Nobody can stop me from drawing cards in Gotham!

Chapter 97 Burks: Does nobody care about my money?

"Hiss hiss hiss..."

In a secluded corner where no one paid attention, Burks, who was entangled in Jaeger's arms, was heartbroken upon hearing this.

I do know what happened; my $100 bet went down the drain...

Waaah, the snake's money!

Jaeger, who hadn't noticed the autistic snake on his hand, only learned what had happened in the darkness after order was barely restored in the banquet hall under Harvey Dent's direction.

There were two strange sounds that appeared earlier.

The former was a gunshot, while the latter was a sound similar to shattering glass.

But quite counterintuitively, the shot fired did not seem to cause any particularly large casualties.

The only one who was injured was a waitress who was present.

Fortunately, the bullet that nearly killed her grazed her side, leaving only a shocking burn mark.

This has left the unfortunate waitress limping as she works with Gotham City Police Department Commissioner Gordon, the only member currently present, to conduct the investigation.

But compared to the gunshot, the eerie sound of shattering glass... coming from an expensive crystal chandelier that had been smashed to pieces and was no longer recognizable—caused far more serious consequences.

Because that crystal chandelier actually hit someone.

Given the weight of the crystal chandelier, it probably nearly killed the victim on the spot.

Moreover, countless crystal shards pierced every part of this person's body, and the amount of bleeding was truly shocking.

Even though the hospital has been contacted urgently, to be honest, the victim will probably die from excessive blood loss before the ambulance arrives.

As for the identity of the victim.

"There's a politician on the city council, not exactly known for his good reputation, with a lot of enemies," Bruce whispered to Jaeger. "It's not surprising that someone wants to kill him. But the question is... how did the assassin manage to do it?"

"..." Upon hearing this, Jaeger looked at the injured waitress from afar. "I have a different question on my mind."

"We only heard one gunshot, didn't we?"

"But if that shot had hit the waiter..." Jaeger's gaze shifted to the other side, to the shattered crystal chandelier that had been isolated. "How did that chandelier fall down?"

"Normally, if a chandelier falls, it might just be due to a worn-out chain," Bruce said. "But it just happened to fall at this particular time... The timing is just too perfect."

"In my experience, this is most likely an assassination attempt against that politician," Bruce said, then paused abruptly.

He sighed as he suddenly remembered the average crime-solving level and reasoning ability of the Gotham Police Department.

"But if we don't have evidence to prove this, the falling chandelier could very well be simply mistaken for an accident caused by the aging of the chain, just as I just mentioned."

Although Jaeger really wanted to ask Bruce where he got his case-solving experience, he thought again that Batman might have taught Bruce, so he just nodded in agreement.

“That’s right, so we still need to figure out how the chandelier fell,” Jaeger said. “Let me state my opinion first: I think there must be some connection between the gunshot and the chandelier falling.”

"Shooting in the dark isn't actually that difficult. Night vision equipment, fluorescent markers, etc... with current technology, it's quite simple to do."

"But the question is, where did their 'second shot' go?"

Bruce chimed in, "If the other side has the ability to conceal their gunfire, they can simply avoid firing the first shot."

"But if not, where did the killer's second shot go...?"

"Unless our premise is invalid, and the chandelier falling is unrelated to the shooting, this is probably the strangest thing about this case."

"However," Jaeger blinked again after his analysis, "we don't necessarily need to figure this out."

"Anyway, I'm not one of those obsessive-compulsive detectives who insist on figuring out every detail of a case. Even if this problem isn't solved, as long as we catch the culprit, it's the same, isn't it?"

Jaeger genuinely thought so, after all, he was just a detective in name only, and the occult was the main thing about him.

But Bruce, standing opposite him, perfectly embodied the obsessive-compulsive detective Jaeger described as someone who "must understand the ins and outs of a case and every single detail": "..."

Fortunately, this delicate moment was broken by Jason and Barbara, who had just run to the other side to check the situation and were only now returning.

"How is that possible?" Barbara's expression was not good as she walked and complained, "That chandelier falling was an accident? It just doesn't make sense!"

"But that's exactly what most people think," Jason shrugged. "Their reason is that there was only one gunshot."

"However, the gun was found." Barbara finished her indignation before seriously recounting the information she had just learned from Gordon, "It was left in a corner of the banquet hall, but there were no bullets or fingerprints..."

"The gun model is also quite ordinary." Jason is quite qualified to speak on this point. "I know which type of gun most Gotham residents would choose to use when committing a crime."

"But that gun is so common. If you go out and arrest ten criminals, nine of them will be using that kind of gun... So, you can't narrow down the suspects from that perspective."

Bruce looked at Jason with some surprise upon hearing this.

But Jason's intuition was sharp. After noticing Bruce looking at him, and perhaps out of caution, he quietly took a step toward Jaeger.

Jaeger noticed this and thought to himself: I always feel that Jason still has some strange misunderstanding about Bruce...

So he thought for a moment and said, "Hmm... how about this?"

"Bruce, I'll take them both to see the injured waitress."

"You can find someone else..." Jaeger paused deliberately, "like Chief Gordon? Go investigate the chandelier area."

Bruce knew that Jaeger's pause was definitely not referring to Gordon.

Perhaps it's a reminder for him to go find Batman...

It's likely that he offered to take Barbara and Jason away in order to avoid exposing his relationship with Batman.

Despite knowing the other party meant well, Bruce, who had already hinted at his identity several times to no avail, remained silent.

Jaeger is usually quite clever in other matters, but he has no doubts about Bruce's identity.

Could it be that I played two identities too successfully...?

It can't be that the other party actually saw through it but was pretending to be stupid to cooperate with him.

Bruce was a little skeptical, but looking at Jaeger's sincere face... tsk, it didn't seem like he was acting.

Oh well, I don't have a habit of revealing my true identity anyway. At worst, I'll just see when the other person finds out.

With that thought in mind, Bruce nodded in agreement with Jaeger's suggestion: "Then I'll be going now. Goodbye, everyone."

Jaeger, unaware of Bruce's complex emotional state at that moment, simply waved goodbye upon hearing this.

After the other person left, Barbara couldn't help but ask, "Yage, what did we want to ask that waiter?"

"I don't think the killer really intended to kill her; it was probably just an accident. The real target was probably the person who died from the chandelier..."

"But if that's the case, and the other party was just accidentally dragged into it and probably doesn't know anything, then it probably won't be of much help to solving the case?"

Faced with Barbara's question, Jaeger's grey eyes flickered, and he smiled:

"you are right."

"But you know what, Barbara? The truth of some things—may not be as it seems."