Under the dim light and smoke, a group of drunken men and women were having fun here.
There may be something wrong with the sound here, with the loud voices almost drowning out the music; which is a good thing in a way, because the bar owner's poor taste in music is hard to compliment.
And the smell here is worse than that on the street...
The vomit residue and other filth on the floor had never been cleaned up. Bottles of fake wine went down the throats of the male guests, and then the disgusting smell of alcohol came from every pore of these guys.
Spread out again.
As for the female guests...or some of the women who "work" here, the low-quality perfume mixed with body odor on their bodies is another disgusting experience.
In such an environment, a man in a long purple suit who looked out of place sat quietly at the bar.
With an ancient elegance, he refused to blend into the lowly atmosphere around him. His eyes were calm and sharp, as if they could tear apart all the turbidity, tangible or invisible, that blocked his eyes.
He ordered himself a glass of tonic water (toni_ater), and watched the bartender pour this very ordinary drink from the can into a cup, and then pushed it in front of him.
This process of pouring water tripled the price of the drink.
Of course, no one would object to this; just like those who go to the lobby of a super five-star hotel for breakfast, they only drink orange juice that can be bought in the supermarket at five times the price, but they
I don't think it's worth it.
This society has always operated like this. Money is just a weight used to measure people's desires and abilities. As long as the parties themselves feel that the "cost" and "income" are equal, there is no so-called "waste".
"Your clothes are very interesting. Did your wife make them for you?" When Feng Bujue took the drink, he looked at the bartender in front of him with a very calm look and asked "casually".
This was actually a question that was asked knowingly. Brother Jue could tell from the stitching and sewing techniques of that suit that it was not made by a professional tailor, but the person who made the clothes still used a passion and care that money can't buy to make the suit.
This outfit is the best it can be.
"Yes...yes...sir." The bartender stuttered a little, and his expression and tone were also a little different from ordinary people. He seemed to have some kind of intellectual disability.
"She likes green?" Brother Jue then asked.
"No...it's...because...the old...boss asked me to wear...this at work," the bartender replied.
It was torture to listen to him talk, anyone would think so.
"Oh~" Feng Bujue nodded, paused, and then said, "So... is the 'guessing bartender' on the old poster outside the bar the same as you?"
"No...at least now...not anymore..." the bartender replied, "A few years ago, the boss asked...let me go on stage...and tried to perform a few shows...but...but the effect was not good."
"Ho~" Brother Jue pretended not to care very much, maintaining the feeling of "casual conversation", "...now I understand the meaning of those question marks."
The "question marks" he was referring to were the black question mark patterns sewn on the other party's green suit.
"Right." After a few seconds, Feng Bujue said again, "Can you give me a riddle now?"
The bartender's face showed a bit of displeasure. From just now until now, he felt that the man in front of him was deliberately teasing him: "I think... no, sir." He emphasized his tone, showing his displeasure.
mood.
"Oh~ don't be angry, buddy." Feng Bujue saw the change in the situation and adjusted his attitude. In a second, he changed his expression, raised his brows slightly and said, "I didn't mean to make fun of you, look.
...This is my first time in this bar...so I want to have a casual chat with the bartender. I apologize if I offended you."
As he spoke, he took out a small denomination note from his coat pocket, pressed it under his fingers and slowly pushed it towards the other party.
"Um……"
Under the dual effects of words and actions, the bartender's attitude really changed... He quickly looked left and right, pretended to wipe the bar with the hand holding the rag, and then put the money into his hand.
.
"...Okay, what do you want to talk about?"
Feng Bujue opened up the other party's conversation without spending too much money.
Consistent with his guess, the bartender in front of him was the Riddler, who had a genius-like IQ and was probably one of the smartest people in the DC universe.
However, in the current script, he is just Edward Nygma, an ordinary bartender; for a few short weekends, he performed several times in this East End bar under the stage name of "Quiz Bartender"
However, due to his stuttering, he almost always left the stage in humiliation and boos at the end of each performance.
After Brother Jue handed over the second banknote with a slightly larger denomination, Edward told more... According to him, he was indeed a smart person before, even smart to the point of jealousy.
A good job, a high income...but these were all taken away from him with the advent of a terrible disease.
A few years ago, Edward suddenly contracted a rare bacterial meningitis. Whether it was luck or misfortune, the disease did not kill him, but... it affected some functions of his left brain; although the sequelae were not
As for turning him into an "idiot", it caused irreversible damage to his logical thinking, especially his language-related functions.
The strange thing... Although his logical analysis ability has become worse than ordinary people, his reaction and thinking ability are still at the top level only when encountering problems related to riddles.
…………
When I walked out of the bar, the night became darker again.
As soon as he came to the street, Brother Jue felt something looking at him.
As a person who is extremely knowledgeable in the field of anti-stalking, Feng Bujue can almost intuitively know when he is being monitored.
Furthermore... the person who was looking at him was, after all, just a gangster, and his actions were very amateurish; Brother Jue just made a few turning movements to clearly detect the other person's purpose.
At this time, Feng Bujue's mission progress has become 6/10; if he can find out the whereabouts of the four super villains, he can complete the hidden mission.
He was looking forward to encountering several violent gangs in the East District and finding several characters who should become super villains from the gangs... This was naturally the reason why he angered the bald man before.
Therefore, Brother Jue had no intention of getting rid of the stalker. He pretended not to know anything and walked silently towards the dark alley.
After more than ten minutes, he was able to confirm based on his hearing that... he was basically surrounded. At this time, he quickened his pace, put on a posture of "just found out that he was being followed", and rushed into a dead end.
.
Then, a familiar face appeared. The bald guy who was kicked down by Brother Jue not long ago, along with about a dozen guys who didn't look like good guys in their dress, blocked Feng Bujue in an alley.
"Look... who is this~" The bald man walked forward with a proud look on his face. His eyes seemed to be looking at a small animal that was forced into a desperate situation.
"You have a very poor memory..." Feng Bujue's expression was very calm, and the lethality of his words was unmatched by the other party, "... Didn't I just kick your balls more than an hour ago?
, the person who makes you kneel down? If you forget it so quickly, do you have an intellectual problem? "
As soon as these words came out, several gangsters around the bald man were amused, but they couldn't laugh out loud. They could only suppress their smiles and look away, or make that weird "kuchi" sound.
, and then coughed to cover it up.
The bald man was so angry that he was shaking all over, and all the blood on his body rushed to his head, which made his neck turn red when he was rubbed.
"I'm going to kill you!" the bald man said, and took out a switchblade from the back pocket of his pants. "Kill you! Do you hear me? Cut you into pieces!"
"Before you take action, I still have some questions. I hope you can answer them..." Feng Bujue didn't feel threatened at all. He maintained a nonchalant attitude and continued, "...Who are you? And...
…Do you guys belong to any gang or organization? Or do you just get together casually?”
Brother Jue is well versed in the communication mode of "talking to people and talking to ghosts". He knows very well... In the field of crime, except for a few heretics, the lower the people are, the more they hope that their reputation will be better.
It is widely known, and the higher up people are, the more they want to keep a low profile.
Therefore, when facing these thugs, he chose such words.
"What? Are you a Taoist too?" The bald man took the bait, "Are you trying to scare me with the name of your boss or gang? Haha... stop dreaming!" He shouted, "You want mine?
Name? Sure... I'll carve my name on your body Mister_zsasz! I think the police coroner will love it... Oh, of course, they'll have to divide your corpse into dozens
You have to sew the body back together to see my name clearly!"
"Huh?" After hearing this, Feng Bujue's demeanor did change. He thought to himself, "Is this guy Zas?" He quickly looked at the other person from head to toe, "Well... look at the appearance and appearance.
The style is indeed a bit similar, but the Zas I know should be covered with knife marks (Zas is set to be a cold serial killer. His characteristic is that every time he kills a person, he cuts himself with a knife, and then stays there all year round.
Go bare-chested to show the dense knife marks) instead of tattoos..."
"It sounds like... you are quite experienced in killing people and dismembering their bodies?" Feng Bujue didn't think for too long and quickly continued his conversation.
"This has nothing to do with you, kid..." But Zas didn't seem to be ready to say anything more. He waved to his accomplices around him, beckoning them to join him, and he himself walked over with a knife.
It can be seen that after being tricked once by Brother Jue, Zas became much more cautious.
Unfortunately, this doesn't help either.
One minute...this was the time it took for Feng Bujue to bring down all the gangsters, including Zas.
Brother Jue didn't even use skills or equipment... After a few simple moves, "Zero Time Calculation" collected enough data. Next, Feng Bujue defeated these people with only the most basic physical skills.
Already.
After all, in hand-to-hand combat, facing an opponent whose physical fitness is several times higher than that of ordinary people and who can predict all the enemy's movements, even if Zas calls a hundred more people, it will be of no avail.
"Okay, the exercise time is over. Now we enter the question time." After confirming that the dozen or so people in front of him would not be able to stand up in a short time, Feng Bujue walked up to Zas and faced the person who fell on his back.
The thug on the ground said, "Mr. Zas, please answer the question I just asked...Have you ever killed anyone before?"
"Pfft" Zas didn't answer, but spat at the condescending brother Jue, which was mixed with blood.
Feng Bujue easily dodged the blood and passed by Zas with light steps: "Ah...it seems that Mr. Zas is unwilling to cooperate." He glanced at the other people moaning on the ground and continued,
"Is there anyone else who can answer me?"
No one responded to him...
"Well... that's it..." Brother Jue said, reaching into his pocket and taking out [Bell's daily pocket knife], "Then I can only take some measures..." He turned around and walked to Zas' side.
, and suddenly leaned over and grabbed Zas's right foot.
"Uh... what do you want to do? Bastard!" Zas shouted loudly, breathing hard, but he was unable to get up or break free from the opponent's grasp.
"I once asked a doctor friend for advice on how to cause permanent trauma to a person's Achilles tendon..." Feng Bujue continued in a very relaxed tone, "...but I have never had the chance to do it on a living person.
Experimenting on yourself, today seems to be a good opportunity."
As he spoke, he took off Zas's shoes.
"Of course, as a rigorous person, I can't base my intimidation on this kind of experiment that may not be successful." After a two-second pause, Brother Jue continued, "I also know a safe method that will definitely work.
The way to cause a lifelong obstacle to a person's ability to walk... is to cut off all his toes and part of his heels..." He shrugged, looked at Zas with a fanatical look and said, "Just to be on the safe side.
, I’ll just do both.”
"Okay! I said...I'll tell you everything you want to know!" Upon seeing this, Zas seemed to have given up and planned to answer Brother Jue's question.
"No, you have no chance." Unexpectedly, Feng Bujue actually ignored him and raised the knife with great speed...
The sharp blade of the legendary weapon quickly scratched across Zas's feet. His Achilles tendon was instantly cut, and his five toes and a large piece of heel meat were detached from his feet in the blink of an eye...
Because the knife was fast, the pain was delayed... Just when Zas was about to scream in horror, Feng Bujue took a step forward and kicked the bald head, knocking him unconscious.
past.
"Haha...hahahaha..." Immediately afterwards, Brother Jue let out a strange laugh and glanced at the gangsters on the ground again.
At this moment...the faces of those people, without exception, showed the expressions he expected.
…………
Evening, eight fifty.
Feng Bujue left the East District with a hidden mission progress of 7/10.
He was lucky. At this time, he could easily hail a taxi in a place like the East End.
Now, he is going to a place that is completely opposite to the East End, the Twin Towers in downtown Gotham (Note: This landmark has been mentioned many times in comics such as "Batman - The Dark Knight Returns", but in the comics and derivatives after 9/11
appear less in works).
During the previous interrogation of those gangsters, Brother Jue already knew the reason why Zas had no knife marks on his body... The truth is very simple. There was actually a knife mark on his body, but there was only one.
It turns out that in this universe, this super villain who was supposed to be a "serial killer" only killed one person, and then he was caught by Batman... And, at Batman's request, this guy was imprisoned
He was sent to a maximum security prison and held in solitary confinement.
So, Zas, who was "capable of both civil and military skills" and "easily escaped from prison" in the comics, arrived here... and served more than ten years in prison, and was finally paroled not long ago due to "good behavior"
.
Of course, his "good" performance... was undoubtedly only pretended after confirming that he could not escape from prison; judging from the fact that he immediately went to the East District and formed a team after he was released from prison, he
Still the same Zas.
This is why, in that alley, when Zas "gived up", Feng Bujue didn't give him a chance to speak.
Brother Jue knows... this character's IQ is not low. He just underestimated his ability as a "traveler from another world" and that's why he was controlled by others. If Zas was really allowed to speak at that time, that guy would most likely lie.
, which will interfere with Brother Jue's completion of the task.
"Speaking of which...Zasz and Killer Croc have one obvious thing in common. They are both the kind of characters who can't stop their darkening." Feng Bujue, sitting in the back seat of the taxi, was still thinking about the script.
With various clues in the story, he whispered to himself quietly, "Killer Crocodile is due to physiological reasons and there is nothing we can do about it; Zass is the kind of character who is set to be 'born evil'... He has grown up obviously.
In a comfortable and normal family environment, he still turned into a cold-blooded murderer when he grew up, and there was no sudden trigger."
"Ordinarily, since he is such a villain... he should be 'permanently dealt with' like Killer Croc.
"But why...Killer Croc is dead, but Zas is still alive?
"Because he is just a 'second-tier villain', his character is relatively pale after removing Scar, and he doesn't even have a resounding villain nickname... so is there no big problem in keeping him?
"Anyway, once he makes any move, you can always deal with him and send him back to prison...
"You... think so, right?"
As he spoke the last few sentences, his voice gradually became louder.
The soft talking to himself gradually turned into a conversational tone.
In the taxi environment, there is obviously only one person who can be the person Feng Bujue talks to, and that is the driver in the driver's seat...
