There is no Batman in Gotham City comics.

Chapter 9 Sewer Horror

Gotham's sewers always remind Gordon of some bad memories.

For example, in the case of László Valentine, the perpetrator suffered from severe dissociative identity disorder, murdered many children, moved their bodies into the sewers, and attempted to use his poor medical skills to piece the corpses together to create new life.

Of course, such a whimsical idea was destined to fail, and what he created was nothing more than a grotesque stitched-together corpse.

Gordon and Brock followed the clues and found Valentine hiding in the sewers. They subdued him without much effort, but unfortunately, Valentine's split personality allowed him to escape and he was sent to Arkham Asylum.

Gordon had visited him a few months ago, but now Valentine was taciturn and quiet, wearing a cartoon pig mask and spending the whole day engrossed in medical books.

He seems to have not given up on his goal and has learned to arm himself with knowledge.

Gordon felt that Valentine was more dangerous than that raving madman.

"Thinking of something bad? Is it that son of a bitch, Laszlo Valentine?" Brock read the anxiety on his partner's face.

"Harvey Bullock, you're like a tapeworm in my stomach," Gordon laughed and cursed.

Using flashlights, the two waded through waist-deep sewage, feeling their way forward.

Gotham City's history can be traced back to before the founding of the United States, and while French workers were building the city, the Northern Revolutionary Army was fighting fiercely with plantation guards.

Based on blueprints left by French designers, Gotham's sewage system has undergone several reconstructions and renovations, becoming a veritable underground labyrinth.

Even with a map, the multi-layered structure and extensive waterway system can easily cause newcomers to lose their way completely.

Fortunately, their targets left behind many clues. These murderous monsters were untamed, and shocking, huge scratch marks could be seen everywhere on the walls of the water pipes along the way.

Gordon studied the sewer map and planned the route, while Brock was responsible for marking the way. The two worked together silently and in perfect harmony.

But just after the two left, a thin, dark figure emerged from the shadows and wiped away all the marks they had left behind.

After wandering around in the sewers for two full hours, Gordon felt something was off.

"Are we lost? This place seems familiar."

"That doesn't make sense. I've already marked them." Brock scratched his head, holding the chalk he was almost finished drawing with.

"The map says you should turn left when you get here, but there's no left turn here."

Just as the two were about to study the map, the ground inexplicably trembled slightly. Gordon thought it was his imagination, but when he shone his flashlight on the ground, he could indeed see ripples spreading across the sewage beneath his feet.

"An earthquake?"

A flicker of fear crossed Brock's eyes. He knew everything; he just didn't want to face it.

Gordon drew his pistol.

Stop lying to yourself!

As soon as he finished speaking, the ground trembled again, this time with a stronger tremor, accompanied by a wave of water half a meter high.

At the other end of the sewer, the sudden burst of heavy breathing turned their faces pale.

The guns they carried were Gru GP100s, using .357 caliber bullets. Their effective range was only 100 meters, and at a slightly off angle, they couldn't even penetrate a skull, let alone be used against the hairy monsters at the massacre venue.

The two looked at each other, and a thought popped into their minds at the same time.

run!

Gordon hadn't thought of a way to survive either, since the monster was tall and had long legs, and if it really wanted to chase the two of them, it could catch up in just a few steps.

Stepping through the puddles, Gordon's palms sweated slightly as he gripped his gun. He was determined that even if he was doomed to die today, he would severely injure this monster and prevent it from escaping the sewers and wreaking havoc on Gotham.

For some reason, the monster behind them never materialized; all they could feel was the ground trembling and the intermittent panting.

It was as if this monster possessed extremely high intelligence and was deliberately driving them to a certain place.

Gordon was startled by this sudden thought. If the hypothesis was true, then what awaited them ahead must be a crisis even more dangerous than the monster.

"Brock, stop!"

He called out to his partner, but Brock's mind was already filled with fear, leaving no room for reason.

Gordon could only reach out to grab Brock, and the two of them lost their balance the instant they grabbed his partner's trench coat collar, falling right into a nearby drain and rolling down to the next level with the current.

Meanwhile, on the second basement level of the sewers, Qin Wei and Selena were being chased by cyborgs.

Qin Wei was the first to notice something was wrong. His analysis was similar to Gordon's, but his conclusion was bolder.

The Garage Dragon Rule: If a fire-breathing dragon is hiding in your garage—invisible, floating in the air, breathing flames without heat, and undetectable by any means—how can you prove its existence?

The answer is no proof is needed, because it simply doesn't exist.

Any existence that cannot be proven with conclusive evidence can be considered as nothingness.

Qin Wei has never seen a cyborg in person. The ground tremors may not necessarily come from it, and the terrifying panting can also be faked.

A large part of human fear stems from the imagination.

Qin Wei stopped in his tracks, his pupils widening as he stared intently at the corner behind him.

He didn't want to run away anymore.

"Are you crazy? It'll catch up if you don't run!"

When Selena noticed Qin Wei wasn't moving, she assumed he had run out of energy. She kindly tried to pull him away to escape, but Qin Wei pried her hand off.

"I have an idea I want to verify. If I'm wrong, we might both die, so you'd better leave quickly."

Qin Wei gritted his teeth, his voice trembling in his throat.

He was actually terrified, but considering that being led by the nose by a hidden enemy would only be more dangerous, he decided to take a gamble.

They bet the android chasing them is a fire-breathing dragon in a garage!

The footsteps grew clearer, and with the vibrations of the sewer, fragments of brick and moss fell on his head. Qin Wei could even smell the stench from the cyborg's mouth, which overpowered the stench of the sewer.

The smell was as if pickled herring had been stuffed into a seal carcass and fermented with auks for six whole months. How could there be such a foul smell in the world?

Qin Wei could sense that the cyborg had stopped and was hiding behind the corner.

But why doesn't it show itself?

Just as he decided to go forward and investigate, Selena grabbed his hand.

Let's go together.

Her hands were soft, soaked in cold sweat, and felt like a piece of konjac.

The two walked towards the corner. The short distance of a few dozen meters felt like walking on a tightrope, making Qin Wei's heart pound in his throat. He was afraid that if he peeked out, he would bump into a huge ghostly face.

That would be far better than just killing him.

Finally, he reached the corner, where the nauseating smell was so strong it was almost unbearable. Even with his nose covered, the stench relentlessly tore through his sense of smell and ravaged his sense of olfaction.

Do you really want to watch it?

Qin Wei simply couldn't take that final step.

While he was still hesitating, Selena had already completed her investigation.

"There really isn't anyone there, you're right!"

As he finished speaking, he sighed with relief, and the stench that had been plaguing him vanished.

Qin Wei then realized that this was not the bad breath of a cyborg, but the smell of fear emanating from his heart.

But just as he managed to calm himself down, he heard two muffled thuds, and two figures fell down from the waterway above.

"ah!!!!!!!"