Gotham’s sewers always reminded Gordon of some unpleasant memories.
For example, the Lazlo Valentin case.
The criminal suffered from severe dissociative identity disorder and had murdered numerous children, carrying their bodies into the sewers in an attempt to use his shoddy medical skills to piece them together and create a new life-form.
Naturally, such a delusional idea was doomed to fail.
The thing he created was nothing more than a grotesque stitched-together corpse.
Gordon and Bullock had followed the clues and found Valentin hiding in the sewers.
They had subdued him without much effort.
Unfortunately, his dissociative identity disorder allowed Valentin to escape justice, and he was sent to Arkham Asylum.
Gordon had even visited him a few months ago.
Valentin had become taciturn and quiet.
He wore a cartoon pig mask on his head and spent entire days reading medical books.
It seemed he still hadn’t abandoned his goal.
He had simply learned to arm himself with knowledge.
Compared with the ranting lunatic he had once been, Gordon felt this version of Valentin was even more dangerous.
“Thinking about something unpleasant?
That son of a bitch Lazlo Valentin?”
Bullock read the anxiety on his partner’s face.
“Harvey Bullock, you’re practically a worm in my stomach.”
Gordon laughed and cursed at him.
The two made their way through waist-deep sewage, flashlights in hand.
Gotham City’s history could be traced back to before the founding of the United States.
When French workers were helping lay the foundations of the city, the Northern revolutionary forces were still fighting plantation militia.
Using blueprints left behind by French designers as its foundation, Gotham’s sewage system had undergone numerous reconstructions and renovations over the years.
It had long since become completely unrecognizable, turning into a genuine underground labyrinth.
Even with a map to guide them, its multi-level structure and intricate network of waterways could easily leave newcomers completely lost.
Fortunately, their target had also left behind plenty of clues.
These murderous monsters had yet to lose their savage instincts, and enormous, horrifying claw marks could be seen everywhere along the pipes and walls.
Gordon studied the sewer map and planned their route, while Bullock was responsible for leaving marks along the way.
The two worked together silently and seamlessly.
But after they left, a small shadow emerged from the darkness and erased every mark they had left behind.
After wandering through the sewers for a full two hours, Gordon began to feel that something was wrong.
“Did we get lost?
This place looks familiar.”
“That doesn’t make sense.
I left marks everywhere.”
Bullock scratched his head while holding a piece of chalk that was nearly worn down to nothing.
“The map says we should turn left here, but there’s no passage to the left.”
Just as the two were about to study the map, the ground inexplicably trembled.
Gordon thought it was an illusion.
But when he shone his flashlight down, he saw ripples spreading across the sewage beneath their feet.
“An earthquake?”
A trace of panic flashed through Bullock’s eyes.
He knew exactly what was happening.
He simply didn’t want to face it.
Gordon drew his pistol.
The moment he finished speaking, the ground trembled again.
This time, the vibration was much stronger, accompanied by a half-meter-high wave of water surging toward them.
From the other end of the sewer came a sudden, heavy panting sound.
Their faces turned pale.
The guns in their hands were Ruger GP100s, chambered in .357.
Their effective range was only one hundred meters, and if the angle was even slightly off, they couldn’t even penetrate a skull.
Much less could they hope to use them against the long-haired monster that had massacred everyone at the casino.
The two exchanged a glance.
A single thought surfaced in both their minds.
Run!
Even Gordon couldn’t think of a way to survive.
The monster was tall and long-legged.
If it really pursued them, it could catch up in only a few steps.
They splashed through the accumulated water, one foot deep and the next shallow, while Gordon’s palm around his gun began to sweat.
He made up his mind.
If he was destined to die today, he would at least seriously wound the monster.
He couldn’t let it escape the sewers and wreak havoc on Gotham.
But for some reason, the monster behind them never appeared.
All they could sense were the vibrations beneath their feet and the heavy breathing that seemed to draw closer and then recede again.
It was almost as though the monster possessed an extremely high intelligence and was deliberately driving them toward some particular place.
The thought that suddenly appeared in Gordon’s mind frightened him.
If that assumption was correct, then what awaited them ahead had to be an even more dangerous crisis than the monster itself.
“Bullock, stop!”
He shouted for his partner.
But Bullock’s mind had already been filled with fear.
There was no room left for even a trace of reason.
Gordon could only reach out and grab him.
The instant he caught his partner by the collar of his trench coat, the two simultaneously lost their balance.
By sheer coincidence, they fell into a nearby drainage opening and rolled downward with the current to the level below.
At the same time, on the second underground level of the sewer, Will and Selina were also being pursued by the biological monster.
Will was the first to realize that something was wrong.
His analysis was similar to Gordon’s, but his conclusion was even more audacious.
The dragon-in-the-garage principle:
If a dragon is hiding in a garage, but it is invisible, floating in midair, breathing fire that produces no heat, and cannot be detected by any means, then how can we prove that it exists?
The answer is that there is no need to prove it.
Because it doesn’t exist in the first place.
Any existence that cannot be proven with conclusive evidence can be regarded as nothingness.
Until now, Will hadn’t actually seen the biological monster with his own eyes.
The vibrations in the ground didn’t necessarily come from it.
The terrifying breathing could also be faked.
A huge portion of human fear came from their own imagination.
Will stopped walking.
His gradually widening pupils stared fixedly at the corner behind him.
He didn’t want to keep running.
If we don’t run, it’ll catch up!”
Seeing Will stop, Selina assumed he had run out of strength.
She kindly tried to take his hand and run with him, but Will pulled his hand away.
“I have an idea I want to verify.
If I’m wrong, we might both die.
So you should leave.”
Will gritted his teeth.
His voice trembled in his throat.
He was actually terrified.
But considering that allowing an unseen enemy to lead them around by the nose would only be more dangerous, he had to take a gamble.
He was betting that the biological monster chasing them was a dragon in the garage.
The footsteps grew increasingly clear.
With every tremor of the sewer, bits of brick and moss fell onto Will’s head.
Will could even smell the stench from inside the biological monster’s mouth, a smell so overpowering that it drowned out the foulness of the sewer.
It was as though someone had pickled a herring to perfection, stuffed it inside a seal carcass, and fermented it together with a puffin for six whole months.
How could a smell this foul possibly exist in this world?
Will could sense that the biological monster had stopped walking.
It was hiding around the corner.
But why wasn’t it coming out?
Just as he decided to go forward and take a look, Selina grabbed his hand.
“Let’s go together.”
Her hand was soft, but cold and damp from the sweat of her palms.
It felt like a piece of konjac.
The two walked toward the corner.
It was only a few dozen meters, yet Will crossed that distance with the heart-pounding terror of walking a tightrope over a cliff.
He was so nervous that his heart felt ready to leap out of his throat.
He was terrified that the moment he poked his head around the corner, he’d come face-to-face with some enormous demonic visage.
Honestly, it would be less painful just to kill him outright.
They finally reached the corner.
The nauseating stench had become overwhelmingly foul.
Even with his nose covered, the smell tore through his defenses without mercy and ravaged his sense of smell.
Do I really have to look?
No matter what, Will couldn’t take that final step.
While he was still hesitating, Selina had already finished checking.
“There’s really no one here.
You were right!”
As her voice fell, Will let out a sigh of relief.
The foul stench that had tormented him also vanished without a trace.
Only then did Will understand.
This wasn’t the biological monster’s bad breath.
It was the smell of fear emanating from his own heart.
But just as he stuffed his suspended heart back into his stomach, two muffled thuds rang out.
Two human figures fell from the waterway above.
“AAAAAAAHHHHHHH!”