Gordon

"Could you slow down a little? You're scaring me..."

Inside KFC, Gordon's delighted expression vanished as he watched Miao Mu, who had come all this way to see him.

If Miao Mu kept eating like this, Gordon would have to consider buying on credit.

He picked up a fried drumstick, dipped it in ketchup, stuffed it into his mouth, and with one puff of his cheeks, spat out a bone with half of it still covered in meat.

Even a dog would shake its head at that.

"Come on, Captain Gordon, it's only twenty boxes of drumsticks. No need to be like that. I may be broke, but you've got money."

Miao Mu picked up another drumstick and crunched away. Maybe it was a side effect of martial arts training, but he felt like his stomach was a bottomless pit, digesting food at an absurdly fast rate.

It was as if anything he ate could be converted into energy and stored away. He was not particularly hungry; he just could not stop eating.

"You don't need to call me Captain outside. Just call me Gordon." Gordon picked up his cup of Coke and took a sip.

Beside them, Milo awkwardly wolfed down his burger. Since Captain Gordon was treating them, even an ordinary beef burger tasted exceptionally delicious.

"You work at the Arkham Police Department. You can't be completely broke. You're not married yet, are you? Where did your salary go?"

Gordon set down his Coke and asked curiously. Young people might not plan their spending, but payday had only been a few days ago. Even he still had several hundred-dollar bills in his pocket.

"It's a long story. I think I'm sick. I gave someone's wife... no, his ex-wife, a chunk of alimony.

"The problem is, I don't even know whether that guy is dead or alive. If he's already kicked the bucket, I'll have taken a huge loss."

Miao Mu shook his head, picked up another drumstick, and stuffed it into his mouth. Then he casually dumped the untouched fries from Milo's tray into his own mouth.

But honestly, Miao Mu still sympathized with Deadshot. The pretty boy his ex-wife was keeping was built like a football player.

Good thing they had divorced. Otherwise, that... cuckolding...

Still, it was pretty miserable. He had to work himself half to death making money, only for it to support his unemployed ex-wife... and her pretty boy. It was truly pathetic.

Miao Mu had said it carelessly, but Gordon took it to heart. Not for any other reason.

It was because of... ex-wife.

"I got divorced too."

"What! Cough, cough... urgh, cough, cough!" Miao Mu was so shocked that a chicken bone got stuck in his throat.

"Brother Miao!" Milo hurriedly stood and patted Miao Mu's back. Miao Mu quickly leaned out and gagged, coughing half a chicken bone, covered in saliva, onto the floor.

"What did you say? You got divorced?"

Ignoring the discomfort in his mouth, Miao Mu grabbed a napkin, wiped his lips, and hurriedly asked.

Gordon nodded somewhat guiltily. As though a burden had finally been lifted, he spoke. Some things did not feel good when kept buried in one's heart.

The Coke in his hand seemed like rich whiskey, giving him a hazy, drunken feeling. A light rain began to fall outside the window.

One day, he suddenly realized that he had fallen for Sarah Essen, a colleague at the Gotham Police Department. It had only been the first stirrings of affection.

The two had made no real progress, yet they were drawn to each other, their love mutual and sincere. But they were both people with ideals and principles.

Gordon had a family, and Sarah Essen did not want to destroy it. The two of them tacitly kept their distance.

Until Gordon came clean to his wife. This honest, old-fashioned man could not bear the torment of betraying his wife, even if it was only feelings outside the marriage, so he told her the truth.

"So now you're a bachelor who got kicked out of his own home?" Miao Mu could not help laughing.

He knew a little about Gordon's marriage, especially about this second Mrs. Gordon. She had died bravely and decisively. Even Gotham's Clown Prince of Crime, the Joker, had been shocked by her death.

That was right—she had died. The Joker had taken a group of babies hostage in a hospital and presented Officer Sarah Essen, who had come to arrest him, with a special choice.

Using bombs, he gave her a very particular multiple-choice question.

1. Arrest him, and all the babies would die.

2. Sarah Essen committed suicide, and everyone would live.

Compared to killing his enemies, the Joker preferred driving his opponents insane, just as he had countless chances to kill Batman.

But he never did.

Killing was merely his method. What he truly wanted was to make those with morals and principles trample on their own bottom lines and ideals, until they finally descended into endless madness.

What could be better than making those who protected the city personally destroy and kill the people they were meant to protect?

Yet Sarah Essen taught the Joker a lesson. Some people really could die for their ideals and for those they protected.

She raised her gun, aimed it at her own forehead, and pulled the trigger without hesitation. Bang!

Even the Joker, famous for his madness, was stunned.

That seemed to be the first time the Joker had kept his word and released all the babies, but... it also seemed to be the last.

Gordon gave a bitter smile, looking thoroughly embarrassed. His daughter was already in college, yet he had still found love. It truly felt strange.

"All right, the Upper West Side is your turf. We're going here. Want to come?" Miao Mu wiped the grease from the corner of his mouth with a napkin, pulled out the business card from his pocket, and pushed it over.

Gordon put on his glasses, picked up the card, and glanced at it. "That place is pretty chaotic. You two are going there?"

"No, I'm inviting you to come with us." Miao Mu wiped his hands, stood up, and put on his coat. "Are you coming? You're off work already."

As he spoke, Miao Mu pointed at the chicken-leg-shaped clock on the wall. It was obviously already past quitting time.

"Mm, sure. I feel like having a drink too."

After thinking about it, Gordon agreed. If he went home, he would only be alone, and the house would feel especially lonely.

"Let's go, let's go. Before the rain gets any heavier, we're heading to Dixon Docks. Milo, go get the car!"

Miao Mu held his coat over his head and tossed the keys to Milo.

He sent the young man, who looked somewhat handsome on the outside but was utterly goofy within, off to run the errand.

He and Gordon headed outside. The thick clouds over Gotham's sky would occasionally dump a shower on them. After living here long enough, one got used to it.

Gordon skillfully pulled the hood out from his coat and put it over his head. His police uniform jacket was waterproof.

A police car drove over, and just as it came to a stop, the rain stopped too.

Miao Mu looked up at the clearing sky, where a crescent moon had appeared, then skeptically stretched out his hand. The rain really had stopped.

"This damn weather... is actually pretty nice."

Miao Mu had originally wanted to curse, but upon seeing the moon overhead, he changed the second half of his insult.

"Come on. That place is pretty lively at night, but it's best not to wear a police uniform there, or there'll be trouble."

Seeing that the rain had stopped, Gordon simply took off his police uniform jacket. Underneath, he wore a white dress shirt with a tie.

Still, he had not changed clothes in quite some time, and his white collar had turned black. But none of the three men cared about something like that.

When work got busy enough to blur day and night, who had time to care?

Miao Mu wore only a black short-sleeved T-shirt, with a pink cat logo on the chest.

Apparently, the shirt had been a gift Jerry intended to give someone, but Miao Mu had casually grabbed it and put it on.

"Forget the police car. Follow me."

Under the dim yellow streetlights, Gordon lit a cigarette, tipped his head back, and exhaled a stream of smoke. He ran a hand through his hair and led Miao Mu and the others toward a nearby block.

The way the three of them walked made them look less like cops who had taken off their uniforms and more like Gotham mob enforcers and gang bosses.

Gordon especially—the authority of a captain beneath those black-rimmed glasses was more intimidating than the pistol tucked into Miao Mu's waistband.

With just one glance and a cold snort, he scared two street punks who were about to smoke weed so badly that their cigarettes fell to the ground.