Savage felt that something was off recently.
Objectively speaking, many things have indeed gone wrong lately, such as spending money like water, losing battles continuously, and the mysterious disappearance of the antiquarian, but Savage had become accustomed to these things.
What made him feel strange was that it seemed someone was keeping an eye on him, and they were very professional at it.
Having ruled as a king for many years, Savage knew the importance of intelligence work. He also knew that every country must have departments dedicated to intelligence work. Still, he could not understand why he was being targeted.
Could his grand plan have already been exposed?
At this thought, Savage couldn't help but take his guard up. He started to travel less, hardly ever leaving the area of Living Hell he governed; however, this only attracted more attention from the other party.
In a hostel in Brude Haven, Kira spoke into the phone with a serious expression and furrowed brows: "Are you sure? He hasn't been going out much in the past week? It seems that your activities have caught his attention..."
"You're saying, within a week, he had contact with three Mexicans? Who were respectively the cook at a restaurant, the bartender at a bar, and a newspaper boy?"
"We need more concrete evidence to confirm that he is indeed the one sent by them to support the South American movement. Without proof, we can't deliver a fatal blow. I see, understood..."
Kira hung up the phone, her face even more solemn because she knew that the Soviet Union had not sent anyone to support the South American movement.
The Soviet Union was currently preoccupied with internal problems and trying to deal with the aftermath of a shift in power. Most people could only offer verbal support, while many adopted a wait-and-see attitude.
So, at this time, the sudden appearance of a supposed Soviet agent in Gotham was extremely suspicious.
Kira knew that a previous thief had reported possible collusion within the Goth family, and the CIA took this very seriously due to the special circumstances.
The CIA, with a do-or-die spirit, sent several agents into Gotham. Surprisingly, the investigation went rather smoothly and they found a lot of stuff including the collection of artifacts that Savage had gifted to Lady Goth.
Through these artifacts, the CIA was certain that the mysterious Great King definitely had a problem.
The most important artifacts in the collection, besides those irrelevant art pieces, were divided into two categories: one part was NAZI medals, and another part was Soviet medals.
The CIA readily concluded that the NAZI medals were fake. This is not because they were biased, but because the rank of the NAZI medal that Savage possessed was exceptionally high.
Historically speaking, only a couple of well-known NAZI generals received such medals, and after their deaths, the medals were all sent to museums.
In contrast, the Soviet Union's National Defense Medals were abundant and given out many times over a short period of ten years. It's impossible to trace who got them; hence, it's highly possible they are real.
Thus, the CIA inferred that the NAZI medals were just meant to deceive. After all, those people would dare to do anything to infiltrate the establishment.
Having determined this, they started the investigation. Although Lady Goth and Leon were deceased, they were not professional agents, so their activities had not been concealed.
Furthermore, Leon had contacted many people in the name of the Great King, which led the investigators to trace the activity patterns of Vandal Savage.
The behavior of this Great King was rather peculiar, neither showing off boldly nor sneaking around discreetly. It seemed like he would intermittently display ambition but spent most of his time lying low.
There were a few days every month when he would be active everywhere, gathering followers and promoting the plan of the Great King ruling the world. The rest of the time, he would mostly disappear, with no one knowing where he was.
However, this behavioral pattern further confirmed the CIA's belief that the so-called plan of the Great King ruling the world was merely a ruse. Their real target was probably South America.
The CIA immediately took this seriously. The situation in South America was already critical, and they could not allow more parties to get involved.
Therefore, the agents immediately started to follow Savage's movements and witnessed all he did in Living Hell.
Although Savage did not immediately go to Mexico, his activities in Living Hell further convinced the CIA agents that his target was definitely South America.
There was a knock on the door. A newspaper boy with chubby cheeks entered Cobblepot's office. Cobblepot looked up at him and asked, "Has little Anthony already left?"
"Yes, Boss, he's been in charge of delivering newspapers recently. Also, the Gonzalez we transferred over has officially started working in the restaurant, and the Mexican mixologist we had should have established contact with that Savage..."
"Assign two more people—I remember there were two Spaniards in the East District. Have them transfer to work in the South District..."
"But…" The newspaper boy rubbed his head and said, "Boss, even though I haven't been to school, I know that Spain and Mexico are quite far apart, right?"
"But they all speak Spanish." Cobblepot said after putting down his pen, "Have the children in the class keep an eye out. If they encounter someone who speaks Spanish, hand them a newspaper, tell them there is a good job here for them. If they agree, transfer them to Savage's surroundings …"
The newspaper boy asked a little confusedly, "Why do we need to send people who speak Spanish, to Savage's surroundings? What's so special about them?"
"Nothing special, just a plan. By the way, how's the communication with the Children's Gang going? Do they have any thoughts on our plan?"
Speaking of this, the newspaper boy's face instantly brightened, "Boss, your foresight is really unbelievable, I've already contacted most of the Kings of Children in the East District, and they are all willing to unite …"
"Not only do they want to jointly pay the rent and protection fees, they also want to establish community unity. Among certain construction projects, all the children would unite. Some would be responsible for receiving orders, some would be responsible for transmitting messages, and others for finding workers …"
Cobblepot frowned, "Who proposed this method? They must not be just a normal King of Children, right?"
"Correct, I heard his name is… Jason Todd! When I went there before, he had almost unified all the children in one construction project. All the children said he is the most flexible King of Children and can lead them to earn money."
Cobblepot thought for a moment and said, "Let's go together to see the construction of the first phase and see how they operate."
The two of them got into the car and drove to the vicinity of the first phase of construction. They unexpectedly met two children before they even entered the door. Cobblepot stopped and asked them, "Where are you guys going?"
The two children looked at him and, upon finding out he was not much older than them, relaxed a little.
They then looked at the newspaper boy behind him. One of them obviously recognized him and immediately went up and patted the newspaper boy's shoulder, "Little Neo, why are you here? Aren't you from Living Hell? My mom was talking about you last time…"
"I came with my boss to have a look. I heard that there's a particularly powerful King of Children here. We wanted to meet him."
"Wait a minute, your boss?" The child wrinkled his brow, "Didn't you say you were following the owner of the Iceberg Restaurant? My God, don't tell me this is the owner of the Iceberg Restaurant!"
"Hello, I'm Oswald." Cobblepot shook hands with the child, "Can you take us in? We would like to meet Jason."
"Well, it's possible…" The child said a bit awkwardly, "But the process may be a bit troublesome, there are several procedures to go through. If you don't mind the trouble, then you can follow me."
After he finished speaking, the two children led Cobblepot to the gatehouse. There was a security guard there. The children knocked on the window, the guard woke up and looked them over, and said, "Oh, it's you little devils, what do you want?"
"We want to bring in two people who have business with Boss Jason."
"Okay then, follow me." The guard glanced at Cobblepot, found him to be thin and small, with no weapons in his hands, didn't say much, and led them from the gatehouse to a room on the other side.
"Stretch your arm in." the guard instructed. Cobblepot frowned, but he had already heard about the verification process. So, he stretched his arm in.
He didn't feel anything, and the verification was completed. Cobblepot withdrew his arm then went to the previous sales office for another verification and filled a form. The receptionist called Jason to confirm the visit, and finally, after about ten minutes, the two got into the building.
When Jason heard someone was looking for him, he came out to greet his guests immediately. Seeing Cobblepot, he walked up and forth, embraced, and said, "Why didn't you call me before you came? I thought it was someone else."
"I heard you've been busy lately; I just wanted to stop by for a visit, no need to disrupt your work."
Right after Cobblepot finished speaking, he saw that two children with a pile of documents hurriedly passed by. He frowned and asked, "Where are they going? What are they holding? Don't tell me, those documents were written by them…"
Jason shook his head and said, "Of course not, we are quite lucky. In the first phase of construction, there's a university professor. We hired him to write some order-related documents for us…"
He led Cobblepot to an office on the third floor. Cobblepot found that all the people who came and went were children, and their chattering was unending.
"Hey, redhead! You do have class this afternoon, right? Give me your two order forms; I'll find someone to handle it…"
"It's over, I can't finish my homework! Quick, quick, quick, who can help me finish this? I've two errands to run in the afternoon. If I don't hand in my homework, I'm done for!"
"Where did those two rascals go? Why didn't they go to daycare on time? Their teacher called here, it scared the hell out of me…"
"What was the pricelist that the big-bearded guy from the second phase of construction wanted? Was it for food or daily necessities? I've recorded it, where did I throw it?"
"Hey, take care of your own folders; we can't afford to find the professor to rewrite. Come help me see what's this word? … Anchor? What do they want to do with an anchor?"
Jason led Cobblepot to the rest area next to the office, which was quieter. He poured a glass of water and smiled at Cobblepot as he said:
"Welcome to Gotham Handyman."