could find all the serial killers in the world, they were well-disguised with normal or even high societal status. If he came forward and killed them all, people wouldn't see it as justice served; they would view him as a deranged supercriminal.

So using this method, which was partly righteous and partly evil, to restrict serial killers, had become the best solution available—if crime could never be completely eradicated, then even reducing its frequency was saving more people.

However, not long ago, Bruce noticed a problem: the scholarly works published within the group started showing a trend towards homogeneity.

But this was hard to avoid. Even counting from when Schiller came to this world, almost 10 years had passed. The human body is marvelous, but not marvelously so; there are only so many ways to manipulate a corpse, inevitably leading to cases of repetition.

There were also individuals like Flamingo, who, merely because of early entry and seniority, plagiarized without restraint—besides academic dishonesty, they were talkative pests.

From Bruce's observations, besides a decline in academic standards, Schiller likely had little tolerance for those among them who were untalented yet talkative.

Therefore, the idea of trading sinners' souls with a demon might just be Schiller's way to forever silence these academic dregs, because if there was one place in the world with the highest concentration of sin, it was this serial killer club.

Soul Hunters would inevitably pursue these serial killers relentlessly. There's a saying: never let your hobby challenge someone else's profession. Serial killing might be just a pastime, but Soul Hunters rely on it for their livelihood.

The remaining magicians in the Magic Realm are far from meek; while not everyone is as adept as Constantine, they are still considerable in their own right, pulling off tricks with finesse and flair. They have plenty of ways to deal with ordinary people.

The serial killers' proud disguises, meticulously cleared traces, and staged crime scenes would probably fail to fool the mages' Spirit Vision. At worst, they could simply pay more to summon back the souls from Hell to inquire; they would naturally learn the whole truth.

In this way, serial killers who once stood at the apex of ordinary human society would become prey for Soul Hunters, creating an additional layer in the food chain atop ordinary human society.

This method would not only clear out the incapable and addictive members mucking about the serial killer club but also make serial killers more cautious in their actions.

Serial killers who followed brutal laws of the jungle within an orderly society would eventually be devoured by even fiercer beasts from the same jungle, a fitting retribution for every advocate of jungle-ism.

Bruce couldn't help but turn his head to look; Schiller, with his eyes closed, seemed to have silently completed another of his plans, taking care of everything that needed to be done, calmly accepting both the good and the bad outcomes resulting from his good and bad methods.

At that moment, Bruce felt a detachment from him, as if Schiller's soul had suddenly become distant, turning into something cold and unreachable, a rule that naturally existed.

Schiller opened his eyes and glanced out the window. The car ride was exceptionally long this time. He had skipped so much time, so why hadn't he arrived home yet?

At this moment, the building of Wayne Manor slowly came into view, the car stopped, and Gordon turned off the engine and said, "This place is just too far from both of our homes. Let's stay here tonight, since we have to continue the case study tomorrow morning, anyway."

Schiller, with his head spinning from the sleep deprivation, was not very coherent, so without saying much, he nodded, following Alfred up to the guest room.

Changed into his pajamas and sitting on the bed, the moment Schiller's head touched the pillow, his Battleworld communicator rang again—Beihan was urging him to reply.

Fortunately, he was getting paid for this, so Schiller mustered what energy he could, trying to read through everything Beihan sent him and started to offer revisions.

Unbeknownst to him, the first light of day was already seeping through the curtains. It was morning already.

Finally having finished the proposal, Schiller's eyes were completely unable to stay open. He turned off the interface, just about to sink into sleep, when another communication request came through.

"Hello, PhD, this is Batman. We've run into some trouble in another universe, mainly concerning the Joker. I believe you have extensive experience with this, and I wonder if you could…"

As Schiller looked at the lengthy situation briefing and the verbose argument that followed, he repeated to himself countless times that he was wealthy, imagining countless zeros added to the envisioned bill, which finally barely roused him enough to reply.

After writing more than 2,000 words, Schiller really couldn't write any further. He was never cut out for writing papers. After thinking about it, he simply prescribed Batman something. They all needed to take medicine and get some sleep as soon as possible.

After completely shutting down the interface and silencing all communication devices, Schiller was ready to sleep until the end of time.

Just as he pulled up the blanket and closed his eyes, there came a knock-knock-knock at the door. Gordon pushed the door open and said, "Didn't we agree to discuss the case this morning? Why are you still sleeping? Get up quickly, breakfast is ready."

Schiller pretended not to hear, but in truth, he was already dreaming when suddenly Jason burst in, slapping the bed and shouting, "Professor, Professor, get up! Bad news; Spider-Man got beaten up by Deathstroke!"

Hearing about Spider-Man, Schiller zipped upright, then looked at Jason somewhat bewilderedly and asked, "What? Spider-Man got beaten up by whom? The Hulk?"

"Uh, who's The Hulk? Spider-Man fell into Deathstroke's trap and got beaten up by him. Alfred is treating his wounds right now."

"Which Spider-Man?"

"The Spider-Man."

Schiller threw back the covers to get out of bed, paused as if something had suddenly occurred to him, and waved everyone out, saying, "Get out, I need to change clothes."

No one objected and they all scrambled out. Schiller then changed into the troublesome suit. Startled awake by Jason, his sleepiness vanished, replaced by that terrible, persistent exhaustion that comes with pulling an all-nighter, as if his brain was filled with glue.

Schiller walked downstairs slowly, seeing Peter with a black eye and a big bump on his head, chuckling at something Alfred was applying to his wounds.

Schiller sat down and surveyed Spider-Man with an arrogantly scrutinizing gaze, asking, "How did you get beaten up by Deathstroke?"

"This despicable guy set up a trap!"

"What kind of trap?"

"He kidnapped Wade!"

Schiller fought the urge to facepalm and said, "Didn't you know that Wade is his cousin?"

"Of course, but Wade hanging over the chemical pool was screaming so miserably, I couldn't help it!" Peter wailed tragically, "What's worse is that Deathstroke said if I didn't let him beat me up, he would throw Wade into the pool and turn him into the Joker, and then our universe would have a Batman! Oh God!!!"

Bruce silently upped Deathstroke's threat level in his mind again.


Load failed, please RETRY

禮物

禮品 -- 收到的禮物

    每周推薦票狀態

    批量訂閱

    目錄

    顯示選項

    背景

    EoMt的

    大小

    章評

    寫檢討 閱讀狀態: C3228
    無法發佈。請再試一次
    • 翻譯品質
    • 更新的穩定性
    • 故事發展
    • 人物形象設計
    • 世界背景

    總分 0.0

    評論發佈成功! 閱讀更多評論
    用推薦票投票
    Rank 200+ 推薦票榜
    Stone 38 推薦票
    舉報不當內容
    錯誤提示

    舉報暴力內容

    段落註釋

    登錄

    tip 段落評論

    段落註釋功能現已上線!將滑鼠移到任何段落上,然後按下圖示以添加您的評論。

    此外,您可以隨時在「設置」 中將其關閉/ 打開。

    明白了