Nobody can stop me from drawing cards in Gotham!

Chapter 67 Scarecrow: Not going to exchange!

"Huff... huff..."

The rapid breathing, accompanied by a heart pounding so hard it seemed to burst out of the chest, was incredibly clear in the quiet yet menacing streets of the night.

Jason is running at full speed.

His worst fears have come true.

The story begins half an hour earlier.

Given Jason's wariness of the monster and the fact that it had clearly expanded its reach to the surrounding area, he shouldn't have come out at night like this.

But Jason never expected that his mother, Catherine Todd, who was ill from years of hard work and drug dependence, would suddenly develop a high fever tonight, and that they had run out of fever reducers.

Ultimately, Gotham's damp and rainy environment, along with the terrible living conditions in Crime Alley, was simply not suitable for someone like Catherine with her physical condition to live in for long.

The intermittent high fever was like a curse, constantly haunting this unfortunate woman and refusing to go away.

Unfortunately, the only adult male in the family had long since abandoned his wife and child, and they could only vaguely hear rumors from others that he had been imprisoned for committing a crime.

Jason is only twelve years old and doesn't have much earning power, while Catherine's job is tiring and low-paying, which only makes her health worse.

—A mother and son who depend on each other for survival are not capable of leaving the crime alley on their own initiative.

Even just paying for Catherine's medication is already a huge burden.

Even so, the illness still needs to be treated, and the cost of medicine still needs to be paid.

Seeing Catherine groaning in pain from a high fever, Jason gritted his teeth, risked running into the monster, took out the money he had painstakingly saved from various sources, and ran out of the house to buy medicine for Catherine.

At first, things went very smoothly.

Jason went to the Tompkins Clinic, where Dr. Leslie, who was on duty, examined Jason's condition and voluntarily waived the medication fees. She even considered accompanying Jason to see his mother.

Unfortunately, a patient with a more urgent condition was brought to the door, so Leslie had to send Jason away with regret.

But it was precisely on his way back that Jason encountered a problem.

Having grown up in Crime Alley, Jason knew the dangers of the area at night. So, drawing on his experience, he deliberately avoided places where habitual thieves frequented, homeless people congregated, or where gangs operated...

But fate played a cruel joke on Jason, who was eager to get back.

"This is..." Jason stopped in his tracks just two more intersections away from home.

Because another intersection not far from him, under the moonlight tonight, had an eerie yellowish-green hue.

This made Jason instinctively sense that something was wrong.

He kept his distance from the color, confirming that the yellowish-green hue was not an illusion, but some kind of gaseous substance that was spreading with the airflow.

Could it be...? Just as Jason had a thought forming in his mind, another blurry figure appeared within that yellowish-green light.

As the distance closed, the figure gradually became clearer.

The other person wore a large straw hat, under which was a mask made of coarse linen, sewn with needle and thread into the shape of a distorted smile. Two eerie scarlet points flickered in the eye holes cut out of the mask.

Between the gaps in the mask, straw, which looked like filler, was sticking out in all directions.

His attire, coupled with his gaunt figure, standing amidst a sea of ​​yellow and green, made him appear like a monster straight out of the legends of the straw cannibals prevalent in the American Midwest.

Legend has it that these monsters have heads made of burlap sacks and bodies made of tattered rags and straw. They stand in the fields, pretending to be harmless scarecrows, and then drag humans into the depths of the fields when they pass by.

……scarecrow!

Jason couldn't help but think of a name that was extremely fitting for the monster in front of him, and without hesitation, he turned and ran!

Unfortunately, he never placed any hope in his luck, which made him accustomed to encountering such worst-case scenarios and to dealing with them as best he could.

Since the situation has already come to this, it's best to lure the scarecrow as far away from his house as possible!

But Jason was too eager to escape and didn't notice the "scarecrow's" movements behind him.

The "Scarecrow" didn't seem to be chasing after them. Instead, it pondered for a moment, then reached out and pulled out something that looked like a gun from its person.

But this is not a gun in the true sense of the word; it is a tranquilizer gun loaded with "Scarecrow" specially developed anesthetic.

It is specifically designed to deal with situations where the other party is not suitable to be a test subject, but may hinder one's actions.

Jason turned around hastily, and the last thing he saw was a fleeting glint of cold light in the Scarecrow's hand.

……

……

The child who tried to escape fell down.

Seeing this, the "Scarecrow" put away the tranquilizer gun and walked towards the child.

"What a pity, we didn't catch a suitable test subject, but we ran into a child instead." "Scarecrow" muttered. "Tsk, we can only hide him in some inconspicuous corner and let him leave on his own when he wakes up at dawn—otherwise, leaving him here might attract the attention of that troublesome bat."

Thinking of this, the "Scarecrow" bent down, grabbed Jason's leg, and tried to drag him away.

Even though he was skinny, he was still a grown man, and it wouldn't be difficult for him to drag a child away.

Yes, despite its terrifying appearance, this "scarecrow" is actually not a monster at all, but an ordinary person.

But just as the scarecrow was about to drag the boy away from the ground—

"Whoosh!"

A piercing shriek cut through the air, and the scarecrow's eyes widened instantly. At the same time, it instinctively released its grip and froze.

His gaze fell on the ground, where he saw a gleaming batarang embedded in the earth, less than centimeters from his toes.

"Let go of that boy." A specially processed, hoarse voice came from above behind him, "—Scarecrow."

"Hehehe, you're pretty quick, bat." The scarecrow chuckled on the surface, but was actually panicking inside.

After all, this was his first time running into Batman head-on. Who knew what this demonic bat, who was said to be able to eat children alive in urban legends, could do, or even be human!

But regardless, since the other party wanted to save people...

The Scarecrow reacted quickly, reaching out to grab Jason, intending to use him as a hostage to blackmail Batman.

But to the scarecrow's surprise, a second unexpected incident occurred that night.

Just before he could grab Jason, a strange crack suddenly appeared in the ground where Jason was standing, instantly swallowing the boy whole!

scarecrow:?!!

My hostage! ...Wait, what the hell is this crack?!

The scarecrow's pupils widened in shock as it looked up and saw that not far from it, the air was torn apart once more, and a figure instantly fell from it.

It was a young man holding the unconscious Jason, his gray eyes coldly fixed on him.

"You even prey on children?" The other person frowned, gently placing Jason on the ground. "—You're the monster who's been wreaking havoc in Crime Alley?"

scarecrow:"……"

Batman is one thing... but where did this guy come from?!

You guys planned this all along, launching a pincer attack from both sides?!