Otis

When Otis clasped his hands together, Miao Mu hurriedly stopped and looked around. Sure enough, the heaps of garbage and debris all around them began to tremble.

Gray rats scampered out one after another from beneath the damp cardboard, gathering in groups of dozens. The black mass moving across the ground was enough to make anyone's skin crawl.

Miao Mu pulled out a homemade gasoline bottle from his waist, lit the soaked cloth at its mouth with a lighter, and smashed it straight onto the ground.

Bang—boom!

The glass bottle shattered, and flames immediately sprang up. Wherever the gasoline flowed, the fire began to spread.

Miao Mu took out another bottle, lit it, and smashed it to the right, sealing off both sides before charging straight at Otis himself.

Otis was somewhat surprised by the suddenly erupting flames. Miao Mu rushed in with a high side kick. Otis hurriedly raised his arms to block, but his frail body could not withstand the blow at all.

Otis was kicked off his feet and slammed onto the ground, but he immediately got back up and threw a punch forward.

Miao Mu ducked low, wrapped both arms around Otis's waist from behind, and yanked him up before violently slamming him down onto the ground.

With the fighting skills he had trained in his previous life and the street-fighting style of this one, Miao Mu was not afraid of close combat in the slightest. The reason he and Jerry had become trainee officers was because they could fight.

"Ah..."

Otis lay on the ground and let out a pained groan through clenched teeth. He raised a hand to his lips and blew a low whistle.

The rats that had been frightened by the flames immediately became agitated. Quite a few charged directly into the fire, burning into flaming balls.

Their squeaking cries were terrifying.

At the sewer entrance, Jerry swung the two baseball bats in his hands through the air, smashing them down again and again. Blood splattered everywhere.

Swarms of rats poured out of the sewer like a black, furry tide. Jerry was so frightened that tears welled up in his eyes. That kind of horror truly shattered a person's mental defenses.

"Shut up!"

Miao Mu grabbed Otis's hand with one hand and pinned down his head with the other. On that haggard face, those evasive eyes were now filled with the hatred and fury of a man with nowhere left to run.

"Otis! You were framed!!!"

Miao Mu shouted, "You didn't kill anyone! You didn't take part in that gang fight either! You committed no crime! Those bastards forced those charges onto you! You were framed! You're innocent!"

The intense fury in Otis's eyes froze when he heard Miao Mu's words. What had he heard? He had been framed?

He was innocent? He had not killed anyone?

"Otis, I know what happened to you! You didn't kill anyone! You were framed!" Miao Mu continued to shout.

A tear slid from the corner of Otis's eye, and the fury in his gaze was drowned by that single tear. He shut his eyes in pain and began to wail like a child.

Ten years! Ten whole years!

He had cried out that he was innocent countless times, yet everyone said he was guilty, that he had killed someone. But he hadn't! He hadn't!!!

The grievance and pain that had built up for so long burst forth all at once. He sobbed uncontrollably like a child who had been wronged but never believed, finally receiving the answer he had waited for.

The rats that had gathered in swarms suddenly stopped as well, and the restless feeling spreading among them disappeared.

Jerry stood by the sewer entrance, leaning on a bloodstained baseball bat. His legs shook uncontrollably, and his face was as pale as a drowned corpse.

The sewer before him seemed to contain every rat in Gotham City. The dense mass of thousands upon thousands filled him with terror from the bottom of his heart.

The rats gradually retreated. Those that had been gathering in this direction all pulled back as well, like the sea receding from a beach.

Only the rats crushed into pulp beneath the baseball bats, the blood splattered across the ground, and the dozen or so rat balls burned to charcoal remained to tell of the horrifying scene from moments ago.

Watching the Ratcatcher, Otis, curl up on the ground and cry, Miao Mu's heart trembled too. His legs nearly gave out beneath him. He had underestimated this world.

Miao Mu turned to look at the wreckage around them. If his verbal barrage had not worked just now, he and Jerry might already have become rat food.

But—there was no way it would not have worked.

Miao Mu looked down at Otis. He was just a pitiful man. Who else had ever spoken a word for him?

It had taken only one sentence—that he was innocent, that he had been framed. For ten years, no one had said it for him, but that one sentence was enough.

"This damned, fucked-up world..."

Miao Mu shook his head and reached for a cigarette, only to remember that they were broke.

When they had bought information at Fesso Grocery Store yesterday, they had practically pawned everything but their underwear—their police uniforms, their service pistols, even Oswald's umbrella. Thinking about it was truly embarrassing.

But thankfully, they had found the man.

Miao Mu looked at Otis. Arrest him?

Forget it. Miao Mu was not coldhearted enough to go that far. Taking back two valuables as proof would be enough.

Besides, the chief had not said what was missing from his Household.

"This way. Be careful."

In Gotham City's sewers, Otis walked in front carrying a lantern, while Miao Mu and Jerry followed behind. Jerry had been scared out of his wits, completely wasting the title of the strongest in the rat world.

Miao Mu looked at the broad sewer tunnel, the platforms on either side, and the filthy water rolling through the channel in the middle.

Gotham City's sewers were a genuine underground maze. With their multilayered structure and interconnected waterways, it was difficult to find the way even with a map.

But that was not complicated for Otis, the Ratcatcher. His ability to communicate with rats allowed him to move through this place with almost no obstacles.

At a bend in the sewer, a large hole had been dug into the thick brick wall. Inside, a pile of things was covered with rags.

Otis hung the lantern from a rebar hook above them. "It's all here. Everything I stole is here."

Otis sounded ashamed as he spoke, but after being released from Blackgate Prison, he truly had nowhere to go.

Gotham had changed greatly over the past ten years. He had not a cent to his name and could barely afford food. He had survived in this gathering place for homeless people only by scavenging through trash and with the help of rats.

"I understand. You don't need to worry about it."

Miao Mu patted Otis's shoulder with understanding.

In Gotham these days, there were no grassroots aid organizations founded by Master Bruce, handing out money, food, clothes, and jobs to the homeless. The last knight in Gotham's darkness...

Miao Mu sighed emotionally, then squeezed Otis's shoulder hard. Beneath the thin coat was a body little more than skin and bones.

Though his shoulder hurt a little, Otis said nothing. Someone believed he was innocent, that he was clean. That alone made him happy.

"Take this. It's autumn. Wear something warmer."

Miao Mu took off his own equally worn-out coat and draped it over Otis. It was a little old, but thick and far better than what Otis had been wearing.

"Thank you..." Otis said, his voice choked with emotion.

It was the first time he had felt kindness from another person.

The rag covering the pile was pulled aside. Under the lantern's glow, the valuables beneath shone with dazzling splendor.

Gem-encrusted boxes, gold coins wrapped in cloth, expensive oil paintings, and an open safe containing dozens of bundles of cash, two gold bars, and more than a dozen costly antiques.

"Shit! How much is all this worth?"

Jerry, who had remained silent out of fear, stared wide-eyed at the sight. Growing up in the slums, the most money he had ever seen had been the bills behind a bank counter.

Looking at the pile, Miao Mu felt deeply uncomfortable. People said Gotham's police were corrupt to the core. This was reality.

"Take whatever you want. I was originally just going to teach that guy a lesson, but his Household had so many good things that I got carried away and emptied the place. That counts as a crime, right?" Otis said dejectedly.

"No. You robbed the rich to help the poor. That makes you a hero!"

Miao Mu shook his head, then remembered that Otis might not understand what that meant and changed his wording.

"Robin Hood! A righteous outlaw! Justice! You get it now, right? If that money went to that bastard, he'd only waste it on wine and women. It's better off going to someone else."

"Robin Hood?" Otis blinked, seemingly never expecting to be called something like that.

"Anyone can become a hero. You can too."

Miao Mu grinned.