Chapter 617: Pathological Crisis (Part Three) (Patreon)

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After Bruce and Lex arrived in Metropolis, they had to rely on the Luthor family's connections to make their way. However, Lionel hadn't left behind nothing except the family industry.

Money and power often went hand in hand, and the relationship between the Metropolis police station's chief and the Luthor family was quite strong. When they heard that Lex was interested in this murder case, he handed over all the case files to Lex.

However, the officers hadn't uncovered any particularly unique leads. So, Lex suggested to the police chief that he wanted to visit the crime scene in person. The Metropolis police chief, however, seemed quite hesitant and said over the phone, "I'm sorry, Mr. Luthor, we need to consider your safety for an on-site investigation. This matter is quite..."

"I believe the police station could use a new batch of protective equipment, right? After such a brutal murder case, it's time to improve the quality of the officers' equipment. The Luthor family has always been concerned about the safety of Metropolis..."

Lex didn't finish his sentence, but who couldn't understand what he meant?

To Lex's surprise, the police chief still didn't agree. After he hung up the phone, Bruce stood behind him and said, "There's a problem. When you're trying to use money as leverage, they shouldn't be denying you access to the crime scene, not even the corpses."

"Without connections, we can go directly to the morgue. There's nothing the Luthor family can't accomplish here," Lex replied.

The corpses from both murder cases were stored in a mortuary very close to the police station. The forensic examination hadn't been conducted yet, so if they went there now, they should be able to see the complete corpses. Coincidentally, this mortuary was also sponsored by the Luthor family.

However, when they arrived at the mortuary, they discovered that there were no murder victims' bodies. After reviewing the mortuary's surveillance footage, they found that there was no record of the corpses being stored there.

In other words, after the officers finished investigating the crime scene, they didn't place the corpses in the mortuary, which was highly unusual.

After leaving the mortuary, Bruce thought for a moment and said to Lex, "Usually, officers choose the most convenient way to store corpses. If there's no forensic hospital nearby, corpses are typically kept in the nearest hospital before undergoing an autopsy."

"If they didn't place the corpses here, it's possible they were directly taken to a forensic hospital. You go back to Luthor Manor and gather surveillance footage from the crime scene. Tonight, I'll go to the forensic hospital."

Lex had no objections to this arrangement. He would allow Bruce to investigate, as he saw it as a way to harness his capabilities.

Lex wasn't physically powerful, and when dealing with extremely dangerous killers, safety couldn't be guaranteed if he actively investigated. Therefore, using Batman for field investigations was a good choice. They both had a common enemy in the Owls, so they could cooperate in this regard.

As Bruce had arranged, Lex began using technological means to obtain surveillance footage from the crime scene, while Bruce went to the forensic hospital to search for the corpses.

Bruce, cloaked in the darkness of the night, once again donned his Batman attire. He stood on the rooftop of the tallest Luthor building in Metropolis, overlooking a city more prosperous than Gotham...

The night sky here wasn't as dark as in Gotham; it was lit up everywhere, casting a hazy glow that didn't quite fit Batman's vision. He felt out of place in a city like this; the Bat belonged in the darkness.

But the warmth of the city's countless lights, carried by the wind to his eyes, turned his cape orange in the soft glow. Batman took a deep breath and glided down, leaping between the buildings until he reached his destination.

Metropolis' new forensic hospital was in a relatively remote location, with only two guards at the entrance. Batman easily slipped inside, but there were still no corpses to be found.

Batman sensed the strangeness of the whole situation and searched all of Gotham's hospitals as well, but the corpses were nowhere to be found. Finally, he arrived at the home of the Metropolis police chief.

When the sleeping police chief was awakened, he looked at the dark figure standing on the balcony in fear. Batman stood in the shadows outside the window, his voice low as he asked, "Where are the murder victims' bodies?"

"I... I don't know... Who are you? Stay away! I'll shoot!" the police chief screamed.

Batman realized that this police chief wasn't any tougher than Gordon. With the excellent security in Metropolis and no personal connection to him, he was just an ordinary man who was easily intimidated by violence and money.

In the end, Batman obtained the information he wanted from the police chief. According to him, the corpses had gone missing.

The procedure for investigating the crime scene was quite simple. Since both corpses were discovered in prosperous street intersections and their gruesome state made it inconvenient for more people to see, they were initially examined briefly and then transported to the hospital in a sealed vehicle.

However, this vehicle didn't follow its planned route to the hospital. According to the police chief, they eventually found the missing vehicle and a knocked-out officer in the suburbs. The driver and the corpses had disappeared.

Later, the police officers found the real driver unconscious in the hospital's underground parking lot.

This meant that the person who had stolen the corpses had first knocked out the real driver, then impersonated them, hijacked the vehicle transporting the corpses, and finally made off with the bodies.

After this turn of events, when the second corpse was being transported, all the officers were on high alert. A detective personally drove the vehicle and delivered the corpse to the forensic hospital. However, just as Lex and Bruce had arrived in Metropolis and were heading to the hospital, the corpse went missing again.

The forensic hospital wasn't as heavily guarded, and someone had infiltrated it once more, making off with the corpse.

With no progress to show, Batman returned to Luthor Manor, and Lex didn't bring any good news either. Standing in the underground laboratory of Luthor Manor, he muttered while manipulating a computer:

"Metropolis has always had good security, and the people here lack a sense of crisis. Surveillance cameras are also scarce, except for a few major intersections, most of the cameras inside buildings have many blind spots, and some floors have only one camera."

"I retrieved the surveillance footage from the crime scene, but it's apparent that it wasn't the primary crime scene. The murderer merely placed the corpse there; it wasn't where the murder occurred."

"The question is, how did he place the corpse there?" Bruce inquired.

"From the surveillance footage, it appears the corpse was dropped from a rooftop, with a parachute tied to the chair that held the corpse. The corpse drifted down from the rooftop of a bank building into the crowd, causing panic."

"Unfortunately, the bank building is the tallest nearby, and the surveillance cameras in other buildings couldn't capture the rooftop. There's only one camera that captured a silhouette."

Lex showed Bruce the footage, which featured a figure wearing a blue custodial uniform walking through a rooftop door. However, the image was very blurry, and gender, physique, and height couldn't be determined due to the angle.

"What about the surveillance inside the bank?" Bruce asked.

"Metropolis Central Bank has the most glass curtain walls nearby. Every 3rd of the month, which is today, they hire a cleaning company to wash the windows because each floor's windows need cleaning. So, there are sightings of custodial staff throughout the entire building."

"Through the bank's internal surveillance, we found a total of 43 individuals, all male, all wearing uniforms and hats. Their physique and height couldn't be determined, so they're all suspects."

Bruce leaned against the table and said, "It looks like the killer was well-prepared. Let's go through the actions of these 43 individuals..."

"I've already analyzed them before you returned. I didn't find any suspicious behavior, at least not in the areas where the surveillance was recorded," Lex replied.

"If the killer wanted to drop the corpse from the bank building, he must have brought the corpse inside. How did he get the corpse in?" Bruce asked.

Lex selected a surveillance clip, played it for a while, then pressed pause. He pointed to a specific spot and said to Bruce, "Look at this box. Cleaning the glass curtain walls of a high-rise building is complicated and requires specialized equipment."

"The fixed equipment is often bulky, with multiple ropes. Therefore, these large boxes are brought in a day in advance and stored in the building's basement. In other words, every 2nd of the month, these boxes appear in the underground storage of the bank building."

"As long as he could fit the corpse into these boxes, transport them to the building's underground storage in advance, then push them to the desired floor, using the excuse of cleaning the windows, find a surveillance blind spot, and drop the corpse."

With Lex's description, Bruce and Lex constructed a scene in their minds.

The calendar turned to April 2nd, around 6 in the evening. One after another, trucks from the cleaning companies headed to the Central Bank's underground garage.

Custodial workers in blue uniforms unloaded one large box after another from the trucks, placing them on hand carts and wheeling them into the connected underground storage.

One of the custodial workers struggled with a particularly heavy box, blood oozing from its edges. However, the other custodial worker didn't seem to notice this detail. They both placed the box on the cart and pushed it into the storage.

On April 3rd, around 7 in the morning, Central Bank officially began its workday. Employees bustling through the main entrance, while at that moment, the custodial workers had already reached the underground storage, systematically moving all their prepared equipment.

The murderer, disguised as a custodial worker, pushed a toolbox onto a specific floor of the building. He then took the corpse and equipment out of the toolbox, opened the glass, and dropped the corpse.

The footage paused at this point, and Lex and Bruce exchanged a glance. Bruce was the first to speak, "There's one issue here."

"Correct, that's the smell," Lex immediately replied. "If you want to hide a corpse in these toolboxes, carry it to the storage along with custodial workers, there's no way no one would smell that horrible blood stench."

Bruce quickly picked up a nearby notebook and drew the shape of the corpse, then pointed at it, saying, "This wound here, and this one, they both bled heavily. Even if the blood had dried by the time he was moving the corpse, there's no way there wouldn't be any smell."

"To make sure there's no smell, there are two possibilities," Lex continued, appearing quite familiar with the matter. He said, "First, he used special chemicals to treat the corpse, and the second is to use other pungent odors to cover up the smell of blood."

"Now, the corpse is missing, and we can't verify the first possibility. But if we consider the second possibility, what could be used to mask the pungent smell of blood?"

Both of them answered simultaneously:

"Glass curtain wall cleaner."

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Next Chapter >>Chapter 618: A Diseased Crisis (Part Four)