Chapter 4490: The Blackest Night (25)

Having experienced the death and resurrection of Pelota, Alberto and Tim naturally could no longer conclude that "missing in action means dead." Never mind missing in action; even those confirmed dead could hardly be guaranteed to stay that way now.

"There are two questions," Tim said, holding up two fingers. "First, why Hugo Strange?"

"Because he's quite formidable, I suppose," Jenna said. "Although I'm far removed from that era and never saw him with my own eyes, being the director of Arkham Asylum means his professional standards must have been top-notch."

"Moreover, his skills in psychiatry and psychology are a perfect counter to Brainiac. It's as if Brainiac couldn't find any issues in the background of that undertaker. This proves Hugo may have used his own abilities to erase the information long ago. This also shows that the mastermind's choice to resurrect Hugo was correct. If someone else had been resurrected, a lot of information might have been uncovered long ago."

"There is some truth to that. But don't forget, we fought a war against Darkseid before." Tim turned sideways, resting an arm on the bar counter, and said, "During the Brainiac War, Darkseid also sacrificed many elite fighters. Hugo is, after all, just an ordinary human; he can't compare to those super-soldiers. If you resurrected just one of those aliens, they could wreak havoc in a city."

"I understand what you mean," Alberto said. "The strange thing is that this mastermind doesn't choose a frontal assault but insists on causing trouble from the shadows. You know, resurrection abilities are best suited for use on Earth."

Neither Jenna nor Tim refuted this. Earth had just fought a cosmic war, with Brainiac leading all of humanity to strike back against various alien civilizations headed by Darkseid, and the sacrifices during that time were countless. Resurrecting these people should have been the best choice. Resurrecting an old-timer like Hugo, no matter how capable he was, couldn't compare in quantity or quality to Darkseid's army.

"I have a premonition," Jenna said. "It's not that he doesn't want to launch a frontal assault; he might be afraid to."

"You mean he's afraid of Brainiac?"

"Shouldn't he be?" Jenna countered. "The Brainiac War wasn't fought against nobodies. After this war, every well-known civilization in the universe steers clear of the Milky Way, terrified of passing by Earth and getting a beating. It's only natural for the mastermind to be afraid."

"The multiverse isn't peaceful either," Tim said. "The Batmen seem to be tracking dark forces. If the mastermind is who they are looking for, then this guy might have invaded more than just our universe."

"If that's the case, I think I understand why he didn't choose a frontal assault," Jenna said, tapping the tabletop. "He must have failed at a frontal assault before, so he had no choice but to take the covert route. And I suspect he failed at the covert route in some other universe, too."

"What do you mean?"

"Look, his resurrection of humans probably isn't limited by time; after all, Hugo has been dead for so many years and he could still pull him up. In that case, resurrecting Hugo is not as good as resurrecting our loved ones."

Tim raised an eyebrow, and Jenna continued: "For example, my superior, Amanda Waller, has always been haunted by the case of her entire family's death and hasn't let it go to this day. If her family could be resurrected, do you think she would work for the mastermind?"

"With Brainiac around, Amanda doesn't have much real power, but if she were determined to help cover things up, she could probably cause us quite a bit of trouble. What's more, there are plenty of people more useful than Amanda. With careful manipulation, one could achieve a much better situation than the current one."

"But this isn't easy." Tim sighed after thinking for a moment. "Manipulating people's hearts through emotions is a very difficult thing. We don't even know what the mastermind is yet; whether he can accurately understand human emotions and whether he can utilize these emotions well are all unknowns."

"He might not be as cautious as you. Who wouldn't be shaken to see their dead friends and family come back to life? Being able to perfectly resurrect people who have been dead for years is a huge inherent advantage in itself. There's no reason for him not to use this trick. I'm more inclined to believe he might have used it, but it didn't succeed, and he might have even lost miserably."

Tim's movements paused, then he said: "You said it yourself, the ability to resurrect has a huge advantage. There's no reason for this trick not to succeed, unless he ran into... Batman."

The two looked at each other, then both turned their heads away, the corners of their mouths lifting. Although their universe no longer had a Batman, they could still imagine how the mastermind had been thwarted by him.

Let's put it this way. Batman became Batman because of his parents' death, but after being Batman for so many years, he never researched how to resurrect his parents, which shows that he can't even be said to be indifferent to the matter of resurrection, but rather is extremely opposed to it.

No one knows how many Flashes were in the room when the Flash's parents died. This might be because Barry Allen's abilities are special, which is why he made such an attempt. But just thinking about it, one knows that Batman isn't incapable of doing it; he just doesn't want to.

Facing such an opponent, the ability to resurrect wouldn't gain any convenience; instead, it would encounter the greatest blow. Batman would definitely guard against it strictly and wouldn't give any opportunity. Once the tactic of emotional blackmail is countered, it is more likely to foster unity on Batman's side.

"It seems he has learned his lesson," Tim said again. "A frontal assault had no results, and emotional blackmail didn't work. So, he set his sights on those super-criminals who could quietly cause trouble in the shadows; it can be considered an innovative tactic."

"Seriously, this tactic is really hard to deal with," Jenna said, frowning. "To accuse Hugo Strange, one must first prove to Brainiac that he is abnormal. Considering that Pelota also looks no different from an ordinary person, it's almost impossible to prove it from a physical perspective. So, one can only start from a sociological perspective."

"Alberto," Tim turned and called out, "could you please help us check how Hugo died back then?"

Alberto nodded and said: "He was the director of Arkham Asylum back then, which counts as upper-class society. I can go ask those old friends from the Twelve Families; someone should know."

"The undertaker is also an important clue," Jenna said.

"What if it's like this," Tim said, "that Jerita was the one who handled Hugo's funeral?"

The other two looked at him, and Tim continued his analysis: "It seems the Resume Killer just wanted to remind us that Jerita and Hugo had a connection. But this was something that happened when they were both still alive; it can only be considered an old story and is of no benefit to us, not effective information."

"And the Resume Killer only transmits effective information, and his information is highly likely to be correct. Just like the second case precisely pointed to the shared villa in the South District. He couldn't have transmitted useless old stories without rhyme or reason; he must want to tell us some definitive and reliable news."

"Then, inferring from the pattern of the second case, the problem lies in the victim's profession. The victim's profession in the second case points to the shared villa in the South District, so the victim's profession in the first case must also be related to the information he wants to transmit. The undertaker is a very special profession, special in that we are worrying about having no evidence to prove Hugo is dead, and Jerita happens to be the announcer of death."

Jenna didn't know what she thought of, her face turned pale, and then she said: "You don't mean he also... to Hugo's corpse... Ugh!"

Tim looked at her and said with a wry smile: "How did you think of that? Whether he did or not isn't important. What's important is that he might be a human witness who can prove Hugo is dead."

"But he's dead now, too," Jenna said. "And he was killed by that Resume Killer who wanted to transmit information to us. If he wanted to help us, he should have kept this person alive."

Speaking of this, she stopped suddenly, then showed a look of realization, and said: "Jerita might not have died for the first time."

Jenna thought for a moment and continued: "The crime scene of the first case looks like the Resume Killer killed Jerita and then arranged his corpse in that way. But in reality, the Resume Killer might have just dissected a corpse."

Tim narrowed his eyes. Jenna looked at him and said: "I killed Pelota; I mean that time on the transport vehicle."

Tim's expression didn't change much. He had seen photos of the accident scene and knew about Jenna's superpower. This wasn't hard to deduce. He said: "You mean the Resume Killer did the same thing as you, killing a corpse that had come back to life again?"

Jenna nodded and said: "The point I mentioned is absolutely important. If Jerita really insulted Hugo's corpse, do you think Hugo has this memory?"

"That's a somewhat profound philosophical question," Tim said. "In a situation where the dead cannot return to life, we usually discuss the body and the soul separately. People feel the body remains in the human world while the soul goes to heaven. However, if one can be resurrected, is it the body and soul resurrected together, or just the body? If only the body is resurrected, can he still remember the process of gradually decaying until he perished?"

"Even if he doesn't have the memory, he must know why Jerita went to handle his funeral," Jenna said, smiling and raising an eyebrow, as if she were gloating. "You can't expect this kind of person to be grateful. Besides, although Hugo protected him back then, who knows how many terrible experiments he performed on him. Calling it revenge is more reliable than calling it gratitude. What would a person with such a hobby do when taking revenge?"

Tim also covered his mouth. Obviously, some images that flashed through his mind made him unable to bear looking. He said: "So after Hugo is resurrected, he will definitely go to trouble Jerita."

"Yes. Maybe Jerita had already been killed by Hugo at that time, then resurrected, and then caught by the Resume Killer and killed again. It's about the same as Pelota's experience."

"If Jerita couldn't voluntarily give up Hugo, then there's no point in him being alive," Tim said. "No wonder the Resume Killer killed him again. But this way, an important witness is missing."

"Perhaps you don't know, but the undertakers in Gotham always work in pairs," Alberto spoke up. "A gang leader who once controlled Pier 14 told me that Jerita and his wife once worked for him. His wife is still alive."

"My god, such a person has a wife," Jenna said, patting her forehead.

"Birds of a feather flock together," Tim said. "It seems this is the key clue. Let's go." ===== CHAPTER 4491 =====