Nobody can stop me from drawing cards in Gotham!

Chapter 13 Rat-catching Service?

As Batman struggled to reach the outside of the top floor amidst the increasingly biting night wind, he first activated a special signal jamming device to prevent cameras or similar devices from recording him. Then, as he pried open a window and tumbled to the ground, he happened to hear the elevator on that floor "ding".

Langdon Parrels isn't here, is he? Who else would be on the top floor of the building at this time?

Batman instantly became alert, instinctively raising his cape to blend into the surrounding darkness as cover, and even reaching for the smoke bomb on his belt—

The next second, he and Jaeger, who had just stepped out of the elevator, stared at each other in bewilderment.

Batman, unusually speechless: "..."

Jaeger walked out with an innocent look on his face and coughed, "Um, please let me explain."

He only recently learned from the female employee who called him behind his back that he seemed to have some connection with the chairman of the company, Langdon Parrels... Jaeger Winchester was even the kind of person who would come by from time to time and could become familiar with the receptionist.

"We sometimes talk about you during afternoon tea."

The woman, who worked as a receptionist at the building's front desk, said cheerfully as she led the way.

"It's very rare for the chairman to leave things for you at the front desk. After all, even we employees rarely have the chance to see him. We thought he never interacted with others... No, we're not curious about what he left for you. We won't ask about these things..."

In any case, at least Jaeger can now confirm his previous doubts—it has nothing to do with whether he logs into the game or not. The Jaeger Winchester identity card clearly has a complete past and a real existence, and even has connections with other people in this world that he is unaware of.

Will this be an asset or a potential liability?

Jaeger doesn't know Langdon well, but so far his attitude has been relatively friendly, including that of his employees... But what if Jaeger Winchester has enemies? Or what kind of people has he offended in the past?

It seems that after this incident is over, I'll have to thoroughly investigate Jaeger Winchester's past, lest I step on an unknown bomb someday... Perhaps I can ask Batman for help with this, after all, that guy seems to be very good at investigations.

However, compared to the bombs buried in the past of the identity cards, the biggest time bomb right now is the main card [Slaughter], which still shows no signs of being redeemed... Judging from the current progress, maybe it will be the battle against the counterfeit or the person behind it that makes it possible to redeem the card?

With a jumble of thoughts in his mind, Jaeger, with the help of the enthusiastic receptionist, took the elevator all the way to the top floor.

Incidentally, it's said that Langdon Parrels, probably to prevent unauthorized people from going to the top-floor office, set up fingerprint verification on the elevator buttons leading to the top floor, allowing only certain people to pass through, and Jaeger was among them.

Then, Jaeger, who had successfully reached the top floor, bumped into Batman, who happened to be climbing in through the window.

The explanation took a little time, and Batman asked skeptically, "You have a relationship? But you acted like you knew nothing about Langdon Parrels before."

Jaeger was quite relaxed. He had asked the woman a few more questions beforehand to dispel this doubt: "I've had some online exchanges with him and occasionally come here to pick up some things, but I've never met him in person and don't really know him very well."

"...It's an emergency, so I won't ask what you usually come here to pick up." Batman flipped open the panel on his arm armor, glanced at the map showing the locations of the Major Crimes Unit members, and said, "The police will arrive here in about eight minutes."

"It's not that I doubt you, but didn't you say before that this place is at least 10 times harder to breach than the police station's database? Eight minutes is enough for us to hack into Parrels' surveillance database?" Jaeger asked.

"Enough," Batman said calmly. "Because I am Batman."

"Alright." Jaeger shrugged, then walked over to Batman, who was about to pick the lock on the office door. "No need for that."

He put his arm around Batman's shoulder and then estimated the distance—

Almost in the blink of an eye, their vision distorted, changed, and then instantly became clear; the two of them were already inside the office.

Batman: "..."

He silently put the lock-picking tool back into his belt, then took out something that looked like a USB flash drive and plugged it into the computer on the desk next to him.

Although Batman didn't say anything, Jaeger felt that his silence was a very subtle way of expressing his dislike for magic.

While Batman skillfully hacked into someone else's computer, Jaeger turned his attention to the interior of the office.

...It's huge. That was Jaeger's first impression of the office, which occupied almost an entire floor.

So how much truth is there to the trope in American TV shows where bosses exploit their employees while idly playing golf in their offices?

However, Jaeger had no doubt that Langdon Parrels was the kind of scoundrel boss who would play golf in an empty office.

The reason is simple: because this guy's office is filled with nothing but Lego display cases.

So this person is actually a jerk boss who builds Lego sets in the office.

Star Wars, Harry Potter, Ninjago, F1...

Tsk, case solved. All that talk about keeping a low profile and being a low-key tycoon, Langdon Parrels is just a Lego fanatic—maybe the things Jaeger occasionally picks up at the front desk are actually Lego sets that the poor detective needs to assemble for him, which makes perfect sense—so who knows where this guy's company came from, inherited? Where in Gotham are there so many rich kids living a life of luxury!

Before Jaeger could finish pondering who stole his rich kid life, Batman interrupted his fantasy: "That's enough."

"So fast?" Jaeger snapped back to reality in a second, walked over to the bat, and looked at the computer.

"Hmm, it seems there's a reason why the person behind the fake was in such a hurry to delete the video." Behind the white goggles, Batman's eyes narrowed. "...We have an important lead."

The surveillance footage, slightly blurred by the rain tonight, shows an abandoned motorcycle carelessly tossed aside on the roadside, while a fake bat costume quickly slips into a white truck that is only partially visible in the footage.

And the text displayed on the side of that truck...

"Rat-catching service...?" Jaeger uttered slowly.