Chapter 2326: Cat Getan Music Festival (74)

Bruce lunged and tackled Gordon; Gordon had almost been pierced by a flying fragment of wood.

The deafening sound of the complete collapse, the fragments flying all over the sky, and the dust made everyone retreat very far, with some even landing on their butts on the ground.

Gordon stared dumbfoundedly at the completely collapsed old building, and finally only managed to squeeze out, "It seems our luck isn't very good."

Bruce, however, frowned and said, "I'm afraid it's not such a coincidence. From my observation just now, although this house was old, it was far from the point of collapsing. Otherwise, the victim wouldn't have chosen to run here."

"Who is the deceased?" Gordon turned his head and asked.

"A fisherman sheriff. Davis once had a fishing boat, but later, because he was addicted to gambling, he lost all his money and even compensated the fishing boat to the creditor, and from then on became a homeless person."

"So that means he was a Cat Getan local."

"Yes. When we came to investigate, many people told stories about his mother. It sounds like she was a pitiful woman, but this also explains that, at least in his parents' generation, he was a Gothamite."

"Then that further explains that if the house had the danger of collapsing at any time, as a homeless person who was a local, he certainly couldn't have chosen this place."

"You want to say this is a trap." Gordon grasped Batman's meaning and said, "Someone lured us here and then collapsed the house to bury us here."

"That possibility cannot be ruled out." Even if Bruce already had a suspect in his heart, he didn't say it out loud.

He knew that during the music festival, it was already very difficult for the Cat Getan scenic area to maintain urban order. Asking them to investigate a transnational drug trafficking organization of such a large scale was asking too much. If he told Gordon, Gordon's pressure would definitely be very great.

It was better for him to do this. Although for a long time he had been too busy to be Batman, this didn't mean he couldn't be. Batman was obviously the best identity to handle this kind of thing.

Watching Bruce's expression, Schiller couldn't help but say to the Gray Fog in his heart, "I don't need to look or think to know that he will 100% go out for a night patrol tonight."

"Because you collapsed the house."

"It was you who did it."

"It was you who asked me to do it." The Gray Fog snorted and said, "However, I really don't want to go in. It's a bit terrifying inside."

"Did you see the corpse?"

"Of course," the Gray Fog said. "And there's more than one."

Schiller understood. Although he had already roughly guessed who the killer was, his greatest advantage was not forgetting his original intention. Since he said he was here to cause trouble, then he was definitely here to cause trouble.

So he cleared his throat and said, "I think you overlooked a key piece of information."

Bruce and Gordon both turned to look at him, and Schiller said, "From the first crime scene to the second crime scene, it almost spans half the city. Even without traffic jams, it takes over two hours to drive."

"And the forensic examiner determined that the time of death for both corpses was almost identical, and there were no signs of the corpses being transported or transferred. In a situation where both locations, which are so far apart, are the primary crime scenes, how did the killer instantly traverse such a long distance?"

Bruce was actually thinking about this question just now. He said, "It's possible the killer isn't one person. They cooperated in the crime, just adopting the same method."

Bruce analyzed, "Beheading isn't a very creative execution method, nor does it have any difficulty in operation. The scene itself doesn't possess any meaning. The deterrent effect is greater than the artistry, which is very consistent with the modus operandi of certain organized criminal gangs."

"Head down," Schiller said faintly.

Bruce frowned and said, "It might be to display the deterrent effect more intuitively. The vertical posture of the corpse can make people more clearly realize that this is a headless corpse, and the blood all over the ground also has a greater visual and olfactory impact."

As he spoke, Bruce realized something was wrong. If it really was the Penitence Cartel, then they actually had better ways to display their deterrent effect. For example, many terrorists liked to conduct live television broadcasts, or simply execute people in public to make people feel fear.

Just creating two corpses in a remote corner, the only ones who could see this scene were obviously the police. But the police were completely acting out of duty; no matter whether they were afraid or not, they had to do their work. Creating this kind of case to deter the police had no meaning.

And hanging the corpse upside down to display the headless posture and using blood to enhance the impact of the scene was basically a theory that only that group of serial killers with artistic pursuits could understand. A group of drug traffickers neither had such knowledge level nor such leisure.

To put it more bluntly, a transnational drug trafficking group of such a large scale made millions up and down every minute. Who would play these roundabout games with you? In order to export drugs, they even dared to kill Oliver. As long as you blocked the road, the most efficient method was to find someone on the road to shoot you; there was no need to do anything else.

Could it be a copycat crime intentionally misleading the line of sight? Then who would want to imitate the Penitence Cartel to create serial murders?

Batman's instinct to fully question everything exerted its greatest effect at this moment. Even if he didn't want to admit it, he had to admit that the one most likely to do this was the FBI.

The FBI and the Penitence Cartel had some kind of unclear connection. They might be in some kind of secret cooperative relationship. To put it more bluntly, the Penitence Cartel did dirty work for the FBI, while the FBI condoned the Penitence Cartel to make money through drug trafficking.

This type of model was common in law enforcement agencies in the United States, and Bruce was naturally very clear about the ins and outs of this.

Raising bandits to maintain self-respect also had limits. Raising a dog was to reduce the pressure of one's own security defense, not to endanger one's own safety. Therefore, once certain evil plants grew too vigorously, they needed to be pruned, or even destroyed.

Judging from Bruce's own experience, the scale of the Penitence Cartel was highly likely to have crossed the line, especially since they were involved in the affairs in Mexico, which was quite sensitive and dangerous.

Once the FBI felt that it could no longer control this dog, then it had to be put into the pot, because the FBI had already paid a sufficiently heavy price for letting this model get out of hand. Now they were becoming increasingly cautious.

Wanting to solve the Penitence Cartel wasn't that easy either. The nature of a transnational drug trafficking organization determined that solving only the part within the United States was easy. Wildfires couldn't be burned out; spring winds would blow and regenerate. At that time, things would become even more troublesome.

And judging from the situation in Mexico, the FBI should also be unable to spare hands to deal with the other poisonous snake entrenched in the state. Then borrowing a knife to kill became the best method.

Luring the Penitence Cartel to Cat Getan was indeed Bruce's plan, but he wasn't confident enough to think that no one else would take advantage of the situation. If the FBI wanted to borrow Batman's knife, then a few suspicious cases were the best bait.

Gordon and other police in Cat Getan City had no ability to investigate such cold cases. In the end, they still had to seek help from Batman. After discovering clues related to drug planting, Batman, who had some understanding of the Penitence Cartel, would likely point the spearhead at this organization.

With Batman and the Penitence Cartel clashing, the FBI would solve two big troubles at once. Bruce didn't believe that as the situation in Cat Getan gradually improved, the FBI wouldn't reignite the thought of intervening in Cat Getan.

Bruce was now 80% sure that the FBI was indeed involved. The problem now was where Amanda and her Special Case Investigation Unit were, whether they knew about it, or whether they were actually a part of this game.

This wasn't impossible. Although he always teased the level of the FBI, it was also because of their well-known almost non-existent bottom line that led to their notorious past.

"I guess he has suspected everyone he could suspect in his life," Schiller said in his heart. "Now he should have just flipped to the old accounts of the FBI."

"You are too bad," the Gray Fog evaluated.

Bruce didn't want to waste any more time and immediately said to Gordon, "There is something suspicious about this. I'm afraid it can't be completely solved tonight. Let's go back first and talk about anything tomorrow morning."

After saying this, he got into the car without looking back. Gordon could clearly perceive his annoyance, so he didn't ask much, just left some police to clean up the scene and got into the car together.

At this time, the sky was almost bright. Schiller sat in the backseat resting with his eyes closed, and couldn't help but reveal a trace of fatigue. As a result, Bruce was still asking there, "Professor, what kind of person do you think Amanda is?"

"Amanda Waller, former FBI Special Case Unit leader..."

Bruce frowned. He originally thought Schiller would tell him what Amanda's psychological weakness was, but Schiller told him an obvious fact, and also said that there was some information he didn't know hidden within this fact.

Bruce had also heard of the Special Case Investigation Unit. This unit could be called the flexible mobile unit within the FBI. Generally, when encountering cases that no one had the manpower to solve or cases of a relatively special nature, they would be sent.

From this job content, one could hear that this actually wasn't a very important unit, because compared to other problems the FBI had to solve, the special cases committed by serial killers weren't that important. Because even the most brutal serial killer found it difficult to kill more than 20 people in a lifetime. For the FBI, this was a negligible loss.

As for superpower crimes, the FBI didn't care either, because they weren't responsible for anyone with superpowers. In short, we are all ordinary people; why should we be the ones to catch superpower criminals?

Wait, if the number of serial murders within the federation surged until it caused public concern and public opinion to boil, then even if the FBI didn't want to manage it, they would have to. And if there weren't many people among them with such experience, then Amanda would inevitably return to their field of vision.

Bruce didn't think Amanda would be that smart, guiding him on one side and guiding the FBI to set up a net just to advance herself. If she had this ability, she wouldn't need to go around such a big circle.

Countless clues swirled in Bruce's mind. One part was the Penitence Cartel, one part was the serial killer, and one part was the FBI.

With the Penitence Cartel and Batman clashing, the serial killer continuing to commit crimes until attracting attention, and the FBI being forced by pressure to transfer Amanda back and restart the Special Case Investigation Unit, who was the person who could benefit from these three things at the same time?

A name slowly floated into Bruce's mind—Green Arrow Oliver Queen. ===== CHAPTER 2327 =====