Chapter 196 You Reap What You Sow

“What? Mister?” The driver had obviously heard Brother Jue’s words; the latter’s tone and voice made it clear he was speaking to the driver. The driver, of course, couldn't ignore that. “Are you talking to me?”

“That depends on what you mean by ‘me’…” Feng Bujue spread his arms and slumped back in his seat, looking at the rearview mirror. “Are you referring to a normal taxi driver? Or Bruce Wayne? Or… perhaps Batman? Heh… Which one do you think is the real you?”

The car started to speed up, but the driver wasn't stepping on the gas pedal harder because he was nervous—he was doing it on purpose.

“It seems you know more than I expected…” The second time he spoke, the driver’s voice and tone had completely changed, becoming lower and colder.

“Likewise…” Feng Bujue replied, “It seems you've also listened to the recording of my conversation with Dr. Quinzel and found a lead to track me down…”

“Your observational skills are sharper than I thought…” Now that things had reached this point, we no longer need to call him "driver." That's right, he was Bruce Wayne, also known as—Batman.

“Observational skills?” Brother Jue repeated these four words, then responded with a disdainful laugh. “Ha!”

“What are you laughing at?” Wayne asked.

“There are many laughable things…” Feng Bujue said, “First, someone seems to think that just putting on some foundation, changing into a cheap jacket, washing out the expensive hair wax, and sticking a scar on his cheek… is an foolproof disguise.

“Secondly, this ‘taxi’ that someone is driving…” At this point, Feng Bujue raised his hands and made air quotes. “…the shell has been made to look just like the real thing, but the tires are still expensive; even more outrageous… the inside of this car is spotless, odorless, and doesn't have any of the random decorations in the front…”

“Alright… I have to admit, I rarely get the chance to ride in a taxi.” Wayne was a little displeased at being lectured, but he remained calm. “And… before you, I'd used this disguise and this car… to fool many people, so I didn't realize there were so many flaws.” He shook his head. “In any case, I’ll remember what you said… I’ll improve in the future.”

As they talked, the car continued to accelerate. In the blink of an eye, they had left the crowded roads and entered a small road with less traffic.

“Improve? For whom?” Feng Bujue said, “To deal with a bunch of amateur criminals? Or to deal with characters like Zsasz?” His words were full of mockery. “Do you know what’s most ironic? When you drove into my sight, what made me suspect you wasn’t the ‘observational skills’ you mentioned, but ‘common sense’… This is really disappointing.

“Of course, there are indeed things that are worthy of my observational skills now—like the tachometer in front of you that only supercars or racing engines would have, and the button on the back of the steering wheel that you've been covering with your hand… These two things give me a very bad feeling…”

As soon as he finished speaking, the taxi they were in had reached a speed of 140 kilometers per hour, and the speed was still increasing.

Wayne's driving skills were amazing. Driving a car at this speed in the complex urban terrain was as easy as riding a bicycle for him.

“I can sense… you're a person who thinks highly of himself and has the ability to bear that arrogance.” As Wayne replied, the taxi had arrived near Gotham's Pioneer Bridge. “Unfortunately… you're also a person who will bring chaos and evil to this world…” At this point, he pressed the switch on the back of the steering wheel. “Therefore, I have no choice but to ask you to disappear…”

Having said that, Wayne pressed the button that Jue thought was suspicious.

As soon as the button was pressed, the steering wheel in front of Wayne retracted into the car body on its own, and at the same time, the roof above the driver's seat quickly unfolded, forming a gap.

Bang—

In the next second, with a loud bang, Wayne, who was wearing a seat belt, was ejected along with his seat from the roof of the car.

The taxi itself… rushed down the slope along an empty road under the Pioneer Bridge at a speed of nearly 200 kilometers per hour, and crashed into the riverside railing after three seconds, plunging into the cold Gotham River.

The splash of water stirred up by the big iron lump falling into the water had not yet dissipated. Wayne, who had been ejected into the air, bent down and pressed a "safety switch" at the bottom of the seat.

The reason why this switch was installed at the bottom of the seat was also obvious… because it was used to detonate the entire car, so the design had to ensure that it could only be pressed after the ejection function of the driver's seat was activated.

Boom—

When the self-destruction device was activated, a flashing light brought out a muffled sound… exploding underwater.

Wayne, who had detached himself from the seat after pressing the switch, did a few gymnastics moves in the air at a height of nearly ten meters, and then landed steadily.

As he had planned, on such a night, in such a sparsely populated place, the whole thing had no eyewitnesses at all.

Of course, it didn't matter even if there were… no one would recognize him; although Wayne's disguise seemed like a formality to Feng Bujue, it was enough for most ordinary people…

If you know enough about the American police's "asking witnesses about the suspect's characteristics" process, you can come up with the most effective disguise method.

Exaggerated wigs, fake beards, makeup that modifies the facial contours, and other common methods in film and television works are not so practical, and sometimes they can make the police realize that "this person deliberately disguised himself."

In fact, when Brother Jue was listing Wayne's faults earlier, he had almost mentioned all the key points of the best disguise method—

First, skin color can be solved with foundation.

Second, clothing, no explanation.

Third, hairstyle, same as above.

Fourth, a single, significant feature; such as a long, narrow scar, a conspicuous tattoo, a festering sore… things like this that can divert other people's attention, and it's best to stick them on the face.

As long as you do the above four points, even if you are seen, you can easily mislead the police investigation.

For example… suppose there happens to be a passerby nearby right now, and he sees Wayne from a distance by the light of the street lamp, he couldn't possibly recognize him; when being questioned by the police, he will only follow the police's questions and say, "That's a brown-skinned Latino man, about six feet tall, with a long scar on his face." That's already considered reliable, but would this kind of testimony lead the investigation to Bruce Wayne, a scar-free white billionaire? That's completely going in the wrong direction.

“Computer, detect physical condition.” After standing still, Wayne immediately raised his left hand and pressed the screen of his watch to speak.

[Detecting—]

[Respiratory system normal.]

[Pulse and blood pressure are slightly higher than average, decreasing.]

[No significant external injuries.]

[Mild damage to muscles and knee joints.]

[Connecting to belt-end injection device—]

[Supplement has been injected, expected to neutralize the lactic acid effect in the body and repair the damage within ten seconds.]

This emotionless computer voice was directly transmitted into Wayne's inner ear through a special communication device inside his cochlea, and others couldn't hear it even if they were face to face with him.

During the narration of this passage, Wayne had already walked to the "driver's seat" that had fallen to the ground not far away, and quickly destroyed it with a miniature incendiary bomb he carried with him.

Then… he looked around a few times, and then disappeared into the night.

…………

At the same time, in the Gotham River…

Feng Bujue, with a pipe in his mouth and his arms crossed, stood on the riverbed at the bottom of the river.

The pile of destroyed car wreckage was less than twenty meters away from him.

If Brother Jue wanted to, he could actually leave the car earlier than Wayne, but he didn't…

After he discerned the other party's intentions, he chose to use their plan against them.

At the moment when he rushed into the water with the car, he knew that he had left Wayne's sight. At this time, he twisted his body and used a [Rankyaku], removing a rear car door, and darting out from that opening.

As a result, the explosion happened as soon as he got out of the car. The shock wave generated by the underwater explosion pushed Brother Jue away from the center of the explosion, and also caused him to lose some Survival Value; of course… this little damage was not enough to kill him.

“Well… what a son of Gotham, decisive and resolute…” Relying on the [Oxygen Pipe], Feng Bujue could not only breathe underwater, but also talk to himself while spitting bubbles, “It’s a pity… as ‘Batman,’ this approach of yours has gone a bit too far…”

He stood there and waited for a while, and then said, “It’s been more than two minutes, aren’t you coming down yet?” He looked to the side and pondered, “Sure enough… he also knows very well that without sufficient equipment, even if he has near-human limit diving abilities… it’s impossible to complete a reconnaissance mission at the bottom of this dark river; however, with his intelligence, he will never give up until he finds my body… so… from the time he returns to the Batcave, to the time he drives the submarine over, to the time he confirms that my body is not in the car and has not been washed downstream along the river… all in all, I’ll have at least an hour, right?”

Thinking of this, Brother Jue shrugged. “Sigh… doing a hidden quest is really tiring.”

His sigh stemmed from a kind of helplessness; at this time, he understood—time is the difficulty of this script.

Scripts of this type that are "non-sleep mode" and of "normal difficulty" usually don't take much time to complete—at a non-sleep mode rate of 1:2, eight hours of real time, i.e., sixteen hours of game time, is basically the upper limit.

To be honest, if Brother Jue had intentionally ended the script quickly, he could have done it six hours (game time) ago.

The method was also very simple, just three steps: First, create a commotion in Arkham to lure out Batman; second, set a trap; third, kill the Batman who comes.

But in order to find the opportunity to "contact a high-level god," and to solve some of the "doubts" that the opening introduction brought him, Feng Bujue didn't do that; he chose to lengthen the progress of the script, and then successfully found the hidden quest…

Brother Jue even gave up a chance to kill Batman that was within easy reach—when he was in the car just now, as long as he wanted to, he could have done something in the back seat to send Bruce Wayne, who wasn't even wearing a Batsuit, to the West.

And all this forbearance, in the final analysis… was all to buy time.

It was obvious that Feng Bujue's obsession with solving the puzzles far exceeded his desire to complete the game; in addition, there was a personal "dissatisfaction" with the abnormalities of this world that was driving him to take even more dangerous actions…

…………

Evening, 9:50 PM.

For some people, this time is close to bedtime, but for another group of people… this point is the beginning of their wonderful lives.

This is the banquet restaurant on the top floor of one of the Gotham Twin Towers.

Fashionably dressed celebrities gathered here, doing what they do every day—exchanging benefits with each other in a circle full of hypocrisy and lies, and cursing each other in their hearts to die soon.

Tonight's banquet was hosted by Mayor Cobblepot, the purpose of which was to celebrate his landslide victory in the recent poll.

In addition to the usual faces of Gotham's high society, the mayor also invited two people who seemed a little out of place—District Attorney Harvey Dent and Police Commissioner James Gordon.

However…

“Ah… Gordon didn’t come…” Mayor Cobblepot didn’t seem too surprised when he heard the news.

“I presume you’ve heard…” District Attorney Dent, who was talking to him, replied in a solemn tone, “There was a rather serious incident in Arkham this afternoon, and the perpetrator was the same person as the suspect in last night’s ‘fire ax murder case.’”

“I know all this.” Cobblepot continued, “I also know… that the guy who calls himself ‘Jack’ is still missing at this moment. The thought of such a deranged criminal still wandering the streets makes my skin crawl…” He paused and lowered his voice, “By the way… what is our mysterious ‘Dark Knight’ doing?”

Dent took a sip of the champagne in his hand and pursed his lips. “How would I know? Gordon is more familiar with him…” He paused for half a second, “Wait… Mr. Mayor, you don’t still suspect that I’m Batman, do you?”

“Are you?” Cobblepot widened his eyes and asked with great anticipation.

“Of course not.” Dent rolled his eyes.

Compared to their corrupted versions, the "Penguin" and "Two-Face," who have always been good guys, seem to have no oppressive feeling at all, one is amiable and the other is serious and upright; fortunately, these two have online IQs, and as good people, their work ability in their respective positions is indeed very outstanding.

“Sir, you can’t go in…”

Just as the banquet was halfway through, suddenly, there was a commotion at the entrance.

A waiter's gradually rising voice attracted everyone's attention.

“Sir! Sir!” He couldn't persuade the man, so he picked up the walkie-talkie, “Security! There’s a man in a long purple suit at the entrance…”

“We’ve already seen him, leave it to us.” Before the waiter could finish his sentence, a response had already come from the radio.

At the same time, three or four well-trained strong men had rushed towards their target at an extremely fast speed.

However, just as they approached within about five meters of that man, they heard a series of sounds like "shua shua shua" breaking through the air.

In the blink of an eye, the guards successively let out screams and fell to the ground.

Sharp-eyed guests noticed… at that moment, it was as if several card-shaped things flashed with black light from the uninvited guest's hand.

Ka— Boom!

Although Feng Bujue didn't have to rely on firearms, he still took the time to get some guns and ammunition before coming in order to control the scene in a way that the people around him could understand; at this moment, he took out a shotgun that looked very intimidating and fired a shot at the ceiling.

As soon as the gun went off, screams rang out.

Although the men didn't scream, their reactions were similar to the women's. Most people instinctively bent over, looked at, and moved away from the direction of the gunshot; some of the more alert people… were already moving towards the exit.

These were all expected things, and Brother Jue didn't care if these bystanders ran away.

“Good evening, ladies and gentlemen.” After firing a shot, Feng Bujue walked slowly towards the center of the banquet hall and said, “Everyone, don’t panic, I’m here… just to find two people.”

As he spoke, he also remained vigilant, because he knew that with the mayor present, in addition to the security guards of the banquet hall, there would also be security forces brought by the mayor himself who were carrying firearms.

“First, is Mayor Cobblepot…” As Brother Jue said this, he quickly searched for the mayor's location through the eyes of some bystanders around him, “Second… is District Attorney Dent…”

It just so happened that the mayor and the district attorney were standing together at this moment, which saved Brother Jue a lot of trouble.

“Ah… very good, you’re both here.” After confirming the location of the targets, Feng Bujue quickened his pace.

“Freeze!” At this time, two bodyguards in suits rushed out and stood in front of the mayor and the district attorney; they both pulled out their pistols and aimed at Brother Jue, and one of them shouted "Freeze!"

Some people might think they are stupid, they should just shoot, why are they shouting?

But in fact, what they did was not wrong, because there were still many other guests around Feng Bujue at this moment. Some people were running out, and some people were still standing there at a loss. At this time, if they shot in the direction of Brother Jue, who knew where the bullets would fly? What if they shot a nearby rich man?

“Ha!” Feng Bujue looked at the two and smiled, “I knew there would be such a scene…” Saying that, he opened his suit, revealing two rows of things that looked like explosives, “Fortunately, I was prepared.”