Chapter 305: Three Detectives (VIII)

On the outskirts of Gotham, on the side of a hill that is not shown on any map, under a steep cliff, a carefully camouflaged iron gate is covered under the rocks.

After many scans and verifications, Batman walked along the metal bridge inside the gate. The pentagonal arch supported the entrance of the Batcave, and the long metal bridge passed through several arches and extended into the mountain.

There were lamps emitting cold light on the inside of the arch, shining blue light bands on the bridge. When Batman passed through the lights under these arches, the cold light flowed down along his cape.

After walking across the metal bridge, there is a lifting platform, and when the lifting platform descends to the bottom, it can be found that this place is not yet completed.

Opposite the lifting platform is a huge cylindrical space, divided into several floors, and at this time, only the bottom floor and half of the second floor have been built. On the outside of each floor, there is a corridor extending from the wall, and there are several doors on the corridor.

It is not difficult to see that this tower-like structure seems to be designed by Batman based on a building that only exists in dreams. When standing at the bottom of the tower and looking up, the layers of floors will bring people endless oppression.

At this time, this is still a real underground base, and there are no strange collections, but when Batman walked out of the elevator, came to the corridor on the second floor, and opened one of the doors, countless monitoring screens appeared in the room.

Each screen there represents every corner of Gotham, but only two-thirds of all the monitoring screens in this room are lit, and the rest are black screens.

This fully proves the endless desire and destructive power of Gotham people for new things. These black screens mean that the cameras fixed somewhere are broken.

Batman has been a little busy recently, so he hasn't had time to repair the camera, but even two-thirds of the screens monitor most of Gotham's buildings.

Batman squinted his eyes and started.

Just about ten minutes ago, he received the news from Jason that Dick was kidnapped. Batman had to admit that he felt his heart tremble when he heard the news.

Batman could also feel that finding a nanny for Aisha was not the only reason for him to adopt Dick, nor was finding an assistant for himself. If he had to say it, his aura and Dick's were very compatible.

Although Batman didn't like to study those weird metaphysical theories, when Batman and Dick got along, he found that the coldness and alienation he had when he got along with normal people as Batman did not appear in his relationship with Dick. They seemed to have an innate tacit understanding.

Before, he insisted on sending Dick to boarding school, but something happened at the boarding school, which made Batman hesitate. Now, when he heard the news that Dick was kidnapped, the flame of anger that had not appeared in his heart for a long time was rekindled.

Batman narrowed his eyes and looked at the screen carefully, not missing any details. Soon, he stopped turning his head and his eyes fell on a screen on his right. …

In order to facilitate searching, the surveillance screens here are also distributed according to geographical location. The closer to the center, the closer to the city center of Gotham, and the closer to the corner, the more remote the location.

At this time, the picture on the screen he was looking at came from a building between the third and fourth piers on the edge of Gotham's East District.

The screens around this screen were all black, proving that the cameras here were severely damaged, but not because the people living here had any defense, but because this was the most famous gathering place for drug addicts in Gotham. After the gang got high, they would kick everything they saw, so the cameras broke very quickly.

Seeing this position, Batman's fingers suddenly twitched, and his face began to become a little cold. Before the bat took off, his low voice echoed in the empty room, which seemed a little scary.

"Constantine..."

The location shown on the surveillance screen is a club in the East District. Because of the damage to the surface buildings in Gotham, the club has been closed for a long time.

A corner of the house on the surface of the club collapsed, and no one dared to go in. However, the only remaining camera in the corner of the house captured a man in a long windbreaker carrying a child into the basement.

When Batman arrived, Dick was lying on the ground in the basement. Batman walked over and checked. There were no scars on Dick's body, which did not match Jason's description of blood at the kidnapping scene. The action of shaking Dick's body woke Dick up.

Dick blinked in confusion. He was relieved when he saw that the person who appeared was Batman. Batman asked him: "Who kidnapped you?"

"...That Constantine." Dick covered his forehead and frowned and said: "Originally, I was in Jason's underground base. Suddenly, he appeared from the corner of the wall. It looked like magic."

"He wanted to attack me, but I dodged. You know, I'm not easy to deal with. I picked up a crowbar and fought him, breaking his forehead and scratching his arm..."

"But in the end, he used something like a magic circle to knock me unconscious..."

Just as Batman was looking at the basement space, the basement door made a noise. Constantine, who had just returned, walked down the stairs and looked into Batman's eyes. He turned and ran.

Batman's movements were faster than his. Several bat darts flew past Constantine's ears and nailed to the door. Batman's low voice came: "If you move again, you'll be dead."

Constantine's figure was stiff on the stairs. Then, he slowly raised his arms to indicate that he was not threatening him and said: "I want to turn around."

Batman did not reply, Constantine tacitly agreed, so he turned his body very slowly and looked at Batman. Before Batman asked him, he said: "Listen to my explanation! I swear I have no ill intentions..."

Before he finished speaking, a fist as big as a sandbag appeared in his field of vision.

Ten minutes later, Batman threw Constantine, who was like mud, to the ground. Constantine screamed in pain. Another bat dart rubbed his cheek and nailed him to the ground. He dared not speak. Batman asked: "Why did you kidnap Dick?"...

"I'm investigating the case. Didn't you ask me to investigate the case?"

Batman stared at Constantine, and Constantine explained: "Didn't I say before that Laurena Sanchez specializes in using children's souls to practice, then do you know how she extracts children's souls?"

Batman looked at him silently, and Constantine didn't expect him to reply, but said to himself: "I don't know if you have heard of such a legend. On Halloween night, there will be a beautiful woman dressed as a witch, holding a basket full of candy in her hand. If a child wants to get the candy in her hand, he must call her "Mom." "

"When the child took the candy and ate it, he It is equivalent to completing a transaction with the ghost mother. "

"Once a child calls the witch "Mom", the witch can tamper with the ownership of the child's soul and truly become his mother, and then sell the child's soul to the devil in exchange for what she needs..."

Batman suddenly understood what he meant. He turned his head to look at Dick and said, "Have you met this witch?"

Dick was stunned for a moment, he thought about it and said, "No, no, and..."

"Although I have not been in Gotham for a long time, whether it is Easter or any other night, if someone walks on the street in strange clothes and asks people to call her mom, she will definitely be shot."

"Besides, it is impossible for children in Gotham to call others mom casually. When I was a smoking boy, only the head of a block could be called "Mom and Dad". If someone dared to call it nonsense, he would be beaten to death."

"...Have you eaten anything recently?" Batman asked again.

Dick shook his head, and suddenly he remembered, saying, "I did get a few candies recently, but they were given to me by the little boss there when I was a smoking boy, and I didn't eat them..."

Batman turned his head and looked at Constantine again. Constantine seemed to be unable to make up stories. He gave up struggling, lay flat on the ground, and smiled at Batman with a successful trick, and then the whole person slowly turned into a pile of ashes.

At this moment, the alarm on Batman's wrist suddenly rang, and the sharp long beep told Batman that someone had invaded Wayne Manor.

Batman looked at the pile of ashes on the ground and said, "You used the same trick twice. You are at least a bold liar, Constantine..."

"Wait!" Dick tried to get up from the ground. He said, "Didn't you say that this thing was called like this before, meaning that someone invaded the manor? We have to go back quickly. There are still... and..." in the manor.

Dick repeated it several times, and his tone gradually slowed down, and then became a little upturned. He and Batman looked at each other and said, "... There is also Elsa in the manor."

When Batman and Dick returned to Wayne Manor, Constantine was lying in the middle of the living room like that day, and next to him was Elsa with a terrifying grin on her fangs.

Batman walked to Constantine slowly and said to him, "The scene is a bit familiar, right?"

Constantine's chest rose and fell violently, and then he lay on the ground like a deflated balloon, his tone was full of helplessness. …

“…Is there no normal person in Gotham???”

Batman walked up, grabbed his collar, dragged him to the basement, and handcuffed Constantine. Constantine’s first words were: “Do you have cigarettes?”

But Batman is not Schiller. His interrogation process is mainly based on physical therapy. He directly crushed Constantine’s arm joints with his bare hands. Constantine screamed and gasped. He looked up at Batman and said, “That’s really strong, kid…”

“If it was before, I wouldn’t mind playing with you, but now, I have something to do…”

As he spoke, a ball of light flew out from Constantine's chest and disappeared in the basement in almost an instant. Batman looked at the direction where the ball of light disappeared, which was where he imprisoned Sinestro.

Just as Batman walked out of the cell door, Sinestro, who was imprisoned in the next cell, activated the teleportation and disappeared in an instant.

Batman walked back to Constantine's cell with a gloomy face. He stepped on Constantine's knee joint again, but this time. Constantine did not scream. He lay there, as if he was high on drugs, and spoke in a somewhat unreal tone.

"Thanks to Professor Schiller, he taught me a new psychology knowledge, and now it can be used..."

Before Batman understood what he meant, Constantine on the ground suddenly turned into a pile of ashes, and a figure slowly stood up from the ashes of the East District Basement Club. Constantine pulled his tie and said to himself:

"... Is this Gotham? Interesting."

Suddenly a voice sounded:

"Really?"

Constantine suddenly stiffened because he felt a cylindrical object pressed against his back. He heard the person behind him say:

"So... welcome to Gotham."