New Case and the Crowd

Late at night in Arkham District, a piercing scream suddenly rang out behind a dilapidated apartment building.

As blood splattered everywhere, bone-chilling chewing sounds echoed through the area. Someone holding a flashlight and shining it down from a window saw what was happening below and screamed in terror.

The next day.

A city Hummer H2 with flashing police lights pulled up. Miao Mu got out, took a pair of white rubber gloves from his pocket and put them on, giving orders as he walked.

"Jerry, go ask the witness what happened. While you're at it, find out who the victim was. Those idiots are completely useless."

"Got it!" Jerry turned and headed upstairs.

Miao Mu took out a cigarette case, lit a slim cigar, clenched it between his teeth, and strode toward the scene.

The scene was a mess. The victim's body had been torn into several pieces, and dried blood was scattered everywhere like rust.

"Detective Miao Mu!"

A police officer at the scene hurried over. "How are we calling this one? Revenge killing or crime of passion?"

"..."

Miao Mu was speechless. There was no helping it—this was basically how the Arkham Police Department handled cases. Murders in a place like this weren't unusual either. Slap a label on it, and the case could be closed.

If the victim was an illegal immigrant or an unregistered resident whose identity couldn't even be verified, then dead was dead. Gang vendettas were nothing special.

Otherwise, Gotham cops wouldn't practically be synonymous with gangsters. There was only one responsible, honest man like Gordon.

"First, find out who the victim was. You're wearing that uniform, so at least do something decent. Stop thinking about coasting through the day!"

Miao Mu raised a hand to straighten the officer's collar, patted him on the shoulder, and sent him to investigate in the back.

After taking a look at the scene, Miao Mu pulled out the newly bought phone from his pocket and called Nygma at the logistics warehouse.

"So, what's this dispatch about?" Nygma asked, chewing on something as keyboard clacking sounded in the background.

"I need you to come take a look. I'm a complete amateur when it comes to examining crime scenes, but the body was torn apart..."

Miao Mu looked at the arm that had been forcibly ripped off, at the broken bones inside, and felt that something was off. The sharp bite marks around the wound were especially suspicious.

"I'm on my way! Oh, and I hacked into the Gotham Police Department database. I left a small backdoor, so getting in and out will be easier from now on. I found some leads on the people you asked me to keep an eye on."

"That's great news. Come here first."

Miao Mu hung up and touched the Golden Hexagram hanging around his neck. The Eye of True Sight activated.

Its 360-degree, blind-spot-free observation was extremely useful at a crime scene like this. Tiny, invisible details that were easy to overlook all came into view.

Miao Mu took two steps back and studied a claw mark on the wall, stained with brownish blood. He raised a hand to compare it.

The spacing between those claw marks could never have been made by a human. Still, Miao Mu wasn't too surprised. Even cold-blooded atavistic monsters like Croc-Man existed, so having bigger claws wasn't much of a stretch.

"Mumu!"

Jerry leaned out from a third-floor window of the nearby building and shouted, "That guy said he saw a wolf last night—a monster that also looked like a big dog. It ate the unlucky bastard down there."

"A wolf?"

Miao Mu frowned in surprise.

When it came to wolves, the first thing he thought of was Werewolves. Gotham really did seem to have those, though they weren't the magical kind.

They were created through all kinds of methods. The most famous was probably the Gotham Behemoth, a Werewolf first infected with Joker's insane blood, then stitched into wolfskin by Pig-Faced Professor.

In the Arkham Hospital morgue, Nygma wore an apron and mask as he held an arm under the light, examining it.

This was the only hospital in Arkham District, but it was so rundown that it wouldn't need any filters to film a horror movie. There weren't many patients, either—only prostitutes carrying IOU slips to pick up anti-inflammatory medicine.

As for gangsters, they trusted the illegal clinics in the neighborhood more. Removing a bullet cost a hundred dollars, fair for young and old alike. Other treatments were charged separately.

Miao Mu stood beside the body that had been pieced back together on the hospital bed. "Well? Does it look like a large animal attack?"

"I still can't believe things like Werewolves exist. Want me to get you a silver weapon?"

Nygma tossed the arm into a body bag, then checked the empty rib cage. Half the internal organs had been eaten. The heart was gone, half the lungs remained, and only a few sections of intestine were left.

The victim had been a middle-aged drunk. His liver, already turning plastic-like, said it all. The liver itself was completely untouched.

"Carrying a shotgun will do. Only Werewolves from the magic sequence fear silver weapons. In Gotham, this is more convenient."

Miao Mu patted the newly issued Glock 17 at his waist. Though they had been kicked out of the Gotham Police Department, their equipment had still been issued.

That was mainly because everyone had learned the day after the banquet that Feras, captain of the Special Action Team, had been knocked unconscious in a bathroom.

The chief of the Arkham Police Department, Wei Fei, had initially wanted to teach them a lesson. But after hearing about that incident, he stopped mentioning it and turned a blind eye to Miao Mu and the others.

"True. Metropolis even has a flying Superman."

Nygma nodded, and Miao Mu immediately laughed. "All right, what about those people we were looking for earlier?"

"Of the names you gave me, some had records. Floyd Lawton is a mercenary and assassin. He used to live on Naihe Island, but later left."

Nygma removed his mask and braced himself against the autopsy table. "His ex-wife lives near Gotham Chinatown, and he has a daughter."

"Whew~ He's in Gotham?"

Miao Mu whistled. Floyd Lawton was an unremarkable name, but his nickname was famous: Deadshot.

That idiot who had been shopping with his daughter when Batman threw him into prison, then later had explosives shoved into his neck by Secretary of State Amanda and was thrown into the Suicide Squad, where he narrowly survived again and again.

Amazing abilities, a rough life.

After taking Nygma in, Miao Mu had set his sights on those villains who had yet to appear and were still unknown, as well as certain heroes.

But... they really were hard to find. Some couldn't be found at all. Take Joker, for example—before he went insane, who the hell knew who he was?

"He isn't here, but he..." Nygma chose his words, hesitating slightly. "He's kind of... short on money."

"Huh? Isn't he an assassin?"

Miao Mu was extremely surprised. A mercenary and assassin could still be broke? Just how miserable was this guy?

"No. His ex-wife has filed suit in Gotham Court three times already. He hasn't paid child support in two months. He probably... got himself killed somewhere."

Nygma made the deduction without hesitation. Both professions carried a high chance of getting killed. If someone vanished for a while, there was an eighty percent chance they were dead.

It was like how every prosecutor in Gotham knew that if a colleague had gone completely silent for two days, it was time to start dragging the Gotham River for bodies.

"Child support..."

Miao Mu repeated the term and smacked his lips. That was something you had to keep paying until your ex-wife found a new meal ticket.

From Deadshot's situation, it was obvious that he had left his daughter with his ex-wife while he went out to work himself to the bone...

"What about the others? How many leads did you get?"

Nygma pulled the zipper closed on the body bag, thought for a moment, and said, "Pamela Lillian Isley is at New York University studying biological sciences. Harley Quinn? I couldn't find anything on her."

"There's some information on Selina Kyle. She has a bit of a reputation in the Upper East Side. I suggest asking that brother of yours about her."

"Victor Fries just earned the title of low-temperature specialist this year and is developing a new cryogenic research project."

"Roman Sionis went bankrupt. After Wayne Enterprises acquired his company, he disappeared..."

Nygma was curious as he spoke. These people had nothing to do with one another, and there was no connection between them at all.

In his view, they were nowhere near as valuable as that mercenary Norton. Though that guy might already be dead—at least, that was what Nygma thought.

"..."

Miao Mu didn't know what to say either. He could only remember a few villains from the DC universe. The rest only seemed vaguely familiar. If he really had to name them... he couldn't.

"Forget it. Have you found the people who declared Otis guilty? Is there still any hope of overturning the case?"

Miao Mu changed the subject. He had not forgotten about getting justice for Otis, Ratcatcher. It had been ten years, and overturning the case would not be easy, but he believed Nygma would find a way.

"I found them, but one old man is already dead. He died of a cerebral hemorrhage last year. If you want revenge, do it soon..."

Nygma narrowed his eyes, hiding his eager expression to make himself look a little more serious.

"There are two ways. One is for us to kill them directly. Otis can do that himself, but that isn't what we want. The second way is that we need a little public support."