Party and Umbrella (2)

By this time, dusk was approaching. In the narrow corridor of the Living Hell, only a sliver of light could seep through the long, narrow windows, like a brush dipped in golden paint drawing a mark on the corridor.

Sharp rays of light pierced the dark building, and streaks of gold traced across Batman's body as he traversed the Living Hell corridors until he arrived at the crime scene.

In fact, when he discovered the crime scene, his first reaction was certainly not to call the police. Regardless of whether Gordon was a good cop or not, Batman didn't trust the police at all.

The reason he did this was that there was not only Fish Deadman here, but also Oswald Cobblepot, a living person. Batman is not illiterate, and when he saw Cobblepot talking in his sleep and twitching, he guessed that he might be having a mental breakdown.

In order to save people, Batman sought out Gordon, and Gordon then brought in psychologist Schiller, who was the only Gotham in Gotham with the Schiller expertise.

However, it seems that he saved the wrong person. Batman thought that this Cobblepot was not an innocent person who had stumbled into the crime scene, but was very likely the mastermind behind Fish.

Batman easily investigated Cobblepot's background and found out that he was the low-level boss who took over after Kevin's death. It wasn't hard to find out. In the entire Living Hell, you could count the number of people who could read water meters on one hand. Cobblepot excelled at vocational school, so he was one of them. And he just happened to be at the scene of Fish's death. Living Hell is so big, it couldn't have been a coincidence, right?

Upon re-entering the crime scene, Batman looked around more carefully.

This is a small room in the North District of the Living Hell. Like all the rooms here, it is cramped and has a bizarre structure. The One window faces west, and the setting sun is visible outside the window frame.

This small room with a window serves as the living room for the entire apartment. Given the small size of the apartment, there's no need to worry about the entrance hall; you simply push open the door and enter the living room.

On the left side of the living room was a sofa against the wall, stained with blood. Batman didn't care that the crime scene had been disturbed; his exceptional memory allowed him to remember every detail. In his field of vision, Fish's body was back on the sofa.

Her body lay on the sofa, leaning towards the door, her head against the back of the sofa. She had been shot in the left temple, and blood splattered onto the right side of the sofa and dripped onto the floor. She was leaning to the right, clearly having been killed by a bullet while sitting on the sofa.

Batman turned his head and looked to his right. Cobblepot's figure also appeared in the room, but he was lying on the windowsill, his jaw was chattering and his limbs were twitching.

Batman walked a little further in and stood in the center of the room. Then, within his field of vision, time in the room began to reverse. Bloodstains on the floor and sofa floated up and returned to Fish's head. A bullet spun out of Fish's head, Fish sat up straight, back to being alive. The bullet stopped next to her left temple.

Cobblepot stood up like a puppet, hunched over, facing Fish at the window.

Batman stepped across the coffee table, came to Fish's side, and then leaned close to the left side of her cheek, staring at the bullet.

While examining Fish's body in the morgue, Batman discovered that the bullet had precisely struck Fish's temple, and judging from the wound, the bullet entered at an angle perpendicular to the temple.

In an instant, Fish vanished, Batman sat down on the sofa, and the bullet that killed Fish stopped right next to Batman's head.

Time began to flow, the bullet spun and pierced Batman's temple, blood splattering onto the sofa and the floor.

Another Batman stood up from the sofa, half-kneeled down to examine the bloodstains, and he discovered that this was indeed Fish's first death scene. Her body had not been moved, and the shape and range of the bloodstains were reasonable.

Having confirmed that this was the scene of death, Batman turned around, and time returned to the second before Fish was hit, with Fish reappearing on the sofa.

Batman walked behind her, and from his perspective, Cobblepot had disappeared from the window.

Suddenly, Batman turned his head to the left and saw Cobblepot standing to Fish's left, in front of the door leading from the living room to the bedroom, holding a pistol with a ferocious expression and aiming it at Fish.

In an instant, Batman appeared where Cobblepot had been, gripping the pistol that had been floating in the air since Cobblepot's disappearance. He muttered to himself, "Something's not right."

At that moment, Fish turned around, looking quite surprised and angry.

"With only two people inside, Cobblepot's actions couldn't have escaped Fish's notice. Once he raised his gun, Fish would definitely look at him."

Batman pulled the trigger, and the bullet flew out, hitting Fish in the front of his forehead, not in his left temple.

He let go and returned to the middle of the living room. Cobblepot reappeared, and as time rewound, the bullet returned to Cobblepot's gun.

Then, Cobblepot's figure seemed to reverse in a movie, taking a few steps back into the bedroom, where the door slammed shut.

Batman walked over and reopened the door, only to discover that it opened into the bedroom, with the hinges on the left.

Batman walked in and stood in Cobblepot's spot. He pulled the doorknob with his left hand, and the instant the door opened, he raised his pistol with his right hand and fired. Fish was completely unaware and didn't even turn his head. Instantly, the bullet pierced Fish's temple.

But Batman shook his head.

The reason this inference works is that he was the one who fired the shot; he was Batman.

The door opens inwards. To open it, you have to hold the doorknob and pull it inwards. To do both opening the door and firing the gun in an instant, it's impossible to hold the gun with both hands.

If the person who fired the shot was Batman, then it is indeed possible for him to instantly open the door and then, with One Hand holding the gun, accurately shoot the bullet into Fish's temple, but that's because he is Batman.

For anyone other than Batman, it would be incredibly difficult to execute the entire sequence of actions—aiming, firing, and hitting the target precisely—with a single hand while ignoring recoil.

Moreover, the door hinges are on the left and it opens from the right first. Therefore, the quickest action would be to pull the doorknob with the left hand and fire the gun the instant the door opens with the right hand. However, Batman had already checked and found that Cobblepot's right arm was broken, and it was not a new injury.

It would be very difficult for someone who is small in stature, has not received any professional training, and whose dominant hand is broken, to complete the actions of opening a door, firing a gun, aiming, and shooting within two seconds.

Even if he could complete it, it would be impossible for him to completely avoid Fish's attention, or at least to leave Fish with no chance to turn around.

One Batman is positioned in Cobblepot's spot, aiming his gun; another Batman is sitting on the sofa; a third Batman is standing in the center of the room; a fourth Batman is standing on the windowsill; a fifth Batman is standing in the bedroom, looking around; and a sixth Batman is standing in the doorway, staring at everything...

Countless Batman figures crowded the small crime scene, sometimes frozen in place, sometimes moving across different timelines.

The bullet flew out of the gun, creating ripples in the air, and quickly retreated back into the barrel. The light in the room went from bright to dim, and then from dim to bright again. The muzzle flashed again and again, and the dark figure left countless afterimages in the room. In this quiet twilight, the solitary Batman was having a lively party with himself.

Before long, Batman had investigated almost every trace of activity in the small room. He tried all the possibilities and then ruled out the vast majority of the methods of the crime, such as Cobblepot attacking from various ways and angles, or Fish being drugged and tied up to restrict his movements.

Judging from the various traces, it can be confirmed that Fish entered the room perfectly healthy and sat on the sofa. Cobblepot followed her in, and it was impossible for him to launch a sneak attack without attracting her attention.

But this does not mean that Cobblepot is not the murderer.

Batman brought everything back to square one, standing in the center of the living room and looking around.

The entire scene transformed into a room model, placed on a table, with a giant hand holding a model of a black human figure and placing it into the bedroom.

Above the entire room model, Batman lowered his head, intently staring at the scene from above. As he looked, the room gradually expanded in his field of vision. Standing in the center of the living room, Batman walked into the bedroom and looked at the black figure model.

If a third party Riga in this murder, then everything becomes logical.

Time began to rewind again, the bedroom door was closed, Cobblepot stood opposite Fish, right in front of the window.

Fish remained seated on the sofa, waving her arms as if angrily berating Cobblepot, Cobblepot retorted hysterically, his neck stiffening. Fish was thoroughly enraged.

Fish, whose attention was completely drawn to Cobblepot, did not notice that the bedroom door, which had not been closed properly, was quietly opened. Then, a gunshot rang out, blood splattered, and Fish collapsed on the sofa.

No, that's not perfect either, Batman thought. Even if Cobblepot's attention was drawn to Fish, he was still quite alert and might have noticed that the bedroom door was open.

Batman changed his approach. He thought that if he were the killer, he probably wouldn't have devised such a plan, hoping that Fish wouldn't notice the Assassin and wouldn't resist. That wasn't a reliable idea.

It's important to understand that Fish didn't get to where she is today for nothing. She's a very capable fighter, quick-witted, and an excellent marksman, which is why she survived so many firefights and became a leader.

If she resists, even a professional Assassin could be at a disadvantage; anyone who knows Fish wouldn't devise such a plan.

"Then there's only one possibility left," Batman said in a low voice, "A collaboration with someone you know."

Batman, standing on one side of the room, saw two figures talking to Fish. They were both originally standing in front of Fish, and neither of them had any weapons.

Soon, Cobblepot caught Fish's attention with a few words, while another shadowy figure used the excuse of getting something to move to Fish's side.

Cobblepot and Fish got into an argument, Fish's attention was completely drawn to Cobblepot.

In an instant, time stood still, and Batman's figure replaced the shadowy figure standing beside Fish. He reached into his coat pocket, found a pistol, drew it, raised his hand, and fired. With a "bang," blood splattered out, Fish fell to the ground.

The distance was very close, and the weapon was suitable, so it was very accurate.

In an instant, everything returned to reality. Only dried, blackened bloodstains remained on the sofa, and only Batman remained in the room.

He was all alone, but he didn't feel lonely at all. He seemed very relaxed. He sat on the sofa, relaxed his upper body, leaned back in the chair, and even closed his eyes, like a happy drunkard who had just returned from a party.

As the last rays of sunlight disappeared below the earth's surface, the room went completely dark. The darkness swallowed Batman's figure, and the bat who had been partying with himself vanished from the room at some unknown time.