Who's Really to Blame? / Shock Him!

Noticing the commotion downstairs, Stan wore a mocking smile on the hotel rooftop.

"Just as Mr. Khada Jhin said, in Gotham, only casualties among the wealthy can draw enough attention..."

Whether it was the scale of the media coverage or the police department's response, both far exceeded how they had treated the Viper Potion before.

But none of that mattered anymore. Given how quickly the Viper Potion was spreading, no one could save the people in the hotel.

Weizhan Pharmaceuticals would finally pay for what it had done...

Meanwhile, downstairs at the hotel.

Gordon and the Police Commissioner disagreed.

"Commissioner, I think we should go in now. Maybe we can save some people!" Gordon said excitedly. "Even if they broke the law, they should be judged by the law!"

The Black female Police Commissioner remained expressionless.

"Gordon, we all know how terrifying the Viper Potion is. And it's irreversible. The people inside the hotel are doomed. Going in now would not only put our officers in danger, it wouldn't save anyone!"

The Police Commissioner turned her gaze to Gordon's eyes and continued.

"How many people do you think would be willing to risk entering that hotel with you?"

Gordon was momentarily speechless.

He turned to look at the officers, but without exception, every one of them averted their eyes the moment he looked over.

Their stance was obvious.

Even if gas masks could filter out the Viper Potion's toxic gas, they couldn't forget that there were quite a few "infected" inside the hotel!

Those infected possessed tremendous strength. Before their bodies broke down and killed them, they were dangerous enough to be lethal!

It was only a job. There was no need to risk their lives.

Anger rose on Gordon's face, but he knew that none of the officers would listen to him.

In the end, he could only furiously yank a gas mask from the armored vehicle and pull it over his head before charging into the hotel without looking back, utterly determined.

Maybe getting inside sooner would let him save even one person!

And even if he couldn't, he could catch the criminal who had released the gas sooner and stop it from spreading beyond the hotel.

Harvey had wanted to talk Gordon out of it, but there was no time. Seeing Gordon rush into the hotel, Harvey could only grab a gas mask, put it on, and charge in after him.

From the rooftop across the street, Li Wei watched the scene with some emotion.

Gordon really did look pretty cool right now. With that sense of justice and that uniform, it was no wonder he had become Gotham's King of Gunfire...

Who Was the Real Culprit?

After Gordon and Harvey rushed into the hotel wearing gas masks.

They were no longer greeted by the respectful hotel doorman of the past, but by an enormous fist.

Fortunately, Gordon reacted quickly and dodged the attack with a sidestep.

Otherwise, that punch would have sent him to meet his great-grandmother.

The former doorman had become a monster, black veins covering his face, with nothing left in his eyes but madness and brutality.

"Why did you come so late? Why..."

The doorman roared continuously as he launched relentless attacks at the two men.

It was hard to say whether the doorman's current mental state had been caused by the Viper Potion or by the release of all the negative emotions he had accumulated from living at the bottom of society.

Neither Gordon nor Harvey had any interest in thinking about that right now.

An ordinary punch from the doorman could shatter the hard marble floor of the hotel. They did not think their bodies were tougher than marble.

Gordon even tried to say something to wake the doorman and help him retain his sanity.

But under the doorman's fierce assault, he was clearly struggling.

His opponent could make countless mistakes, while he could only make one!

Compared to Gordon, Harvey was far more decisive. While the doorman threw himself fully into attacking Gordon, Harvey finally found an opening.

He drew his gun and fired.

Bang!

At the sound of the gunshot, the doorman's body jerked before crashing to the ground.

The human body was still flesh and blood, after all. The Viper Potion's enhancement could not make someone invulnerable to blades and bullets.

"Oh, shit!" Gordon scratched his head in frustration and turned to complain to Harvey. "Harvey, maybe we could have brought him back to his senses."

Harvey shrugged, unconcerned by Gordon's words.

"Buddy, instead of thinking about that, I think you should figure out how we're going to deal with those monsters."

In the hotel lobby, the other infected were gradually closing in and surrounding them.

Of course Gordon knew that. His complaint just now had only been a complaint!

"Fine! Anyone who refuses to comply gets shot on the spot!" A grave expression appeared on Gordon's face as well.

Surrounded by the hotel's infected, Gordon and Harvey fell into a bitter fight.

Though both men were skilled fighters, and Gordon was even known as Gotham's King of Duels, they could not withstand the infected's overwhelming numerical advantage.

At first, the two could only barely hold on to keep from being punched into meeting their great-grandmothers.

Fortunately, the Viper Potion's side effects did not merely cause users' bodies to collapse and die over time. It also gradually stripped away their reason as its effects intensified, until they lost their sanity completely.

Using that weakness, the two men kept looking for chances to shoot the infected while evading their attacks.

After a hard battle, they finally killed every infected person. The twisted corpses strewn across the floor were the result of their bodies collapsing.

But at the same time, both men were nearly out of strength.

"Damn Viper Potion!" Gordon cursed dejectedly as he wiped the sweat from his forehead.

"Buddy, I think you should be cursing Weizhan Pharmaceuticals instead. They actually developed this damned thing." Harvey gave a bitter smile as he leaned against a chair and reloaded his weapon.

Because of his age, he was in worse shape than Gordon. Although he had not been injured, Harvey felt as though someone had pinned him to the ground and beaten him for two hours.

Gordon shook his head. "Forget it, buddy. Cursing them here is useless. Once we deal with this, the real priority is getting back and shutting down Weizhan Pharmaceuticals! If this drug gets out, the consequences will be even worse."

The two did not linger. After a brief rest, they entered the elevator one after the other.

By now, the only living person left in the entire hotel was the one on the rooftop.

When the two pushed open the rooftop door.

The green gas had finally dispersed before their eyes.

Since the rooftop did not need a ventilation system, it was the only patch of clean ground in the entire hotel.

Harvey and Gordon removed their gas masks and took deep breaths of the slightly cool air.

They had never thought Gotham's air, perpetually thick with smog, could smell so sweet.

After exchanging a glance, they chambered rounds in their guns and cautiously walked toward the edge of the rooftop.

What awaited them next was the real culprit behind all this!

No one knew what they were about to face.

But to their surprise, when they reached the ventilation system, there were no infected attacking them madly, nor were there any traps.

There was only a man sitting beside the ventilation system, looking at them with a calm smile.

The metal canister beside him, continuously feeding Viper Potion into the ventilation system, was enough to prove his identity.

Stan Topolsky, the true developer of the Viper Potion.

"Stop right now!" Gordon shouted a warning with his gun raised.

Stan straightened up and asked Gordon, "The people in the hotel are all dead, aren't they?"

"I order you to stop immediately! Or I'll shoot!" Gordon had no interest in wasting words with him. He warned him again, his tone full of anger.

Seeing Gordon's reaction, Stan understood that everyone in the hotel was dead.

He rose to his feet, yanked out the hose connected to the ventilation duct, looked at the Viper Potion remaining in the metal canister, then took a huge pull through the hose and swallowed all of it.

At the sight, Gordon's scalp tingled, and chills ran from his back to the top of his head.

The infected who had inhaled the Viper Potion had already been hard enough to deal with. Now this guy had drunk so much of it outright. Perhaps only God knew what kind of monster he would become!

Black patterns rapidly crawled along Stan's veins and across his face and eyes.

Veins bulged across his forehead, and with just one punch, he smashed through the rooftop floor!

"Turn around immediately! Raise your hands and interlock your fingers!" Gordon and Harvey shouted, ready to shoot him dead at any moment!

But once again, they were surprised. Stan did not attack them.

Instead, he climbed up from the ground and said.

"My plan is complete. The last of the Viper Potion is inside my body. As long as Weizhan Pharmaceuticals' project can be stopped, the Viper Potion will never appear in this world!"

As soon as he finished speaking, Stan turned, gave Li Wei on the rooftop across the street a faint smile, then leaped into the air and jumped down!

Enhanced by the massive amount of Viper Potion, his speed had reached an unimaginable level.

Let alone saving Stan, the two men did not even have time to fire!

Bang!

A tremendous crash sounded from below!

Gordon and Harvey hurried to the edge of the rooftop and looked down. Stan lay motionless on the concrete in front of the hotel, his body twisted grotesquely as a large pool of blood slowly spread from beneath him.

He had clearly lost all signs of life.

Silence.

A deathly silence.

It was not just Gordon who fell silent. Harvey did too.

Was he really a criminal?

Between Weizhan Pharmaceuticals and Stan Topolsky, who was truly the culprit behind all this?

When the two finally came back to their senses, Gordon's gaze happened to sweep across the street.

He caught sight of a figure flashing across the rooftop before vanishing, and he could not help frowning...

Tase Him!

After Gordon and Harvey came down from the rooftop, Stan's body had already twisted into a heap on the ground.

Not only were there no signs of life, but every bone in his body had been completely shattered. There was no need for rescue.

What came next was much simpler.

They waited for the toxic gas to dissipate, called in an environmental cleanup company, and began clearing the scene.

The police department, meanwhile, had to remove the remaining bodies from the hotel. They were all physical evidence.

In other words, cleaning up the mess.

Of course, the most important thing was to prosecute Weizhan Pharmaceuticals and announce the case details to Gotham's media.

From the moment Gordon and Harvey entered the hotel alone to the moment Stan leaped from the rooftop.

Every moment of what happened today had been captured by the reporters' cameras.

The police department had to provide a conclusion before tomorrow's newspapers and news broadcasts went out.