Bai Lang knew full well that the Court of Owls was going to assassinate Dr. Arkham.
And if the comics were anything to go by, Batman—Bruce Wayne—would most likely save him.
At this point in time, major events were happening at Arkham Asylum. But who could say nothing was happening in Gotham, too?
He could go with them. If he protected Dr. Arkham, he would naturally earn Ability Points.
But what about Gotham?
The police and Batman would be staying on Arkham Island to guard Dr. Arkham for at least several days.
With no one looking after Gotham during that time, who knew what might happen?
Compared with Arkham Island, the whole of Gotham was clearly more important.
Ryan, Judith, and the others went with Director Gordon and his people to guard Arkham Island.
The station, which had had more than twenty people, was suddenly empty. Only Bai Lang and the chief, Edward, remained.
As usual, Bai Lang went to the training ground to work out.
His fists cut through the air in a blur. Red, terrifying currents streaked with gold coursed over his body.
His mighty frame, radiating a terrifying aura, swung again and again as countless afterimages flickered around him.
"Phew..." Bai Lang let out a long breath.
His powerful body contained all the terrifying currents. Even the sweat that seeped from his skin was instantly evaporated by the thunderous energy.
After resting for a while, he left the training ground, put on his white uniform, and headed to Park Street to investigate a gang called the Night Crow.
Park Street was one of Gotham's more run-down areas. It was close to New Town, its economy was sluggish, and crimes happened frequently.
Bai Lang drove his police car down Park Street.
Perhaps because Crime Alley was infamous, there were few pedestrians around.
The few passersby who spotted the police car hurried to avoid it, quickening their steps as they left.
They were afraid of becoming innocent casualties in a shootout between criminals and the police.
The streets were mostly filled with groups of Black people, or a few addicts wandering around.
Bai Lang stopped beside the alley Judith had mentioned the day before.
Looking through the car window, he saw several gaunt white men crouched by the wall, their eyes occasionally darting toward the luxury cars outside.
Bai Lang noticed that their clothes were filthy and their hair disheveled.
Their faces were unnaturally pale, their eyes sunken, and dark circles ringed them like a pair of raccoon eyes.
A foul odor even drifted over on the breeze.
He got out of the car and walked over to the white men.
"Do you know where I can find a small gang called the Night Crow?"
When they saw a police officer asking questions, the white man at the front stood up with a cigarette in his mouth.
"What precinct are you from? What do you want with the Night Raven Gang?"
Bai Lang frowned as he looked at them.
He could tell that these white men had only recently taken drugs. They were all addicts.
"My name's Bai Lang. I'm the police chief in charge of this district. Isn't your Night Crow boss looking to discuss a deal with one of my subordinates?"
He didn't have a good impression of addicts.
After all, drugs were just like gambling. Once you got hooked, quitting was harder than climbing to heaven.
The gaunt white man in front nodded. He seemed a little dazed.
"Oh, I know. Do you have any money?"
"What do you need money for?" Bai Lang frowned.
"Nothing, just to buy some drugs." The bony white man managed a smile as he replied.
"Take me to your boss, and you'll get some money."
Seeing how tall and muscular Bai Lang was, the white man could only nod. He turned and led Bai Lang into the alley.
Bai Lang followed behind him, trying to make small talk, but the man talked about nothing but drugs and which rich person's luxury car they were planning to target.
Bai Lang couldn't find anything to say.
"I remember your boss is called Eli. What kind of person is he?" Bai Lang asked casually.
"Oh, you mean Eli? Batman caught Boss Eli last night. The Night Raven Gang got a new boss overnight."
The white man held a green dollar bill between his fingers and carefully tucked it into his back pocket.
"A new boss?" Bai Lang looked puzzled.
Just as he was about to ask something, the white man pointed ahead.
"We're here. That's our new boss."
Bai Lang turned to look in the direction of his outstretched arm.
At the end of the alley, a woman with twin ponytails sat beneath a tree, a baseball bat resting on her shoulder. She smoked with a troubled look on her face.
It was Harley Quinn, whom he'd met before.
Bai Lang walked over in surprise.
"Harley, how did you become the Night Raven's boss?"
Harley furrowed her brows slightly, as if she was thinking about something.
At Bai Lang's words, she snapped back to her senses.
"Chief Bai Lang? Wow! It really is you!"
"Did you come to blow up Gotham with me?"
She ran excitedly over to Bai Lang, like a girl of about ten.
"After I listened to you, I started trying to change and get back to living like a normal person."
"I was planning to get a job as a waitress at a restaurant to support myself, but I realized a lot of people there had bad intentions toward me."
"So I quit—and kicked that fat boss in the dick. After that, I got pulled into a small gang, and yesterday I became its new boss."
Harley Quinn's face lit up with excitement. It seemed like a lot had happened to her lately.
Like a child, she had so much to tell Bai Lang.
"Uh... So you're the Night Raven's new boss now?" Bai Lang looked at her uncertainly.
Harley Quinn seemed to have changed quite a bit during this time.
"Of course!"
Harley nodded excitedly, but then she seemed to remember some difficult problem, and her face fell.
"Where's your base? Your gang's former boss approached one of my subordinates to discuss a deal."
At that, Harley stood up and motioned for Bai Lang to follow her deeper into the alley.
The alley was narrow, barely a meter wide, so they had to walk single file.
After turning three corners, Harley led Bai Lang to an unfinished building. The patch of open ground in front of it served as the Night Raven Gang's base.
Looking at the place, Bai Lang found the question that had instinctively come to mind from his memories of his past life blocked out.
Why not move into the unfinished building?
Come on, if they got caught, they'd have to pay taxes.
If they had no money, could they just not pay?
If they didn't pay, their bodies wouldn't belong to them anymore...
He shook his head and looked at the open ground.
Calling it open ground wasn't quite accurate. It was more like a garbage dump.
The space wasn't large—about a hundred square meters—but more than a dozen tents of various sizes and colors had been set up there.
All kinds of garbage lay around the tents: bread bags, burnt plastic, a peeling sofa...
Bai Lang even saw shards of glass that looked like drug containers, as well as rusty hypodermic needles.
Coughs and shouts came from the tents in a constant, overlapping stream. It was like a living hell.
Several people lay on the ground, staring wide-eyed at the sky, as if wondering how things had come to this.
A haggard-looking man used a rusty hypodermic needle to inject drugs into his vein. Afterward, he handed it to another boy who was little more than skin and bones.
Everyone's face was numb, as if Gotham had forgotten them.
"This is the place." Just looking at the mess gave Harley Quinn a headache.
"Harley, sis."
A six-year-old girl spotted Harley in the crowd and stumbled over to her.
"Melina, you're hungry, huh? It's okay. You'll have something to eat soon..."
Harley picked up the little girl and explained to Bai Lang, "They're called a gang, but to be more accurate, the Night Raven is really more of a refugee camp."
"Because of the economic depression, lots of people can't find work or afford food, so Eli gathered them together. Every now and then, someone manages to steal something and sell it."
"But two people still got so hungry they couldn't take it anymore, and they killed themselves."
"To survive, some of them go out and scavenge for food. Others find drugs and rely on the numbness to go a day or two without eating."
"Some of them deal drugs, or steal and rob."
"Whatever it takes to stay alive."
Bai Lang looked at the girl in Harley's arms.
Her face was pale and sallow, with not an ounce of flesh on her cheeks. Her hair was a mess, and not a clean spot could be found on her.
Her clothes were patched with scraps of towels and socks, and were so oversized she had to struggle to get her arms and legs through.
He fell silent. Compared with the people he'd met before, the Night Raven Gang was the least like a gang of them all.
He knew how many people had lost their jobs in America during the Great Depression, but he hadn't known there was a place like this in Gotham.
"Hasn't the government done anything?" he asked Harley Quinn.
"Do you think they'd have ended up like this if Mayor Hardy were any use?"
Before you continue