Chapter 80: The Four Notorious Villains of Gotham
The scorching sun hung high in the sky.
Bruce and his team deliberately chose to act during the day.
The ultraviolet rays of daylight were lethal to the vampire clan. If they encountered an overwhelming force, they could retreat safely, and more importantly, their enemies wouldn't dare pursue them in broad daylight.
Eric swung his sword, destroying the lock on the warehouse door, then casually pushed open the wooden entrance.
There weren't many warehouses in the outskirts, and large ones were even rarer, making it easy to identify suspicious locations.
At this moment, the four-man team decided to act together.
Daylight effectively suppressed the vampires, but the Talon Legion had no such weakness. If too many Talon warriors were lying in ambush, splitting up could be a fatal mistake.
The newly arrived Green Arrow, Oliver, carried a quiver of arrows on his back. Before coming, he had specially prepared a good number of silver-tipped arrows.
After all, he was one of the wealthiest heirs in the world, with access to his own weapon manufacturing facilities—saving Bruce the trouble of preparing them himself.
Inside the warehouse, they found an empty space, seemingly abandoned for a long time.
Yet, it was spotless.
Oliver pulled out an arrow and stabbed it into the ground, sending out an electromagnetic pulse.
The miniature computer on his wrist quickly generated a 3D model of the warehouse.
"Found it."
Oliver walked straight to a specific floor tile and pried it open along the seams.
"Green Arrow, your gear is seriously impressive."
Allen's eyes gleamed mischievously as he eyed Oliver's quiver, clearly curious about how many types of arrows were stored inside.
Oliver remained unfazed. "Times are changing. Our gear has to evolve with it. Blame the criminals for upgrading to high-tech weaponry."
That was true—any so-called 'super-criminal' without real skills was just a regular prisoner.
Trying to fight them with a simple compound bow and standard alloy arrows was less effective than just using firearms.
"Do you know Hawkeye from the Avengers?" Allen asked curiously.
After all, Hawkeye and Green Arrow were too similar—both were skilled archers with excellent close-combat abilities.
"We've crossed paths a few times. It's about fifty-fifty."
Of course, their fights were never meant to be lethal. If they had gone all out, the outcome would have been unpredictable.
As they chatted, the four of them descended to the basement level.
Darkness enveloped them.
Vampires preferred the dark and had natural night vision.
Bruce put on night-vision goggles, while Oliver lightly tapped his temple to activate the night-vision mode on his mask.
Eric didn't need such trouble. Having inherited the powers of the vampire clan, he could see perfectly even in total darkness—he could even wear sunglasses without any impairment.
Click!
Suddenly, bright light flooded the area.
"Couldn't you guys just turn on the lights?"
Allen had casually found the light switch and flipped it on.
The other three looked at him with exasperated expressions.
Wasn't this just a blatant way to alert their enemies?
Allen questioned them with a dramatic flourish: "Everyone here is a big shot—the Gotham Devil, Bruce; the Bloodstained Butcher, Eric; the Arrow-Firing Porcupine, Oliver; and me, the Comedic Bat! Shouldn't our enemies be the ones afraid of us?"
Uh…
That actually made a lot of sense.
No reason for them to sneak around like thieves.
"I think 'Arrow-Firing Porcupine' is a terrible nickname," Oliver complained.
"When the enemy's body is covered in arrows, doesn't that make them look like a porcupine?"
Allen strode forward confidently.
The tunnel was wide, making it hard to imagine when it had been built. Most likely, it was a project of the Court of Owls.
The vampire clan was an external force—they wouldn't waste time and resources building underground infrastructure in Gotham for no reason.
"Well, well, the Comedic Bat is here!"
Allen called out toward the end of the passage. "Come on out and show yourselves, little darlings!"
The other three instinctively took a step back.
Originally, this was meant to be a stealth mission. Now it had turned into a direct provocation.
"Maybe we shouldn't bring him next time," Oliver whispered.
"Let's leave him out of minor operations and only call him for big problems," Bruce considered.
"I agree," Eric added.
Allen was simply too much of a wild card, making coordinated actions difficult.
Suddenly, arrows shot out from the walls.
Allen, moving with inhuman reflexes, flipped through the air, caught the arrows mid-spin, and landed in a stylish pose.
Then, with a casual flick of his wrists, he discarded the arrows he had grabbed.
Ptooey!
He even spat out the arrow he had caught in his mouth.
"That's too easy! If you want to test me, at least make it challenging."
As soon as he finished speaking, large saw blades swung out from the passage ahead, activated by the trap mechanisms—clearly in response to his taunt.
The spinning saw blades whirred menacingly, ready to shred anyone who dared to pass.
Allen stood still, scanning the surroundings.
Then, with a grin, he stepped up to a wall and started punching it furiously.
Chunks of concrete flew everywhere.
After a series of powerful blows, he yanked out an exposed electrical wire and tore it apart.
Darkness engulfed the passage once again.
"…Wrong wire."
Allen flicked on a lighter, reconnected the wire, then proceeded to punch another section of the wall, finally uncovering the correct cable.
With a single pull, the saw blades came to a halt.
"The last heir of the Tomb Raiders, at your service! Traps and mechanisms mean nothing to me."
Allen strutted past the now-defunct trap.
Since the mechanism was powered by electricity, cutting the supply naturally rendered it useless.
The three behind him remained silent.
When the trap was activated, they had all been thinking about how to dodge it using agility—none of them had considered just disabling it at the source.
Surveillance Room.
A first-generation hybrid watched the scene unfold.
"The Court of Owls' traps are just for show. They look impressive, but even a lunatic can break through them."
"Batman, Green Arrow, Blade, and the Comedic Bat—we stand no chance against them."
Allen's reputation had already spread after his previous assault on the Court of Owls' hideout. He was now listed as a high-level threat.
After his recent purge of vampires at the Starlight Tower stronghold, the enemy had placed him in the same danger category as Batman.
"Forget this place. We're leaving immediately."
The first-generation hybrids quickly reached a unanimous decision to retreat.
They retrieved UV-protection suits from a vault, put them on, and escaped through an emergency exit.
In reality, their true objective was never to build a vampire army.
The real purpose was to unleash chaos in Gotham during the Blood God Ritual, ensuring that Batman and the others would be too occupied to interfere.
Once the Blood God Ritual was successfully completed…
Batman, Blade, and the rest would be nothing more than minor obstacles for Frost to crush effortlessly.
ROAR!
Terrifying shrieks echoed through the corridors, like the howls of vengeful ghosts from hell.
Allen and his team had reached the area where civilians were being held.
The scent of fresh blood was like a single drop of water hitting a boiling pan of oil—it instantly sent the imprisoned vampires into a frenzy.
Since their transformation, they had been deprived of blood, leaving them in a state of ravenous madness.
The moment they saw living humans, they lunged at the iron bars, eyes burning red, faces twisted in hunger.
They clutched at the cage walls, shaking them violently, desperate to break free and feed.
"They're beyond saving," Eric said calmly.
He had seen such cases too many times before—his heart had grown numb to it.
"Collect blood samples. There might still be a way."
Bruce refused to give up.
There were at least a few hundred people here. Letting them loose in Gotham would be catastrophic.
For now, they had to be contained—until an antidote could be developed.
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