amaotonovel Chapter 3866 The Nameless Bat (36)
Chapter 3866 The Nameless Bat (36)
Chapter 3866 The Nameless Bat (Thirty-Six)
"What are you doing?" Natasha asked.
“Enjoying the breeze on the roof of Wayne Tower.” Schiller’s tone remained flat. Natasha could indeed hear some wind in the background, and could tell he was at a high place.
"Even if we can't find any clues, there's no need to be so desperate, is there? Do you want me to call the police for you?"
"No need for that. Have you made any progress on your end?"
“It’s a complete mess,” Natasha said truthfully. “The Eden Killer, the killers manipulated by the Eden Killer, and copycats. To be honest, I’d rather call this city ‘Murder City.’”
"Then you're overestimating Gotham. There's more to it than just murder. Okay, I really don't have time to chat, bye."
The call was disconnected. Natasha frowned, because before the call ended, she vaguely heard a very faint "click," like someone adjusting the connection of some equipment; it sounded somewhat familiar.
Natasha stood there for a long time, then suddenly sat bolt upright. "A sniper rifle?!"
On the rooftop of Wayne Tower, Schiller removed the goggles he had been adjusting for a long time, tilted his head back, and brought his eyes close to the sniper rifle's scope, searching for his target.
Under the magnified view of the sniper scope, people came and went in front of Wayne Tower, most of them dressed in suits and ties, with one or two particularly flamboyant figures passing by: a man in a suit under a street lamp, a sophisticated urban woman by a flower bed, a customer under the roof of a coffee shop... and Lex Luthor, who had just stepped out of a Jaguar.
Schiller held his breath slightly, and the instant he locked onto his target and pulled the trigger, he jolted violently. The bullet from the large-caliber sniper rifle sliced through the still air, heading straight for Lex Luthor's head.
Just as the car was about to strike Luther's head, the empty vehicle suddenly emitted a sharp horn. Luther was startled and took a half step back. With a "bang," the side window shattered completely, and shards grazed Luther's face and arm, causing him to scream before collapsing to the ground.
“Brother!” Lena Luthor called out as she got out of the car with him. Bodyguards immediately surrounded him, and Luthor, realizing what had happened, stood up despite the pain and looked in the direction the bullets had come from, but there was no one there anymore.
The bodyguards scrambled to get Luther into the ambulance, and Lena Luther left with him. No one paid any attention to the poor Jaguar with its broken window—except Schiller.
He was dressed in a suit that was no different from anyone else on the street, carrying an ordinary briefcase. He slowly walked to the car, as if he were the owner, opened the driver's side door, got in, quickly short-circuited the engine, and drove directly to the FBI base garage.
Schiller took out his phone and put it to his ear, saying, "Get someone to come and check the car in parking space B02. Find out what caused the car to honk its horn half an hour ago."
A team of FBI agents rushed out of the elevator and inspected the car. Technicians took out toolboxes, various connectors, and data cables. Soon, a young man with a wrench and goggles approached and said, "This is definitely unusual, boss. The sudden honking is likely due to a short circuit. Our initial suspicion is that a large current flowed through the wires at some point, causing the short circuit."
Schiller stood there, a cigarette in his hand but unlit. He said, "Can you find out the specific reason?"
Another female technician walked over and said, "This method is often used for assassinations, but hackers who break into electronic control systems usually cause a vehicle to catch fire by short-circuiting the cigarette lighter and igniting surrounding objects. Using it for honking the horn is a first for me..."
Are there any signs of external hacking?
"No. Boss, Luther Group's vehicle security engineers have put up very tight security measures on the car, probably to guard against this kind of murder. There are no signs of the electronic control system's firewall being breached, so it couldn't have been an external hack."
"Could it be a physical intrusion?"
"Impossible. The car's control system is completely closed; there are no interfaces that could be used for electronic intrusion."
“Write down all the evidence completely and send it to me.” Schiller put away his cigarette and turned to walk towards the elevator.
“We meet again, Mr. Luther.” Schiller entered the ward. With a wave of his hand, his subordinates dismissed all the unauthorized personnel, including Lena Luther.
“You need to take a look at this.” Schiller handed a document to Luther. Luther opened it instinctively, and when he saw the words “Vehicle Analysis Report,” he was still a little confused, but when he read the section on “honking,” his eyes widened in shock.
He closed the file, stared at Schiller with the same look in his eyes, and said, "You fired that shot?!"
“I never said that,” Schiller said, “but you know that horn saved you. It wasn’t a coincidence. Your car had been tampered with. Who was controlling your car to honk at that exact moment?”
“You’re absolutely insane!” Luther yelled at him. “If I hadn’t been startled by the horn, my head would have exploded!”
“Yes, but that’s not important. What’s important is honking the horn.” Schiller said, hands in his pockets. “There’s something in your car that can not only see your condition but also save you with reaction speeds far exceeding human limits. Let’s call this thing ‘Electronic Superman’ for now…”
“Don’t name it that!” Luther shouted.
“Okay,” Schiller shrugged. “Whatever. Anyway, our technicians can only confirm that this thing exists, but we can’t figure out what it is. You’d better contact your vehicle safety engineer and Luther Group’s top technicians to find out what it is.”
"You shot me in the street, almost blowing my head off, and then you want me to find out who saved my life by controlling the car horn?! You don't expect me to give you his information, do you?!"
“Let’s be frank, Mr. Luther. My threat to you was temporary. If it weren’t for investigating this matter, I wouldn’t have needed to shoot you. Killing you would have done me no good. But this thing hidden in your car is different. If I hadn’t forced it out today, it would never have shown itself until one day, when it sent you and your car into the Atlantic Ocean.”
Luther's face was as black as the bottom of a pot, but at least he didn't roar anymore. After a long while, he said in a low voice, "How do you know this thing exists? If he hadn't saved me, I would be dead today, wouldn't I?"
"The Federation thanks you for your great sacrifice, Mr. Luther. I have limited time; you may ask one more question."
"I asked you! How did you know this thing existed?!"
"Through the photo. The one you and your sister released. You'd better ask her carefully about how the photo was taken, and how Natasha left that day."
No sooner had Schiller finished speaking than Lena Luther burst in. She seemed to have something to say, but stopped when she saw Schiller's completely indifferent gray eyes.
"I wish you a speedy recovery, Mr. Luther." Schiller left the ward.
After getting in the car, Schiller said, "To the Gotham Police Department."
The car stopped in front of the Gotham Police Department. He went inside and was led to the chief's office. James Gordon looked extremely haggard. A glimmer of light flashed in his eyes when he saw Schiller, but it was extinguished when Schiller shook his head at him.
“I’m sorry, Mr. Gordon. We haven’t been able to find Miss Gordon yet. We will let you know as soon as we have any news. However, we missed a few points in our last questioning about Miss Gordon. Would you mind telling me about them again?”
“I’ve told you everything I know. But if it helps me find my daughter, I’ll tell you everything I know.”
"Okay, thank you so much. Actually, it's mainly about your daughter's hacking skills. You know, her kidnappers were very likely after her skills. We want to investigate in that direction."
“Barbara was indeed a hacking genius.” Gordon sat down, then looked reminiscent. “At first, she was self-taught, you know, playing some cracked games on the computer, downloading some hacking code, and then learning to write her own. Later, she met Batman, who taught her a lot. She also exchanged ideas with other hackers online…”
"Oh, excuse me. Did she tell you which colleague she was? Or do you know any of her online friends?"
Gordon shook his head and said, "I don't know. I really don't know much about this. And it seems they didn't meet through a regular dating app; maybe on the dark web or something."
Do you have anything like the computer she used to use?
Gordon frowned, thought for a moment, and said, "I do have an old laptop at home. It was issued to me by the department shortly after my promotion. Barbara loved playing games on it when she was little. I'm not sure if it will help..."
“Bring it here,” Schiller said. “I’ll have the technicians check if there are any leads.”
Gordon nodded, then took Schiller home and pulled the dusty laptop out of a box under the bed. He said, "It's a very old model. I used it until it was completely unusable, and I don't even know if it can be turned on now."
“The technicians will find a way,” Schiller said with a smile.
Twenty minutes later, Schiller walked into an interrogation room with his notebook and said to the red-haired woman sitting inside, "You should recognize this, Miss Barbara Gordon?"
The redhead looked up, revealing Barbara Gordon's face. She stared in shock at the object in Schiller's hand, then roared at him, "Where did you get this?! What did you do to my father?! You damned bastard!!!"
"He's the police chief, what can I do to him? I got this from him, and I just happened to find some illegal websites you visited inside. These browsing records are enough to send you to jail for two years. Do you think your father would want to see this?"
"You despicable scoundrel! You damned agent!!!"
"Alright, Miss Gordon. I've rescued you from your kidnappers. If you're not grateful, fine. I just want you to tell me the truth about how you were kidnapped, but you're not willing to cooperate. So I'll have to resort to some special measures."
“You might as well not save me!” Barbara shouted at Schiller. “I already told you, I have no idea who kidnapped me. I was unconscious the whole time, and I woke up in your medical center. Besides, checking the surroundings and finding the killer is your agents’ job! Why are you asking me?!”
“Because we highly suspect that you orchestrated this yourself,” Schiller said. “Or that you acted in a play with Lena Luther. If you have nothing to say to us, then we will take the evidence to court.”
“Wait!” Barbara cried. She took a deep breath, clenched her fists tightly, and said, “I might… I might have a clue…”
"explain."
“I truly don’t know who kidnapped me, nor do I know what they want, but… before I was kidnapped, I received an email. In order to find out the source of the email, I conducted some ‘online activities’…”
Schiller sat down again, leaned forward, and squinted at Barbara, saying, "You found something, didn't you?"
“Yes,” Barbara said, pursing her lips. “I suspect that I caught them red-handed, which is why they were so eager to kidnap me.”
This major event will take a relatively long time, so the pace won't be as fast.