Chapter Summaries

Zuo Ci explained to Batman why he was helping Gotham’s homeless and hoped Batman could improve their situation, though he knew a broader solution was needed. Meanwhile, Cobblepot saw an opportunity to rise in Gotham’s underworld and arranged to visit “Dad.”

• Zuo Ci told Batman that he could not stand seeing people starve or freeze, and that helping them could bring both practical benefits and personal happiness.
• Batman reconsidered his view of Zuo Ci, while Zuo Ci warned him to knock before entering again.
• After Batman left, Zuo Ci reflected on Gotham’s homelessness, doubted Wayne Enterprises could solve it alone, and went to sleep after telling Jack to take another day off.
• Cobblepot reflected on the decline of his family and his position beneath Gotham’s powerful crime families, then decided his opportunity had arrived.
• Cobblepot ordered gifts prepared so he could visit “Dad” in person the next day.

Zuo Ci tried to enjoy a quiet day off but was interrupted by Oswald Chesterfield Cobblepot, the Penguin, who visited with a gift and claimed he wanted to thank him for saving his men. The Penguin secretly hoped to win Zuo Ci’s support, and the chapter left Zuo Ci accepting the safe while remaining aware that Cobblepot had another motive.

• Zuo Ci woke after a restless night and tried to cheer himself up with instant noodles on his day off.
• The Penguin arrived at Zuo Ci’s shop, introduced himself as Oswald Chesterfield Cobblepot, and politely asked to come in.
• The Penguin assessed Zuo Ci’s demeanor and decided his humble approach had worked.
• The Penguin said Zuo Ci had saved his men from the Joker at the Red Dragon Restaurant and presented a safe as thanks, though he secretly wanted Zuo Ci’s help.
• Zuo Ci accepted the safe after exchanging polite words, knowing the Penguin had not come solely to express gratitude.

Zuo Ci accepted Penguin's gold gift after revealing his shop's magical appearance and hearing Penguin's request. Penguin left relieved after securing Zuo Ci's willingness to work with him in the future.

• Zuo Ci opened Penguin's heavy briefcase and found it packed with pure gold bars.
• Zuo Ci told Penguin to state his intentions directly, then transformed the shop into a dazzling magical display.
• Penguin was startled by the shop's transformation, regained his composure, and explained what he wanted from Zuo Ci.
• Zuo Ci accepted the gift and agreed Penguin could come to him for help, and Penguin addressed him as Mr. Zuo Ci.
• Penguin hurried to his car after leaving the shop and relaxed once his driver sped toward the Iceberg Lounge.

Zuo Ci checked on the people he had rescued and brought them supplies, then spotted Jack searching for his missing wallet in the East End. Realizing that a particular thief had taken it, Zuo Ci invited Jack to watch what happened next.

• Zuo Ci left his shop and headed through the heavy snow to check on the people he had rescued.
• Zuo Ci saw Wayne Enterprises distributing aid and reflected on Batman's efforts to help Gotham.
• Zuo Ci found the rescued people asleep in the repaired factory, left them more supplies, and quietly departed.
• Zuo Ci ran into Jack, who explained that his wallet had disappeared while he was buying medicinal ingredients.
• Zuo Ci concluded that an exceptional thief had stolen Jack's wallet and told him they were about to see a good show.

Catwoman tried to avenge Poison Ivy by stealing Jack’s wallet, but Zuo Ci captured her and demanded repayment. When she couldn’t pay, he threatened to use his Meme Pollution Spray on her.

• Catwoman found only a few coins in Jack’s wallet and reflected that she had stolen from him to retaliate for Zuo Ci’s treatment of Poison Ivy.
• Zuo Ci tracked Catwoman using the wallet and captured her with a disguised drone and anesthetic, then had Jack take her to an abandoned factory.
• Catwoman woke inside a lockless iron cage and realized Jack had woven it from steel rebar, leaving her no way out except by force.
• Zuo Ci demanded two hundred thousand dollars for Jack’s advance wages, and Jack refused to confirm Catwoman had stolen anything.
• Catwoman tried to seduce Zuo Ci into opening the cage, but he ignored her and threatened to punish her with Meme Pollution Spray.

Zuo Ci forced Catwoman to sign a contract by threatening her with a bizarre spray, then tormented her with a foul necklace before Batman arrived to rescue her. Batman offered to pay to undo the effects, but Zuo Ci revealed that he had never used meme pollution.

• Zuo Ci threatened Catwoman with the spray until she agreed to pay and signed his contract.
• After Catwoman signed, Zuo Ci sprayed her anyway and showed her a necklace made of excrement.
• Jack sensed Batman approaching and kicked him back when he entered.
• Batman offered Zuo Ci a hundred thousand dollars for Catwoman and freed her from the cage.
• Batman asked Zuo Ci to undo the effects, but Zuo Ci said he had never used meme pollution.

Zuo Ci revealed that he had only pranked Catwoman with a stink agent and a cheap plastic toy, enraging her before Batman carried her away. Afterward, Zuo Ci shared the payment with Jack and explained that he had planted firecrackers in the wallet Catwoman stole.

• Zuo Ci told Catwoman and Batman that he had not used the Meme Pollution Spray, explaining that it was an ordinary stink agent and the disturbing necklace was a cheap plastic toy.
• Catwoman realized Zuo Ci had deceived her, flew into a rage, and threatened to claw him to death.
• Batman stopped Catwoman, carried her away, and left Zuo Ci and Jack behind.
• Zuo Ci split the payment with Jack, warned him to discard Batman's card, and discovered Catwoman had stolen his wallet.
• Zuo Ci said he had planted Tuffy's firecrackers in the wallet, so it had contained no money.

Jack Hanma entered a Gotham underground fighting arena to earn money and find a worthy opponent, while Zuo Ci made a fortune betting on him. After Jack defeated every challenger with one hit, the arena sent in Luke, a drugged fighter who suddenly went berserk and charged toward the crowd.

• Jack Hanma returned to underground fighting after running out of money and knocked out his first challenger in one hit.
• Zuo Ci bet on Jack and won several hundred thousand dollars as the arena’s odds repeatedly rose to extreme levels.
• The arena owner ordered his assistant to give its strongest fighter, Luke, a dangerous drug to stop the losses.
• Jack recognized that Luke had taken a powerful stimulant and welcomed the chance to face a stronger opponent.
• Luke lost control, scrambled toward the crowd, and made Jack suspect that something beyond ordinary stimulant use was wrong.

Jack stopped Luke from attacking others, and Batman arrived to take Luke and investigate. Zuo Ci joined Batman after receiving a mission to prevent a disaster in Gotham, and they went to inspect the Fight Club owner’s office.

• Jack struck Luke and pulled him back into the ring when he tried to attack someone else.
• Batman arrived in the dark, knocked Luke unconscious, drew a blood sample, and prepared to leave with him.
• Zuo Ci released anesthetic gas that knocked out the Fight Club crowd, then offered to help Batman.
• Zuo Ci received the mission “Poison in the Water,” requiring him to prevent an impending Gotham disaster without widespread damage.
• A scream came from the owner’s office after Zuo Ci’s hidden capsaicin-coated nails were triggered, and he suggested that he and Batman investigate while tending to Luke.

Batman, Jack, and Zuo Ci captured the underground fighting ring’s boss and questioned him about the drugs and missing homeless people. Zuo Ci used a supernatural toothbrush to inflict unbearable pain, leaving the boss unconscious before he could reveal anything.

• The boss tried to escape through a window but stepped on barbed nails scattered in the secret room and injured his feet.
• Batman, Jack, and Zuo Ci arrived upstairs, and Batman bound the boss while Jack carried Luke and the unconscious assistants.
• Batman asked the boss who supplied the drugs and where the homeless people had gone, but the boss refused to answer to protect his family.
• Batman let Zuo Ci question the boss, and Zuo Ci brushed his teeth with the Toothache Toothbrush.
• Zuo Ci revealed that the toothbrush caused irreversible dental nerve proliferation, and the boss passed out from the pain.

Batman and Zuo Ci interrogated the Fight Club owner and learned that a powerful, unknown man was paying him to recruit fighters and send them with homeless people to an abandoned chemical plant. Batman suspected Bane was behind the disappearances and was developing an upgraded version of venom.

• Batman found nothing useful in the hidden room, while Zuo Ci's torture left the owner collapsed and covered in nails.
• Zuo Ci gave the owner painkillers, and the owner revealed that his secret boss supplied money and drugs to recruit fighters and send them and homeless people to the Abandoned Chemical Plant in the East End.
• The owner begged to be spared further tooth pain, but Zuo Ci had Jack knock out his teeth, and Batman stopped the bleeding.
• Batman told Zuo Ci and Jack that the kidnappings were likely connected to Bane, whose organization appeared to be abducting homeless people.
• Batman said Luke's blood contained a potent, brain-damaging version of Bane's venom, and Zuo Ci suspected Bane was kidnapping people to test or produce the drug.

Jack learned that Bane was behind the trouble and looked forward to fighting him, so Batman, Jack, and Zuo Ci headed to Gotham Prison to stop him. They discovered Bane had already escaped, but Zuo Ci used Precise Divination to locate him in the sewers.

• Jack perked up when he heard Bane was involved and suggested attacking him before his plan could proceed.
• Batman agreed to strike first but urged Zuo Ci not to kill anyone, and the three set off for Gotham Prison in the Batmobile.
• Batman, Zuo Ci, and Jack sneaked into the prison and found that Bane had escaped after the surveillance feeds around his cell went dark.
• Zuo Ci bought another use of Precise Divination and summoned a large mirror to reveal Bane in the sewers.

Bane broke out of prison after a sudden sense of danger and tried to continue his unstable Venom project, but Batman and his companions raided the sewer base. Bane released a crowd of muscular test subjects to cover his escape, while a huge man calmly approached him and challenged him to fight.

• Bane told his assistant that intuition had driven him to break out early, then ordered the Venom project to continue and the remaining test subjects moved to the main warehouse.
• A guard warned Bane that Batman had entered the sewers, so Bane ordered his people to pack the equipment and data and evacuate through a secret passage.
• Batman’s anesthetic grenades knocked out Bane’s men, and Batman, Zuo Ci, and a third companion entered the base after using a drone illusion to mislead Bane.
• Bane faced Batman, who attacked before Bane could put on his armor or use Venom, so Bane pressed a button and unleashed a horde of muscular test subjects.
• As the test subjects swarmed Batman, a huge man ignored them and challenged Bane, whose instincts warned him to flee.

Jack challenged Bane to a fight in the sewers and overwhelmed him despite Bane using Venom. After Bane stabbed Jack with several syringes of Improved Bane Venom, Jack remained standing and praised the drug, while Bane lay unable to fight.

• Jack ignored Bane's warning about his friends and attacked him, but Bane's punch barely affected him.
• Bane injected himself with Venom and fought Jack, who knocked him down and badly injured him.
• Bane dodged Jack's lethal stomp, found syringes of Improved Bane Venom, and stabbed them into Jack's thigh.
• Jack punched Bane through the sewer, leaving him unable to resist.
• Jack felt the Improved Bane Venom's effects and wondered why Bane had injected him with drugs.

Zuo Ci used powdered Hypno-shrooms to pacify Bane’s test subjects, then played a dance speaker to keep them occupied. Batman turned to check on him and found the muscular men dancing naked in a circle around Zuo Ci.

• Zuo Ci struggled to hurt the Venom-enhanced test subjects and avoided shooting them because gunfire could ignite methane in the sewer.
• Zuo Ci scattered powdered Hypno-shrooms, hypnotizing the test subjects and making them act like children.
• Zuo Ci separated two test subjects who had begun kissing and used a square-dancing speaker to redirect the group.
• Batman subdued one test subject, heard music, and turned to check whether Zuo Ci was in danger.
• Batman saw the test subjects dancing in a circle around Zuo Ci and wondered whether exhaustion had made him hallucinate.

After Bane refused to answer Batman’s questions, Zuo Ci decided to punish him for the humiliation caused by Bane’s schemes and began a grotesque interrogation. Bane finally offered to talk, but Zuo Ci declared it was too late.

• Zuo Ci lamented that Batman had witnessed his humiliating dance, while Jack arrived carrying the defeated Bane.
• Batman asked Bane where he had taken the abducted homeless people and what he was planning, but Bane refused to answer.
• Bane mocked Zuo Ci while secretly panicking at the danger he sensed, and Zuo Ci prepared to interrogate him.
• Zuo Ci forced a Croton Seed into Bane’s mouth and threatened him with enormous plugs and glue.
• Bane offered to talk, but Zuo Ci said it was too late.

Zuo Ci tortured Bane to force him to reveal his plan, but Bane detonated bombs in the sewer, burying everyone in the resulting explosion. Zuo Ci, Batman, and Jack escaped underground and emerged beside Commissioner Gordon, who asked what had happened.

• Zuo Ci used a drone to install a plug in Bane and threatened him with more unless he revealed his plan.
• Bane panicked, stood up, and detonated the bombs on his chest, setting off an explosion that collapsed the streets above the sewer.
• Commissioner Gordon received a report confirming there were no fatalities and only minor injuries, and wondered whether Batman had attracted another bizarre criminal.
• Zuo Ci, Batman, and Jack dug or swam out from underground, and Gordon stared at them and asked what had happened.

Batman and Zuo Ci recruited Gordon’s officers to investigate Bane’s scattered hideouts while Zuo Ci used divination to locate Bane. The chapter ended with Bane’s henchmen finding him in the sewer just as the croton seeds took effect, leaving him humiliated and despairing.

• Gordon arranged for a crew to dig up the road, and Zuo Ci explained that Bane had escaped after detonating his facility.
• Zuo Ci showed Gordon the locations of Bane’s bases and gave him anesthetic bombs to use while investigating them with his officers.
• Zuo Ci replenished his mana and used divination to show Batman that Bane was crawling through a sewer.
• Bane struggled through the sewer with broken limbs, believing he would eventually avenge his losses.
• Bane’s henchmen found him, and the croton seeds caused him to soil himself in front of them.

Zuo Ci cleared another of Bane’s hideouts for profit and found Penguin imprisoned there. After learning Penguin had been captured during a charity event, Zuo Ci freed him, and Penguin asked him to take a strange plant-like figure along too.

• Zuo Ci handed Batman the Crystal Ball and went to clear the other hideouts while Batman dealt with Bane.
• Zuo Ci looted a hideout’s equipment and valuables, then discovered Penguin unconscious in an iron cage.
• Zuo Ci revived Penguin and questioned him about why Bane had captured him.
• Penguin explained that Bane’s men had seized him while he was helping homeless people, after overpowering his guards.
• Zuo Ci freed Penguin, and Penguin pointed out a large plant-like figure in the corner and asked Zuo Ci to bring her along.
• Zuo Ci offered the figure manure, prompting her to shout at him not to.

Zuo Ci teased Poison Ivy, then charged her for makeup remover before a powerful brute attacked the group. After using cooking oil to make the brute fall, Zuo Ci turned to the mystery of why it had awakened.

• Poison Ivy refused Zuo Ci’s threat and blamed him for her garish appearance, while Zuo Ci laughed and gave her makeup remover.
• Poison Ivy removed the makeup and saw her face was unharmed, then learned Zuo Ci expected her to pay ten thousand for the remover.
• Penguin warned Zuo Ci and Poison Ivy that a huge brute was charging at them, and Poison Ivy attacked it but was quickly knocked aside.
• Zuo Ci splashed cooking oil on the brute, causing it to slip and fall.
• Zuo Ci wondered why the brute had awakened despite his anesthetic.