Riddler

The wail of sirens rang out at the sewage plant.

Three police cars pulled in. Two had come from the Gotham Police Department, and one from the Arkham Precinct.

"Miao Mu!"

Jerry, now back in uniform with his badge returned, happily got out of the car and ran over.

Miao Mu sat beneath the shelter and waved at him.

"Your little date got canceled again."

Jerry merely smiled and waved it off. "Nothing like that. Where's the body?" As he spoke, he looked around.

"Behind us. I put up a shelter so it wouldn't stink up the place."

Miao Mu pointed behind him. Inside a shelter propped up with plastic sheeting, a corpse wrapped in a black plastic bag lay on the ground, surrounded by a faint stench of decay.

Several people also got out of the two cars from the Gotham Police Department. Leading them was a scruffy-looking man with a large belly and a face full of stubble.

He walked over and flashed his badge.

"I'm Detective Harvey Bullock from the Gotham Police Department. Which one of you is in charge here?"

"Hello. I'm Officer Miao Mu of the Arkham Police Department. I was ordered to guard the scene." Miao Mu raised a hand in salute.

"Miao Mu? Are you Chinese?" Bullock raised an eyebrow.

"Yes!" Miao Mu nodded.

"The dumplings in Chinatown are delicious. I love them."

Bullock grinned and gave a double thumbs-up, easing the tension a little. "All right, where's the body?"

Miao Mu quickly stepped aside. The two officers whom Detective Myers had left here grimaced as they pulled away the black plastic bag covering the corpse.

The weather was excellent today. It was one of Gotham's rare sunny days, and the temperature was high as well.

The black plastic bag covering the body had stuck to it. As they peeled it back, they could feel its greasy, sticky texture, as though oil had baked out of it or it had gone bad.

The instant the black plastic bag came off, the nauseating stench hit them full force. Detective Bullock hurriedly covered his nose, even though the sweat reek of smoke and alcohol on him was stronger than the smell of the corpse.

Miao Mu had come prepared and stuffed tissue into his nostrils.

Jerry, who had no such protection, immediately sprayed vomit from his mouth. Covering his mouth, he ran to the side, bent over, and started violently throwing up.

He had eaten an enormous amount at lunch today.

"Oh... shit... It's that freak after all."

Bullock glanced at the corpse and rubbed his forehead.

The surrounding officers all wore pained expressions. Jerry's vomiting in particular kept pushing them to the brink, making them regret eating so much at lunch.

"I can't take it anymore..."

One officer covered his mouth, barely holding back his vomit, then turned and ran off to throw up alongside Jerry.

The others retreated several steps and stopped looking in that direction.

"All right, your tolerance is seriously impressive. I'm about to throw up myself. That's disgusting."

Bullock looked at the utterly calm Miao Mu.

"No, I just can't throw up. I didn't eat today."

Miao Mu shook his head with both hands in his pockets. Tissue stuffed his nostrils, making his voice sound muffled.

"All right, you... the coroner, come examine it!"

Bullock turned and shouted behind him. He also backed away from the plastic-sheet shelter, took out a cigarette case, and began lighting one.

"Detective Bullock, my name is Edward Nygma, not 'you'!"

A tall, skinny young man approached carrying a case. He wore a crisp suit, his hair meticulously combed, and gold-rimmed glasses rested on his face.

But when he looked at Bullock, helplessness showed in his eyes. Bullock only nodded perfunctorily to show that he understood.

"Edward Nygma? That name sounds familiar!"

Miao Mu said curiously. That name definitely sounded familiar, and there was another name that sounded even more familiar: Riddler!

"Familiar?"

Nygma turned toward him, tilted his head with a faint smile, and said, "What is yours, but used more by others than by you?"

"A riddle?" Miao Mu asked quietly.

Nygma nodded. He loved seeing people tortured by riddles, scratching their heads in frustration while remaining unable to get close to the answer.

"What is yours, but used more by others than by you?"

Miao Mu murmured the question again and sank into thought. He didn't understand riddles.

But he understood the Riddler!

This guy's riddles followed a fixed pattern: they were about something he wanted to say, or some sort of clue...

What had they just said...?!

He remembered!

"The answer is your name! You don't say it much yourself, but other people say it the most!"

Nygma's eyes lit up, and he nodded. "That's right. I didn't expect you to have a talent for solving riddles!"

"All right, chat later. Get to work, get to work. If we don't handle it soon, it'll stink even worse!" Bullock said repeatedly around his cigarette.

Nygma shrugged helplessly. He could only set aside the idea of discussing riddles with Miao Mu for now and carry his case toward the corpse.

Seeing this, Miao Mu hurried after him. "Mr. Nygma, do you need help?"

"No, I can handle it myself. It's easy."

Nygma smiled as he opened the case he carried. It contained tools for examining corpses.

He picked up a pair of gloves and a mask, put them on, then donned a white lab coat and walked over to the body. His calm expression did not change in the slightest. His mental fortitude was truly something else.

"Mr. Nygma, are you a coroner?"

Miao Mu put on a pair of gloves, pulled on a mask, and removed the tissue from his nostrils.

"You don't need to call me mister. I'm not a coroner, just a part-timer. I work in police department logistics as... management."

Nygma even laughed at himself as he said that.

He picked up a pair of tweezers and began examining the corpse's skin. The pointed tips had barely gripped the flesh when it burst open with a pop.

A thick, pus-like fluid flowed out.

Miao Mu found it somewhat disgusting too, but he did not feel right leaving, so he simply crouched beside the case and handed Nygma whatever he needed.

The environment here was poor, and the body had decayed faster than expected. Nygma directly picked up a scalpel and began cutting it apart as though butchering a pig.

Jerry and the others, who had only just recovered, went pale with horror at the sight. The officers who had not vomited yet began throwing up as well.

A few curious homeless people came over for a look. Just one look sent them screaming away in terror.

Even Bullock did not want to look over there. Edward Nygma's skills were beyond question, but there was something wrong with his head.

Otherwise, just working in forensics would have been enough for him to replace those useless idiots squatting in their positions.

What a shame... He was just too unlikable.

Watching the dissection from up close, Miao Mu regretted it as bitterly as if he had eaten ten pounds of bitter melon. The worst part was that he could not run—his legs had gone numb!

In Nygma's hands, the corpse was practically cut into eight pieces. Its decayed organs were sliced apart, its bones snipped through with pliers, and every inch of muscle was cut open.

That smell of rotting flesh... Miao Mu could no longer feel his nose. It had stopped working, and he could not smell anything anymore.

When Nygma used a hacksaw to open the corpse's skull and pus-like brain matter flowed out, dripping onto the plastic sheet laid beneath it, it truly left people numb.

When the body had been dragged from the sewer, it could no longer be lifted and had to be dissected on the spot. But no one had expected it to be this horrifying.