Although the relationship between Batman and the police wasn't tense in this universe, it was still unlikely that he would stay in Arkham's main control room and watch the surveillance footage with Gordon for an hour or two.
Therefore, while downloading the footage, he fast-forwarded it to take a quick look at the video left behind by Brother Jue.
Unsurprisingly, when the image of Feng Bujue gesturing at the surveillance camera flashed past, Batman asked Gordon to rewind the video in slow motion … and finally fixed the camera on Brother Jue's smile.
"What does he mean?" Gordon looked at the screen and asked, "Is that a bird … or an eagle? What is he hinting at? "
"That's … Bat …" Batman replied in a low voice as he unplugged his device from the computer port (you can think of it as a Bat USB drive). It seemed that the download had been completed. "He's gesturing at the camera, which means that he wants to invite me into the game."
"Wait …" Gordon paused and asked, "How did he know that you would see this video?"
"I would have seen it sooner or later," Batman replied. "Because you're still here …"
Gordon thought about what he meant, and a moment later, he realized what he was talking about.
"Jack"'s gesture was very common in the game "Shadow of the Hand." It usually represented a bird or an eagle. Anyone could have guessed this, and Gordon's speculation was based on this factor. Thinking further, "Shadow of the Hand" was a game that used light and shadow, projecting and being projected, to create illusions.
Thinking about it further, it was clear that Jack wasn't so much hinting at "Bat" as he was hinting at "Batlight."
If Batman hadn't come to Arkham and watched the video with Gordon, it wouldn't have changed anything. At the very least, Gordon would have seen the video, watched it repeatedly, and analyzed it … Given Gordon's ability, it was only a matter of time before he guessed the true meaning of the other party's gesture. And once he figured it out, he would go to the roof of the police station, turn on the batlight, and inform Batman.
In other words, when this "Jack" made the gesture to the camera, he had already thought that this message was for Gordon. Logically speaking, the police should have seen the video first.
Of course, he had also considered a situation like "being directly seen by Batman." In terms of results, there was no difference, and in terms of the process, things were simplified … because Batman would definitely understand the meaning immediately.
"What is this fellow trying to do …" Gaden's expression turned solemn. His experience and intuition told him that he had encountered a different and rather troublesome criminal.
However, when Gordon asked this question and turned his head, Batman, who had been standing behind him, had disappeared.
Gordon was left alone in the room. It was as if he was talking to himself.
"Phew …" Two seconds later, Gordon shrunk his neck and exhaled helplessly. "Compared to your entrance … your exit is even more annoying …"
…
At the same time, in a sewer near Gotham.
Feng Bujue was holding the [Oxygen Pipe] in his mouth as he moved forward at a jogging pace.
When he left the asylum, he and Kevin got into the same car, and he consciously drove away in front of the escapees who had just been released.
Brother Jue had already calculated that the escapees would all be caught in less than half a day. When they were caught, they would be asked the question, "How did the person who released you escape?" At that time, at least most of the prisoners would answer in unison, "He drove away." If they were lucid enough and had a good memory, they might even be able to tell the color of the car and even the license plate number.
In this way, the police would be led to the conclusion that the suspect drove away.
In fact, ten minutes after the car left the asylum, Feng Bujue got out of the car in the middle of a road without any surveillance cameras. Before he got out of the car, he ordered Kevin to continue driving in the direction of the metropolis (there was a road sign on the road).
Brother Jue used the [Voidwalk]'s ability to float in the air and ran in the opposite direction without leaving any footprints. In less than ten minutes, he found the spot that he had seen on the road sign not long ago. It was a swamp, and as he expected, there was a sewer outlet that was more than two meters in diameter.
"It won't be long before the police find the car." Brother Jue, who was running, was not idle either. His current running speed was also carefully calculated. With this kind of speed, it would not cause too much exhaustion to his stamina, and he would have enough time to react to sudden situations. Other than that, he would be able to spare some energy to think. "Kevin's duration of existence was 45 minutes. Before I parted ways with him, half of the time limit had already passed. I told him to drive at a speed of more than 60 kilometers per hour under the premise of safety. Considering the fact that there were almost no traffic lights in the countryside … when Kevin disappeared from the car, the car had already traveled at least 20 kilometers.
"Taking into account the police's reaction speed, the time it took for them to arrest the suspect and interrogate him for information, as well as the time it took for them to retrieve the traffic department's surveillance footage and send someone to catch up with us … Even if their efficiency was worse than I expected, they should've found the empty car in ten minutes at the latest.
"Since Kevin suddenly turned into a white light and disappeared, no one would've stepped on the brakes. Therefore, the car would've gradually slowed down and slid for a distance without anyone controlling the steering wheel or releasing the accelerator. There could've been many situations during this process … For example, the car would've slowly drifted and hit a utility pole or a tree by the roadside, or it would've coincidentally hit a car in the opposite direction, or even slid into a river …
"Many new hypotheses could've been derived from this. For example, the car might've been found by a homeless person and driven away, or someone might've seen the abandoned car by the roadside and called the police … Regardless, the police would've known sooner or later that I was no longer in the car.
"Then, they would've shifted their focus from 'driving away' to other possibilities … As for how long it would've taken for them to realize that I was planning to enter the city through the sewers … That's hard to say. Just the fact that there were no signs of the driver escaping around the empty car would've been enough for them to think about for a while.
"Hmm … If that's the case, by the time they think about investigating the sewers, I would've already entered the city …"
Thinking about this, Feng Bujue's thoughts turned. "However, there's another extreme case. If 'Batman' had rushed to the scene and participated in the investigation … would he have had a chance to catch up to me?"
Brother Jue's worry was justified. After all, in this universe, Batman … or rather, Bruce Wayne's wife was working as a consultant at Arkham.
Even if the hypothesis that 'Batman was monitoring his wife's daily activities' was eliminated, given Batman's personality, he would've at least monitored the Gotham police's communications, right? So, when he found out about the accident at the asylum through the police's communications network, he would've rushed to the scene immediately to make sure his wife was safe.
In fact, that was exactly what Batman did. He arrived at Arkham earlier than the police, but when he turned on the heat detection system in his eyes, threw out the hook, and coolly flew into the main building of the asylum … he found that the place was already empty.
At that moment, the sound of sirens could be heard, and the police arrived at the scene one after another. Seeing this, Batman hid and observed from the dark.
Not long after, the staff in the underground shelter came out. Because the shelter was connected to several surveillance cameras, when the people inside saw that the police had arrived, they opened the door and returned to the surface.
What happened after that was as mentioned earlier. Batman waited in the dark for a while, waiting for the police to finish gathering information before he showed himself.
Based on the actual plot development, Batman didn't get involved in the investigation earlier than Brother Jue expected. He also didn't follow the route of the car and find the spot where Brother Jue got off the car. To be honest, even if he really stood at the spot, he wouldn't have been able to tell that a car had stopped there or that Brother Jue had gotten off the car and run in the opposite direction.
Because … Feng Bujue didn't leave such a trace in the first place.
Even the 'World's Greatest Detective' needed evidence to make further deductions. Only a fake detective with a cheat code would be able to 'tell the whole truth without relying on a logical sequence and then use evidence to refute'.
"Hmm?" Just as Feng Bujue was deep in thought, something suddenly entered his line of sight, and it caused his footsteps to stop.
"What the hell?" The next second, he stopped next to a wall and stared at the wall in front of him, which was a different color from the surrounding wall.
In this dark sewer, even if an ordinary person had a searchlight, it would be difficult for them to notice this anomaly. However, Feng Bujue used a flashlight (which he had brought with him) to capture this detail …
Knock knock …
Brother Jue tapped the wall with the end of the flashlight. He immediately realized that this wall with a different color was made of a material that he couldn't identify. In a sewer made of cement and bricks, this wall seemed even more suspicious.
"Hmm … The edges are irregular, and there are cracks where it meets the surrounding wall. Also …" Feng Bujue observed the wall carefully and began to make deductions in his mind. "This material has seeped into and filled the cracks …" In less than two seconds, he understood. "This means … this wall didn't exist originally, but someone sealed it with a chemical mixture that could rapidly expand and solidify …"
A smile appeared on Brother Jue's face. "So, here comes the question … What is hidden behind this wall?"
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