"Man, they've really gained weight recently."
In Gotham City, light snow fell on Christmas Eve.
Two men in black suits muttered while lifting something together, staggering toward a blue car. They were struggling.
The heavy object crashed into the opened trunk. Both men breathed sighs of relief.
One laughed. "This way it'll sink faster."
In the trunk, the corpse with a mustache wore an expensive suit. His body was stiff. A crazy smile remained frozen on his face, as if he'd died of laughter.
So funny. He literally died laughing.
One of the men carrying the corpse rubbed his hands, pulled out a cigarette, and lit it.
A shadow landed with a thud.
The trunk slammed shut.
The two men who'd been relaxed suddenly froze, mouths open to scream.
Batman's fists were already coming.
Two punches. Two bodies hit the snow.
"Where have that two idiots gone?"
Maroni slammed open the restaurant's back door, cigarette clenched between his teeth. He was furious today. As head of Gotham City's second most powerful mafia family, he'd been threatened at gunpoint. Interrogated like some nobody.
That made him very unhappy.
And now the two idiots who'd followed his orders to dispose of the body were slow. Ten minutes had passed. Still no sign of them. No report.
Maroni walked out, face dark with anger.
The first thing he saw was the blue car parked at the door.
His expression changed immediately.
The car was supposed to be sunk at the docks along with the body. It hadn't even been driven away yet.
His two men, who were supposed to be following orders, lay unconscious in the snow beside the trunk.
Who did this? No—their chests were still rising and falling. Not dead.
The back door slammed shut behind him.
The moment he heard it, Maroni's pupils contracted. His whole body froze for half a second before he could barely react.
"Fuck. I've had enough."
He immediately reached into his coat to pull his gun.
As expected, the next second, a dark burly figure grabbed his wrist. Huge force like steel pliers. Just a light twist and the revolver Maroni had drawn fell to the ground.
"That's not a wise move for an intelligent man." Batman's voice was cold. "What happened here tonight?"
Maroni's hand was crushed so hard veins popped out. He barely endured the severe pain and immediately answered. "There's a man who calls himself the Joker. Looking for the Holiday Killer."
"Why?" Batman released his grip slightly. "What's his connection to the Holiday Killer?"
"Should I know? He's a lunatic! Just like you!" Maroni cradled his nearly-crushed hand, growling through gritted teeth. "Ever since you came here, this whole city's been filled with madmen!"
Batman said nothing.
Just disappeared into the night.
"Madman. Madman, madman."
In the pale snow, only Maroni remained sitting on the ground, arms folded, muttering to himself.
"Can I look now?"
Gilda asked cautiously. Fine snowflakes drifted onto her red winter coat, her golden hair, her wheelchair. Everything white and pristine.
"Of course." Harvey's voice was warm in her ear. The blindfold covering her eyes was removed.
"Merry Christmas, Gilda."
Amidst falling snowflakes, a beautiful house decorated with golden lights, emerald green garlands, bright red ribbons, and silver-white snow appeared before her eyes.
Their house. Repaired. Transformed.
Gilda couldn't contain her joy. She flew into Harvey's arms like a swallow, hugging him tightly.
"Whoa, slow down, honey." Harvey laughed. "The doctors want you to take it easy. You really shouldn't leave the wheelchair."
"The doctors." Gilda snorted, looking up at him. Then she looked back at the house. "It's almost completely repaired. Harvey, rebuilding must have been so expensive."
"We can still afford it." Harvey smiled. "It's not like we bought a new house. Don't worry, honey. I'll work harder."
Gilda snuggled in her husband's arms. Suddenly felt her body lighten. She screamed, "Harvey!"
Harvey had picked her up princess-style, walking toward the house with a chuckle.
"Welcome home, Mrs. Dent."
Their eyes met. The atmosphere grew sweet.
Gilda pressed her cheek against Harvey's rough, slightly stubbled chin. Asked softly, "Do you think—if we started over in this renovated house—maybe we could try for a child again?"
"Try?" Harvey lowered his head, put his lips close to her face. "Let's see."
They kissed. Went upstairs. Entered the bedroom and closed the door.
Perhaps, in the near future, the Dent family would have new life.
However, Mr. Dent didn't know that two people had entered his home before he arrives.
Jude stared at the system panel in shock.
Not long ago, he'd taken the crystal ball model and headed out following the same process as before. But before leaving, he'd pulled out his phone and laptop and disabled the signal blocking function.
Let Batman track if he wanted. This was too weird.
Driving along the mission's guided route for ten minutes, Jude felt increasingly wrong about the destination. The location seemed... off.
So he pulled up the map and confirmed the delivery address again.
Diamond District. A private apartment owned by the Roman.
"No. Absolutely not." Jude couldn't contain himself. "Are you insane? They're targeting someone connected to the Falcone family again. How is this mission 'okay'? Do you know how many armed bodyguards are in the Roman's apartments?"
The system remained silent. Just kept pointing to the mission destination.
"Listen, my body literally cannot handle delivery to a place like this. Even though the Falcones deserve everything coming to them, I'm still a law-abiding citizen, right?"
Jude's voice rose. "Can we change the delivery location? At least somewhere farther from Falcone?"
Unexpectedly, when Jude complained, the system actually popped up a second prompt.
SYSTEM NOTIFICATION
This odd job offers Optional Side Quest Branch 2
Base Difficulty: Medium (Upper limit unknown)
Base Reward: Crystal Ball Music Box
Additional Base Reward: Harvey Dent's Friendship
Secondary Reward: Intermediate Physical Fitness Enhancement (Value: $100,000 asset points)
Special Reward: Unlocks ability to move save point forward
Mission Destination: Gotham District Attorney Harvey Dent's Home
Mission Objective: Face a super criminal and survive
Note: This mission involves the origin story of super criminal "Two-Face." Please choose carefully.