Miao Mu

"Hey, sweetheart, want a taste of my Remington?"

Miao Mu sat in the car, laughing wildly. He grabbed the Remington M870 shotgun from the passenger seat and pulled the trigger through the shattered windshield.

The shotgun's distinctive muffled boom echoed inside the car. The windshield exploded into fragments, and Defective No. 31 struggled helplessly amid a pile of wooden crates that the sedan had rammed into.

The nurse's uniform on her body had been torn by the jagged planks. The designer bag over her head had also fallen off, revealing an extremely ugly, stitched-up face.

"Sweetheart! Pretty face you've got there. Bye!"

Miao Mu raised the shotgun and aimed directly at her. He gripped the fore-end and racked it back, ejecting a red shell from the chamber, then pulled the trigger.

A muffled boom rang out.

The buckshot fired from the Remington M870 instantly blew Defective No. 31's head apart.

It burst like a watermelon smashed by a hammer.

Miao Mu did not pause for even a moment. He immediately racked the shotgun and pulled the trigger again, blasting Defective No. 31's upper body to pieces.

Who knew whether this thing was a scientific creation, some kind of undead zombie, or the product of a demonic curse? Being careful never hurt.

Miao Mu climbed out through the windshield. Outside, the jagged wooden boards exposed by the crash were splattered with thick red gore that gave off a foul, bloody stench.

Miao Mu stepped onto the roof, shotgun slung over his shoulder and sunglasses on his face. He had activated the Eye of True Sight's effect as soon as he came in.

That was why he immediately spotted Dollmaker Barton Mathis hiding behind the wooden crates, his face full of disbelief.

"Seeing Batman in broad daylight isn't such a bad thing." Miao Mu tilted his head, smiled, and jumped down from the sedan's roof.

This was his first time seeing a living Batman. Miao Mu was somewhat excited, but this was not a fan meet-and-greet. There would be no autograph, and this was definitely not a place for small talk.

Batman glanced at Miao Mu, confusion in his eyes. But Batman... that name seemed pretty good.

Though he had not given himself a nickname yet.

"Barton Mathis, I am formally placing you under arrest as an officer of the Arkham Police Department! You are suspected of dozens of murders and an armored car robbery. Come with me, will you?"

Miao Mu fired a shotgun blast toward where Dollmaker Barton was hiding. The steel pellets spread out in a fan.

A rapid series of crackling sounds came from that direction.

Batman turned his head and looked at Miao Mu. His gaze studied Miao Mu's face, then the police badge on his chest.

He had already formed a rough impression of Miao Mu. He never overlooked any detail.

"Roar!" Masterpiece No. 29 charged forward with a low growl, its four arms reaching for Batman.

Batman turned and dodged, tossing a Batarang that struck Masterpiece No. 29 heavily in the neck.

Those tumor-like muscles were highly elastic and protective. The Batarang bounced away again.

"You animal! You killed Defective No. 31! You killed my creation! You damned pig-dog!"

Dollmaker Barton hid behind the crates and shouted in extreme fury, "I'm going to kill you! I'm going to turn you into a toilet! I'll make you pay for what you've done!"

"Fuck you! That's my line!"

Hearing that, Miao Mu angrily raised his shotgun and charged over, ready to teach the Dollmaker a lesson.

Batman, who was entangled with Masterpiece No. 29 nearby, suddenly narrowed his eyes. He drew the grappling gun from his belt and fired it at Miao Mu.

With the Eye of True Sight giving him full vision, Miao Mu had already seen Scrap No. 11 rolling over, intending to ambush him from behind.

But Batman's grappling hook and line caught Miao Mu off guard. He did not know whether Batman was friend or foe...

Without much thought, Miao Mu spun around and fired at the incoming hook. The buckshot knocked it flying, and it clattered to the ground.

Batman had not expected Miao Mu to react so quickly, but he offered no explanation. It was not his style.

Scrap No. 11 sprang up from the ground like a ball and stabbed at Miao Mu with the dagger in its only arm.

The shotgun in his hands had not been reloaded, and there was no time to reload it. Miao Mu directly raised his right arm and took the strike head-on.

With a clang, metal collided against metal.

Batman dodged Masterpiece No. 29's heavy blow and stuck a spherical bomb onto its back.

"Trying to sneak up on me? Try again next life!"

Miao Mu clenched his fist and swung his right arm down hard. In an instant, three sharp blades sprang out from the Shark-Tooth Armguard on his arm.

After blocking the dagger with the momentum of his swing, the blades struck like a shark baring its fangs and severed Scrap No. 11's arm.

Scrap No. 11 landed on the ground. Its spherical body, less than a meter tall, trembled in pain. It had no mouth and could not scream.

Miao Mu raised his hand and racked the shotgun, then fired at it. Scrap No. 11 tucked in its legs and rolled like a ball, dodging the blast as several holes were blasted into the concrete floor.

Boom!

The bomb on Masterpiece No. 29's back exploded, and the blast launched it away. This kind of spherical explosive was what Batman used to force open doors. Its destructive power was low, but its concussive force was immense.

It blasted Masterpiece No. 29's huge body flat onto the ground. Behind the crates, Dollmaker Barton's heart trembled at the sight.

"Run! Keep running!"

Miao Mu held up the shotgun and fired over a wide area. Scrap No. 11 rolled rapidly across the floor, leaving a trail of blood behind it.

It was like a soccer ball covered in paint being kicked back and forth.

That wrapping of flesh and skin was truly tough. He could not kill it with one shot without getting close. Click—the shotgun's chamber was empty!

Miao Mu hurriedly stopped and pulled a handful of shells from his pocket to reload. Though his attention was on the shotgun, he remained fully aware of everything happening in the warehouse.

Dollmaker Barton, hiding behind the wooden crates, pulled out a pistol. Trembling slightly, he aimed it at Batman.

Miao Mu watched Scrap No. 11 hiding near the sedan, chambered a shell, and fired toward Dollmaker Barton. However, he deliberately aimed a little off and fired a little late.

Just as Dollmaker Barton fired, Miao Mu fired right after him. Less than two seconds separated the shots, and Miao Mu's blast destroyed Dollmaker Barton's hand.

"Aaaaah!!!"

The swarm of steel pellets tore apart his hands, hands stained with countless wronged souls, leaving blood pouring from them.

Batman, who had taken a shot to the chest, had just turned to look over when Masterpiece No. 29 ambushed him and nearly knocked him flying.

Batman swiftly fired his grappling gun into one of Masterpiece No. 29's hands, then pulled the line taut and tied it to a nearby steel beam support.

"Trying to run, Dollmaker? The sewers will be your grave. Those rats will be happy to find you."

Miao Mu smiled as he offered the reminder. He gripped the fore-end, racked the shotgun, and walked toward the sedan not far away.

Hearing the warning, the Dollmaker crawling on the ground hurriedly ran outside, his hands trembling as he gritted his teeth. He thought that if he got out, he could survive.

Miao Mu did not bother with him. If anyone outside could let the Dollmaker leave alive, that would be the truly strange thing.

Besides... keeping this man alive was a waste. Execution was the only end he deserved. Only then could the dead be consoled.

"Roar! Roar!"

One of Masterpiece No. 29's hands was tied to a pillar by Batman. It yanked desperately at the rope until its wrist tore off.

Miao Mu walked toward the sedan and looked at Scrap No. 11, now cornered with nowhere to go. He raised his gun with pity.

"I'll put you out of your misery!"

An eye between the seams of Scrap No. 11's flesh looked at Miao Mu. It moved its feet and tried to flee.

A muffled boom rang out, and the shotgun blasted a hole through Scrap No. 11's spherical body.

Its bloody flesh peeled apart, exposing crossed ribs inside. The skull wrapped in flesh rolled its bulging eyes.

Miao Mu's face turned cold. He racked the shotgun with a click and pulled the trigger again.

Another muffled boom rang out, and blood splattered everywhere.

"Who are you?" Batman asked as he walked over, having deeply sedated Masterpiece No. 29 with a powerful tranquilizer.

Miao Mu wiped the blood from his face, slung the shotgun over his shoulder, and turned to face Gotham's Dark Knight, though Batman was still only a newcomer who had just begun his career.

His earlier excitement faded along with the adrenaline, leaving him as calm as if he had entered a sage-like state.

"My name is Miao Mu. I'm an officer with the Arkham Police Department. What about you, Big Bat? Or Batman?"

"You know me?" Batman asked in a deep voice.

"I checked. He is indeed an officer with the Arkham Police Department. But interestingly, he was the one who ultimately stopped the Red Hood robbery a few days ago. It seems that they covered it up, though."

Far away in the Batcave, Alfred, the butler hero, wore glasses as he searched through the computer records and relayed information to Batman—Master Bruce Wayne—over the radio.

"But Commissioner Gordon and the others are still searching the sewers for the robbed armored car. Why did he suddenly come here?"

Alfred stared at the screen and muttered curiously. The computer had already displayed all of Miao Mu's information.

Batman listened to Alfred's voice without speaking. He simply watched Miao Mu in silence, as if trying to see through him completely.

"Do you smoke? I've got KOOL slim cigars."

With the shotgun over his shoulder, Miao Mu took out the slim cigar he had not smoked in the car earlier. He lit it with a lighter and took a drag.