Chapter 12: What Creature Can Cling to Walls?
“How could this happen?”
“Obviously, someone made numerous copies of the ledger and scattered them all over Gotham’s streets and alleys,” Falcone said, suppressing his fury. “Call back everyone searching for the ledger and have someone alter our accounts—quickly! Our secrets have been completely exposed.”
“Boss, it’s not our secrets, it’s your secrets that have been exposed,” the Riddler corrected.
“Maybe it’s that ‘Holiday Killer.’ Hasn’t he been causing trouble for the Falcone family all along?” Falcone’s nephew, Johnny Vitti, reminded him. “Several of our family and friends have already died at his hands.”
“It must be him...” Falcone nodded. “Ever since his last murder, I’ve been gathering information on him. I have a suspicion about his true identity.”
“Who?”
“District Attorney Harvey Dent,” Falcone said confidently.
The room fell silent, filled with villains and Falcone’s trusted men. Even the Mad Hatter was looking at Falcone as if he were crazy.
“With all due respect, boss, that’s impossible,” Poison Ivy said. “I’ve dealt with Harvey Dent. He’s a very rigid man. How could he use such methods against you?”
“Yeah, saying it’s Batman makes more sense than Harvey Dent,” another chimed in.
“It can’t be Batman; he never kills,” someone else said.
“Are you sure? The Mad Hatter’s condition now should be his doing, right?”
Everyone glanced at the Mad Hatter lying in the hospital bed and suddenly found Batman’s no-kill principle less believable.
“Whoever he is, I will deal with him!” Falcone said, looking at several supervillains in the room. “If any of you can find the Holiday Killer and bring him to me, I’ll increase the promised reward by ten percent!”
“Got it. I’m on it,” Poison Ivy whistled, and the plants around her began to move as if transmitting a message.
“To catch the Holiday Killer, we’ll have to wait until he strikes again,” Johnny pondered. “What’s the next holiday coming up?”
“I am an animal; I can stick to the wall. What am I?” the Riddler suddenly asked.
“A gecko?” Johnny thought for a moment. “Is there a gecko festival?”
“The answer is a seal,” the Riddler said, twirling his cane. “March 1st is International Seal Day.”
“You even know that?” Johnny asked in surprise.
“Of course. I’m the smartest man in the world.”
Johnny fell silent. Since they were now on the same side, he restrained himself from making a sarcastic remark.
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“Then use that brilliant mind of yours to help us find the Holiday Killer,” Falcone said.
“Before our meeting today, I set a trap at Gotham Zoo. Once the Holiday Killer shows up, we’ll catch him,” the Riddler said confidently.
Seeing his confidence, Falcone felt a bit uneasy. He had spent a fortune hiring this guy—would it really be effective?
February 27th.
Gotham Zoo announced a series of celebrations to mark International Seal Day.
The zoo went all out with decorations—animal-shaped balloons, colorful floats parading through the streets, countless fireworks and ribbons—making the whole city aware of the event.
“Do people really celebrate this?” Jason doubted.
“Nowadays, merchants seize every chance to make money. Celebrating every holiday is standard practice. Soon, they might even create holidays based on puns,” Roland said, finding nothing strange in it.
“This much publicity is over the top...” Jason still felt something was off. “How much must they be spending? Will Gotham Zoo even break even?”
“That’s not our concern,” Roland replied. “This is an opportunity for us to make money. We need to prepare well.”
“Right. We can sell drinks, snacks, and souvenirs to the zoo visitors,” Jason was already familiar with the plan. “But before, we had to cooperate with gangs to sell these, and we had to give a large share of the profits to them.”
“That’s a problem...” Roland thought. It hurt to think his men’s hard-earned money was going to gangs, but if they didn’t pay protection fees, they’d be targeted.
Rubbing his temples, Roland checked his goodwill points.
[Current goodwill: 968]
After these days of treating his men and doing some good deeds, he had accumulated a respectable amount of goodwill.
“All right, is there anywhere nearby to donate blood? I’ll go first and then we can talk,” Roland decided to do a ten-draw lottery to see if he could get any useful ability.
“The Sinai Medical Center, you know that, right?”
“I mean donating blood voluntarily,” Roland said.
“Donating blood? For free?” Jason thought for a moment. “Thomas Wayne Memorial Clinic has that program.”
“Okay, I’m going now.”
Since the Falcone family had abandoned their search for the ledger and shifted focus to forging accounts, the streets of Gotham had become somewhat calmer. Of course, robberies, assaults, and thefts still happened, so Roland still needed to release the Kamaitachi to find safer routes.
[Goodwill +70]
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After donating 400cc of blood, Roland only gained 70 goodwill points. He suspected the doctors had taken a part of his blood for themselves.
Before leaving the hospital, Roland found a secluded spot and began his ten-draw lottery.
[A beautifully bound Bible]
[A handwritten Bible]
[A slightly damaged Bible]
[A musty-smelling Bible]
[A pure silver cross]
[A pure gold cross]
[An iron crown of thorns]
[30 Thiel silver coins]
[A replica copper Ark of the Covenant]
Roland stared at the pile of ordinary items and felt his temples throb.
Was he really that unlucky? Except for the gold cross, which had some value, what were the rest?
“One last try. If this doesn’t work... I’ll have to think of something else,” Roland gritted his teeth and spun the wheel one last time.
Finally, the pointer landed on a glowing square.
[Yamamine Kirie’s Martial Art: Bajiquan]
Various martial arts techniques flooded Roland’s mind, causing a brief daze. After a moment, he came back to himself.
He walked to a remote spot and struck a golden Vajra-style hammer punch at a roadside London plane tree, breaking its thick trunk in half.
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