Arkham

After leaving Arkham Precinct, the first thing they saw was the gloomy gray sky. Gotham City's sky rarely showed any blue.

There was none of the glittering extravagance of the bustling downtown districts around here. Arkham District was considered the worst place in Gotham City.

The old sewage treatment plant was still running, wastewater churning through rusted steel pipes. Tall chimneys in the dilapidated chemical factory released pungent white smoke into the sky.

Black plastic bags filled with household garbage littered the roadside. Desolation and backwardness were the hallmarks of this place. After all, this was Arkham, a concentration camp for lunatics from mental institutions.

How many sane people would willingly live next to a psychiatric hospital?

Miao Mu and Jerry Cabson, dressed in black police uniforms and caps, walked down the road with their hands in their pockets.

It was already late autumn. Dead yellow leaves from the roadside trees blew everywhere in the wind, and Miao Mu breathed into his hands as he looked around.

Although Gotham City looked technologically advanced in the movies and comics, its setting was still that of the Great Depression.

"Mumu, what are you looking at? What is there to see in a place like this?" Jerry breathed out a puff of vapor and asked in confusion.

Ever since earlier, Miao Mu had kept looking around as he walked, as though searching for something.

Miao Mu, who was walking ahead, rolled his eyes at that. Could he say that this was his first time here and he was simply curious?

Still, "Mumu" really was his nickname. Jerry came from the same place as him. They were both little hoodlums from the Lower East Side, and they were sworn brothers.

Turning to glance at him, Miao Mu smiled teasingly. "You said you knew who did it, so where are we going to catch them?"

As he spoke, Miao Mu tugged at the leather holster on his belt. Inside was a Colt Lawman pistol, loaded with six 9mm rounds.

Its firepower was a little lacking, but it was standard police issue for this era. They were only one official police badge away from becoming full-fledged officers.

Jerry stopped walking and warily looked around. He hurriedly waved Miao Mu over, and Miao Mu took two steps forward.

There was not even a bird on this street, but they still had to maintain some sense of ceremony. If they were not acting all mysterious, how could it count as a secret?

"Listen, do you remember that guy we met at the Lower East Side apartments?" Jerry said excitedly, his pale blue eyes wide as though waiting for Miao Mu to ask.

"Who?" Miao Mu cooperatively asked. He genuinely could not remember.

"Oswald! That guy is one of the Roman's Button Men now. If we find him, we'll definitely get some information."

"The Roman?"

Hearing that, Miao Mu seemed to recall something.

In Gotham City, the title the Roman was no ordinary one. It represented the peak of Gotham's underworld: Carmine Falcone.

Though he could only be considered a second-rate villain in the comics, in Gotham's early days, he was absolutely a top-tier big boss. The Roman Empire he built with his own hands had once been immensely powerful.

His Button Men were arrogant enough to walk straight into a police station, shoot witnesses dead, and stroll out again.

Button Men was the name for the enforcers under his command.

"Fuck, is this reliable? Don't get us screwed over. It wasn't easy getting these uniforms." Miao Mu worriedly tugged at his police jacket.

The two of them had neither money nor influence. Instead of joining a gang as enforcers, they had entered the police department as probationary officers. The bitterness behind that decision was hard to put into words.

That was why Jerry had been so excited upon hearing that they could become official officers. And if they caught the criminal, they could be promoted directly to sergeant—a shortcut to the top for people like them.

"No problem. Don't forget, we saved him. I was the one who carried him back. Asking him for help will definitely work!"

Jerry patted his chest and grinned. Back when they lived in the Lower East Side, they had gotten into plenty of fights. Miao Mu's yellow skin and black hair, especially, had caused no shortage of trouble.

But the two of them could fight, too. If they had not seen so many gang members die violent deaths, they might have become enforcers under the Roman themselves.

"All right. But this is pretty far from the Lower East Side. Should we take the rail train?" Miao Mu turned to look at the distant Iron Framework Bridge.

More than ten minutes later.

On Gotham City's elevated subway, Miao Mu sat in a seat and looked at the graffiti on the train window. Jerry stood beside him, staring at his own hand. Since there had only been one seat, they had settled it with rock-paper-scissors.

He had lost, and he was a little unwilling to accept it. Still, the Lower East Side was not far away. He would only have to stand for a while.

There were quite a few people in the carriage, but when they saw the black police uniforms, they all squeezed to one side and did not dare approach.

In Gotham, cops and gang enforcers could basically be equated. Sometimes, falling into police hands was even worse. Still, there were not many shooting cases.

Ever since the kindly Waynes had been shot to death in Crime Alley, gun control had remained relatively strict. Mainly because the Roman had seized control of the channels through which weapons flowed.

Miao Mu leaned back in his seat and looked out the window, though he was actually pondering the cheat ability he had obtained.

[Adventure Treasure has refreshed—please explore on your own]

Other than that sentence, there was nothing. No hint at all, and no response whatsoever.

Still, Miao Mu had inferred some information from it. This cheat ability was most likely something like a treasure hunt.

But he had to find it himself—find what?

Miao Mu looked out at Gotham City. Once they had left Arkham District, traces of the city could be seen. The sky, however, was still far from clear, and it looked as though it might rain.

Thinking it over, aside from Batman, that super-rich man who spent enormous sums developing high-tech equipment—

Gotham really was an incredible place. It had everything: magic, mutations, technology, even martial arts.

Just as Miao Mu was imagining the future, the train came to a stop.

Relying on his burly build, Jerry was the first to squeeze out through the doors. Miao Mu followed right behind him. They had arrived at the Lower East Side.

However, a light rain had begun to fall from the sky, pattering against the platform.

Miao Mu raised a hand to shield the police cap on his head, and the two headed through the rain toward the poor apartment blocks of the Lower East Side.

Because of the rain, pedestrians hurried back and forth along the streets, lending the area a faint sense of life. As their surroundings grew more familiar, Jerry pinched his nose with some emotion.

Miao Mu raised a hand and patted his broad back. Jerry was about the same height as him, but the man's sheer width made him look especially huge and powerful.

The apartment buildings around them grew increasingly dilapidated. Soaked by the rain, they looked even more gloomy, damp, and unwelcoming to strangers.

People squatting beneath the awnings along the walls to shelter from the rain stared at the two of them like hyenas on the plains, their eyes filled with hostility and cold rejection.