"Quick! Get yas masks on and searside for any survivors!"

  Outside the restaurant, Gordon finally arrived on the se.

  Looking at the restaurant filled with ughing gas, his face turned a deep shade of worry. He immediately ordered his officers to begin searg and resg.

  During a brief moment of respite, Gordon g the people who had already been rescued, but the more he looked, the more uneasy he became.

  'No...'

  His wife wasn't among the rescued.

  "I'm te... Sarah, you must be te tht?"

  With trembling hands, Gordon dialed his wife's number. However, he soon heard the sound of a phing from within the restaurant.

  "Get out of my way!"

  The moment he heard the ringing, Gordon could no longer sit still. Without even grabbing his gas mask, he shoved past the officers in front of him and rushed into the restaurant.

  "Captain Gordon, the gas mask!"

  His subordinates, worried about him, didn't want him to do something reckless, not out of personal affe, but because Gordon couldn't die like this. They immediately grabbed gas masks and followed him inside.

  When they rushed into the restaurant, what they saw was Gordon kneeling on the ground, ughing untrolbly.

  "Haha! Why!! Haha!! Why!!!"

  Naturally, Gordon wasn't ughing willingly; the ughing gas had already taken effe his system.

  His subordinates were immediately armed. They couldn't let Gordon ugh himself to death, so they rushed forward and quickly put a gas mask on him.

  At that moment, they also noticed the body in Gordon's arms.

  Or rather, the corpse — the only one in the entire restaurant.

  Sarah.

  Others may not have reized her, but Gordoainly could never fet his wife’s dress.

  But now, what had happeo his wife?

  Her skin appeared to have been corroded by some sort of strong acid, exposing the red muscle tissues underh, and in some pces, the bones were visible.

  Even ih, Sarah still bore the marks of the ughing gas torment, her face frozen in a terrifying smile.

  It was the Jordon immediately realized that the Joker had been in the restaurant, and that his wife, Sarah, must have tried to stop him in an attempt to protect the others, which led to her death.

  Her death, Gordon knew, was a sacrifibsp;made to protect others from the Joker.

  Gradually, it seemed the mask prevented Gordon from inhaling any mhing gas, and its effects slowly faded. He no lhed untrolbly, but his sorrow deepened.

  "Joker!!!"

  Outside the restaurant, now among the rescued, Reid had reverted to his Alfred persona, standing ih ay suitcase in hand.

  Regarding Gordon’s grief, Reid was uhe event had already occurred, and he would never regret it. He was someone from another world with a system, and to survive, all he could do was trust in his as.

  ......

  As one of the survivors and an important source of information, Reid, along with the other survivors, was taken to the Gotham City Police Department for questioning. It wasn’t an interrogation, but an attempt to gather information from their ats.

  However, Reid’s questioning ced st in line, and the officer dug it was her than Gordon.

  "Hello, Mr. Pennyworth."

  In Gotham City, Alfred was not well-known, at least not pared to ordinary people.

  As the butler of the Wayne family, one of Gotham's four promi families, Alfred's identity was well-known among ah a little influeherefore, Gordon did not waste time asking irrelevant questions.

  "May I ask, Mr. Pennyworth, why did you visit the restaurant tonight? Were you meeting with someone?"

  "As the butler of the Wayne family, I carry important dots reted to Wayerprises. I went to the restaurant tonight to discuss important matters with Mr. Earle, one of the executives at Wayerprises."

  Reid did not expihing, and Gordon, being a sensible man, did not press further. After all, he was just a police captain, and he had nht to pry into the secrets of Wayerprises.

  "Acc to a witness, after the ughing gas was released, the Joker appeared at the se. Before Officer Sarah stepped forward, the Joker had been threatening two men in expensive suits. Do you think one of them was Mr. Earle and his sultant?"

  At the mention of Sarah, a trace of sadness appeared in Gordon's eyes. However, thinking about the o capture the Joker and avenge Sarah, Gordon steeled himself.

  "You're joking, officer. Not to boast, but anyone who di a Wayne family restaurant probably has a suit of fine quality." Reid replied.

  Bullseye!

  Gordo as though his already fragile heart had taken a direct hit. Who doesn't have a fine suit? Well, that must only apply to the hardw police couple. A meal at that restaurant would cost him at least half a year's sary—who has money fh-end suits? He's just a police captain. How could he afford such expenses?

  At the same time, Reid tinued.

  "However, if Mr. Earle and his sultant were not found at the se, it's highly probable that the Joker was targeting them."

  "Is that so? So you think the same?"

  Gordon nodded. He had already deduced that the Joker was likely after the Wayne Enterprises executives, which is why he had Alfred brought in for questioning personally at st.

  Alfred, as the butler of the Wayne family and someoh es to Earle, was involved in the leadership flict within Wayne Enterprises. Even as a lowly police captain, Gordon could make an educated guess about the situation.

  "The Joker really timed his as perfectly, right when you invited Mr. Earle to dinner. What do you think the reason for this was, Mr. Pennyworth? Do you have any insight?"

  Despite the question, Reid tinued to smile, but his tone carried a hint of distance, perfectly embodying Alfred’s dignified presence.

  "Well, that’s not something a mere butler like myself judge, is it, Captain Gordon?"

  …...

  Reid left without giving Gordon any substantial clues. No matter how much Gordon suspected, he had no proof. After all, the idea that a 70-something-year-old man was secretly the Joker terrorizing Gotham seemed too far-fetched, even fordon to fully believe.

  Still, with a "better to believe it than not" approach, Gordon instructed his team.

  "Look into Alfred’s financial transas."

  "Uood!"

  The officer breathed a sigh of relief after realizing they weren’t dealing with a mafia iigation and immediately set off to carry out the order.

  After all, in the current situatiohe entire Wayne family had disappeared, Alfred’s status in Gotham, while respected by most on the surface, was not something aruly feared.

  **

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