Chapter 187: Reason

"Excellent."

Black Mask nodded in satisfaction and patted the White Skull's shoulder twice.

At this moment, the remaining hundreds of thugs from the False Face Society had also gathered here.

"Look over there, boss; there are footprints on the ground."

One of the members pointed to the ground beside the live streaming site.

Black Mask followed the sound and saw a long trail of footprints in front of one of the cameras. The footprints extended deep into the forest, and there was no end in sight.

"Is it possible that these are the tracks that were left behind by Bruce Wayne during his escape?"

Beside him, the White Skull showed a pensive expression.

Just as Black Mask was about to order someone to follow the footprints to investigate, another voice came from the opposite direction.

"Boss, we found footprints here too!"

Hmm?

Black Mask frowned and walked over to take a look.

Indeed, footprints leading deep into the forest had appeared in another direction, with the same depth and length as the previous footprints.

"Wait! I also see footprints over there!"

At the same time, more and more people discovered the footprints and headed in different directions into the depths of the forest, which seemed endless.

"Interesting, it seems Bruce wants to play a game with me."

There was no hint of emotion in the Black Mask's tone.

"Out of all the footprints, only one path is correct; the rest are wrong. Only by finding the correct path can we catch up with him. Ha! I won't follow someone else's rules!"

"Now, everyone spreads out and follows all the paths deep into the forest, even the directions where no footprints have been found. The first person to find Bruce Wayne will receive the most generous reward!"

Black Mask commanded his subordinates.

"It hasn't been ten minutes since Bruce shut down the live stream. In such a short time, he couldn't have gotten far. Move quickly!"

With Black Mask's command, the members of the False Face Society split into more than twenty small teams and headed in different directions to chase after Bruce.

"You, White Skull, come with me!"

At this point, Black Mask called his henchman White Skull, and together, they walked into the depths of the forest.

"Yes, boss."

The White Skull followed obediently.

Not long after they started walking, White Skull asked in a puzzled tone, "Boss, there are no footprints on this side. It's going to be difficult to find Bruce this way, isn't it?"

"You don't understand Bruce Wayne. He's an extremely cunning and deceitful person. He used dirty tricks to steal my company."

Black Mask said it firmly.

"I'm sure Bruce won't leave such obvious clues. Those footprints are probably fake."

"But if we don't follow the footprints, how will we know which path Bruce took?"

White Skull asked.

The Black Mask didn't answer but continued to walk forward firmly.

"Alright, boss, I'll go wherever you go, but... are you sure we don't need to bring a few more people? What if Bruce Wayne had a lot of bodyguards? It could be dangerous with just the two of us."

The White Skull expressed concern.

"Are you afraid?"

Black Mask suddenly turned around and asked in a calm tone.

"Of course not!"

White Skull denied it without hesitation.

"Then keep your mouth shut."

Upon hearing this, White Skull obediently closed his mouth and didn't say another word, quietly following behind Black Mask.

...

Meanwhile, in the homes of various media personnel in Gotham City

In the current chaotic environment of Gotham, most people were keeping their doors and windows locked, staying home, and not going anywhere.

These news workers, who were well versed in seeking safety, naturally did the same.

Those who lived in neighborhoods or high-rise apartment buildings could still feel safe because most of the trouble in Gotham was caused by escaped prisoners and different gangs, who didn't usually use big weapons.

The groups that suffered the most damage were the stores along the streets and the single-story or two-story standalone houses.

A crowd of people would enter without thinking and destroy everything they saw.

The homeowner with a gun would fight back and maybe even kill a few of the rioters. This would make things even worse.

The news workers in Gotham still mostly lived in tall buildings, where they were safer from direct threats.

It was because of this that they were able to watch the mysterious livestream suddenly appearing on their phones at such a tense time.

They initially believed they were under attack by a hacker, but the footage that was playing on the screen quickly piqued their interest and awoke the souls of the news professionals.

"This Black Mask must be the mastermind behind the attack on Blackgate Penetiary and the one who triggered this riot, right..."

Since Dean had previously switched the "host" of the virtual livestream to the Black Mask, what the media sees now is the Black Mask leading his group into Robinson Park in search of Bruce.

"Roman Sionis actually blamed Wayne Enterprises for his company's poor performance and released the prisoners from Blackgate Penetiary to seek revenge on Bruce Wayne. This guy must be crazy!"

Black Mask's real identity as Roman Sionis wasn't much of a secret.

While he wore a mask that hid his face, a piece of wood was taken from his father's coffin, which happened to be enough to make a mask.

The material of Black Mask's skull mask was exactly the same as the wood from the coffin, clearly indicating that he was Roman.

However, they only knew Black Mask's true identity; the reasons behind his desire for revenge on society were still a mystery.

It was not until they watched the livestream that they realized the unusual hatred the Black Mask had for Bruce Wayne while believing that Bruce had taken away his company, which was quite puzzling.

No one could understand Black Mask's thought process, but that was normal.

Otherwise, he wouldn't have been able to carry out a massive act like releasing the prisoners from Blackgate.

"It looks like Black Mask intends to hunt down Bruce Wayne in Robinson Park. But why would Mr. Wayne be in Robinson Park?"

The media were puzzled by Black Mask's actions in Robinson Park because they hadn't seen Dean's live stream where he disguised himself as Bruce Wayne.

"Does Bruce Wayne know that Black Mask is hunting him down? May God protect him."

...

At this very moment, a lot of people were looking for Bruce Wayne and were constantly watching Black Mask and White Skull.

From the discovered live stream location, they had been walking for about five minutes, and the surrounding area hadn't changed much; it was still filled with countless trees.

"Hmm!?"

Just at that moment, White Skull suddenly saw a flash before his eyes, as if a figure had swiftly passed in front of him.

"Boss, I think I've spotted Bruce Wayne!"

...

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A/N: The age issue regarding Cassandra is a bit complicated, as she first appeared in No Man's Land when she was 17 years old. At that time, Tim Drake was around 15 years old, and Jason Todd had recently died. Jason had been Robin for only a couple of years before his death. After Dick Grayson became Nightwing, he was replaced by Jason as Robin after only a few months. Dick was Robin for the longest time, about 4 to 5 years. Although there are some time inconsistencies, the age differences within the Batman family are relatively acceptable. In this story, the timeline is set about a year to six months before Dick became Nightwing. Based on Cassandra's age of 17 in No Man's Land, she would be around 12 years old at this time. So, in this story, I have made Cassandra about 2 years older, but I assure you that it won't affect the plot in any way. Also, this story will not include any DC movie references or character designs from the DC movies. I understand that many people like the Zack Snyder films, but unfortunately, according to the timeline, his version of the Justice League events happened several years before this story.