American comics: Starting in Arkham, a system-based Batman

Chapter 43 A Decent Gift

Zheng En pondered, judging from the child's skills, this was probably due to family tradition.

I wonder how many hidden talents live in this apartment building.

He sighed and shook his head, took out his key and unlocked the door, thinking that ordinary people like himself should move out as soon as possible.

As soon as she entered the room, Zheng En felt that something was wrong.

But upon closer inspection, nothing seemed out of the ordinary; everything was exactly the same as before he left.

A few pairs of shoes were casually placed in the shoe cabinet by the door, the cushions on the sofa were still in their original positions, the unfinished snacks on the coffee table were open, the TV was off, and the curtains on the balcony were only half drawn.

It felt like there was an eyelash stuck in your eyelid, and no matter how hard you looked in the mirror, you couldn't find it, but you just knew there was something hidden in your eye.

Zheng En rolled up his sleeves, locked the door, and then began searching the room.

His skill from Batman, [Minor Mastery of Reconnaissance and Counter-Reconnaissance], is extremely useful; he's basically accurate every time he searches. Perhaps because he didn't learn it himself, Zheng En often can't pinpoint exactly where the problem lies, relying instead on intuition to find it.

For example, he didn't notice anything unusual about the TV, but he felt he should look in the gaps inside the set-top box. He reached inside with his fingers and sure enough, he found something the size of a fingernail.

It's a listening device.

When Zheng En saw it, his heart sank. He always tended to think of things in the worst possible light. His first thought was that he had been discovered by Falcone. But as soon as he thought that, Zheng En realized that this shouldn't be the case; it didn't make logical sense.

With [Shinpachi's original form] around, it's hard for anyone to realize his identity, and Falcone doesn't need to be so polite; he should have had someone beat him up, put him in a sack, and taken away.

Zheng En doesn't have many enemies: Falcone, Scarecrow, Marshall, but none of them have the ability or reason to sneak into his apartment.

So, let's change our perspective and start with those guys who are described as "who would need an enemy if they had a friend like you?"

The truth became clear instantly.

Jung Eun: Oh no, my house is infested with bats, I'm not clean anymore.

"Your counterpart is being a bit too impolite."

While searching for the listening devices, Jung Eun complained to her mentor, Batman, "I haven't even really met him yet, and he's already hiding a bunch of listening devices in my house. What is this? A greeting gift?"

Mentor Batman chuckled. "If you insist on putting it that way, then your pants should be the gift we exchange."

Jung Eun choked.

After being harassed by him for so long, Batman, the mentor, has now evolved a counterattack mechanism, which can often leave him speechless.

How should I respond to that?

"Couldn't they have given me a decent gift?" Zheng En muttered, still wondering how the local Batman had come to him.

Asking Batman directly is out of the question; he won't intervene unless it's absolutely necessary, and you might end up getting a lecture.

When he encountered the local Batman before, the latter was in a negative state due to being poisoned by fear gas and couldn't even speak.

Even if his fingerprints were on the Batsuit and Batmobile when he helped the other person, the other person would still need something to refer to if they wanted to find him.

He was an unregistered resident in Gotham; neither the hospital nor the police had any information about him. The other party couldn't possibly start from this lead, so there was only one option left.

The documents he had previously given to Gordon and Block.

Knowing how the local Batman found him, the other party's intentions became obvious.

"The matter of taking down Falcone has run into trouble; he's trying to find a breakthrough by targeting me."

Zheng En stroked his chin thoughtfully. He spent a great deal of time digging out all the bugging devices installed in the room, and a dozen or so small bugging devices that were in use were piled up like a small mountain on the coffee table.

Thinking it would be a waste to destroy them directly, he put them all into his personal space.

The personal space is a world unto itself, so of course no sound can be recorded.

On the other side, inside the bat cave.

On the screen connected to the bug, the wavy line symbolizing volume used to fluctuate from time to time, which could be the chirping of birds outside the window or the honking of cars on the roadside. However, after Jung Eun put them into her personal space, the line became a fairly obvious straight line.

This caught Batman's attention.

Rewinding the screen to the segment with sound, you can hear what sounds like a bugging device being removed, followed by the sounds of a door opening and closing and locking.

All of the dozen or so listening devices malfunctioned, indicating that the other party had clearly discovered them.

Batman leaned back in his chair, the messy table in front of him covered with clues related to Falcone.

Reports on missing persons cases and copies of case files obtained from the police station, intelligence gleaned from testimonies of homeless people and gangsters, information obtained from Arkham Asylum...

Various kinds of text and images are piled up densely, but that's not enough.

He had plenty of evidence to bring Falcone to court, and he had it all packed up and thrown at the police station entrance along with the evidence of the criminal gang members he had caught.

The problem is that this evidence is only enough to bring him to court, but it is difficult to determine the specific sentence.

He needs more evidence, and a prosecutor who is bold and just enough.

No prosecutor was willing to take on the case, not to mention the city's biggest gang leader, the infamous Roman, Carmine Falcone, whose power deterred them from raising any objections.

More importantly, they had all been bribed, their interests intertwined, binding them all together. They dared not, and were unwilling to, change the status quo. By attaching themselves to them, they could reap benefits.

Batman had to start from other places, such as Gordon and Brock's informants.

Upon investigation, he realized the special qualities of the other party.

Batman hacked into the police station's surveillance system and retrieved footage of Gordon, Brock, and Jung talking on the edge of the parking lot during that period.

In the surveillance footage, the black-haired, black-eyed Asian youth put on glasses after the other two left, but strangely, the moment he put on the glasses, Batman found himself subconsciously mistaking him for someone else.

When he first reviewed the surveillance footage, his mind seemed to be clouded; he thought he was just daydreaming and didn't connect the dots at all.

But that doesn't make sense.

After watching the surveillance footage four or five times, and using image technology to overlay the two people's faces, his eyes finally realized that they were the same person.

Is this technology or magic?

Batman didn't know, but his detective instincts and intuition compelled him to find out.

The other person's unusual appearance reminded him of what happened that night in Arkham. Was this the person who saved him?

Perhaps the other party meant no harm, or perhaps there is a deeper conspiracy behind it.