Chapter 579

When Thomas finished shouting this sentence, Batman and Cobblepot were both stunned.

Batman was stunned because he hadn't reacted to what Thomas was actually saying for a moment, while Cobblepot was completely unaware of the murder case that had occurred previously and thought that the serial killer Thomas was talking about was actually Lex.

Thomas panted heavily and said in a hysterical voice, "This is beyond my plan! I didn't commit that case; things shouldn't be like this. I had clearly planned everything..."

Seeing Thomas's somewhat collapsing emotions, Batman realized that this might be a good time to ask for the truth. So, he looked at Thomas and asked, "You said your fiancée is in danger, and there's a serial killer—what is going on?"

Thomas's voice trembled. He seemed extremely reluctant, but he also knew that Batman was the only one who could stop this now, so he spoke up:

"I killed Doris. I borrowed a javelin from the sports equipment room, pierced her chest, and killed her. But my goal wasn't to kill her; I just wanted to use this case to..."

"... to create an alibi for myself." Batman interrupted him in a calm and composed tone. Batman continued, "You put yourself in prison, then let your accomplice kill the Elliot couple to provide you with an alibi, and then find a way to overturn the case for yourself. That way, you could leave prison innocent and inherit the Elliot family."

"And your method for overturning the case was to have your accomplice continue to commit murders outside similar to the Doris case, turning it into a serial murder case. That way, it could be proven that the person who killed Doris wasn't you."

Thomas was stunned, but then a hateful expression appeared on his face, gritting his teeth. However, it soon turned into a complex emotion. He said, "Batman... Batman... You really are a genius. I should have been too, I should have..."

"Then what about what you said regarding your fiancée and the serial murder case?" Batman asked.

"Yes... yes! You guys hurry and find Belanna! She might be in danger right now! Someone has targeted her..."

Thomas's arm trembled, and he said, "The second cheerleader troupe member who was victimized was indeed done by me, because as long as the serial murder case continued, it would prove that I, who was locked in prison, was innocent..."

"But, but the third case wasn't me... There is another killer! His next target is my fiancée, Belanna!"

What Thomas said was somewhat incoherent. Batman didn't hear any logic; he only heard Thomas admit that he killed the first and second victims, but denied that the third victim's case was done by him.

Logically speaking, if he admitted to killing two people to his face, then he wouldn't have to deny the third victim. With things developing to this stage, no matter what, it was impossible for Thomas to escape guilt, so he had no need to insist that the third victim wasn't his doing.

"First, you have to tell me, who is your accomplice? How did you commit the crimes?" Batman ignored Thomas's anxious emotions. He wouldn't fall for such a trick, because regardless of whether Thomas was acting or not, he had to figure out what was going on.

Thomas seemed to have given up on everything as well, and he confessed everything in a rush: "It was, it was about two weeks ago. Because of anxiety, I wanted to find a doctor. It might have been at that time that I left my phone number. Not long after, a psychiatrist calling himself Dr. Hugo called me..."

"He said he was very experienced in this area and could help me with treatment. I didn't want my parents to know I had a mental illness, so I couldn't go to a regular hospital for treatment. He said he had experience in treatment, so I planned to go take a look."

"After I arrived at the agreed location, I found that there was no psychological clinic there. Later, I discovered that they were hiding in the sewers of Gotham."

"There was a frozen warehouse that had been excavated, but it was abandoned for some reason, and they were hiding there."

"At that time, I wanted to leave, but the person called Dr. Hugo stopped me. We chatted for a while, and I felt that he was indeed an excellent psychiatrist. It might have been because he had fallen on hard times for some reason, so I expressed my willingness to sponsor him, but on the condition that he must cure my anxiety."

"He talked to me a lot, and I revealed many secrets in my heart to him. He said my anxiety and pressure came from my parents, and as long as there was no source of pressure, my anxiety would naturally get better."

"He instigated you to kill your own parents?" Batman narrowed his eyes and asked.

"That's right." Thomas swallowed and said, "He formulated a series of plans. He said as long as I followed the plan, it would be fine. But now, this is completely outside our plan!"

"He said after I went to prison, he would kill my parents, and then commit another case, choosing a girl with the same identity as Doris, committing a similar case in the same location, and making it into a serial murder case. That way, I could be exonerated and leave prison."

"He said he would only commit one more case, but later, I heard there was a third case. So, I tried every way to contact my lawyer and contacted Dr. Hugo again, but he told me the third case wasn't done by him."

"Just then, my fiancée Belanna called me. On the other end of the phone, she was crying very hard, appearing very sad and terrified. She said someone threatened her with emails and notes, saying they were going to kill her..."

Cobblepot, who had been listening on the side, said, "Belanna? I think I know her. She is a student at the Academy of Environmental Sciences. She indeed hasn't come to the lab these past few days. Originally, the project she was in charge of often needed to borrow this lab, but I haven't seen her for several days."

"That's why I came here to find her!" Thomas roared, "I know she does experiments here. The handbag she left at my house has the keys to this place, as well as special gloves and protective clothing. I knew at a glance it was for the low-temperature laboratory..."

"So, that's how you were able to open the door to this laboratory?" Cobblepot looked at Thomas's hands. He was indeed wearing a glove, but because this type of special glove was an extremely thin glove that fit the hand very well, it was not easy to discover.

"She must have gone missing!" Thomas's emotions began to become increasingly agitated, and he said, "It's even very likely she has already been harmed. I have to find her!"

As Thomas's emotions became more and more unstable, the arm he was using to choke Lex became tighter and tighter. Lex was choked by him to the point where he couldn't breathe, his face flushed red, and his lips even began to turn purple.

No matter what, Lex's physique was really too poor. Let alone a tall and strong adult male like Thomas, even Cobblepot, who was very thin but held a weapon, could force him to retreat step by step. Being choked by Thomas, he had no room to resist at all.

No matter how genius the brain, in this situation, there was no way to convert intelligence into force. His genius brain had even fallen into a light coma due to lack of oxygen.

Batman obviously observed this situation as well. He took two steps forward, wanting to pressure Thomas, but Thomas did not retreat, because he knew that further back was the window, and there was nowhere to retreat. He had to give himself more depth of space to deal with the attack that might come from Batman.

So, he retreated to his left rear, which was the side further away from Cobblepot and Batman.

In that direction was the interior of the laboratory with more space. Batman pressed on step by step, and Thomas retreated step by step, continuing to withdraw in that direction until his back leaned against the largest instrument in the center of the entire room.

As mentioned before, that was a very massive machine, cylindrical in shape, connecting two floors. Apart from the surrounding console and fixing devices, inside was a cylindrical liquid storage device. Inside that was the raw material Victor used to create super ice.

Because of certain material science reasons, this thing couldn't be stored in a solid state and could only be placed in a special cabin in liquid form. Moreover, it had to be constantly stirred, and another chemical agent was needed to maintain its stability.

At this moment, inside the cylindrical liquid storage device that Thomas was leaning against, the blue liquid was constantly surging, like beautiful sea waves, and also like an unpredictable nebula. The cold light shone on his back, but because of the good sealing, no chill leaked out.

Facts proved that necessary stimulation might increase a person's vigilance toward a dangerous object, just like when a person's hand touches a boiling kettle, it will instinctively shrink back. And now, because Thomas didn't feel any abnormality from the thing he was leaning against, he didn't realize he was approaching something so dangerous.

Batman's attention was entirely on Lex, or rather, no matter who Thomas was holding hostage, Batman's first goal was to rescue the hostage.

At this time, because the pressure Batman gave was too great, Thomas seemed to have collapsed somewhat. He began to use his hand to fiercely pinch Lex's neck, saying, "You are all the same! You bunch of... Heh, geniuses? Geniuses? Do you think you are geniuses?!"

"Why are you born superior? Why can't I be?! Answer me! Is this fair?!"

"Bruce Wayne!" Thomas suddenly raised his voice and said, "Do you think I don't know who you are? Batman! I've been investigating for a long time. From the moment Batman appeared, I started investigating..."

"I saw through your tricks! You are not some superhero in the dark! You damn hypocrite! You are just relying on your extraordinary talent and wealth. Now, I am going to have all of this too..."

However, the scene Thomas expected, where Batman would be shocked because his identity was exposed, did not appear. He didn't even have any reaction to this scene.

But this was not strange. According to the current timeline, in the plot changed by Schiller, almost everyone knew Batman's true identity. Schiller knew, Gordon knew, Victor knew, Constantine knew, and Hal knew.

When the few of them gathered privately, no matter what clothes Bruce was wearing, no matter if he was wearing ordinary hoodies and jeans, or that cold bat suit, these people would just say "Bruce" when they opened their mouths.

Although Bruce had emphasized to them many times that they should call him Batman when he was wearing the bat suit, those people seemed to have an attitude of coaxing a child. If they were in a good mood, they would follow him; if they had serious business, they wouldn't remember it anyway.

So, Batman belonged to the "real-name surfing" category in the circle of Gotham's oddities. After a long time, he was too lazy to correct it. If they called him Bruce, let them call him Bruce. Forcibly correcting the way of addressing him, apart from being mocked, wouldn't change anything. Let them be; the desensitization therapy was a success.

Seeing Batman had no reaction, Thomas became even more hysterical, and the force in his hand became greater. At this time, Batman knew he had to act, otherwise Lex would be in danger of his life.

And just at this moment, a figure was faster than him. The small Cobblepot darted to Thomas's side with extremely swift speed, and then raised the sharp knife in his hand. Thomas dodged to the side.

At this moment, two "whoosh" sounds rang out, and two batarangs flew past Thomas's neck.

In order to avoid the pincer movement from front and back, Thomas had to find cover. The console next to him was a good choice, but to flash over there, it was impossible to hold Lex; he was too much of a hindrance.

Thomas threw Lex to the side, and then with a roll, hid behind the console. But just at this moment, the two batarangs thrown by Batman did not stop, but hit the glass of the liquid storage device straight on.

Batman had considered that it might cause damage to the thing behind Thomas, so the force he used was very light. The sound of the batarangs hitting the glass was very, very light, and then they landed, seemingly not causing any damage.

However, a subtle crack quietly bloomed from the place of contact. Just at this moment, Batman and Cobblepot both retreated rapidly. Only hearing a "bang," the liquid storage device exploded.

Batman and Cobblepot, who had already hidden on the other side of the room, were not affected, only feeling a bone-chilling cold. However, Thomas, who was hiding behind the console and didn't have time to escape, and Lex, who had been thrown aside by Thomas, were directly submerged by the blue liquid that sprayed out.