Detective Batman

The full moon hung high in the sky,

Christmas snowflakes drifted down, melting into the blood and freezing into beautiful crimson ice crystals.

Batman's cape billowed in the wind. His eyes beneath the black cowl stared silently at the massive creature lying in the pool of blood.

"Grrr..."

Blood seeped from Killer Croc's mouth in time with his snoring.

The powerful, terrifying Killer Croc had been beaten bloody by Batman's flurry of fists. Exhausted, he lay on the ground, too weak to struggle.

Batman's black boot, stained with blood, pressed against Killer Croc's chest, crushing his rib cage and forcing more blood from his mouth.

"Tell me where Black Mask is! Or I'll smash every tooth in your mouth!"

His raised fist proved that he was not joking.

Killer Croc grinned. The grayish scales at the corner of his mouth split apart, blood bursting from the wounds and falling into the pool below, swiftly becoming part of the crimson ice crystals.

He refused to answer.

"You must be hoping I'll kill you. I promise you, I will!"

Batman did not hesitate. He drove a fist into Killer Croc's cheek.

The special metal on his forearm became the sturdiest, sharpest blade, punching through Killer Croc's cheek and shattering most of his fangs!

Batman pulled his fist from Killer Croc's face. Rather than questioning him immediately, he raised his fist again.

A second punch, a third, a fourth... He did not stop until every tooth in Killer Croc's mouth had been knocked out, until his mouth was truly filled with blood!

"Now tell me where Black Mask is!"

Batman grabbed Killer Croc by the head. Physical intimidation was his most "standard" method of interrogation.

Under this interrogation, Killer Croc's eyes lost focus, and he looked ready to pass out.

Killer Croc said nothing, but another voice came through Batman's earpiece. "I've already found Black Mask's details and his residence."

"Alfred?"

Batman was about to ask more when he suddenly saw a group of heavily armed police officers rushing toward him.

He raised his arm and pressed several numbers on the control panel on his left forearm. A massive Batwing flew over and hovered above him.

Batman leaped lightly onto the Batwing and departed Blackgate Penitentiary amid the police officers' hail of gunfire as they "saw him off."

"You may never have guessed his true identity: Roman Sionis! He has also put a bounty on your head, offering two million in exchange for it~" Alfred's voice over the call was not only calm, but carried a hint of teasing.

"A bounty? We'll deal with that later."

After learning the general details, Batman changed course and headed for Roman Sionis's residence. The Batwing streaked across the moonlit sky beneath the enormous full moon.

Roman Sionis's house.

The door stood open.

"This is..." Batman entered the room without obstruction.

His eyes merely swept across the room,

but several obvious signs of a fight immediately drew Batman's attention.

He crouched down first and touched the two streaks of oil on the wooden floor.

"Shoe polish..."

Batman lowered his head and lightly touched the marks with his fingers. "Someone was knocked unconscious and dragged away."

"There may have been a body here, and a fire." Batman stood and crouched before the carpet burned to ashes. "But there are no signs of struggle. It's also possible no one was burned."

His gaze shifted to the last spot: an overturned table.

It was a complete mess.

"Someone fought here. Maybe one person won, or maybe they both lost..."

This scene was entirely different from what Batman had expected, and it was full of unanswered questions.

Black Mask would never allow someone to disrupt his own home, much less engage in a violent fight here.

"...Alfred, help me investigate the relevant information." In the end, he could only turn to his old butler for help.

"I have already prepared a file for you in advance, sir~" Alfred's voice remained calm. "I'm sending it to your portable device now."

Batman took out the smart computer he carried with him.

The information Alfred sent contained many more clues, speeding up Batman's deductions.

"There is a body at the entrance, just lying there. It seems the person who was dragged wasn't him.

There is a body here. It is Roman Sionis's girlfriend. She was tied to the chandelier, like Jesus nailed to the cross... and there is a bullet wound on her body.

Judging from the angle, the shooter was a dwarf around three feet tall. He killed Roman Sionis's wife, and then... no, that's not right."

Batman pondered. "The police records show that the bullet came from Roman Sionis's gun. Did he kill his own girlfriend?"

"Based on the current clues, there were four people: a mysterious person, Roman Sionis, Roman Sionis's girlfriend, and the person who was dragged away..."

"If the person knocked down after opening the door was Roman Sionis, then the one dragged away was another strange participant."

The more clues Batman saw, the more confused he became.

He always felt that he had missed something.

Even his formidable reasoning skills could not reconstruct the battle from such a chaotic scene.

"Unless Penguin was also involved, there is no way to explain the dwarf..."

Batman paced through the room, his mind doing its best to reconstruct the scene.

Again and again, he replayed the events in his mind, trying to find information that could help his deductions.

"This is..."

At last, a strip of woolen cloth hanging from the balcony's glass door caught his attention.

It was a strip torn from a suit.

"What about the communication records, Alfred?"

"Here is the message."

The data silently transferred to Batman's portable computer.

It was a message Roman Sionis's girlfriend had sent to Roman.

"Joker said he wants to settle accounts with you. He's coming!" Even without seeing the scene, Batman could imagine the panic on Roman's girlfriend's face.

"Joker?" This was a name Batman had never heard before. "Who could frighten Black Mask this badly?"

The appearance of this message allowed Batman's reasoning to proceed smoothly.

In Batman's eyes, everything began to take shape again.

The incident returned to that day.

A mysterious man called Joker had a grudge against Roman Sionis and was terrifying enough to frighten Roman Sionis into placing his girlfriend in a house with the security of a safehouse.

This house had everything one could need—everything except safety.

The mysterious man broke into Black Mask Roman Sionis's home, captured his girlfriend, and, with a twisted sense of humor, hung her overhead.

He sat on the table and waited for Roman Sionis to arrive.

Roman Sionis also noticed something was wrong, so he sent one of his subordinates in through the front door wearing a Black Mask helmet and posing as him. Unfortunately, that mysterious man shot him dead.

While the mysterious man was distracted by the fake Roman Sionis, the real Roman Sionis had already slipped onto the balcony. He took the chance to rush in and tackle the mysterious man.

The two grappled. It appeared that the mysterious man won,

and Roman Sionis was dragged away. The two shoe-polish streaks on the floor belonged to him.

"This happened two weeks ago... So the Black Mask from this period has been the mysterious man secretly impersonating him."

"Now there are only two questions. First, how did that man make Roman Sionis shoot and kill his own girlfriend?"

"Second, what did that fire have to do with all this?"

"If this mysterious man wanted money, he would definitely keep Roman Sionis alive... Gotham Merchants Bank!"

He had deduced the most likely location and immediately set out.

Gotham Merchants Bank,

Li Zu looked at Black Mask before him and said, "I think we may have found the wrong person~"

"Hehehehe, hahahahaha!!" Black Mask threw back his head and laughed wildly.

He removed his helmet.

A shock of striking green hair and a bizarre, savage grin.

It was Li Zu's former boss: Joker!

Thanks to "Pen for You Write" for the 100 Qidian Coins donation, and thanks to "Mu Dongliu" for the 100 Qidian Coins donation.

(End of chapter)