"Sit tight. We're taking a shortcut."
The rest of the drive became an immersive tour of Gotham that Oliver and his companions would never forget. The Patrol Van didn't take Chenghua... didn't take the main road. Instead, it turned east onto the dimly lit Three-Gate Bridge, beneath which flowed an ink-black river that gave off a strange smell. Across the bridge lay the madhouse known as Narrow Island.
"See that over there?"
Li Jie pointed into the distance as he drove. A cluster of Gothic buildings with pointed roofs stood there, looking like a nest of monsters beneath the pallid moonlight.
"What is that place?" Thea asked, leaning against the window. "An old castle?"
"It might have been once, but now it's the famous Arkham Asylum. Probably full of experts who are very good at performing prefrontal... whatever-otomies."
Li Jie slowed down a little, letting his out-of-town guests admire Arkham's walls, covered in moss and vines, and the desolate woods surrounding them.
Even through the windows, they seemed to hear faint, deranged muttering and shrill laughter drifting from inside. Thea clutched her brother's arm in fear and urged Li Jie to drive faster.
The Patrol Van crossed a bridge heading south and passed through the Gotham University area, where Li Jie briefly told them about his earlier ambush battle with Fish Mooney's men.
"It got a little dangerous. A heavy machine gun nearly turned me into Swiss cheese."
"A heavy machine gun?"
Oliver looked rather unsettled. "Are weapons like that standard issue for gangs in Gotham now?"
"Not really." Li Jie shook his head and answered matter-of-factly, "People who aren't in gangs might have them too."
They turned east into Coventry. Once a prosperous residential neighborhood, it now exuded an air of faded aristocratic grandeur and concealed cult worship,