"Dad, I think I found a clue."
Just as Batman discovered that the shadows of the Dark Wind Lord and Kingpin seemed to lurk behind a seemingly ordinary theft at the Metropolitan Museum, and was preparing to pursue the leads further, Venom Robin suddenly spoke up.
Batman looked toward Venom Robin, only to find that Robin had turned the computer screen to the other side, extending a hand toward Batman.
"Give me a piece of chocolate, and I'll tell you what I found."
Batman glanced at Venom Robin.
This was his Batcave; Batman had ten thousand ways to access the data Robin had discovered.
But he didn't use those methods. Instead, like a magic trick, a piece of chocolate appeared at his fingertips and was placed into Venom Robin's hand.
Ah!
The instant the chocolate appeared at Batman's fingertips, Venom Robin extended his long tongue and curled it around the treat, sweeping it into his mouth.
Chewing with his cheeks puffed out, he turned the screen back toward Batman.
On the screen was a report from over a decade ago. The content of the report was about the death of a British man named Ellis Whitman.
In the report, an inconspicuous line of small text had been highlighted by Venom Robin:
"British archaeologist Ellis Whitman had long sought and researched similar artifacts."
Beside this line of text, a blurry photo was attached. One could faintly make out that the object in the photo bore patterns similar to the stone slab fragment that had nearly been stolen from the Roman Hall.
Layers of clues were being revealed, but the questions were multiplying just as fast.
A Japanese criminal syndicate, New York's Kingpin, and a British archaeologist—no matter how you looked at it, these three didn't seem like things that belonged together.
"Robin, help me hack into the Dark Wind Group's trade records and find out who the employer behind the thieves who robbed the Roman Hall is," Batman said.
"Why not just ask them?" Venom asked, chewing on the chocolate.
"They are a bunch of tools, only responsible for taking money to do a job," Batman explained.
"I'm a tool, too. Except I don't take money, I only take chocolate," Venom Robin pointed out.
It was as if Batman could conjure chocolate from his hand at any moment; two more pieces appeared at his fingertips.
Just as Venom Robin reached out to grab them, Batman moved his hand away, looked at Robin, and said:
"You are not a tool. If I must correct that point, you are my family."
Back in Gotham, Batman found it very difficult to say such words out loud, even though he often knew that simply saying them would resolve conflicts instantly.
Yet, Batman still couldn't do it.
But after transmigrating into this body—Peter Parker's body—Aunt May, warm as the sun, had illuminated Batman with her light.
From the initial education of Venom, Batman had constantly tried to change himself. This included when he tested Venom Robin before heading to New Mexico, where he had explained his thoughts quite directly. (Chapter 184)
This wasn't Gotham; this was a brighter New York.
Batman couldn't fail to notice Venom Robin's "rebellious phase," which even people like Dr. Otto could see. He chose a method completely different from how he had treated the other Robins in the past.
"Tch, who cares, old bat," Venom Robin said happily, turning his head away while reaching behind him to take the chocolate from Batman's hand.
Snap! Snap!
Venom Robin stuffed both pieces of chocolate into his mouth at once, his cheeks immediately bulging out like a toad's.
He didn't care in the slightest, quickly searching through the Dark Wind Group's trade records while asking:
"Dad, within what timeframe?"
"Two and a half years," Batman said.
The leader of the men in black among the thieves had mentioned that they prepared for this operation for a full two years, which meant the employer behind the scenes had contacted the Dark Wind Group at least two and a half years ago.
Their workstations switched immediately. Batman pursued leads related to the stone slab fragment, while Venom dug into the secrets of the Dark Wind Group.
Batman wasn't worried that Venom lacked hacking skills, nor was he worried about him leaving any traces for the Dark Wind Group to discover and trace back.
Before the battle with Anti-Venom in the Adirondack Mountains, the coarse-voiced Venom—clearly in a symbiotic "adult" state—had lingered in Batman's memories for a long time.
That guy had even dived into the deepest parts of Batman's memory, seeing the eight-year-old boy Batman protected in the bottom of his heart.
He possessed most of Batman's memories, including those regarding cyber technology.
Even though he hadn't had space to use it, there was no doubt that Venom Robin, having regained his memories, was now one of the world's top hackers.
Hacking into a mere Dark Wind Group was a piece of cake.
As for Batman himself, he quickly found information on that British archaeologist, Ellis Whitman, based on various data.
The data showed that Ellis Whitman belonged to the Whitman family, and the family crest bore a certain degree of similarity to the patterns on the stone slab fragment.
"The Whitman family... The number of people named Whitman in the entire United States and New York combined is about 150,000."
"Obviously, they can't all be connected to the Whitman family that owns the crest on the stone slab."
"Finding a clue on this path is undoubtedly difficult upon difficult, unless I have the assistance of Brother Eye or Alfred."
Pages of data flashed rapidly before Batman's eyes, but what he finally stopped on wasn't related to the Whitman family, but information from New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art.
What Batman was viewing wasn't the Met's official website, of course, but the internal data of exhibits collected since the museum's founding.
Normally, every artifact in the museum would have detailed records ranging from a few thousand to hundreds of thousands of words.
But this time was different. Batman spent half an hour finding the information on the stone slab fragment, and it contained only one sentence:
"Rubbing of a 12th-century British knight's tomb inscription."
Batman stroked the stubble on his chin. Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed Venom Robin looking at him, so he conjured another piece of chocolate and handed it over.
"Old Ba... Dad, ran into a problem?" Venom Robin bit down on Batman's hand, but only swept away the chocolate without harming Batman in the slightest.
Looking at the screen resting on the Met's internal record page, Venom Robin couldn't help but ask.
He possessed hacking skills inherited from Batman, so he naturally knew that not all information could be obtained from the internet.
Apart from the residual information from the Metropolitan Museum, the only other mention in the entire network was the death report of the British archaeologist Ellis Whitman.
Naturally, Venom Robin thought the clues for the stone slab ended there.
"No." Batman's voice exceeded Venom Robin's expectations. "I have already discovered the key to the clues."