Nobody can stop me from drawing cards in Gotham!

Chapter 4 To Gamble or Not to Gamble?

The GCPD has two new officers: one named Bennett, a good-natured young Black man, and the other named Hatcher, a quiet, tall white man.

Just as Jaeger had suspected, they did know a lot, and compared to Hatcher's silence and his silent, cold observation of Jaeger, Bennett was quite talkative and not stingy with sharing what he knew.

Of course, Bennett wasn't stupid; he consciously concealed some information that couldn't be revealed to the public, but Jaeger still gleaned a lot of intelligence from his words.

Especially concerning is the Batman issue that Jaeger is most concerned about—according to Bennett, the legend of the Batman began to spread in Gotham about five years ago.

At first, no one paid any attention to the shadowy figures on the streets or the mysterious bat monsters in the night sky, until some criminals had their ribs broken or were hung from the clock tower by the dark figures that seemed to have come out of urban legends.

However, the bat shadow you see on the dripping stone beast sculpture may be fake, but the medical bill you receive when you're lying in the hospital is real.

While some people claim they committed crimes out of desperation to make a living, they ended up receiving subsidies, job offers, and suits for job interviews after being stopped by Batman, showing that Batman isn't as cold-blooded and ruthless as some criminals portray him to be...

But people who make such statements are often seen as Batman fans with questionable judgment—Ha! That Batman wasn't so kind when he sent me to the ICU! That must be a story someone made up! It's fake, it must be fake! Some criminals are making such angry pronouncements, seemingly having lost their composure.

Batman was thus torn in two by the controversy among the citizens of Gotham. One side believed he was a monster born from the evils of Gotham, dark, angry, and brutal; the other side believed this dark figure was a knight cloaked in darkness, who, while wielding extreme violence, left behind silent kindness for those who had not yet completely fallen into depravity wherever he went.

But now, the controversy is meaningless. The sudden Batman killing incident two weeks ago has caused criminals throughout the city to suffer from Bat PTSD, fearing that saying a word about Bat will cost them their lives. This is also the reason why Gotham City's crime rate has hit a record low.

"Ha," Hatcher scoffed. "Judging from the decrease in crime rate, isn't this a good thing?"

"Hey, Hatcher," Bennett disagreed, "even if these cases lower the crime rate, that bat is still killing people!"

"So what?" Hatcher's tone was hostile. "None of them are innocent either—Gotham City is full of criminals! Take those three victims from before, who were kicked off the building and killed just like tonight's victims, and whose deaths were caught on camera. Weren't they all later found out to be just three gang henchmen?"

"They should have served their entire lives in Blackgate Prison, but the money-grubbing judge easily cleared their names and released them! If you ask me..."

"That's enough." Bennett quickly stopped Hatcher, who was speaking with great emotion and whose forehead veins were bulging. He smiled apologetically at Jaeger beside him. "I'm sorry, my colleague tends to talk too much when he gets excited... How about we call it a day?"

Jaeger knew that Bennett was stopping Hatcher from saying anything that shouldn't be revealed to the general public, so he nodded tactfully: "I understand, thank you, officers."

He turned and left, lost in thought: Tonight's victims, like before, were all kicked off the building and died from their injuries?

It must be said that the advantage of being at the crime scene is that although Jaeger cannot get close to the death scene that has been cordoned off by the police, he can see the buildings near the crime scene.

He raised his head, looked up at the night sky dotted with raindrops, and gazed at the towering old buildings on both sides of the street.

Judging from the visual inspection, the old building is about seven stories high, and there is indeed little chance of survival if one falls from the top.

Jaeger imagined the scene based on the surveillance video: a bat-like shadowy figure standing on the rooftop, kicking people off the building, leaving them in a mess of blood and flesh... It was like a scene from a horror movie with anti-religious metaphors.

But that's not right.

Something just feels off.

Jaeger looked around again—the old town had a high land utilization rate, and the buildings, full of Gothic style from the last century, were no more than two meters apart, with a very compact layout.

Looking down, Jaeger saw Bruce still arguing with the police not far away... Jaeger now knew from the officers about Bruce Wayne's outrageous reputation in Gotham City and the identity of the GCPD's big financial backer, and understood that the police's patience with the incompetent rich man largely stemmed from the heavy money in his pocket.

Incidentally, when Jaeger was questioning the police about Bruce Wayne, he unlocked an extra achievement amidst their bewildered looks—"How can someone not know Wayne?"

[A new achievement has been unlocked!]

[Achievement Completed - "Who the hell is Bruce Wayne?"]

[Unlock condition: Ask others for information about Bruce Wayne and successfully attract their curious glances, wondering how long you've been out of touch with human society.]

[PS: Who the hell is Bruce Wayne? ! 】

Jaeger, who was clueless at the time: "..."

This can trigger an achievement? So who exactly is Bruce Wayne?

Let's return to the present. Judging from the few words that were vaguely gleaned from over there, Bruce was probably still engrossed in analyzing the difference in driving skills between himself and Batman. Jaeger then unconsciously recalled Bruce's testimony about seeing Batman flee the scene on a motorcycle.

Wait, a motorcycle?

The victim kicked off the building, the high-rise building, the motorcycle, the escape from the scene... words flashed through Jaeger's mind. In an instant, he finally realized where the sense of incongruity he had been vaguely sensing throughout the case came from.

The source of the conflict...

Jaeger's gaze fell directly on the face of a certain wealthy man.

It was Bruce Wayne's testimony.

Unlike the police, Jaeger knew Bruce's drunkenness was just a facade; he was probably more sober than any of the officers present. So, how much of what he told the police was true and how much was false?

If Jaeger's guess is correct, the veracity of the other party's testimony will affect the direction of the truth of the case—but the problem now is that Bruce Wayne's stance is unclear, and Jaeger cannot rashly ask him to verify the truth of his words.

After all, Jaeger didn't believe that someone who could pretend to be drunk and slip things into other people's pockets in a way that was completely undetectable without the "danger perception" alert was the brainless rich fool that others described. Those rumors were obviously just some kind of disguise used to lower other people's guard.

But this also means that Bruce Wayne is not a simple person, and is very dangerous.

Faced with this situation, Jaeger habitually listed out all the options he could make and their corresponding advantages and disadvantages, so that he could think about what to do:

The first option is to play it safe and not test Bruce Wayne.

This choice allows Jaeger to temporarily avoid risks, but it also deprives him of the opportunity to actively engage with the case. The event card, "Bloody Bat," is likely to reach a stalemate, and the subsequent situation will become completely passive.

Wayne, whose motives remain unclear, will eventually realize that Jaeger's identity is questionable, yet the police suddenly appear at the crime scene, not to mention the lurking threat of the "Kill" card, which only gives him two weeks to redeem it...

Jaeger was not confident he could handle the simultaneous pressure from all three parties.

The second option is the complete opposite: take the initiative, find out whether Wayne's words are true or false, and find out why he was near the scene of the fourteenth Batman murder, and why he quietly put something on Jaeger when he saw him.

If all goes well, this option could naturally open up a new chapter in Jaeger's current predicament.

But if he fails, he will most likely tear up his card at lightning speed and disappear silently into Gotham, where countless people die every day, under Wayne's powerful hand... Compared to that, the first option even offers the possibility of surviving.

Life is indeed full of difficult choices, Jaeger sighed.

But in the short time it took him to spin around in place, he finally made his decision.

He was going to take a gamble.

After all, the best way to avoid being burned to death is to live in the fire. Rather than being led by the game's kill mechanics, it's better to take the initiative.

Moreover, Jaeger wasn't entirely unsure about the second option.