Chapter 65: Who Are You Saying Ran Away?

Gotham City's Christmas Eve.

At this moment, heavy snow began to fall again; the thick layer of snow appeared pale under the moonlight, like burnt-out dead ash.

The towering, pitch-black Arkham Asylum glowed faintly with scattered lights in the darkness, standing silently amidst stern guards and iron fences encircling the entire asylum; its massive, blurred silhouette, almost merging with the night, resembled a wild beast lurking in the darkness of some strange legends.

Today was Christmas Eve, and after midnight, it would be Christmas.

Chief Gordon, with a serious expression, hurriedly followed beside Batman; tonight was supposed to be an ordinary Christmas Eve, yet he had to rush from the soup kitchen to this stern prison specifically designed to house super-criminals and madmen.

Days of exhausting work, crime-ridden Gotham, and the holiday killer on the run—each thing could tighten his nerves; fortunately, a small soup kitchen had recently appeared in the East End, which slightly eased his mood; every time he visited the children there, he felt his body recharged with energy.

Of course, this might also be because he had drunk a bowl of soup himself.

"The Joker has escaped 'again'; he has attacked several families—good heavens, he didn't kill anyone, but he stole all their Christmas gifts."

"I know."

Facing Gordon's case report, the Batman walking ahead simply replied with this brief sentence.

Chief Gordon raised an eyebrow, looked at the two pointed ears on the bat's head, and instinctively retorted: "You know? How? We just received the news, and never mind."

Having cooperated with the Bat for years, he had realized that when the Batman could accomplish things beyond the norm, there was no need for him to exclaim or question.

So he shook his head, his gaze turning again to the dense rows of cell doors in this giant prison: "There are too many criminals here, almost double what there was when you first appeared in Gotham; I'm not saying there's any direct connection between the two, but... do you have any leads?"

Facing Gordon's long speech, the Batman's face still showed no expression; he simply spat out another brief, low reply from his mouth.

"No."

Gordon: "Oh."

Actually, the Batman knew very well what Gordon was saying; he was hinting at a phenomenon.

The Batman's existence, for some reason, attracted these men and women, these murderers, perverts, psychopaths, and super-criminals, bringing them to this city, to Gotham.

Jim Gordon was a good man, he thought; Gordon and the police of the Gotham City Police Department, with limited resources, had done everything they could to the extreme, striving to maintain Gotham's order.

But Gotham City needed the Batman to protect her from many criminals, such as the criminal Zhu Lian—so the Batman could not disappear, at least not now; this was for Gotham.

Zhu Lian was a super-criminal known as the Calendar Man.

Inside the prison cell sealed by bulletproof glass doors, it was clean, containing only a bed, a calendar, and the floor covered with torn calendar pages; pure white light covered the entire cell, making it as bright as day.

A figure in a white robe leaned against the smooth glass door; the spotless top of his head reflected the pure white light, emitting a bright sheen, while he muttered words in his mouth.

"Months with thirty days have September, April, June, and—"

"I've spoken with the District Attorney's office, Zhu Lian," Gordon interrupted the Calendar Man's muttering: "If you help us with these several murder cases, they would be happy to reduce your sentence."

"We think, given your interest in combining crimes with the calendar—perhaps you can see some clues?"

The Calendar Man's response was straightforward; facing Gordon's inquiry, he actually answered immediately.

"Tomorrow is a big day; she will commit murder again."

The Batman's voice sounded at this moment, still low and flat: "What makes you think the other party is a woman?"

Zhu Lian stopped talking nonsense at this point and entered his charlatan mode; he continued muttering, sounding as if he were answering, yet not entirely like an answer.

"Because he likes it this way. He likes to draw attention."

"No one knows who she is, and he has already created a name for himself—or she has."

"You have been lucky so far; by February, there will be Lincoln Memorial Day, Washington's Birthday, and Presidents' Day."

Gordon understood his meaning: November had Halloween and Thanksgiving, with one murder occurring each day; December had few holidays, so far Christmas, and perhaps one more murder would occur—or two.

But if the time reached next February, there would be three holidays; perhaps a whole three murders would occur that month.

So he instinctively refuted this possibility: "February, by that time, we will definitely have caught that killer."

However, the Calendar Man ignored Gordon's refutation and instead sped up his speech.

"Groundhog Day (February 2nd), Ash Wednesday (the start of the Christian Lent, likely also in February; the entire Lent is a religious festival lasting a full forty days, so it will likely extend to April), Secretary's Day (the Wednesday of the last full week of April), Earth Day (April 22nd), Flag Day (June 14th), Boxing Day (December 26th), Hanukkah (also roughly in December)..."

Gordon stood dazed before the glass door, watching Zhu Lian spit out holiday after holiday, spanning from the beginning of the year to the end, and from the end back to the beginning; a chilling dread suddenly swept over his entire body. If the holiday killer's knowledge of holidays and murderous actions were truly like the holidays Zhu Lian listed, plus the holidays he had committed crimes on this year, this fellow would slaughter from the beginning to the end of next year like a bloody butcher.

Especially the Lent, a forty-day killing spree; how many people would die then?

"Let's go."

The Batman's voice woke him; he turned around and found the other party still wearing that same stony face, as if he hadn't heard the Calendar Man's chilling list of holidays, and walked away with steady steps.

This bat seemed as if made of iron.

—

On the other side, Ma Ma Zhaodi opened the mission interface again.

"Christmas Snow Globe"

Mission Description: You are familiar with the process, so I won't paint any empty pictures; this time the requirement is to make a silent snowman snow globe music box.

Note: Sweet dreams.

Status: Pending (0/1)

Reward: A small snowman snow globe music box that doesn't need winding; when someone nearby needs a high-quality sleep, it will sing."

(End of Chapter)