Room Service

Rat-tat-tat!

Thud!

Downton had just landed from the void when he heard the sound of gunfire echoing from afar.

"Heh, truly worthy of Gotham!" Downton sneered.

This godforsaken city didn't even bother to hide it; even with a massive shootout raging, big shots like the mayor only cared about the kidnapped daughter of the Deputy Secretary of Defense.

What was a shootout, anyway?

Just the scum and the weeds undergoing natural selection.

When the poor were kidnapped, it wasn't called a kidnapping—it was called a disappearance. Only when someone with a background like Heino was taken did it become a truly heart-wrenching... and heinous kidnapping case for the mayor!

If he hadn't been randomly teleported here, Downton wouldn't even have known a shootout was happening in Gotham.

But Downton was more concerned with where he actually was.

He glanced left and right, discovering he was standing right in front of a Wayne Bank. People nearby had already spotted his sudden appearance and were busy dialing the police.

Since the passerby was so proactive about reporting him, Downton felt obligated to provide some emotional value. He drew his pistol from his waist and walked toward the middle-aged man on the phone.

"This is near the Wayne Bank in the Burnley District. I saw an Asian guy suddenly appear on the street! Believe me, I'm not joking, he really just appeared out of thin air! How did he appear? Are you an idiot? How else could he appear? He just went whoosh and was—"

"Hey!"

Downton tapped the man's bald head with the muzzle of his gun, then snatched the phone from his hand.

The middle-aged man stiffened, then immediately bolted, not even bothering to retrieve his phone.

Seeing the man run so decisively, Downton gave him a thumbs-up from afar before putting the phone to his ear.

On the other end, the police dispatcher was still droning on with routine chatter.

"Yes, yes, you're right, he just appeared, and it's not because you're high and seeing things. You're near Wayne Bank, right? I'm sending people over. Don't worry, the police arriving shortly are primarily here to catch the teleporter you mentioned, and only secondarily to arrest you and the guy who sold you the powder. You..."

"Shut your mouth, pal, there's someone else on the line now."

Downton interrupted the dispatcher, who was clearly stunned for a moment.

A second later, the dispatcher's voice spiked several octaves.

"What did you just say? You actually told me to shut up! You're finished. The closest officer is only half a block away, you..."

"I'm Downton, pal, so stop spewing nonsense. If you don't know who I am, call your Commissioner Gordon, or take a look at the Gotham news right now—let my reputation broaden your horizons!"

With that, Downton hung up with a smile and tossed the phone to a young man nearby who was busy spinning a sign.

Struck by the unexpected phone, the sign-spinner held it, looking at Downton in confusion.

"Sir, what is this...?"

"I'll lay my cards on the table: I'm Zorro, and I took this thing to rob the rich and help the poor. It's a slot machine, at least, so it's worth a few bucks. Go find a place to sell it and get yourself a clean set of clothes that don't look like they're falling apart."

Downton waved a hand at the young man and swaggered off in the direction opposite the gunfire.

If it were daytime, he definitely would have gone to the scene of the shootout to watch the show.

But it was seven o'clock in the evening, he'd been busy all day, and it was time to find a place for a foot massage and get a good night's sleep.

Downton hailed a taxi and handed the driver, who wore a flat cap, twenty dollars the moment he climbed in.

"Find me a hotel with massage services. Keep the change as a tip."

"You got it, boss! I'll get you there right away!"

After taking the twenty, the driver sniffed the bill with delight; he loved casual customers like Downton.

The nearest Kane Hotel was only about three hundred meters away, just around the corner, so he'd made a cool nineteen dollars and eighty cents in profit!

As for Downton, once he was settled in the backseat, he looked toward the source of the gunfire and asked the driver, "What's the situation with the shooting over there? Whose turf is getting hit?"

"That's the territory of the big boss Sabatino. I don't know who has the guts to attack his place—he's one of Falcone's men! But I'd guess it's those Russian guys. They already had a huge fight at noon, hundreds died, and the street cleaners spent hours just washing the blood off the pavement. When I was working this afternoon, I dropped off a few customers near there, and you wouldn't believe it—the government sent four corpse wagons, and they couldn't even fit everyone."

The most ridiculous part was that Gotham Hospital had actually dispatched five whole ambulances to the scene, yet there wasn't a single person left alive to be saved.

"They were too efficient; every corpse was double-tapped... wait, you've already arrived, Boss!"

Screech. After taking a turn, the taxi slammed to a halt in front of the Kane Hotel.

Downton was jolted hard by the sudden braking, then looked at the driver with a face full of surprise and asked.

"You didn't even finish your damn sentence!"

"But the Kane Hotel must suit a high-class boss like you!" the driver replied with absolute certainty.

Hearing this, Downton shook his head, amused.

"Then why couldn't you just tell me the location directly!"

As the words fell, Downton smashed his gun butt hard against the driver's head.

Accompanied by the driver's scream, Downton fished out another thousand dollars and threw it onto the goddamn driver.

"But you were right about one thing: my taste has always been high-class, just like how I never spend small change less than a thousand bucks. Your hat is nice, I'll borrow it; the rest is for you to buy gauze, you bastard!"

"Ahhh... ah?"

The driver was in the middle of screaming when he was suddenly pelted in the face with a thousand dollars.

"Uh, this?"

He swallowed hard, forgetting even to cover his head.

Downton ignored the driver, who was now mesmerized by the cash, and instead pulled the baseball cap down over his own head before stepping out of the car.

Walking into the Kane Hotel in broad daylight, Downton didn't bother checking in; he went straight to the third-floor restaurant via the stairs, and after surveying the environment, continued climbing the stairs from the restaurant up to the seventh floor.

Strolling down the seventh-floor corridor, Downton stopped randomly in front of a room door and knocked heavily.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

"Room service!"

No sooner had Downton finished speaking than a voice came from inside the room.

"I don't want room service!"

"I can't hear you, this is goddamn room service!" Downton continued pounding on the door while shouting at the person inside.

A short while later, a young man wrapped in a bedsheet angrily threw the door open and roared at Downton, "I said I don't want any goddamn room service! Get lost, don't disturb my busi... help... mmmph?!!"

Before the young man could finish his sentence, Downton grabbed him by the hair with his left hand, shoved him into the room, and jammed the muzzle of his gun into the young man's mouth.

Releasing the young man's hair, Downton held his left index finger to his lips and shushed him.

Seeing this, the young man nodded vigorously, so Downton stepped aside and pulled the door shut.

Pulling the pistol out of the young man's mouth, Downton spun him around, pressed the gun against his lower back, and steered him toward the bedroom.

In the bedroom, a stark-naked woman was boredly fiddling with her hair, and then she saw the young man with his hands raised.

"Ahhh!"

"Shut up!"

Downton kicked the young man onto the bed, then lunged at the woman and shoved the muzzle into her mouth.

After silencing the woman's scream, Downton turned back to the stunned young man and said.

"Find something to tie her up tight, hurry!"

"I... I'm on it!"

The young man struggled for a split second, then nimbly grabbed the hair dryer cord, and even unplugged the HDMI cables from the TV and computer to bring them over.