Wee-woo, wee-woo—!!
Several police cars sped into Arkham Asylum. Gordon led his team as they jumped out of the vehicles and rushed into the facility.
At first glance, everything seemed normal. No fires, no explosions, no hordes of deranged criminals running riot.
From the looks of it, the Riddler must have escaped alone without freeing the others.
The captain of the guard at Arkham Asylum soon came out to brief Gordon on the situation, leading him and his team to the Riddler's cell.
It was already empty.
All that remained was a crooked sentence scrawled on the wall in green paint.
"Gotham will forever have only one Riddler."
"This cage… the cell looks completely intact. How did the Riddler escape?"
After carefully inspecting the room, Gordon voiced his confusion.
"The Riddler somehow bribed a patrolling guard to let him out. We've already taken that guard into custody. You can escort him to the GCPD at any time."
The captain said with a troubled expression.
"What? Didn't I order that every patrol team in Arkham must have at least three people, with no more than fifteen minutes between rounds? And that speaking to those lunatics is strictly forbidden?"
Gordon was instantly furious when he heard the captain's explanation.
"This… it's mainly because things at the asylum have been very stable over the past year. None of the situations you warned us about ever happened, so everyone gradually let their guard down. And honestly, the manpower pressure of three-person patrols every fifteen minutes is pretty heavy…"
The captain of the guard lowered his head in shame.
There was nothing he could say in his defense. Arkham Asylum was not a subsidiary of the GCPD. It had originally been a private institution before becoming a public psychiatric hospital. Only because of the special nature of its inmates did it maintain frequent contact with the GCPD and the Bat Family.
Although most of the asylum's guards were professionally trained at the police academy, they had never faced super-criminals firsthand the way frontline GCPD officers had.
Many of them did not truly understand how dangerous the lunatics they guarded were. Their knowledge of super-criminals came mostly from news reports and rumors, lacking any real sense of danger.
They might strictly follow regulations at first, but when nothing unusual happened for a long time, relaxation became inevitable.
Even though this so-called "lax" state would still be considered extremely strict in an ordinary prison.
"Kenneth, maybe you've forgotten how your predecessor lost his life. The day before his throat was torn open, he was still insisting that the killer's mental condition had returned to normal."
Gordon reminded him coldly.
"You have no idea what kind of monsters you're living with."
"I will be taking the guard who was manipulated by the Riddler with me. And you should prepare yourself for disciplinary action as well, Captain Kenneth."
With that, Gordon left Arkham Asylum at once and issued a warrant for the Riddler's arrest as quickly as possible.
When dealing with the Riddler, Gordon's attitude was completely different from when he faced Kaitou Kid.
The level of danger these two posed to Gotham was not even comparable.
If necessary, Gordon was prepared to light that signal at any moment.
"What did that sentence the Riddler left behind really mean? 'Gotham can only have one Riddler'… When did a second Riddler ever appear?"
Sitting in the police car, Gordon pondered the only clue the Riddler had deliberately left behind.
Then he remembered how, when Kaitou Kid sent his first Notice, Curator Zack had mistakenly thought it was written by the Riddler. Because of that, Gordon had gone to question the Riddler about it in person.
At the time, after seeing Kid's Notice, the Riddler had reacted with extreme agitation.
He had even threatened to kill whoever wrote it.
"Could it be that the Riddler escaped this time just to go after Kaitou Kid?"
A bold idea formed in Gordon's mind.
The more he thought about it, the more plausible it seemed.
But the problem was that the GCPD had not been able to uncover Kaitou Kid's identity for so long. How could the Riddler, who had been locked up in Arkham, possibly know who Kaitou Kid was?
Without knowing Kaitou Kid's true face or whereabouts, where would the Riddler even go to kill him?
This question did not trouble Gordon for long.
Because the very next day after the Riddler's escape, a trophy emblazoned with a green question mark was delivered to Gordon by a courier.
The moment he saw that symbol, Gordon knew exactly where it came from.
In all of Gotham, aside from the Riddler, no one would use a question mark as their mark. Or rather, no one would dare to.
Gordon immediately made two calls.
The first went to the bomb squad. The second to the hazmat team.
They moved the Riddler Trophy to an open training field before beginning their inspection.
Fortunately, there was no explosive device hidden inside, nor any trap designed to release toxic gas when triggered.
After repeated checks, both teams confirmed that the trophy posed no immediate danger.
The only thing found inside was a USB flash drive hidden in a small compartment at the base.
Good. Next, it should have been time for the cybercrime unit to step in.
Except it wasn't.
Gordon casually borrowed a laptop from one of his subordinates and plugged in the USB drive.
The file inside was a video.
When he clicked on it, the Riddler appeared on screen.
"Hello, people of Gotham, and especially everyone at the GCPD. Long time no see."
"Most of you should know who I am. I am the Riddler, Gotham's one and only Riddler."
The Riddler introduced himself proudly to the camera.
"However, I've heard that recently, a phantom thief who likes to design riddles has appeared in Gotham. Why would a thief use riddles to announce when he plans to steal something? It makes absolutely no sense."
"Obviously, he's copying me. A poor imitation."
"I cannot tolerate the existence of such a low-grade copycat, so I'm back. I will show you all once again what a true Riddler looks like."
As he spoke, the Riddler stepped aside, revealing something behind him.
It was a person.
A girl tightly bound to a chair.
Around the girl's neck hung something that shocked everyone who saw it.
A necklace.
The emerald necklace stolen by Kaitou Kid ten days earlier.
It was actually on the person the Riddler had kidnapped.
"You should be watching this, Kaitou Kid. I don't know why you threw the necklace away and let it fall into the hands of this poor young lady. If I hadn't seen it on her, I wouldn't have kidnapped her at all."
The Riddler leaned closer to the camera.
"Her current predicament is entirely your fault, Kaitou Kid. Don't you think you owe her some proper compensation?"
"Next, I'll give you a riddle. Kaitou Kid, and everyone else, even including that Big Bat, you can all try to solve it. The answer will lead you to this poor lady's location."
"But you only have three days. After that, this place will explode. Boom. Nothing will be left."
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