Chapter 1010: Is This Batman? (Part 3)

"Alright, Miss Zatanna, you should go rest for a while." Victor walked forward, pushed up his glasses, and waved to the students who were still debugging the equipment, saying, "There should still be empty student dorms, right? Send this young lady to rest for a while. She cannot continue to hold on."

After speaking, Victor looked at Batman again and said, "Do you remember the second piece of news I mentioned? The problem with the rainwater and the problem with the drinking water source are not the same."

"The vast majority of Cat Getan's drinking water sources come from groundwater. The 50-plus water purification plants and the 7 largest tap water companies in the city are basically just for show. Cat Getan's drinking water conditions are not much different from the Middle Ages."

"I detected more than 70 types of hallucinogenic components in the groundwater source. The content is not large, but the ratio is precise. It should be that someone is poisoning it artificially."

Victor sighed and said, "These hallucinogenic components are very likely the main reason for the citizens going mad. However, according to the clues brought by Jason, the poison in the water source might be chronic."

"Someone has been poisoning Cat Getan's water source for a long time. At first, this toxin might only cause mild hallucinogenic reactions. In a city like Cat Getan, being a bit mentally dazed is no big deal. Many people might not go to the hospital at all, and if they do go to the hospital, they won't go for a psychiatric examination."

"However, the toxin continuously accumulates in the human body and cannot be metabolized. One day, after reaching a certain critical value, it is triggered and stimulated by the mysterious substance in the rainwater, which will cause the citizens to fall into madness."

"At the same time, because many of Cat Getan's plants also rely on the groundwater system, there are also reactions of them going mad... but I don't know much about botany."

"You mean, someone put chronic poison into Cat Getan's groundwater, and Cat Getan's rainwater's magical reaction with metal triggered the toxicity, leading to the citizens going mad?" Batman summarized it in the most concise language, and Victor nodded.

Victor put the data in his hand back on the lab bench and then said, "In other words, this event was bound to happen. If it didn't break out today, it would break out tomorrow. As for how all these broccoli and messy vines came about, I don't know."

But Batman was very clear. The Green, the collective consciousness of all plant life, would definitely be alerted by plants being poisoned and going mad. And the Green coming here and being discovered by Constantine was why there was broccoli all over the city.

Just as he was thinking this, Batman's communicator suddenly rang. He picked up the communicator and said, "... Lex? What? You found the source of the toxin's spread? Good, I know. I'll head over there right now."

Hanging up the communication, Batman looked at Victor and said, "Lex conducted broad-spectrum sampling and, through calculation and analysis, found the source point of the poisoning. I'll head over there first to take a look at his analysis report, and at the same time, contact Gordon to prepare for the arrest."

"Go ahead." Victor glanced at Batman and said, "I provided the police department with a batch of freezing weapons that can handle arrests in various situations. Additionally, Cobblepot told me that he also sensed something was wrong, so he deployed men in the East End. I will tell him to keep an eye on things."

After Batman left, Victor shook his head at his back, revealed a smile, and then said, "Your treatment is truly yielding remarkable results. If it were in the past, after the whole thing, he wouldn't have even shown his face."

Very quickly, Batman arrived at the lab on the other side of the experimental building. Lex was organizing a large pile of experimental data. A map of Cat Getan City hung on the wall, with many locations marked on it.

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Seeing Batman and Clark arrive together, Lex snorted coldly and revealed a mocking smile. However, he quickly realized that now was not the time for mockery. He walked directly to the map, pointed at it, and said, "Cobblepot sent the leader of the kid gang to take samples at more than 160 locations in Cat Getan. I analyzed the concentration of the samples."

"The conclusion reached is that the concentration presents a circular, stepped diffusion—high in the east, low in the west; high in the south, low in the north. In other words, the source of the toxin's spread is located in the East End or the South End."

"Afterward, I conducted a second, detailed sampling." Lex pointed to the locations on the map and said, "The 120 locations in the East End connect to form 60 lines. I took repeated samples in the areas where the focus was most dense, advancing toward the center point in a circular pattern, and finally determined a location with the highest probability."

Batman squinted his eyes. He first looked at Lex. Lex's condition was not very good. Previously, he had fallen into the storage equipment for the freezing liquid and was also infected with the Joker virus.

However, perhaps because he was not a Gothamite, the Joker virus gradually faded away. But the freezing liquid developed by Victor replaced the blood in his body, and although it gave him the abilities of Mr. Freeze, it also caused his skin to shimmer with a blue color under the light.

Despite this, the dark circles under his eyes were still very obvious. Batman knew that Lex had no base in Cat Getan, and therefore, no supercomputer. All the conclusions were calculated by him by hand.

Batman took out his communicator directly and said to the other end, "Hello? Gordon? 3 Back Alley, Green Street, Edge of Living Hell. Capture the poisoner alive."

Lex widened his eyes, looked at Batman, and said, "Are you not planning to repeat the calculation one more time? Shouldn't you return to your Batcave now, turn on your advanced supercomputer, run all the data again, and then be surprised at the accuracy of my conclusion?"

"He trusts your conclusion, and you're actually angry?" Clark leaned back, looked at Lex with some confusion, and said, "Although I don't quite understand how you determined the location, your data looks quite reliable. It's normal for us to use it directly, right?"

Lex pursed his lips, revealing an expression like he had eaten a fly. But afterward, Clark looked at Batman again and said, "However, what he said also makes sense. We should still verify it. What if we catch the wrong person? Wouldn't that be wronging an innocent person?"

"Why do you think that in Cat Getan, we would catch the wrong person?" Batman asked in return. Clark choked for a moment and then said, "Uh, although judging by the public security situation here, the probability of catching the wrong person is indeed relatively low, but you can't say it's zero, right?"

Batman's blue eyes emitted a faint glow. He said, "For certain reasons, my soul strength has been raised to its peak, and my mental capacity is the same. At the same time he stated the conclusion, I had already completed all the calculations. The result is accurate and without error."

Lex was just about to retort, but Batman looked at him and said, "The precision of your data astonishes me."

Lex was instantly choked again. He turned his head to the side. But afterward, he saw Batman staring at the map of Cat Getan, his expression sinking, and then he said, "This poisoner is not the key. There must be someone behind him directing this. This matter is not that simple."

"How do you know?" Lex walked to Batman's side, stood shoulder-to-shoulder with him, and asked. Lex thought for a moment and continued, "Don't you know how many lunatics there are in Cat Getan? Perhaps someone suddenly wanted to destroy Cat Getan..."

"Indeed, but there are not many people who can accurately see that Cat Getan's water source and rainwater are the fatal points. Moreover, wanting to make the toxin spread so widely in a short time and then have it break out at just the right moment is not something an ordinary person could do."

"I'm going to Green Street." Batman turned and left the lab. Before leaving, he looked back and said, "Clark, take Lex to the Batcave."

"I have unlocked the usage permissions for all monitoring equipment. Lex, you need to keep an eye on all abnormal movements in Cat Getan City at all times. Clark, guard the Batcave and don't let anyone in."

After speaking, Batman's figure vanished in the corridor. His back carried a kind of iron-blooded and cold temperament completely different from the past. Lex and Clark looked at each other, and the shocked expressions on their faces could no longer be contained.

Lex pursed his lips and said, "You had best explain to me carefully what has happened during this time. Damn it, I've been busy with my thesis publication recently, how did it suddenly..."

Batman, having left the experimental building, originally wanted to contact Alfred and have him send a helicopter. But unexpectedly, the silhouette of the Batwing appeared on the skyline. After landing on the roof of the building, Hal walked out from inside.

He sized up Batman and said, "Your butler contacted me, saying you lacked a professional fighter pilot. I happened to be free, so I came over. Triple pay for the holiday, no need to thank me."

Batman walked onto the Batwing first, with Hal following closely behind. Just as the hatch closed, Batman turned his head to look at Hal beside him and said, "You have superpowers, right?"

Hal was a bit dazed by the question, but he nodded and said, "Green Lantern energy, that should count as a superpower, right?"

"I also have superpowers. Do you know what they are?"

"What are they?"

"I'm super rich."

Batman leaned back, resting his back against the chair, turned his head back, and looked straight ahead, saying: "Three hundred times the pay, and... thank you."

Hal's hand shook. With a "Whoosh—", the Batwing streaked over the sky above the layers of massive broccoli. Within a few minutes, it landed on the roof of another building.

The black silhouette leaped down. The light of the police sirens reflected his cape into a brilliant neon color. Gordon had just put away the gun in his hand when he turned his head and saw Batman appearing in the shadows.

He was just about to speak, but saw Batman walk directly out of the shadows. Gordon was stunned for a moment, but finally said, "The criminal suspect is in the house ahead. To ensure no intense conflict occurs leading to casualties, we are currently formulating an assault plan..."

"No need. I'll go in alone. I already have some deductions." Batman shook his head and, under Gordon's gaze, followed the shadows and vaulted over the wall of the alley.

Walking through the damp courtyard full of rainwater, he pushed open a rusted door. In the dim room, a figure sat. Batman stood before the door, looked at him, and said:

"Professor Crane, long time no see."

Sitting at the dining table in the room was none other than Jonathan Crane, the future Scarecrow, a world-renowned psychologist and psychiatrist, a well-known chemist, and a former psychology professor at Cat Getan University.

Jonathan was pouring himself water. His expression was very calm, as if he hadn't seen Batman. He took a sip of the water in the cup and said, "It seems Schiller's treatment of you was very successful. Otherwise, you wouldn't have given me a chance to speak."

"But I still believe that I am not inferior to him. Your condition is also considered rare in the field of psychology. If you were handed over to me, I would also achieve results no less than his." Jonathan said, lowering his head.

"I came here alone because I want to ask you a question." Batman's low voice echoed in the room. He said, "You are also a world-renowned psychologist. Perhaps only you can answer my question."

Jonathan turned his head to look at Batman. His silhouette was against the light, making him appear even darker. Batman said, "A person, in a state where there are no wounds on the body, no brain injuries, and they are completely healthy—why would they fall into a coma and not wake up?"

Jonathan's hand shook. The water in the cup splashed out. His fingertips began to tremble slightly.

Afterward, he closed his eyes, leaned back against the chair, sighed, raised his head, and looked at the ceiling, saying:

"... It seems I didn't lose unjustly." ===== CHAPTER 1011 =====