Roy sat in his armchair, chin propped up in thought. He stared straight out the window, and those who didn't know him would think he was just in a daze, but those who knew him knew that it was a sign of contemplation, which meant that a shrewd brain was swimming in the ocean of reasoning and thinking.

He's been keeping it that way for an hour.

Barbara finally couldn't help it and asked, "Aren't you ready to say anything to me?" ”

Roy didn't say a word.

Barbara dragged a chair in front of him and sat down, saying, "That's enough!" You've been like this since the day we took down the Fallen Knights. You know who the 'bishop' is, right? Tell me, who is he? ”

Roy closed his eyes slightly: "I don't know. ”

Barbara said in annoyance, "Oh, Roy, you don't even have the slightest sincerity to lie to me. ”

Roy shook his head slightly, but still didn't look like an explanation.

"Listen, you once said that we are partners and cherish our partnership." "And I know we're more than that. And the most basic thing to maintain all relationships is trust. So, as your assistant, as a partner, and even someone with a deeper connection, I beg you, tell me, who is that 'bishop'? Why does he upset you so much? ”

Roy looked at her for a moment and sighed softly.

"Well, to be honest, I don't really know who he is, and that's the biggest problem I'm trying to solve right now." He said, "But you're right, I do know him...... Or ever understood. ”

"Explain."

Roy pondered for a moment and said, "As you know, I only moved to Gotham last year. I don't want to mention where I used to be, you just need to know that I used to be a consultant detective. It was at that time that I got to know the bishop. ”

"He was probably one of the most terrible of all my opponents in my life, and I racked my brains and tried all the methods to deal with him. Of course, I managed to get his attention, so I have reason to believe that he felt the same way about me. ”

"The last case I had before I came to Gotham was the case of the 'Bishop', and I thought I had settled him...... Albeit at a huge cost. ”

When he said this, his voice unconsciously lowered, his eyes became confused, and he fell into a memory, as if he was muttering to himself: "...... I thought we had finished off each other, but I didn't expect ...... Hehe, it's really a trick. ”

Of course, she thought that "ending each other" was just some kind of rhetorical device, but how did she know that it was not rhetorical at all. What better way to illustrate the drama of fate than when two old enemies die in the fire at the same time, are reborn together and then reunited?

Roy still remembers the sensation of the scorching temperature coming to his face and the fiery demons relentlessly devouring his body. He watched as the bishop's elegant shell melted away by the heat, revealing everything that was wrapped under his skin, and saw himself burning in the reflection of the bishop's jet-black eyes......

Man's deepest memories are not only hard to forget, but also more likely to be fueled by the subconscious itself. Many of the details of that night may have been his later fantasies, but whether it was real or not, the memories of his dying life in his previous life were something he could not forget.

And when I heard that the bishop had come to this world with him, it felt like the nightmare had crossed the boundaries of space and followed him closely.

"Hey!" Barbara's white hand shook in front of his eyes, "Are you okay?" Your expression looks ...... Not great. ”

Roy came back to his senses: "I'm fine, I'm just ...... Recall. ”

Barbara said apologetically, "I'm sorry I didn't mean to remind you of anything bad......"

She couldn't finish the second half of her sentence, because the deafening roar completely swallowed her voice.

The window on the side of the two of them shattered, and the smoke condensed into a thick ram that broke through the window, suddenly filling the entire room, and the violent vibration was like the earth shaking for a while.

Looking out of the window, I saw that smoke was already billowing out of the windows directly opposite, and the flames were like beasts in an iron cage stretching their claws out of the windows.

"Gas leak?" Barbara asked.

Two hours after the explosion, Barbara and Roy were standing above the white smoke of the ruins. The fire brigade extinguished the fire in time to prevent the disaster from spreading, and Roy and Barbara entered the scene with the help of police advisers.

The person in charge of the scene said: "Yes, it was just a gas leak, it was a pure accident, and it seems that this case does not need a detective consultant." ”

Director Gordon hurried from outside the blockade, and Barbara saw him, and before he could say a word, his father hugged him with a bear hug.

"Oh my God, Babs, are you okay? Didn't get hurt, did you? ”

Barbara smiled and said, "It's okay, Dad, it's just that the window is broken." Looks like I'm going to have to spend a while cleaning up the living room...... Because that guy is not going to spend time on cleaning up. ”

As she spoke, she pointed to Roy, who was wandering around the ruins with a frown, unaware of what he was noting.

He removed the two pieces of rubble, sniffed between the cracks, and then groped with his gloves for a while, then sniffed his fingers with a strange expression.

Barbara recognized the expression, and she knew Roy must have discovered it again.

"How?" She asked.

Roy said: "This explosion was not an accident of some gas leak. You smell it. ”

Barbara leaned closer to his finger and sniffed it, wondering, "Acetic acid?" ”

Roy shook his head: "No, it's the smell of the chemical composition of the incendiary bomb." It is possible that the explosion was indeed involved in the gas accident, but the gas leak was not the main cause, this incendiary bomb was, and it may have been activated remotely. ”

"The owner here is away from home for a long time." "Why would anyone fake a gas leak in an empty room?" ”

Roy didn't answer.

Here, an investigator brought a physical evidence bag and handed it to the person responsible: "Sir, there is still a sturdy safe left in the house that is not damaged, and there is nothing in it...... Except for this. ”

There was a key lying in the evidence bag. The person in charge looked around for a moment and said, "Where is the key?" ”

Roy took the bag over, poured out the key, looked at it, and said, "The bank safe key can be seen by its characteristic serrations...... So the abbreviation above should refer to Gotham Bank. This number, 628, is the serial number of the bank safe, maybe we should see what special things are in that cabinet, maybe there is a message left by the person who forged the accident. ”