Chapter 3277: Bloodshed in the New City (37)

When Gordon brought Fiers back to the police station, Batman was already waiting in his office.

Gordon was truly furious this time; he could not tolerate Fiers provoking him like this, so he ignored Batman entirely and walked straight into the interrogation room.

In Cat Getan, the status of the police is not high, and no wealthy person fears them. But they do not fear the police because they do not commit crimes—or, to be precise, because the law cannot judge the crimes they commit.

When facing them, the police have always been helpless, because every officer understands that even if you arrest these people, they have ten thousand ways to absolve themselves.

In the end, they suffer no losses, but the police who arrested them might be held in a grudge. Therefore, Cat Getan's police have always avoided provoking the wealthy.

However, the premise of this situation is that there is truly no way to convict them. Their cases remain within the scope of their ability to smooth things over; once a case is heinous and the evidence is ironclad, the police will arrest them.

Over so many years, it is not as if no wealthy people have gone to jail. The main reason this group has fallen is that they were framed by their own peers. As long as the case is heinous enough, the impact is great enough, and the evidence is sufficient, it is still possible to make them roll into prison.

For this reason, elite individuals generally do not offend the police to the death; even with officers who have not been bought off by them, they mostly maintain a superficial peace.

The main reason Gordon, as police commissioner, has been able to hold his position until now is that he cannot be bought by anyone. Thus, to everyone, he is neutral and safe, so most people are willing to give him face; as long as it does not involve core interests, they will not deliberately make things difficult for him.

Furthermore, in order to use the power of the police to suppress the common people, they help the police strengthen their prestige, at least maintaining a facade of respect and fear toward the police so as not to leave themselves open to criticism.

They understand that Gordon has no fondness for their group, so they usually do not touch his bad luck. The two sides maintain a delicate balance, living in peace for many years.

This balance actually has its benefits; the police can free up more time to deal with the affairs of ordinary people and improve Cat Getan's security situation. One unit of energy spent on elite individuals can improve the situation by at least three units.

For this reason, Gordon is also willing to give them face; as long as it is not particularly excessive and does not cause harm to ordinary people, Gordon will not deliberately go against them.

But this time, Fiers went too far, leaving Gordon absolutely no room to maneuver. If this can be endured, what cannot?

If he does not manage this matter, then no one will listen to him in the future. If anyone can just kill someone and throw them at the police station door, then he might as well quit being commissioner and go home to shovel manure.

Gordon entered the interrogation room and did not come out. Batman waited in the office for half a day, unable to get a hold of Gordon at all.

Batman really wanted to remain objective, but he felt that one time going wrong is a coincidence, two times is probability, but every single time going wrong—is there really no one pulling strings behind the scenes?

Batman came to find Gordon, of course, to discuss the gambling matter. This matter was clearly not that simple; if preparations were not made, it could trigger a huge disaster. He needed Gordon to cooperate with him.

With no other choice, Batman had to go downstairs to find other officers. Fortunately, at yesterday's barbecue party, most of the officers had come to know him; seeing him arrive, they greeted him warmly and explained what had just happened.

By this time, Toke's body had already been taken away, but the bloodstains had not been completely cleaned up. Batman looked around the hall, roughly reconstructing the perpetrator's process.

Just as he was deducing, several officers from the forensics department walked in with documents; seeing Batman, they nodded at him but headed straight for the interrogation room.

Batman walked to the side of the interrogation room, wanting to hear what they were discussing. The officer guarding the door originally wanted to drive him away, but when Gordon saw him arrive, he called him in as well.

"Chief, the medical examiner's report shows that the knife wounds on his body were not fatal. The true fatal wound is a puncture wound at the throat. Judging from the shape of the wound, the murder weapon should be a slender fruit knife."

"Furthermore, some fructose components were found at the fatal wound. This means the knife might have been used to cut fruit just a few minutes ago. We tested the concentration of fructose, and the preliminary deduction is that it should be an apple."

Just after saying this, a commotion came from outside the hall door. A young officer walked in holding a small box and said, "Someone just sent this over."

"Who?"

"He said his name is Fiers."

Gordon took the box and opened it; inside the box was, shockingly, an apple and a knife.

The skin of the apple had been peeled, and it had been bitten once. The knife was stained with blood, and there were fingerprints on the handle.

Gordon immediately handed the box to the forensics team, looked at Fiers with the gaze of someone looking at a dead man, and without saying a word, left the interrogation room.

"You came to find me about the gambling matter, right?" After walking out the door, Gordon looked at Batman and said bluntly, "Your psychologist says your mental state is very poor. I think you should go rest."

"I don't have a psychologist," Batman said. "If it was Schiller who told you this, then he is just sowing discord between us."

"I am just concerned about you, not trying to force you to do anything," Gordon shook his head and said. "You know that the person who would forcefully demand things of you is no longer here. If you still cannot adapt to this kind of friendly concern, then you will make him sad as well."

Batman did not respond; he tried to steer the topic back on track. He said, "Young Fiers is not the type to come up with such an idea; there must be someone behind the scenes giving him advice."

Gordon shook his head and said, "Now is not a good time to look for the mastermind. The invitations have already been sent out; as far as I know, at least a hundred people are participating in the gambling, and every single one is a prominent figure in Cat Getan. The stakes have already become unimaginably high."

"Although, based on the evidence we have in hand, young Fiers is highly likely to be sent to court, the casino owned by the Fiers family is legal. We cannot seal it at this time."

"You can seal it temporarily," Batman said, "because a murder case occurred there. You can use the investigation as a reason to make them close for a few days."

"True, that is possible, but I cannot do that," Gordon looked at Batman and said. "Pandora's box has already been opened. With so many people interested in the gambling, they won't stop gambling just because one casino is sealed. They will just change to another place to gamble."

"Now that we have evidence of young Fiers' crime in our hands, perhaps we can move old Fiers to let this gambling take place under our noses. This at least ensures that it won't cause too much chaos."

"And if we let some unknown person take over, they won't have any scruples; instead, they will let the stakes continue to inflate and let the game grow larger and larger. That is when it will be a true disaster."

Batman frowned; he certainly knew that what Gordon said made sense, but he proposed another possibility. He said, "Is it possible that the other party sent the key evidence precisely to make you think this way?"

"To make you think everything is under control, so you won't use the GTO to interfere with the gambling, so that his plan can proceed smoothly."

Gordon thought of Schiller, whom he had seen at the entrance of the Fiers casino; he felt that Batman was right, but even knowing this, he had no other choice.

"There is that possibility, but regardless, I cannot gamble," Gordon looked at Batman and said. "Batman, our identities are different, so our perspectives on problems are naturally different."

"I envy that you can let go and fight crime, but you must also understand my desire to maintain stability. Maintaining stability is the best situation for the vast majority of ordinary people; even if maintaining stability might be helping someone else complete their plan, I must do it."

Batman knew this matter could not be discussed further, but fortunately, this was not the first time. He and Gordon had always sought common ground while reserving differences. So he said, "I will go to the casino tonight to investigate and get the list of people who placed bets. You need to take your men to Arkham Asylum."

Gordon was clearly also thinking, and he said, "If nothing goes wrong, this time it is winner-takes-all; someone will definitely want to interfere. Arkham Asylum is the only breakthrough."

"Toke is dead, and Arkham Asylum currently has no warden. Although the security facilities established previously are still effective, if there is an unexpected situation, someone must be able to respond. I will have the GTO stay there for these few days to prevent anyone from causing trouble."

Batman shook his head and said, "You cannot put all your manpower there; it is too remote. If something happens within the city, they might not be able to return in time."

"That really is a trouble," Gordon sighed deeply and said. "If only all the criminals were locked up there, but unfortunately, the most dangerous one is currently wandering outside. This simply leaves us unable to be in two places at once."

Batman naturally also thought of the new Joker, Maria. Now, except for her, almost all dangerous criminals were locked in the asylum. If she were also inside, they could concentrate all their strength on the asylum.

But unfortunately, the new Joker had not shown her face since the Charabanc Chemical Plant explosion. Her period of silence was longer than ever before, which meant she likely had some other major move planned.

Batman could not help but start thinking again: if someone deliberately arranged this gambling, then what was their purpose?

Or, to stop beating around the bush, what was Schiller's purpose in setting up this game? Batman had not yet seen where the true trap lay.

At this moment, an officer knocked on the door and walked into the reception room. He told Gordon, "The examination of the apple and the fruit knife has been completed; there is Fiers' saliva on the apple, and his fingerprints on the handle of the fruit knife. The evidence is ironclad and undeniable."

"According to New Jersey law, this type of heinous case is non-bailable. Fiers will spend the next period of time in prison."

"And old Fiers is already too old; he likely lacks the energy to manage such a large casino. The Fiers East Coast Paradise will have to be handed over to his only remaining son to manage."

As Batman left the Cat Getan Police Department, he thought that in high society, the dispute between the two Fiers brothers was no secret. In the end, young Fiers took the casino, which proved he was stronger than his brother.

And now that his brother had finally taken back the casino and taken over the gambling game that young Fiers had created—which had exploded in popularity in high society overnight—he must be rubbing his hands, wanting to show off his skills.

He himself did not have that kind of brain and could not think of any good methods; young Fiers' people would not be used by him, so the only person he could rely on was the one who helped him take the casino.

Batman did not need to think to know that person must be Schiller.

It was just that this whole process was too familiar; wasn't that how the Charabanc family fell?

Batman suddenly realized that the elite class, which he and the Pale Knight had always considered invincible, was not that powerful after all. When they were held in Schiller's palm, they were as fragile as eggshells that would shatter at a pinch.

But if Schiller was right, then was the predicament they had experienced before because their walking posture was wrong, or was the path they were taking fundamentally wrong? ===== CHAPTER 3278 =====