Chapter 184: The Perverted Bicycle Hero and Batman

Gotham City, dusk approaching.

Ma Ma Zhaodi, clad in a black robe, raced through the city on a bicycle.

Over these past few days, he had deeply felt that differences existed even among Master-level abilities; as he shuttled through Gotham City on his bicycle, his familiarity with this skill was rapidly increasing.

"Caw—caw—"

Suddenly, dark feathers accompanied by crow cries fell from the night sky; this was one of the eyes and ears Ma Ma Zhaodi had recently trained—animals and plants in this universe seemed connected to their respective elemental networks, and relying on his Natural Language Proficiency, Ma Ma Zhaodi easily completed communication and training with them.

"Large numbers of armed men taking to the streets?"

Hearing the crow cry, Ma Ma Zhaodi's nerves instantly tightened; he twisted the bicycle's handlebars, pedaled fiercely, and the modified bicycle's engine immediately began to exert power.

Whoosh—

The figure riding the bicycle launched from a rooftop, traced a long arc through the air, landed on the top of another building's roof, then launched again, landing once more on another rooftop.

A vehicle meant for ground use was now flying over the entire city.

At the same time, another black figure appeared in the sky; unlike Ma Ma Zhaodi, he relied on wings to fly.

Batman patrolled Gotham City as usual; the city had been very unstable recently, and he was extremely worried—not because murders were occurring. In fact, according to his investigations over these past few days, quite a few murders should have been prevented.

It was just that the methods used by the person preventing the murders were very cruel.

Very cruel.

"The Perverted Bicycle Hero"

He silently pondered this fellow's title, recalling the relevant broadcasts by the TV host.

"Recently, multiple murders have occurred consecutively within Gotham City, but all were attempted crimes. According to statements from victims and witnesses, after the suspects were stopped, without exception, they were stripped of all clothing and hung on streetlights or balconies with their buttocks facing outward. Although the person hanging them caused no actual physical harm, this method is simply too perverted; a significant portion of the suspects stated they suffered immense psychological trauma and experienced complete social death."

Anyway, it was very cruel.

Very cruel.

And tonight, Alfred told him that the police had discovered members of Falcone and a group of armed thugs from the East District gathering to take to the streets; it seemed a gang war was about to erupt, so he immediately rushed to the scene and, as expected, saw that figure riding a bicycle.

It was him, Batman thought to himself; the previous few times, he hadn't been able to catch the other party, and this time he absolutely could not let him escape.

In a place like Gotham City, at this point in time, doing such a thing was extremely dangerous; the job of a vigilante was not a game of make-believe.

Thus, when the bicycle touched down, he also caught up with the other party riding the Batcycle; he turned his head and saw the other party wearing a black robe with a twisted ghost-face mask on his face.

"No matter what your identity is or what you intend to do, do not go any further." His voice was serious and low: "Go back; this is not a game; you might die."

"If you could handle it, I certainly wouldn't have appeared."

An unexpected voice sounded from beneath the mask, causing Batman's pupils to tremble violently; when saying this sentence, the other party did not disguise his voice, deliberately letting him know his identity.

That was the newly arrived officer at the Gotham City Police Department, Ma Ma Zhaodi.

Batman knew he had given the life-saving candy to Chuck, but he never expected him to be the pervert who liked hanging people that had recently appeared in Gotham.

And when Ma Ma Zhaodi spoke his second sentence, his voice had already become eerie and shrill, like the perverted vocal tone commonly seen in horror movies.

"In the past few days, nearly a hundred cases have occurred, nearly fifty or sixty of which ended with Batman's tardiness. This shows you are stretched too thin and isolated without support."

"Just tonight, this impending large-scale gunfight; if I do not rush over, relying solely on you alone, can you guarantee that no Gotham citizens will be caught in the crossfire?"

Batman fell silent for a moment; he could not answer Ma Ma Zhaodi's question.

From the time he officially flew into Gotham's night sky to fight criminals until now, a full year had passed; in this year, he had stopped quite a few crimes; but times have changed; the clash between the Joker and the Riddler is not called a crime, it is called war.

With his current abilities, it was impossible to save every victim on the battlefield.

"Right now, there are still two places in the city where murders are occurring; I have animal friends who can go help, but you still have to go stop the gunfight first, right?"

Animal friends?

Batman's first thought went to the intelligence regarding the cases over these past few days; besides "naked criminals hung on streetlights," there was another noteworthy point: a small number of these criminals went black before their eyes and fainted directly; while another portion first heard bird cries, then suffered severe frostbite.

And the victims all said that just as the criminals were about to act, their movements suddenly became slow and weak, giving them ample time to escape and opportunities to resist.

He originally thought this was the work of Mr. Freeze, but now he finally understood this was still one of Ma Ma Zhaodi's special abilities.

Just then, the cry of an eagle sounded again in the sky.

Two huge eagles flew down and threw two flower pots to Ma Ma Zhaodi; inside the pots were planted two strange ice-blue pea plants. Batman had never seen such peas; he could almost be certain these were not plants from Earth—to deal with Poison Ivy, he had recently crammed on a lot of plant-related knowledge.

Ma Ma Zhaodi casually stuffed the two flower pots under his black robe; Batman couldn't even see clearly where he stuffed those things, and then he saw him take out two more flower pots from his pocket, filled with ice-blue peas again.

"Go, go, these are peas buffed at noon (pea shooters that have received the 'I Did Not Kill' skill); the night is still long."

Ma Ma Zhaodi threw the flower pots to the two eagles and casually tossed two candies into their mouths; those two big creatures let out clear, sharp cries, then disappeared into the night again.

"You can certainly uphold justice using your identity as an officer, Ma Ma Zhaodi." Batman continued to advise, but his tone had softened: "Daytime is your working hours."

"Daytime? I dare not work openly during the day." Ma Ma Zhaodi replied: "Criminals can tolerate a virtuous, righteous sheriff, but they cannot tolerate a legally sanctioned killing machine with overwhelming combat power; if I let loose during the day, the police station would be blown up by bombs within a week. So I will save people during the day and beat people at night."

During the exchange, the two had already approached the scene; seeing that time was running out, Batman, after brief thought, finally made a decision.

"I can cooperate with you, but you must act according to the plan; such cooperation benefits our coordination and is also beneficial for controlling the situation."

"It's a deal." Ma Ma Zhaodi replied: "But not today; you don't understand how I fight, and we don't have time to continue communicating—today, we'll improvise temporarily; I'll control the field, you watch the control effect and act accordingly."

After thinking for a moment, Batman nodded, adding one final sentence.

"Do not kill."

(End of Chapter)