Nobody can stop me from drawing cards in Gotham!

Chapter 84 Explosion! Explode it hard!

After a suffocating silence, Jaeger finally managed to speak, under the ardent gaze of the owl-masked man and the penguin's horrified stare: "Wait, you just called me... Batman?"

Why do you think I'm Batman?

“No need to deny it, sir.” The owl-masked man seemed confident in his conclusion, while giving Oswald a cold glance beside him. “If you’re worried about your identity being exposed… don’t worry, we can help you kill him.”

Oswald, an innocent bystander caught in the crossfire: ?

"What are you doing, you owl mask guy?!" Oswald raised his umbrella in a second, looking warily at the owl mask man whose tone didn't sound like he was joking.

"You think I can't see through the tricks of your office and that umbrella in your hand?" The owl-masked man sneered. "Be glad, if you really wanted to kill me, you wouldn't live to see the next minute."

"You can see the problems with my office, but you can't see that this guy can't possibly be Batman?!" Oswald was about to lose his temper, angrily pointing at the now completely innocent Jaeger. "Are you blind?! He has none of Batman's physique or height, how could he possibly be Batman?!"

The owl-masked man dismissed Oswald's skepticism: "Do you think we didn't anticipate that the fake would reveal his employer's connection to the Iceberg Club?"

But that's not important.

"Because we tampered with this message long ago," the owl-masked man said. "Anyone who knows this message will have a special mark on them—because that message is 'cursed'."

"Unless someone who knows about it has the ability to remove the curse mark, we will find out very quickly."

"But now, the person standing before us knows this news, yet bears no trace of the curse." The owl-masked man smiled. "There's only one possibility—he possesses the ability to erase that mark."

"But that's quite normal. After all, to your esteemed Lord Favored One, our little tricks are ultimately just that—tricks..."

Jaeger: ?

curse?

He finally remembered this incident. It seemed that after the counterfeit incident, he had just arrived at the apartment in Crime Alley following the navigation from the card table, and felt a pain in his arm the moment he entered the room.

Upon closer inspection, it was discovered to be a black gas that rapidly dissipated and vanished into nothingness.

At the time, Jaeger thought it was a problem with the apartment itself.

In retrospect, perhaps it was some unique aspect of the apartment's defenses that nipped the cursed mark in the bud...

Meanwhile, Oswald, on the other side, looked completely puzzled by the owl-masked man's words: "..."

What is this person babbling about? Is there something wrong with them?

"What curse, what 'favored one,' what 'Your Excellency'?" Oswald stared incredulously at the owl-masked man. "I should have known a guy who walks around wearing an owl mask wouldn't be very bright... Now it seems he's just a lunatic!"

"Watch your words, Penguin," the owl-masked man said angrily. "If you want to keep the head on your neck."

Oswald, always a man of his word, could only lower his hat brim and roll his eyes behind his monocle: "Ha, even if what you're saying is true, you can't explain how his image is so different from Batman's."

"Or are you saying that the 'Batman' you're talking about..." Oswald sneered, "His muscles are all padded. He even put on several layers of height-increasing pads when he's on night patrol, hahahaha!"

Jaeger: "..."

He showed no outward reaction, but inwardly he chuckled to himself.

You just wait, Oswald Cobblestone—don't worry, I'll just use you to practice my magic :)

"That was just a necessary disguise."

The owl-masked woman won't be led astray by Oswald because she's convinced that Jaeger is Batman; that's the confidence the Court of Owls has given her.

So, she started using her clever little brain again, refuting the Penguin: "See, isn't this the perfect disguise he wanted? The guy's right in front of you, and you don't even realize he's Batman!"

"...As expected of Your Excellency, the One You've Been With!"

Jaeger: "..."

Surprisingly, Oswald found some merit in what he said: "Well, you know... it does seem to make sense..."

?

Don't believe it so easily!

Jaeger watched helplessly as the two outside inexplicably began a heated argument on this topic, feeling utterly exhausted and speechless, as if he were witnessing a downpour.

Fortunately, at that moment, the hidden earpiece Bruce Wayne had given him earlier came into play, and Batman's highly recognizable throaty voice suddenly rang out on the communication channel: "Wayne said you were taken away by the waiters of the Iceberg Club."

"Did the boss notice something was wrong?"

If it's inconvenient for you to answer right now, you can cough to show that you heard me.

Jaeger immediately coughed.

"Something's happened? That boss really is suspicious?" Batman asked suspiciously. "I know—there's a GPS tracker on the earpiece. I'm coming right away."

While Batman was arriving, Jaeger thought for a moment and suddenly said to the two opposite him, "Alright, stop arguing."

Upon hearing this, the owl-masked man immediately ignored Oswald and looked directly at Jaeger: "As you wish, Your Excellency."

Jaeger was still not used to the religiously charlatan-like rhetoric of these Court of Owls people, so he raised an eyebrow: "I don't care what you think of my identity."

"I only care about one question."

"So... why did you hire a fake to impersonate Batman and kill people?"

Upon hearing this, the owl-masked man immediately straightened up: "We've come precisely to explain this matter, sir—believe us, it's just a misunderstanding."

"We didn't know your identity before, nor did we dare to pry into the...true purpose of your actions." The owl-masked man carefully chose his words, trying to sound humble. "That's why we did this for short-term gain..."

Jaeger's mind raced: It seemed their intention was simply to use Batman's identity to commit murder, hoping the contrast of Batman killing would create amplified fear in Gotham City...

Unexpectedly, Batman's identity changed completely, and he became a follower under the nonsense of Jaeger's [Unknown Identity Card].

This made the people of the Court of Owls uneasy, fearing that they had ruined His Holiness's arrangements and even affected the gods' plans in Gotham.

"If that's the case, then what about the fake murder list?" Jaeger raised his arms.

"Just a few people who might cause minor trouble for our grand plan," the owl-masked man explained. "Rest assured, we won't act rashly again—unless we receive your instructions."

"..." Jaeger narrowed his eyes.

Not everyone on that list is a heinous criminal.

But in the mouths of the Court of Owls, human lives are merely considered "trouble".

That Barbatos—he really was an evil god.

Just then, a chill suddenly swept over Jaeger's back, and a long-unseen line of text appeared:

You sensed danger in your surroundings.

Jaeger's eyes narrowed instantly.

But it was at that moment that Batman's voice suddenly came through his headphones:

"Attention, I am blasting the ceiling above your location, forcibly breaking through the external blockade of this office."

"Use your magic to protect yourself, I'm about to make my move."

Jaeger:

Damn, so the danger in [Danger Perception] actually refers to your explosives?

How should I put it? This is so Batman...