Gotham's sewers always brought back unpleasant memories for Gordon.
There was the Lazlo Valentin case, for instance. The criminal had a severe split personality disorder and had brutally murdered numerous children, hauling their bodies into the sewers in an attempt to stitch them together into new creatures with his crude medical skills.
Of course, that delusional idea had been doomed to fail. All he had created was a grotesque, stitched-together corpse.
Gordon and Bullock had followed the clues to Valentin's sewer hideout and subdued him without breaking a sweat. Unfortunately, his split personality had let him escape punishment, and he had been sent to Arkham Asylum.
Gordon had visited him a few months earlier. Valentin had become quiet and withdrawn, wearing a cartoon pig mask and clutching medical books that he would read all day long.
He apparently still hadn't abandoned his goal, and had learned to arm himself with knowledge.
Gordon felt that this version of Valentin was more dangerous than the raving lunatic he had been before.
"Bad memories? That son of a bitch Lazlo Valentin?" Bullock read the anxiety on his partner's face.
"Harvey Bullock, you can read me like a damn book," Gordon said with a laugh.
With flashlights in hand, the two men felt their way forward through waist-deep sewage.
Gotham's history stretched back to before the founding of the United States. While French workers were building the city brick by brick, the Northern Revolutionary Army had been locked in fierce fighting with plantation retainers.
Built around the blueprints left by French designers, Gotham's sewer system had undergone so many reconstructions and renovations that it was now unrecognizable-a genuine underground labyrinth.
Even with a map, newcomers could easily lose all sense of direction among its multiple levels and sprawling waterways.
Fortunately, their targets had left plenty of clues. The murderous monsters were still wild and untamed, and horrifyingly large claw marks could be seen all along the pipes and walls.
Gordon studied the sewer map and planned their route while Bullock left marks along the way. They worked together in silent harmony.
But after they left, a small, thin figure slipped out of the shadows and erased every mark they had made.
After wandering around the sewers for a full two hours, Gordon began to feel that something was wrong.
"Are we lost? I think we've been here before."
"That doesn't make sense. I've been marking the way." Bullock scratched his head, holding a piece of chalk that was almost worn down to nothing.
"The map says we should turn left here, but there's no left turn."
They were about to study the map when the ground gave an inexplicable shudder. Gordon thought he had imagined it, but when he shone his flashlight down, he saw ripples spreading through the sewage around his feet.
"An earthquake?"
A flicker of panic crossed Bullock's eyes. He knew exactly what was happening; he simply didn't want to face it.
Gordon drew his handgun.
"Stop kidding yourself!"
The ground shook again as his words fell, harder this time, sending a half-meter-high wave surging toward them.
Suddenly, heavy panting thundered from the far end of the sewer, draining the color from their faces.
Their guns were Ruger GP100s loaded with .357 rounds, with an effective range of only a hundred meters. At a slightly wrong angle, a bullet couldn't even penetrate a skull, let alone deal with the shaggy monsters that had slaughtered everyone at the venue.
The two exchanged a look, and the same thought flashed through their minds.
Run!
Gordon couldn't think of a way to survive, either. The monster was tall and long-legged. If it really chased them, it could catch them in just a few strides.
Splashing unevenly through the water, his gun slick in his sweating palm, Gordon made up his mind. If he was going to die today, he would at least inflict a serious wound on this monster. He couldn't let it escape the sewers and wreak havoc on Gotham.
Yet for some reason, the monster behind them never showed itself. All they could sense were the tremors beneath their feet and the panting that seemed to draw close, then drift away.
It was almost as though the monster was highly intelligent and deliberately herding them somewhere.
The sudden thought startled Gordon. If his theory was right, something even more dangerous than the monster had to be waiting ahead.
"Bullock, stop!"
He shouted to his partner, but Bullock's mind was already so consumed by fear that there was no room left for reason.
Gordon could only reach out and grab him. The instant he caught the collar of Bullock's trench coat, they both lost their balance and tumbled into a nearby drainage opening, rolling down to the next level with the current.
Meanwhile, on the second underground level of the sewers, Qin Wei and Selina were also being chased by a Bioman.
Qin Wei was the first to notice something wrong. His analysis was much like Gordon's, but his conclusion was far bolder.
The dragon-in-the-garage principle-if a garage contained a fire-breathing dragon that was invisible, floated in the air, breathed heatless flames, and could not be detected by any means, how could its existence be proved?
The answer was that there was no need to prove it, because it didn't exist in the first place.
Anything whose existence could not be supported by solid evidence could be treated as nonexistent.
Qin Wei still hadn't seen the Bioman with his own eyes. The shaking ground didn't necessarily come from it, and the terrifying panting could be faked.
A huge portion of human fear came from the imagination.
Qin Wei stopped, his pupils gradually dilating as he stared fixedly at the corner behind him.
He didn't want to run anymore.
"Are you crazy? It'll catch up if you don't keep running!"
When Qin Wei stopped moving, Selina thought he had exhausted himself. She kindly tried to take his hand and pull him along, but he pushed her hand away.
"I have an idea I want to test. If I'm wrong, we might both die, so get out of here."
Qin Wei gritted his teeth, his voice trembling in his throat.
He was terrified, but he knew that letting an unseen enemy keep leading them by the nose would only put them in greater danger. So he had to take a gamble.
He would bet that the Bioman chasing them was a fire-breathing dragon in a garage!
The footsteps grew clearer. As the sewer shook, fragments of brick and stone and bits of moss fell onto his head. Qin Wei could even smell the stench from the Bioman's mouth, overpowering the reek of the sewage.
It smelled like thoroughly pickled herring stuffed into a seal's carcass and left to ferment with an auk for six whole months. How could anything in the world smell so foul?
Qin Wei could sense that the Bioman had stopped, hiding just around the corner.
But why wouldn't it show itself?
Just as he decided to go forward and investigate, Selina took his hand.
"Let's go together."
Her hand was soft, cold and wet with nervous sweat, and felt like a slab of konjac jelly.
They walked toward the corner. It was only a few dozen meters away, yet Qin Wei felt as though he were walking a tightrope over a cliff. His heart nearly leaped into his throat, and he dreaded poking his head around the corner only to find a huge, monstrous face staring back.
Being killed outright would have been better than that.
At last, they reached the corner. The nauseating stench was now so pungent it stung his nose. Even with his nose covered, it ruthlessly tore through his defenses and ravaged his sense of smell.
Do I really have to look?
No matter how hard he tried, Qin Wei couldn't take that final step.
While he was still wavering, Selina had already taken a look.
"There really is no one there. You were right!"
At her words, he let out a sigh of relief. The awful stench that had tormented him vanished as well.
Only then did Qin Wei realize that it hadn't been the Bioman's bad breath, but the smell of fear rising from within himself.
But just as his pounding heart settled, two muffled thuds rang out, and two figures dropped from the waterway above.
"Aaaah!!!!!!!"
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