Chapter 3255: Blood-Spattered New City (15)

Watching the man's back as he left the café, Lu Si's expression darkened. She silently recalled the intelligence Schiller had just shared regarding the drugs and the Mayor's usual medication schedule, her brain racing.

The Joker was an insurmountable obstacle standing between Batman and the Pale Knight.

Batman could not cooperate with the Pale Knight without reservations, not only because of what the Joker had done in the past, but also because the Joker had never truly left. If the medication failed, the Pale Knight could revert to that madman at any moment.

How could Batman rely on such a person?

Lu Si tapped her fingers on the table. Suddenly, her phone rang. She picked it up, answered, and her face quickly turned grim.

"What did you say? Something happened at the Charabanc Chemical Plant? Protesters went to the Natural Woodlands? How did they know... Batman! It's Batman again!"

After hanging up, Lu Si slammed her phone onto the table. She thought that Schiller was right; Batman could use their own methods against them because he was one of them—no one understood them better than he did.

The funds in Batman's hands might not be enough to take down GTO in a head-on competition, but he could certainly cause them enough trouble to keep them from participating, thereby keeping the blade in his own hands.

They couldn't drag this out any longer, Lu Si thought. A centipede dies but never falls; if Batman was determined to cause them trouble, their losses would be significant. And if GTO truly fell into Batman's hands, their good days would be over.

"Hello? Dean Toke? Have you checked the pharmacy lately? I heard someone stole raw materials from the Arkham Asylum pharmacy and made a psychiatric drug."

"You saw the news earlier, right? The kind of drug Batman fed the Joker after beating him up. I don't know who made it, but if you investigate the pharmacy, you should know what the raw materials are. Organize them and send them to me as soon as possible."

"I remember you have a few old classmates working in pharmaceutical company labs who are experts in this field. I need them in Cat Getan within three days. They can name their price."

"Fine. Then help me tell them I need to research an antidote that can suppress the effects of the psychiatric drug the Mayor is taking. Yes, a drug that makes the one he's taking ineffective."

Lu Si hung up and dialed another number: "Old Gun, find me a skilled thief, the kind who can get into Wei En Manor. No, not to steal anything valuable. I need him to help me steal the medicine in the Mayor's possession."

"I don't need all of it, just a sample. I'll give him 200,000... 500,000, no more than that. An extra 100,000 commission for you. Go tonight, and bring it to me tomorrow morning."

Schiller returned to Wei En Manor. Batman had already returned. He didn't seem to realize the Pale Knight had left; seeing Schiller, he only raised his eyes slightly and said nothing.

"May I ask you a question?" Schiller walked to the opposite side of Batman's desk and sat down quite naturally.

Batman remained silent.

"Do you know Selina? Selina Kyle."

Batman still didn't speak, so Schiller had to say it.

"Catwoman."

Batman's hand, which was writing, paused. He asked, "That thief? Why are you asking about her?"

"Nothing. Has she ever stolen from your home?"

"No." Batman's answer was very flat. He said, "Thieves can't get into Wei En Manor."

"How exactly can they not get in?"

Batman didn't speak, so Schiller had to continue: "If I needed her to get in, could you let her in?"

"Let who? Catwoman?"

Schiller nodded.

"Why let her in?"

"Just tell me if you can or not."

Batman stopped speaking again, and Schiller didn't seem to care about his silent attitude.

Batman discovered that this mysterious visitor didn't seem to care about people's attitudes toward him; he didn't even care about being rejected. This wasn't a feigned composure; he acted as if, "If you refuse, I have other ways."

Batman didn't know where he got his confidence, but he knew that the "other ways" in his heart wouldn't be good ones.

"The automatic alarm system at Wei En Manor reports the identity of everyone who enters," Batman suddenly said. "It goes directly to my personal communication device, and the defense system will activate."

"Can it be turned off tonight?"

"Why turn it off?"

"If I said it was to curry favor with your future girlfriend in advance, would you believe me?"

Batman's movements stopped completely. He stared at Schiller's face, seemingly trying to find evidence of his nonsense, but unfortunately, he found nothing.

Schiller stood up from the chair, sat on the sofa, and with his back to Batman, said: "I just did a trivial bit of work, which made some people focus their attention on the medicine the Pale Knight is taking. They think the Pale Knight is still at your house, so they will likely send a thief here to steal some medicine samples for research."

"Ordinary thieves won't come near here; only those who are highly skilled, bold, and very short on money would dare. I guess Catwoman would take this job. If nothing goes wrong, she will come tonight."

"The Pale Knight left?" Batman really hadn't noticed this, because at the time, Schiller had used gray mist to transport the Pale Knight out without leaving any traces, so Batman naturally didn't know.

"Yes, he left. After all, he has troubled you for a long time. I thank you on his behalf."

"Who is eyeing his medicine?"

"In any case, it won't be you, the Dark Knight who always has saving Cat Getan on his lips, but when someone does it better than you, you don't want to save his life."

"He won't eat what I give him," Batman said.

"If you say so." After Schiller stood up, he said: "For certain reasons, I must see Catwoman, so I hope you can turn off the defense system tonight."

"What if I say no?"

After a few seconds of silence, Schiller said: "Fine."

Those two short words gave Batman a very bad premonition.

Schiller walked straight out of the manor, leaving Batman with no room to go back on his word. He really understood this man less and less.

From a normal person's logic, this kind of refusal should actually be the signal for negotiations to begin, meaning you should propose conditions or even just throw out some intelligence, asking for a high price and settling for less.

But Schiller didn't seem to want to negotiate with anyone, as if even making him pay a tiny condition would be like taking his life.

But he didn't seem purely stingy; it wasn't a conservative "I don't want to pay, and I don't want to gain," but rather a greedy "I don't pay, and I have my own ways to get everything I want."

Schiller, having walked out of the manor, picked up his phone and called Bruce, saying: "Where is the freeze cannon?"

Bruce, who was napping on another hospital bed, was startled.

"What? What cannon?"

"I said, where is the cannon you got before that can freeze Cat Getan?"

"On a mountain more than 60 kilometers east of the Cat Getan Bridge. Why?"

"Besides you, who else knows the location of this cannon?"

"This thing was made by Maria; Maria should know."

"Do you think a bank clerk can build this kind of freeze cannon?"

"Uh, it seems not. Then who could it be? Oh, I know, it must be Victor, right? He's best at messing with this stuff."

"What conditions are needed to start the cannon?"

"It needs an electronic code. I hacked into the control system of this thing and changed the code to my own, so now only I can start it."

"Good, I know."

After Bruce hung up, he felt baffled, but he had a bad premonition, so he pushed awake the Pale Knight, who was also sleeping, and told him about Schiller's questions just now.

The Pale Knight climbed up nimbly and said: "Hurry to the cannon. I'm afraid he's going to start it."

"Impossible, he doesn't have the code, and that thing isn't something just anyone can crack." Although Bruce said this, he still climbed up quickly and drove toward that side.

Schiller's car was one step ahead of them.

Stepping on the drumbeats of the sunset like jazz, the car drove into the mountains. While driving, Schiller took his phone and said to the other side: "Commissioner Gordon, I have something to ask of you."

"What is it?"

"Send someone to find Victor the Freeze. You should know where his lab is, right? If you can't find him in the lab, then let GTO go to the mountain 60 kilometers east of the Cat Getan Bridge."

"What's going on? What happened to the Freeze?"

"You know Maria isn't dead, right?"

"Yes, but she was severely injured. You didn't see her, did you?"

"If you were Maria, would you find a hospital to be treated in peace, or choose to quickly get your hands on a weapon of mass destruction that can freeze all of Cat Getan?"

"If it were me, of course I'd go for treatment, but Maria is a madwoman!... Damn it, I ignored that point. She wouldn't have gone to start the cannon, would she?"

"She isn't that stupid. She knows someone hacked the cannon's control system and changed the code, and without the code, she can't start this thing. But she has other ways."

In the police station, Gordon, holding the phone, was stunned for a moment, then rushed out of the office, shouting to the outside: "GTO assemble! Go to Professor Fries's lab! Be quick!"

Dozens of cars marked with the Special Anti-Terrorist Squad logo drove out of the police station, and the sound of sirens resounded through the streets and alleys of Cat Getan.

Nightwing led the team and rushed into Victor Fries's lab, only to see a mess; many things had been smashed, and a small amount of blood was splattered on the ground.

The car stopped steadily at the entrance of the valley. Schiller took out his ringing phone, and Gordon's slightly anxious voice came from the other side.

"Professor Fries is indeed gone. There are signs of a struggle at the scene. He might have been kidnapped! We found half a footprint; it looks like it should be a woman's. It's very likely Maria!"

"Stay calm, Commissioner." Schiller's tone still had no fluctuations. He said: "This is within expectations. I am working on solving this problem."

"Don't be impulsive," Gordon urged. "That madwoman is not easy to deal with. GTO will be there soon."

Hanging up the phone, Schiller said silently in his heart: "Maria is not easy to deal with, but there are even harder ones."

The cannon was mounted on the top of the mountain, but the equipment that gave the cannon its function was hidden in an air-raid shelter in the mountain. At this time, in the dark cave, a figure was leaning against the wall and saying in a hoarse voice.

"I am a low-temperature physicist, not a hacker. I have no way to hack into the system and change the code back. Kidnapping me is useless."

Another figure appeared particularly terrifying. She was not wearing clothes, but fragments of fabric were stuck to her body. The skin all over her body was severely corroded, almost like a skinned medical teaching aid.

From her physique, it could be seen that this was a woman, but her hair had been completely corroded away, and her facial features had disappeared, leaving only the hollows of her eyes, nose, and mouth. At this time, she was operating the panel with corroded fingers of different lengths.

This terrifying monster woman looked like she was at the end of her rope, blood foam constantly flowing from her mouth, repeating curses like a madwoman.

"I want to destroy them, I want to destroy this city, I want to kill them all..."

"I can give you a chance." A voice suddenly appeared behind this monster woman.

The monster woman turned her head suddenly, but felt a sharp pain in her neck. She saw a needle stuck in her neck.

The bright red liquid inside was slowly injecting into her body.

Her vision gradually blurred, but the sharp pain coming from all over her body slowly disappeared, replaced by an indescribable euphoria, and the crazy laughter gradually bursting from her chest.

When the GTO squad led by Nightwing arrived, they only saw a figure stand up from the pool of blood, and a burst of crazy laughter echoed in the cave.

"... Hahahahahahahahahaha!" ===== CHAPTER 3256 =====