Arrival at the Scene

Because the underground tunnels had flooded, Cindy had to take a detour along the North Ring Line. By the time they reached the location they had looked up earlier, it was already just past one o'clock.

Water lay everywhere beneath the pitch-black night sky, blurring the boundary between ground and heaven. Still, they could make out Sheriff Gordon's brown sedan parked by the roadside not far away, its taillights glowing.

Su Ming and Cindy prepared to get out and look for clues. As for the two reporters, even if they tried to make Vicki leave now, she would not go. She was still waiting for a bigger scoop, as well as the "fight promo video" Su Ming had promised her.

Pete was Vicki's lackey, and Su Ming did not think he had the guts to walk alone through the territory of three gangs at midnight.

"Can I get out too? Film some kind of documentary about the case?" Vicki hurriedly threw on more clothes and looked at Su Ming expectantly.

Su Ming did not particularly mind. The footage might prove useful.

"You can, but don't film both Deathstrokes appearing in the same shot, and don't film Barbara. No livestreaming. If you try anything, I'll make you wish you were dead."

Cindy had no objection either. It did not matter which of the two Deathstrokes did the thinking. On the contrary, she felt a long-forgotten sense of reassurance, like when she had been with her good friend Holly.

Barbara wanted to get out as well, but her mobility was too limited, so she could only remain inside the car.

The icy chill returned to Su Ming, and every emotion instantly fled from him. He strode toward Gordon's car, pulled open the door, and began inspecting it.

The car smelled of tobacco and coffee, but there was no scent of blood. The phone sat intact on the dashboard, showing several missed calls from Barbara, confirming that it was Gordon's phone.

The keys were still in the ignition, and the engine was in neutral. That meant he had only intended to leave the car briefly, but something had gone wrong.

The tank was still half full, the battery was fully charged, and neither the hood nor the trunk showed signs of being opened. Vehicle trouble could be ruled out.

Then what had made him leave his car and walk into the Men in Black's trap?

"Su, there's a body in the water over here."

Cindy jumped down from the Telephone Pole where she had been checking the surveillance camera, splashing up a great sheet of water. Sure enough, something resembling a music player had been connected to the roadside camera. She collected the devices, intending to study the method later.

As she walked toward Su Ming, she spotted a vague white shape beneath the sewage water a short distance in front of the car. Her experience immediately told her it was a corpse.

Su Ming knew the body was why Gordon had left his car. As a police officer, only something like this could guarantee that Gordon would stop to investigate regardless of the time.

That showed the Men in Black wanted him alive, not dead. At least that was good news.

Cindy hooked the body out from beneath the sewage with her foot. It had already swollen and distorted from soaking, while the force of the rain had accelerated the breakdown of fat, leaving the skin loose and sagging.

They immediately identified the cause of death: massive blood loss from external injuries. Right there on the spot, they began the autopsy.

Understanding human anatomy was a basic skill for assassins. When necessary, acting as a coroner posed no problem. Cindy examined the internal organs while Su Ming checked the limbs and head.

"Viewers, what you're seeing now is the scene of Commissioner Gordon's disappearance. Right behind me is—"

Vicki's voice came from the distance as she recorded her segment for the camera. She truly had no intention of filming both Deathstrokes together. She knew that was probably a hard line; once she crossed it, Deathstroke would turn on her immediately.

Neither of them was affected by her. They swiftly went about their work, their four hands moving with identical techniques.

Thirty seconds later, both had confirmed they had missed nothing. In the torrential rain, this was all the evidence they could gather.

"Who goes first?" Su Ming asked with a smile. "I don't want to play that game where we say the same thing at the same time again."

"I will." Cindy stood and looked around, but there was nothing nearby except rainwater. "Aside from the stab wound from this incident, the deceased's internal organs showed signs of congestion. She suffered an impact before she died."

"Her cardiovascular and respiratory systems were well developed. She was probably a manual laborer or an athlete. There was nothing in her stomach, so she had likely been hungry for two or three days. I think she was executed in some secret prison. She was a prisoner."

Su Ming nodded, rose to examine the surroundings as well, then continued.

"My findings match yours. The deceased did not walk here herself. The soles of her feet are intact—barefoot walking would not leave them like that. This proves the body was dumped here."

"Her knuckles were thick, and the first three fingers on both hands had obvious abrasions and calluses. The muscles in all four limbs were balanced and strong, indicating she was a martial artist or a swimmer. There are defensive wounds on her arms, showing she fought someone before death. There are also marks of bindings around her wrists and ankles."

"Someone interrogated her, then executed her."

They stood silently, thinking. For more than ten seconds, only the sound of rain spread between them.

"No obvious torture wounds," Cindy said, looking toward Vicki Vale in the distance. That woman was cheerfully performing for the camera as if nothing had happened.

"It could have been water torture. There's a punishment called Paper Torture, where they cover the face with paper and pour water over it. An autopsy would show signs of asphyxiation." Su Ming thought of it at once.

"Where did you hear about that?"

Cindy said she had never seen that method of torture. Their usual style was more like holding someone's head in a toilet, but that would leave water in the lungs and show drowning during an autopsy.

"Oh, similar punishments were popular in many ancient civilizations. You can learn about it when you get the chance."

In truth, he had learned it from a television drama while working as a security guard, but it should have been an original invention of the Celestial Empire.

Cindy sighed and shook her head.

"What you're thinking is probably what I'm thinking. This situation just got complicated."

Su Ming understood as well, because ordinary people could never possess a physique like that woman's.

"Those people are here too."

"League of Assassins." X2

Once again, they spoke the exact same words at the same time. This time, though, they merely stared quietly at the body on the ground without saying anything more.

An assassin of the League of Assassins had died here. No matter who had done it, the assassins would avenge her. That was the ancient organization's tradition.

If the people who had kidnapped Gordon were responsible, the League of Assassins would not waste time distinguishing friend from foe. They would eliminate every living thing as a warning, and Gordon's life would be in grave danger.

"How many hours is Nanda Parbat from Gotham?" Su Ming asked first. He needed to know the time.

"You don't know? How long does it usually take where you're from?"

Cindy was curious. She knew Su Ming's side had things their world lacked. Did that mean people could travel faster?

As the headquarters of the League of Assassins, Nanda Parbat was not actually in the south. It was a mysterious place amid ice and snow, one that no technological means could detect.

Like Paradise Island, Atlantis, and the House of Mystery, it seemed to be hidden by some force—or perhaps it simply did not exist in the Material World.

But judging from the Green Arrow television series and the Dark Knight trilogy, its approximate location should have been Iceland or Greenland, right?

"About seven hours?" Su Ming calculated Gotham's location. That was roughly how long it would take by plane.

"So slow! On our side, it only takes four hours. You'll soon find League of Assassins killers all over Gotham."

What the hell? Faster than flying? Did they have some special travel technique?

"This isn't something worth competing over, is it? We're already short on time!"

Su Ming cut her off irritably. Heaven knew why she was so proud that she even had to compare the League of Assassins' travel speed.

"Fine. Those Men in Black should have been lying in ambush in the buildings on both sides. Let's see whether they left any traces behind." Cindy sounded resigned.

"Alright, I'll take that side."

Su Ming turned and left. Time had become even more urgent. Cindy shrugged in the pouring rain. She had only wanted to show off how powerful she was. Amazon women showed their charm that way, but Su did not seem impressed?

She headed toward the building on the other side of the street, kicked the front door open, and began questioning people door to door, as though she wanted to chop something up to vent her frustration.

Once they had left, Vicki led Pete over to the body and began filming it from every angle. Suddenly, she felt herself step on something. Then she noticed the wound at the corpse's waist and made a discovery, prompting a smile.

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