There is no Batman in Gotham City comics.

Chapter 7 Dangerous Man

After robbing the casino, Dr. Hugo did something absurd: he washed the blood off the stolen money, took a small portion, and used it to pay off Maroney's loan shark debt.

This was a blatant provocation, but unfortunately, Maroni was preoccupied with the casino massacre and had no time to deal with Hugo Strange.

Upon hearing that the two escaped henchmen had been found, Maroni tightened his tie, picked up his cane, and went to his study.

At the same time, he also finished reading Qin Wei's comic.

At Gordon's invitation, Batman investigated the crime scene and then went down into the sewer through a large hole in the toilet.

He found a huge amount of hair in the sewer, as well as a torn paper bag with a biohazard label.

Back in the bat cave, he successfully located Dr. Hugo using these clues.

But when Batman was about to infiltrate the doctor's lab to investigate, the comic book went blank again.

Qin Wei didn't understand. If the previous casino was an inescapable calamity for him, was this infiltration of Hugo's laboratory also an inevitable part of the plot?

He frowned in thought, when a series of footsteps sounded outside the room.

As the study door opened, Maroni, with his slicked-back blond hair and a gloomy expression, walked in. He took off his elegant gray plaid suit and tossed his cane high into the air.

He gripped the bottom of the cane and struck Oswald's jaw like hitting a golf ball.

Click!

With a crisp crack of bone breaking, Oswald collapsed to the ground with a wail, vomiting blood incessantly on the dark ochre Persian carpet, writhing in agony like a maggot.

"So, what do you want to say?"

Maroni glanced at him coldly, then turned and fixed his gaze on Qin Wei's face.

"We didn't do anything at the casino," Qin Wei argued firmly.

"I know, if you were really capable of doing something like this, I should be the one lying on the ground screaming." With a disdainful snort, Maroni raised his cane and gave Oswald another whack on the back.

The tip of the cane was sharp, tearing through Oswald's suit and whipping a huge, gaping wound across his thin back.

"What exactly do you want to ask?"

"It would be great if you knew who the killer was, but it doesn't matter if you don't. All I want is an explanation," Maroni said, striking again with his stick.

This time Oswald didn't make a sound; he had fainted from the pain.

"You'd better hurry, he probably can't take much longer."

Qin Wei roughly understood that Maroni didn't care at all who the real culprit was in the casino massacre; he only wanted to recover the stolen money.

Seeing that Maroney was about to swing again, he quickly called for a stop:

"Three days! Give me three days, and I'll help you get that money back!"

Qin Wei's guess was correct; Maroni indeed stopped what he was doing.

A cold smile played on his lips as he wiped the blood from the tip of his cane with his thumb.

"How can I be sure you're genuinely going to help me find the money, and not just trying to stall for time and run away?"

"I know the real culprit, it should be... it should be Dr. Hugo Strange! He couldn't pay his loan shark debts, so he raided the casino to rob it, and the perpetrator of the bloodshed is very likely his latest cyborg research."

In this critical situation, Qin Wei didn't care about anything else and blurted out everything mentioned in the comic.

But what if the other party presses for details, asking him why he knows so much?

The fears soon became a reality.

"That sounds plausible, but how do you know about cyborgs?"

Maroni gripped the end of his cane. He knew about the cyborgs—from the police informant who investigated the scene. Therefore, he was very concerned about the source of Qin Wei's information; if the explanation couldn't hold water, he wouldn't hesitate to shove it right into Qin Wei's eye socket.

Qin Wei bit his lip so hard it bled. All his information came from comics; he had no evidence to back it up.

"I have no evidence, but Mr. Panton mentioned something to us at the casino earlier—that there were monsters soaking in the nutrient solution in Hugo's lab, and Oswald heard it too. You can ask him."

"You mean Pantone and Carlo..."

Maroni was somewhat convinced, and he had assigned the two men to collect Hugo's debts yesterday.

Moreover, the casino's silent black-and-white surveillance cameras captured Oswald and Pantone "chatting," which seems to corroborate the authenticity of Qin Wei's words.

What truly dispelled Maroni's doubts was the ambiguous remark Dr. Hugo made when he came to repay the money.

Please give my regards to Mr. Panton, and tell him not to flick cigarette ash into my experimental reagents anymore... Oh, I almost forgot, he probably won't have that chance anymore.

Could it really be that son of a bitch Hugo? No wonder that penniless bastard was able to pay back five million today; he was using my money to pay himself back!

Seeing that Maroni was wavering, Qin Wei intensified his persuasion.

"The money he brought is also problematic. If you don't believe me, you can use it..."

"Bring over the box of money Hugo brought, and prepare a UV lamp!" Before Qin Wei could finish speaking, Maroni already knew what to do next.

His men brought out the items, and the washed and dried banknotes revealed themselves one by one under the light.

"Boss, this one has blood on it!"

"This one is also included."

"There's a whole stack of them at the back!"

Maroni's eyes narrowed into slits as he listened to his subordinate's report.

The culprit has been identified; the next question is how to resolve the situation.

Regardless of whether the Gotham Police Department is reliable or not, with so many eyes watching, the Romans have to settle their scores themselves.

Maroni had heard about the terrible situation inside the casino. If he rashly sent his men to capture Dr. Hugo, and the doctor was forced into a corner and released those three monsters, he would likely lose a lot of manpower.

His gaze eventually fell on Qin Wei.

Unlike most of his foolish subordinates, this man remained calm in the face of deliberate pressure and deduced the murderer from just a few "clues." He was indeed capable of undertaking this task.

Qin Wei felt a chill run down his spine from being stared at, and based on the location where the comic disappeared, he roughly knew what Maroni was going to say.

"Give me three days, and I will do my best to get the money back."

In reality, he would never get involved in this highly dangerous mission; he just wanted to get Oswald back as quickly as possible and escape.

Maroni may have guessed Qin Wei's thoughts, or he may not have, but that doesn't prevent him from making the right judgment.

The prerequisite for getting someone to work for you is to have leverage over them.

"It's so easy to talk to smart people."

Maroni stretched out his toes and hooked the cheek of the dying Oswald, turning him towards Qin Wei.

"His life or death is up to you. And don't even think about abandoning Little Penguin and running away. I have sharp eyes and incredibly keen ears. You won't even be able to leave the Financial District, let alone leave Gotham!"

But Qin Wei was more concerned about the explosive message contained in that threat.

"Sorry, I didn't hear you clearly. What did you call him?"

"Penguin, didn't you know that was the famous nickname of dear Oswald Chesterfield Cobblestone?"

Qin Wei slowly closed his eyes, and the scorching air mixed with the strong smell of tobacco rushed into his lungs, miraculously cooling down his dizzy mind.

He slowly began to accept reality.

Accept the reality that Oswald is actually a penguin.

Accept the reality that one day he will surpass Maroney and sit on the throne of Gotham's underworld, stepping over Falcone's head.