There is no Batman in Gotham City comics.

Chapter 137, Section 34: Returning to Crime Alley

Chapter 137, Section 34: Returning to Crime Alley

The dagger tip landed on Harvey's forehead, grazed his brow, sliced ​​across his high nose, cut through his lips, and finally stopped at his jaw.

Blood gushed from the wound, and Harvey, who was unconscious, felt the pain, causing the muscles in his cheeks to twitch.

"Yes! That's it, that's exactly how it is! Feel the pain, feel the sorrow, you're like a book open to everyone, and I'm going to lay it bare and let everyone in Gotham see what's hidden beneath that refined face!!!!"

Maroni dug his fingers into the wound, peeling away Harvey's skin bit by bit.

As the skin and flesh gradually separated, Maroni, finding the process too slow, inserted his dagger into the gap and severed several muscle tissues that were trying to maintain the connection.

Amidst immense, tearing pain, Harvey's consciousness gradually cleared.

Although my limbs are still numb, my senses are returning.

But this process brought him even greater pain; half of his face felt like it was on fire, and the nerves at the wound kept sending a burning, excruciating pain to his brain.

When the last piece of skin was removed from his face, blood almost soaked his eyes.

With his eyes rolling back and a loud scream, Harvey, whose brain was still pounding with immense pain, almost fainted again.

His hands flailing wildly, he finally gripped the rifle handle and, squeezing out the last of his strength, swung it at Maroni.

Snapped!

Maroni's thin body was slammed against the wall. Instead of being angry, he laughed intermittently, as if sobbing.

"Hahahaha, Harvey Dent! Now all of Gotham will see your true face: ugly! twisted! and bloody!" Maroney suddenly didn't want to kill anymore. Rather than finishing Harvey off with one blow, he would rather see him writhing on the ground like a worm with that terrifying face on his head.

Instead of running away, he proudly shook the bloody human skin in his hand, and when Harvey stood up with his gun, he stuffed it into his mouth right in front of him.

Harvey's screams echoed through the alley, along with the gruesome sound of flesh being chewed.

"Welcome to gotham——my young prosecutor!!!!!!"

Maroni shouted incoherently, spreading his arms wide, and the final lisp caused him to spit a mouthful of blood onto Harvey's face.

Harvey, his face covered in blood, slid slowly down the wall. He wanted to shoot his opponent, but the afterimages of Maroni filled his vision, making it difficult to aim. He could only pull the trigger by feel, leaving a fleeting spark behind the laughing, fleeing Maroni.

Maroni was extremely pleased at this moment, chewing on the flesh and blood of his enemy, and wandering through the alleyway in the sparse snow.

He was so excited that even if his heart was about to burst, he wouldn't stop.

He rushed out of the alley in the new city, tripped and fell on the wide, empty road, and rolled into the ditch in the tree-lined neighborhood.

Maroni, the wolf-fox, crawled out of the ditch, grabbed a handful of snow to wipe away the foul-smelling mud from his body, and wandered aimlessly barefoot.

As the thrill of revenge faded, his mind began to wander again.

The old building in front of him looked very familiar, but he couldn't remember when he had seen it before.

Despite the raging blizzard, this old town seemed completely unaffected by the weather. The humid air was particularly oppressive, and looking up, a narrow gap appeared between the cramped, closely packed old buildings.

Looking up at the gray sky fragmented by old power lines, a snowflake landed on Maroni's nose. For a moment, he felt like a woodlice hiding in a crack in the brickwork.

After walking a few more steps along the deep alley, the theater suddenly opened up before me. The theater, covered in old dust, still smelled of burnt material from twenty years ago. The poster stand at the entrance had fallen to the ground, and a corner of the poster and the charred ceiling of the theater were resonating in some strange and unique way.

Maroni felt himself being drawn by some mysterious force into that familiar alley.

As he rounded a bend, the dead memories resurfaced in his mind, and he saw faint white lines on the ground, representing murder and death.

He took another step forward and felt a round, foreign object under his feet.

I picked it up and held it up to the dim light; it was a pearl with a drilled hole.

This is fucking crime alley!

Familiar memories flooded back, and Maroni felt as if he had returned to that night twenty years ago.

He held up his pistol and breathed heavily, while in front of him lay the Wayne family lying in pools of blood.

At that moment, he seemed to see the mysterious man waving at him again.

"I have a job to introduce to you. When it's all over, you will gain unparalleled glory and wealth."

"Glory and wealth? Like joining the Roman Empire, for example?"

"It's much, much bigger than this. You could even own half of the Roman Empire." The mysterious man wore a wide germanium hat, which allowed him to hide his entire face in shadow, leaving only his deep, heavy voice echoing through the alley.

But for some reason, Maroni felt that the voice was strangely familiar.

"Who exactly are you? Why should I believe you?"

"Ha, I'm a businessman. A businessman who built his fortune on integrity and connections would never betray his partners! Of course, if you want me to prove the reliability of this promise, that's not impossible."

The mysterious man took off his hat and held it to his chest.

"For example, I swear by my name, Carmen Falcone."

"It's you!"

Maroni took a few steps back as if he had seen a ghost, muttering to himself at the empty alleyway.

"It's common knowledge that the Falcone family and the Wayne family are old friends, and Thomas even saved your life. How could you treat him like this!"

"But my friend, that wasn't your answer back then."

Falcone, existing only in Maroni's imagination, shrugged and laughed.

"Back then, you accepted the mission without hesitation and killed the Wayne family. Your friend Royce Ben took the blame and went to jail for you. Do you want me to help you recall more? For example, how did you kill the pregnant woman to silence her when Royce's wife questioned you?"

As "Falcone" peels back the layers of Maroni's inner wounds, the latter's bewildered gaze gradually reveals a ruthless intent.

"Ah-yes, I'm starting to remember everything! A collaboration between an honest businessman and a despicable thug completely rewrote Gotham's history."

The Roman Empire also changed from a dual consulship model of Thomas Aquinas and Carmen to a system where one person held absolute power.

"But all of this makes sense. The consul is a product of the republic, and the empire should be ruled by one person—wait!"

Maroni suddenly realized something.

"So everything I've experienced was orchestrated by you! Lions don't share their territory and food with hyenas!"

Ha!

A slightly excited male voice laughed at the alley entrance. Unlike Falcone's hoarse voice that sounded like he was about to die, it was light and cheerful, as if he was about to meet not the scantily clad Maroni, but a sexy woman dressed in hot clothes.

"I don't understand what you're saying, but there must be a reason why fate brought us together again."

Leaning on a cane, the figure with a limp stepped out of the darkness.

Mr. Copperfield removed his top hat and bowed to Maroney in greeting.

"My dear Mr. Sal Maroni, are you prepared to be whipped to death by this familiar cane?"