Dr. Hugo

Selina blew the smoke from the muzzle, making sure to lean against the wall and strike a pose.

Having narrowly escaped death, Qin Wei was so overwhelmed he almost cried. If not for the fact that he was a man, he would have thrown himself at Catwoman and planted a big kiss on her cheek.

Selina leaped to the bottom of the shaft and drove the two Biomans back at gunpoint. These monsters had once been human, after all, and fear of firearms was still branded into their genes. They retreated, growling threats.

"Are you all right?" Selina asked with concern.

"Thanks to you... fit as a fiddle."

Qin Wei was putting on a brave face.

The Bioman's grip was brutally strong. That squeeze had broken several of his ribs, and now even breathing sent stabbing pain through his chest.

Bullock, however, was in even worse shape. He was nearly unconscious as Gordon supported him and brought him over to the others.

"You're... still alive... good..."

Bullock raised his eyelids slightly, and blood trickled from the corner of his mouth as soon as he spoke.

"Thank you, Mr. Harvey Bullock. You're a great cop, just like Mr. James Gordon!"

Qin Wei nodded and thanked him solemnly. Although Selina had saved him, he had also seen Bullock get knocked down by a Bioman while trying to rescue him.

"Why did you come back? Did you find a way out?" Qin Wei asked.

Catwoman shook her head. She had simply returned to help.

Remember Selina's earlier theory? She believed the enemy had gone to such lengths to drive them down to the bottom of the sewers because something more sinister awaited them there.

And the outlet happened to be at the very lowest level.

After parting with the others, Selina had felt increasingly uneasy. Then she remembered that she had just disarmed Gordon. Afraid they might run into trouble, she had doubled back.

Now it seemed Selina's theory had been entirely correct. These Biomans were kept at the bottom of the sewers, and Dr. Hugo had forced the group down here so the monsters could kill them and silence them for good.

Once they were dead, Hugo's hiding place would remain a secret forever.

But even with the immediate crisis resolved, the problem remained.

How were they supposed to escape?

"Why did you want the handcuffs just now?" Gordon asked Qin Wei.

"We can't break the filter grate with human strength alone, but a Bioman might be able to. I was going to cuff one end to the grate and the other to a Bioman's toe, then use its strength to tear the grate open... but I didn't really think it through!"

Qin Wei briefly explained his idea.

Looking back, the plan he had dreamed up in desperation had plenty of holes. For instance, the Biomans were vicious and highly aggressive. How was he supposed to persuade a monster to let him cuff it?

Offer himself as a sacrifice, or sing it a lullaby?

But Selina thought "using its strength" was a good idea.

"With a few adjustments, that plan might work."

While everyone was talking over one another, the work lights set into the outlet shaft's walls suddenly lit up one by one, from top to bottom.

Their eyes had long since adjusted to the darkness, and the sudden glare left them unable to open them. Once they finally grew accustomed to the light, they rubbed their eyes and discovered that a small, thin figure had appeared on the third-level platform along the shaft wall.

He was a bald man of about fifty with a sleazy-looking goatee. Hands in his pockets, he smiled down at them.

He was truly short. On him, a white lab coat looked like a floor-length dress.

His identity needed no explanation. Who else could it be but the big boss, Hugo Strange?

Qin Wei pressed a hand to his forehead and sighed.

He knew it was time for that comic-book villain tradition: the monologue. These guys could stay hidden in the shadows, could refrain from saying a single word, yet they still patiently answered the protagonist's questions.

But he wasn't Batman. He didn't care about Hugo Strange's motives, nor would he condemn the man as inhuman for committing bloody murders. He only wanted his money back, to buy Oswald's freedom and save his own life.

Selina cared even less. The villain had barely appeared before she fired three shots.

But the height difference was too great, and the bullets went badly astray.

Gordon pushed the gun down, signaling for her to conserve what little ammunition they had left.

"Welcome to my testing grounds. Are you pleased with my masterpieces?" Dr. Hugo spread his arms and gazed down at them imperiously.

"Masterpieces? You mean those two little rats that turn tame the moment you point a gun at them?"

Selina rested one hand on her hip and toyed with the revolver. The pose showed off every curve of her graceful figure. It was a shame she still wore her mask; otherwise, her contemptuous sneer would surely have been even more of a sight.

"Fear is a biological instinct."

Unruffled by Selina's taunt, Dr. Hugo wore a warm smile as he explained at a leisurely pace.

"Without a healthy respect for danger, living creatures head toward self-destruction. And when death becomes the dominant theme, reproduction loses its intended meaning."

Selina pursed her lips, trying to make sense of the doctor's obscure remarks.

"But your Biomans don't seem to need to reproduce!"

Qin Wei picked up the conversation at just the right moment.

At the sight of his face, the doctor's brow twitched. He seemed eager to control his expression, but no matter how hard he tried, he could not suppress the upward curl of his lips.

To Qin Wei, his expression looked exceedingly strange, and that very strangeness confirmed his suspicions.

"You know me!"

"Yes, I've seen that face, more than once. You could even say I've been searching for its owner all along. Unfortunately, I don't know your name. I have little curiosity about mundane affairs, after all. That is precisely why my clients feel comfortable doing business with me."

Those words revealed very little, but Qin Wei still picked out some important information between the lines.

The doctor had mentioned "clients," which meant the body he occupied might once have belonged to one of them.

The doctor also said he had been looking for him. He must be important to the doctor. Perhaps Qin Wei could use that connection to secure a way out for everyone.

But the doctor's next action quickly shattered that hope.

Hugo Strange took a remote control from his pocket.

"You were right just now. Biomans don't need fear, so I will shut down all their emotions. For the next ten minutes, they will become merciless killing machines."

"Wait, you just said you'd been looking for me for a long time. But if I die..."

Qin Wei tried to seize one last chance, but the doctor gave him no opportunity to argue.

"Your body is what's useful. Whether you're alive or dead is of no concern to me."

He pressed the switch and disappeared into the darkness without looking back, leaving the Biomans howling hysterically.

Fortunately, the doctor forgot to turn off the lights when he left. Qin Wei and the others could finally fight somewhere they could see. But even with that advantage, could they really escape the two frenzied Biomans alive?

The change in the Biomans was visible to the naked eye. Before, expressions had occasionally crossed their faces: confusion, anger, or fear. Now, all that remained was blankness.

The two Biomans stood with their mouths slightly open, thick streams of saliva spilling over their lower lips like waterfalls and splattering onto the ground.

Selina refused to believe it and fired twice at the Bioman closest to her.

Bang! Bang!

Its eyeball burst, and the blood that spurted out added a savage touch to its numb, ugly face.

There were no groans of pain, no furious roars. There were only the most basic responses to outside stimuli, such as gunfire. At the sound of the shots, the two Biomans moved, planting their forelimbs on the ground and barreling toward the group.