Chapter 2953: When Dusk Falls (35)

Batman had to admire once again that this clever girl's combination of moves was as smooth as flowing clouds and water.

She might have harbored suspicions about Hal for a while, which wasn't at all strange, given that among everyone, Hal's statements had been the shortest. Although they seemed unproblematic, if one had to pick the most suspicious person, it definitely would be him.

After all, Batman had said before that the more one talks, the more mistakes one makes. Those who are not the mole would try to prove their innocence by going into a lot of detail, but the mole would feel guilty and fear that Batman might notice inconsistencies in the details. Of course, it would be better to skip over them, so Green Lantern's statements were the most suspect.

Therefore, Jane deliberately cut her hand with the can because she knew that a vampire who had gone almost two days and a night without food would have almost no resistance to fresh blood. Even if it could control itself and not pounce, it would definitely display various anomalies.

Jane had no other way to identify the vampire, so her only option was to provoke Hal, to make him distraught, even forgetting to defend himself, and then to draw him over and hug him while he was distracted, to check if he lacked body temperature.

The result was almost as she expected, but even if Hal was innocent, her behavior was not outrageous.

Clearly, Green Lantern had fallen for it.

Batman said accusations could not be made without evidence, but body temperature was already solid evidence. Superman and Wonder Woman immediately looked at Green Lantern with suspicious eyes.

"What are you talking about?" Green Lantern Hal furrowed his brow and said, "How could I possibly lack a body temperature?!"

Unexpectedly, Jane revealed a look of bewilderment and then hesitantly said, "When I hugged you just now, I found you to be cold, perhaps... perhaps I was mistaken."

A beautiful retreat to advance, Batman thought.

"Alright, Hal, but could you show me your hand?" Superman said, "It's also to clear your suspicion, proving it would be good for everyone."

Green Lantern extended his hand. Superman felt it and found it warm. He then patted Jane's back and touched her head, saying, "You might be suffering from excessive blood loss."

Jane said with a sigh of relief, "That's probable, everyone's nerves are too tense, I might have been so nervous that I hallucinated, I'm sorry, Hal, for doubting you after you treated my wound..."

Jane showed a guilty expression, her eyes rimming red. Wonder Woman was the first to comfort her, saying, "You and your brother are too young, it's not fair for you to face such pressure. If it were possible, I wish you weren't here."

"No," Jane brushed the tears from her eyes and said, "I want to stay with you all. I am also a part of the Justice League."

At that moment, Batman came over and said, "Make the most of the time to rest."

With that, everyone dispersed. After the night watch ended, Shiller saw Jane lying down to sleep and sporting a sly smile.

Clearly, no one could sleep.

Except for Batman, the other members of the Justice League's brains were like passive skills, rarely activated on their own, but they were not blind; after years of following the lead, they couldn't possibly lack such perceptiveness.

Green Lantern Hal's oddity was nearly noticed by everyone.

Yes, he seemed to display symptoms of poor eating and sleeping, but actually, the others should be faring worse than him, as many of them lacked Green Lantern energy and that so-called strongest will on Earth. They should be showing a more deteriorated state than Hal.

But in reality, so far, the only one out of sorts was him alone. It wasn't that he didn't have the right to be vulnerable, but at any time, Green Lantern was not supposed to be the first one to fall.

The next morning, everyone woke up unusually early, or rather, they had simply stayed up all night.

Sitting at the conference table, everyone was shocked, because Green Lantern's abnormality was no longer just in behavior and speech.

He looked very pale, with a murky gaze, as if his soul had left his body long ago.

"Hal, are you alright?" Superman felt the question was a bit inappropriate as Green Lantern didn't look fine at all.

"Let me be honest," Aquaman said with pursed lips, "he doesn't look okay to me. Batman, do you have any body scanning equipment?"

After a pause, he added, "You said we can't accuse anyone without evidence, but he really looks..."

No one contradicted him, not even Wonder Woman, who always insisted on justice. After a moment of silence, she spoke, "We're not trying to doubt you, Hal, but... even if you really got sick due to poor living conditions, getting checked out would be beneficial."

Superman glanced at Batman and realized he neither agreed nor had the intention to speak up; he then looked towards the Martian Manhunter.

Hal hadn't lied, the Martian Manhunter stated confidently, "Everything he says is true, but we all know humans can choose to tell the truth selectively. I reserve my opinion."

"I'm sorry, my actions last night made Mr. Hal a suspect, but he really doesn't look well. Perhaps we should still have him checked out?" Jane suggested.

The others chimed in, feeling that a physical examination of Green Lantern was necessary. Green Lantern sat in silence, his condition might not be good, but at least he was still lucid.

"Are you really going to do this, Batman?" Green Lantern looked at the man seated at the head of the table, who remained silent like a dark, imposing wall.

"It depends on you, Hal." Batman sighed softly and said, "If you're willing to prove your innocence this way, I can guarantee the fairness of the test results. If not, we'll just have to continue."

Batman stood up and addressed everyone, "As I've said, I won't presume any of you are guilty. If you're not willing to prove your innocence, we can keep this going."

"Hal, don't be too stubborn," Wonder Woman urged. "I'm not suggesting that you are [a vampire], I just think your physical condition is too poor. Let Batman help you, okay?"

Green Lantern was silent for a long time, but he still shook his head.

"Then today it's my turn to narrate," Batman began, his voice deeper but not as hoarse, appearing in better condition than Green Lantern Hal, but in reality, he was the only purely ordinary human here.

Surprisingly, Batman wasn't very verbose. Everyone thought he would talk for at least five or six hours, but he just briefly summarized the Batman Family's ordeal and shared the intelligence gathered over the past few months, without mentioning what he had been doing behind the scenes.

Yes, everyone believed he must have been doing something in the background; or rather, what he had been doing secretly was the source of his confidence to hold everyone here without doing anything yet still ultimately emerge victorious.

But no one knew what it was.

Pressuring Batman was unrealistic, most people understood that, but still, some were dissatisfied. Superman noticed and said, "Batman, I know you have many secret plans, and you can't disclose them with a traitor among us, but maybe you could say more, something we ought to know, even if it's just hints."

Batman surveyed the room and said, "Don't you think this scene resembles a certain mythological tale?"

"What?"

"The Last Supper," Batman said. "One of you has betrayed me, holding a bag containing silver coins."

"So..."

"Any superficial behavior and words are not concrete evidence. Only the silver coins in the bag are."

Batman's words were enigmatic, almost incomprehensible to anyone, but Batman knew there would be some who would understand his meaning.

After everyone had finished their own narratives, Batman began asking them to express their opinions on vampires, present their own plans against vampires, and discuss how to defeat them.

Another round of tedious narratives began.

Jenna, however, clearly wasn't listening; she was pondering Batman's words. Superficial speech and behavior couldn't be taken as evidence, meaning that even if someone spoke or behaved like a vampire now, they might not actually be one.

But how could that be?

Hal seemed very guilty, with a pale face, icy temperature, and absence of spirit. If he wasn't a vampire, who was?

No no no, Jenna immediately realized another possibility. Batman's statement was actually a reminder to herself to look beyond the surface. Speech could be misleading, behaviors could have different explanations, but there must be something that could serve as undeniable evidence.

What could it be? What did the silver coins represent?

Jenna knew full well that she and Batman had jointly devised the plan, resembling to boiling an eagle, which she believed could possibly identify the traitor.

However, now it was Hal, who seemed most like the eagle unable to take the torment, that was almost let off easily by Batman. This indicated that while Batman agreed with the plan, his approach to finding the culprit differed from Jenna's. He wasn't seeking the eagle, but those silver coins.

Jenna racked her brains but couldn't decipher what the deeper evidence symbolized by the silver coins could be.

Yet this clever girl didn't give up; she approached the problem from a different angle—why did Batman think his plan wouldn't catch the real culprit? What was the flaw in the plan to starve the vampire?

Jenna considered each detail carefully and saw no issues.

First, Superman was surely not the problem; the powerful Kryptonian, virtually composed entirely of solar energy, couldn't be a vampire, so the biological field he created was also fine, surely preventing anyone from leaving.

Since the room was completely sealed, no matter who the traitor was, they couldn't escape. It had been almost two days and two nights already; how could the vampire not be hungry?

And if they weren't hungry now, just keep it going, confine them for a week, and their true nature would surely manifest in desperation, so what was wrong with the plan?

Jenna just couldn't figure it out, but she suddenly remembered Zan had seemed a bit different since coming back.

So she reached out and took her brother's hand.

Shiller instantly felt some kind of tremor, seemingly a power in their twin bloodlines, and he vaguely picked up on Jenna's doubtful emotions.