"What is this?" Barbara took the gun in surprise.
It was a very cute plastic gun, with a Christmas bow and pink-and-blue ribbons tied around the barrel.
Like the first birthday present a five-year-old could remember receiving.
"A Christmas gift, if you like this..." Li Zu took out the Toy Meat Saw.
On one side was the adorable toy gun; on the other, the savage, bloody Meat Saw toy.
"Thank you~" Barbara accepted the toy gun with an awkward smile.
Having delivered his gift, Li Zu was like a Santa Claus whose work was done. He carried the Meat Saw in his right hand and held down his Santa hat with his left, leaving behind only his silhouette.
"Wait, you..." Barbara still wanted to ask Li Zu some questions. She jogged to the stairwell and ran straight into a police officer rushing upstairs.
"Where did that kid in the Santa hat go?" he asked Barbara.
"He just went down the stairs. Didn't you see him?"
Barbara asked curiously.
"No. He came in to report that he saw a building collapse, so we told him to stay for the time being... He went to the bathroom, then came upstairs, but when we came up, we couldn't find him. We can't let someone wander around the station." The officer turned his head, searching everywhere. "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. Cold wind blew in, carrying snowflakes with it.
A smile appeared on her face.
She had just been worrying about what would happen if Batman's companion got caught. Now, that concern 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 buried beneath piles of trouble, no one would care 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 gift. Santa Claus gave it to me—the best Christmas gift!"
"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 was still agonizing over whether a toy airplane or a toy tank would help him get through the next few days safely.
Outside the third-floor stairwell window of the Gotham Police Department.
The strong wind brushed past Li Zu's cheek and blew inside.
The warmth from within the station seemed to have found an outlet as well, blasting outward 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 jumped.
The pipe instantly turned into a plastic toy, its powerful elasticity tugging at him as he fell.
When he was still two meters above the ground, he let go.
He landed and rolled forward with his head tucked in.
Rumble, rumble...
The tendons in his calves tightened and exerted force.
Then, with a difficult leap, he performed a tucked front flip and landed steadily on the ground.
"Being a spy is really hard." Li Zu tugged at his clothes and smoothed out their wrinkles.
It was now 03:16.
"Send people over immediately!"
On the Gotham Sea Bridge, Commissioner Gordon shouted into his communicator.
By then, the bridge had already become a sea of fire.
An arsonist wearing special flight gear hung from the bridge.
It was Batman.
When he discovered that Batman had hacked into his system, before he could warn Batman and persuade him to surrender, he received Batman's message.
Come collect the supervillain Firefly.
"He can really fly?"
Gordon's eyes crossed the sea of fire, watching the arsonist soaring through the sky and giving everyone a headache. He now truly looked like a firefly, tethered by the foot and trapped there, making Gordon unable to suppress his doubts.
The police had learned of Batman's existence earlier than anyone else, yet they were more unwilling than anyone else to acknowledge that existence.
Gotham's peace did not need to be maintained by a violent criminal.
But judging from the series of incidents tonight, Batman was far more important than the police.
"Harvey, what is it?" Another voice cut into the radio channel.
"Blackgate Penitentiary has completely fallen. All police personnel have been taken captive, including Warden Joseph... We tried to contact 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 demanding anything. There are no terms for an 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 immediately!" A police officer in the distance, responsible for maintaining order, drove the figure away.
But Gordon's gaze remained fixed on him for a long time.
"Firefly got caught too?"
Li Zu happened to arrive beside the bridge and saw from far away that Gotham's police were handling the aftermath.
The arsonist Firefly had clearly failed to escape Batman's judgment. It also foretold that anyone who opposed Batman would meet no good end, including... Li Zu!
Li Zu had no plans for where to go next, but he certainly would not return to that dreadful place, Blackgate Penitentiary.
"Sir, Mr. Toyman~"
At the right turn into an alley, a muscular man in a black hood stepped out and said to Li Zu, "Bane requests your presence!"
"Bane?"
Li Zu found it strange. "I don't think he and I have much of a connection."
"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 tries to flee this fight must not remain... whole."
Would those who fled be tortured until their limbs were mangled and their bodies incomplete, or would they simply fail to live out the rest of their lives and die here?
Whatever kind of threat it was, Li Zu could not be bothered to understand it.
He refused Bane's invitation and decisively pulled out the toy gun, firing at the muscular man.
The instant the toy gun spat out its third soft rubber round, it turned into the real thing, flames roaring from its muzzle.
Rat-tat-tat-tat-tat-tat.
Unfortunately,
his shooting was all over the place. Not a single shot hit.
Instead, Li Zu's body was shoved backward by the gun's recoil, leaving his bones numb and aching.
The muscular man covered his head and stood frozen amid the metallic storm of bullets. Only after the gunfire stopped did he realize that he was still alive.
Click, click—the sound of an empty magazine was so pleasant to hear.
"Forget it~, I'll go with you!" Li Zu threw down the gun in frustration.
Not hitting even one bullet had clearly worsened his mood.
"Whew~" The muscular man let out a breath of relief.
Sure enough, the people who gathered together were either monsters stronger than human limits or lunatics with broken minds.
"Where are we going?"
"Blackgate Penitentiary."
Before you continue