Mercenaries' Battlefield

With the screech of brake discs, the Hummer swung around and came to a stop beside a police car.

Miao Mu pushed open the door and got out. Jerry hurried over. "They're still in the slums. That big bat went in too."

"How many people are inside? How many do we have?"

Miao Mu walked forward with a grim expression. This sudden development left him unable to figure out what was going on. He was certain he had never seen a plot like this before.

But the DC Universe had always been multifaceted. Beyond the fifty-two parallel universes outside the main universe and the fifty-two antimatter universes, there were theoretically fifty-two of them, but in reality, there was no upper limit.

"Chief, how's the situation now?"

Miao Mu walked over and greeted Chief Wei Fei, then looked toward Nygma, who was sitting in a car and waving at him.

"It's not good, but backup will be here soon! You..."

Wei Fei spoke without much confidence. He had originally wanted Miao Mu to lead the response on scene.

He knew his own police department. In a real crisis like this, they were all useless drunks. He couldn't find anyone capable of carrying the burden.

But when he saw Miao Mu's young face, Wei Fei hesitated again. What if he put Miao Mu in charge, and Miao Mu handled it... Wouldn't that mean his own time as chief was over?

"It's fine. Just surround the area..."

Wei Fei waved a hand. He didn't want to take the risk. This young man was far too ambitious. How many days had it been since he'd risen from probationary officer?

Had it even been a month? Yet he had already leaped to senior detective. Next came sergeant, captain, deputy chief, then chief?

Miao Mu frowned at his indecisive attitude and walked off to one side. Jerry stood guard beside him with a shotgun.

"The chief... didn't say anything, right?"

Nygma rolled down the window and tossed Miao Mu a remote earpiece with a small antenna that could clip onto his ear.

"What exactly is going on here? I still hadn't figured it out on the way over. Shouldn't Red Hood No. 1 be in Blackgate Prison?"

Miao Mu took the earpiece and clipped it onto his ear, then put on his police cap and pulled it low. In the darkness of night, no one could tell.

"I'm not sure. But I did find a little lead on that Werewolf. Look at this."

Nygma sat in the car and pulled an evidence bag from his pocket. Inside was a shard of a brown glass bottle.

"What is this?" Miao Mu asked.

"I'm not sure, but it's related to that Werewolf. I just found out that Arkham Asylum admitted a new patient today. After someone broke out, Arkham Asylum was locked down. I screened the roster and found that six people were missing!"

"Hah..." Miao Mu gave a short laugh. "Who?"

"I don't know. But... the person who sent him there was one of Maroni's men. I followed that lead... but I haven't found anything yet."

"Oh, right!" The sound of Nygma typing suddenly stopped. He turned to Miao Mu with a grin.

"What do you think of Deputy Chief Leto?"

"Leto? Leto Granger? He's alright. He's got some humanity, and he's a college graduate."

Miao Mu nodded. The deputy chief was different from thugs like them. He was an elite graduate of Gotham University.

"I think he's alright too. What are you going to do? Wait here for backup, or act on your own?" Nygma asked seriously. His gaze behind his black half-rim glasses was sharp.

As the strategist, his duty was to do everything he could to support Miao Mu once Miao Mu made a choice.

"Batman already went in?"

Miao Mu had a cigarette clenched between his teeth as he thought. It had become a habit. If he didn't have something in his mouth, he felt uncomfortable.

"He went in already. The gunfire was especially intense just now."

"We're going in too! Do you have a specific plan?" Miao Mu said without hesitation. Some opportunities had to be fought for.

Rather than wait for everyone else to arrive as backup, Miao Mu wanted to use this chance to make a name for himself in the Arkham Police Department. Fighting alone was no good thing.

"I knew you'd say that!" Nygma pushed up his glasses and tossed Miao Mu a modified phone.

"I had Otis find a few rats and strap cameras to them. They'll be your eyes! Otis is gathering a rat swarm. They can flood the whole place in one go."

As he said this, Nygma narrowed his eyes. At first, he had never expected Miao Mu to have someone this capable under him.

"That's enough. Leave the rest to my performance!"

Miao Mu put away the phone with a smug expression, then remembered something and stuffed the Iron Fist Stone Monkey Statue from his waist into Nygma's hands.

"Hold this for me first. Keep it safe!"

"What is this?"

"Something good... Holy shit!!!"

Miao Mu had barely tossed the Iron Fist Stone Monkey into the car when he saw muzzle flashes erupt in the distance, flickering in the darkness.

They were followed by intense gunfire, endless as rain battering sheet metal.

The windshield of the police car shattered under the bullets. Nygma hurriedly ducked down inside as bullets punched in through the front and out through the rear window.

All he could feel was the bullets whizzing over his head.

Outside, Miao Mu flipped over and sprang up from the ground, dodging the first volley.

The place where he had been standing received concentrated fire. The front door of the car had at least a dozen bullet holes.

"Get down! Help!!!"

Several police officers around them screamed miserably. Chief Wei Fei was so terrified that he lay flat on the ground. Bullets struck the pavement, throwing sparks from the gravel.

The place instantly became a battlefield where life and death were left to fate. No one knew whether the next bullet would take their life.

Jerry hid behind a car and fired his shotgun forward, but a shotgun was not meant for long-range combat. Only the dull report echoed around them.

"Fire!!!"

Sergeant Myers, hiding behind the car, drew his pistol and fired in that direction. Several other officers fired as well.

For a moment, muzzle flashes flared one after another, and bullets flew everywhere.

To surround the slums, the Arkham Police Department's thirty officers had split into four groups and set up defenses at key intersections. Now it looked like a complete blunder!

"Fuck, is this firepower from inmates who escaped an asylum? This feels like they just came back from the battlefield in Afghanistan!"

Miao Mu hid behind the car and cursed furiously. He pulled out his Glock 17 and squeezed the trigger toward the direction of the fiercest gunfire. "Come on, then!"

Bang bang bang bang bang...

On a building at the edge of the slums, Jelafo stood in a pitch-black window, changing the magazine on his AK rifle as he looked outside.

The police car parked up front had its headlights on. He chambered a round in the AK rifle, aimed at the two still-lit headlights, and pulled the trigger in a burst.

"We can't fight like this! Who has a long gun?"

Miao Mu shouted to the people around him as he changed magazines.

The enemy was in the dark while they were exposed. It was completely unequal. And their firepower was far too weak. Damn Wei Fei!

Miao Mu cursed inwardly again, then turned to watch where the enemy was firing from, quietly observing.

The other side was professional. They had crossfire and hidden sentries. They were treating this place like a real battlefield.

If those people were escaped prisoners, Miao Mu would cut off his own head. They were no worse than regular troops.

A spherical object was thrown down from the building. The moment Miao Mu saw it, he jumped up and grabbed Deputy Chief Leto, who had been hiding behind the car with him.

The two ran to one side. The spherical object hit the ground, and an explosion flashed in an instant. The blast directly flipped the police car over and triggered a secondary explosion.

With a booming explosion, orange-yellow flames swallowed the police car and lit up the surrounding area.

The twisted frame of the police car burned in the flames like a black skeleton being cremated, sending thick smoke and fire soaring into the sky.

"Fuck, we can't just sit here and wait to die!"

Miao Mu scrambled up and dragged Sergeant Myers, who had been knocked unconscious by the blast, off to one side.

"Edward! Are you still alive?"

Taking advantage of the explosion, Jerry hurriedly pulled open a nearby car door and forcibly dragged Nygma out from where he had been lying inside.

"Where's Miao Mu? Is Miao Mu alright?"

Nygma clutched his computer and the package Miao Mu had given him, shouting worriedly.

"Mumu's fine. Retreat! Let's go first!"

Jerry didn't hesitate in the slightest. He dragged Nygma and ran. Every extra second they stayed in this place meant more danger.

"Wait, let me contact Miao Mu," Nygma said, trembling all over in fear but still stubborn as a bull. Jerry simply hoisted him over his shoulder and ran off to one side.

He knew exactly how important Nygma was. In a place like this, saving Nygma's life came first.

And as he was leaving, he saw Miao Mu dragging Myers away in the firelight from the explosion. That was why he felt relieved.

On the other side, Miao Mu threw Myers to the ground, searched him, and found two magazines and a Greta F9 pistol, which he casually tucked into his belt.

Miao Mu turned to look at the building. Those fucking bastards!

A fierce glint appeared in his eyes. Using the darkness and the cover from the explosion, Miao Mu bent low and ran straight toward it.

He had to treat those assholes to a couple of bullets!

They were getting out of hand!

Outside Arkham District, the police cars arriving as backup saw the site of the recent explosion and immediately accelerated, not daring to waste any more time.

Before they could even stop, they were hit by a sniper from the high ground in the slums. The driver of one police car had his skull blown apart by a bullet, red and white gore spraying everywhere.

The steering wheel jerked violently, and the police car drove straight into a ditch on the side. The screams of the officers inside were endless.

"Sniper! Where are the special forces? Get ready!"

Bullock, who had rushed over from the Gotham Police Department, slammed on the brakes, shoved open the door, and rolled out. Performing such a difficult move with his fat belly was quite a struggle for him.

But he did it, and he did it with remarkable precision. When faced with mortal danger, human potential was limitless.

At the very least, the cold sweat covering him had sobered him up completely. There wasn't a trace of drunkenness left. His mind was clear as day.

Hiding behind the car, Bullock grabbed his radio and shouted to the convoy behind him. The special forces transferred from Blackgate Prison had also arrived in a bus.

"Master Bruce?! Can you hear me?"

In the Batcave, Alfred stared at the footage sent back by the pupil camera on the computer screen. Holding a wireless communicator, he asked in a trembling voice.

"I... I'm fine." Batman Bruce Wayne's voice came from another computer, breathing heavily and sounding exhausted.

"Master..."

"Alfred... I need intelligence. There's an entire mercenary unit here. They... came prepared!"

Batman reached up and pulled a shard of glass from his arm. His Batman suit had saved him several times tonight.

The exoskeletal gauntlet on his arm was already smoking, its circuitry malfunctioning. That Werewolf was truly difficult to deal with...

"Master, you're facing the Red Claw Mercenary Group. Their leader, Red Claw, is there as well. I found through intelligence channels that their mission is to hold Arkham for three hours. They'll withdraw after three hours. You don't need to risk your life against them!"

"Three hours? No..."

Batman immediately sensed that something was wrong. Arkham District was only bait... The true target definitely wasn't here.

Alfred had wanted to persuade him further, but then he suddenly saw a red alert on the computer screen. Alfred removed his glasses and looked at the location issuing the warning.

"Blackgate Prison..."

The computer screen displayed the situation on site. A man in protective gear, wearing a red laser sight over his right eye, was rampaging through Blackgate Prison as if no one could stop him.

Alfred clicked on the computer, and the man's information appeared on the screen.

Deadshot—Floyd Lawton. Occupation: mercenary, assassin, firearms expert, renowned marksman in the industry.

Alfred continued searching. Wayne Enterprises' database was a hundred times stronger than the Gotham Police Department's, and it immediately found the information.

More than a month ago in Metropolis, Deadshot had fought Superman. Deadshot had escaped with severe injuries but was captured by Superman and sent to prison.

He had only escaped from there a few days ago...