They couldn't find Bane. It was very likely he had already left Gotham City.
Now Liu A'dou had no options left either. The virus had been taken by Bane, and who knew where he might go.
Ada Wong sighed. Since it had come to this, all they could do was go with the flow. After all, the technology in this world was way more advanced than in the bioweapon world. Maybe the G-virus wouldn't even be effective here. "You head back first. I need to rest too. Staying up all night is every woman's enemy."
"Ada-jie, you're staying here?" Liu A'dou had been thinking about clearing out another guest room. The one Iselin had used, he'd left untouched.
"There's water and electricity here, a bed, a place to park—I'm happy with it." Ada Wong replied.
"Alright then." Liu A'dou left a spare key, then pulled a wad of cash from the safe. "Take care of yourself, I'll head out now."
"No problem. If anything comes up, I'll call you."
Liu A'dou threw an old coat over his Kaitou Kid outfit and didn't let Ada see him off. He left on his own.
Everything that happened in the last dozen or so hours had been way too sudden. Now, walking in the morning breeze, he could finally clear his head a bit. Ada Wong's sudden appearance gave Liu A'dou a feeling—Pandora's Magic Box, in its search for knowledge from other worlds, must've helped out more than a few people along the way. How many others might've been dragged into this world?
Hopefully none. Ada and the virus came through together, but he really hoped there wouldn't be more dangerous things crossing over. This world was already dangerous enough.
The timing worked out. It was about time to go home, change clothes, and head to work.
It had been a while since he'd been back at the office.
"Liu, you feeling better now?" Howard, as always, cared about his top staff.
"Director, I'm good to work."
"That's great. Just in time—Thomas has been shouting for help. You'll be working with him from now on."
"Alright!" Liu A'dou said. Time to finally say goodbye to that slow, beat-up old car.
But he celebrated too soon. When he and Thomas got to the parking lot, he realized Thomas was now driving that exact same beat-up old car.
"What's going on? What happened to your original van? That brand-new, fully-equipped broadcast van?" Just looking at that van made Liu A'dou's head hurt. It always stalled, and the coolant hose was constantly slipping off.
"No choice. The station cut back the budget. HQ took my van. This one's not too bad, still works. Better than no car at all." Thomas didn't seem to care much about the vehicle.
Realizing there was no escaping this junk heap, Liu A'dou resigned himself.
Their destination today was the District Attorney's office. Funny enough, today was Joker's trial. Liu A'dou couldn't help but think Gotham worked fast. He figured it would take at least a few more days.
"By the way, what happened with Iselin? You two broke up? One of you vanished for half a month, the other left the news team and started hosting some food show next door. Weren't you two pretty close?"
Do you have to be so nosy? Liu A'dou kept his hands steady on the wheel. "Probably just a personality clash."
"You guys really split?"
"Maybe. She didn't say anything when she left."
"What happened? Tell me, let your big brother here help you figure it out." Thomas said. "You young folks are too self-centered sometimes. Just try thinking from the other person's side a little more. I remember when I was dating my nagging wife, I almost couldn't take it—was ready to break up over how much she scolded me. I mean, I was looking for a girlfriend, not another mom, right? But then I thought about it. She nagged because she cared. That was it. After we got married, we've never even fought once. So come on, tell me, I might have some advice."
The situation wasn't that simple. Liu A'dou thought, he'd been dumped by Iselin because of his identity as Kaitou Kid. Well, dumped might be too strong—he really had deceived her, but honestly, it wasn't all his fault. It was just that, before he could even explain, Iselin had already left.
Liu A'dou had been trained as a phantom thief since childhood, and ever since crossing into this world, he hadn't spent much time dwelling on his past. Finding a good woman, settling down, and living a normal life didn't seem like such a bad idea. But in this dangerous world, living an ordinary life meant living in fear. So since he had power, why not choose a different, more proactive way of life?
"To be honest, I'm not really sure if what I felt for Iselin was sympathy or actual affection," Liu A'dou finally said after a long pause.
Thomas raised his eyebrows and pointed at Liu A'dou, "Kid, you don't look like the honest type. You're just afraid of commitment. But I get it. Guys your age, being scared of responsibility is normal. Be honest—did you sleep with Iselin?"
Liu A'dou shook his head firmly.
"There you go. You're just scared to take responsibility. All that talk about love or not love is just nonsense. You're just afraid to be responsible," Thomas said, like he had Liu A'dou all figured out. "But at least you've got a bottom line. You didn't take advantage of her like some scumbags who sleep with a girl and then walk away."
"So what you're saying is, I didn't touch Iselin because I was afraid I'd have to take responsibility for it?" This was the first time Liu A'dou had heard someone analyze him like this.
"Exactly. If you weren't afraid, why not? Sleep with her and then marry her, no big deal, right?" Thomas said with conviction. "It's because you're scared that you didn't dare. I can tell you now, Iselin really liked you. If you had made a move, she would've gone along with it."
They always say heroes fall for beauties, but it's also true that beauties love heroes.
Even though Liu A'dou hadn't shown his heroic side openly, he was good-looking, had a nice personality, and it was totally normal for girls to like him. Iselin liking Liu A'dou was a given, which was why she couldn't accept the fact he lied to her and chose to leave. But Liu A'dou really hadn't figured out his own feelings.
Liu A'dou wasn't lustful, so he could resist temptation and hadn't gone after Iselin like that. But if he wasn't into her, why had he stayed with her? If it was love, he wasn't sure. In the past half month, he hadn't been pining for her or anything. So was it sympathy? That didn't quite fit either, because he really admired her strength.
He couldn't explain it, not even to himself. Maybe Thomas was right—maybe it was just fear of responsibility.
"There's a saying back home," Liu A'dou said, "The cart will find its way around the hill, and the boat will straighten out when it gets to the bridge. Let's just take things as they come."
"Don't sit on the fence, kid. Wait too long, and when you're my age, finding a good woman's gonna be ten times harder. I'm telling you, make your move while you can," Thomas said, now full-on playing the wise old mentor role. "Figure out what you really want, that's what matters."
"Thanks. I'll think about it," Liu A'dou nodded. Of course, only later would he find out who his true partner in life would be.
The car turned a corner, and just ahead stood the solemn and imposing District Attorney's Office.