Chapter 36: About to Become Famous
The system had already alerted him that this stuff was illegal money, and he didn't really mind burning it.
However, the fact that someone was able to produce such a massive amount of counterfeit money in Gotham City and hide it so well clearly meant that whoever was behind it was a professional.
That also meant Tony should be careful because if those people found out he burned their counterfeit money, they would be really angry and probably try to search for him.
'System, system, can you confirm no one saw me when I came in?'
No one responded.
He could only submit the route map he had just taken to the system's panel.
[Stealth assessment complete. Evaluation: The user is concealed, and no one noticed.]
That one asset point was totally worth it.
'Since that's the case...'
He looked at the green mountain of bundled hundred-dollar bills and instinctively licked the corner of his mouth.
"Why not do something?"
"Thunk thunk thunk"
As he poured gasoline from the bucket onto the money, the strong smell of gasoline quickly filled the whole warehouse.
He couldn't run outside to find more gasoline, and there wasn't any inside the warehouse that someone could use to burn their own money.
Therefore, Tony spent some points to buy gasoline from the system's store.
It took him a long time to soak all the money with gasoline, but thinking about how these bills were about to burn to ashes made him feel a little regret.
But even so, he still had to burn it. After all, counterfeit money can't be spent, and the asset points in the system store were very important too.
Then, Tony lit a long match that he bought in the system and gently put it down on the floor.
Seeing that everything that needed doing was done, Tony quickly turned and ran without hesitation.
He figured that with all that gasoline and money, that place was more than enough to set the whole warehouse on fire.
The farther he got before that happened, the less likely anyone would suspect him.
After following the system's map once again, Tony used his somewhat clumsy climbing skills to quickly escape the warehouse.
Afterward, Tony darted back into the street, slipped into the crowd, and put on a white ghost mask just like someone dressed up for Halloween.
He looked completely normal, like nothing strange had happened at all.
A few moments after he left, crackling flames suddenly lit up the warehouse, thick smoke carrying the smell of burning gasoline and paper drifting across the street.
"Quick, call 911! There's a building on fire here!"
"Call the Gotham Police! Call the Gotham Police!"
In the middle of the giant fire, no one noticed a person in a black cloak slipping away into a crowd of people wearing all sorts of costumes.
...
"He took two shots to the head. If you ask me, it couldn't have happened to a nicer guy."
"District Attorney Dent! I don't want to hear that kind of talk coming from you, whether publicly or privately!"
Just then, a calm, authoritative voice cut through their conversation, "If we can... let's not lose focus here."
Hearing the voice coming from the darkness, Commissioner Gordon and Harvey Dent immediately stopped their argument.
This person seemed to possess a natural leadership aura, and his thinking was always calm and precise, able to see the bigger picture from above and find the key to breaking the case.
"A .22 caliber handgun was left at the crime scene. The handle taped, the serial number filed off, leaving the gun a stone cold trail like the killer wanted. A professional, or someone who knew what they were doing."
They nodded.
"The baby bottle nipple for a silencer. Cheap, but effective."
After pausing for a moment, Harvey admitted he hadn't mentioned the third clue—not because it was insignificant, but because it stood out too much.
Just then, all three of them fixed their eyes on that final clue.
"I don't want this thing to mislead our thinking, but it's..."
Gordon hesitated like he was trying to find the right word to describe it.
"It's just too ugly."
Harvey Dent said bluntly, picking up where Gordon left off.
"I've never seen such an ugly jack-o'-lantern in my life. Even if it were Halloween, anyone carrying this thing around would make every person on the street stop and stare."
"That doesn't fit with the killer's cautious style."
Batman summarized, "I get that he might've left the jack-o'-lantern as part of some amusement, but his actions don't make sense together."
"Maybe he carved the pumpkin himself?"
Gordon suggested, "If he didn't buy one from a store, there'd be no chance anyone saw him."
"Even if he went into a store to buy one, we still wouldn't know who exactly it was. There are too many people who buy jack-o'-lanterns on Halloween. However, who in the world can carve such an ugly pumpkin? Can we at least check for fingerprints or something on it?"
Harvey said, shaking his head.
"That's unlikely. The jack-o'-lantern was wrapped in a plastic bag."
Gordon shook his head as well, "But still... it doesn't hurt to check."
"Johnny Viti… who would be bold enough to go after him? Maroni?"
"Ring ring—"
As they were talking, Gordon's phone suddenly rang.
"Hello?"
"Comissionnner Gordon! There's a major incident! A warehouse in the Diamond District is on fire with thick black smoke billowing out, and some hundred-dollar bills flew out with it! That place is burning nothing but money!"
"What?!"'
...
By the time Captain James Gordon and Harvey arrived near the warehouse, most of what was inside had already burned down.
After picking up a few hundred-dollar bills that had drifted out from the roaring flames, James and Halvey looked grim.
Judging by the fire, the warehouse likely contained a lot more bills.
The fact that such a large amount of money was being stored in a place like this warehouse was suspicious in itself.
"Who could it possibly be?"
...
"Tch... Who could it possibly be?"
"So... it wasn't you?"
A deep voice rang out from behind, startling Catwoman, and she turned around.
There was a tall, dark figure standing there silently in the darkness with two pointed bat ears, and a pair of cold, blue eyes stared back at her.
"You're more like a cat than I am."
Catwoman said with irritation, "You always show up and disappear without making a sound."
"You've been gone for a while. Where have you been?"
"In case you haven't heard, Falcone has a million-dollar bounty on my head."
"Mine too..."
Batmann said calmly, "But I'm still here tonight working on the case."
"Yeah, yeah, but I'm not a bat, I'm a cat."
Catwoman replied.
"When did you get here? What did you see?"
"Not much earlier than you. I saw the same thing you did."
"You just happened to be here?"
"Do you want to know?"
Catwoman giggled, "If you can catch me, I'll tell you."
The figures of the cat and the bat jumped and ran between the rooftops, chasing each other like they were playing a game, but only the cat was really having fun.
...
"Can someone open that warehouse door!"
On the other side, James and Harvey forced the warehouse doors open with brute strength.
Then, they saw a big pile of burned money ashes and only a few bills that didn't burn.
"Well, great. Now we've got a massive counterfeit money case on our hands and barely a single lead to go on."
"It's not counterfeit."
"Huh?"
Harvey turned his head toward the corner of the warehouse and saw Batman had somehow appeared deep inside without anyone noticing.
"When did you get in…? Wait... What did you just say?"
Batman didn't answer. Instead, he walked over and handed Harvey a ledger.
"What's this?"
Harvey asked casually as he flipped it open.
As he saw all the numbers on the pages, Harvey was really surprised.
"The Roman's house was broken into a few days ago and opened his safe."
Batman said, "Inside was a ledger—a very important one. Catwoman and I were both there when it happened. That's why The Roman put a million-dollar bounty on both of us."
"Did Catwoman steal it? How did you get it back?"
"I'm not sure why she wanted me to find out about this..."
Batman replied, "But according to her, if you follow the money, it all leads here—to this warehouse."
"You're saying…"
...
Meanwhile, on the other side of the city, Tony had arrived in downtown Gotham.
This was the place for his third job tonight.
"The instructions did say to bring a gas mask, but still…"
Holding a giant Burger King meal in one hand, Tony stared at the sewer entrance in front of him and the corner of his mouth twitching.
"Who the hell orders takeout from inside the sewers? Killer Croc? Is he really that desperate for a burger?"
"Whoa, wait, the burger's the appetizer… I'm the main course!"
Thinking about that made him start sweating. He had only come to deliver food, not serve himself up on a platter.
'Then again… I did have this necklace and save points, so maybe this wasn't that big of a deal as long as I didn't die completely?'
Just to be safe, Tonny immediately spent a hundred asset points to drop a save point right there.
That way, if Killer Croc really did plan on eating him, Tony could just reload when things got serious.
"Or…"
He glanced toward the system store.
He had already finished his first and second jobs, and now his points had reached the highest ever—over twenty thousand dollars.
Even though these asset points wouldn't make him strong enough to fight a two-meter-tall, three-hundred-kilogram crocodile who had super strength, speed, and regeneration, the asset points could help him heal the monster back to normal.
Moreover, Tony could use a gun to teach him how to be a decent person.
'Instead of trying to be stronger, I'll bring my enemy down to my level and use my experience to win.'
Tony thought to himself with confidence. He flipped open the sewer grate and climbed down the ladder.
"Ugh, what a stink!"
After three seconds of going down, a terrible smell hit his nose, and he almost threw up.
He quickly held his breath, suppressing the urge to vomit, and bought a gas mask from the system.
The ones at the gun store were way too expensive, and the cheap ten-dollar one from the system was way better.
"Is anyone here? Hello? Who ordered the food?"
It was so dark in the sewer that Tony couldn't see his hand in front of his face.
Tony put on the gas mask and then pulled out the small jack-o'-lantern he'd just acquired from the system.
[Jack-o'-lantern: This enchanted pumpkin lantern emits a soft, warm glow from within a carved jack-o'-lantern shell. The flame never flickers, never dims, and cannot be extinguished by natural or magical means. This can scare some weaker demons.]
"This is really small..."
The small pumpkin lantern was just a bit bigger than a quail egg.
Its size was small enough to be used as a keychain, yet strangely, the soft yellow light it emitted was surprisingly bright enough to light up about ten meters around him with a gentle warmth.
It even came with a cute little tiny handle.
Holding the small pumpkin lantern, Tony walked deeper into the sewer.
The big, empty, round tunnels only echoed the sound of his footsteps. Even with the lantern lighting the way, he still felt a little scared inside.
"Is anyone here? Burger King delivery!"
Tony called out.
"..."
He scratched his head in frustration, "It's either the system's glitching, or it's me…"
"Solomon Grundy, born on a Monday!"
Suddenly, a loud, booming roar shook the whole sewer, and the heavy footsteps sounded like a giant beast running fast toward him.
"Holy crap! It's not Killer Croc!"
...
150 Power Stones = 1 Extra Chapter ✓
250 Power Stones = 1 Extra Chapter
450 Power Stones = 1 Extra Chapter
1000 Power Stones = 2 Extra Chapters
2000 Power Stones = 3 Extra Chapters