Third Job

By the time Commissioner Gordon and Harvey the Prosecutor arrived near the warehouse, almost everything inside had already burned away.

The reason was simple enough: no one had called the fire department, because calling a fire truck cost money.

When someone's house caught fire, naturally, someone from that household would call the fire department. If a house in the neighborhood caught fire, perhaps a friendly neighbor would help call the fire truck. But no one knew what was inside this warehouse, and no one could find the person in charge right away, so the fire truck arrived late.

Picking up several hundred-dollar bills that had drifted out of the blazing fire, both men wore solemn expressions. Judging by the intensity of the flames, the warehouse had probably contained far more banknotes. Hiding that quantity of cash in a warehouse like this was suspicious in itself.

"Who could it have been?"

--

"Tsk. Who could it have been?"

"So... it wasn't you?"

A low voice sounded from behind her. Catwoman shuddered and turned around. A tall, pitch-black figure stood there, a pair of indifferent blue eyes beneath two pointed bat ears.

"You're more like a cat than I am," she said unhappily. "You always appear and disappear without making a sound."

"You haven't shown up for a while. Where did you go?"

"Just in case you haven't heard the news, Falcone put a million-dollar bounty on my head."

"Same here, but I'm still investigating the case tonight."

"Yes, yes—but I'm not a bat. I'm a cat."

"When did you get here? What did you see?"

"Not much earlier than you did. I saw the same things you did."

"Just happened to run into it?"

"Want to know?" she asked with a giggle. "Catch me, and I'll tell you."

The cat and the bat leaped and darted between the high-rises, chasing one another as if they were playing an amusing game—though, of course, perhaps only the cat was enjoying herself.

"Someone get over here! Open the warehouse doors!"

Meanwhile, Commissioner Gordon and Harvey the Prosecutor quickly resorted to brute force and broke open the warehouse doors. Yet all that remained before them was a small mountain of banknote ashes, along with several bills that had escaped the flames.

"Well, this is just great. Now we have to investigate another major counterfeit-money case—and one with practically no clues."

"They aren't counterfeit."

"Hm?"

Harvey Dent turned toward the corner of the warehouse. Batman's figure had appeared in the innermost area at some point.

"When did you get in here? Never mind. What did you just say?"

He did not answer. He merely walked over and handed Harvey a notebook.

"What's this?"

Harvey opened the notebook and asked casually.

When he saw the densely packed numbers inside, his heart jolted.

"Someone broke into Falcone's home a few days ago and opened his safe," Batman said. "There was a ledger inside—a very important ledger. Catwoman and I were both there at the time. That was also why he put out a million-dollar bounty on Catwoman and me."

"Catwoman stole it? But how did you get it back?"

"I'm not sure why she wanted me to know about this, but according to her, if you follow the money, you'll eventually end up here, in this warehouse."

"You mean..."

--

On the other side, Ma Zhaodi had already arrived in downtown Gotham City. This was the location indicated for his third job tonight.

"Although the instructions said to bring a gas mask, I really didn't expect this..."

Ma Zhaodi held a Burger King Whopper meal in his hand and stared at the sewer entrance before him, the corner of his mouth twitching slightly.

"Who orders takeout from a sewer? Killer Croc? Is he really that desperate for one hamburger?"

"Holy crap, no, wait—the hamburger's the appetizer. I'm the main course!"

At that thought, Ma Zhaodi broke into a cold sweat. He only wanted to deliver some takeout, not die.

Then again, he had a necklace and a Save Point, so he probably wasn't actually that afraid of dying?

To be safe, Ma Zhaodi immediately spent one hundred dollars' worth of Asset Points to place a Save Point here. That way, if Killer Croc really intended to make him the main course, he could load his save at the end of the road.

"Or..."

Ma Zhaodi looked toward the system shop. His first and second jobs had already been settled, and his Asset Points had reached an all-time high—more than twenty thousand dollars.

Although those Asset Points could not make him strong enough to fight a cannibalistic mutant crocodile man over two meters tall and weighing three hundred kilograms, with superhuman strength, speed, endurance, and regenerative abilities, they could let him heal the other party back into a normal person. Then he could use Colt to teach him how to be a good person.

"Bring the opponent down to my level, then defeat him with my greater experience. Rather than improve myself, lower the other person." Ma Zhaodi understood the principle, and confidence immediately filled his heart. He lifted the sewer manhole cover and climbed down the ladder.

"Ugh—what a stench!"

Less than three seconds after Ma Zhaodi climbed down, a foul odor drilled into his nose and nearly made him vomit.

He immediately held his breath and suppressed the urge to throw up, then bought a gas mask from the system. The gas masks at the gun store were simply too expensive. The ten-dollar domestic model from the system was much more affordable.

As long as it could block the stench, it was a good mask.

"Anyone here? Hello? Who ordered the takeout?"

The sewer was so dark that he could not see his own hand in front of his face. After putting on the gas mask, Ma Zhaodi took out the little pumpkin lantern he had just acquired from the system.

"This really is tiny..."

A tiny pumpkin lantern, only slightly larger than a quail egg, appeared in Ma Zhaodi's hand. It was small enough to hang from his body as a keychain. Strangely, however, the pale-yellow light it emitted was remarkably bright, illuminating a range of more than ten meters around Ma Zhaodi, while also carrying a hint of warmth.

It even came with an adorable miniature lamp post.

Holding the little pumpkin lantern, Ma Zhaodi headed deeper into the sewer. In the empty, deserted circular tunnel and surrounding space, only his footsteps echoed. Even with the pumpkin lantern lighting the area, he could not help feeling a little afraid.

"Anyone here? Burger King delivery!"

Aside from several squeaking rats darting out of the sewer, no one answered him.

Ma Zhaodi could not help scratching his head. "Either the system made a mistake, or I'm..."

"Solomon Grundy, born on a Monday!"

A muffled roar exploded like thunder, making the entire sewer ring with vibrations. Heavy footsteps pounded like a giant beast charging as they rapidly approached Ma Zhaodi's position.

"Holy crap! It's not Killer Croc!"