Shiller killed the contest.
But as for why Penguin could understand that sentence in Russian, and why after understanding it he realized that the Eden Killer would not target them, Natasha couldn't think too deeply about it.
In any case, they successfully refused Penguin's proposal, but were still asked to stay to protect the safety of Penguin and Barbara—after all, no one knew if any of the bodyguards had been turned. Currently, Natasha had the highest combat power present.
Natasha thought it was good this way, at least she could follow the progress of the events throughout. If she returned to the room, she would only be able to guess.
Penguin took all the guest lists and carried out an elimination one by one. There were more than 60 rooms and over 120 people in total. Eliminating those of the same sex sharing a room and those who weren't couples, only 13 rooms were left.
Among these 13 rooms, only the couples in 4 rooms met the conditions—that is, they had poor relationships, both with weaknesses, possibly capable of being manipulated into killing each other.
The others either had good relationships, had interests too tightly bound together to turn against each other, or had previously tried to kill the other but failed. These shouldn't be the targets chosen by the Eden Killer.
Among these four couples, two of them each had a child, but these children were unremarkable. According to Shiller's judgment, they were not tempted, unlike the previous boy who could kill his parents.
And the non-killer children apparently just added variables, so the Eden Killer was very likely not to choose these two couples with children, as it might cause one of the spouses to relent, leading to unsuccessful murder.
Thus, the last two couples without children, their situations were similar, both loving and hating each other. This kind of couple is very easy to estrange.
But since this was a setup, it's impossible to just sit here and wait for the Eden Killer to come. Penguin's plan was: he would take action and kill all the potential targets of the Eden Killer.
Natasha immediately realized this aligned with the agent's thinking. Electronic life operates under logic, and this electronic life pursued the optimal target—if it were to do something, it would assign specific people to do specific things. Before the target was achieved, it would not let those designated die and would find ways to protect them.
The pattern of the Eden Killer killing one man and one woman each time had remained unbroken until now, proving he did not intend to change. Therefore, if Penguin acted first and killed all the one-man-one-woman pairs, he would surely find a way to stop it.
Knowing his actions might be monitored and eavesdropped upon, this was a blatant plan: if you don't show up, I'll kill all your targets, and you will have to appear one way or another.
Of course, if the Eden Killer didn't come out to stop it, then Penguin would be digging his own grave—since he locked them up to protect them and suppress the turbulent situation, to kill them himself would be a path to destruction.
But Penguin couldn't care less. As a long-time super villain in Gotham, he had encountered too many psychopaths. The Eden Killer gave him a feeling similar to those past psychos—they wouldn't allow anyone to intervene when they were crafting their grand masterpieces. Penguin's behavior was sheer provocation, and they could easily be provoked, then act recklessly.
Although Natasha and Penguin approached the analysis from different perspectives, they reached the same conclusion, which was that this move should prove effective.
Penguin didn't even bother sending bodyguards to bring people over; instead, he personally took Natasha to bring these couples to the top floor to his room. Everyone seemed bewildered, but they were not innocent.
Natasha, of course, knew this—as evidenced by the city's state of disrepair, these people hadn't done a single good thing. To be executed without legal trial was in some way letting them off easy.
Originally, she didn't want to intervene—until she heard Penguin calling one of the men among the couples "Mr. Wayne."
Natasha followed Penguin's gaze: a middle-aged man in a suit stood against the wall, bearing a three to four-part resemblance to Batman, but the woman next to him had a mouth almost identical to Batman's.
"Wait!" Natasha shouted, "Who are they?!"
"You don't know them?" Penguin looked at Natasha in surprise and said, "Oh, but it makes sense. You're a subordinate of Batman, not his lover, so there's really no need for him to introduce you to his parents."
Natasha stepped forward, snatching the list from Penguin's hand, and saw that one of the couples most likely chosen by the Eden Killer bore the last name Wayne.
"Batman's parents have a bad relationship?!" Natasha asked Penguin.
"If you think leading their respective families in a gang war in Gotham for three months while throwing missiles at each other's heads is a good way to enhance affection, then our Mr. and Mrs. Wayne would certainly be model couples," Penguin said with a hint of sarcasm.
Natasha stared in shock at the couple before her.
"That's all in the past, Mr. Cobblepot." Martha clasped her hands together resting on her abdomen, speaking very demurely, "Now we still believe that the Wayne Family and the Kane Family united can create a better future. In fact, we have a good relationship now."
Thomas also nodded and said, "Yes, we were indeed separated for a period, but now we have reconciled. I haven't asked you why you called us here yet."
"Of course, it's to kill you," said Penguin Man, "As long as I eliminate the targets of the Eden Killer, he will definitely react."
"You must be out of your mind," Martha said calmly, "If the Eden Killer knew he could drive you mad so easily, he would be quite happy."
"Enough with the nonsense," Penguin Man retrieved a gun from his subordinate.
Thomas was about to make a move, but Shiller shook his head at him. Thomas frowned and looked at him.
Penguin Man raised the gun and aimed it at Thomas's head. As he pulled the trigger, Thomas instinctively dove to the side, but all that came was a slight "click"—the bullet jammed.
Penguin Man ejected the bullet and reloaded, aiming again at Martha. Thomas wanted to push Martha away, but Martha frowned and didn't move, as if she had realized something.
"Click"—another sound, the bullet jammed again.
Penguin Man seemed unwilling to give up and took guns from other bodyguards, but each had either defective parts or the bullets failed to fire. In the end, he roared furiously, "So these are the crappy things you're using to protect my safety?!"
"With all due respect, aren't your weapons bought from dealers?" Natasha looked at him and said, "How do you know the suppliers aren't being manipulated?"
Penguin Man slammed the gun on the ground, cursing in anger. He directly flicked out the Umbrella Knife, prepared to resolve the battle with cold weapons. Natasha certainly wouldn't let him kill Batman's parents, so she fired a shot at his umbrella.
"Damn it! What about our planned arrangement!"
"Sorry, plans have changed."
Penguin Man waved his hand, and the bodyguards lunged at Natasha, but Natasha handled them with ease even though she was outnumbered. The chaos in the room felt like several action movies compressed together.
Due to the room's small size, no matter how adeptly Natasha maneuvered, she struggled to ensure the safety of Mr. and Mrs. Wayne alone. A bodyguard's knife almost shaved off Martha's hair.
At this moment, the screen in front of Barbara, silently operating a computer in the corner of the room, lit up—the sequence of data tracking Martha Wayne's cellphone signal suddenly began to change rapidly.
In another universe, Arkham Batman sat at the center of a room floating with countless magic screens. He was operating magical light points like a computer keyboard, focusing on the largest screen in front of him.
The network formed by magic was connected to the external internet in the same way as in the Magic Academy, and as before—the fundamental difference in energy forms allowed the magic network to have an excellent one-way firewall against the external internet, like a one-way mirror: the inside could see the outside, but the outside couldn't see inside.
Arkham Batman was utilizing this power to track all signals regarding Arkham Knight Jason Todd.
Half a day ago, accusations against Shiller were submitted to the Federal Prosecutor's Office, with all witness testimonies complete, except for Jason Todd, who had not submitted his testimony due to severe injuries—this would be the key evidence in determining whether Shiller would be charged guilty.
After the Arkham Knight was knocked out by anesthetics, countless people manipulated by the behind-the-scenes mastermind attempted to approach the operating room but were all stopped by Nightwing and Robin, and arrested by Gordon.
Knowing that this method was ineffective, the behind-the-scenes mastermind had only one option left, which was to find a way to contact Jason Todd himself and persuade him. The system the Arkham Knight had been using was always Barbara Gordon's "Oracle" system.
At this moment, Barbara was sitting beside Arkham Batman. She saw Arkham Batman using the magic network to access her Oracle system. Although Barbara didn't understand magic, she was thoroughly familiar with the system she had created.
Under Arkham Batman's guidance, Barbara also began to try manipulating magical powers within her system, using the one-way firewall advantage to dismantle the code she had written bit by bit, not missing any clues.
A thread of magic light trembled slightly. Barbara's gaze turned heavy instantly, and as she lightly tapped the floating magic points, she said, "He is attempting to invade the Oracle system to access Jason's personal terminal directly... he's coming."
At the same moment in both universes, the identical eyes of two nearly identical red-haired women, illuminated by the cold light of data, turned into unending mountain ranges. The same sequence of data fell like rain on both ends of the world.
The mechanical sound of keyboards and the hum of magic played in accompaniment. The voices of the two Barbara Gordons echoed simultaneously:
"Got you."