Gotham Singularity (13): The Great Arkham Escape...

Communicating with intelligent people always saves you from unnecessary explanations. Within the anti-eavesdropping barrier set up by Xu Fu, Holmes bluntly stated: "The autopsy report, the crime scene investigation, and the whereabouts of Bruce Wayne."

Very professional.

This was reasonable and necessary intelligence for anyone hoping to investigate the case. But perhaps because the deceased was named Bruce Wayne, Tim couldn't help but feel a little dazed.

Should he agree?

In terms of strength, he and Nightwing were no match for the other side; in terms of intelligence, what he and B had gathered was far less than what that girl had gathered; and in terms of emotions, he genuinely wanted to find the murderer who killed B.

From any perspective, agreeing is far better than refusing. But what exactly is the source of his inner resistance?

But reason ultimately prevailed over inexplicable emotion. Despite Nightwing's bewilderment and attempts to stop him, Tim nodded gently, saying he would send them the compiled information, but they needed a proper way to contact him.

"No, we can't...!"

"This may be the only way we can find the killer."

Nightwing took a step back under Robin's unwavering gaze and refrained from uttering any more words of refusal.

Then, Robin took a step forward towards Fujimaru Ritsuka, and Jason instinctively blocked Ritsuka's path. But Tim ignored him and slowly spoke:

“In exchange,” he said in a hoarse voice, looking at the orange-haired girl with sincere eyes, “we want to know what this girl said to Matchstick Marlon at the bar yesterday.”

Fujimaru Ritsuka seemed to realize something, letting out a simple whisper. She opened her mouth and asked with difficulty, "Am I the last person to see him?"

Surprisingly, Tim shook his head and murmured regretfully that the last person to see Bruce Wayne was probably the murderer, and the second to last was himself.

He last saw Bruce at a Wayne Enterprises board meeting. At the end of the meeting, he stayed to continue reviewing reports, while Bruce was supposed to return to the estate first.

But even after he finished working overtime, with only a small amount of blood detectable in his coffee, and lay dead on the sofa in the manor, Bruce still hadn't returned.

"Batman is actually a patient and gentle person. He will remember the names of homeless people and chat with them, he will make a special passage for Barbara who doesn't come often, and he will pray for his old friend Two-Face to recover his health."

Tim recalled, "So I thought he had done another good deed."

“We couldn’t find him on the surveillance footage, including the hidden surveillance cameras that only we knew about,” Dick continued. “I rushed back to help, but all I found was… his body.”

After retrieving the computer, they inadvertently mentioned a suspicious detail: the surveillance cameras weren't destroyed all at once. The more conspicuous ones were smashed temporarily, while the hidden cameras had been damaged much earlier.

Jason froze upon hearing this. He tried to maintain his composure, but the tight grip on his gun betrayed his thoughts.

He sabotaged the hidden surveillance cameras on his territory. He had planned to install a version undetected by Batman in a few days, but…

Fujimaru Ritsuka instantly sensed Jason's unusual mood. Seeing that Robin had said everything she needed to say, she subtly shifted the topic to the bar. Jason gave her an awkward look, his eyes filled with slight gratitude.

Batman didn't tell his adopted sons everything about his experience at the bar; Robin, however, noticed two nonsensical clues he had written down on a piece of paper.

Just as Fujimaru Ritsuka was about to explain, Nightwing suddenly grabbed Robin with a loud thud. Although she couldn't see his face clearly, Fujimaru Ritsuka could easily imagine how ugly the expression on his face must be.

He said, word by word, "The oracle says that Arkham has revolted."

Damn it! Everything's happening all at once! Robin looked up abruptly, unusually agitated, and asked, "How many people have escaped?"

"all."

The oracle's voice traveled through the cold current to their ears.

"Oh, all of them? Then... all of them!!" Nightwing suddenly realized, his voice rising in surprise.

God knows how many supervillains are hiding in Arkham. Every single one of them is a troublemaker, a master of chemistry, physics, biology, law... it's impossible to guard against them all! Just the Joker's escape alone would keep them busy for a while, let alone all of them!

“You know…” the Oracle paused, “B, somehow the Joker found out about his death.”

It goes without saying that they fully understand who started this trouble, and that the riots certainly didn't just begin!

because--

A heavy object crashed into the pond behind them.

Everyone turned around and instinctively gripped their weapons tightly.

A burly man, as wide as two people, stood brazenly by the streetlight. The incandescent light shone down on him without reservation, illuminating his gray skin, scaly appearance, and sharp teeth in his mouth.

Escaped prisoners from Arkham have been openly spotted on the streets of the city.

In the tense atmosphere, Fujimaru Ritsuka's crisp retorts seemed particularly abrupt.

"Wow, is this some kind of goblin variant?" She blinked curiously. "I thought that prison was for humans only?"

"No, what are you thinking? This is a human, Killer Croc." Jason looked at Fujimaru Ritsuka's carefree attitude with a complicated expression, feeling that his concern just now had been wasted.

He twitched his lips, composed himself, and drew his gun, aiming it at Killer Crocodile. But Xu Fu was faster than his gun; her face contorted in disbelief, she cried out, "Aaaaaah! What is this thing?! It's hideous!"

She chanted rapidly: "Block movement, add a talisman to suppress strange phenomena and a detonating talisman! Blow them all away!"

With a deafening roar, like the simultaneous detonation of dozens of firecrackers, the blinding flames instantly engulfed the unsuspecting killer crocodile, sending him flying and slamming him against the wall.

The aftershocks of the explosion lifted Fujimaru Ritsuka's orange hair and drifted past.

Silence, silence is Gotham tonight.

Dick, still dressed as Batman, was still throwing darts when he watched the once imposing Killer Croc fall from the wall to the ground like a lump of mud, a sharp tooth falling from his mouth.

He stared in disbelief, and instinctively asked, "...Is he still alive?"

That single gesture was almost as powerful as a real bomb! The Killer Croc's muscles and teeth are like they're made of paper! Are all the magic users this outrageous?!

Red Hood rolled his eyes and said disdainfully, "At a time like this, you're still worried about this?"

Ritsuka stroked her chin: "Xu Fuqin knew what he was doing, he should be alive..." She glanced at the killer crocodile that hadn't caught its breath and was now twitching, and suddenly became uncertain, "Probably."

Robin calmly walked to the wall to examine the body... no, to check its breathing; the faint rise and fall of its chest proved that Killer Croc was still alive.

He breathed a sigh of relief, had the Oracle mark the location, and then prepared to split up with Nightwing to find the other escaped prisoners. He was too busy today to send them all back to Arkham one by one.

"Do you need any help?" Fujimaru Ritsuka asked.

Nightwing had to admit it was an appealing offer, but he was genuinely afraid that the little guy would blow up all the criminals who were still human at once.

“Actually, I think…” But before he could finish speaking, he suddenly felt his waist being tightly wrapped by thick vines, and he was thrown into the air.

Nightwing: "...?"

Robin: "...!"

Without a second thought, Robin immediately threw a miniature bomb to sever the vines binding Nightwing. Nightwing instantly fell into freefall, but he didn't panic. Instead, he calmly used the vines as a foothold to shift his weight and landed steadily on the ground.

But this seemed to anger the nearby plants; vines sprouted from the ground, and the flowers and grasses mutated. They surged up from all sides, blocking Robin and leaving him no way out.

"Watch out!" Nightwing's pupils contracted slightly.

Suddenly, a bright light struck Robin's shoulder, and he felt his body fly uncontrollably upwards before being quickly pulled back to the ground by gravity, landing next to Holmes.

Nightwing immediately rushed over to check on Robin's safety, "Are you alright!"

Robin shook his head; no plants were harming him. This feeling of being out of control seemed familiar, and he couldn't help but look at Fujimaru Ritsuka. "Thank you."

As she lowered her hand, Fujimaru Ritsuka's gaze met Tim's. She winked at him and said, "I think you guys still need some help, don't you?"

Nightwing didn't refute it further, tacitly agreeing. His and Robin's gazes towards Chaldea also held a newfound sincerity and trust.

So, Ritsuka pointed to the vines poised to sprout on the ground and asked, "Could you tell me who caused this?"

“Poison Ivy can communicate with and manipulate plants,” Robin said succinctly. He and Nightwing exchanged a glance, then he threw down a batarang, blasting a path with pinpoint accuracy.

Playing hide-and-seek with vines in a narrow space is practically a death sentence. The two shot their grappling hooks at the rooftop and turned back to ask Ritsuka and the others if they needed help, only to find four gusts of wind suddenly swirling past them.

The consultant in the long trench coat carried the orange-haired girl and lightly leaped upwards. He quickly grabbed the railing with one hand, flipped over, and brought the girl to the rooftop.

The red-hooded figure, who was using technology to climb in mid-air, was forcibly lifted onto the rooftop by the back of his collar by another petite figure. The red-hooded figure's angry cursing voice echoed through the sky.

He even deliberately lowered his head and mocked Nightwing and Robin, who hadn't come up yet, asking if they wanted to get intimate with the vines left by Poison Ivy and why they weren't coming up.

Nightwing rolled his eyes. He found it unbelievable that he felt so relaxed at this moment; was he a masochist? By the time he and Robin had quickly climbed onto the rooftop, the people up there had already started discussing Poison Ivy.

This is also an exceptionally troublesome criminal, the host and agent of the Green of All Beings. He is almost immune to all toxins, including clown laughing gas and fear gas, while his own psychotoxins can control humans.

"In short, humanoid, immune to poison, but possesses the ability to control and control the poison," Holmes concluded. "Doesn't seem too troublesome, Miss Ritsuka?"

“I’m fine!” Fujimaru Ritsuka nodded, but then, as if remembering something, she added with a hint of unease, “...as long as it’s not a poison of the level of Immortal Decay Nether Vein.”

She didn't want to go through that experience again where she couldn't even use her Mystic Code skills!

"Don't underestimate her toxins." Robin didn't understand what kind of poison Ritsuka was talking about, but that didn't stop him from emphasizing it. He was worried that the people in front of him would rush in recklessly. "Even Superman was poisoned by her, his mind was controlled, and he fought B twice!"

"Are you sure everything's alright?" Jason was also uneasy, gesturing for Holmes to ask. He had long considered Ritsuka a friend, and although he knew she was very capable, he didn't want her to fall into a trap due to letting her guard down.

Holmes gave him a reassuring look. Other things might go wrong, but Miss Ritsuka's poison resistance was simply beast-level.

Jason couldn't help but look Ritsuka up and down, comparing her to Superman as if he were seeing her for the first time, and then he couldn't help but sigh that the savior had something special about him.

But he suddenly paused, turned to Nightwing who was still looking down at Gotham, and asked, "Why don't you let the Justice League get involved? With just the two of you, you probably wouldn't be able to handle this damn prison break even in days and nights."

"..." Nightwing paused completely, as if he were solving the most difficult calculus problem in the world, and didn't say a word for a long time.

After a long pause, he seemed to suddenly realize something and said, "I almost forgot, Superman and the others went to another planet to deal with an emergency!"