Ch.329 One-Sided Beatdown

The next steps were simple: knowing the target of Riddler, all Su Ming needed to do was return to Wayne Tower, locate Fox's address, and get there before Riddler did, catching him in the act and delivering a Batman-style beatdown.

Su Ming jumped off the building and flew away.

Gordon was on the rooftop of the police station, waiting for Batman. He glanced at the distant neon lights and smoked quietly. "The Riddler isn't complete yet. I believe he will continue committing crimes... Batman?"

He turned around only to find Batman was already gone... again.

"I'm used to this... I'm used to this," Gordon muttered, attempting to convince himself as he walked downstairs. He had lost count of how many times Batman left without a word.

Everything went according to Su Ming's plan. The Riddler had already killed two more innocent victims before finally targeting Fox's residence.

Just as the Riddler was hiding in the shadows, about to strike at Dr. Fox, a pair of stronger hands suddenly grabbed him from behind.

In the darkness, he could only see those cold, white eyes and the gray bat insignia on the attacker's chest.

In the confusion and sudden chaos, he had no way of telling if the Batman before him was real or not.

"No, how did you solve my riddles so fast?!"

"Solve riddles?"

Batman slammed him onto the floor; any attempts at struggling were futile as the immense strength threatened to shatter his shoulders.

"The answer... you haven't even said the answer yet!" The Riddler desperately stretched out, trying to grab his fallen hat.

"I'll teach you riddles... I'll teach you hide-and-seek... I'll teach you kidnapping..."

With each line, Batman's fist smashed into Riddler's face. Dr. Fox could only watch in surprise as two people suddenly appeared in his room, not understanding what was happening.

"You cheated... You're not smarter than me," Riddler groaned, his face bruised and swollen, but he was still obsessed with his riddles.

Su Ming had already pulled back some of his strength, or else he could have easily smashed the Riddler's head with a single punch. As for the riddles set up by this mere mortal, what did they have to do with Su Ming?

"Tell me the answer."

Since cheating was already involved, and he didn't understand why Riddler was so obsessed with the answer, why not just extract the answer from Riddler himself?

As he interrogated him, Su Ming crushed both of Riddler's leg bones like he was snapping a piece of instant ramen.

"Seven! The answer is seven!" Riddler couldn't bear the torture anymore. The pain was too much for someone like him—a supposed intellectual—to endure. He gave up the answer.

Su Ming's mind stirred. The number... seven.

"Who sent you? Answer me! Or I'll pull out your tongue and make sure you can never tell another riddle again." Su Ming also crushed one of Riddler's arms for emphasis.

"It... it was a deal. I had a deal with someone..."

Riddler fainted from the pain.

Su Ming stood up and shook his cape: "Lucius, mind if I borrow your bathroom?"

"Of course, Bruce, but... why did he come to my home?" Fox pointed in a direction, still bewildered.

"I'll figure it out after I wake him up with some toilet water." Su Ming dragged Riddler across the floor toward the bathroom, leaving a long blood trail on the ground.

Su Ming's original idea was to wake Riddler up with urine, but since that wasn't always easy to come by on demand, he settled for dunking Riddler's head in the toilet, waking him with the dirty water.

From the Riddler's mouth, Su Ming learned that earlier that day, someone had anonymously contacted Riddler, offering him $2 million to kill seven random people in Gotham and set up riddles to draw Batman in for a guessing game.

Riddler loved riddles and was low on cash lately, so despite not knowing the client's identity, the deal was too good to pass up.

He went back to his early ways of committing crimes, killing seven people in sequence, and planned to use Lucius as the final clue. But inexplicably, Batman had already been waiting for him.

This wasn't how it was supposed to go. Batman should have been chasing clues and trying to save the other victims. How could he skip over the lives of ordinary people and go straight to the last step?

Su Ming pondered the number "seven" and the mysterious client who hired the Riddler.

He knocked Riddler out again and dragged him by the neck toward the door. "Lucius, I'm leaving. Get your son to upgrade your home's security system whenever he has time—tell him I said so."

"Uh, okay... Will you be coming to the office tomorrow?"

"No, I'm busy lately. The world's ending."

"Oh? Right... I guess that makes it the 17th time this year? Anyway, about the financial report—"

Batman, carrying Riddler, jumped out the window and disappeared. The dark cape was swallowed by the night.

Fox sighed. He knew Batman was Batman, and Bruce was Bruce, but getting to meet him was harder than meeting the president.

Once again, Bruce had left Wayne Enterprises unattended. Plus, Lucius's own son was increasingly acting like Batman—whether that was good or bad, he didn't know...

Su Ming returned to the police station, stripped Riddler naked, and hung him at the front entrance of the precinct. He then used a payphone to notify Gotham's media.

Riddler loved the limelight, always wanting to appear on TV shows to match wits with Batman. So Su Ming decided to let Gotham's media publish Riddler's nude photos and videos to shame him, taking advantage of his fragile pride.

Nygma was all about appearances, and now that his scrawny, nude body was on full display to the entire city of Gotham, he would be too embarrassed to show his face for a while.

Whether he would retaliate more fiercely next time... what did that have to do with Su Ming?

The media acted quickly, even faster than the police across the street. Before Gordon and his men could react, a large group of reporters had gathered with their equipment, swarming around Riddler hanging from the lamppost, subjecting him to inhumane scrutiny.

The reporters were ecstatic, and each anchor immediately began recording the news.

"The Riddler has been hung completely naked at the police station entrance. His buttocks bear Batman's symbol. Could this mean Batman's crime-fighting methods have evolved again? What exactly did Batman do to Riddler's backside? This question deserves serious thought."

Another broadcaster had a different focus, saliva flying as he pointed at Riddler's bony body. "As you can see, the Riddler is very small down there. Of course, viewers won't see it—we'll put a mosaic over it—but I can responsibly tell you, it's really tiny!"

There were also more serious reports: "The Riddler, Edward Nygma, a renowned mathematician and computer expert. What drove him to become the Riddler? We may never know, but today he killed seven innocent civilians, and justice will be served. Yet behind all of this, is Batman's method of capturing criminals even legal? Will the Riddler plead guilty?"

Meanwhile, many reporters rushed into the police station, hoping to interview Commissioner Gordon.

Across the street on a rooftop, Su Ming pulled his cape around his face, Batman-style, observing the chaos below while pondering other matters.