Chapter 20 : Encounter
70 0 2
X
Reading Options
Font Size
A- 15px A+
Width
Reset
X
Table of Contents
Loading... please wait.

Edward Nygma.

Also known as the Riddler, he was another criminal active in Gotham City.

This guy possessed genius-level intelligence; since childhood, he was obsessed with all kinds of decryption games. There was no puzzle in the world he couldn't solve, and he claimed to be the smartest person alive.

To prove himself smarter than Batman, he frequently set up complex puzzles, using various methods to force Batman to solve them.

The typical process started with him taunting Batman freely, declaring victory prematurely, then as Batman gradually unravelled the puzzles, he became increasingly annoyed. 

Finally, due to Batman solving his riddles, he becomes extremely furious and refuses to accept reality.

What was interesting was that whenever he reappeared, he selectively ignored his previous failures.

He continued to consider himself the smartest person in the world, believing his intellect surpassed Batman's. Even if his previous attempt failed, he attributed it to Batman using some trickery.

Repeatedly, he lashed out at Batman, metaphorically slapping him in the face.

He was an arrogant and narcissistic man, but he didn't cause much trouble for Batman, instead, his actions were particularly irritating, buzzing around like a fly near one's ear, causing annoyance.

For instance, in the current situation, if Batman was on his way to save Gordon and the Riddler intercepted him, the frustration and annoyance Batman must feel could be imagined.

"This Riddler... thinking he's the smartest by playing with us as if we were Batman, is he out of his mind? Batman has already passed."

Adrian turned to Bane and said, "Is this guy mentally challenged?"

Instead of being inside the island, he installed devices on the control system on the island through his henchmen. 

The Riddler realized he was overly excited just now and didn't even see the people on the screen, mistakenly thinking it was Batman trying to get through, making an error.

"Get lost!"

"So it's you, Bane, you idiot. My riddles weren't meant for you idiots. Batman has the right to let me have a bit of fun before his complete failure, but you don't even have that qualification." The Riddler's annoying voice continued to emanate from the broadcast.

Bane, wearing a mask, didn't show any facial expression.

However, the two henchmen directly cursed, regardless of whether the Riddler could hear them.

The Riddler couldn't hear them cursing, but that didn't stop him from continuing to mock Bane.

"This fool is so annoying, open the door," Adrian said to Bane's henchmen.

"How do we open it?"

The man paused for a moment and asked, "The Riddler hasn't given any clues for us to stay. We need to find clues first; otherwise, how do we open the door?"

For Adrian, Bane's men were impossible to treat respectfully, their tone rather impatient.

"No wonder this fool dares to call himself the smartest person; your existence indeed gives him a great sense of superiority. The collective intelligence of Gotham City has been lowered by you." Adrian said, "Open it, did you bring a rocket launcher?"

"Uh..."

The two henchmen looked ashamed, feeling that their presence indeed lowered the collective intelligence of Gotham City.

Batman followed the clues left by the Riddler, as he often faced constraints and had to do so. But for Adrian and the others, there was no such limitation.

Encountering a closed door and needing to solve a riddle based on the Riddler's clues to find the correct password?

Only fools would attempt such a thing; blowing it up directly would suffice, wouldn't it?

Adrian and Bane stepped back, and the two henchmen fired the rocket launcher. Two loud bangs echoed through the island.

Although the door wasn't completely blown open, the locking mechanism and circuits were completely damaged. Adrian and the others could only hear the Riddler's abruptly angry roar, "What are you doing, you bunch of barbaric monke—"

Then, the world fell silent.

Bane stepped forward, and pushed the door open to both sides, creating a path for them to pass through.

"Next time I see him, I'm going to stuff that guy's head into the toilet." Bane walked beside Adrian, speaking in a deep voice. Clearly, he was also angry.

"Before you do that, I suggest you use the restroom first," Adrian suggested maliciously.

Soon, they arrived at the outside of a building, where several unconscious individuals lay, along with two huge, muscular men.

These two men were somewhat deformed, with extremely robust upper bodies, nearly matching Bane after being injected with the Titan drug.

But their lower bodies were only slightly bulkier than an average person.

Some bone growth pierced through their flesh and skin, especially in the shoulder area, looking like extra bone spikes.

"I didn't expect this kind of effect." Bane approached the two men, squatting down, and examining them carefully.

This should be the genuine "clinical trial" of Titan drug Type 2's berserk effect.

Although these two men were lying on the ground, they were different from the others who were unconscious; these two were actually already dead, just recently so, their bodies were not yet cold.

Moreover, they had quite a few injuries, some bones were already shattered, obviously beaten by Batman.

It's unclear how he managed to deal with these two humanoid monsters.

After conducting a basic examination, Bane took out tools and collected some blood, bone marrow, and other samples from the two bodies, placing them in the refrigerated box he brought.

"Let's continue; another dose of the drug has been used," Adrian said.

The group proceeded towards the location where the remaining vials were stored.

Batman was in front chasing Joker, dealing with criminals, and battling the Titan monsters. Adrian and the others were following behind, perfectly timed, essentially allowing Batman to clear a path for Adrian and his team.

Occasionally, a few isolated criminals with impaired judgment were directly pinned to the ground or against a wall by Bane.

Their fate was worse than facing Batman; at least Batman wouldn't kill them.

Bane didn't have the slightest restraint.

After a few hours, most of the doses sold to Joker had been used, with only two left, moving continuously in the same location, probably carried by the Joker.

Meanwhile, Adrian and Bane were navigating through the underground area of the suppression center towards the complex sewer area of the island.

Still in the long passage of the suppression center, Adrian and the others heard an enraged shout, "Impossible, this is a dosage five times that of a normal person, you monster!"

Then it went quiet.

Everyone's footsteps stopped.

Adrian looked at Bane, "Do you recognize that?"

"It should be Scarecrow," Bane said, "He's also in Arkham Asylum."

"Fear gas?" Adrian's eyes lit up. "Interesting, let's go take a look later."

"Later?" Bane was somewhat puzzled.

"If it's Scarecrow, he must have said that to Batman. I don't want to encounter Batman so soon," Adrian said.

After a brief silence, Bane chose to continue studying the drug instead of engaging in a fight with Batman.

The group entered a room resembling a storage area and waited for a few minutes.

When it was completely quiet on that side, footsteps faded away, finally followed by a faint sound of the door closing.

Adrian and his team ventured out again, heading toward the direction of the sound, and soon, they saw a peculiarly dressed fellow lying unconscious on the ground.

It was indeed the Scarecrow, as Bane had mentioned earlier.

The Scarecrow was, of course, not an actual scarecrow but a man named Jonathan Crane. 

He was originally a university psychology professor with a high level of expertise in chemistry. 

Throughout his life, he devoted himself to studying people's deepest fears, and with exceptional talent, he developed a "fear gas" that makes individuals see their worst fears. 

Later, he transformed into the "Scarecrow," deriving pleasure from spreading fear and tormenting opponents psychologically to death.

Because he frequently used fear gas, he wore a peculiar gas mask, his head wrapped in tattered burlap, and a hood covering it, giving him a half-human, half-ghostly appearance.

The Scarecrow had various bottles and containers tied to his body, all containing his "fear gas."

The so-called gas was a generic term; besides gas form, it was also stored in liquid form. It could even be applied to weapons like darts or contained in capsules.

On the Scarecrow's hand were five syringes used to inject liquid fear gas.

Apparently, just now, he used fear gas on Batman, but the effect didn't work as well as he imagined, and instead, Batman knocked him unconscious.

When he wakes up, the riot in Arkham Asylum is likely to have been suppressed, and he'll have to return to his cell.

Adrian squatted down, searching the Scarecrow's body and completely dismantling his fear gas, attaching it to his own body.

He didn't even spare the strange hood, taking it off and putting it on. Now, Adrian, at first glance, looked very much like the Scarecrow.

"What are you doing?" Bane asked.

"Just in case we encounter Batman, what would happen?" Adrian said, "I'm just an innocent citizen of Gotham City."

"..." Bane was speechless for a moment. "Do you think this crude disguise can fool him?"

Adrian waved his hand and said, "Just in case. If you encounter him, you go and fight; I'll release some gas or something from behind. At that time, when Batman is busy fighting you, he definitely won't immediately notice my true identity. He might even think I'm the Scarecrow for real and blame him. Let's go, let's find Killer Croc."

Adrian and his team ventured into the sewers to find Killer Croc.

As for why they were looking for him, naturally, they saw this mutant creature as an experimental subject for the Titan drug.

Killer Croc's body mutation made him akin to a humanoid crocodile, incredibly resilient, making him an excellent candidate for drug experimentation.

"Boom!"

As they were talking, there was another sound, dull and heavy, seemingly coming from beneath everyone's feet.

"No wonder we encountered Batman; turns out, our targets are the same," Adrian chuckled. "Looks like you won't need to get involved later."

Obviously, this was the commotion caused by Batman's "battle" with Killer Croc.

But speaking of it, Adrian was quite looking forward to the fight between Killer Croc and Bane, two humanoid monsters; that would definitely be exciting.

Although they've been scavenging, appearing as a scavenging team, their actual combat prowess is quite strong, you know?

______________

Read extra chapter ahead!

patreon.com/SkyImmortal 

2