Chapter 103: The Riddle on Fool's Day

PS: Some readers said chapters 99 and 100 were a bit messy, private mosaic. I made some modifications again; if you re-read those two chapters, it might be clearer.

"Carmine Falcone?"

The Godfather's lips curled slightly: "Me."

The burly woman holding the Riddler raised an eyebrow: "You?"

The subtle atmosphere lasted for a moment before the Godfather suddenly burst into loud laughter, seemingly pleased by this amusing assumption, and even a hint of a smile appeared on Sophia's iron-like face.

"Sophia," the Godfather said while laughing: "Take Mr. Nygma out through the side door."

"Yes, Dad."

Sophia punched the Riddler's hat back onto his head; that strange force hammered his brain until it buzzed, and in his dizziness, the Riddler heard the Godfather speak again.

"And, Sophia, come back immediately."

"Yes, Dad."

Hearing these words, a fleeting smile appeared on the Riddler's lips, only to be immediately drowned out by an expression of panic.

The side door creaked open, and the Riddler was clumsily driven out into the rain; walking through the rainy alley at night, he didn't even know where his walking stick had been thrown.

His disheveled, wretched appearance looked nothing like that of a high-IQ criminal, but rather like that of an ordinary pitiful wretch.

Even so, this pitiful wretch was still blocked in the alley.

A black umbrella, a black round hat on his head, a loose trench coat on his body, his face blurred and indistinct, rough men's gloves on his hands; that person raised his hand, and a. 22 pistol with a baby pacifier attached appeared before the Riddler.

The Riddler retreated in panic; he neither begged for mercy nor screamed, but simply leaned against the corner of the wall, his body tensed as if stunned by fear, daring not to move.

In his shrinking, trembling pupils, the muzzle flash was reflected; the baby pacifier was shattered by the bullet, the hot shell casing jumped out of the chamber and scattered all over the ground; the Riddler stared tightly at that gun, his face filled with terror and panic.

He watched the gunman empty one magazine after another, and finally threw the curved black umbrella in his hand, along with the pistol and the pacifier, onto the ground before striding away.

On the alley wall, the Riddler, pressed tight against the wall, was surrounded by bullet holes; every bullet had precisely grazed his body and struck the wall, and within the continuous Kong Dong was the Riddler with his body stiff.

He looked at the black umbrella on the ground that resembled a question mark and muttered to himself while trembling.

"When does a killer not kill?"

Just then, the system screen abruptly shut down.

Ma Ma Zhaodi, holding a bucket of popcorn, pondered blankly the last question asked by the Riddler; the most superficial answer to this question was, of course, the Date of the Day.

April Fool's Day.

On this day, people's actions are turned upside down; they call the true false and the white black; for the Riddler, this should be his favorite day.

What about thinking one layer deeper?

For a holiday killer, who usually carries out killings during holidays, today he must do the opposite—this has always been his theme; if he himself is truly a super-criminal like the Riddler or the Joker, then he will surely strictly adhere to his own killing rules, as this is his nature.

So, he did not kill anyone today.

Then, is that all?

"There is another layer." Ma Ma Zhaodi recalled the entire reasoning process, stuffed another handful of popcorn into his mouth, and realized something.

"The person doing the opposite today is not just the holiday killer."

"Paranoid criminals are similar in a certain sense, and today's super-criminals, besides the holiday killer, include—the Riddler."

"Who is the holiday killer?"

This was the first question posed by the Riddler, but since today is April Fool's Day, the question he truly voiced should be—

"Who is NOT the holiday killer?"

So the Riddler subsequently proposed five hypotheses.

"Catwoman"

Her motive was insufficient, which Ma Ma Zhaodi rejected, and the system confirmed his judgment.

"Maroni"

His interests ran counter to the outcome; similarly rejected by Ma Ma Zhaodi, the system once again confirmed his judgment.

"Kara Vitti"

Her motive could not cover all the cases, and Ma Ma Zhaodi also judged that the Roman could not have killed her son.

The system likewise denied the possibility that Kara was the holiday killer.

With these three precedents, the hypothesis proposed by both the Riddler and Alfred—that Gotham's Knight of Light, Harvey Dent, could he be the one who committed these crimes?

If the Riddler is smart enough, and if Ma Ma Zhaodi has not guessed his thoughts wrong, the five people he proposed are precisely those he judged could not be the holiday killer.

Then, what about the Godfather Falcone? What was the reason for rejecting the Roman?

"Too many," Ma Ma Zhaodi thought: "Too many reasons; how could he possibly kill his own biological son? What necessity did he have to kill the Irish gang that worked for him? What necessity did he have to risk angering Kara, who represents an external mafia family, to kill Johnny Vitti?"

"Even the subsequent murders of the Maroni family were not his style either; would a mafia godfather who dared to say face-to-face to Maroni 'I will deal with your family' be someone who only dares to use underhanded tricks?"

"Question: Why does the holiday killer always use the same weapon?"

"Answer: He bought them wholesale."

However, Batman is the one who checked everything from wholesale to retail; he found not a single clue, so the Riddler's question is "Why does the holiday killer not use other weapons?"

"Answer: He customizes weapons from secret channels that cannot be traced."

The seemingly ordinary. 22 pistol thus became a clue that could not be utilized.

"Question: Why did the killer shoot Alberto Falcone?"

"Answer: Because he could."

On the contrary, the holiday killer is a very particular person, meticulous in thought and decisive in method; he specifically chose the holiday, then specifically selected the gift, so the victim must also not have been chosen randomly.

If it were the casual attitude of "I can, so I commit the crime," then the holiday killer would have had no need to go to the trouble of boarding the Falcone's yacht—that yacht was not one ordinary people were qualified to board.

When there is a cup of water right at hand, who would specifically run over to the water cooler?

So, the Riddler's question is: "Why did the killer not choose others?"

And his answer is: "Because he had sufficient reasons to kill Alberto."

"The question that follows is whether all these killings stem from personal grudges?"

If this sentence is interpreted in reverse, it becomes:

"The question that follows is whether only some of these killings stem from personal grudges?"

Then, the final question.

"When would a killer choose not to kill?"

PS: Truly, not a single drop remains; my eyes hurt from typing. I'll take a break.

(End of this chapter)