Chapter 162: The Long Easter (2)

Chapter 162: The Long Easter (2)

It was another rainy night, with puddles all over the road. As the headlights flashed by, Gordon, wearing rain boots, hurried down the staircase and shook hands with Schiller, who was on his way up. He exclaimed dramatically, "Thank heavens, Professor, your arrival is just in time!"

"Let's talk inside."

Gordon pushed open the door of the police station, and before he could lead Schiller to the office, a young officer approached and said, "Boss, all the interrogation rooms on the second floor are full. The drunk and the scar-faced man got into a fight, and it took three people to separate them. The black man with the band tattoo is acting crazy, and we don't have enough staff to watch all these criminals..."

Gordon sighed and said, "If we catch more people later, don't bother interrogating them. Just lock them up first."

Gordon led Schiller up the staircase, walking quickly ahead without looking back, saying, "These people have gone mad lately. Today, Gotham's crime rate has increased 12 times, and there's no room left in the interrogation rooms and cells."

"I don't know what's going on, but everyone seems to be on edge." After reaching the corridor, Gordon pointed to the end of the hallway and said, "Those two people in that interrogation room got into a fight over a pack of cigarettes, and there's a couple in the room on the left who started using weapons during an argument..."

"I thought this was just a typical day in Gotham," Schiller said, quickly following Gordon up the staircase.

"It used to be like that, but ever since the logistics system started running, there have been fewer idle people. I didn't expect this to happen again."

He sighed and said, "But it's not surprising, given the severe flooding on the city's roads, which has basically halted the logistics system, leaving everyone idle at home."

"But you still think something's off, right? Otherwise, you wouldn't have called me over."

"Exactly. Even if Gotham was rotten to the core before, there shouldn't be so many mentally ill people appearing overnight."

"Now, in the office on the third floor, there are two people convulsing, one foaming at the mouth, and another talking nonsense."

"Our officers tested them for alcohol and drugs, but the results showed no issues. They just suddenly fell ill."

Standing at the office door with his hands on his hips, Gordon said to Schiller, "If it weren't for that Copperpot kid getting sick last time, I wouldn't have been able to tell. But their symptoms are similar, so I had to call you over to see what's going on."

Schiller frowned as he pushed open the door to his office, seeing several people huddled in the corner, just like Copperpot at the time, soaked and shivering uncontrollably, mumbling to themselves.

Schiller shook his head and said, "I had anticipated this; it's the after-effects of being caught in the rain."

Gordon didn't quite catch what he said, and just as he was about to ask again, Schiller interrupted him, saying, "Don't worry about that for now. Transfer them to Arkham, just as you suspected, this isn't normal. I need to conduct further examinations."

When Schiller arrived at the Arkham Mental Hospital office, it was raining heavily outside the window, and this downpour was less than four hours after the last one.

Schiller walked to the window, watching the raindrops hit the railing outside the glass, reflecting a faint shimmer. He silently calculated in his mind that thunderstorms were becoming more frequent, changing from once every two days to once a day since two weeks ago, and today there had already been three heavy rains.

He stepped out of the office and knocked on the door of the neighboring hospital room. Batman's voice came from inside, "Come in."

Schiller entered and saw Batman and Copperpot standing on opposite sides of a table, with a map of Gotham City spread out on it. Schiller went in and said directly, "It seems that plan indeed made them quite sick."

Copperpot let out a sinister laugh, and Batman's mouth twitched. He said, "You've given me a new understanding of the despicable extent of human tactical planning."

After several days of surveillance, Batman discovered that the underground of Living Hell seemed to have become a new base for the Court of Owls members.

Following the principle of sharing information among Gotham's secret meeting members, Batman informed Schiller of the situation. However, Schiller, as if prepared, presented a plan that was both frustrating and potentially highly effective.

As Schiller said, it's not difficult to catch the tail of the Court of Owls, and even breaking into their stronghold isn't hard. However, if they can't succeed in one attempt, the Court of Owls will surely slip away and hide even deeper, turning the situation into an endless game of hide-and-seek.

Therefore, a plan is needed to force them out and expose their weaknesses, creating an opportunity for success.

The specific plan is as follows: Schiller speculated that even if the Court of Owls is hidden underground, they must rely on energy for lighting and communication.

So where does this energy come from?

Although it's not impossible that they have their own independent energy facilities, according to Schiller's understanding of the Court of Owls, they are more like a tumor growing on a normal organization. They are more likely to have infiltrated their own people during the transformation of Living Hell and then tapped into Living Hell's energy system to power themselves.

So Schiller asked Gordon to bring in a skilled infiltrator, and then had Copperpot take the infiltrator on a tour of Living Hell.

Sure enough, the infiltrator quickly discovered that the direction of one power line was off. Following this line, Copperpot found the energy pipeline of the Court of Owls' stronghold.

In addition to the power supply, there were other hidden pipelines, unguarded and concealed above ground.

Schiller's ultimate plan was to flood their base with sewage.

By connecting Living Hell's sewage treatment pipeline to the Court of Owls' energy pipeline, the entire sewage system of Living Hell would be connected to the Court of Owls' pipeline.

The result, of course, goes without saying. In Gotham, there is no place with a higher population density than Living Hell, and its sewage production capacity is naturally top-notch.

"The waste flooded their base, turning it into a massive swamp of methane," Batman said, struggling to maintain his composure. "And from the looks of it, some people didn't manage to escape in time when the sewage was released..."

Batman fell silent for a moment, seemingly suppressing the nausea brought on by his imagination. Afterward, he said quite fairly, "Although disgusting, it was effective."

"You mentioned before that they've trained many assassins. If I were to go in alone, I wouldn't be confident in defeating all of them."

"Even if I could defeat them, if they managed to stall me and release their assassins, the residents of Living Hell would suffer."

"Living Hell is the most densely populated area in Gotham. No matter what the Court of Owls does there, it will cause a large number of casualties. To prevent this, we must force them out of there. Although using... their escape will surely prevent them from killing."

Schiller looked at Batman, his mouth still downturned, appearing solemn and serious.

Schiller thought that perhaps this was what set Batman apart from other superheroes. Although he still couldn't avoid individual heroism, he was willing to sacrifice his own advantage for tactical victory, rather than seeking glory and showcasing his strength.

Faced with a despicable tactic, he didn't stand on a moral high ground to condemn it but instead analyzed and judged it rationally. Perhaps this was the basic quality of a true tactical master.