Bruce glanced back at the resting Schiller in the back seat, speculating that a ssage may have co through the Battleworld's communication system, and it was very likely from the Primary Universe Batman.
The big detour he had taken was actually to legitimately throw Primary Universe Batman, Green Lantern, and Superman into the dark universe governed by Barbados, as it was related to his subsequent plans.
The situation in the dark universe was indeed complicated, and communication was almost impossible directly. Perhaps they had encountered so trouble and were seeking Schiller's advice.
Bruce reflected on the possible scenarios as the car slowed to a stop. The night had deepened, so the traffic had eased in the latter part of the journey. As the three of them stepped out of the car, a cool drizzle began to fall from the sky.
Schiller sighed inwardly, the atmosphere of this city was always so, after every commotion, the emptiness and loneliness left behind were enough to hollow soone's heart.
Not far from the cri scene was a motel, its huge sign blurred in the misty rain into trembling lights, and every breath draw in was laced with the scent of tire rubber, smoke, and the decay of derelict fishing boats from the nearby port.
"Play so upbeat music." Schiller ntally told the Gray mist, "The vibe here is really deadly, I fear only the Arrogant could stand to stay in such a place for long."
Schiller tightened the coat around him, quickened his pace, and was the first to enter the cri scene. The dead body was still in place, but the blood had already congealed and turned black, as if it had smashed a large hole in the ground.
Schiller scrutinized the surroundings, which indeed was a gift shop, not the high-end type located in a comrcial center, but more like a small shop for daily necessities, cramd with many old shelves, as if overnight he had gone back to the shops of the dieval era.
The body was hung between the two cabinets in the middle, headless, and appeared to be a woman in her pri.
That was it, Schiller ended his observations. He walked through the other two cabinets, sat down at the counter, and prepared to watch Batman and Gordon perform their deductive reasoning.
Bruce was indeed deep into it, observing the surroundings and the posture of the body, seeming to have discovered sothing.
Schiller picked up a newspaper beside him and started reading. As soon as he picked it up, he paused—this was not a local Gotham newspaper but one from tropolis and, moreover, the front-page content was about the situation in xico, which was quite odd for such a small shop owner who didn't seem to care about international affairs.
Schiller had intended to see what was written on the front page, but instead found that tropolis couldn't survive in Gotham—its newspaper's ink couldn't withstand Gotham's humidity and had already turned into a mushy ss.
Flipping a few pages in, it got a bit better, but unfortunately, there was nothing important in the middle section of the paper, just jokes and advertisents, the newspaper's jokes too cold for Schiller's liking, so he flipped past them.
Bruce began discussing the case with Gordon.
"So this woman is the store owner, killed in her own shop, while the house flooded the day before due to a leaking pipe, conveniently disabling all the caras."
"That's correct, sir," said an officer assigned to the investigation, "We also found sothing unusual upstairs, in the bedroom we uncovered the lady's suitcase, packed halfway."
"So the situation might have been this, she discovered the danger, ran upstairs to pack her luggage and leave, but the killer was already in the store, she tried to go downstairs to drive them away, and ended up murdered."
Bruce shook his head, completely dismissing that speculation and said, "If she had realized the danger imdiately, the first thing she'd do is escape through the window, not pack luggage."
"If she still wanted to pack, that ans although she knew so troublemaker had arrived, the situation wasn't urgent, the important things still needed to be taken. However, you're right about the last point, she miscalculated, the killer ca directly to her doorstep."
"Regarding the hanging..." Gordon suggested.
Bruce furrowed his brow, looking towards Schiller.
Schiller noticed his gaze, lifted his head from the newspaper, and said, "Do the reasoning yourself, call when you're done."
He was examining an interesting cereal advertisent on the newspaper, where certain adjectives describing the aroma were quite odd yet fitting.
"Well, if even the Professor can't see any aesthetics in this scene, then it truly ans there are none," Gordon said. "If it's not for so kind of ritual..."
"It proves she probably did have a ritual to perform," Bruce began pacing around, observing the spilled blood, the wounds where the head was severed and the posture of the bloodstains on the surrounding bookshelves.
Schiller saw the second page's advertisent, and it wasn't until Bruce started asking officers if there was a basent, that he silently folded the newspaper and lit it on fire as Gordon and Bruce moved toward the basent entrance.
The basent was empty, but this was precisely the anomaly. Schiller followed everyone in, watching as Bruce paced in the basent, pointing to the ground and saying,
"Judging by the dampness, two machines have just been moved from here, and there should have been so frequently damp cleaning tools right here. Over there was a shelf that used to hold so tal tools, you can see traces where lubricant has dripped down."
Bruce took two steps back and said, "If the victim really was just an ordinary shopkeeper, then this place should be cluttered with all sorts of stuff, because it's unlikely she would have filled the shop upstairs to the brim but kept the basent spotless."
"But if she's not just an ordinary shopkeeper, what was she doing here?"
Bruce continued, looking at the ground, "If the victim died in the morning, then soone must have been here after her death, and not just one person. They removed the machines from this place. Why?"
Bruce then looked towards Shiller, who was gazing up at the ceiling. Bruce also looked up and then realized the lights in the basent had also been taken down.
Because the flashlights held by the officers behind were so bright, Bruce hadn't noticed the absence of lights in the room at first. Now that he realized it, he asked the police to move a ladder up to check the interface.
The wires had been carefully cut, and although the dismantling wasn't particularly professional, it was done with utmost caution.
This was getting interesting. Right above their heads was a dead body, which could be discovered at any mont, and the police might arrive at any ti, but the people who ca later still carefully removed the lights.
A scene ford in Bruce's mind: the headless corpse hanging, two figures sneaking into the basent. The first thing they moved wasn't so large machine, but the lights above their heads.
They cautiously dismantled the lights before starting to move the two large machines. The picture grew clearer—in reality, the damp marks on the ground were not from so high-tech machinery but from planting tables holding pot after pot of plants.
"The shopkeeper might have been growing poppies." Bruce said, "So of her business probably offended the wrong people, and decapitation is a thod commonly used by drug traffickers and terrorists."
Well done, Shiller all but clapped for Bruce, while Gray mist complained in his mind, "Too much stuff, can hardly carry it all, we need to find a place quick to dump those two broken lights."
"Let's walk a bit further before we dump them," Shiller coaxed. "Or you could just break them down and flush them through the sewer."
"Penitent Cartel?" Gordon repeated the na Bruce had ntioned, stroking his chin and pondering for a mont before saying, "I've heard a little about them, a transnational drug trafficking organization, right? You think this shopkeeper's actions interfered with their business, and so she invited retaliation?"
"Yes." Bruce frowned slightly, but he said, "There are two bodies, right? I think we should take a look at the scene of the other cri. There are many suspicious points here, I need more evidence to be sure."
As he walked upstairs, Bruce looked back at Shiller and asked, "Were you just reading the newspaper, Professor?"
Shiller nodded and said, "The advertisents in the newspaper are more interesting than this."
Bruce was relieved. If this was indeed the work of a competent serial killer, Shiller would not have made such a comnt. It probably really was a drug-related vendetta.
Bruce repeated the na Penitent Cartel in his mind. The damned drug trafficking organization had co up too many tis recently next to his ear, and just the idea of them wanting to smuggle a large shipnt of drugs into Gotham bothered him deeply.
It looked like he needed to figure out a way to cause them so trouble. Bruce plotted in his mind, hoping what Amanda said was true, that she had a way to slip past the joint pursuit of the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Gotham Police.
In fact, it's only after Amanda proved her capabilities in this way that she qualified to work with Bruce, since losing the position of head of the Federal Bureau of Investigation didn't give her much capital to work with Bruce Wayne.
Since both were preoccupied with their thoughts, the journey to the second cri scene passed in silence.
The second cri scene was at the docks. Although also by the sea, it was worlds apart from the first cri scene. By the ti they arrived, it was the deep, dark night.
The few dim, lonely lights lit up at the docks were not nearly enough to illuminate the interior of the buildings, so the officers had to turn on their flashlights again and carefully observe the details on the exterior of this dilapidated building.
This might be the oldest building in Gotham's history. It's a sha that not only European nobles first disembarked here. Due to Gotham's geographical conditions with scarce stone materials, many of the old houses on the docks were made of wood and had beco uninhabitable dangerous buildings after so many years.
Theoretically, these houses should be the first to be renovated, but in reality, no one has lived in these houses for more than a decade, and with Wayne Enterprises' limited funds, they often prioritize resolving issues with houses that have residents, causing these to remain unrepaired.
Standing at the entrance, Gordon hesitated; the house looked too much like a haunted house. Was it really okay to just walk in like this?
Bruce, however, seed to have already made a decision; Batman would never miss a potential clue within reach.
Bruce stepped forward into the building.
Boom!
The building collapsed.
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