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"Woof... Woof woof!"
A few barks echoed, and immediately a cat's paw landed on the dog's nose. Bat Cat pressed down Little Kryptonite's muzzle, signifying him to stop barking. Turning around, Bat Cat walked to the corner of the sewer and glanced in that direction.
"Just as I thought..." Bat Cat muttered, "Bark a couple more times, Little Kryptonite, see if there's any response."
Big Dog shook his tail and barked twice more, but the end of the sewer remained deathly still, with no response whatsoever.
"Damn it, they were right here. Where did he hide them?... Forget it, let's go up and have a look."
The cat and dog hurriedly found the sewer exit. After the small cat's head twisted open the sewer cover, a familiar scene appeared before them: they were in their homeland, Cat City Gotham.
"So where exactly is that invader?" Little Kryptonite asked.
Bat Cat shook his head, seemingly not out of ignorance but uncertainty. The two stealthily emerged from the sewer and slipped into a small alleyway on the street side, passing through the alley and walking a few more streets before finding another sewer entrance.
Little Kryptonite went over to sniff, smacked his lips, and said, "I've been smelling this disgusting scent all along. If the intruder smells like this, then he must have indeed been down in the sewer."
"Can you really tell the difference between the smell of the sewer and his... "
"Don't doubt my sense of smell." Little Kryptonite proudly raised his head, but was quickly swatted by a paw, and the two snuck down this entrance.
Little Kryptonite sniffed around inside the sewer while Bat Cat looked for nearby traces. There were some unclear footprints on the ground of the sewer, but most were from cats. The ones leading them there, however, were half of a vague human footprint.
It was very difficult for humans to infiltrate Cat City in the usual way. Although cats were roughly the same size as humans in Cat City, one stood on two legs and the other on all fours. Walking in upright would surely be noticed.
Nevertheless, there was an exception—the sewers. Whether it's any Gotham, sewer ecosystems were always fascinating. Anything could show up there, and no ordinary cat would spy in the sewers. Whether infiltrating or hiding something there, it was much easier than entering the city directly.
So, when Bat Cat sensed an intruder might have entered the Dreamworld, and that Cat City Gotham was likely their landing spot, he deduced that this guy must have taken the sewers.
After searching in the sewers, they indeed found a half footprint, but due to its vagueness, it was hard to infer the identity of the individual. At the time, Bat Cat was with Superman Dog, and Little Kryptonite mentioned smelling a stench nearby, something Bat Cat couldn't ignore.
Most should remember when the group from the real Gotham first encountered Cat City Gotham during a scare in the Thousand Cats Dream, dragging several people into the Dreamworld by force.
However, after careful investigation later, it turned out that the Owl was trying to usurp the power of the Thousand Cats Dream by torturing and killing many cats in the real world as part of heretical rituals, funneling dark energy continuously into Cat City Gotham and thus polluting the Thousand Cats Dream.
Little Kryptonite wasn't there at the time, but when he mentioned the presence of an unusual scent, Bat Cat immediately thought of that incident.
At first, Bat Cat suspected it might be the scent of dark energy, for Cat City Gotham had been infiltrated by the Owl for so many years; it was quite possible remnants of the polluted energy lingered in the sewers.
But if that were to be combined, the appearance of the footprint would complicate things. When Shiller's group first came here, they disguised themselves as cats, and the original Owl had also taken the form of a cat. So how come this time there was a human footprint? And why was there strange energy around that footprint?
Sensing something was off, Bat Cat and Little Kryptonite began searching in the sewers, aiming to test whether the individual was human or cat. Since Little Kryptonite was a dog, if he barked, humans would recognize it as a dog's bark, whereas the cats of Cat City Gotham had never seen a dog, hence their reactions would be different.
Indeed, as they descended again into the sewer system, Little Kryptonite had only barked twice when they heard a complaint from the end of the tunnel, "What the hell? What's making that noise?"
An ugly cat with scales like a crocodile's appeared from around the corner at the end, its head more reptilian than feline, and its cold-blooded vertical pupils fixed on the approaching Bat Cat.
Seeing Bat Cat's signature blue eyes, the crocodile-like cat paused briefly, and it was obvious that Bat Cat recognized him too, tentatively calling out, "Crocodile Cat?"
"Bat Cat? What are you doing here?"
Bat Cat moved forward to rub against Crocodile Cat, then took in the surroundings. It was clearly a small base that looked like Crocodile Cat's home.
"Why haven't you moved out yet?"
"I've gotten used to life here. It's too sunny up there, bad for my skin," Crocodile Cat said as he led Bat Cat inside, then glanced back at Big Dog behind and asked, "What's that thing? Did you make a robot cat?"
"No, he's another kind of creature."
"Another kind of creature, like those two-legged hairless stick cats?"
Bat Cat paused in his step, turning to ask, "What's a two-legged hairless stick cat?"
"That's what I saw a few days ago while scavenging in the sewer, some really weird-looking monster. I've got no idea what it is, so I just call it a two-legged hairless stick cat."
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"What did it specifically look like?"
Crocodile Cat described it briefly, and Bat Cat realized immediately that it wasn't a hairless cat at all—it was a human.
"That guy seemed to be holding something that looked like one of his kind, except it seemed unconscious, and they just crossed over from that street over there."
Crocodile Cat pointed in a direction, and Bat Cat immediately discovered that it was the same place where they had found footprints earlier. This suggested his speculation was correct; the invader had been active in this area.
However, if one person was carrying another, and the carried person was unconscious, that could very likely be a kidnapping. But why would someone kidnap a person to the Dreamworld? And why come to Cat City Gotham?
This made Bat Cat think back to when the Thousand Cats' Dream was contaminated. There were too many mysteries left unsolved at the time, such as where the source of the dark energy came from and what the nature of the contamination was that even Dream God Morpheus and the Thousand Cats' Dream dreaded.
Bat Cat then inquired about how the human that Crocodile Cat saw was dressed. Crocodile Cat struggled to describe it clearly because cats don't wear clothes; they had little concept of them.
From the fragmented phrases, it could be inferred that the person was wearing a normal human hoodie and a pair of jeans.
After repeated questioning, which eventually annoyed Crocodile Cat enough to make his fur bristle, Bat Cat finally extricated the last bit of information—that person's hoodie was printed with a smiley face symbol, eyes like two beans and a mouth that was a curved line.
One Hand reached into the washing machine and pulled out the clump of crinkly, spun-dry clothes, sorting them one by one onto hangers and hanging them on the balcony clothes rack.
A white shirt, a black hoodie, dark jeans... until at the very bottom, a dark grey hoodie was pulled out, and the hands paused for a moment.
Bruce's gaze lingered on the smiley face pattern in the center of the hoodie and, in the end, he didn't hang it up but casually threw it into the trash bag beside him.
Stepping off the balcony, Bruce heard Gordon's call. After walking over, he looked at Gordon lying in bed and said, "What's up, Uncle? I was just hanging laundry."
"The radio…" Gordon had become increasingly older, his voice carried a kind of indescribable hoarseness, as if he were an old man on his last legs.
Afterwards, Bruce somewhat helplessly pulled the radio out from under the bed and handed it to Gordon, then cautioned, "I have to go out for work this afternoon. Don't listen for too long; you'd better get some more sleep."
Soon after taking his work uniform, Bruce left. Gordon, clutching the radio, listened for a while to the latest reports about The Clawed Killer but quickly turned off the radio, then struggled to press it against his side and opened the battery compartment cover with the only hand that could move.
Then he brought the radio in front of him and looked carefully inside the battery compartment.
This radio wasn't bought by Bruce; it was the one Gordon used to listen to nostalgic radio stations in his office when he was still the police chief.
Bruce knew Gordon was a radio enthusiast but what he didn't know was, Gordon's interest lay in military radio communication. This radio wasn't just for tuning into various channels; it could also transmit specific radio frequencies, essentially serving as a mini radio station.
Although it couldn't achieve clear communication with others over the radio like an official radio station could, it was capable of transmitting syllables. As long as both parties were in tune, they could understand what was being said.
With some difficulty, Gordon fiddled with a tiny switch inside the battery compartment and felt underneath it for a small hole. Then he used his finger to pry off a corner of the cover, revealing a row of buttons.
About an hour before Bruce would return, Gordon heard some noise at the door. Normally, he would be anxious because if a thief were to sneak in, he wouldn't be able to stop them in his current state.
But today he was somewhat surprised because the person who picked the lock and came in was his student, Ge Yin.
Ge Yin carefully put on shoe covers and, with one hand holding a gun and the other supporting herself against a wall, she cautiously moved toward Gordon's bedroom. As soon as she entered and their eyes met, she exhaled in relief.
"What's up? Chief, I heard the secret code you tapped out on the internal channel. It's the same one we used when I had just graduated from the police academy. Are you in some trouble?"
"Tell me about The Clawed Killer first."
Ge Yin looked embarrassed, then turned somewhat ashamed. She said, "I'm sorry, Chief, I really couldn't catch him. He… he might not be human, but a vengeful spirit."
Ge Yin braced herself for a scolding from Gordon, but when she looked up, she didn't see anger or disappointment in his eyes. Instead, Gordon's expression was inscrutable, as if he was seriously considering whether The Clawed Killer was human or not.
To avoid seeming like she was shirking responsibility, Ge Yin quickly stood up and said, "But just give me a little more time, and I'm sure I can find some traces of him, understand what's going on, and bring him to justice."
"Chief, you can rest assured, I won't let such a vicious and arrogant killer get away with it for long. I…"
"Hold on a moment," Gordon said, "I need you to do something for me. Remember, don't let anyone find you out, and absolutely do not tell anyone you were here today."
"Chief…"
"I'm not the Chief anymore, Ge Yin. You are the one who has the power to turn things around now," Gordon looked at his protégé, whom he had trained himself. It seemed like he wanted to say a million things, but in the end, only one word came out, "…Go."