Chapter 11: The Price

As soon as he finished speaking, the guard at the door jolted as if he had been granted a reprieve and tried to stand up. However, his movements seemed quite inconvenient, and he struggled for a while before finally managing to straighten up.

This time, everyone could see that the guard had a bandage wrapped around one of his calves. Upon closer inspection, it appeared to be a shirt sleeve cut from somewhere, with clear bloodstains visible.

“Damn it, this guy is injured!” Commissioner Gordon shouted.

On the other end of the phone, Zi Liang replied calmly, “Yeah, you should have already heard from Officer Hill that one guard was shot. But don’t worry, it’s just a minor wound, no major bleeding—he’s just a bit hindered in his movements.”

In the time it took to say those few words, the injured guard had begun to take a few painful steps forward, clearly struggling.

“The hostages are in pain; I need to send someone to bring him over!” Gordon shouted.

“Um... that might not work. Your people can’t take him away; otherwise, the others won’t be able to keep up,” Zi Liang said.

Gordon paused, confused. “Keep up? What do you mean?”

Just as he asked the question...

“Chief, look!” a nearby officer shouted, pointing toward the bank's entrance.

At the same time, Gordon saw it too. Behind the injured guard, there seemed to be a rope attached, which tightened as he moved slowly forward, and then a second hostage was pulled out from inside the door... This person also had their hands bound and feet tied, forcing him to shuffle forward in tiny steps. A paper bag was over his head, and a sign on his chest read “30.”

“I think you’ve seen it now, Commissioner Gordon—your hostages,” Zi Liang's voice came through the phone. “Alright, one at a time, take it slow. If anyone falls because they rush, I’ll execute all the remaining hostages.”

Gordon watched as one hostage after another emerged. “What kind of trick are you playing?” he shouted.

“That’s none of your concern. In any case, I will return your hostages to you; all you have to do is wait patiently. Enough said, or I might mislabel the numbers,” Zi Liang said before hanging up the phone.

Gordon pressed his lips tightly together. He didn’t know what this new robber was up to, but he hadn’t demanded an evacuation route, nor was he threatening the hostages to negotiate. In fact... he was releasing the hostages. From these phone calls, Gordon could clearly sense that this person was completely unflustered; every action was methodical yet seemingly meaningless.

That feeling was unsettling... because just like Officer Hill earlier, Gordon saw the shadows of the “super criminals” that hadn’t appeared for many years in this robber named Zi Liang.

...

...

“Someone's been shot; get an ambulance ready!” Gordon shouted to the staff behind him.

He then turned his head and quietly asked Officer Hill beside him, “Have you got any updates from the perimeter?”

“None!” Officer Hill replied. “All the windows and doors of the bank are being watched, and there hasn’t been any movement.”

Gordon nodded. “Have the tactical team set up an ambush behind the bank, but make sure to approach from a distance. The ambush point shouldn’t be too close; this guy is likely watching us through the bank’s external cameras. Position snipers at the vents, rooftops, and the top of the building. Report immediately if anyone comes out, and have two teams of armed officers on standby. Once all the hostages are out, seal off the entire building. By the way, even though this guy named Zi Liang claims he’s alone, we can’t trust him, so don’t let those hostages wearing masks go; there might be accomplices among them.”

After hearing this, Officer Hill smartly nodded without making a fuss and quietly stepped back to arrange these matters.

Gordon picked up the binoculars again, watching as the hostages continued to emerge. At this point, the 19th hostage had just exited the bank.

However, due to the injured guard, who could only move slowly because of his gunshot wound, the process was painfully slow. The police were positioned quite far from the bank, making the wait excruciating, but no one dared to approach to assist; they could only wait anxiously.

Finally, after about seven or eight minutes, the last hostage, marked with a “1” on his chest, finally walked out of the bank.

...

At that moment, the police could no longer contain themselves and rushed forward, protecting the hostages. Several officers with riot shields quickly moved to the back of the last hostage, expertly raising their shields, fearing the robber would emerge from the door and start shooting at the crowd.

Meanwhile, several doctors hurried to the injured guard, untying him and removing the bag from his head.

“Ugh—ugh—” The guard’s mouth was taped shut, so he could only grunt desperately.

The doctors first laid him on a stretcher and then ripped off the tape from his mouth.

“Doctor! Doctor!” the guard shouted.

“We’re here, don’t panic; you’re safe now!” one doctor reassured the injured man.

“No! I mean the robber! He’s a doctor!” 

“Ah?” The people around were taken aback.

“Alright, you need to calm down now, and let the police handle the rest,” the medical staff signaled for him to lie down, and two people carrying the stretcher hurriedly took him to the ambulance.

At the same time, the remaining hostages were also safely escorted over. They had their masks and tape removed, but they weren’t untied. At that moment, the air was filled with cries, shouts, expressions of gratitude, and prayers, all blending into a cacophony. Some of the hostages, still overwhelmed by the joy of escaping death, shouted at the police, “The robber is a man! He’s a doctor! He was wearing a white coat!” but most were incoherent.

Of course, now that the robber had no hostages as leverage, the police were naturally no longer afraid. The tactical team that had been arranged was already in position, ready to storm in and apprehend the robber at a moment’s notice.

However, Gordon was not in a hurry. Unless the robber could fly, he didn’t believe he could escape.

So he calmly dialed that number again.

Chapter 12: The Explosion

Soon, the call was answered.

“Hello, are your hostages safe? Are you satisfied with my promise?” Zi Liang’s voice came through.

“Very good; you’re a man of your word,” Gordon replied, emphasizing the word “criminal.” “So I’ll give you a choice: either you come out and surrender yourself, or we come in and help you surrender.”

“I don’t want to choose either option, and I haven’t finished my sentence,” Zi Liang said. “I released the hostages as promised, but you didn’t follow the rules. The last hostage just walked out, and you couldn’t wait to take them all away, and you sent so many people to ambush nearby!”

“Of course, you’re the criminal, and I’m the police; that’s what I’m supposed to do,” Gordon said, then, seemingly to validate his own words, he shouted without hesitation, “Move! Bring that bastard out!”

Upon receiving the order, the tactical team rushed in, shields raised.

“You’ll pay for this,” Zi Liang said dismissively.

“Oh? Well, what’s the price? You want to take on twenty fully armed riot police by yourself?”

“If you insist on putting it that way... Hahaha—” Zi Liang suddenly burst into laughter.

Meanwhile, the tactical team had already stormed into the bank. The space wasn’t large, so they could almost immediately assess where someone might be hiding. They all took positions next to a counter.

And behind that counter...

They actually found the man in the white coat.

Commissioner Gordon, holding the phone in one hand and binoculars in the other, could clearly see the tactical team surrounding the counter, and he heard his subordinates shouting through their earpieces, “Put down your weapons! Raise your hands! You are surrounded!”

At that moment, Gordon thought everything was over, and a smile even crept onto his lips.

...

However, what happened next was...

The officers who had rushed in seemed to have realized something because the man in the white coat had no gun and was bound, with tape over his mouth. One of the quicker ones rushed forward to tear off the tape.

“I’m not the robber! I’m the security guard! I have identification, and I’m injured!” the man in the white coat shouted desperately, continuously gesturing toward his leg.

One officer used the barrel of his gun to lift the white coat, revealing a bandage soaked with blood that had already seeped through and was dripping.

All of this was transmitted through the intercom to Commissioner Gordon’s ears, leaving him stunned.

At that moment, Zi Liang’s laughter on the phone had just ended. “Oh, by the way, I should tell you that the numbers hanging from the hostages’ chests aren’t reminders of how many there are... they’re a countdown...”

“A countdown?” Gordon’s mind buzzed.

At that moment!

“Report, Chief! There’s a suitcase here! There’s a piece of paper on it!” a tactical officer reported through the intercom. “It says... 0...”

Gordon’s eyes widened in realization, and he shouted into the intercom, “Get out now! That’s a bomb! Bomb!”

The tactical officers inside the bank panicked, instinctively rushing toward the exit. Only a few, maintaining their professionalism, remembered they needed to get the hostages out, but they didn’t have time to help them stand; they simply dragged the injured security guard by his arms and collar, pulling him toward the exit.

Meanwhile, the word “bomb” sent everyone in the vicinity into a frenzy. The fear of those hostages who hadn’t yet been freed was reignited, and chaos erupted once again.

...

...

Amidst the chaos, an ambulance at the back of the crowd had already pulled onto the street.

Inside the ambulance, the first injured man to walk out, dressed in a police uniform, had already knocked out a doctor and a driver, carelessly tossing them into the back compartment. He hung up the phone and tossed it aside.

“Ugh, what a hassle,” Zi Liang muttered wearily.

It was indeed a hassle. Given Zi Liang’s lazy nature, he wouldn’t have bothered robbing a bank if he didn’t have to. But he had no choice; after all, robbing a bank was undoubtedly the quickest way to attract police attention.

What he was doing was a means to get into Arkham Asylum.

Of course, Arkham Asylum wasn’t a place anyone could just walk into. If it were just a typical bank robbery—holding a gun and shouting at the crowd—then in the straightforward Gotham City, you’d be considered a low-level criminal, akin to someone who steals pocket money from schoolchildren on their way home in other cities. The police would just lock you up and be done with it, too lazy to deal with you.

But if you were built like a tank, carrying a Gatling gun unloaded from a plane, and indiscriminately shooting at the crowd... well, sorry, even though you’d be considered a true criminal, there’s a place in Gotham called Blackgate Prison. Once the police catch you, you’d most likely be sent there for life.

So, to get into Arkham Asylum, you needed to have certain characteristics. For instance, the most typical one is that you can’t act like a brutish thug; you need to present yourself as gentle, refined, and somewhat mentally unstable. You should engage in transactions with the police, play games with them, and most importantly, occasionally burst into fits of hysterical laughter. Under these conditions, if you then orchestrated a big explosion, the police would likely classify you as someone qualified to enter Arkham Asylum.

Oh, and speaking of the explosion, the bomb in Zi Liang’s duffel bag was indeed real. He had obtained it from Mr. Falcone just the night before. After all, after going through all this trouble, it would be quite embarrassing if nothing happened in the end.

However, Zi Liang didn’t set the bomb’s detonation time perfectly; he gave the police enough time to evacuate. Because if he suddenly killed twenty people, there was a good chance he’d end up “accidentally” killed by a police officer on the way to Arkham Asylum. After all, this was Gotham, and don’t think all the police were law-abiding citizens; the only difference between them and criminals was a badge.

“Ugh, after doing all this, I just need to slow down and wait to get caught...” Zi Liang mumbled.

As soon as he finished speaking.

“Boom!” A deafening explosion erupted not far behind, engulfing the bank in roaring flames, while car alarms blared along the street, and the crowds erupted in chaos.

In the midst of this turmoil, Zi Liang leisurely drove the ambulance, stopping at a red light while obeying traffic rules. He lit a cigarette and took a puff...

“Who is inmate number 21...?”