Chapter 297

Recently, Bruce had learned one of the greatest truths: the world contains only bad news and worse news, and all misfortunes always cluster together.

Batman still chose to find the Joker first; clearly, the Joker's grand surprise always had only shock and no joy—and it would be astonishing.

As expected, when Batman arrived, he found the Joker had set fire to a commercial street in Gotham's central district; crowds were screaming and fleeing, over a dozen cars doused in gasoline piled together, their explosions shattering nearly every shop window, thick smoke rolling everywhere.

Standing on the rooftop, Batman squinted to locate his target, when another plume of black smoke rose in the distance; he turned to see it was likely the East Side slums.

At that moment, fire truck sirens wailed as firefighters arrived, wielding hoses to douse the flames, clearing debris from the explosions, searching through gaps in the burned buildings for trapped victims.

Gotham's fire department was inefficient, but this was still the busiest commercial street in the downtown core—most shops here belonged to the Twelve Families, so fires had to be put out.

In Batman's assessment, the central commercial street was still an open area, and the fire had broken out before the explosions; by the time smoke appeared, most people had already escaped, so rescue efforts were not difficult.

But the slums were different—buildings were densely packed, cluttered with debris; once fire broke out, casualties would likely be severe. So after seeing firefighters arrive at the commercial street, Batman headed toward the East Side.

The aftereffects of overexertion had not fully faded; Batman's headache was excruciating, and he didn't notice that at the end of the commercial street, a reporter who had just arrived had captured his departing silhouette.

The fire in the East Side slums was a nightmare—housing was too dense, with no fire safety measures or escape routes; many were trapped in the flames, and Batman spent great effort to resolve the situation.

When he arrived at the police station, Gordon was already overwhelmed; seeing Batman, he looked like he'd found a savior and said: "You're finally here!"

"What exactly happened?" Batman's voice was hoarse, as if burned; Gordon had a flood of words, but seeing Batman's visibly pale face, he hesitated and said: "Your complexion is terrible—why don't you go rest first?"

"It's fine. Tell me what happened."

Gordon took a deep breath and led Batman to the morgue, then pulled out a corpse from a storage drawer; when he lifted the white sheet, the face revealed was familiar to Batman—it was the head of the Lawrence family of the Twelve Families.

Old Lawrence was entirely white-haired, slightly overweight; his limbs, chest, and head bore wounds. Batman squinted to observe, but his focus was scattered, so he only asked Gordon: "What did the scene look like?"

Gordon opened his mouth, paused, as if unsure how to describe it, and said: "This afternoon, young Lawrence called the police chief to say his father was dead."

"When I arrived, Lawrence was dead in his study—he lay flat on the floor, head toward the window, arms spread wide, his body forming a cross; long wedges had been driven into his limbs, chest, and head; the coroner determined his cause of death was a pierced heart…"

"The weapon?"

"In evidence storage—if you want it, I can bring it. Also, the coroner found anesthetic drugs in Old Lawrence's system—he was likely sedated first, then nailed to death."

"Nailed to a cross…" Batman murmured. Gordon hadn't caught it: "What? What cross?"

"It's a method used to execute Christians—nailing to a cross, or sometimes upside-down."

"The first Pope, Saint Peter—one of Jesus's disciples—died this way… Wait, Jesus? How many disciples did Jesus have? Twelve… Twelve Families…"

Batman immediately told Gordon: "Have your chief immediately contact the Twelve Families—this may be a serial killing."

No sooner had he spoken than a young officer ran down the stairs, shouting to Gordon: "Chief, the younger of the Hawk brothers is dead—he…"

The young officer swallowed hard and said: "His head was cut off—the chief has already gone there…"

Gordon pressed his forehead and explained to Batman: "The Hawk family is also one of the Twelve Families—their leader is a pair of brothers; the elder is the main head, the younger helps him manage the family…"

Batman pulled the white sheet back over Old Lawrence's body and said to Gordon: "Can we go to the scene now?"

"Uh, yes—but we have to wait. We need to avoid the chief—he won't understand why I'm bringing you in… You know, the chief has… some issues with your presence…"

"Fine, I understand." Batman walked to the window and said to Gordon: "You won't clean up the crime scene tonight, right? We'll meet there at midnight—I have other business to attend to…"

Before he finished, Batman vanished. Gordon rubbed his temples, his face twisted in pain, and asked the young officer: "Are you religious?"

"Uh, yeah, why?"

"Do you know the story of Jesus and his twelve disciples? Can you tell me?"

The young officer froze, his expression uneasy; Gordon, as if expecting this, said: "Alright, everyone here claims to be religious, but few actually know Jesus, let alone his disciples—I'll just go read the Bible myself…"

Batman, having left, opened his wrist communicator and asked: "How's it going over there?"

The Kid's voice came through: "We're okay—we're trapped in a basement, looks like an abandoned wine cellar. They haven't found us yet, but you better hurry—Jason's hurt…"

Hearing Jason was hurt, Batman frowned: "Why didn't you say so sooner? I thought your situation wasn't serious…"

The Kid's youthful voice continued over the comm: "Actually, it's not serious—he just twisted his ankle. We jumped from a high place—he jumped first and landed on debris, now he can't move, but there's no bleeding risk…"

"Give me your location—I'm coming right now."

About twenty minutes later, in a basement near Green Street in the East Side, Batman secured Jason's ankle and asked: "What happened? I only told you to investigate—how did you get chased?"

To distract from the pain in his ankle, Jason spoke: "At first, we really just wanted to investigate. My friend and I got a job selling cigarettes on Green Street—it went smoothly at first. We contacted the local minor boss and his superior—the kids' 'parents'…"

"The kids call him 'Limp Dad.' He lives in a shack at the end of First Alley. You know I'm good with my hands—I'd climb onto his shack at night and eavesdrop…"

"That night, his superior came by. I heard them mention the main boss—they said the Twelve Families were under tension lately… something like that—and that the main boss wanted them to hurry and raise funds. That's all…"

"But Limp Dad's superior was too alert—I moved slightly, and he sensed someone on the roof. I had to flee immediately. But that superior was clearly a real mob member—he had bodyguards and a shotgun. Luckily, I was small and they didn't hit me…"

The Kid added: "I was just waiting at the street corner to pick him up, but those guys chased us relentlessly—we had to run down the alley. Luckily, there was an abandoned wine cellar, or we'd have been caught."

Jason grumbled: "I didn't see the wooden planks below when I jumped—otherwise I wouldn't have gotten hurt so easily."

As Batman strapped on the splint, Jason bit his fist to keep from crying out. Batman glanced at him and said: "You did well. Now we're going up—you won't come here again."

Jason tried to stand using the Kid's shoulder, but Batman simply picked him up. Jason struggled: "Put me down! Damn it!"

His foot was swollen; as soon as he moved his leg, pain shot through his ankle—he cried out "Ow!" and bit his fist again, silent.

On the surface, Batman asked them: "Did the people chasing you see your faces?"

"I'm not sure, but they had flashlights—they probably saw Jason."

Batman carried Jason to the car, placed him in the back seat, and said: "You two stay at my base for a couple days—it's fully equipped."

Without waiting for Jason's protest, he started the car and took Jason and the Kid to a temporary outpost in the southern suburbs.

Batman's base had everything—both kids were awestruck, especially Jason.

Originally, being carried like a child had made him uncomfortable, but once he saw the advanced gear and abundant supplies, his eyes lit up; his initial reluctance vanished, replaced by eager curiosity as he touched and examined everything.

The Kid turned to Batman: "Was our intel useful?"

Batman nodded: "At least now I know the main boss isn't some street thug—he's connected to the Twelve Families, possibly even one of them."

"And just now, two high-ranking members of the Lawrence and Hawk families were murdered in succession…"

"Also, Jason heard the superior urging them to raise funds quickly for the main boss—the main boss may have learned something…"

Here, Batman told the two children: "Don't go out these days—the streets may be extremely dangerous."

After settling Jason and the Kid, Batman returned to Wayne Manor but couldn't rest—he pulled out the Bible and the Gospels and began searching for stories about the twelve disciples.

If few knew the story of Jesus and his twelve disciples, the tale of Jesus and Judas was nearly universally known—and Judas was one of Jesus's twelve disciples.

Reading deep into the night, Batman recorded every detail, then dragged his exhausted body upstairs to sleep.

After utter darkness, when he opened his eyes again, he found himself back at the entrance of Wayne Manor, and four familiar figures stood in the alley outside.