Blackgate Carnival Party

Blackgate Carnival Party

"What is this?" Barbara took the gun in surprise.

It was a very cute plastic gun, with a Christmas knot and pink-and-blue ribbons tied around the barrel.

Like the first birthday present a five-year-old could remember receiving.

"A Christmas present, if you like it..." Li Zu took out a toy meat saw.

On one side was the cute toy gun; on the other, a savage, bloody toy meat saw.

"Thanks~" Barbara accepted the toy gun with an awkward smile.

Having delivered his gift, Li Zu was like a Santa Claus whose job was done. He held the meat saw in his right hand and pressed down his Santa hat with his left, leaving behind only his retreating figure.

"Please wait, you..." Barbara still wanted to ask Li Zu some questions. She jogged to the stairwell, only to bump into a police officer rushing upstairs.

"Where's that kid in the Santa hat from earlier?" he asked Barbara.

"He just went downstairs. Didn't you see him?"

Barbara asked curiously.

"No. He came in to report a building collapse, and we told him to stay here for now... He went to the restroom, then came upstairs, but when we came up, we couldn't find him. We can't let someone wander around the police station," the officer said, turning his head as he searched all around. "There's already been more than enough trouble today."

"I doubt you'll find him."

Barbara walked to the stairwell and looked at the open window. The freezing wind blew in, carrying snowflakes with it.

A smile appeared on her face.

She had just been worried about what would happen if Batman's companion got caught. Now, that worry was completely gone. If he really was Batman's partner, how could he possibly be an ordinary person?

Fortunately, the officer did not dwell on it. On a Christmas already buried beneath trouble, no one would pay attention to where a strange guy in a Santa hat had gone.

"What's this..." The officer looked at the toy gun in Barbara's hand.

Barbara smiled. "A Christmas present. Santa Claus gave it to me—the best Christmas present!"

"Mm-hm~" The officer shrugged indifferently. He did not understand what Barbara meant, and he was unimpressed by the toy gun. His little nephew had stopped liking toys like that years ago.

He still had a headache over whether a toy plane or a toy tank would get him safely through the next few days.

Outside the third-floor stairwell window of the Gotham Police Department.

The strong wind scraped past Li Zu's cheek and blew indoors.

The warmth inside the police station seemed to have found an outlet as well, pouring out with all its might.

Standing on the window ledge, he looked up at the pitch-black night sky and a moon like an eye. The moon had grown larger.

"Whew~"

Li Zu exhaled, grabbed the pipe beside him, and leaped.

The pipe instantly turned into a plastic toy. With powerful elasticity, it pulled against him as he fell.

When he was two meters from the ground, he let go.

He landed and tucked into a forward roll.

Rumble, rumble...

The tendons in his calves tightened as he pushed off.

Then, with a difficult leap, he tucked his knees and performed a forward somersault before landing steadily on the ground.

"Being a spy is really hard." Li Zu tugged at his clothes and smoothed out the wrinkles.

It was now 03:16.

"Send people over immediately!"

On Gotham Bridge, Commissioner Gordon shouted into his communicator.

The bridge had already become a sea of flames.

An arsonist wearing specialized flight gear was suspended from the bridge.

It was Batman.

When he discovered that Batman had hacked into his system, before he could even warn Batman and urge him to surrender, he received Batman's message.

Come collect the supervillain Firefly.

"He can really fly?"

Gordon's gaze crossed the sea of fire and fixed on the arsonist soaring through the sky, giving everyone a massive headache. He really did look like a firefly now, tied by the ankle and trapped there, and Gordon could not help but wonder.

The police had learned of Batman's existence before anyone else, yet they were also more reluctant than anyone to acknowledge that he existed.

Gotham's peace did not need to be maintained by a violent criminal.

But judging from tonight's string of crises, Batman was far more important than the police.

"Harvey, what is it?" Another voice cut into the radio channel.

"Blackgate Penitentiary has fallen completely. All personnel have been captured, including Warden Joseph... We tried contacting those people, but..."

"But what?" Gordon pressed.

Amid this endless trouble, the fact that Warden Joseph was still alive barely counted as good news.

"But they aren't asking for anything. There are no conditions for exchange... They only want chaos!"

"Chaos?" Gordon frowned.

Out of the corner of his eye, he suddenly caught sight of a figure in a red Santa hat passing by.

"Leave this place now!" A police officer in charge of maintaining order shouted at the distant figure.

But Gordon's gaze lingered on him for a long time.

"Firefly got caught too?"

Li Zu happened to reach the side of the bridge and spotted the Gotham police carrying out cleanup operations from a great distance away.

The arsonist Firefly had clearly failed to escape Batman's judgment. It also foretold that everyone who opposed Batman would meet a bad end, including... Li Zu!

Li Zu had no plans for where to go next, but he definitely would not return to that awful place, Blackgate Penitentiary.

"Sir, Mr. Toyman~"

At the right turn of an alley, a muscular man in a black hood stepped out and said to Li Zu, "Bane invites you!"

"Bane?"

Li Zu found it strange. "I don't think we have much history."

"He said you would definitely come. There's a magnificent show there, a carnival party." The muscular man seemed very confident. "And he specifically instructed us that anyone who flees this battle must not remain... whole."

Would those who ran be tortured until their limbs were mutilated and their bodies incomplete? Or would they be unable to live out the rest of their lives intact, dying right there?

Whatever kind of threat it was, Li Zu could not be bothered to understand it.

He refused Bane's invitation and decisively pulled out his toy gun, spraying bullets at the muscular man.

The instant the toy gun fired its third soft rubber round, it turned into the real thing, its muzzle spitting flames.

Rat-a-tat-tat-tat-tat!

Unfortunately,

His aim was so bad that he did not hit a single shot.

Instead, the recoil shoved Li Zu backward, leaving his bones numb and aching.

The muscular man covered his head and stood dumbly in the storm of metal bullets. Only after the gunfire stopped did he realize that he was still alive.

Click, click—the sound of the empty magazine was so pleasant to hear.

"Fine~, I'll go with you!" Li Zu said irritably, tossing the gun aside.

Not landing even one bullet had clearly ruined his mood even more.

"Whew~" The muscular man let out a sigh of relief.

Sure enough, the people who gather together are either monsters beyond human limits or lunatics with broken minds.

"Where are we going?"

"Blackgate Penitentiary."