There is no Batman in Gotham City comics.

Chapter 52 JOKER

With only two pickup trucks left, Qin Wei's antics led them to abandon the pursuit. They turned the steering wheel, braked, and swerved away.

Qin Wei, certain they couldn't cause any real trouble, didn't pursue them. He fired his grappling hook and returned to the truck. He immediately took off his bulletproof vest and tore open his shirt to check his injuries. Horrifying purplish-red bruises of varying sizes filled his entire torso; there wasn't a single patch of unscathed skin on his body.

"Wow! You're poisoned?" Royce was so startled that he blew smoke onto the steering wheel.

"If... it's poisoning... then... that's good... oh dear!!!"

Qin Wei slowly relaxed his lower back muscles, pressing his back against the seat back little by little. It was as if he had been cupping for a month and then being lifted high by Bain. The intense pain triggered the release of dopamine, and the feeling of pain and pleasure stimulated him so much that he rolled his eyes.

Qin Wei made up his mind that after recruiting people, he must take some time to recover from his injuries. Every time he went to the battlefield with serious injuries, he was in danger of developing any chronic illnesses.

After a short rest, he didn't forget his business and called Gordon to tell him what had happened in the Novik Tunnel.

"Yes, it's about the Joker gang! Seven or eight people died, and several cars overturned. Yes... there should be a wrecked Beetle near the exit too. If you see it, help it out. This is your responsibility, Chief Gordon!"

"I've said it so many times, I'm not from the bureau..."

Before Gordon could finish rambling, Qin Wei decisively hung up the phone:

"It's the same old complaint over and over again, like you're some kind of NPC. Can't you be the director? I have more say than your boss!"

After listening to the phone call, Reus's expression gradually became complicated.

He licked his lips, glancing at Qin Wei several times before finally asking the question after much hesitation:

"You have connections at the police station too!"

"Yes, is there anything I can help you with?"

"Judging from his tone, he doesn't seem very concerned about becoming the bureau chief... Do you think I could take over?" Royce looked at Qin Wei with an innocent expression, seemingly not joking.

"roll!"

……

As we drove out of the city and onto the Kane Bridge, the night lights gradually faded away.

The truck's two xenon headlights pierced the night, and swarms of flying insects crashed into the windshield, bursting into pools of dark brown liquid, which were then wiped away by the wipers.

Soon, a pickup truck parked in the middle of the bridge caught Reus's attention.

"Damn it, these guys didn't follow us here, did they?" Royce floored the accelerator, grabbed the shotgun beside him, and was ready for battle.

Qin Wei felt something was amiss. If the truck was equipped with a tracking device, the pursuers should have appeared behind them. Instead, the ones blocking their way seemed to have known their route in advance.

But if that's really the case, why did only one car come?

"slow down!"

Reason told Qin Wei that if the other side was prepared, then rushing across the bridge would be an extremely foolish decision.

The truck stopped, and Royce led the way with his shotgun, while Qin Wei hunched over, wary of any possible sneak attack from behind. The two of them crept towards the pickup truck, one in front and one behind.

The Kane Bridge has been in disrepair for years, and there is very little traffic, especially now that it is midnight.

The creaking of the gravel underfoot became the only sound in the quiet night.

Humans are born with an aversion to silence. The cessation of insect chirping, the silence of the robin, the reindeer no longer chewing on moss, but gazing up into the depths of the bushes—these are all harbingers of the approaching predator, signals of impending danger.

The feeling of unease grew stronger, and Qin Wei frowned deeply, his gaze inadvertently glancing diagonally upwards.

A thin line that faintly glows under the car headlights.

He patted Reus on the shoulder and pointed to the top of his head.

Royce climbed the rusty lamppost and confirmed that the thing was a thin steel wire.

"The height of this steel wire is cleverly designed. Ordinary cars can't touch it, only trucks like ours will get hit when they drive over it. This damn thing was coming for us. If we hadn't slowed down, our heads would have been cleanly sliced ​​off."

Royce's words sent a chill down Qin Wei's spine.

This adversary has yet to show his face, but the traps he has laid are extremely insidious.

Royce's fingers touched the wire; it felt slippery. He brought it to his nose and smelled it, a greasy odor filling his nostrils.

"He even oiled the wire! Why would he do that?!"

"Oil increases reflectivity; he wants us to deliberately spot him." Qin Wei's conclusion was irrefutable, as if he knew his opponent inside and out.

Even if time were turned back a second or two, he wouldn't be able to draw such a conclusion with such certainty. But just now, after seeing the violet blooming in the shadows, he already had the answer in his heart.

He pressed down on Reus's gun barrel.

"What's wrong?"

"The enemy is in the dark while we are in the light. If that guy really came with murderous intent, we would have been dead long ago..." As he said this, Qin Wei himself did not realize that his breathing was gradually becoming rapid, and the secretion of adrenaline made his cheeks appear sickly flushed.

He paused in his speech and turned his gaze to the pickup truck.

"Do you think I'm right, JOKER!"

……

Wearing a violet tuxedo, he leaned lazily against the door of a red pickup truck, his legs crossed, his large leather shoes kicking into the fine gravel. His arms were folded across his chest, and a ridiculously stylish black top hat with a wide brim covered most of his pale face.

He did not answer Qin Wei's question.

"Who is he! What does he want by cornering us on the bridge in the middle of the night?"

Faced with Royce's question, Qin Wei could only shrug helplessly. If he could really figure out what was inside that pale head, he should be in Arkham Asylum, not here.

After waiting a while longer, Qin Wei, whose patience was gradually wearing thin, finally mustered up the courage to step forward.

He was mentally prepared to be startled by a clown suddenly jumping up, but when he got to the pickup truck, he realized that what he had been trying to communicate with was just a mannequin.

"That's a terrible joke."

"Really~ darling..."

Soft, muffled laughter, like the smacking of mole crickets, rang out in the dark back of the pickup truck. A gleaming silver gun barrel emerged from the shadows and pressed against Qin Wei's temple.

"I thought you would like this joke."

The scene of the meeting was more terrifying than Qin Wei had imagined.

The clown's silhouette blended into the shadows. When he raised his head and grinned, the light in his eyes and the row of gleaming false teeth became the only focal point of Qin Wei's gaze in the darkness.

Qin Wei could even count how many blood vessels were in those terrifying eyes.

"Smile, Qin Wei... I really don't understand why you have such a serious expression!"

A chill ran through my body from the bottom up.

Qin Wei heard his own name from the clown, his real name that he had never mentioned to anyone since he transmigrated.