After Rex left, he didn’t stay idle.
He carefully sorted out the reasons why the original host was being hunted and discovered many suspicious details.
The original host had been doing quite well at the underground boxing arena.
Last night, the Maroni family sent someone with a message, demanding that he throw the match in exchange for 300 dollars.
Although the boxing arena wasn’t within the Maroni family’s territory, everyone had to survive in Gotham.
The original host didn’t want to offend them.
Besides, there was money to be made—he only earned one or two hundred dollars for winning a match anyway.
So, he agreed.
However, right after the match began, before the original host could even start acting, his opponent collapsed after lightly taking two of his probing strikes and couldn’t get back up, instantly handing him the victory.
To outsiders, it looked as if the opponent had been KO’d by him.
This thoroughly infuriated the Maroni family boss, Sal Maroni, who was present at the scene.
Did the opponent also take dirty money?
This was Rex’s first thought, but he immediately dismissed it.
In his memories, the opponent’s attacks were soft and weak.
It didn’t seem like an act; rather, it looked more like he had been drugged.
Sighing, Rex synthesized the various factors and reconstructed the truth: The Maroni family had approached the original host to fight a fixed match so they could make a fortune at the casino, but someone else happened to have the exact same idea.
That person’s methods were even more ruthless.
They directly drugged his opponent, completely outsmarting the Maroni family.
As for the original host, he was merely an insignificant piece of cannon fodder.
When big shots suffered losses, it was just money.
But when nobodies suffered losses, it was their lives.
Take that manager, for example; he had probably been thrown into the sea by Maroni by now.
He wanted to see if he could find out who was pulling the strings behind the scenes, which would also serve as a way to avenge the original host.
Rex walked all the way to a small clinic near the underground boxing arena.
Since underground boxers had no insurance, they had to seek medical treatment themselves if they were injured after a match.
As a result, the nearby small clinics did a booming business.
From what he knew, this small clinic was even opened by the person in charge of the underground boxing arena.
Such operations of profiting from both ends were commonplace in Gotham.
He planned to ask around here about where his opponent from last night’s match had gone, hoping to find some clues on him.
There were actually fewer people looking for him around here, but Rex remained highly vigilant.
He wrapped himself up tightly, found a brown-haired street urchin, and handed him a 1-dollar bill.
“Go ask if Walker Simpton is inside.
If he’s not, ask where he went.
I’ll give you another dollar once you find out.”
The urchin quickly took the bill, gave Rex a look, and dashed into the clinic without a word.
Two dollars just to ask a question was already a massive windfall for a street urchin.
The urchin returned shortly, pointing at the clinic’s third window.
“Walker Simpton is in there, but…
he’s already dead.”
“Dead?” Rex wasn’t too surprised.
On his way here, he had already considered the possibility of the man being silenced.
“How did he die?”
“I don’t know.
I heard he died not long after being brought here,” the urchin shook his head.
Since the clue had hit a dead end, Rex didn’t plan to linger.
He turned to leave but, after a moment’s thought, added a few words to the urchin.
“Change your location.
Don’t stay around here for the next few days.”
He thought that the urchin might be noticed by someone with ulterior motives, and a simple warning cost him nothing.
“Okay,” the urchin nodded.
Feeling that Rex was a good person, he hurriedly called out to stop him.
“Sir…”
Seeing Rex looking back, he quickly said, “Last night, I saw people from the Nikolai family go into that room.
I don’t know if this information is useful to you, sir.”
Rex’s gaze sharpened slightly.
Judging by the urchin’s words, he had clearly guessed his identity.
“Very useful.”
Rex pulled out another 5-dollar bill and handed it to the urchin.
He was very generous; anyway, if he ran out of money, he could just find some thugs to get more from.
After taking the money, the urchin quickly introduced himself.
“My name is Peter.
I’ll be hanging around the nightclubs in the Diamond District from now on.
If you ever need anything, sir, you can find me there.
Rest assured, sir.
You are the first person who has ever looked out for me.
I won’t go around saying anything about you.”
“Alright.” Rex made a mental note of it.
He didn’t take Peter’s words too seriously, but Gotham was swarming with street urchins; they might just prove to be very useful someday.
As for Nikolai?
Rex had some impression of him.
He was also a gang boss, though his presence was relatively low.
The reason he remembered him was because Nikolai and Fish Mooney, despite both being under Falcone’s command, were like fire and water.
But in reality, Nikolai and Fish Mooney had a close relationship.
They only pretended to be at odds to lower Falcone’s guard.
However, before Nikolai could make any moves, he was plotted against and killed by the Penguin.
To think he would learn the identity of the mastermind from a street urchin.
Indeed, when surviving in Gotham, no one could be underestimated.
Since that was the case, he would just deal with Nikolai together when the time came.
Suddenly, Rex had a flash of inspiration.
“Peter, I actually happen to have something I need your help with…”
The following few days progressed exactly like the plot.
Since Park Row, where the Waynes were murdered, was within Fish Mooney’s territory, she wanted to quell the storm as quickly as possible.
After consulting with the big boss, Falcone, Fish Mooney brought out a forged pearl necklace and randomly found an ex-convict mugger to act as a scapegoat, allowing Gordon and his partner Bullock to claim a major achievement.
Meanwhile, Oswald found an opportunity to bring down his boss.
He leaked the information about Fish forging evidence and framing an innocent man to the Montoya duo from the Gotham Major Crimes Unit.
Amidst the filth of the Gotham Police Department, the Montoya duo were considered responsible officers.
Oswald hoped to use their hands to eliminate Fish Mooney.
However, the little Penguin at this time was far from being as experienced as he would be in the future.
Moreover, he didn’t know about the relationship between Montoya and Gordon’s girlfriend, Barbara.
The two women had once been close, hand-holding close.
Upon learning the news, Montoya went to tell Barbara, hoping she would stay away from Gordon.
Rex, who knew the plot inside out, knew that Barbara would ultimately choose to trust Gordon and tell him about Fish forging the evidence.
As it happened, Gordon was the biggest hothead in the Gotham Police Department.
He went straight to confront Fish Mooney.
The result was obvious.
Rather than dealing with a whole mess of trouble once the matter was exposed, Fish chose the simplest solution: solving the person who brought up the problem.
Because of Gordon’s recklessness, Oswald was indirectly sold out, leading to a situation where both of them were about to be killed by a furious Fish.
Estimating that the timeline was right around these two days, Rex also began to set his own plan in motion.
Although the Penguin wouldn’t die if he just followed the plot, all the gratitude would go to Gordon.
Rex planned to do something to make the Penguin believe that he was the one who saved him.
It is worth mentioning that during this time, Bruce had called, hoping Rex would attend his parents’ funeral.
Rex did attend, but he didn’t show his face publicly.
He only greeted Bruce from a distance.
During this period, everyone’s attention was focused on Bruce, so it wasn’t suitable for him to get too close.
Early the next morning.
Rex held a cup of coffee, standing at the Gotham pier, gazing out at the river water.
This scene reminded him of the riverbank where he had accepted the Abyss’s invitation.
Tap, tap, tap.
The sound of footsteps behind him instantly brought Rex’s wandering thoughts back to the present.
He turned around to see a gray-haired and bearded old man walking toward him with a piercing gaze and a commanding stride.
Rex revealed a smile.
The person he was waiting for had arrived.
“I apologize for the early interruption.” Rex raised his coffee cup in greeting.
“Don Falcone.”