With a backpack on his back, Connors strolled through Arkham Asylum as if he were returning home, completely ignoring the omnipresent surveillance cameras.
First, he went to the Arkham Asylum director's office to take a hot shower, then he rummaged through cabinets and drawers to find a map of the place.
Finally, holding a treasured cigar he had found in the director's desk drawer, he leisurely made his way towards the prison area where the inmates were held.
Extremely dangerous inmates like Joker and Riddler were kept in solitary confinement, not far from the regular inmates.
After some deliberation, Connors chose an empty solitary cell. Little Trick rendered the surveillance cameras useless, and Lockpicking Master easily opened the heavily protected door.
Then he took off the backpack behind him and opened it. It contained things he had brought from the Andrew Hotel.
A complete set of clean and tidy bedding, as well as toiletries.
If conditions had allowed, he would have even wanted to soak his feet.
His peak human physical fitness combined with his Spider-Sense allowed him to sleep without any psychological burden. As for the inmates in solitary confinement, the prison guards, to avoid accidents, did not have the procedure of conducting surprise inspections every one or two hours like they did for the regular inmates.
So he slept soundly until dawn, until the noise from the solitary cell next door and the sound of heavy objects hitting the ground woke him up.
"It was a comfortable sleep, just no air conditioning—"
Connors criticized the quality of his sleep last night. Hearing the sounds of locks opening outside, he estimated it was time for a meal and casually opened his own cell door.
This cell was empty, which the prison guards knew, and the inmates in other cells also knew.
Upon hearing the sound at this moment, almost everyone turned their heads and saw Connors, dressed in a clean prison uniform, walking out. He held a bottle of mineral water in one hand and a toothbrush in the other, with foam still around his mouth.
Prison guards: "???"
Joker: "???"
Riddler, Scarecrow, Penguin: "???"
After brushing his teeth as if no one was around, Connors magically produced a wet wipe to wash his face, yawned, and then greeted the stunned group of people:
"Morning everyone—we're all acquaintances, huh."
After speaking, seeing that these people were still in a daze, Connors casually walked towards the location of the dining hall he had seen on the map last night, saying as he walked:
"If you're not eager to eat, there's something wrong with your head."
If the prison guard wasn't an idiot, he would know by now that there was a problem at Arkham Asylum. He quickly took out his walkie-talkie:
"Were there any new inmates locked up last night??"
A voice came from the other end of the walkie-talkie:
"No, Batman was speeding around Gotham all night yesterday and didn't catch a single inmate. I suspect he's having relationship problems—uh, is there something going on in the maximum-security area?"
"Yes, a guy we've never seen before came out of the cell that was prepared for Bane, and he doesn't have any locks on him. He, he even brushed his teeth with mineral water!" The prison guard's voice was full of disbelief.
Inside the dining hall of Arkham Asylum, Connors sat at an empty table with his tray.
Soon, dozens of prison guards rushed in with shields and guns, surrounding Connors.
Three more prison guards walked up to him, two with guns in their hands and one with leg shackles, and demanded in a stern voice:
"Who are you? Why are you here?"
Connors did not resist and very cooperatively extended his leg, allowing the other party to put the leg shackles on him:
"Batman sent me in last night, why would you forget?"
The prison guards exchanged glances, looking bewildered.
Soon, one of the prison guards slapped his head:
"Oh, right, he was indeed sent by Batman yesterday, but I don't know who was so careless not to shackle him."
The other prison guards also showed expressions of realization, and the tense atmosphere immediately eased.
Among the other inmates in the dining hall who were watching the show with schadenfreude, someone laughed:
"Hey, buddy, these prison guards don't take you seriously at all, they even forgot to shackle you? Maybe you should have just escaped last night."
"Shut up!" The prison guard shouted, enraged and embarrassed.
Soon, the prison guards who had been aggressive just now all left, leaving only a portion to prevent riots. Connors was not surprised at all that the prison guards so easily believed his nonsense.
[Today's Gossip: Selina's Windows]
[Gossip Reward: Intermediate Hypnotism]
He only got this one not-so-small piece of gossip all day yesterday, but the reward was decent.
It was precisely because of the existence of "Intermediate Hypnotism" that Connors came to Arkham Asylum without fear.
As soon as the prison guards left, another group of people surrounded Connors.
Joker's pale hand rested on Connors' dining table, and he leaned down, his mouth almost reaching his ears:
"Welcome to Arkham, friend—Scarecrow extended his thin, long leg and directly stepped on the table:
"Want breakfast? Five million dollars a time, kid."
He was retaliating against Connors for asking for five million to open a lock. After he finished speaking, Connors' tray was knocked over.
Fortunately, Connors was quick-witted and saved an egg.
Riddler stood to the side and said with a grin:
"While we're at it, let's guess a riddle: 'I can sneak up on you, or be right in front of you, and you won't even know. But when I show myself, you won't be the same. What am I?'"
Connors pondered for a moment:
"A cockroach?"
Riddler happily spread his arms and laughed loudly:
"Wrong! It's betrayal! Hahahaha—When you helped Batman catch me, did you ever think that you would also be betrayed by Batman? How does it feel to be personally sent here by him?"
"It's pretty good."
"You like it here? I'll make you stay here forever, like a rat in a sewer, never seeing the light of day—"
A soft voice came, and Connors, who was peeling an egg with his head down, looked around in confusion:
"Who is it? Who's talking?"
Penguin was so angry he stomped his feet:
"It's me, it's me! You despicable wretch, you messed up my Iceberg Lounge when I wasn't there.
I'm definitely going to settle this score with you!"
Scarecrow and Riddler also started rolling up their sleeves, Joker chuckled softly from the side, and the other inmates continued to watch the show with an attitude of not caring.
Connors quickly admitted his mistake:
"I'm sorry, Mr. Joker, Mr. Riddler, Mr. Scarecrow, everyone, I was wrong before. Here, this is the egg I just peeled—"
He stuffed the poorly peeled, gnawed-on egg with some shell still attached into Riddler's incessant mouth.
After stuffing it, he took out a high-end cigar he had taken from the Arkham Asylum director's drawer last night, broke the seal by hand, then took out a match to light it, and said leisurely:
"I'm here to join you."
However, he was sitting in his seat smoking, while the others were standing beside him, making it unclear for a moment who was joining whom.
Outside Arkham Asylum, Harley Quinn jumped onto the hood of the muscle car Connors had parked there, a large wooden mallet on her shoulder, looking spirited.
Wearing an open jacket over a tight vest, the half-black, half-red contrasting colors, along with the collar around her neck and the hot pants she wore, made Harley Quinn look heroic and cool, and her delicate features were no less impressive than those of a movie star.
She was here to cause trouble, but the target of her destruction was not Arkham Asylum, but to disrupt Joker and their escape plan.
As one of the inmates who had previously escaped from Arkham, Poison Ivy knew all of Joker's plans, and now Harley knew them all as well.
"Harley Quinn, go for it! This is your first battle to make a name for yourself, and Gotham's highway will soon be named after you!"
Harley Quinn said to herself, then got into the muscle car and crashed into the gates of Arkham Asylum.