Chapter 111 Is This Batman? (Part 3)_1

"Alright, Miss Zatanna, you should take a break now." Victor stepped forward, adjusted his glasses, and motioned to the students still fine-tuning the equipment, "There should be some vacant student dorms. Escort her to rest, she can't continue to keep pushing herself."

After speaking, Victor turned to Batman and said, "Remember the second piece of information I mentioned? The problem with the rainwater and the drinking water are not the same."

"Most of Gotham's drinking water comes from groundwater. The city's more than 50 water purification plants and seven biggest water companies are essentially ineffective, making Gotham's drinking water condition not much better than that of the middle ages."

"In the groundwater source, I detected over 70 hallucinogenic components. The quantity is not large, but the proportion is accurate, indicating someone poisoned the water manually."

Victor sighed, "These hallucinogenic components could very likely be the main cause of the madness that has gripped citizens. However, according to the clue Jason brought, the poison in the water may have a chronic effect."

"Someone has been poisoning Gotham's water source for a long time, this toxin, initially, would probably only cause mild hallucinations. In a city like Gotham, slight dazedness isn't a big deal. Many people may not go to the hospital at all, and even if they did, they wouldn't go to a mental health department."

"However, the poison continuously accumulates in the body and cannot be metabolized. Once it reaches a certain threshold, it is triggered and stimulated by the mysterious substance in the rainwater, causing citizens to go mad."

"At the same time, many of Gotham's plants rely on the groundwater system, therefore exhibiting madness as well... but I don't understand botany very well."

"You mean someone has been pouring slow-acting poison into Gotham's groundwater. Meanwhile, the reaction between Gotham's rainwater and the metal magic stimulates the poison, causing citizens to go mad?" Batman summarised concisely, and Victor nodded in agreement.

Victor put the documents he was holding back on the test bench and said, "That is to say, this incident was inevitable. If it didn't explode today, it would happen tomorrow. As for what's going on with all this broccoli and the random vines, I have no idea."

But Batman knew very well, All Things Green, the collective consciousness of all plants, would definitely notice when the plants were poisoned and went mad. Then, All Things Green would be drawn here, and that's why there was broccoli everywhere in the city once Constantine discovered it.

Just as he was pondering, Batman's communicator suddenly rang. He picked up the communicator and said, "... Lex? What? You've found the source of the toxin's spread? Okay, I got it, I'll head there right now."

After ending the call, Batman looked at Victor and said, "Lex has performed a broad spectrum sampling and has located the origin of the poison through his calculations. I'll pay a visit first, take a look at his analysis report, and in the meantime, contact Gordon to prepare for an arrest."

"Go ahead." Victor glanced at Batman and said, "I've provided the police station with a batch of freeze weapons to cope with all kinds of arrest operations. Additionally, Cobblepot has also told me he feels something is off so he has organized personnel around the East District. I'll let him know to be vigilant."

After Batman left, Victor looked at his retreating figure and shook his head, then revealed a smile, saying, "Your treatment has been remarkably effective. In the past, he wouldn't have shown his face throughout the whole incident."

Soon, Batman arrived at another laboratory on the other side of the research building. Lex was sorting out a pile of experimental data. A map of Gotham City hung on the wall with many places marked on it.

Seeing Batman and Clark arrive together, Lex confronted them with a cold hum, showcasing a mocking smile. However, he quickly realized it wasn't the right time to mock and walked up to the map, pointing to it and saying, "Cobblepot sent the leader of the Children's Gang to sample over 160 locations in Gotham. I analysed the concentration of the samples."

"The conclusion is that the concentration demonstrated a ring stairs-like spread, high in the east, low in the west, high in the south, low in the north. In other words, the source of the toxin spread is located in the East District or South District."

"Subsequently, we performed a secondary, meticulous sampling." Lex pointed to the locations on the map, "120 locations in the East District, forming 60 lines. We repeatedly sampled the regions where the focal points were the most densely distributed and advanced towards the center in a circular motion, and eventually pinpointed a location with the highest likelihood."

Batman squinted his eyes glancing first at Lex. Lex's condition wasn't great. He had previously fallen into the cold liquid and contracted the Joker virus.

However, perhaps because he wasn't a native Gothamite, the Joker virus gradually receded. But the freezing liquid developed by Victor, which had replaced his blood, gave him Mr. Freeze's abilities but also caused his skin to flash blue under the light.

Despite this, the dark circles under his eyes were still very noticeable. Batman knew Lex didn't have a base in Gotham, and thus didn't have a supercomputer. All the conclusions were calculated by him manually.

Batman directly took out his communication device and said into the other end, "Hello? Gordon? Number 3 of the back Alley on Green Street at Hell's Edge. Arrest the poisoner alive."

Lex widened his eyes and looked at Batman, "You aren't going to recalculate it? Aren't you supposed to return to your Batcave now, fire up your advanced supercomputer, run all the data again to marvel at the accuracy of my conclusion?"

"He trusts your conclusion, and yet you're angry?" Clark leaned back and looked at Lex somewhat puzzled, "Although I don't exactly understand how you pinpointed the location, your data seems reliable. Isn't it normal for us to use it directly?"

Lex was tight-lipped, his face as though he had swallowed a fly. However, Clark then turned to Batman and said, "But he's right, we should verify. What if we caught the wrong person and wronged an innocent person?"

"Why would you think we'd get the wrong person in Gotham?" Batman countered. Clark choked for a moment and then said, "Uh, although judging by the security situation here, the probability of catching the wrong person is indeed low, but you can't say it's impossible, right?"

Batman's blue eyes emitted a faint glow, and he said, "For certain reasons, my soul strength has reached its peak, as has my intellectual capacity. The moment he announced his conclusion, I had already completed all the calculations. The results were accurate without doubt."

Just as Lex was about to retort, Batman looked at him and said, "The precision of your data astounds me."

Lex was momentarily taken aback. He glanced away, but he then saw Batman staring at the map of Gotham, his expression darkening. "The poisoner isn't the key," Batman said. "Someone must be pulling strings behind him. This case isn't as simple as it seems."

"How do you know?" Lex stepped over to Batman's side, standing shoulder-to-shoulder with him. He gave it some thought. "Don't you know how many crazies there are in Gotham? Maybe someone suddenly wanted to destroy Gotham..."

"Indeed. But there are not many people who can accurately pinpoint the source of Gotham's water supply and rainwater as lethal. Acting within a limited time frame to allow widespread diffusion of the toxin and choosing just the right moment for it to brew cannot be accomplished by just anyone."

"I need to get to Green Street." Batman prepared to leave the lab. Before leaving, he looked back. "Clark, take Lex to the Batcave."

"I have already unlocked the usage rights for all the surveillance devices. Lex, you need to keep an eye on every change in Gotham City. Clark, guard the Batcave and don't let anyone in."

With that, Batman's figure vanished into the corridor. His leaving silhouette, more stern and chilly than before, left Lex and Clark exchanging surprised looks they couldn't quite conceal.

Lex cleared his throat. "You should fill me in on what has been happening. Hell, I've been tied up getting a paper published and suddenly..."

As Batman, who was just leaving the lab, tried to contact Alfred to send a helicopter, the Batplane appeared on the horizon. It landed on the roof of a building, and Hal stepped out of it.

Eyeing Batman, Hal said, "Your butler reached out to me. He said you could use a professional combat pilot. Luckily, I was available. At triple the holiday wage. You're welcome."

Batman was the first aboard the Batplane, closely followed by Hal. Just as the door had closed, Batman glanced in Hal's direction. "You're endowed with superpowers, aren't you?"

Hal was taken aback by the question but nodded in confirmation. "Green lantern energy. I guess that counts as a superpower, right?"

"I have a superpower too. Do you know what it is?"

"What is it?"

"I'm filthy rich."

Batman leaned back against his seat, looked straight ahead and said, "Triple your wage, and... thank you."

With a start from Hal, the Batplane zoomed over clusters of gigantic broccoli. In just a few minutes, it had landed on the roof of another large building.

The shadowy figure descended with a leap. The light from the police sirens bathed his cape in a dazzling neon glow. Gordon was just putting away his gun when he saw Batman appear from the shadows.

Just as Gordon was about to speak, he saw Batman walk straight out of the shadows. Surprised, Gordon nevertheless said, "The suspect should be in the house up ahead. We're drafting an assault plan to prevent a violent confrontation that may result in casualties..."

"There's no need. I will go in alone. I already have some suspicions." Batman shook his head, and under Gordon's watchful gaze, disappeared over the wall into a back alley.

Walking through a damp yard filled with rainwater, Batman pushed open a rusty door. Inside the dimly lit room sat a figure. Batman stood at the door, observing the figure before finally speaking.

"Professor Crane, it's been a long time."

Sitting at the dining table was none other than Jonathan Crane, the future Scarecrow. A renowned psychologist, expert on mental illness, chemist, and former psychology professor at Gotham University.

Jonathan was pouring himself a glass of water, maintaining a surprisingly calm demeanor, as if oblivious to Batman's presence. Taking a sip from his glass, he said, "It appears Shiller's treatment of you was quite successful. Otherwise, you wouldn't even give me a chance to speak."

"However, I still firmly believe that I am as good as him. Your situation is quite unique within the realm of psychology, and if it were up to me, I would achieve no lesser success than him," Jonathan continued, bowing his head as he spoke.

"I came here alone to ask you a question," Batman's deep voice echoed throughout the room. "You are a world-renowned psychologist, and perhaps, only you can answer my question."

Jonathan turned to look at Batman. His silhouette was backlit, making him appear even more elusive. Batman asked, "Why would a person, with no injuries whatsoever, with his brain functioning perfectly fine and in good health overall, fall into a comatose state?"

Jonathan jolted in surprise, his water splashing out of his cup. His fingertips began to tremble slightly.

Then, closing his eyes, he leaned back in his chair and exhaled. Looking up at the ceiling, he said:

"...It seems I've lost fairly."