Bruce went to the shop Jason had mentioned, but he didn't go into the shabby little shop, just stood on the roof of a short distance and looked at it with a telescope.

At this time, the door of the store was closed, and there was no light in the gap, indicating that there should be no one inside at this time.

"At this point, there is no one in the store anymore"

Jason struggled to climb up to the roof and said to Bruce as he turned into a statue.

“.. It's time to sleep."

"Dick says the most important thing about being Robin is to be ready when Batman is in action"

"Then he must not have said that this does not include the next day's exam."

"Oh please, the entrance exams for public schools ended three days ago, okay?"

Jason secretly rolled his eyes, Bruce's super memory would never appear in something unrelated to the case.

Jason's words made Bruce flustered, and his brain was running rapidly for a long time, and he finally searched for the suspected news that Alfred had reported to him that Jason had been successfully admitted from the brain cells in the corner of Gera.

"What are you looking at?"

Jason asked strangely as he looked at the already unfamiliar door across from him.

“.. Sure there's no one inside."

"No one has anything to confirm?"

Jason didn't understand, didn't Bruce just come to find someone? Why be sure that no one is there?

"Good to go in and find clues"

After making sure there was no movement in the room, Bruce jumped off the roof and landed in front of the door of the store, took out his tools, tinkered with the lock, opened the door, and walked in.

Although he didn't understand, Jason followed Bruce into the store that he hadn't been here for a long time.

"Strange? Has it been renovated? ”

With the mask's night vision, Jason noticed a difference between the store's furnishings and his memory.

“.. Weird? ”

Bruce asked, as he meticulously inspected every corner.

"Well, since I came here to sell things, I haven't seen any changes in the furnishings in his store, and it's always like that when I come."

Jason said as he held out his finger to rub the tabletop that looked much cleaner than he remembered.

"Don't touch it!"

Jason's fingers were about to touch the table, but Bruce's hand stopped him.

"Don't leave evidence of our visit"

“.... Oh"

Jason stumbled as he withdrew his finger and looked at Bruce's back and wondered if he even had eyes behind his back.

Jason didn't understand what Bruce was looking for, just watched as he crouched down and picked something from the ground with his characteristic tweezers. Then he walked to the other side of the room, looking for something.

"What are you looking for?"

Jason finally couldn't help but ask.

"Clues"

“.... What clues? ”

"I don't know"

“... No.. I don't know? ”

This answer really surprised Jason, and he didn't know what a clue was.

"A lot of times the clues don't immediately match your suspicions, you have to collect all the anomalous things, maybe it will be useful in the later detection"

Bruce answered Jason's question as if talking to himself.

“... Is this desktop too clean an anomaly? ”

Jason turned his attention back to the unusually clean tabletop that he remembered had not been cleaned in a long time, and he even remembered that there was a flattened mosquito corpse on it for months.

Hearing Jason say this, Bruce stopped his collection work, thought for a moment and asked:

"Weird?"

"It's very strange, I've always been selling from him, but I've never seen the slightest change in his shop."

Jason can almost walk around the store with his eyes closed without worrying about bumping into anything.

“.... Why are you here to sell things? ”

Bruce continued to ask, the store was a long way from where Jason had lived.

“... Only this boss won't be paid for because it's a child who is trading with him."

This is the reason why Jason always travels all the way to this store to sell the stolen goods he has stolen, he is just a child, and he has encountered many cases of taking things without giving money. In that case, Jason can only consider himself unlucky. Only the owner of this shop, although very dark, can still get some money.

“..... Will you give some of them? ”

"Yes, I'll give some of it, even though it's dark."

"Are there any other kids besides you who will come here to sell things?"

Bruce seemed to have something in mind, and his questions began to have some kind of purpose.

"Of course, he doesn't take care of the children, so the ghosts in the neighborhood come here to sell what they stole or picked up."

“... Did he ask you to find something, or someone? ”

Bruce suddenly threw out a question, which made Jason pause for a moment, and after thinking carefully and recalling for a while, he said:

“... He sometimes seems to give money to the kids to do something for him."

"Do you know what's going on?"

“... I don't know, I didn't take the job he gave me."

Jason never takes these jobs, although the money is fast but the risk is also very high, as far as he knows, there is a little ghost who was sunk in Gotham Bay by the drug dealer in that area because he delivered drugs to a guy who came from nowhere, there are too many such things, so Jason never takes inexplicable work.

“... Probably an intelligence merchant."

"What?"

Jason didn't understand why Bruce would come to such a conclusion.

"On the surface, it seems that this guy named Charlie is just a grocery store owner who sells stolen goods, but judging by his behavior, it is likely that he is mainly based on trading intelligence"

"Why did you come to this conclusion?"

Bruce's conclusion intrigued Jason.

"The street children everywhere in Gotham are also humanoid monitors from another point of view, as long as he masters this intelligence network, he can easily get some clues that others and even gangsters don't know."

Street children are everywhere at the bottom of Gotham, and adults are generally less wary of children, even the gangsters don't change much at this point. As long as the interests of the gang are not touched, the actions of the children are usually turned a blind eye.

This person named Charlie has mastered this network, so he can easily use these children to help him pass on messages or help him collect information.

“.... So why did he give more money? ”

Jason was a little strange, wouldn't it be better to give more money when selling stolen goods in order to have a good relationship with them street children?

"If he's too offbeat, he'll attract some unwanted attention"

Bruce didn't say it too clearly, but Jason understood.

The bottom of Gotham also has its own social class, and at the bottom are street children like them. It is very normal for street children to be exploited as the lowest level, some will refuse to pay after using the children to do things for them, and the other will exploit the children's labor and pay them less, but no matter which method is used, their behavior is called normal here. On the contrary, it is the ones who pay the children in full that are the exception.

The grocery store owner uses the second method, so that he does not seem to conflict with the unspoken rules of Gotham, and at the same time, because he will pay a certain amount of remuneration so that the children will not work in vain, so he will gain the trust of the children, and someone will be willing to do things for him, although the money given is small but it is better than nothing.

"Let's go"

Bruce finally ends his exploration of the grocery store and leaves with Jason.