Chapter 159: Was It Intentional, or Just Careless?

"What are you mumbling about? I don't understand."

Clearly, the moment he heard those words, the Riddler's perfect escape plan in his mind had already failed—not entirely, but it was no longer perfect.

If one were to make an analogy, it would be like a table tennis player who, throughout the tournament, dominated every match in both the knockout and round-robin stages by huge and small margins, not losing a single point, only to have the ball blown off course by a gust of wind just as he was about to claim the championship, causing him to lose one point.

Could he still win? Of course; that single point wouldn't affect his championship at all.

But did losing that one point hurt? It certainly did. Originally, he could have won the championship without losing a single ball; that would have been a symbol of honor and ability perfect to the extreme. But now, that perfection had been ruined.

Not all smart people pursue perfection, but the mad criminals of Gotham City are certainly all obsessive-compulsive. Seeing his proud perfect escape plan fall apart because of Ma Ma Zhaodi, the Riddler instantly felt as uncomfortable as finding half a worm in his lunch.

But by then the alarm had already sounded, and the Riddler had little time left. He only wanted to get out now and had no time to deal with Ma Ma Zhaodi.

"Drag that idiot to the side!" he roared through gritted teeth: "I'll settle the score with him when I have time—someone open the door!"

Ma Ma Zhaodi saw the seven officers around him turn their heads, their eyes filled with pleading and determination; for the sake of their families, they would now obey the Riddler's orders to some extent.

"Get out of the way, rookie!"

Ma Ma Luoni's hand suddenly reached out, yanking Ma Ma Zhaodi aside. He walked to the iron gate, feeling for the keychain he had taken earlier, preparing to open the iron gate leading outside for the Riddler.

Ma Ma Zhaodi didn't resist, actually stepping aside to let it happen.

"Hmm?"

After fumbling for half a minute, the Riddler saw Ma Ma Luoni still searching through his pockets, and an ominous feeling instantly surged in his heart.

"Time is almost up." His expression returned to calm, and he said lightly: "If you can't find it—"

"Ma Ma Luoni, look!"

Ma Ma Zhaodi's voice interrupted the Riddler's words again. This was the second time the Riddler had been interrupted by someone; his face immediately turned extremely gloomy, his eyes burning with anger as he looked at Ma Ma Zhaodi.

Ma Ma Luoni also looked at Ma Ma Zhaodi. Seeing him point outside the door, his gaze naturally turned that way, and he then discovered a set of shining keys lying quietly on the ground several meters away from the iron gate.

He instantly went dumbfounded, suddenly recalling the scene of him and Ma Ma Zhaodi struggling just now; it seemed that at that moment, something had indeed fallen from his body, but he had been pushed forward frantically by Ma Ma Zhaodi, so naturally he hadn't had a chance to look back.

He trembled, raising a finger to point at Ma Ma Zhaodi: "Damn it, you bastard, why did you pull my clothes just now—"

"What kind of joke—"

At that moment, a furious roar interrupted Ma Ma Luoni's voice; those words were shouted by the Riddler behind the two of them.

Everyone turned to look; his face, which had been dark just moments ago, was now flushed red by surging blood. If his blood pressure were measured now, it would probably be about to explode off the charts.

"What kind of joke, what kind of joke!"

He angrily rushed to the door and kicked the heavy iron gate repeatedly, producing a loud clanging sound: "I prepared this plan for so long! And it failed because of two idiots! Because of two idiots!"

Ma Ma Zhaodi spread his hands innocently: "It was unintentional."

At that moment, he released the gun in his hand.

"Unintentional my—"

The enraged Riddler turned around without warning, stepped forward, twisted his waist, and smashed a fierce punch at Ma Ma Zhaodi beside him. This punch was both fast and ruthless, carrying a sharp whistling sound of wind; even someone who had never practiced martial arts could see that the Riddler's fighting skills were quite good.

However, Ma Ma Zhaodi's attention had always been fixed on him. Almost the instant he reacted, he instinctively crouched down, covering his head to defend.

"Crack!"

The hand bone and the police helmet instantly tested which was harder. The sound of their collision was somewhat crisp, followed immediately by the Riddler's sharp intake of breath.

He must be in quite a bit of pain, Ma Ma Zhaodi thought, readjusting his own helmet, and picked up the gun again.

"Give me the gun! I told you to take his gun and give it to me! I want—"

The Riddler's roar suddenly cut off, because he saw the cold eyes of the seven people around him—their mindset had changed.

Letting him escape was one thing, but handing him a police gun was a completely different matter—putting aside everything else, who could guarantee he wouldn't use that gun to shoot his companions and himself?

Moreover, the powerful sense of oppression the Riddler had painstakingly created just now had been completely destroyed. At this very moment, others' fear of him began to fade.

Ma Ma Zhaodi also raised his gun again at this moment, aiming it at the Riddler—there was no doubt that he would really shoot.

The Riddler quickly finished calculating in his mind—still the same logic: if he died at the hands of Batman, a super-criminal could at least brag a bit; but if he died at the hands of an idiot, he would rather swallow the gun and commit suicide—at least that way of dying wouldn't make him the biggest idiot among idiots.

The Riddler glanced at the keys several meters away from the iron gate; it was only a short distance of a few meters, yet at this moment it seemed like an impassable natural barrier, visible but unreachable.

He straightened his hat, silently walked back into the interrogation room, and closed the door behind him.

By the time Commissioner Gordon returned to the police station, the Riddler had already been locked back in prison.

"Good job." He patted Ma Ma Zhaodi's shoulder: "I didn't expect the Riddler to be so dangerous. Fortunately, you were here this time—counting this, you've already earned two merits since arriving at the police station."

"But..." he sighed: "Ma Ma Zhaodi, a police inspector was killed in this incident, and the guard team had major problems. An investigation, inquiry, and psychological evaluation will likely happen soon. You'll have to take a temporary leave of absence for now—paid leave, approved by me."

Ma Ma Zhaodi stared at Gordon in shock. He hadn't planned to stay long in the highly restrictive police system anyway, so he didn't mind going home for a leave, but he hadn't expected to be on leave again at light speed so soon.

"What about the officers' families? How are they?"

"The Riddler probably knew he had no hope of escaping again, so he gave us a cancellation signal. In the end, no one was harmed—but the people he hired outside ran too fast, and we only caught a few."

In the afternoon, bored, Ma Ma Zhaodi walked down the street. Generally speaking, having a holiday was certainly a good thing, but seeing the news on the large screen by the roadside made him feel that nowhere on the street was safe.

"Breaking news: The Joke Factory was attacked by the Joker. One police officer, one passerby, and over a dozen comedians were sent to the hospital. Blood-written jokes were left at the crime scene: Why is six afraid of seven?"

At this time, dusk was approaching. Looking at the news, he suddenly recalled the conversation between the police inspector and the Riddler earlier—when the Riddler said the four words "the punchline," it seemed he had pointed at the map on the table with his finger?

"System, help me pull up the Gotham map that was on the table earlier and mark the location the Riddler pointed out."

【Understood, retrieving—】

【Retrieval complete】

(End of this chapter)