"The man who loves the journey will walk further than the man who loves the destination."
- Unknown
...
"What's going on?"
The Penguin furrowed his brow and shouted towards the door, "Ignatius, go and see what's going on outside!"
"Yes, boss,"
Ignatius at the door immediately responded.
Bang!
But in the next second, the door to Penguin's office was suddenly kicked open with a loud noise.
Not to exaggerate, but it was actually kicked open.
The door, which the Penguin had paid a lot of money to have made by famous artists out of priceless wood and looked very nice, was currently being violently destroyed by someone and was flying at an incredible speed straight towards the opposite wall.
It was instantly smashed to pieces.
Okay, that might be an exaggeration. In fact, it didn't quite turn into pieces, but it did take a lot of damage.
"Ugh... Boss..."
A weak groan sounded from the wooden door.
When the Penguin got closer, he saw that Ignatius was lying on the ground, his head covered in blood. He had broken bones all over his body, and he was barely alive.
It's not hard to imagine that when the door was kicked open, Ignatius was at the door and was sent flying into the room along with the door.
The sudden turn of events made the Penguin's face darken, and the rage in his eyes seemed about to erupt.
"Who dares to do such a thing? Don't they know that even when you hit a dog, you should look at its owner? They are completely ignoring me, the Penguin... Oh, Shit!"
Just as the Penguin grabbed the umbrella hanging by the table and turned to look towards the door, his eyes suddenly shrank, and a lot of his anger vanished.
He didn't mean to, but his hand slipped, and the high-tech umbrella fell to the ground.
The Penguin's face started to get wet with a cold sweat.
The Penguin had to look up to make eye contact with a tall person who walked into the room.
"Batman,"
Penguin spoke with an ugly expression.
"A few days ago, Matches Malone had a gambling match with you at the Iceberg Casino. Am I right?"
Batman's voice was cold and emotionless.
"Yes, that's right. So what? I haven't heard of any laws prohibiting such gambling establishments."
The Penguin tried to look calm and smiled as he answered.
"We've also been able to keep all the gangs in Gotham in line for a few days because of it. You should thank me for keeping the peace in Gotham instead of breaking into my club, hurting my subordinates, and breaking a door."
The Penguin added
Batman wasn't interested in the Penguin's words and had no desire to argue.
He walked up to the Penguin and looked down at him in an intimidating way. The Penguin had no choice but to feel intimidated.
"Where's Matches?"
Batman asked.
"What?!"
The Penguin was momentarily stunned.
'If you're looking for him, you should go to the territory of the Matches Gang. Why come to my Iceberg Lounge?'
'Wait a minute!'
In an instant, the Penguin remembered the content of the phone call just now.
Matcheses said that he had found out he was being investigated and thought it was the GCPD.
At the time, the Penguin even thought that sending Ignatius to investigate him had exposed this information.
But now, Batman suddenly came asking the Penguin for information about Matches Malone, which caused his mind to race.
Could it be that Matcheses didn't find out it was Ignatius, but that it was actually Batman?
"I told you, where is Matches Malone?"
Seeing that the Penguin was hesitating to respond, Batman lowered his voice and repeated what he said.
"I don't know."
The Penguin quickly spoke up.
"You lost a high-stakes bet with Matches that cost you three million dollars. But now you refuse to pay, and you've had people investigate Matches actions, and now you're telling me you don't know where he is?"
Batman's voice was cold as he asked.
"I really don't know where he is; I swear on my mother's grave!"
When Batman asked the Penguin a question, he swore immediately and told him what Matches had just said on the phone.
During this process, the Penguin spilled every piece of information he had about Matches, including the newly opened account.
It wasn't only because he feared Batman—well, he did have some fear towards Batman.
Batman had extracted information from him numerous times in the past.
But that wasn't the only reason the Penguin so willingly cooperated.
He was still frustrated with Match Malone, which was completely normal. Whoever lost thirty million dollars would also be upset.
The Penguin couldn't immediately seek retribution for his loss in a fair and public gambling event because of his identity and reputation.
But having Batman go after Malone was a different story.
"I've checked and found out that when Match Malone talked to me on the phone, he used a public phone located in the remotest part of Gotham City. If he wants to hide for a while, he is probably not in Gotham anymore."
The Penguin explained.
After listening to Penguin, Batman asked, "Did you transfer the money to his new account yet?"
Penguin shook his head and said that Batman came in too quickly before he could set up anything.
"You don't need to transfer the money,"
Batman said it firmly. "I'll help you transfer thirty million dollars to Matches' account."
"What?"
The Penguin couldn't believe his ears.
'What did Batman just say?'
'He wanted to help him pay Match Malone?'
He must be joking!
"I'm not doing this for free. I'll send thirty million dollars to Gotham General Hospital's account to pay for the poor people's medical bills. The donation process must be completely anonymous."
Batman explained.
"What? Are you joking with me?"
The Penguin couldn't believe it.
'Does Batman want to pay his gambling debt with his own money and donate to the hospital? But remain anonymous?'
This was insane!
Batman looked at the Penguin with a cold, determined look and didn't say a word.
The Penguin glimpsed Batman's clenched fist from the corner of his eye.
"...Alright, I'll do as you say."
The Penguin swallowed the words he was about to blurt out and reluctantly agreed.
"If Matches calls you again, record all the conversations. I'll come to you."
With confirmation, Batman turned and left in a smooth way, slowly disappearing from the Penguin's view.
...
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