Chapter 599

At the edge of the battlefield, on the roof of another high-rise, a black cat and a white cat stood side by side. The black cat spoke: "I said as much—whenever I was with Bat-Cat, I always smelled a strange odor, but I've never kept birds, so I didn't know it was the smell of bird droppings."

He turned to look at the white cat and said: "Gordon-Cat, you never told me that Bat-Cat was also an impostor."

The white cat revealed a look of shock. He said: "No, Bat-Cat shouldn't be... Heavens! They actually replaced him too! The situation is worse than I imagined."

That's right, this white cat was actually the police chief of Maocheng Cat Getan, Gordon-Cat, and the meeting between Schiller and Gordon-Cat had happened much earlier than anyone imagined.

It was easy to deduce that when Schiller's Tower of Thought landed in the center of Cat Getan, the first to arrive would be the detectives from the police department. Since Gordon-Cat was the cat most trusted by Bat-Cat, he naturally took full charge of investigating such a strange structure.

After being thrown out by the Superego, Schiller had first found a hiding place and observed the situation nearby. Once he determined that this cat represented Gordon, he knew this cat could be trusted.

In the vast majority of DC universes, Gordon is the representative of the light and hope within Cat Getan. Perhaps he might be discouraged, lost, encounter dire straits, or be on the brink of death, but in the end, he will always overcome every difficulty and become the final conscience of Cat Getan.

Another major reason Schiller decided to contact Gordon-Cat first was that Gordon-Cat's investigative actions seemed somewhat perfunctory. Often, when he tracked down a clue, he would stop halfway.

His command and dispatching were also arbitrary; he would point two cats toward a clue, then pull them away a moment later. After watching for a while, Schiller determined that either Gordon-Cat was unskilled, or he was doing it on purpose.

The first time Schiller saw Bat-Cat, he also saw him talking to Gordon-Cat. He discovered that although Gordon-Cat had tracked down many clues, he only reported a small fraction, and none of them were important. Bat-Cat trusted him deeply, so he didn't pursue further, which allowed Schiller—who had just been thrown out—to avoid detection.

It is rare for Gordon and Batman not to be on the same side. Even in the Cat Getan influenced by Schiller, Gordon and Batman would usually provide convenience for each other. When Batman investigated at night and caused a commotion, the police would arrive immediately; when the police carried out dangerous missions, Batman would protect their flanks. They usually cooperated quite well in most universes.

If Schiller had to choose a reliable teammate between Batman and Gordon, he would definitely choose Gordon. Thus, he sought out Gordon and explained his intentions. Sure enough, Gordon-Cat had never trusted Bat-Cat; he had simply been lurking under his command, waiting for an opportunity.

"When Bat-Cat first wanted to renovate this city, I realized that no one could stop him. However, I discovered that his inexplicable paranoia was likely influenced by something else. Since I couldn't stop him, I had to adopt a different method to preserve what was important."

Gordon-Cat's white fur shone brightly in the moonlight. His voice drifted through the night sky, dissipating into the darkness. He explained to Schiller:

"When I realized this couldn't be stopped, I became his first ally. I stepped forward and led the Cat Getan Police Department to help him push through these renovations. At that time, there were still many voices of opposition, and my subordinates and I helped him settle many troubles, so he trusted me very much."

"However, I did this only to figure out what was influencing him, and to preserve important evidence that might reveal the truth, so that I could stop him when he went completely insane."

"To prove my sincerity, I handed the Cat Getan Police Department over to him for renovation. He did indeed completely renovate it, but later, I secretly opened the basement he hadn't had time to renovate yet and placed the documents I had saved inside."

"At that time, the whole city was in chaos. He was busy maintaining order and cracking down on the cats who resisted him, so he was too busy to notice."

"But later, when he realized what happened, he felt his previous security measures weren't enough, so he turned the original Cat Getan Police Department into a bank and sent a trusted general to guard it—the Bank Manager-Cat."

"When we first met, you suggested I kill the Bank Manager-Cat. Did you discover something suspicious?" Schiller asked Gordon-Cat.

"Exactly. After he moved into the original Cat Getan Police Department, his surveillance there was very strict. I had to ensure he wouldn't discover those documents, so I sent a few cats in as informants. However, my subordinates reported that the Bank Manager-Cat's behavior was very strange. He didn't act like a cat at all, and he always had a strange odor."

"To figure out what was going on, I sent subordinates to patrol the area. On the surface, it was to maintain neighborhood order, but in reality, it was to keep an eye on him. Finally, one night, while I was patrolling personally, I saw his shadow outside the window. It wasn't a cat, but... a bird."

"A bird—a distant species that was once on our menu, but has long since gone extinct. Now, there are only cats in this world."

"Having discovered the true form of the Bank Manager-Cat, I began to suspect that all the high-ranking officials in contact with Bat-Cat were problematic. Soon, as I expected, there were birds lurking among the Mayor's aides. The Bank Manager, financial tycoons, cargo ship owners, and gang leaders—all had these birds among them."

"I thought they might have mastered some technology to brainwash Bat-Cat and control him. I asked you to kill the Bank Manager-Cat primarily because, since I was watching him so closely, he had started to suspect me. If he went to report me to Bat-Cat or used some other means to brainwash him, I would be dead."

"But I never expected..." Gordon stared at the battlefield not far away and said: "It wasn't them controlling Bat-Cat. Bat-Cat isn't a cat at all, but..."

"... is an owl." Schiller looked at the bird pressed under the black cat's claws and said: "Not a cat, but an owl."

Gordon sighed and said: "Actually, I should have realized it sooner. I knew he had imprisoned his butler, Alfred. If he were truly Bat-Cat, there is no way he would have tortured the old butler who raised him like that. It seems the real Bat-Cat has already met with misfortune."

"No..." Schiller suddenly countered. He said: "Since they didn't kill Alfred, it's possible the real Bat-Cat is still alive."

Gordon's eyes suddenly lit up. He asked: "Really? But... but where is he? Could he have been locked up by them too?"

Schiller looked up at the moon and said: "Locked up? No... they can't lock up a bat."

Under the bright moonlight, feathers scattered like curtains. The Bat-Cat pressed to the ground looked in shock at the feathers on his own body. By now, he had shed his cat exterior and turned into a real owl, but he seemed completely unaware, screaming in shock:

"Impossible! What did you do to me?! I should be Bat-Cat! The cat who rules this city! The richest cat! How could I be a bird?!

This is impossible!

!"

"Nothing is impossible." Another voice rang out. The green Joker-Cat walked over. The manic smile on his face gradually faded. He narrowed his eyes, stared at the owl collapsed on the ground, and said:

"Of course you would be a bird. Otherwise, how would those owls hiding in the shadows dare to let their natural enemy, the feline species, rule this city?"

Batman turned to look at his nemesis, Joker-Cat. He recalled that in the past, whenever he encountered the Joker and heard that manic laughter, he would feel a dark emotion spreading in his heart, making him uncontrollably want to silence the other party, or even produce a violent urge to kill him.

【Jade Immortal Chaos Art】

However, since arriving in Maocheng, he had heard this Joker-Cat's laughter more than once, yet he felt none of that emotion.

He recalled what Schiller had said to him when he first met Joker-Jack: when that kind of laughter didn't resonate in his heart, it meant the person opposite him was not his destined nemesis.

In other words, the cat opposite him was not the Joker.

And the documents Batman found in the Cat Getan Police Department confirmed this. The text in the files didn't record much important information, but one of the documents contained a terrifying nursery rhyme—yes, the Owl nursery rhyme: "Beware the Court of Owls, that watches all the time..."

Batman was all too familiar with the Court of Owls. He remembered clearly that execution performance the Joker had once staged for the Court of Owls.

Batman also recalled the crazy ramblings Joker-Cat had uttered when they first met. During their first encounter, Joker-Cat had warned Batman that he had smelled bird droppings on Bat-Cat. Combining this with the familiar nursery rhyme, Batman deduced that Bat-Cat might not be a cat, but an owl.

The evidence wasn't conclusive, but even if Bat-Cat wasn't an owl, there had to be owls standing behind the scenes guiding Cat Getan to become what it was now. On the way to track down clues, Batman had thought a lot: if no one had guided him, would he really have turned Cat Getan into this?

The result of his thinking was that he wouldn't have done such a thing, because his reason told him it wouldn't work.

There is no standard that can perfectly distinguish human nature. You cannot say that those who meet a certain standard are good people, and those who don't are bad. Race, skin color, gender, and personality cannot be used as criteria for discrimination.

Human mentality and emotions are constantly changing and moving. Using static standards to measure and distinguish, and then using coercive means to isolate people—a certain failed art student once tried to do this, and there is no need to mention his end.

And as Batman expected, his first attack was successful. The creature opposite him was not a cat, but an owl. Since that was the case, only one question remained. Batman looked at the owl and asked:

"Where did you hide the real Bat-Cat?"

The owl was still screaming manically, constantly shouting "Impossible!" and "I am a cat! I am not an owl!".

But just then, a slightly aged figure walked over slowly. The moment Batman saw him, he confirmed it was Alfred.

Then, he saw the aged Alfred-Cat walk to Joker-Cat's side and rub against his chin.