Chapter 3322

Cat Getan's night is forever immersed in asphalt-like deep black. Lead-gray cloud layers press low against the black high-rises climbing layer by layer, and the drone lights wandering between the buildings flicker like the electrocardiogram of a dying patient.

The red and blue flashing light of the neon signs spasms in the rain curtain, spreading like blood vessels on the exterior walls of the buildings, illuminating the clown graffiti with a wide laughing mouth, and merging with the fleeting car lights at the alley entrance.

In the night sky torn by the shrill sound of police sirens, the screens on the building curtain walls light up all the way from the Lower District to the Upper District.

The same face appeared on all the screens—a terrifying visage, corroded beyond recognition by chemicals, that made one's heart race just by looking at it.

The terrifying freak revealed a crazy laugh at the camera, as if telling everyone in Cat Getan that the nightmare the City of Darkness had lost for so long had returned.

"Good evening, Cat Getan. Your old friend appears here again, hoping to share some good news with you—remember that wonderful Death Pool?"

"This is a quite creative idea." The person on the screen stretched out a finger and pointed at his own head, saying, "And I, the Clown, decided to help the genius artist realize his crazy idea—starting tonight!"

"Cheer, tonight is the moment the high walls collapse; applaud, tonight is the time the flames burn; roar, tonight is the time the waterfall breaks its dam; weep and wail, tonight—I will let everyone obtain true freedom!"

The Clown's shrill laughter echoed in every corner of the city. Countless lights that had just lit up were extinguished because of this, but more panicked and uneasy points of light lit up. The largest and brightest one, like the moon, was the Bat-Signal lit in the Lower District.

Batman arrived as promised. But what he saw was not James Gordon, but a little red-haired girl. Fiona moved the angle of the Bat-Signal with some effort, not noticing the shadow gradually approaching behind her at all.

Not until Batman coughed lightly did Fiona turn around. She was clearly startled, but tried hard to calm down, leaning against the Bat-Signal with her hands behind her back, saying:

"Good evening, Batman. I didn't expect you to really come."

"How did you know I wasn't dead?"

"James told me. He said if blowing up your house could kill you, then Batman would have died long ago. Then he gave me this big lightbulb and let me try to see if I could call you."

"Does he have something to ask me?"

"It's me who has something to ask you." Fiona said, "Did you watch the Clown's speech just now?"

Batman didn't answer her, and Fiona said to herself: "He kidnapped those rich people. He said he would make them pay the price. Do you think he can do it?"

"You shouldn't listen to any words from that lunatic." Batman said.

"If he really can do it, will you stop him?" Fiona stared tightly at Batman's eyes, the gaze so scorching that Batman felt his own eyeballs were being burned.

"I will stop the Clown's conspiracy." Batman said, "You don't have to worry about this."

"Why do you want to do this?" Fiona's questioning tone made Batman pause.

"What?" He asked.

"If the Clown can make that group of rich people pay the price for the evil things they've done, why do you want to stop him? Just because he has offended you?"

Fiona took another step forward and said: "You would say that if people are guilty, they should be judged by the law. But the law has never judged this group of people. So if someone can replace the law and make them pay the price they deserve, and you go to stop this person, are you really upholding justice?"

"Violence is not the way to solve problems."

"Then why did you appear?"

Fiona didn't care about Batman's silence. She still looked at Batman's eyes and said: "We have waited for this day for too long. If you don't intend to stand on our side, then pretend you are already dead. This is out of consideration for the fact that you did indeed protect some of us, that I am giving this reminder."

"Batman, the taste of being framed is not pleasant. But if one day, the crime that brings you to judgment is no longer groundless, but you have truly done something that disappoints everyone, at the moment you stand in court, how will you face yourself?"

Fiona took two steps back and said: "No matter who blew up Wei En Manor, he gave you a chance to stay out of it. If you can still listen to my advice, then pretend you died in that explosion; before dawn, do not appear."

After speaking, Fiona looked at him one last time and turned to walk toward another door in the room.

Batman finally sobered up. From Fiona's words, he realized a fact—Shiler didn't blow up Wei En Manor on a whim.

Even at this point, this doctor still gave him a chance to escape.

Bruce Wei En is dead. Batman disappears from here on, and no one would find it strange. He has sufficient reasons not to show up, not to face anything tonight, just find a warm nest to hide in and quietly wait for dawn.

Should he do this? Batman asked himself in his heart. Should he let the Clown act as the executioner, send those whom the law cannot judge to hell, and look forward to all problems being solved just like that?

The moment this question appeared in Batman's heart, the alert sound of the communicator was like a ghost, making Batman's heart skip a beat.

"Where are you, Batman? Did you see the Clown's speech?" The Pale Knight's somewhat anxious voice came from the other end, "You should be able to find out where the Clown kidnapped those people in the surveillance, right? We have to hurry and save them!"

Listening to the eerie silence on the other end of the phone, the Pale Knight's action of changing out of his hospital gown paused. He slowly stood up straight and said to the phone: "Batman, what are you thinking? Why haven't you taken action immediately?"

"Give me a reason to do so." Batman said.

"What?"

"They treat crime as an investment." Batman's voice grew deeper, sounding as if it had sunk to the bottom of a sea thousands of meters deep, "Investments always have risks, don't they?"

The hand the Pale Knight used to hold the phone began to turn white, and he roared toward the other end: "What are you thinking! Batman?! Haven't you realized your mistake yet?"

"Yes, I am wrong." Batman finally said these words. His heart finally calmed down as well, "What will truly make them afraid is not people taking out the weapon of the law, but people putting down the law and taking out weapons."

"It's not your mistake, but our mistake." The Pale Knight said quickly, "Our mistake before was hoping that improving social welfare could save Cat Getan. And now your mistake is hoping that killing all the rich people can save Cat Getan. Can you sober up!"

The Pale Knight's words were like a basin of ice water poured on Batman's head. He heard the Pale Knight continue:

"The Clown is misleading us onto another wrong path. That is letting us think we can solve all problems with one night of slaughter. But in fact, it fucking doesn't work at all!"

"Use your world's most genius brain to think carefully. How much possibility do we have to take over all the leaderless industries in one night, ensure that nothing will be stolen by anyone, and finally use it to harm ordinary people?"

Batman suddenly sobered up. According to his investigation, besides the elite class, Cat Getan also had the Order Sect hidden in the dark.

Now killing all the rich people, the chaos triggered at the economic level, I'm afraid, will not improve the lives of ordinary people, but will let the Order Sect eat its fill.

He knew the Clown didn't have such good intentions!

Batman tried hard to suppress the negative emotions in his heart. Recently he had done this action too many times, leading to the effect getting worse and worse. But after spending a little time, he still managed it.

Batman, who had briefly regained his sanity, took a deep breath and said: "Wei En Manor was blown up, which affected my Batcave. Recently I've been operating in the lab at Wei En Tower."

"I'm coming over right away." The Pale Knight put on his coat and said, "The lesson I learned from the last failure is to never think about solving problems in one night. No night works!"

The city neon blurred into melted sugar in the rain curtain, flowing toward the road surface with the rain, crushed by the speeding wheels, and splashing out brilliant rainbow light.

The metal bridge frame of the Cat Getan Bridge reflected several distorted afterimages.

The noise on the police frequency pierced the car radio: "All units attention, the target vehicle is breaking through the third blockade—"

The Challenger's engine suddenly burst with eerie blue flames, and the tailpipe sprayed rain mist mixed with the smell of gasoline. The tires plowed black scars several meters long on the wet road, and the sparks rubbed off during the drift turn ignited the billboard materials installed halfway on the side of the road, with flames soaring into the sky on the road.

The police car windshield wipers swung wildly at the highest setting, but the windshield was still covered with a blood-colored halo—the oil tanker behind was hit by a stray bullet, and the moment the mushroom cloud rose, the sky full of burning dollar bills was reflected in the rearview mirror.

The figure in the driver's seat slammed on the brakes. The two police cars in the rearview mirror swerved hard. The moment the roadblock was knocked away, the Challenger's chassis scraped against the bridge deck, shooting out a string of red sparks.

Just as the Pale Knight turned into this intersection, two police cars that had lost control due to emergency braking swerved and crashed toward his side. Immediately after, the Challenger's massive body knocked away the rearview mirror on one side of him.

With a "bang", half of the Pale Knight's body hit the steering wheel, and his ribs were so painful he almost lost consciousness.

Bruce leaned out and blew a sharp whistle. The Pale Knight gritted his teeth fiercely. Just at the moment he wanted to step on the gas, the smell of blood drifting in the night wind made him forcibly restrain his actions. He pushed open the car door and looked back.

The two police officers in the police car were all unconscious due to the violent impact, one of them bleeding from the head. The Pale Knight hurriedly got out of the car, tore open the car door, and dragged the officer out.

The impact was not severe, and the person was still conscious. The Pale Knight hurriedly dialed the ambulance number. But the oil tanker explosion that had just happened on Cat Getan Bridge and the unburned dollar bills scattered everywhere had caused an unprecedented traffic jam. It was impossible for an ambulance to drive over.

Thin fingers touched the gun at his waist. The Pale Knight took a deep breath, only then suppressing the anger in his heart. He turned his head sharply and happened to see Bruce's smiling face reflected in the rearview mirror.

Several police cars chasing from behind drove over. The Pale Knight handed the injured policeman to his companion and got back into the car himself.

With a roar of the engine, the two cars were one in front of the other. Two bright meteor tracks appeared in the steel rain line.

(End of chapter)