Chapter 2372: Gotham Music Festival (74)_1

Bruce suddenly tackled Gordon, and Gordon narrowly avoided being struck by a piece of flying wood debris.

The tremendous noise of the complete collapse and the debris that filled the sky, along with the dust, made everyone step back a great deal, some even sat down on the ground with a thump.

Gordon stared dumbfounded at the completely collapsed old building, and finally managed to choke out, "Seems like our luck isn't very good."

Bruce, however, frowned. He said, "I'm afraid it's not that simple. From my observations just now, although this house is old, it was far from falling apart on its own. Otherwise, the victim wouldn't have chosen to run here."

"Who was the victim?" Gordon turned to ask.

"A fisherman, Chief. David once had a fishing boat, but later he became addicted to gambling, lost all his money, and even gave his boat to the creditors. Since then, he became homeless."

"So he's a local from Gotham."

"Yes, when we came to investigate, many people talked about his mother's story. She sounds like a poor woman, but this also indicates that at least from his parent's generation, he's been a Gothamite."

"Then it further proves that if there was an imminent danger of the building collapsing, a local homeless man would definitely not have chosen this place."

"You're suggesting it was a trap," Gordon caught on to Batman's implication and said, "Someone lured us here and then collapsed the house to bury us."

"I can't rule out that possibility." Even if Bruce already had suspects in mind, he chose not to voice them.

He knew that during the music festival, maintaining order in the Gotham Scenic Area was difficult enough. To ask them to investigate a cross-border drug trafficking organization of such a large scale would be asking too much; if he told Gordon, Gordon's pressure would be tremendous.

This task was better suited for him. Although he had been too busy to be Batman for a long time, it didn't mean that he couldn't assume the role. Batman was clearly the best identity for handling this situation.

Looking at Bruce's expression, Shiller couldn't help but think to Gray Mist, "Without even watching or thinking, I'm sure he's going to be out night prowling tonight, one hundred percent."

"Because you made the building collapse."

"You did it."

"You told me to do it." Gray Mist huffed and then added, "But I really didn't want to go in; it was kind of scary in there."

"Did you see the body?"

"Of course." Gray Mist replied, "And it wasn't just one."

Shiller understood. Although he had guessed who the murderer was by now, his greatest strength was to never forget his original purpose. If he said he came to create chaos, then chaos would surely ensue.

So he cleared his throat and said, "I think you're overlooking a key piece of information."

Bruce and Gordon both turned their heads to him, and Shiller continued, "From the first crime scene to the second, it's almost halfway across the city. Even without traffic, it would take more than two hours to drive."

"And the medical examiner determined that the two bodies died at almost the same time, without any signs of having been moved or transported. At two such distant locations, both being the primary crime scenes, how did the killer instantly traverse such a distance?"

Bruce had actually been pondering this question. He said, "It's possible the killer is not acting alone. They may have coordinated the crime, simply adopting the same method."

Bruce analyzed, "Decapitation is not a particularly creative execution method, nor is it difficult to carry out. The scenes themselves don't hold any special meaning; their intimidation factor outweighs their artistry, very much in line with the modus operandi of certain organized crime groups."

"Upside down," Shiller said indifferently.

Bruce furrowed his brow and replied, "Perhaps it's meant to more directly display their intimidation power. The vertical positioning of the bodies would let people clearly realize these were headless corpses, and the scattered blood provided more visual and olfactory impact."

As he spoke, Bruce realized something was amiss. If it was indeed done by the Penitent Cartel, they would have had better ways of showing their power, such as broadcasting executions on TV, which many terrorists like to do, or conducting public executions to instill fear.

Just leaving a couple of bodies in some obscure place only meant the police would see the scene. But since the police are obligated to do their job regardless of fear, staging such a scene to intimidate them was meaningless.

Also, the idea of inverting bodies to show their headlessness and using blood to enhance the visual impact of the scene was nearly exclusive to artistically driven serial killers. A group of drug traffickers would neither have the knowledge nor the leisure to do such things.

To put it bluntly, a transnational drug trafficking group like this earns millions in the blink of an eye, so who would bother with beating around the bush? For the sake of exporting drugs, they dare to kill even Oliver, if you're in their way, the most efficient method is to find someone to shoot you on the street; there's no need to do anything else.

Could it be a deliberate misdirection, a copycat crime? Then who would want to imitate the Penitent Cartel to create a series of murders?

Batman's instinct to question everything played its greatest role at this moment, and even if he didn't want to admit it, he had to acknowledge that the most likely perpetrator would be the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Penitent Cartel have an unclear connection. They might be some sort of secretive partners; to put it bluntly, the Penitent Cartel does the dirty work for the Federal Bureau of Investigation, which in turn turns a blind eye to the cartel's drug trafficking business to make money.

This kind of pattern isn't uncommon in America's law enforcement agencies, and naturally, Bruce is very clear about the ins and outs of it.

There's a limit to nurturing a threat. One keeps a dog to reduce the burden of safeguarding oneself, not to endanger one's safety, so once certain nefarious vines grow too vigorously, they need pruning, or even destruction.

Based on his own experiences, Bruce judged that the scale of the Penitent Cartel might have already crossed the line, especially since they got involved with Mexico's affairs, which is quite sensitive and dangerous.

If the Federal Bureau of Investigation thinks they can no longer control this dog, then it must be slaughtered, because the Bureau has already paid a heavy price for letting this pattern get out of control, and now they have become more cautious.

Solving the Penitent Cartel isn't so simple, however. The nature of a transnational drug organization means that solving only the parts within America is easy; the problem can re-emerge like wildfire in the spring breeze, and then things will become more troublesome.

And judging from the current situation in Mexico, the Federal Bureau of Investigation right now probably also doesn't have the capacity to deal with another venomous snake entrenched in Guazhou, thereby making using a borrowed knife the best method.

Guiding the Penitent Cartel to Gotham was indeed Bruce's plan, but he also wasn't confident enough to believe that no one else would turn the tables. If the Federal Bureau of Investigation planned to use Batman as their tool, then a few suspicious cases would be the perfect bait.

Gordon and the other police officers of Gotham City were incapable of investigating such enigmatic cases; in the end, they would have to rely on Batman. After discovering clues related to drug cultivation, Batman, who had some understanding of the Penitent Cartel, would probably aim his accusations at this organization.

If Batman clashed with the Penitent Cartel, the Federal Bureau of Investigation would have solved two big problems in one fell swoop. Bruce couldn't believe that as the conditions in Gotham gradually improved, the Federal Bureau of Investigation wouldn't reignite their interest in meddling with Gotham.

Bruce was now eighty percent sure that the Federal Bureau of Investigation was indeed involved. The current question was where Amanda and her special case task force stood in all this, whether they were aware, or if they were actually part of this whole setup.

This wasn't out of the question. Although he always teased about the capabilities of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, it was also because of their infamously almost non-existent bottom line that they had a history of notorious deeds.

"I guess he's suspected everyone he could in this lifetime," Shiller thought to himself, "and now he must have just turned to the old accounts of the Federal Bureau of Investigation."

"You're so bad," said Gray Mist.

Bruce didn't want to waste any more time and immediately said to Gordon, "Something's fishy. I'm afraid we won't be able to solve this entirely tonight. Let's go back; we'll talk more in the morning."

Having said this, he got into the car without looking back. Gordon could clearly sense his annoyance, so he didn't ask further, just left some police officers to clean up the scene and also got into the car.

It was almost dawn by now, and as Shiller sat in the backseat resting with his eyes closed, he couldn't help but show a hint of tiredness. Still, Bruce was there asking, "Professor, what do you think of Amanda as a person?"

"Amanda Waller, former head of the Federal Bureau of Investigation's special case group..."

Bruce frowned. He thought Shiller was going to tell him about Amanda's psychological weaknesses, but instead, Shiller told him an obvious fact and said that within this fact, there was information he didn't know.

Bruce had heard of the special case task force, which can be described as the Federal Bureau of Investigation's agile unit. It usually takes on cases that no one else can handle or that are of a special nature.

You can tell from this job description that it's not a significant group because, compared to other issues the Federal Bureau of Investigation has to deal with, serial killer cases are not that important, given even the most vicious serial killer is unlikely to kill more than 20 people in a lifetime. For the Federal Bureau of Investigation, this is an insignificant loss.

As for superpower crime, the Federal Bureau of Investigation doesn't care about that either, because they don't have jurisdiction over anyone with superpowers. In essence, we're all ordinary people, so why should we be the ones to catch superpowered criminals?

Wait, if the number of serial killings within the Federation suddenly spikes to the point that it gains public attention and causes an uproar, then the Federal Bureau of Investigation would have to intervene, even if they didn't want to, and if there aren't many within their ranks experienced in such cases, then Amanda would inevitably come back into their sights.

Bruce didn't think Amanda could be that clever, manipulating both him and the Federal Bureau of Investigation to cast a wide net just to get a step ahead; if she had that sort of ability, she wouldn't have to go in such large circles.

Countless clues swirled in Bruce's brain—a part about the Penitent Cartel, a part about the serial killer, and a part about the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

The Penitent Cartel in conflict with Batman, serial killers continuing to commit crimes until they draw attention, the Federal Bureau of Investigation pressured to bring Amanda back and reboot the special case task force—who could benefit from all three of these events simultaneously?

A name slowly emerged in Bruce's mind—Green Arrow Oliver Quinn.