Afternoon, the gloomy weather made one feel drowsy.

It was a perfect day for an afternoon nap, but a sudden case unexpectedly kept many people busy.

[Who stirred up this hornet's nest called Arkham?] – This was the headline printed on the front page of the Gotham Evening Post that day.

But that's a story for later; for now, let's talk about the busy people – the police officers of the Gotham Police Department.

No one expected that the "Fire Axe Thug" from last night would, in less than twenty-four hours, pull off another "big one" at Arkham Asylum.

This kind of lawless behavior naturally alarmed the Commissioner of the Gotham Police Department – James Gordon.

When the news of the asylum inmates' "mass breakout" reached Gordon's ears, he had just emerged from the home of a police officer; and that officer… was one of the victims killed by the Fire Axe Thug last night.

Gordon always took on the terrible and difficult task of "notifying the families of the deceased" himself, because he felt that as the Commissioner, he was responsible for the lives of every one of his subordinates.

After being bombarded by the bereaved family's tears and sorrow, Gordon returned to his police car… his mood was undoubtedly terrible. And just then, he heard the news of last night's suspect committing another crime through the police frequency.

The Commissioner's reaction was predictable…

He immediately issued an order to surround and capture the suspect through the car's radio, and added a statement at the end of the order that "any measures can be taken when necessary."

His subordinates understood what he meant, which was… they didn't necessarily have to capture him alive.

Within ten minutes of the order being issued, more than half of the city's police force surged towards the suburban area where the asylum was located.

Clearly, not only the Commissioner, but many police officers had elevated the operation to catch Jue-Ge to a personal vendetta. After all, he was a "criminal who killed police officers," and it was only fitting that he received this kind of "special treatment."

Besides, Gotham hadn't seen such a serious crime in a long time – raiding the police station last night, orchestrating a prison break today… at this rate, would he be attacking City Hall tomorrow? Unacceptable!

Also… the criminals he released, while not as heinous as him, were all "mentally ill," many of whom had violent tendencies; even if only one of these people ran back into the city, who knew how much trouble they might cause.

In conclusion, the police's all-out response was not an overreaction.

…………

Four in the afternoon, more than an hour had passed since Feng Bujue released all the escapees from the asylum.

The police's encirclement had already formed within a few kilometers of Arkham.

There weren't many roads in the suburbs to begin with, and it wasn't difficult to block every one of them, which is exactly what the police did, but… at least until four o'clock, no checkpoint had reported finding the "Fire Axe Thug." On the other hand, many of the other escaped asylum inmates had been captured.

Meanwhile, in the main building of Arkham, in the front hall lobby.

"This is the final personnel list?" Gordon looked down at a handwritten, scrawled piece of paper and said to one of his officers.

"Yes, sir, it's been verified twice." The officer replied quickly, "Six administrative and clerical staff, twenty-nine on-duty guards, four resident doctors, one consultant, and… seven service personnel, including cooks and cleaners… a total of forty-seven people; among them, apart from some guards who suffered minor injuries to varying degrees, everyone else is safe and sound."

"Okay." Gordon ran this information through his mind and casually responded with a gesture.

The officer nodded when he saw the gesture and went to busy himself on the side.

Gordon then turned his head and looked back at the person he had been talking to before listening to the report – Dr. Quinzel.

"Sorry, where were we?" Gordon reorganized his thoughts and asked.

"We were talking about him releasing the other inmates." Quinzel replied.

"Oh… right." Gordon responded, "You said… that Jack and his accomplices had clearly escaped to the courtyard and were ready to drive away, but they turned back because of a guard's words?"

"Yes, I was standing at the window on the second floor at the time, witnessing the whole process through the window glass." Quinzel said.

"Hmm…" Gordon frowned slightly, lost in thought.

"Strange, isn't it?" Quinzel saw what he was thinking and said, "That's what I thought too…" She paused, "Judging from his reaction at the time, he did it on a whim because he was worried about the police's encirclement, but his subsequent actions… made it seem like he had planned everything in advance and implemented it in the most efficient way."

"Yeah…" Gordon muttered thoughtfully, "If he simply wanted to cause trouble for the police, he could have just opened all the cell and entrance gates in the control room… and ran away, as for what would happen next… he wouldn't have had to worry about it at all.

"But the actual situation is… he chose to tell you about his plan to release the inmates through the broadcast, and used this as a threat to direct you in the control room to gather all the staff in the underground shelter and help you seal the entrance… before releasing the prisoners.

"Not only that, but he also sealed the door of the control room before leaving, as if…"

"No need to say 'as if'…" The next second, a hoarse voice, like someone with terminal throat cancer, suddenly interrupted Gordon's words and joined his conversation with Quinzel, "The conclusion is already obvious, he did this for two purposes, first: to protect the staff here; second, to protect something in the control room."

As his voice fell, Gordon and Quinzel looked at him in surprise.

Not only the two of them, but everyone in the lobby had just realized this person's existence, as if this person had suddenly appeared out of thin air here just before he spoke…

In Gotham, the person who could do this and often did it was undoubtedly… Batman.

"No matter how many times, I still can't get used to your way of showing up." Gordon glanced at Batman and then complained to the latter in a tone of greeting an old friend.

"Then…" Quinzel's attitude towards Batman was not very friendly, but she maintained basic politeness, "The world's greatest detective, I presume you already know why Jack did this?"

"Protecting you first is to allow the prisoners to leave the asylum immediately after being released from their cells." Batman began to answer the other party's questions almost without thinking, "Because he needs these prisoners to run out and help him disrupt the police's vision. If the prisoners stay in the asylum and spend their time 'assaulting the staff,' the effect of his plan will be greatly reduced.

"As for his motive for sealing the control room, I can deduce two things at this stage…

"First, it is to prevent the prisoners from using the control equipment inside – if the prisoners enter the control room, they can directly open the door to the shelter where you are, in which case, Jack's actions to protect you become meaningless.

"Second, he wants to preserve the surveillance footage there – this conclusion needs to be combined with the previous one… If he simply wanted to prevent the prisoners from using the control room's switches to open the door, he could just smash the equipment here. But he didn't do that. The reason is… he must have another purpose, and this purpose requires the control room's equipment to operate normally and not be damaged to be realized.

"Considering this… he probably wants to protect the hard drives that store the video files."

Batman finished speaking these words in an orderly manner, leaving Gordon, the professional policeman, and Quinzel, the psychology expert, stunned.

After a long while, Gordon came back to his senses and continued, "Uh… then why would he want to keep those surveillance videos? According to normal logic, not only should he not save those videos, but he should destroy the things that recorded his appearance and actions, right?"

What he said made sense, but it did not overturn Batman's previous reasoning, but only pointed out a point of doubt in it.

"After we've seen those videos…" Batman also pondered for two seconds before continuing, "We'll naturally know what tricks he's playing."