But after that single shot, no hail of bullets followed. Silence seemed to settle over the surroundings again, broken only by intermittent screams, shouts, and curses in the darkness. Li Jie put on his night-vision goggles. Through the eerie green view, he saw numerous figures running in the street and inside the buildings opposite.
"Can someone tell me what's going on? Where's the enemy?"
"They're sowing doubt and fear, trying to make us expose our firing positions too soon or make mistakes out of nerves." Harleen Quinzel's voice broke into the channel. "I think they'll disguise themselves as ordinary civilians and come asking for help soon."
"Looks like you guessed right..." Li Jie murmured.
Through his night-vision goggles, he saw someone by the roadside drive a blade into another person. The victim screamed and fled toward the precinct entrance, but it was hard to tell whether this was a trap or just everyday life in Gotham.
"Help... help! Save me... I'm hurt!"
"Police! Open the door! Let me in!"
"Oh God, they've all gone mad..."
Three or four figures staggered into the precinct parking lot and ran toward the entrance. Some clutched their foreheads; another dragged a seemingly injured leg. Their movements were full of terror and desperation.
"If we let them keep coming, they'll expose the traps in front of the entrance," Nygma said over the channel. "We have to stop them... hey, Dr. Quizzle, where are you going?"
"I'm going up front to take a look. Your surveillance feeds are too blurry." Harleen's voice seemed to recede as she ran off, then Nygma spoke again. "Sheriff, she's heading to the second-floor observation post."
"Understood. Warn the approaching civilians and stop them from advancing."
The loudspeakers on the Eastern District Precinct's outer wall crackled a few times, then broadcast