Chapter 163: Fainted by the Dog Calamity

"Oh, you want to know the answer to that?"

Ma Ma Zhaodi shrugged: "After you ran off, Chief Gordon told me to go home on paid leave, but as you know, I'm new to Gotham and have nowhere to stay for now, so I just wandered around the city. It wasn't just to find a place to live—I mainly wanted to see if the Joker would return to the crime scene."

"But that guy is too cunning; I couldn't catch him, and I had no leads in my head. In the end, by the time the news said he was missing, it was already very late."

"Then I remembered you pointed at the map in the interrogation room earlier—well, a smart person's choice is never wrong—so I took a taxi there. Halfway, I heard a huge crash, just like a car accident."

Ma Ma Zhaodi wasn't lying; except for needing to lie to cover the system's existence, the rest was all truth. He really was able to lock onto the Riddler's location immediately because of the Joker's car crash.

But saying this to the Riddler on the ground was too insulting. Hearing this, he even despairingly closed his eyes.

Again, it's like this again—why did that madman Joker have to deliberately crash his car, when this idiot in front of him should have gone straight to the Unicorn Theater!

He bit his teeth shut tightly, truly fed up with today's humiliation. Every time it was an accident, every time it was an idiot's sudden whim.

If the Joker had arrived normally at his destination, if I hadn't pointed at the Unicorn Theater on the map, if this idiot hadn't taken leave today because of the prison matter, if he had a place to return to...

"Then I followed over to take a look. Hmm, I saw you walk into the building, so I followed you up."

"But you shouldn't know the floor plan!"

The Riddler painfully turned his face away. He suddenly realized why the other party could solve that riddle about the floors—he didn't solve a thing; he saw his own elevator's floor display!

"Damn it! Damn it! Damn it!" He despairingly closed his eyes, because he thought of something deeper—he thought of why this guy arrived at the perfect moment.

Damn it, it was me who pressed every elevator button, making it unusable for anyone for a short time, so this guy came up the stairs—at least the first part was up the stairs.

If this guy had arrived a bit earlier, the Joker could have taken him out too; if he had arrived a bit later, I could have escaped immediately after Batman left—and he arrived at the exact moment, after Batman arrived, just about to leave but not yet gone. At this time, I had lost too much blood and had no ability to resist. Even if Batman left, he couldn't deal with the unarmed Ma Ma Zhaodi.

And all of this was caused by the Riddler's own plan.

In Nigma's past life, there had never been a moment as desperate as now. For the first time in his life, he deeply understood what "the malice of fate" meant.

"Damn madman, damn idiot!" He Cursed Harshly everything today in his heart: that guard who left the keys outside the door; that unpredictable Joker, who acted like a lunatic causing a crash, then suddenly shot himself; and this idiot in front of him, new to the police station, daring to track him with a fake gun.

The stupidity of ordinary people was already enough to make Nigma feel disgusted, but ordinary people causing his plan to fail due to their stupidity—this made him want to commit suicide immediately. The Riddler, who prided himself as a sage, had never been humiliated like this in his life.

Why? My plan clearly had a high margin for error, so why do these mediocrities always mess up the most critical things? Don't they know the consequences of doing wrong?

At this moment, the sound of an ambulance siren rang out on the street.

"Oh, the ambulance is here, time for me to ask you questions." Ma Ma Zhaodi rubbed his hands together expectantly: "I wanted to ask just now, what happened to your hand? Why does it look like a chicken claw?"

Hearing this question, the Riddler's vision went black, and he fainted directly.

Ma Ma Zhaodi was about to walk to the window to look at Gotham's night, but suddenly he tilted his ear to listen. With his hearing, he could hear a faint, light footstep sound on the floor above.

That's the Joker, he thought. The Bat is a master of stealth; his footsteps are almost completely silent. And since the gunshot, there is no one else left in this building.

Ma Ma Zhaodi looked at the system panel again. The "I Didn't Kill Anyone" skill now had two slots. Each slot's cooldown was originally twelve hours, reduced to six hours after upgrading. At this moment, the cooldowns for both slots had already refreshed.

"Let's give you a buff first."

【Notice: Skill usage range is limited to ten meters around the body. Use immediately?】

"Use one."

On the other side, the Joker, sneaking stealthily through the building, noticed nothing and continued to focus on playing hide-and-seek with Batman.

When the Riddler was taken to the hospital, the doctor said he still had vital signs and might be saved—Ma Ma Zhaodi didn't care much about this. If the Riddler really died, it wasn't his fault.

However, just in case, he used the "I Didn't Kill Anyone" skill on the Riddler's body again, then directly followed the police team back to the Gotham Police Department, finished his statement, and finally went to find a hotel.

As for where his money came from...

In the hospital, officers were checking the Riddler's personal belongings.

"Strange, why is there no money in this guy's wallet?"

"Does that matter? This damn dog-star killed a police inspector this morning. Don't say he was robbed by a thief; even if he was directly robbed by bandits, I'd think he deserved it."

"That's true..."

This guy, the Riddler, carried quite a bit. Ma Ma Zhaodi roughly estimated that the money on him was enough for him to stay in a hotel for a week. To prevent the paper money of the two universes from being different, he also bought a few gold bars to carry on his side, but he didn't have time to sell them today, so he would temporarily borrow Nigma's money and return it next time.

Of course, there must be cheaper places to rent in the East End, but the time was really too late today, and no one could act as Ma Ma Zhaodi's introducer, so he could only go to the East End tomorrow to look for a rental house.

The next day, Gotham City morning.

Ma Ma Zhaodi stood by the roadside on Mordeff Street, waved his hand, hailed a yellow taxi, and smoothly slid into the back seat.

"Hello, I want to go to Gotham's East End."

"Hahaha, what a coincidence, haha, the last passenger went to the Northeast area of Gotham, hehe, you two are very close, hahahaha—"

"Hmm." Ma Ma Zhaodi shrugged: "Although it's a good day today, I rarely see anyone laughing so happily. Is there something happy happening?"

"Haha, hahaha, what did you say?"

Ma Ma Zhaodi suddenly changed his expression because the driver's laughter suddenly wouldn't stop.

"Hahaha, haha, hehe hoo hoo hahahaha..."

This laughter sounded quite familiar; in fact, Ma Ma Zhaodi had once seen two people laugh like this with his own eyes.

One was the Joker, and the second...

was Solomon Grundy, who had been hit by the laughing gas.

(End of Chapter)