Night was approaching, and the city’s lights were beginning to awaken.
The lion-headed Roman Casino slowly opened its enormous maw.
All kinds of guests came and went.
Bare shoulders, curvaceous figures, elegant gentlemen.
Looking at the jewelry and luxury watches glittering beneath the lights, Will stood there until his back ached and suddenly remembered a line from a song.
At eighteen, at my school’s dance, I stood there like a nobody.
Except he wasn’t merely standing there like a nobody now.
He was one.
“Will, relax a little!
We aren’t here to stand guard.”
Oswald had somehow gotten hold of two glasses of champagne and handed one to Will.
His happiness was truly simple.
Whenever a beautiful woman passed by, he would excitedly raise an eyebrow.
“Don’t assume that because these people are dressed expensively, we’re supposed to serve them.
The things they get up to aren’t all that different from ours.
Some of these people may even have more blood on their hands than we do.”
Oswald took a sip of champagne.
“Correction.
More blood than I do.
After all, you’re practically a good Samaritan like Jesus!”
“I’ll kill someone when necessary.”
Will was somewhat dissatisfied with Oswald’s teasing tone and retorted.
“When necessary?
You don’t even know what ‘necessary’ means.”
Oswald’s brows relaxed as he smiled.
“As everyone knows, there are two kinds of people in Gotham you absolutely shouldn’t mess with.
But if you insist on doing so, you’d better be prepared to kill them.”
“The first kind is drunkards.”
Will could relate to that deeply.
His father had been a drunk.
Whenever the old bastard had a few drinks in him, he never knew when to stop when it came to throwing punches.
When Will was young, he couldn’t beat his father, so he could only endure it.
Until he was seventeen.
That was when he finally couldn’t take it anymore.
He kicked the old bastard so hard that he ended up in the ICU for a week.
Only then did that piece of shit learn what the words “show some restraint” meant.
After hearing Will’s story, Oswald laughed so hard he doubled over.
“In a sense, you’re much fiercer than I am!
If I were given another chance at life, I’d definitely imitate you and give that bastard two kicks.”
“So?
What’s the second kind of person you shouldn’t mess with?”
Will didn’t want to talk about his father anymore, so he deliberately changed the subject.
Unexpectedly, Oswald’s expression darkened at the question.
He tilted his head back, downed a large mouthful of alcohol, and fiercely wiped the corner of his lips.
“More accurately, it’s one person.
The former leader of the Red Hood gang.
He’s a genuine lunatic.
Even knowing that the Romans were hunting him, he still dared to disguise himself and infiltrate Mr.
Falcone’s residence alone.”
“Didn’t he die?”
“He had remote-controlled bombs strapped all over his body and had Mr.
Falcone under his control.
Nobody dared make a move.”
Will fell into thought.
For some reason, the guy Oswald was describing reminded him strongly of a certain famous villain.
“What happened afterward?”
“He forced Mr.
Falcone into a car and escaped.
Later, an abandoned vehicle was discovered in North Harbor, along with Mr.
Falcone, completely unharmed.”
“Completely unharmed?
Then why did he bother kidnapping him?”
“Maybe he did it for fun.
We’d better not try to understand the thoughts of a madman.
Although Mr.
Falcone was completely unharmed, the lunatic had strapped a bomb vest onto him.”
“The pin on the bomb vest was connected to the car door handle by a thin wire.
When Mr.
Maroni arrived and opened the door, a five-minute countdown began.”
“That’s when the lunatic called Mr.
Maroni.
He told him that if he wanted to save the boss, he had to cut off his own left hand.
Of course, he could also do nothing and wait for the bomb to explode.
That way, the lunatic could naturally ascend to the throne of the Roman Empire.”
At this point in the story, Will was basically certain that the person they were talking about was the Joker.
“I guess Maroni chose to let him die, only for the bomb to turn out to be fake.”
Based on the Joker’s personality, Will reached this conclusion.
Oswald raised his eyebrows in surprise.
His expression said everything.
A master of psychological dismemberment and manipulation of the human heart, the Joker might not be Gotham’s smartest villain, but he was undoubtedly the one who understood human nature best.
Only by doing something like this could he create the greatest dramatic effect and drive a wedge between the Romans’ number one and number two.
…
All the guests had arrived, and the two finally brought their idle conversation to an end.
There was another group responsible for security at the casino.
Ritchie’s faction was also under Maroni.
The small-time boss Ritchie Pantone had been with the organization far longer than Oswald.
The comic had already revealed the fate awaiting this unlucky bastard.
First, Batman would break his right hand at the docks.
Then he would anger Doctor Hugo Strange by trying to collect a debt.
Finally, the biological monsters would literally tear him in half.
But the Ritchie who should have been standing there with his right hand wrapped in a cast and bandages instead appeared perfectly fine before Will.
It seemed that this world’s Gotham truly did not have Batman.
Surrounded by a group of underlings, Ritchie walked toward Oswald with a loud laugh.
“Hey, look who’s here!
Our little…”
He reached out, apparently intending to pat Oswald’s hair, which was slicked back with hair gel.
Oswald slapped his hand away.
“I’d advise you not to call me that damn nickname!”
Oswald’s face turned livid as he desperately held his head high.
But he was only five foot six, around 170 centimeters, while Ritchie was six foot two, around 188 centimeters.
Standing shoulder to shoulder, Oswald looked like a stubborn little kid arguing with his parent.
“Fine, I won’t call you that.
Anyway, what did Mr.
Maroni send you here for?
Security?
I think we’ve already got enough people here.”
Ritchie Pantone tossed out the bait.
His underling named Carlo immediately understood and picked up the thread.
“Mr.
Maroni must be worried that there are thieves hiding under the gambling tables.
We might not notice them, but Mr.
Oswald can see them without even bending over!”
Oswald bit his lip and suddenly let out a long breath.
He stopped the companion who wanted to step forward and argue, then smiled at Ritchie for the first time in his life.
“You’re right.
We should divide up the work.
I’m sure we’ll be able to complete this assignment successfully.”
But after Ritchie left with a loud laugh, Oswald’s expression darkened as quickly as a page being turned.
“Will, let’s patrol the second floor!”
…
Inside a bathroom stall on the second floor, Oswald furiously kicked the toilet to vent his anger.
He kept kicking until the tiles cracked and the pipes burst before finally stopping, seemingly satisfied.
He and Ritchie had a long history of resentment.
When Oswald had first joined the Romans, he had been Ritchie’s underling.
Ritchie was a complete bastard and human scumbag who casually bullied his subordinates.
Oswald, being short, had borne the brunt of it.
Not only had Ritchie given him a disgusting nickname, but punching and kicking him had also been an everyday occurrence.
Perhaps that was why Oswald treated his own subordinates so well.
He didn’t want to become a piece of human garbage like Ritchie.
After venting all his anger, he carefully tucked his disheveled long hair behind his ear amid the billowing mist of water.
“Will, I want to kill Ritchie.
Got any good ideas?”
The young man clenched his back teeth.
The killing intent in his eyes grew even more conspicuous as the lights went out.
“You asked me?
I’ve never even killed a chicken.
All I can do is curse him for you and hope he doesn’t make it through tonight.”
Will answered absentmindedly.
The gambling had already been underway for some time.
Doctor Hugo Strange and those three biological monsters could arrive at any moment.
Yet he still hadn’t figured out how to get Oswald away from the casino.
Just as he was racking his brain, Oswald suddenly raised a finger to his lips.
“Shh!
Did you hear that?
There’s something going on in Mr.
Maroni’s room next door!”