There is no Batman in Gotham City comics.

Chapter 96 Interlude: The Black Forest Bar

Reus was the first to be awakened by the explosion, and it took him a full five seconds to realize that he wasn't dreaming.

Who can blame him when his last memory was of going to the convenience store to buy cigarettes last night?

He glanced down at his feet and was terrified to see a pool full of leaping piranhas. Even more frightening was the iron chain above his head that was slowly descending.

He was about 20 centimeters away from the water's surface when the toes of his shoes touched the surface.

Looking around, they found nothing to save themselves, only Qin Wei huddled in a corner covering his head.

"Help me!"

He shouted at the top of his lungs, but all he heard was a buzzing sound.

"Please help me!"

Just as he was about to touch the water's surface, a piranha leaped up and bit the toe of his shoe, its sharp teeth piercing through the shoe and embedding themselves in his flesh.

Ouch!

Relying on his core strength, Royce straightened his legs and stretched them forward, making a perfect right angle in the air, but Dick, who was unconscious next to him, was not so lucky.

"FUCK!"

Royce hesitated, cursed, but ultimately couldn't bear to see the child suffer, so he lifted Dick's legs up.

But this means his waist and abdomen have to bear a greater weight, which is terrible for an old man who doesn't exercise and is a heavy smoker.

"Will! Help...Please Help Me!!!!"

His voice was almost hoarse from shouting, and his face was flushed red.

In just a few dozen seconds, the chain had been lowered fifty centimeters, and his buttocks were almost touching the water's surface. At that point, it wouldn't be a problem that could be solved simply by lifting his leg.

Just as Royce was on the verge of collapse, Qin Wei stood up unsteadily.

But his current situation is not optimistic either. He has not regained his balance, he can't hear, and all he can see is a blurry white shadow. He can only vaguely make out the outlines of two people.

He was able to stand up entirely thanks to his unwavering belief.

He touched the rifle in front of his chest, released the safety, and fired a burst at the location of the water tank that he remembered.

The bullet left a spiderweb-like crack on the water tank, and water seeped out, but it didn't shatter completely. The Joker used bulletproof glass, which was to be expected.

"Please hurry! I can't hold on any longer!"

He vaguely heard Reus's cries.

Qin Wei was not familiar with firearms and could not possibly reload while blind. He took off his rifle, grabbed the barrel, and smashed it against the glass.

However, his loss of sense of distance caused him to miss his target. Stepping on the slippery floor soaked by the water, Qin Wei fell down in a sorry state, and the gun flew away somewhere.

"Please, get up!"

Qin Wei was in terrible condition. If he hadn't been forced to ask for help, Royce would never have done so. But right now, the tip of his buttocks was touching the water's surface, with five or six piranhas stuck to it.

They wriggled and twisted, trying to tear a piece of flesh from Royce.

"I know, I know, stop rushing me!"

Reus's voice gradually became clearer in his ears, which also helped him accurately pinpoint their locations.

Qin Wei braced himself with one hand and, before he could fully regain his footing, crashed hard into the water vat.

Click!

He heard two sharp sounds, one from the glass of the water tank and the other from his shoulder bone.

Qin Wei charged with all his might, and with a loud bang, water droplets and shards of glass unexpectedly splashed all over his face.

After being hit by a burst of water, the cracked glass could no longer withstand the water pressure and burst, and free piranhas happily jumped all over every corner of the room with the current.

"Damn it, I thought I wouldn't get hurt on this mission, but I've been tricked into this mess again!"

After crushing a leaping piranha to death, Qin Wei lay on the ground for a while to recover before getting up and putting the two of them down.

"Oh no, I can't feel my hands anymore!"

"What's the big deal? My penis goes numb too!"

Qin Wei checked Dick's breathing and was relieved to find that the boy was just drugged.

It wasn't until the two left the Senate that Royce realized it was already noon the next day.

"How's the situation over there? What about the mission?"

"It was a close call, but nothing major went wrong, except for a pervert who impersonated you and burned down Maronny's vault."

"Really!? What a pity. I had it all planned out. I was the one who would have to do the money-burning work. I had rehearsed how to throw the lighter into the pile of money in my mind several times!" Royce's regret was really strange.

"Oh? Then you and that pervert probably have a lot to talk about."

Qin Wei muttered a complaint, carefully placed Dick into the Batmobile, and then made a phone call. After confirming the deal with Gordon was complete, his anxiety finally subsided.

There is only one hurdle left to overcome.

Will Deathstroke, the most terrifying mercenary in the DC universe, come knocking on our door?

……

Floyd is now facing an awkward predicament.

To avoid implicating their employees if a task fails, those in this line of work never leave their employees' contact information; they always wait for the employees to call them first.

The short-range communication walkie-talkies were also shredded by Deathstroke.

To contact Qin Wei, Floyd had to return to the factory.

But the problem now is that he doesn't even dare to leave the bar, let alone return to the factory. He's too busy trying to save his life to clean up the scene; too many clues that could prove his identity are left on the rooftop.

Even with Deathstroke's investigative abilities, Freud had reason to suspect that the other party had been secretly following him all along.

However, the bar should be safe.

The Black Forest Bar belongs to the HIVE mercenary organization and is a gathering place for Gotham's mercenaries, much like the Continental Hotel in "John Wick". To ensure the safety of the mercenaries, anyone who dares to cause trouble in the bar will be wanted and hunted down.

Deathstroke may be one of the few individuals capable of challenging the organization, but Freud felt that the other party wouldn't do that; it wasn't that bad.

"Hey Cowboy Gunner, how did you get so badly injured? What happened?"

As soon as the bar's gate was pushed open, Floyd's disheveled appearance drew everyone's attention.

As a mercenary, his physical skills were unremarkable, but when it came to marksmanship, even if everyone present drew their guns and fired simultaneously, they might not be able to beat him.

Everyone was amazed that he had suffered such a serious injury, and even more curious about what kind of terrible mission could have caused this genius gunslinger to be so badly injured.

"You wouldn't be hired by someone to hunt down that alien freak in Metropolis, would you?!"

"Haha, I don't think Freud would be that stupid, especially since he'd already given up on going to art school!"

Although there weren't many mercenaries in the bar, the dozen or so of them chatting and laughing still managed to liven up the originally quiet atmosphere.

Freud smiled and shook his head. He knew these guys meant no harm. For a mercenary, being wounded was the greatest stroke of luck, meaning that a guy who had been living on the edge of death had once again escaped the clutches of death.

They were celebrating for him, using laughter to dispel bad luck in the cold, indifferent land of Gotham.

A pretty waitress came out of the back door carrying a tray of disinfection supplies. This was a free medical service that only mercenaries could enjoy; they couldn't go to the hospital when they were injured.

"Your fingers..."

"Never mind the fingers, focus on the chest!"

Floyd removed the bulletproof armor provided by Qin Wei. Despite its high hardness, Slade's knife was able to pierce through it with a single blow, a terrifying force that sent chills down one's spine.

Just as the young woman was about to stitch up his wound, the gate creaked open.

When the visitor pushed open the door, the previously noisy atmosphere was instantly choked shut.