“You mean there are Vampires in the city? The kind that are active at night and suck human blood, just like in the movies?”
Chief George Stacy looked at the prisoner in the interrogation room.
Following the Gang members the day before yesterday, and Squid Man yesterday, a group of tied-up criminals were discovered at the Police Station entrance this morning.
All of them were injured; some had broken hands, feet, or ribs, while more severely injured ones had broken spines and twisted necks.
The person who did it seemed to have a thorough understanding of human anatomy, as they completely incapacitated these Gang members with criminal records, yet left them with a breath of life.
“Yes, Vampires! I saw them with my own eyes!”
In the interrogation room, Paul, handcuffed, shouted in despair, but no matter how he explained, no one in the Police Station believed that so-called “Vampires” truly existed.
“He might have been beaten senseless by that unknown thug. Call the Doctor to give him a sedative shot.”
George Stacy shook his head, no longer bothering with the small-time thug named Paul. He called over his assistant, Ogg, and asked:
“Have the identities of the victims killed by Squid Man been fully investigated? The trial is tomorrow. If the evidence is complete, only the death penalty awaits him.”
“Also, coordinate with other Police Stations to enhance night patrols.”
Ogg nodded and hurried back to his desk, only to find that the list of victims, which he had spent a day and a night investigating, had disappeared.
With the clues provided by the You-Know-Who who caught Squid Man, the Police Station saved a lot of effort in investigating this matter. If the list was lost, they would be busy for a while again.
“Who took my list?” He shouted at his colleagues.
Everyone shook their heads.
“Damn it, I remember clearly, I put it on the table?”
Ogg looked around with a puzzled expression, bending down to search but seeing nothing. Still unwilling to give up, he looked at the desk again, and the list was neatly lying there.
He subconsciously looked towards the Police Station entrance, only catching a glimpse of a guy in black clothes and a hat walking out quickly.
“Hey! Stop!”
Ogg yelled and rushed after him. The other Police officers, though confused, grabbed their service pistols and followed.
“Ogg! What are you doing?” Director George Stacy also rushed out, asking Ogg, who had lost his target.
“Just now, a guy stole my investigation report... well, not really stole, he put it back on the table.” Ogg looked puzzled, “It’s full of victim information. What exactly does he want to do?”
“Whatever he wants to do, arrange for people to protect those victims in the coming days.” George Stacy patted his assistant Ogg’s shoulder and said.
Turning three street corners, Batman casually tossed the black clothes and hat he was wearing into a trash can, then walked the streets of Manhattan in a plaid shirt and casual pants.
“Hired by the Gang, Squid Man received payment for eight contract killings, seven of which were members of various New York Gangs...”
Batman recalled the victim list he had just seen at the Police Station, at a loss for words.
The only non-Gang member was Batman himself.
After buying a copy of the Daily Bugle from a street newsstand, Batman didn’t rush to read its contents but first returned to the Abandoned Shipyard.
He exercised his body using the abandoned industrial equipment and various counterweights there, while also contemplating his next plan.
His original goal was to use all 7.6 million U.S. dollars obtained from Squid Man’s lair to arm himself and continue to fight the Gang, especially Kingpin, to acquire more funds.
But the issue of the battle suit had been resolved through Spider-Slayer, and Batman felt this matter could be temporarily put on hold.
So, the remaining tasks were to combat the Gang, continue to save money, and incidentally see if there were any opportunities in the market to double this money.
During his time as Batman in Gotham, he also consistently played the role of the wealthy businessman Bruce Wayne, so he was intimately familiar with financial operations.
“Once this money is sufficient, I can establish a company and invest in Dr. Otto’s nuclear fusion energy.”
With a dull thud, Batman dropped several stacked counterweights, weighing twenty-five tons, which was Peter Parker’s maximum strength, onto the ground.
His training was not only to further familiarize himself with this body but also to prevent any problems with Peter Parker’s genetically mutated body, such as a complete loss of strength, one day.
Even if this was a very small probability event, Batman had to take it seriously.
After training, if such a situation truly arose, Batman would still possess controllable strength, and with a specially made battle suit, he could still exert powerful abilities.
—However, such a battle suit would require tens of millions in funding to support, which was impossible to achieve before he had his own commercial empire.
“Osborn Group announced that the ‘Nuclear Fusion Clean Energy’ scientific research project led by Dr. Otto has achieved a major breakthrough and is officially open for external investment.”
After finishing his workout, Batman picked up the Daily Bugle, and the front-page headline made him subconsciously touch his chin.
“This is fake news. Yesterday, Norman Osborn just halted all experiments, including Dr. Otto’s research, to focus on developing the Super Soldier Serum...”
“Is this some kind of signal to mislead the outside world? To attract external investment with the gimmick of nuclear fusion energy and divert the invested funds for other uses?”
“No one is a fool. Norman Osborn is just trying to struggle.”
Batman stacked the newspaper neatly with the others he had bought earlier. As usual, he first made an appearance at Peter Parker’s rented apartment, then headed straight for Dr. Otto’s laboratory.
Although the Daily Bugle’s headline was a smokescreen, Dr. Otto’s nuclear fusion clean energy was indeed a part of Batman’s plan.
“I hope there won’t be any problems at Dr. Otto’s.”
Dr. Otto’s laboratory is located in Brooklyn, about an hour’s walk from Peter Parker’s apartment.
“If I wore the Spider-Man suit to disguise my identity and swung through the city, I should get there very quickly...”
Batman quickly banished this thought from his mind and hailed a taxi on the street.
“Peter.”
In Dr. Otto’s laboratory, the middle-aged man who had been full of vigor a few days ago now looked haggard, and he only greeted Batman weakly when he saw him.
The instruments in the laboratory were all turned off, and Dr. Otto sat slumped in a chair, staring blankly at everything in the lab.
He had already discovered the problem with his nuclear fusion experiment, and with some time to troubleshoot, he could complete the research.
But yesterday, the Osborn Group, which funded his experiment, suddenly cut off research funding, bringing all of Dr. Otto’s efforts to an abrupt halt.
“Dr., what are your plans?” Batman sat down next to Dr. Otto and asked.
“I had planned to seek sponsorship, but look at this.” Dr. Otto handed Batman a copy of today’s Daily Bugle. “The Osborn Group has already cut off my path to privately seek sponsorship.”
The Daily Bugle featured the fake news. Batman took the newspaper and pretended to read it carefully for a while.
His gaze was not on the newspaper at all, but on a brand new device in the laboratory that wasn’t there last time he visited... four metal tentacles, very similar to the tentacles on Squid Man, whom Batman had personally sent to the Police Station.
