Chapter 170: The Long Easter (10)_1

Batman was currently on the roof of a building in the West District. He came here following clues about the Easter eggs.

The Easter egg that the Holiday Killer delivered to the mob boss did not leave specific clues, but it shouldn't have been sent to Bruce Wayne.

The surroundings of Wayne Manor were filled with cameras set up by Batman, and the two cameras at the main entrance caught a figure.

It was a newspapers boy who moved back and forth between the South and East Districts delivering newspapers. Such paperboys often travel between the South rich area and the printing factory and hardly anyone pays attention to their existence.

The cameras didn't capture the paperboy's face, but they did capture his clothes. Finally, Batman found him in a newspaper printing factory in the East District.

The paperboy didn't know much, he only told Batman that someone had paid them to deliver the Easter eggs.

This kind of job was very common among the paperboys; they often gathered in a specific location, and some runs employed them from there, hiring them with money to deliver things to others.

This group of paperboys was very familiar with Gotham's terrain and routes, and for convenience, Gothamites agreed not to inconvenience these runner kids, so many people liked hiring them to deliver meals, keys, or beers.

Batman went to the paperboys' gathering spot, and the kids described the Holiday Killer's appearance in a gush, which was useless because they don't care who the principal is when taking an order. As long as what they're delivering isn't something that might be robbed, they'll take any job because too many people come every day, and no one remembers specific looks.

However, one clever paperboy provided crucial clues suggesting that he smelt a kind of chemical on the man who hired them, somewhat similar to gunpowder smell.

Following this lead, Batman investigated every chemical factory in Gotham City.

Gotham City actually had many chemical factories, but they vary in size. After experiencing flooding and freezing disasters, most of the small chemical factories had to shut down, with very few production lines still able to continue operating.

Only four or five chemical factories were functioning normally. The investigation didn't take Batman much time. Eventually, he focused on a chemical factory in the West District.

This chemical factory was located underground in the West District. It wasn't large and had only a few production lines. Their assembly line wasn't advanced, and whatever they produced wasn't likely to be of any importance. Logically, they should have closed down along with the other small chemical factories.

Moreover, following the disaster, almost all the underground structures in Gotham were severely damaged. This underground chemical factory was nearly buried, the building severely damaged, with more than half of it collapsed, most production lines paralyzed, yet there were still signs of human activity in the vicinity.

What merchandise had to be produced at this time?

Batman pried open the back door lock and walked in through the door gap. He put on night vision goggles and saw a chaotic scene inside the factory.

A part of the southeast corner had collapsed, and rubble was everywhere. Many boxes were crushed under the walls, and some sticky liquid was leaking out. The night-vision goggles couldn't make out what the liquid was, so he came closer.

Suddenly, Batman smelled a stench. Upon closer inspection, the boxes contained smashed goose eggs. The egg yolks and egg whites flowed everywhere, not having been taken care of, they were almost fermenting and emitting a foul odour.

In the farther place, some boxes were unaffected. Batman went over and saw that they contained well-processed goose eggshells.

Easter eggs are not directly painted on fresh goose eggs. Goose eggs chosen to be Easter egg materials must undergo processing. If not hollowed out, they must be soaked in chemical agents to make their surfaces suitable for painting. If hollowed, other methods must be used to maintain shell hardness.

It seemed that both types of Easter egg materials were stored here, except some of the eggs that had not been hollowed out were crushed by the fallen wall.

Batman stepped forward, picked up an eggshell and examined it. The eggshell had been processed, but not yet painted. Batman took a few of these eggshells back to Wayne Manor for comparison.

Various Easter eggs were placed at the front of the lab table. The first was the one sent to Bruce by the Holiday Killer, which Batman hadn't touched, so it hadn't exploded and was still intact.

Another was the one given to him by Shiller, the Easter egg with a smiling face painted personally by Shiller. There was also an unpainted Easter eggshell that Batman brought back from the warehouse.

It was evident that the first and the third eggs were almost identical, whether in terms of the goose egg's size and shape or the processing method.

In comparison, Shiller seemed to have just randomly picked a goose egg, which looked more like a swan egg from a nest than a farm goose egg.

It was the wrong size, noticeably too small, hadn't undergone any processing, and was colored directly. The shell surface was too smooth and couldn't hold paint, making the painted smiley face somewhat distorted.

That is to say, those Easter eggs given to the mob bosses and the upper-class people were from that chemical factory in the West District.

"West District chemical factory..." Batman muttered under his breath. He suddenly paused, then quickly left Wayne Manor, drove the Batmobile to Gotham Police Department.

Gordon had just finished a busy day and was about to leave work to go home. He heard a rustling noise in the corner behind him. Without even looking, he said, "What's wrong, Batman?"

"The tape from last time..."

"Tape? Oh, you mean the tape with Shiller's phone call records? That's in the evidence room, but the staff there have already left for the day..."

As soon as Gordon finished speaking, Batman had already disappeared. Gordon shook his head, thinking that it was not bad to leave that dangerous item with this strange man to keep, to avoid someone from being unable to resist curiosity and having to listen in the future.

Batman arrived at a pitch-black evidence room. He found the tape and put it in the cassette player. After a period of static noise, Shiller's voice came up again, "They moved the goods of the Plantation No.9 using Old Wilkin's route, passing through the route of the Three Streets in the East District... "

Batman twisted the button on the cassette player and fast-forwarded a bit. "You're worried about this? You needn't be, as far as I know, that underground chemical factory in the West District is also Falcone's..."

"...family business. After the Godfather handed it over to Evans for management, they also started moving goods on Elizabeth Street. However, due to poor management, it was shut down for a long time. You needn't worry about the Godfather paying attention to such a little profit..."

"A chemical factory? Evans? Evans Falcone..." Batman's voice echoed in the dark room.

Just then, Batman's phone let out a piercing ring. Once he picked up, Cobblepot's voice came through, "...Evans!! It's Evans!! He's got a knife... he want to kill me... No, he isn't... cough... hurry, get to Gotham Cathedral, stop him..."

Batman looked towards the window, where the full moon was hanging high in the sky.

When Batman arrived at Gotham Cathedral, it seemed like Evans had already been waiting for him.

Evans stood in the center crack of the cathedral, staring at the flickering light inside the crack. Batman smelled a dizzying aroma resembling that of evaporated spirits.

He dropped in from the window, standing in front of Evans. Evans ignored him and knelt on the ground, staring at the crack in steadfast concentration.

"Who are you?" Batman asked.

"Who am I? Don't you recognize me? I am your classmate..."

"You're not Evans."

The person on the other side let out a cold laugh, saying, "Don't mention that name to me, it's just a pretender, I am the real Falcone."

"You are his second personality?"

"No, he is my second personality."

The man stood up, his blond hair appeared bizarre under the moonlight. He had a cold expression on his face that Evans never showed, and he said, "Like I said, I am Falcone, Alberto Falcone."

"So you are his second personality."

Alberto seemed a little irritated. He frowned, squinted his eyes, anger apparent in his green irises. His voice was low and completely different from that of Evans.

"I have always been Alberto!"

"But wasn't Alberto supposed to be dead?"

"Heh... that farce fooled quite a few people," Alberto sneered, "Me, dead? Of course not, it's just that a fool replaced me."

"Seems like it's a long story, but that's okay..." Batman took out a Batman dart from his waist, saying, "Tonight is the night of Easter, it should be a long night, you can take your time."

"So, you're the Holiday killer?"

"Yes, I..."

Before he could finish his sentence, Batman threw something at Alberto. Alberto reflexively ducked to the side, then turned to look. It was a shattered Easter egg.

"Damn it, are you mocking me?"

"No. This is an Easter gift from someone to you, but now it's broken. However, that's because you didn't catch it, it has nothing to do with me."

"Don't try to distract me with these tricks, my goal has been achieved, no one can stop me."

"Really? You call yourself the Holiday killer, yet you didn't kill anyone on Easter. The only person killed, Principal Sheldon, was done so clumsily, leaving many faults to be found."

When Batman spoke these words in that calm, unimpressed tone, it was extremely frustrating.

"Do you think you are so clever? Dressed in a tight costume, pretending to be a superhero?"

"At least I found you, oh, no... it wasn't even me who found you, it was that seemingly insignificant Cobblepot."

Mentioning Cobblepot seemed to truly infuriate Alberto, he said, "That damn kid. He almost ruined my plans..."

"So you're saying, you failed? Against a short and weak poor kid, against your first target on Easter, with full preparation, you still failed to kill him."

"I didn't even want to kill him, I wouldn't have bothered if he hadn't given Evans those stupid ideas. He is absolutely irrelevant!"

"That's why I said you are clumsy and full of faults. Anyone could have seen that Cobblepot is a threat."

"Yeah..." Alberto snickered, "A pitiful little guy who lost his father, and he still doesn't know that his father's death wasn't a coincidence."

Then, as if venting, he said, "A funeral? Yeah, I died. Quite a few people did attend my funeral."

He looked up at the window above the cathedral. The moonlight, like a poured curtain, gently draped over the statue of Jesus. This sufferer of the holy son bled dry for traitors, in this bitter cold night, only the moonlight was willing to clothe him.

"But tonight, I will resurrect and live forever."