Chapter 107: Seamless

On this Mother's Day, everyone was busy as a bee.

Someone helped Jonathan escape from Arkham; Batman fell into the Scarecrow's jailbreak gas trap; Commissioner Gordon led a pursuit of Bruce late into the night; Harvey was busy gathering data on the connection between Thomas Wayne and the Falcone family back then; Ma Ma Zhaodi tried out his newly acquired Deep Sleep skill, smashed his head into the sofa, and slept like the dead.

So, what was the Falcone family doing?

Midnight, on the sea-crossing bridge of Gotham City.

A burly figure grabbed a man in a black suit and lifted him up with one hand as if he were a chicken.

"What's your name?" the burly woman asked.

The unlucky man being held up struggled painfully, then looked down at his dangling feet; he was high in the air, with cold water below. If his luck was good, there was a small chance he would survive the fall; but if his luck was bad, he might break his neck, limbs, or spine the instant he hit the water and drown; if his luck was average, he would hit the water headfirst and die unconscious.

"The Gunsmith! That man is called the Gunsmith!" He immediately spilled everything like beans from a bamboo tube: "He said he makes one every month—"

"A custom. 22 caliber pistol!"

Clearly, compared to the still-maturing Batman, the Falcone family knew the circulation of all firearms in the city far better.

"What's the address? Tell me the address, and I'll let you go."

"Tang Tang Renjie, the Zhuang Family Tea House. Please, let me go."

A cold sneer curled up at the corner of Sophia's mouth, and then she simply let go.

"Ahhh—"

Thud

A dull splash echoed; Sophia had no interest in staying to observe whether a small thug was dead or not. She led the other family members into the car and headed straight for Tang Tang Renjie.

In the dead of night, the Zhuang Family Tea House with its Chinese-character sign stood quietly by the street. The Falcone family's black convoy had all their headlights off. Sophia crouched low; her tall figure moved without making much noise. She raised her gun, crept all the way to the tea house's back door, picked the lock with a hairpin, then rushed in at high speed.

Inside the pitch-black shop, only a sliver of moonlight shone in through the open door, serving as the sole light source. Relying on the dim light, Sophia seemed to see something on the ground glinting; the color was somewhat dark, yet somewhat red.

No, there was a smell of blood.

Sophia immediately tightened her grip on the gun and reached for the light switch inside the shop.

With a click, white light instantly illuminated the entire tea house: workbenches filled with firearms and mechanical tools, walls covered in armaments, blood on the floor, a fallen fat man, and on the ground, a baby's pacifier, a. 22 caliber pistol, and a bright Mother's Day flower basket.

Sophia gritted her teeth in frustration. The Gunsmith, completely unprepared, had been shot dead by his own regular customer; none of the weapons in the room had been used. Otherwise, the two of them could have at least held out for a while.

She searched the shop thoroughly, but there was nothing else of value left inside. In the end, she could only leave Tang Tang Renjie in a foul mood with the other family members.

The next day, the Holiday Killer appeared in the Gotham Gazette again. Children carried a cypress sapling and silently planted it by the forest edge outside the cemetery.

It is worth mentioning that the man who fell into the water was very lucky; he survived. Unfortunately, that same night, Batman came to have a heart-to-heart with him. He confessed readily, after all, the first time is new, the second time is familiar.

Back in the Batcave, Batman pondered the intelligence gathered from Tang Tang Renjie. This person operated very secretly; even the informants living in Tang Tang Renjie could hardly say anything about this mysterious employer. But the fact that it was "seamless" was intelligence in itself.

"Two points worth noting: First, he did not kill a mother on Mother's Day. Second, he has been gradually cornered; otherwise, he would not have chosen to kill to silence the witness."

Looking at case after case, he pondered silently: "It has sufficient investigation and counter-investigation ability and experience. It likely works in a related field, or is a detective, or a gangster, or a killer."

"It has the ability to access the deepest layers of Gotham City's firearms distribution network. Therefore, It must be a local, and a local who knows Gotham very well."

"It is very smart, extremely smart. Criminals who can commit crimes continuously in Gotham and still remain uncaptured are rare. Perhaps It never displayed criminal tendencies before, or even never broke the law."

"Its marksmanship is excellent, terrifyingly so. In most cases, the required marksmanship cannot narrow down the suspect pool, but this case can. Either infiltration shooting or catching the target off guard; the shooting distances were all within a few meters. Such shooting difficulty is not very high; anyone with sufficient marksmanship fundamentals could do it. But massacring Maroni's hideout—that is absolutely something an ordinary person cannot do."

"It hates Gotham's gangs. The Falcone family, the Irish Gang hired by them, the younger son who did not interfere with Falcone business, the Maroni family, anyone who might expose its identity—it kills them all."

"It knows Alberto; otherwise, it could not have approached him so easily. But it does not know Johnny Viti; otherwise, there would be no need to risk exposure by infiltrating his home."

Then, his gaze turned to two particularly conspicuous victims.

"The Irish Gang. This small gang is almost equivalent to mercenaries, just a knife anyone can use. Why kill them?"

"Alberto Falcone. Why him? That night, Carla Viti was also on the ship's railing. If the goal was to strike at the Romans, wouldn't the target be better if it were the one managing part of the family business and also Falcone's sister?"

If not deduced from the angle of interest, then only revenge killing remains.

"The Irish Gang has done many things. The most recent one was blowing up Harvey's house."

"Alberto. I can't figure it out. He almost has no enemies and no interest connections. Killing him can only make the Romans sad; there is no other use."

"Is the killer the Romans' mistress?"

This conclusion that suddenly popped into his mind made Batman's mouth twitch. For the first time in his life, he suspected his own mind might not be quite clear.

But regardless, he added this matter to his to-do list. Rigorous work has always been his style.

"I must check the records and rosters of all shooting ranges, cross-reference local police officers, the prosecutor's office, underworld members, and personnel with high education or who have demonstrated high intelligence."

"If Harvey imitated the first case, acted only once to kill the Irish Gang, and the other cases were not done by him, then the logic would hold. But I really hope it isn't Harvey."

"Wait, the hospital has surveillance footage."

Thinking of this, he immediately got up and walked out of the Batcave.

(End of Chapter)