Watching the celebration on the news, Li Wei shook his head.
As far as he knew, Mario Pepper was not the one who had killed the Waynes. There was someone else behind it.
As for Mario Pepper, while he was no saint either, he had at least been wrongly accused in this matter.
The police and the mob simply both needed a scapegoat to quell the fallout from the Waynes' deaths!
Of course, Gordon knew nothing about it. This was merely a solution that old hand Harvey had come up with according to Gotham's rules.
But Li Wei was not kind enough to tell Gordon the truth. Someone else would naturally tell him.
Just as Gotham City could never have completely good people, the turmoil surrounding the Waynes' deaths would not end here. Instead, it would push Gotham toward a new peak!
Gotham's war was about to begin!
And his Arkham Asylum was about to make its debut...
Graves the Outlaw
The next morning, before dawn had fully broken, Li Wei climbed out of bed early and headed for the docks.
Not only because he was going there to receive his new bed today, but also because he wanted to witness the birth of Penguin, Gotham's future underground emperor.
Li Wei had high hopes for Penguin!
He had even included him in the all-star villain lineup he had planned for Gotham.
The docks were quiet in the early morning, vast and empty. The containers piled across the port were enough to show just how prosperous this city was.
That was also one of Gotham's defining traits.
Though Gotham bore the infamous title of City of Crime, the enormous wealth it could bring still drew countless people to it one after another.
Knowing there were tigers in the mountains yet heading straight for them anyway—nothing described it better.
Drawing on Khada Jhin's professional assassin experience, Li Wei quickly found an excellent spot overlooking the entire harbor.
It was atop a shipping container, where he could see the whole dockyard.
He could even see the distant sea-crossing bridge—Westwood Bridge, known as Gotham's Gate.
As the darkness over Gotham faded, the number of vehicles crossing the bridge gradually increased.
Li Wei had been sitting on the container for less than five minutes when he heard the sound of an engine coming from the dock entrance.
A classic Mercedes-Benz sedan sped over from afar.
Li Wei perked up.
The protagonist had finally arrived!
It was the same car Harvey had driven when he and Gordon visited Arkham Asylum last time. It was Harvey's car.
The engine was not especially loud, but the docks were utterly silent at the moment, so the sound carried throughout the entire port.
The car stopped. Harvey dragged Gordon out of the passenger seat, then pulled him over to open the trunk with a grave expression.
With his exceptional eyesight, Li Wei saw everything clearly.
The "cargo" in the trunk was Cobblepot, bruised and battered from a beating.
"...He's the one who betrayed us..."
"Either you deal with him, or I deal with you. Otherwise, Falcone will kill me, kill you, kill him, and even kill Barbara! Buddy, I like having you as a partner. I really don't want to do this."
Just like in the original plot, Harvey forced Gordon to deal with Cobblepot, who had just tipped off the police.
Or rather, he was forcing Gordon to accept Gotham City's rules!
And Cobblepot in the trunk could only stare at Gordon helplessly and fearfully, constantly begging for mercy.
"No, no, no, please don't do this..."
Gordon's face was full of conflict. He desperately wanted to refuse.
After all, they had indeed wrongly killed Mario Pepper and pinned the murder of the Waynes on him.
Cobblepot had merely told the police the truth.
As for Gordon and Harvey, they had only survived because of their fathers' "friendship" with Falcone.
His conscience and the justice in his heart would not allow him to do this.
"Buddy, think about Barbara! Can you really bear to drag her into this because of you?" Harvey placed another weight on Gordon's scales.
This time, the balance in Gordon's heart finally gave way.
He knew that killing him and the people around him was no difficult matter for Falcone...
The so-called favor Falcone owed his father was merely respect for what his father had contributed to this city.
Since arriving in Gotham, he had gradually come to see the city for what it truly was.
He suddenly yanked Cobblepot out of the trunk and, amid Cobblepot's terrified pleas, dragged him all the way to the end of the dock.
Bang!
After the gunshot, Cobblepot fell into the water.
And silence returned to the dock once more.
Gordon got back into the car with a terrible expression and did not say a word.
Harvey merely sighed and shrugged. This was normal. He had gone through the same thing himself.
Why would he not want to bring the real killer to justice? But this was Gotham, and Gotham had its own rules.
From Li Wei's vantage point, he could clearly see that Gordon had not truly killed Cobblepot. He had merely fired a shot beside his ear, warning him never to return to Gotham, before kicking him into the sea.
As expected, Gordon was still Gordon!
Even so, he would not trample on law and justice by killing someone.
Li Wei smiled. He had not misjudged him after all. Only someone like Gordon could be considered a ray of light in Gotham City's darkness.
Still, Gordon's acting was truly terrible!
And Li Wei did not think Harvey had done anything wrong either.
Harvey was actually like Gordon, with justice in his heart. But old hand Harvey understood Gotham's rules of survival better. He was helping Gordon stay alive.
He was doing his best to help one of Gotham's few remaining lights continue to exist.
From this moment on, the fates of Cobblepot and Gordon—one evil, one righteous—began to intertwine.
Li Wei smiled, then nimbly flipped down from the container behind him without making a sound.
The logistics company's cargo ship had not arrived yet, so he still had time. He planned to head to the shore by the sea-crossing bridge and wait for Cobblepot to come ashore.
The moment he climbed onto land, the countdown for Gotham's old mob powers would begin.
The era of superheroes and supervillains was about to arrive as well!
How could he possibly not take part in such a meaningful moment...
On the way back to the police station, Harvey drove without saying a word.
"Harvey, do you remember Li Wei, the director of Arkham Asylum?" Gordon suddenly said. "I feel like there's something very wrong with him."
"Buddy! Why bring him up all of a sudden? We both saw his mental state," Harvey said irritably. "It would be abnormal if he were normal!"
"I don't know what's wrong with him, but I just feel that something is wrong with him!" Gordon continued with a frown.
"Do you have any evidence?"
"No. Just a feeling."
"Oh, my God..." Harvey could not help rolling his eyes. "Buddy, instead of worrying about that guy, why don't you think about how to handle the pile of cases at the station? They're practically a mountain already! Stop adding to our workload!"
Ever since the Waynes died, it was as if some kind of switch had been flipped.
Crime across Gotham City had skyrocketed. Not even counting the dirty business between the gangs or Khada Jhin's major case, street robberies and thefts alone had multiplied several times over!...
The entire Gotham Police Department was working around the clock, but compared to the mountain of pending cases, it was still only a drop in the bucket.
For even more cases, they had no idea where to begin investigating, because there were simply too many potential suspects.
"Give me a ride, Harvey. I need to go to Wayne Manor," Gordon suddenly said. "I need to let Bruce know the truth."
Seeing Harvey frown as though he was about to say something, Gordon hurriedly added.
"I'll talk things through with Bruce. We won't make it public until I catch the real killer!"
Harvey looked at the determination in Gordon's eyes. In the end, he sighed, nodded, and sharply turned the steering wheel toward Wayne Manor...
While Gordon was confessing everything to Bruce Wayne.
Li Wei had also arrived at the shore near Westwood Bridge.
At the moment, an old man was sitting by the sea, fishing. His empty fish basket made it obvious.
Clearly, he had caught nothing.
"Hey! Kid! Get lost!" The old man vented his resentment toward the sea on Li Wei.
Li Wei looked at Cobblepot slowly climbing out of the water and gave the old man a pitying glance.
Then, as the old man turned his head, Cobblepot took the knife the old man had used for his sandwich and slit his throat in one stroke!
The old man desperately clutched his throat, but bloody foam kept spraying from between his fingers like a fountain.
With a thud, the old man collapsed to the ground and never made another sound.
Cobblepot had no interest in looking at the old man's corpse. He had not even noticed Li Wei standing some distance away.
Before Gordon shoved him into the sea, he had been brutally beaten. Swimming from the docks to here had drained the last of his strength.
Cobblepot grabbed the remaining half of the old man's sandwich from the basket and stuffed it into his mouth ravenously.
Li Wei secretly shook his head at the sight.
Penguin was truly miserable right now.
He had already found the corresponding hero template for Penguin.
Graves the Outlaw.
But that was for the future Penguin, not the downtrodden Cobblepot of today.
Cobblepot might be called a villain now, but he was still far from becoming a mob godfather!
And all Li Wei needed to do was give Cobblepot a light push.
"Cobblepot, long time no see..." Li Wei took the initiative to speak.
Choosing a New Hero
Li Wei's sudden voice startled Cobblepot. The last bite of sandwich nearly got stuck in his throat.
"Who?!"
Cobblepot gripped the gleaming knife in his hand and swept his eyes around fiercely like a hyena.
Only when his gaze landed on Li Wei did he realize Li Wei was actually there.
His expression gradually changed.
Confusion, shock, and incomprehension gradually turned into unease and anxiety...
In that brief instant, Li Wei saw seven or eight different emotions pass across his face.
"Director Li Wei? You..." Cobblepot stammered. "Why are you here?"
Even Cobblepot himself did not know what he was feeling.
Before you continue