"Gotham Police Department." Roy replied categorically.

Gordon frowned: "I'm sure you won't use me as a pastime at this juncture, but your news still makes me so suspicious." You say these guys are hiding in our headquarters? ”

"Specifically, it should be a place where you can see the main entrance of your headquarters."

"How?"

Roy explained: "On live TV, although the face of the dentist who spoke blocked out all the background behind that could provide clues to the location, it also made every organ of his face more visible. I recorded the live TV broadcast, manipulated the resolution, and zoomed in on the psychiatrist's pupils to see what seemed to be a building with the letters 'GCPD' (Gotham Police Station) written on it. ”

"Sounds pretty convincing." "But you're saying that the police standing guard at our front gate, and so many people who are busy coming in and out, didn't notice that these crazy people were recording video at our front door?" ”

"It's incredible." "But as far as I know, there's only one building in Gotham City that has the letters 'GCPD' written on it. ”

This sentence nodded to Gordon. He was stunned for a moment, and suddenly remembered something: "Wait a minute, we are not the only building like this. And one more! ”

"Oh? Where is it? ”

Gordon said with some emotion: "In the old town of Gotham, that place is now considered a slum. The former headquarters of the Gotham Police Department was there, but it is now abandoned. Yes, I'm sure they must be there! I'll send someone right now! Thanks, Roy, you've helped a lot again. ”

"It should."

Roy hung up the phone and said to Barbara, "GCPD actually has an old-fashioned building, so I guess that the 'sacrifice' event is there." And indeed in keeping with the men's declaration, a 'sacred and solemn site', and what better place to do than the police headquarters, albeit abandoned? ”

Barbara patted her head in annoyance: "Oh, I didn't think there was an old building in GCPD all of a sudden. You know, no one has mentioned it for as long as I can remember, not even my dad hasn't been there in more than a decade."

"There's still half an hour left, and we've got to hurry." Roy opened his closet and dragged out a special black locked box containing all the equipment he needed to attack, "Chief Gordon said to send someone as soon as possible, but we all know that the police department is seriously short of manpower right now. I don't know how long he will have to wait until his personnel are deployed, so we can only count on it. ”

Hostage-taking scene on the other side of Gotham.

The two frightened and speechless hostages looked at the gangsters dangling with guns in front of them and their faces wearing ridiculous makeup. One of the gangsters is trying to get a chance to talk to the president from the negotiators, and has expressed his determination to have the clown's face printed on the dollar bill.

As a normal person, the hostages really think this scene is funnier than any comedy. But when I think that you are a character whose life is in danger in this farce, I can't laugh again. Because it seems that everyone except the two persevering madmen, including the hostages, knows that this is a negotiation that cannot be concluded, which means that when the patience of these two madmen is exhausted, they may be destroyed by one shot.

Fortunately, none of this happened.

Just as the two hostages watched the negotiation madman become more and more impatient and their hearts raced, a loud "boom" suddenly erupted from under their feet. The soles of the two madmen's feet exploded at the same moment, the floor collapsed, and they let out a panicked cry at the same time, and fell to the next floor.

After a few dull thuds below, as well as the sound of objects being smashed, calm regained in a matter of seconds.

The two hostages looked at each other, bewildered.

Until Batman climbed up and said, "You're safe." ”

After Batman unties the ropes that bind the two of them, he connects to Alfred.

"Sir, it looks like the Wingknights have managed to locate the location of the Smile Alliance, and now they have rushed over."

"I said he could do it."

The old Gotham Police Station building.

Barbara pulls up a map of the police station from an unknown amount of time ago and uploads it to Roy's electronic screen. Roy released the zipline from the elevator shaft, which had ceased operation many years ago, and crouched on the top of the elevator to observe the location of hostages and enemies outside with infrared imaging.

Surprisingly, infrared imaging captured only one person in the entire building. Neither the members of the Smile Alliance nor the ten hostages of the so-called "sacrifice" were nowhere to be found.

Barbara was a little nervous: "It won't be that they have taken hostage"

"Probably not." Roy forcibly opened the elevator door and said, "It's still ten minutes before midnight, and most of the psychopaths associated with clowns are accompanied by obsessive-compulsive disorder, and since they said it should be at midnight, there shouldn't be a minute of deviation." ”

"So, we're in the wrong place?" Barbara asked.

"I don't think so, either." Roy said, "Just ask the rest of the guys." ”

As he spoke, he had found the only person who was in the hall on the first floor. The man was wearing a worn leather vest and was lying on his knees with his back to this side. There was a puddle of blood on the ground that I don't know who it came from, and the dregs of the shattered glass door were spilled all over the ground.

Roy walked up quickly: "Where are the hostages?" ”

"I let them all go."

The man turned his head and saw his face clearly, and Roy couldn't help but pause. Through the exclamation in his headphones, he knew that Barbara's stunned was a lot more than he was.

It's a very scary face. His face was painted with white paint, but the lipstick mark was not visible on his mouth. Because, he doesn't have a mouth at all.

The man's entire mouth had been cut off, and his white teeth were exposed, making him look rather disgusting.

'You're Rodney Spirman?' Torchbearers'? Roy recognized him.

Rodney shook his head: "No, that's not true. The fire in my house was just an accident, I didn't set it at all, but no one wanted to believe me. I was lonely and I needed someone to talk to, so I had to go to someone who would accept me. ”

"For example, the members of the Smile Alliance are fellow patients of Dr. O'Brien, and that's how you met." Roy said.

"But I never wanted to hurt anyone! They said that they were going to sacrifice ten living people as sacrifices, and I didn't think that was right. So I put them all away. ”

"So they cut your mouth?"

"Nope." Rodney shook his head, "I did it myself." Because when I looked at myself in the mirror, I suddenly felt that I had become a clown—the last person I wanted to be. So, I cut off that smiling face. ”

The police arrived very quickly. Rodney's clues about the Smile Alliance's hideout turned out to be crucial, and the Winged Knight single-handedly stormed the Smile League stronghold and arrested them all.

But no one thinks it's a happy ending.

Roy folded his hands and leaned back in his armchair, staring out the window in silence.

Barbara sat at a table not far from him, busy on her computer, and didn't bother him.

"Barbara, I suddenly feel," Roy said abruptly.

Barbara's eyes rolled, waiting for him to say something.

"Maybe the city really needs me to do something more important than solving puzzles."

Barbara was stunned for a moment, then smiled with relief: "Yes, it's Gotham after all." ”

Roy was silent for a moment, then stood up and walked into the room.

"Good night, Barbara."

"Good night."