Low Tricks

After everyone had left, Falcone set down his glass and sat there in silence.

Beside him, Victor bent down and spoke softly to Falcone.

"Boss, should I make some preparations?"

"Preparations?"

Hearing Victor's question, Falcone laughed.

"Our preparations can hardly be more thorough than theirs. Forget it.

It's been so many years since I last heard from them. Fifteen whole years... time really has passed too quickly.

Let me have some quiet, Victor. I need to think about what I should talk to them about.

These truly are troubled times."

After saying that, Falcone leaned back on the sofa and closed his eyes.

Watching his boss lost in thought, Victor silently returned to his place and stood ramrod straight.

Not long afterward, another taxi stopped outside the Iceberg Lounge.

Dressed in a set of ragged clothes, Downton carried a new gun and walked openly toward the lounge entrance.

As he walked, Downton curiously looked at the hundreds of people fighting in a chaotic brawl around him.

Noticing Downton, the thugs who had been fighting so fiercely all froze for a moment.

"Damn it, he really came back!"

"Forget that, run while we have the chance!"

"Fuck, Penguin's men fight for real! My hand is broken!"

"Even if I got out, the medical bills will be at least several thousand dollars. I might as well be dead!"

"Keep chasing them! Leave none alive!!!"

"Stay out of Downton's way! Our boss gave the order!"

"Let Downton into the lounge!"

Listening to the noisy shouting, Downton understood what had happened.

Oswald had indeed dealt with all of Sabatino's men, and he had ordered his own people to let Downton into the lounge.

Downton nodded in satisfaction.

"Not bad, Penguin. Your attitude is much better this time."

After giving Penguin some verbal praise, Downton swaggered into the Iceberg Lounge.

The moment he came down the stairs, Oswald was already approaching him with his arms spread wide.

"Welcome, my friend! The moment I learned you had really come back, I rushed over to greet you!"

"Of course I came back. I never leave revenge for overnight. What about you? Have you dealt with Sabatino's men?"

As he spoke, Downton bent slightly and gave the exceedingly enthusiastic Penguin a hug.

After the two separated, Penguin nodded at Downton.

"I won't break my promise. Sabatino's men are all gone. But even so, if you want to kill Sabatino, you'll have to get past my boss first!"

"What does that mean?" Downton asked casually.

"My boss, Falcone, is waiting for you. He wants to talk!" Penguin explained.

Hearing Penguin's words, Downton could not help but freeze.

"What the hell?"

He looked at Penguin in confusion and asked,

"I fucking stormed the Iceberg Lounge, twice, and I'm even planning to kill Sabatino, his right-hand man!

And in this situation, Falcone actually wants to talk to me? Are you sure he's really Falcone?"

It was not as if Downton had never read comics or watched movies. He did not think Falcone was someone who gave in so easily.

Logically speaking, after provoking the Falcone Family like this, the only possible outcome should have been a fight to the death, shouldn't it?

Before Batman matured, Falcone had truly covered Gotham with one hand. His power was even greater than Chechen's, slippery as he was.

A big shot who had ruled Gotham for decades had his headquarters blasted twice by one man like him, yet he wanted to talk?

Thinking of that, Downton frowned. He felt that he had underestimated Falcone.

After confirming that he could not simply kill Downton, Falcone had immediately suppressed his anger. He had even skipped the usual tedious steps of testing him, hunting him down, and failing to kill him, directly deciding to negotiate!

Before coming here, Downton had even specifically gone to that old bastard's gun shop to restock. Compared to that, he had clearly guessed Falcone's reaction wrong.

If this were a guessing game, Falcone had already beaten him by one move.

With that thought, Downton nodded appreciatively.

"Falcone really is magnanimous. I understand. Take me to him."

"Alright, follow me. Our boss is in Minus Forty-Four Degrees.

If you and Boss Falcone can reach a good agreement, maybe you'll become a regular at Minus Forty-Four Degrees too.

If that happens, the two of us will have to drink a few glasses in honor of our shared cause against Sabatino."

Penguin led the way while making small talk with Downton.

Looking at Penguin's somewhat attentive manner, Downton suspiciously patted him on the shoulder.

"Buddy, having a drink is no problem, but isn't something off here?

I just shattered your ribs. Are you sure you're really being this nice?

You're not going to slip something into my drink, are you?"

"How could I possibly do that!!!"

The instant Downton finished speaking, Penguin grabbed his sleeve.

"Hundreds of people firing at you couldn't kill you, so what use would poisoning you be!

If you think I'm that stupid, then we'd better not drink together. I can allow you to break my ribs because you made a mistake, but I won't allow you to look down on me, buddy!"

After saying that, Penguin looked at Downton with exceptional seriousness.

Meeting Penguin's offended look, Downton innocently shrugged, then said with a smile,

"Oswald, I'm not looking down on you. When I said slip something into it, I didn't mean poison.

What's so scary about poison? That stuff can't kill me anyway. I'm just worried you'll mix spit and dandruff into my drink."

"Fuck that! Isn't that even more disgusting and despicable than poisoning someone!

If that isn't looking down on me, what is? Do you think I'm some fourth-rate villain who uses third-rate tricks like an idiot?!"

Oswald's hair was practically standing on end.

The reason he reacted so strongly was not because he would never do something like that, but because he really had used such low tricks before...

Lies never hurt people. Only the truth pierces straight through the heart.

Before becoming Falcone's subordinate, Oswald had lived an extremely difficult life, especially during his school years.

As a child, Oswald had been short, skinny, and lame. Someone like him had certainly tasted bullying more than a few times.

If someone could write a book called One Hundred and Eight Forms of American School Bullying, Oswald guaranteed that he had experienced at least one hundred and seven of them.

During that time, Oswald desperately wanted to repay everything he had suffered to the people who hurt him.

But the young Oswald, who had not yet completely fallen into darkness, simply did not have the strength to fight back against his bullies head-on.

Therefore, as a child, he could only resort to the methods of the weak.

You made me buy you water, so I put something in it.

You made me buy you condoms, so I poked holes in them.

You held me down in the urinal and made me swim, so during swim class, I secretly pissed in your lockers!

Though this kind of venting had been Oswald's only comfort as a child, it had also become a forbidden place in his mind, tied to those unbearable memories.

Now that Downton had brought it up as a joke, Oswald immediately bristled!

Seeing Oswald suddenly bristle, Downton paused slightly, then could not help laughing.

As he laughed, Downton placed an arm over Oswald's shoulder.

"Embarrassed and angry, huh? I knew you must have thought about doing something like that, because I have too!

When I stare into my own heart, evil thoughts breed every second. Who doesn't have a few beasts living inside them? I understand you.

But I need to warn you in advance: just thinking about that kind of thing is enough. You can't actually do it.

Even if we're evil, people destined to become big shots in Gotham have to be evil with enough class. Otherwise, it'd be too embarrassing for Gotham. Hahaha!"

Amid his laughter, Downton kept walking with an arm around Oswald's shoulders as though they were old friends.

Before Downton spoke, Oswald had been close to exploding with rage. But after hearing Downton's words and being dragged into a stroll by Downton's overly familiar arm around his shoulders,

he discovered in surprise that the anger raised by those unbearable memories was slowly fading away.

That was right. He had long since become an evil man. His wickedness now even surpassed every person who had ever bullied him!

He no longer needed to use such low tricks like some insignificant nobody.

He was a big shot now!

Thinking of that, Oswald gave a cold laugh and continued speaking to Downton.

"Don't make jokes like that. They're meaningless.

Even against a mortal enemy, I wouldn't use such childish methods. They would only disgrace me!"

At that, Oswald stopped and raised a hand to point at a door some distance away.

"We're here. Boss Falcone is waiting for you in that room. I hope your talk goes well!"