Chapter 3863

The Arkham Batman stood in the dimly lit underground parking garage. The scanner in his cowl marked three nearby security cameras in red. The three cameras looked unremarkable, even a bit old. But he felt as though he could already see eyes opening upon them.

"I need to cut contact for a while," he said to Barbara, pressing the earpiece on his cowl.

"No, Batman," Barbara's voice was full of worry. "That guy is formidable; he's the most dangerous agent I've ever seen. If you don't use technical means, you might be at a disadvantage."

"It's meaningless now, Barbara," Arkham Batman said, choosing not to call Barbara by her codename. "No one is his match on the internet. It can tamper with all information. We cannot possibly find Shiler using any modern technical means."

"What? You mean that electronic lifeform? He and Shiler are working together?!"

"They might not have been before, but ever since I started hunting Shiler, they have been." Having said that, Arkham Batman cut the communication. Just as he prepared to walk toward the only exit of the underground parking garage, a violent sound of a vehicle explosion and flames erupted behind him.

The new Ford that Shiler had switched to was much better than the old black Chevrolet from before, featuring an advanced intelligent control system. Shiler drove it to the old town district and found a place to park, but he didn't rush to get out. Instead, while organizing the equipment in his case, he muttered to himself, "You lured Batman over? If I'm not mistaken, you're going to lead him to a nearby parking garage. You don't intend to kill him with a vehicle explosion, do you? Then you're underestimating Batman too much."

After speaking, without waiting for a response, Shiler picked up the case and got out of the car. He looked around and stepped in one direction.

There weren't many high-rise buildings in the old town district, and the view was good. Shiler arrived at the roof of the tallest building nearby, assembled the sniper rifle from the case, and after more than ten minutes of calibration and test firing, he aimed the muzzle at the street corner where the car was parked.

The familiar roar approached from afar. The moment the Batmobile appeared within the scope's field of vision—Bang!

The large-caliber sniper bullet blew out the Batmobile's tire. The car lost control and skidded to one side. To prevent the Batmobile from crashing directly into a shop with people inside, Arkham Batman chose the most dangerous course of action: turning the steering wheel in the other direction.

This method obviously couldn't control the Batmobile, causing the car to spin and fly out instead. Very predictably, the moment the car body lost control, magical light surged, and the Batmobile flew up right where it was.

But it was those few seconds of loss of control, and the instant required to activate the magic core, that meant when the Batmobile flew to the roof of the building, there was no longer anyone there.

Arkham Batman stood on the empty roof, picked up his phone, and dialed a number.

Shiler in the car put the phone to his ear.

"Do you still remember who you work for, Agent Rodriguez?"

"Of course, Mr. President. The salary you paid me has turned into the bullet I fired at your dear adopted son. Don't you think I'm more efficient than the Joker?"

"Stay where you are and wait for my people to come find you. Unless you want to have your leg bones crushed by the Batmobile like the previous criminals."

"I believe you won't have that opportunity. But you can try to prove it to me. I'm waiting."

Shiler hung up the phone, tossed it onto the passenger seat, and drove all the way toward the Cat Getan Bridge.

Arkham Batman, standing on the roof, seemed to have suddenly thought of something. He dialed a number on his phone and said, "Commissioner Gordon, drop everything you're doing and take men to blockade the Cat Getan Bridge."

Almost simultaneously, the intelligent navigation system in the Ford changed the original route. The blue arrow shifted from the left to the right, and the original direction of the Cat Getan Bridge was marked in red for congestion.

Shiler did not change his route, still turning left at the next intersection, driving all the way toward the Cat Getan Bridge. Before he reached the bridge, the navigation route changed several times, all guiding him to bypass the bridge.

Just as Shiler was less than 200 meters from the bridge, even able to see the police badges of the officers on duty at the bridgehead, the car's navigation system emitted a "beep-beep" alarm. As the distance closed, the alarm became louder and more urgent... Suddenly, Shiler felt the steering wheel in his hand go loose.

As the police drew their pistols, the car made a 180-degree sharp turn in front of them, drove directly into the oncoming lane, and headed back in the direction it had come from.

Gordon, guarding the bridgehead, cursed, got into a car with his subordinate officers, and chased after the white Ford. The white Ford led in front, a dozen police cars chased behind, and there were helicopters in the sky.

"It's fine, he won't get far," the officer driving said. "The city is very congested now; he won't be able to drive many blocks before getting stuck. He can't get on the interstate highway in this direction either. We'll be off work soon."

But Gordon felt it wasn't that simple. He wanted to call out over the radio, but for some reason, he couldn't access the police frequency at all. Other frequencies were also full of electronic noise. He slapped the steering wheel in anger and could only continue to accelerate, chasing the white Ford into the city.

Yet this Ford seemed to be able to predict the future; it not only bypassed all congested sections but also circled half the city, looking like it was about to get on the interstate highway.

At this moment, the Batmobile drove over from the opposite lane again, charging directly toward Shiler's car from the front. Shiler neither hit the brakes nor turned the steering wheel, charging toward the Batmobile without dodging or avoiding it.

The Ford suddenly twisted, scraping past the edge of the Batmobile, but because there wasn't much space left for evasion, it flipped off the road. The car rolled down the hillside, and when Shiler opened the door and crawled out, fresh blood was flowing down his temple.

He let out a soft sigh, turned, bent down, and dragged the briefcase out of the car again, but tossed the briefcase to one side, fished a cigarette out of his coat pocket, lowered his head to light it, and then looked up at Arkham Batman, who was walking down the hillside.

Batman's tall figure and the cape flapping in the night wind made him look like a god of death. The thick aura of anger he carried resonated with the rumbling thunder in the sky. The light of the cigarette in Shiler's hand flickered in the layers of rain.

"Why did you shoot Jason?" Arkham Batman asked.

"You don't think you can really hire a Shiler without side effects, do you?" Shiler's slightly teasing voice penetrated the rain. "I am an agent. I will do anything to complete a mission. Violence is my specialty, and it's the same when applied to anyone."

"You shouldn't have touched Jason." Arkham Batman's voice grew deeper.

"There is no 'should' or 'shouldn't', only 'can' or 'can't'. Obviously, when you were hiding in your safe little paradise, you never thought about how dangerous it was to leave your adopted son alone outside."

"I really shouldn't have left you alone outside."

The moment Arkham Batman's words fell, he punched Shiler in the cheekbone. Bang! Blood flowed down the corner of Shiler's mouth, his body tilted to the right, but he took advantage of the moment Arkham Batman was retracting his strike to raise his gun. Arkham Batman grabbed his wrist with quick eyes and fast hands. Bang!

The muzzle flash illuminated the night sky for a moment. The direction of the shot was off by a bit, so it missed. Arkham Batman wanted to take the opportunity to disarm him, but the headlights of the car behind Shiler suddenly turned on. The sudden bright light caused Arkham Batman to lose his vision for a few seconds. He reached forward, wanting to grab Shiler's neck, but was nimbly dodged. He felt Shiler break free, and by the time his vision recovered, Shiler had already disappeared.

Gordon led the police down from the hillside. Arkham Batman stood where he was, staring at the Cat Getan River behind the vehicles. Raindrops kicked up thick white mist on the river surface. The moonlight was thin, the tree shadows were heavy, and nothing could be seen clearly.

"Take the car back for inspection," Arkham Batman said to Gordon before turning and leaving.

Downstream of the Cat Getan River, about a mile away from the scene, Shiler grabbed the reeds by the water, crawled ashore from the river, shook the water off the briefcase, and took off his coat to wring it out.

Suddenly, the light of a flashlight turned on. Over a dozen agents rushed out from behind the trees and bushes nearby, each holding a pistol. The light of the tactical flashlight kept lingering on Shiler's face, making his gray eyes almost turn colorless, leaving only the darkest pupils in the center.

"Put down what's in your hand!" Shiler heard a familiar voice. Shiler did not move.

"Put down what's in your hand! (Russian)" A head of red hair was illuminated by the shaking light of the flashlight like a flame burning through the dark night.

Shiler slowly bent down and put down the briefcase.

"Raise your hands, let me see your hands! (Russian)"

Shiler slowly raised his hands, seeing Natasha finally walk in front of him with a gun.

"You actually came back," Shiler said.

"After finishing that phone call with you, I felt something was wrong. You really did stir up quite a commotion." Natasha held her pistol, squinting her eyes as she looked at Shiler and said, "Don't blame me for not giving you face. The President named you specifically to be captured; I'm afraid you have to come back with us."

"What if I say no?"

"You can't run," Natasha said. "Or do you insist on trading a few blows with me before you go?"

Before the words were finished, Shiler bent down directly, picked up the briefcase, and blocked a bullet from Natasha. Bang.

Then he threw the briefcase over, hitting Natasha squarely on the right shoulder. Natasha's figure tilted, Shiler took the opportunity to snatch the gun and pulled the trigger. Bang!

Because the two were struggling, he couldn't aim, and the muzzle was off again. Natasha broke free with one hand, and the Widow's Bite on her wrist aimed and fired. The tranquilizer dart hit Shiler squarely in the abdomen.

But Natasha knew Shiler had a special constitution, so the moment she broke free, she fired again, exhausting all the tranquilizer darts in the Widow's Bite, injecting a dose almost enough to poison an elephant before Shiler finally collapsed.

The agents rushed up one after another. Natasha waved her hand, telling them to step back, and then said, "Be careful, don't get close to him. The President will send someone to take him away later."

The lights in the room flickered, and then the whole room was illuminated. When Shiler woke up, he tipped to the right and muttered in a low voice, "That really packs a punch."

Arkham Batman walked in first, arms crossed, looking at him. Natasha followed closely behind, her brows knitted tightly.

"What exactly is going on?" Arkham Batman asked.

Shiler didn't answer. He looked around the room; it didn't look like an FBI base, but rather like the Justice League's new Cat Getan base. So he smiled and said, "It seems you haven't been overwhelmed by the nightmares of the past. Very good, Batman. Excellent..."

Afterward, he tipped to one side again, his head lowering as if it were about to roll off. Arkham Batman stepped forward and flipped up his eyelids, seeing the dilated pupils, and turned to look at Natasha.

Natasha opened her mouth hesitantly, and after a pause, she said, "You know, he has a special constitution. I didn't know how much dosage would knock him down, so I could only use the maximum dose."

"I suggest you just ask him like this," Natasha said. "Although drug-induced interrogation is unethical, if he wakes up, I'm afraid you won't be able to get a single word out of him."

Arkham Batman turned his head and said to the door, "Go get the antidote."