Riddler's Plan

At the Gotham Gazette, a thick package was tossed at the company entrance. Written on it was a baffling riddle:

"Some people's nightmare, some people's savior. My cold, desperate hand reaches for that warm heart."

"Whoa, what is this?"

Jiekaxi Ruxiu, a reporter for the Gotham Gazette, looked at the package bearing her name and gave it a hesitant shake. Something seemed to be inside.

She placed the package on her desk, picked up a pair of scissors, and cut it open. A stack of documents spilled out.

"This is..." Jiekaxi picked up one document. It contained information on a retired judge from Gotham Court, and a red X had been drawn across his photograph.

A reporter's instincts told her this was not so simple. She hurriedly picked up the other documents, which contained evidence of the judge's collusion with the mob. Beneath them was a long list of names.

Three names on the list had already been crossed out. There was writing on the back of the list as well! Jiekaxi quickly turned it over.

"I heard you are a fair reporter. I would like to play a game with you, called Truth! Some use the law to judge criminals, but when they become criminals themselves, they can escape the judgment of the law. So let the fairest death in the world deliver the final judgment. 1320 Slant Street, explosion at 11:00."

Jiekaxi hurriedly looked up at the clock on the wall. It was already 10:30 in the morning.

"Mike! Hurry, we're going to 1320 Slant Street! And call the police! Now!"

Jiekaxi shouted sharply, calling over Mike Leiqifu, her interview partner, part-time driver, and cameraman.

"Huh? What are you talking about?"

Mike Leiqifu asked in surprise, still holding a box of film and not yet processing what she had said.

"Hurry! Or we'll miss a huge story!"

When Jiekaxi got busy, she was like a lioness. She stuffed her little reporter's notebook into her pocket and immediately called the Gotham Police Department.

"This is the Gotham Gazette. We received a warning package. Someone is going to detonate a bomb at 1320 Slant Street at 11:00 this morning. We are heading to the scene now."

After hanging up, Jiekaxi called Gotham TV in the neighboring building as well...

1320 Strand Avenue, a three-story Victorian house.

"Mmmpf! Mmmphhh!!!"

A white-haired old man was tied to a chair, struggling anxiously. Before him, two people dressed in burlap sacks and wearing basketballs over their heads were tying up his family members.

Eleven men, women, and children were all tied to chairs. Today was retired prosecutor Beck Alaitan's birthday.

His daughter and his grandson's family had all come to celebrate with him, only to become targets of these two criminals.

"Shut up! If no one comes to save you by 11:00, just wait to die! The others might not die, but you definitely will!"

With a stone in his mouth and a cut-open basketball over his head, Miao Mu spoke in an awkward voice.

He placed a timed bomb from his pocket on the table. Its countdown had already begun.

The bundles of bright red explosives behind him made the old prosecutor tremble even harder. He looked at Miao Mu with pleading eyes.

"When you sent innocent people to prison, you should have known this day would come. You know this list very well!"

Without a trace of pity, Miao Mu took a list from his coat, drew a red X beside Beck Alaitan's name, and pasted it onto the old prosecutor's forehead.

"Pray. When you used the law to judge innocent people, they were just as helpless and pitiful. Then again, you probably can't even remember who they were anymore, can you? They asked me to send you their regards!"

Miao Mu spoke coldly, then turned toward Jerry, who was blindfolding the others, and gave him a signal.

Jerry walked to the table, picked up the electric music box meant as a birthday gift, and switched it on. Pleasant music, like icy crystal streams, filled the room.

Miao Mu pulled out a scalpel he had swiped from a hospital and stabbed it into the old prosecutor's thigh in one swift motion.

The intense pain made the old prosecutor convulse all over. Even the towel stuffed in his mouth could not muffle his screams.

"Quiet!"

Miao Mu whistled and left through the door with Jerry. The two removed their burlap outfits, gathered up the cut basketballs from their heads, bundled them into a ball, and stuffed them into a bag.

They could not just throw that stuff away carelessly. The Gotham Police Department might be useless, but that did not mean Batman was. As a detective, that guy was top-tier. Miao Mu did not want to run into him at night.

Nygma really did have the makings of a villain. When this plan was finalized, he had insisted on coming to carry it out himself.

But Miao Mu had rejected him outright. He did not even need to think about it. Miao Mu knew perfectly well that if Nygma came to prepare things, he would definitely leave riddles behind. This Riddle Sage had fallen time and again because of his need to show off.

If he did not show off, Batman would have no way to deal with him. It was his greatest strength and his greatest weakness.

After reaching the street corner, Miao Mu took out his phone and called Nygma. At the same time, he casually tossed the clothes clenched into a ball in his hand into a trash can.

The streets in this district were cleaned twice a day. By the time Batman went to work, the trash can would already be empty.

"Finished cleaning up?"

On a rooftop across from Slant Street, Nygma watched the entrance to No. 1320 from above through binoculars, with a communications earpiece clipped to his ear.

"Your explosives are fine, right? Don't let them fail to go off."

Miao Mu leaned against a wall and surveyed the area while Jerry crouched beside him, using a radio to tune into the police frequency.

"Relax. As long as you placed them correctly, the only one who'll die in the end is that old man. I'm not some kind of devil."

Nygma adjusted his binoculars, a smug smile on his face. If he wanted people to know something, telling them outright was useless. He had to make them discover it for themselves.

Only enough danger would give them the desire to survive and make them spit out all the rotten things they had done.

"They're here, they're here. Guess what I see?"

Nygma said with a grin. Through his binoculars, he watched Gotham TV reporters hurriedly jump from their vehicle, along with Miss Jiekaxi stepping out of another car.

Two police cars arrived a moment later. The officers climbed out with handguns drawn and cautiously headed into the house.

"Attention, viewers, we interrupt your programming for urgent news. I'm your host, Big-Mouth Todger!"

"This afternoon, the Gotham Gazette received a warning letter. Someone intends to take revenge on officials who once framed and falsely accused him. We now go live to 1320 Slant Street."

In the Batcave, Bruce was modifying his equipment when he saw the breaking news on his computer screen. He put down the device in his hands and looked up.

"I'm a reporter on the scene. The police have already entered..."

Before the reporter holding the microphone could finish, panicked shouts came from the house behind him. "Bomb found!"

"Bomb squad! And ambulances! Someone's hurt!"

The scene descended into chaos. The hostages rescued by the police trembled like drenched chicks, while the bomb squad, wearing heavy protective suits, hurried inside.

An ambulance stopped by the roadside, and a white-haired old man was carried out. He screamed hysterically, as though he had suffered a mental breakdown.

"Alright, it seems this crisis was resolved at the very last moment by..."

The reporter was cut off again.

This time, the interruption was a deafening explosion. All the windows shattered, and flames flashed briefly from the blast.

A bomb technician in a protective suit staggered out of the house with flames rising from his body. People carrying fire extinguishers rushed over and sprayed him furiously.

The situation at the scene had taken one twist after another, but everyone, including the reporters, was shaken. It was real!

Jiekaxi, who had received all the evidence, swallowed nervously. How many people were on that long list?

Had those people marked with red Xs already died?

"Alright, back to Big-Mouth Todger's live news broadcast. Just now, we found an anonymous letter!"

Host Todger held up an envelope for the camera. "This letter also came with a note."

He held up a printed slip of paper as well. It read, "Tell everyone the truth, or there will be a next target."

"Alright, I don't know what this truth is, but given Gotham's current situation, things truly do not look good. I can't imagine what kind of person a retired prosecutor could have offended?"

Todger said with a grave expression, before abruptly changing his tone. "If he hadn't retired, we'd be fishing him out of the Gotham River right now."

His words drew laughter from many people watching at home, but there were also some who could not laugh.

Gordon, sitting at the Gotham Police Training Base and watching television, was one of those people. Exhausted, he removed his glasses and rubbed the bridge of his nose.

The mob boss Maroni, whom they had arrested earlier, had been prosecuted by a district attorney. On the third day after the prosecution began...

That district attorney had vanished. His body had only been recovered from the mouth of Gotham Canal the day before yesterday.

"Alright, alright, let's open the envelope and see what the truth is. Honestly, I'm really curious. It feels like opening a Christmas present!"

Big-Mouth Todger opened the envelope on television and took out a blank sheet of paper. There was nothing on it, as though it were some mocking prank.

"Uh... this is the truth? A blank sheet of paper?"

As Big-Mouth Todger held up the blank paper...

Nygma laughed on the rooftop above Slant Street. He aimed a prepared antenna at the TV station's broadcast van below and used the computer he carried with him to hack into it.

At the same time, a trash can by the roadside suddenly exploded, blasting into the air before crashing back down.

The police officers and reporters were so frightened that they hurriedly took cover. No one noticed what was happening inside the broadcast van.

As static flickered across the television screen, Big-Mouth Todger's live news broadcast was interrupted.

A blurry gray-and-white video began to play.