Chapter 219: Infiltration with No Difficulty

Night, on the streets of the Upper West Side.

"This street seems to have very few troops."

Ma Ma Zhaodi crouched on the roof of a building, the dark night serving as his perfect cover; he carefully observed the patrol squads on the street. Although it looked dangerous, in reality, if there were only this many people, then the Mad Hatter's defense network could be called full of holes.

Even if everyone on the street held a gun, even if the crowd had become "robots" who obeyed orders and feared no pain, even if this meant they could not be bought or bribed, their numbers were simply too few.

"Just as Batman said, there are far too few people. The Mad Hatter is setting a trap; he is hiding people."

Looking now at the buildings surrounding the theater, peering into each window, the interiors seemed empty. If one excluded extra intelligence, then infiltration was now the best choice.

【6】 "Knowing it is a trap, yet one must still enter," Ma Ma Zhaodi sighed, climbed down the building's exterior wall to the ground, and took off the black robe he was wearing.

"Knowing full well it's a trap, yet one must still walk into it," Ma Ma Zhaodi sighed, climbed down the building's exterior wall to the ground, and stripped off the black robe.

"Let me see, the Polyjuice Potion still has more than half a bottle left, which is fine; I usually use it sparingly—I'll just drink half a bottle more. Six hours of disguise time should be enough."

Half a minute later, a middle-aged man with a large belly and a hat on his head appeared on the street. His expression was stiff, his eyes dazed. He held a gun in his hand as well, blending into the crowd on the street with no sense of incongruity.

The patrols on the street wearing hats walked back and forth, unaware. Occasionally, a few would lift their heads to glance at this strange colleague; seeing the hat on his head and the gun in his hand, they paid no further attention and continued wandering the streets like walking corpses.

Under the Mad Hatter's mental control, they retained only the most basic thinking ability and would identify others based on the most basic characteristics. As long as there was a hat on the head and a gun in the hand, let alone Ma Ma Zhaodi's plain appearance, even if the Joker himself ran over wearing a nurse's cap and a nurse's uniform, they would not react in any way.

He slowly followed the other hat-wearing controlled citizens moving toward the theater, hiding within the crowd's ranks to make himself look less conspicuous, but he did not use his Grandmaster-level Stealth ability because he was unsure if he was being specifically observed at this moment. Whether facing the Joker or the Riddler, the skills he had displayed were only marksmanship and bicycles—this would make them feel he had some use, but posed little threat.

The Stealth skill is a skill used to hide oneself; it should itself be the skill with the least presence. This was the realization the Grandmaster-level Stealth skill brought to Ma Ma Zhaodi.

Step, step, step.

Ma Ma Zhaodi, mixed in the crowd, gradually approached the theater where the Mad Hatter was located, with crowds moving back and forth beside him. In the night, only dense and dull footsteps sounded on the street; apart from this, there was no extra human voice, which made Ma Ma Zhaodi feel extremely oppressed.

After being controlled, they would not do anything outside of orders, so they neither chatted nor smoked. Without the Mad Hatter's command, they would walk on the street until they died of thirst, or until the muscles in their legs dissolved, completely losing the ability to support themselves—whichever situation happened first.

"Hey, hey, that guy over there!"

Suddenly, a voice shouting came from the crowd. Two gunmen in black suits holding automatic rifles walked over; one of the burly men even pointed his muzzle directly at the crowd before him.

However, the middle-aged man with a large belly and a red hat on his head seemed unaware, his steps did not pause for a moment, and he passed right by the two burly men along with the other unresponsive people, continuing to walk toward the direction of the theater.

The other gunman who had not raised his rifle seemed somewhat puzzled; he turned his head and asked, "What did you see?"

"I saw a fat man inside the crowd; he seemed a bit unfamiliar."

"Are you losing your mind? There are a hundred people on the street, and new ones keep coming in from time to time; not to mention, where would you remember so many people's faces?"

"Hehe, well, I just saw a pretty woman in red clothes in the crowd with a great figure; I wanted to take a closer look."

"Stop causing trouble. The Mad Hatter has already said that those people will only obey his orders, just like sleepwalkers; even if the sky falls, they won't react."

"So that means if I directly pull her into an alley, she won't resist?"

"If you dare interrupt her mission, she will dare to give you a full magazine. Do you want to try?"

Hearing his companion's words, the burly man looked at the red-skirted woman's back, and finally withdrew his gaze with a forced smile.

"Forget it, forget it; not worth angering that madman."

"That's right. People who have been given hats are the Mad Hatter's property; to him, they are consumables, but to you, they are not."

Behind the two men, Ma Ma Zhaodi, who had barely escaped disaster, secretly let out a long breath. The natural reaction to being called out is to turn one's head to look, or at least to be slightly stunned; luckily, he reacted quickly and held it together, otherwise, if discovered, a fight would have broken out.

The people outside are civilians; engaging in a firefight right here would absolutely be the worst choice.

He continued forward with the squad until he reached the area surrounding the theater, where he found he could no longer go further inside—not a single person wearing a hat had passed through the gate into the theater. This meant the Mad Hatter had delineated the activity range for the mentally controlled citizens, and he could not sneak in by mixing with other squads.

Should he disguise himself as another gang member? But he absolutely could not withstand a careful inspection; the guards at the gate did not look like the type who would neglect their duties.

Boom!

Just as he was thinking, a burst of explosion flames suddenly rose in the distance, followed immediately by rolling thick smoke rising up.

Clayface had already started; he immediately understood in his heart that this explosion was probably his attack on Solomon.

He was not surprised by this. Poison Ivy is an extremely fanatical plant protectionist in any universe; using fertilizer and the extermination of flower seeds could basically exchange for her help. She is a good ally candidate—at least when she is not causing trouble.

Ivy had told him the Riddler's arrangements, and after discussing with Batman, they settled on tonight's plan.

"What's going on?"

The other Falcone gunmen in the surrounding area were not clear about the situation over there. Seeing the flames shooting up into the sky in the district where Solomon was located, everyone instinctively showed expressions of shock and gazed toward there.

A few minutes later, a pitch-black fighter jet carrying two huge monsters swept across the city sky.

The two guards at the gate stood with mouths agape; they ran out a few steps, trying to see the situation in the sky. It was at this moment that a figure circled from the crowd to behind them and quietly slipped into the theater through the gap they had exposed.

(End of this chapter)