A new mission after so long

"Your opponent is me. Don't go running off."

Seeing that something was clearly wrong with the guy, Jack stopped fooling around.

Bam!

He slapped Luke across the face just as Luke was about to jump down. The terrifying force instantly shattered his jaw, sending blood and teeth flying through the air and knocking him back into the ring.

"Urgh... aagh..."

Normally, a blow like that would have killed an ordinary person or at least left them gravely injured. Yet, against all expectations, Luke actually hauled himself back up despite his mangled face, and even tried to attack someone else.

"What's going on?"

Jack picked up the frenzied Luke as if he were a cat and examined him curiously from head to toe.

It wasn't as though Jack had never seen someone get back up and keep fighting after taking a serious injury.

Fighters like him could perform seemingly miraculous feats, no matter how badly they were injured, as long as the fight hadn't been decided.

He himself, for instance, had kept fighting on instinct after losing consciousness several times.

But all of that depended on their extraordinary willpower. He certainly didn't think this thing in front of him, acting like a feral dog, was anything like them.

Could he really have taken too many stimulants? But what kind of stimulant could cause this?

Crash!!!

Without warning, every light bulb in the Fight Club shattered at once. The people who had been screaming and cheering were startled, and the din abruptly died away.

The culprit responsible for it all was now standing in the ring.

"Hand him over."

The voice was as gravelly as ever, and Jack immediately recognized its owner.

"Batman? Why are you here?"

Everything had suddenly gone pitch-black, and with Batman's exceptional stealth skills, even Jack wasn't entirely sure where he was.

So Jack simply stopped trying to pinpoint him and tossed Luke forward.

He didn't hear a body hit the floor, so apparently Batman had caught him.

Batman knocked Luke out cold with a single punch, then took out a syringe, stuck it into him, and drew a tube of blood before placing it in a portable blood analyzer.

Once he had finished, he slung Luke over his shoulder and prepared to leave.

But after only a few steps, he abruptly stopped. With a click, the half-mask on his face shifted into a full-face covering.

Hiss...

In the darkness, someone seemed to have opened a valve. Waves of powerful anesthetic gas swept in, knocking out the crowd before they could even work out what had happened.

"What a coincidence. Fancy seeing you here. Did something happen?"

As he spoke, Zuo Ci changed back into his Mage Robe, then ambled toward them like a drifting ghost, carrying a small portable LED night-light.

"You used an anesthetic?"

With his full-face mask on, Batman's voice sounded somewhat muffled.

Unfortunately, his tone was as stiff and impersonal as ever.

"Yep, a powerful anesthetic. But don't worry. This stuff won't harm their health. It'll just let them get a good night's sleep."

Under his hood, Zuo Ci had also put on a Universal Gas Mask, making his voice sound muffled too.

Of the three people present, only Jack wasn't wearing any protection. Of course, he didn't need it. At this concentration, the anesthetic was no different to him than a breath of secondhand smoke.

"You're helping me?"

Looking at the unconscious spectators sprawled on the floor, Batman narrowed his eyes almost imperceptibly. If the crowd had descended into chaos, they wouldn't have posed a threat to him, but they would have been a nuisance.

Having them all dealt with at once saved him quite a bit of effort.

One rather counterintuitive fact was that Batman didn't actually refuse help. He had never fought entirely alone. So he was quite pleased to see that Zuo Ci was willing to lend a hand.

Of course, he certainly wasn't going to say that aloud.

"What other reason would there be? I'm bored, obviously.

There's been nothing to do lately, and earning some extra cash here is boring too. Now that you're here, we can naturally head off on a fun little adventure~"

Zuo Ci sounded utterly sincere, and Batman didn't question him much.

After all, he had been very eager to help the last time they faced Joker. Deep down, he was a warmhearted person.

Of course, if Zuo Ci had known what Batman was thinking, he would certainly have laughed out loud. He really was still new to the job and inexperienced. He couldn't even tell that Zuo Ci was lying.

If this hadn't happened to trigger a mission, Zuo Ci wouldn't have bothered.

[Beep beep, you have a new order.

Mission name: Poison in the Water

Mission description: Can't be bothered to describe it. Making up all that nonsense is a pain too. Just read the requirements.

Mission requirements: Resolve the impending disaster in Gotham without causing widespread damage to the city in the process.

Mission reward: 50 points]

"Seriously? You're issuing a mission, and you can't even be bothered to write a description? Who taught you that lousy habit?

Still, 50 points this time. That really is quite a lot."

As Zuo Ci's second mission, it was clearly going to be much harder than the first, judging by the requirements and reward.

So, to play it safe, the smartest choice was to rope Batman into his scheme.

"All right, enough chitchat. Batman, can you tell us what happened this time?"

After a moment's hesitation, Batman nodded.

As his investigation progressed, he had already ruled Zuo Ci out as a suspect. He had also discovered that this incident could very well lead to serious trouble. Having Zuo Ci's help would make things much easier, so he no longer intended to hide anything.

"I..."

"Aah!!!"

Just as Batman was about to speak, an exceptionally piercing scream suddenly came from the office upstairs.

"Oh, don't worry. Something I set up upstairs probably got triggered."

From the moment he entered the Fight Club, Zuo Ci had sent several drones sneaking into the owner's office. After scanning the place, they had discovered his hidden door.

Then he had scattered a large handful of capsaicin-coated nails inside and concealed them with the drones' projections.

Seriously, what if the owner decided not to pay and ran off halfway through? Of course he had to have something prepared.

Don't look at me. I'm not trying to take advantage of the situation. Really, I'm not!

Batman quietly glanced at Zuo Ci. He had actually made preparations on the second floor too, but hadn't expected Zuo Ci to beat him to it.

"Let's go up together and see what that unlucky owner is hiding.

By the way, aren't you going to bandage this guy first? Looks to me like he's about to bleed to death."

Zuo Ci pointed at the unconscious Luke on Batman's shoulder. He was covered in blood, and his jaw looked as though it was about to fall off.