This was just a prelude to Batman’s performance tonight, so Batman’s appearance at St. Post Hospital would be reasonable.
He had to keep acting to make it even more reasonable.
Leaping off the building again, Luke faintly heard the voice of the woman on the phone after she ran out of the alley. “Is this the TV station? I saw Batman. It’s 200 bucks for a lead, right? Also, he saved me. You said an interview costs more, right?”
His lip curled up.
He didn’t object to people using news on Batman to make money. Those who were trying to make extra income usually had it hard in life.
He helped these people, but was also using them.
It was understandable that someone would take the opportunity to make some money.
He wasn’t some big shot; Batman wasn’t a manifestation of his convictions, but a sockpuppet that could be used.
He needed these rescuees to spread the word and generate more discussion to increase his popularity so that it would be easier for him to take action in the future.
For example, tonight!
Boom!
Not far away, there was a loud crash as an excavator crashed into an ATM on the street.
The hoodlums cheered excitedly. “That’s awesome! That’s how you do it!”
“Hurry up and dig them out.”
“Money. There has to be a lot of money inside.”
Luke shook his head helplessly. This was an ATM, not a f*cking vault. The most that a few ATMs put together could have was hundreds of thousands. They actually used an excavator to rob an ATM?
But these people had probably stolen the excavator as well.
Thinking about it in another way, robbing an ATM and not a vault was understandable. There were too few people in this world who would try to understand someone else’s point of view.
Luke understood the robbers; hopefully, they would understand him later.
In the distant night sky, the spotlights of several helicopters had already appeared and were rapidly approaching.
Luke circled round in the air and glided down.
The criminal who was driving the excavator suddenly realized that the light on one side had disappeared, and that something was blocking his view.
He turned his head and saw a black giant outside, and a giant hand reached in.
“Ahhhh!” With a strange, drawn-out cry, he was pulled out and flung away to smash onto the roof of his accomplices’ car.
The group of hoodlums, who had been in high spirits just a moment ago, suddenly fell silent. Looking at the black giant jumping down from the excavator, they gritted their teeth and shouted, “Bat, Bat Bat, Batman!”
Luke frowned in displeasure. How uncouth. What the hell was Bat Bat Bat Batman?
He grabbed the clothes of the two hoodlums who were the closest to him and lifted them into the air. They looked into those bloodshot eyes as the cold mechanical voice rang out: “You, guilty!”
All the hoodlums screamed. “No, no! Spare us!”
They were all “loyal fans” of Batman.
After watching TV the last few days, everybody knew that as long as Batman “sentenced” the criminals he caught, at least one bone in their body would be broken.
Crack! Crack!
The two hoodlums jumped around as they hunched over their hands, but they were secretly relieved.
Only the little fingers on their right hands had been broken, which was Batman’s lightest punishment, and was more of a warning.
Looking at the accomplice who was lying on the roof of the car and could only moan faintly, they felt that it was great that they didn’t know how to operate an excavator.
Driving an excavator might net them several broken bones.
The remaining hoodlums looked at each other for a moment before they suddenly fled in all directions.
Luke swiped his waist and threw out two bat darts.
“Ah!”
“Ah!”
Two screams rang out, and the two leaders who had been overseeing the robbery collapsed, clutching their thighs.
Luke put the darts back into his pocket and left.
He could only give these hoodlums a light punishment. Although picking up an ATM with an excavator caused quite a stir, they hadn’t hurt anyone.
“Dustin has already sent four officers to the back entrance,” Selina said.
Luke: “Copy that.”
The A.I. program reminded him in its cute little voice, “Sir, the trap has been triggered. Do you want to activate it?”
While Luke had been torturing those hoodlums with the excavator, he had still been paying attention to that side. He immediately ordered, “Confirm. Activate the trap.”
Boom!
A thick column of smoke rose hundreds of meters away.
Luke turned his head at the noise and smiled.
Batman noticed the hospital.
Batman was going to fight crime.
Batman shot out his grappling hook.
Batman flew off.
In the air, Flegg looked speechlessly at the helicopters not far away. “Why do these paparazzi have such sharp noses?”
The team member next to him laughed. “Anyone who reports Batman’s whereabouts will receive a reward of two hundred dollars. Anyone who has had direct contact with Batman will receive five hundred dollars if they agree to an interview. There are even bigger rewards, like for those who have actually interacted with Batman. The paparazzi now have all the people of Los Angeles under surveillance. They’re much more popular than we are.”
Flegg was speechless.
Trust the masses, mobilize the masses! From the people to the people! These were truly words of wisdom.
A secret agency like theirs couldn’t compete with a TV station.
“What’s Batman doing now?” Flegg asked.
The team member said, “According to the logistics team monitoring the TV programs, he first rescued a woman who was being robbed, then stopped some hoodlums who were robbing an ATM a street away.”
Flegg: “Looks like he isn’t too busy today. Get ready, we’re going to try contacting him today…”
Boom!
Flegg and his team members turned around. “What’s going on?”
The scout at the front of the helicopter immediately replied, “It looks like… St. Post Hospital. There seems to have been an explosion, and there’s a lot of smoke. There might be a fire.”
Flegg frowned. “What the hell?”
From his intelligence network, there had also been news of a suspected “terrorist attack” at St. Post Hospital in the afternoon, but he hadn’t followed up on the details.
An ordinary explosion, even if it was an attack, wasn’t his responsibility.
The scout said, “Boss, Batman went to St. Post Hospital. It seems that the explosion just now attracted his attention.”
Flegg nodded helplessly. “Follow him. Mr. Batman is someone who helps others the most. He’ll definitely take a look if there’s an explosion.”
However, seeing that the nearby TV choppers had also chosen to do the same thing, he sighed again. “I really want to use an RPG to destroy them.”
His team member said, “Boss, we would be tried in military court and executed.”
Flegg: “I know, which is why I haven’t picked up an RPG already.”