amaotonovel Chapter 3894 The Nameless Bat (64)
Chapter 3894 The Nameless Bat (64)
Chapter 3894 The Nameless Bat (Sixty-Four)
Gotham Pier is located right at the mouth of the Gotham River. Due to its topography, the area near Gotham Pier floods severely during heavy rains, making it a key area for flood prevention during the rainy season.
Gotham Pier is the original Gotham City. Most of the buildings here are over a hundred years old; demolition is impossible, and reconstruction is difficult, let alone establishing any comprehensive fortification measures. Therefore, the annual flood control measure is simply to pile up sandbags, just enough to ensure that the Gotham River's flood peaks don't overflow.
It's easier said than done. The dock area is already chaotic, making coordination difficult. The sandbags, usually stored in air-raid shelters on the coastal cliffs, are in a very tricky location, accessible only by a narrow path. Everyone drove their own cars to move them, eventually blocking the area completely.
As the clown and Schiller got out of the car, they saw that the uphill section to the west of the parking lot was full of cars. Two cars, one red and one white, had been involved in a minor collision. The two drivers each had a long gun, and a figure wearing a red hood was trying to mediate between them.
The clown was even happier. After chuckling a few times, he strolled over to Gordon's police car and said, "Looks like our chief will be playing the role of a patrolman today."
Gordon got out of the car with a dark expression, then reached into the police car and took a police light. Instead of installing the light in the car, he unplugged the charging cable and started walking uphill with the light.
Seeing the familiar red and blue beams of light, the Gothamites, true to form, pretended not to see them. Gordon fired a warning shot, finally drawing their attention. Pushing and shoving the driver while cursing, he finally reached the scene of the accident. He first snatched the gun from the red car driver, then used the butt of the gun to knock the white car driver to the ground. Amid cheers, he shoved them back into their cars, making them back up, finally clearing the uphill traffic jam.
The state trooper chief behind him was dumbfounded. State troopers are of higher rank than ordinary local police, but in Gotham, compared to Gordon, he was like a greenhorn.
After the road was cleared, the police placed roadblocks at the entrance, prohibiting any private vehicles from passing. Only then was the Joker allowed to drive the truck through. It was the first time the Joker had experienced such a welcoming scene from the police. He sat in the driver's seat of the truck, excitedly looking left and right, constantly changing his sitting position, and occasionally honking the horn in response.
Schiller didn't get back into the car with him, but instead went to the entrance of the uphill section. He pushed through the crowd, wanting to go to the dock, but was suddenly stopped.
The instant a hand patted his shoulder, Schiller instinctively turned and twisted, pointing his gun at the other man's head. The young man in the red hood let out a series of cries of pain:
"Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!"
After recognizing who it was, Schiller withdrew his hand. Red Hood was then able to straighten up, and upon seeing Schiller's face, let out a gasp:
"My God! I thought I was seeing things! Are you really Professor Schiller? How did you become so young?"
Before Schiller could answer, Red Hood said to himself, "I know, you must be his counterpart. Your reaction just now was really good... Hey, don't go!"
Schiller walked toward the dock on his own. From this angle, one could see the estuary. Perhaps because the hurricane forecast had come early, the ships on the dock had all gone to other ports, and now the place was empty, exuding a lonely and desolate atmosphere.
Just as Schiller turned to walk back, large raindrops began to fall. He immediately sped up, but instead of driving away, he sat down at a nearby restaurant and bar, ordered a specialty seafood pizza and two fingers of whiskey, and sat by the window watching the workers carrying sandbags on the dock.
These people are generally doing this voluntary work because their homes are located here, and without flood prevention measures, their homes would be flooded. Some are hired by local shipping and engineering companies, along with police officers and other volunteers. Hundreds of people are scattered at the estuary, yet they are barely visible.
Gotham does have volunteers; they're there wherever disaster strikes. Of course, they're not exactly saints; they're more like mutual aid groups for the underprivileged. They help out in nearby communities when things go wrong, otherwise, they wouldn't be able to survive in such a harsh city.
The Wayne and Kane families were naturally involved in the dockside shipping business, so they sent people over and even brought in two flood control experts, who were currently directing the workers with blueprints.
Schiller sat by the window, eating and gazing intently at the view outside, as if he were observing something carefully rather than just passing the time.
Red Hood wanted to go in and find him, but there was just too much work to do at the docks, and he was a rare strong laborer, so he was quickly taken away to build sandbags.
Suddenly, Schiller's gaze fell on a porter who was walking toward the truck bed. He was walking faster than usual, and his eyes were not on the sandbags in the truck bed, but on the driver's cab in front.
Schiller slammed the dollars on the table, reached for the pistol in his pocket, and strode quickly in that direction.
The clown turned off the truck, opened the door, and seemed to be about to get out and open the cargo bed. The moment he opened the door, a bullet struck him in the shoulder; had he not pulled back quickly, the next shot would have been a direct headshot.
Hearing the gunshot, Gordon immediately ran towards the scene, but he was much slower than Schiller. With a bang, Schiller shot the man who had attacked the Joker from behind, knocking him down.
The clown, who had been shot in the shoulder, jumped out of the car as if nothing had happened, walked over, grabbed the guy, and took a look.
“I haven’t offended him,” the Joker said, setting the man down. “Who would hire a hitman to kill a madman?”
“And you,” the Joker said, looking at Schiller, “you must know something. You knew all along that someone wanted to kill me. You didn’t let me touch the car because you didn’t want me to get into an accident. You were watching this guy because you knew he was being manipulated. So who was it?”
“Anyway, it’s not Batman.” Schiller picked the man up and glanced at him. He looked like an ordinary dockworker, with absolutely no distinguishing features. There might be an email in his inbox, but Schiller couldn’t be bothered to check it. Barbara had already told him that you couldn’t find any clues from emails alone.
“He shot me,” the Joker continued to argue. “As the victim, don’t I even have the right to know?”
Gordon opened his mouth to speak, but Schiller waved his hand, signaling him to step back. Looking the Joker in the eye, he said, "Don't forget the mission Batman gave you. He sent you here to do the work, not to outwit assassins. If you go and catch the mastermind, what will happen to the docks?"
“Impossible,” the Joker said, curling his lip. “Batman meant for me and that guy to keep each other in check. Don’t get me wrong.”
“As an agent, fully understanding my employer’s requirements is fundamental to me. You’d better not argue with me about that,” Schiller said, picking up a spent cartridge from the ground. “I’m pretty sure Batman just wants you to do your job, not to catch some mastermind. You wouldn’t be able to catch him anyway…”
"Who said that!" The Joker nearly jumped up. "Batman definitely trusts me; he knows best how amazing I am! How could he not send me to catch the mastermind, but instead have me here moving these boring sandbags?! You must have misheard!!!"
After saying that, he turned and walked towards the truck, saying, "Even if you point a gun at my head, I won't take back my opinion. I'm going to grab it right now!!!"
Watching the clown leave without looking back, get into the truck, and with several times the skill he had before, quickly reverse the truck, then turn around and drive away.
Gordon turned to look at Schiller, only to see Schiller slowly putting away his gun with a slight smile on his lips.
"you do this delibrately?"
"Of course. I'm not the Riddler, why would I deliberately hide it from him? Besides, I wasn't wrong. What method does the Joker have to deal with electronic life?"
Gordon shook his head and said, "If you hadn't mentioned Batman, he might not have been so enthusiastic. But if you say that Batman wouldn't let him go, then he'll do everything in his power to find that guy."
He paused for a moment, then continued, "However, I really can't figure out how he could deal with cyber life. I've never heard of the Joker having any hacking skills."
Schiller glanced at him, then turned and walked away. Gordon felt somewhat bewildered, but the rain was pouring down, and a fierce wind was howling on the docks. They didn't have much time left, so Gordon had no choice but to turn back to work.
In the Prophet's base, Barbara grabbed a water glass and gulped down several mouthfuls of water, leaning back in her chair, her face pale. Strands of her once-flowing red hair fell beside her ears. She tilted her head, sighed, and lightly tapped her fingers on the keyboard.
As if in response, the computer case suddenly beeped a few times. Barbara muttered to herself, "What are you trying to do? You're insane..."
With a sharp crack, a sudden flash of lightning on the horizon revealed a dark figure at the window to Barbara. She gasped and turned her wheelchair to face the window. Then, crash! The glass shattered, and a grinning, green-haired figure appeared at the window.
Barbara maneuvered her wheelchair backward, and the lights in the room suddenly went out. She felt her phone vibrate in her hand. Barbara looked down and saw only one word on the screen—"Run!"
Barbara gripped her phone tightly, then suddenly realized the wheelchair's power switch was on. Without her intervention, the wheelchair weaved around tables and chairs, across the living room, and into the elevator. The elevator descended at an unprecedented speed, flying into the garage.
The wheelchair was moving abnormally fast, but then Barbara suddenly remembered that she hadn't charged it the night before. She turned around and, sure enough, the low battery indicator light was on, and the wheelchair was starting to slow down.
Finally, the wheelchair moved on its own to the back of a pickup truck. All the lights in the parking lot went out, and the elevators stopped running. Barbara, hiding behind the pickup, had sweaty palms. She wanted to say something, but the underground parking lot was so quiet that any sound would carry far.
Unable to speak, Barbara slowly typed on her phone screen: "Is that you?"
There was no response. Barbara bit her lip and typed another line: "If you don't speak, I'm leaving now."
After she finished speaking, she was about to manually push the wheelchair away from behind the pickup truck when footsteps could be heard coming from the emergency exit stairwell.
"Don't go." Another sentence popped up on the screen.
Barbara's fingertips trembled slightly as she took a deep breath. For the past week, she had tried everything to track down this guy, but not only had she failed, he had also outmaneuvered her. Now, the Prophet System was almost completely paralyzed; Barbara's cameras and communication terminals were all unusable.
But unexpectedly, things took an unexpected turn, and the elusive electronic life form actually appeared in front of her.
The bad news is that the Joker is after her. Although it's unclear what's gotten into the Joker this time, Batman isn't in Gotham, so she's likely doomed today.