Chapter 2184: Battle of the Twin Cities! (25)_1

The Joker had to admit, he had indeed tampered with the crime scene and taken a strand of hair from the corpse. This was indeed his fault, but after all, he too had to investigate. Whoever got to the evidence first got the treat—it was understandable.

However, the Joker was very careful not to leave any of his footprints at the scene. The shoes he wore had no pattern at all. He didn't step on any mud when walking, and he specially made sure not to apply force to his soles to avoid leaving a complete foot shape that could be detected by instruments.

Therefore, the only footprint at the scene was a half-footprint in the mud next to the body.

The Joker remembered very clearly that the body's blood flowed into the mud, causing the originally dry mud to become moist. His shoe half-stepped on the tile, half-stepped on the moist mud, thus leaving a half footprint.

Note, the half-footprint left in the mud was protruding and hollowed out, it can't be qualified as imprint, rather it is more like a 3D model. The parts protruding on the shoe pattern, the mud was hollowed out and vice versa.

As we all know, 3D things always attract people's attention more, better than a dull pattern on a flat surface.

Yet, the Joker hid in the shadow of the prison van, watching Batman roam for a full minute without noticing the footprint.

He was sure that Batman didn't just overlook it, he never noticed it from the beginning.

Feeling puzzled, the Joker peered out from within the prison van and realized that perhaps the footprint was not very noticeable because it happened to be directly underneath a streetlight, hence lacking side light to highlight its depth.

Plus, the footprint was located just slightly under the left arm of the prone body, in the shadow cast by the corpse. And directly above was the fatal wound left by the weapon. It was perhaps, maybe, possible not to spot it at a glance.

But who the heck only investigates one side of a corpse when they're Batman?!!

The Joker hadn't experienced a terrible day, but he had just experienced the longest minute.

He really wanted to rush out, grab Batman by the collar and ask, what are you loitering around for?!!

If you're going to loiter, at least do so comprehensively? The space surrounding the body is only a square four meters radius, Batman loitered for a minute and only investigated two and a half square meters.

Because the body had fallen near the prison van, the space on the side closest to the van was a little narrow. But as long as you walk to the head of the corpse and turn back, you would definitely notice the footprint.

But this Batman just rubbed around like he was scrubbing a bath, constantly circulating in one spot, just like a polar bear with a stereotyped behavior in a zoo, just shaking its head back and forth in one spot.

Did he discover himself?

The Joker couldn't help but think so, but he wasn't very sure if this Batman had ever seen the Joker before, and even if he had, shouldn't he rush up even more angrily? What's with turning around and leaving?

Wait, Joker thought of another question, wasn't this footprint supposed to be a clue left behind by the Joker of this universe on purpose to mislead Batman? … It was on purpose, right?

After Batman left, the Joker climbed out of the prison van. Then he too acted like a polar bear with stereotyped behavior, starting to loiter on this side of the body.

The reason he was loitering was purely to find out why Batman was loitering.

After watching for a long time, Joker honestly couldn't find any clue worth Bruce Wayne's staring for a whole minute which greatly affected his confidence.

Although the Joker wasn't well-known for his detective skills, after fighting with Batman for so long, at least his counter-detection skills were not inferior to Batman's, as long as he didn't want Batman to find him, it would be hard for Batman to find him.

But Joker looked all around, up and down, this was just an ordinary murder prison break scene; he could replay the whole process in his mind clearly.

A prison van turned into the street, the headlights illuminated the bushes next to the houses on the street, and behind the bushes stood a dark figure holding a gaff.

The caution tape glowed under the illumination of the vehicle lights. The driver made a sudden brake, oblivious as to what was happening front, so he got off to check. The officer who was escorting the prisoner in the van also got down.

At that moment, a long-haired figure rushed over from one side of the prison van, ambushing the officer from behind. The gaff pierced the officer's chest causing him to collapse, his blood flowing all over the ground.

The figure straddled, both feet standing on either side of the cop's waist, started to search for keys on the body. While searching for the keys on the left side, it was realized that the keys were fixed to the waist. To yank the key, the figure squatted on the left side, leaving a deep indentation of the front half of the foot in the mud.

Then he stood up, opened the door of the prison van, said a few words to the prisoner inside, the prisoner came out, and the two left together.

The whole process of murder was mundane, just an ordinary hijacking case, and the trajectory of the two people's actions was clearly marked on the ground, Batman could deduce the whole process in less than three seconds.

To prevent any oversights, the Joker took a detailed look around the area again until the detectives handling the explosion returned, only then did he reluctantly leave.

There were two points that puzzled the Joker, or one might say, one point— Batman was not wearing his gear, and Batman was seen descending from mid-air.

For the sake of self-protection, Batman does not usually expose his true identity to others. Thus, appearing without his gear or mask is suspicious in itself.

The Joker knows Batman as an ordinary man whose abilities rely entirely on high-tech equipment. But no ordinary man could fall from a building rooftop in casual clothes and remain unscathed.

The Joker carefully recalled. He saw Batman retract his hand, but there was no visible grappling hook being retracted into his wrist gear. So, what did he use?

The Joker moved with the flow of people to a side street, then feigned fear and hid in a thicket. He remembers Batman dropped right here.

A flicker of light from the policeman's flashlight lit up the Joker's eyes because he saw something shiny between the ground's slabs.

When no one was looking, he went over and touched it, only to find it was just a strand of spider silk- it looked like a normal spider's web when he held it.

The Joker furrowed his brows. This didn't seem like a coincidence, but he couldn't be sure whether this was unique to the Universe Batman. He needed more evidence.

Tracking Batman's movements is hard due to his agility, but the crime scene gave the Joker plenty of clues. He could entirely track this universe's Joker.

Walking towards the other side of the street, the Joker constructed an image in his head—a middle-aged man about 1.85 meters tall, not light in weight, which means not skinny, with slightly curled long hair. Judging by the texture of his hair, it hadn't been dyed for long, perhaps a few weeks. His gait was steady and even.

The Joker estimated to himself. Although not a brilliant detective like Batman, who could deduce someone's occupation and education level from a single footprint, he knew this man would be stronger than him, though certainly not as experienced as the Joker himself.

The Joker was sure the other universe's Joker had left in this direction. He was about to search for more footprints when he noticed a very apparent pool of shattered glass beside his foot.

The Joker didn't even have to look closely. A picture instantly formed in his mind— Joker comes over, suddenly turns and knocks out the person behind, smashes the car window, breaks the door lock, throws the person into the car and drives away.

The Joker fell silent.

Firstly, this is a wealthy area. The cheapest car parked on the side of the road costs tens of thousands of U.S. dollars, and they're all legitimate, brand-new cars, not second-hand black cars commonly seen in slums.

Robbing a car and taking flight from here. Do you really believe that they don't have the money, the time, or the interest to come after you?

One of the main reasons the Joker has remained successful in Gotham is because he knew his limits. He will absolutely avoid provoking anyone outside of the slums in his free time, not to make unnecessary trouble for himself.

Although he does indeed subsist by robbery and theft, occasionally engaging in underhanded deals, he always targets the weak. This is merely a means to meet his basic living needs rather than his magnum opus, so there's no need for additional difficulties.

Breaking into a wealthy area to steal a car, even among the devils in Gotham, would count as a high-difficulty, five-star quest.

Because you not only have to deal with the rich, but also the highly trained armed security they can afford, elite lawyers, the extremely self-disciplined and fair juries, even world-renowned elite assassins.

For the madmen of Gotham, while these people aren't insurmountable, if you have time to deal with them, why not just go straight after Bruce Wayne?

Standing in place, the Joker gaped for a moment before briskly crossing the street. He even went 200 meters out of his way to his destination to avoid any wealthy people who might find their car missing or patrolling security who may believe his actions have to do with the car thief.

Then the Joker glanced at his watch. Judging from where the glass was scattered and the moistness of the ground's water stains, the car had probably been gone for about an hour. He didn't need to search the streets for the Joker. He could just go directly to the police station to find the car.

However, to the Joker's complete surprise, what he found at the police station wasn't just the car, but also the thief himself.

The Joker was caught.

New City was a bit large; the Joker couldn't locate the original Gotham Police Department, so he ended up at the nearest police station, which appeared to specifically serve this wealthy area.

Sure enough, even before entering, he heard the pure American accent of someone angrily scolding the security guards for negligent safety, which led to his own car being stolen.

The chief of police was explaining, with sweat pouring down, that they found the stolen car within an hour. Despite having anticipated this outcome beforehand, the Joker still sighed internally.

The next second, he heard the chief say the thief had also been apprehended.

Smart kid, the Joker thought to himself. No wonder he dares to steal cars from wealthy areas. He must have lined up a buyer early, definitely contacted a car thief in advance. After transporting the goods, he gave the car to the thief, letting the thief take the blame.

The chief's following words were like a dagger shot into the Joker's heart.

"The fellow might be one of those drugged-up devils slithering out from some slum, dyed his hair green, treated your car window like a drum and shattered it. We've been prepared for this..."

After hearing this, the Joker quickly rounded to the back of the police station, climbed up a drainpipe onto the station's second-floor balcony. He did not enter. From the corner of the balcony, he saw a burly figure with green hair, sitting in the interrogation chair, being interrogated.