In Gotham, Scared Out of My Mind

The glow of the setting sun faded. Through a heavy veil of fog, Gotham's night came alive with neon lights.

Newspapers blown wildly by the wind and hurried pedestrians on the streets were eternal sights in Gotham. Especially in the old districts of this bustling city, people walked even more hurriedly, and even the wind seemed more urgent.

"Fuck!"

Kairos tore the newspaper blown onto his face away, crumpled it into a ball, and casually tossed it to the ground.

He tightened his collar and took two steps back into the alley.

[At this point, I hope readers will remember our domain name. Taiwan Novel Network has a huge collection of books and is super convenient.]

"Hey, Kairos! What's going on outside?"

A rough voice rose from deep within the alley.

Kairos glanced back at his two companions but said nothing, merely shaking his head.

It was just a little wind. Eating dust and getting blown about was nothing compared to what the tear-streaked man kneeling in the alley was about to face.

"If you ask me, we should just stab him to death. It's not like we'll get the money back anyway..."

Half-turning his body, Kairos lit a crumpled cigarette and stuck it between his lips, muttering to himself. When he absentmindedly looked up toward the street, he seemed to see a strange person... shuffling this way?

"Nathan, I... I just... please, have mercy! I'm not saying I won't repay the money. I just... I mean, I'll pay it back. I'm only asking you to give me a few more days. Nathan, you know, I..."

"Okay, okay, Eric, come on~ You don't need to be like this. We've known each other for years, haven't we?"

Deep in the alley was what looked like the back door of a restaurant.

Various unused kitchen utensils and large barrels filled with food waste made the already narrow alley even more cramped.

The air smelled awful, and the ground was covered in black filthy water and grease. At that moment, a man named Eric knelt in the dirty water, carefully holding his hat in both hands. His face, drained of color by cold and fear, was pale and stiff as he struggled to lift it and force out an ugly smile.

Smack, smack~

Two men stood before Eric, men who did not look like they belonged in a place like this. Suits, leather shoes, exquisite cufflinks, and coats that looked absurdly expensive.

Nathan not-so-gently patted Eric's face. Whether from humiliation, fury, fear, or something else, some color returned to Eric's face—but only on one side. Half his face was red and half was pale, making him look utterly ridiculous.

"You misunderstand, Eric." Nathan's smile was warm and approachable. "It's Christmas Eve. Why would I care about collecting debts now?"

"You'll pay us back, won't you? No one gets to owe Falcone money. You know that."

"Relax, Eric. I came today only to give you a little gift. Um... Merry Christmas Eve."

Eric was not feeling merry.

A man like Nathan had grown up in the gutters and started out as a petty thug. For wealth and power, he would sacrifice anything, even his own life. After earning himself a minor leadership position under Falcone with four scars, the first thing he did was not pay his seriously ill mother's medical bills at the hospital, but spend every last cent on a complete set of expensive suits.

How could someone like that possibly let Eric off the hook just because he had eaten at Eric's restaurant for years?

"Really? Hehe, ha... Thank you, thank you..."

Eric could only offer dry thanks and ramble incoherent, meaningless nonsense.

"Open it."

A box wrapped in a beautiful golden ribbon was placed in Eric's hands as Nathan spoke calmly.

Eric's hands trembled, veins bulging.

He was terrified of finding someone's ears or eyes in that box. He was even more terrified that he would recognize whose ears and eyes they were.

"Nathan... this has nothing to do with Hannah. I told you, I really will pay you back..."

"Open it."

Eric:...

He tremblingly pulled the ribbon and tremblingly opened the box.

"Whew..." Eric let out a long breath. What was inside was not what he had feared.

"A pair of gloves! Oh my God, this is... Nathan, thank you so much. I really... I don't know what to say. Thank you! Thank you!"

Perhaps because his expectations had been so low, Eric nearly cried with joy when he saw the gloves inside the box.

"Put them on, Eric. You'll like them."

Nathan still maintained that mismatched, deliberately imposing tone.

Under Nathan's coercive gaze, Eric carefully put on the gloves.

"Nathan, these gloves... why don't they have thumbs... No! Nathan! You don't have to do this!"

The lackey beside Nathan knowingly stepped forward at Nathan's slight lift of his chin, forced the panicked Eric into the muddy water, and pulled a pair of small pruning shears from the back of his waistband.

"Sorry, Eric. You know how it is. You always have to pay some interest."

"Aah—!!"

A shrill scream rang out, but it did not come from Eric.

The sound came from the mouth of the alley.

"Kairos? Kairos!"

Nathan frowned and looked toward the pitch-black alley entrance.

Unfortunately, no one answered this time.

Nathan looked down at his expensive suit and gestured with his chin for his lackey to go take a look.

Tear-streaked and covered in mud, Eric covered his mouth, kicked himself backward until he reached the wall, and squeezed his eyes shut.

One second, two seconds, three seconds...

The lone lackey never returned, not even making a sound.

Nathan called out twice, but there was no response.

"Fuck."

This was no time to worry about his clothes. Nathan drew the dagger that had earned him his reputation and "respect," then slowly walked out.

After taking just over a dozen steps, he vaguely saw someone crouching on the ground with his back to him, roughly rummaging through his lackey's clothes.

Having grown up on the streets and heard countless bizarre rumors, Nathan instantly thought of many stories. He suddenly felt a little sick and dry-heaved twice.

"Damn it, another poor bastard!"

Huh?

The man stood and turned around.

He was around six feet tall, with a crew cut. He wore a dark green smock that covered both his front and back around his neck, was barefoot, and apparently had no pants on...

Wait, those clothes...

Nathan narrowed his eyes and indeed saw the emblem on the strange outfit.

[Arkham Asylum]

Those clothes... was he an escaped lunatic?

"Hey, four-eyes, let me ask you. This... isn't Gotham, is it..."

"You damned lunatic! Of course this is Gotham! Where else would it be? Metropolis?"

"Oh, for fuck's sake... My last shred of hope is gone! I knew the name Arkham was too unlikely to be a coincidence... God, why did it have to be here!"

After that, the lunatic kept repeating things like Warhammer, Elden Ring, Yellowstone Season 4, and some incomprehensible nonsense about MOBAs.

Nathan only found him noisy.

"Die, you damned lunatic!"

As Nathan swung his dagger with all his strength, a flash of green light seemed to pass before his eyes. His head hurt, and then he knew nothing more.