Kent furrowed his brow. He hadn't expected that the backdrop to all these events could trace back to a much earlier era. He asked, "What's the story behind this case?"
The chief let out a long sigh, showing a reminiscent expression, and then said, "I'm afraid that's something from when my grandfather was young. Back then, acrobatics just started to gain popularity, and circuses were a novel trend. And this Flying Angel had an exceptional talent for acrobatics since childhood. After her parents visited the big city to see acrobatics, she began practicing at home, mastering various stunts with ease, and became well-known in the town by her teens."
"Later, she furthered her skills in professional acrobatics, and once she took the stage, she was showered with admiration from countless audiences, to the point that she could be called a pioneer of a new school."
"During her performances, she encountered many like-minded friends, so they collectively formed an acrobatic troupe, which later evolved into a circus—Big Creek Town's Qile Circus."
"However, with more people came more conflicts. Within the circus, Satean's colleague, the Beast Tamer Jin Jiesi, either out of jealousy or possibly due to unequal interest distribution, developed a serious conflict with her. Ultimately, on a dark night, he burst into Satean's house, killed the family of four, and set the house on fire. In such a remote place, this was considered a major crime. The truth quickly surfaced, Jin Jiesi was imprisoned and never came out, while the circus was taken over by the family of Joker performer Berg."
This was a lot of information, Kent took a long time to understand and then realized the Joker performer Berg the chief referred to might be Linda's great-grandfather, or precisely Old Berg's father. But given the uncertainty of their generational ages, he might also be the great-great-grandfather, or Old Berg's grandfather, anyhow, it's definitely an ancestor's issue.
"This case actually has many suspicions." The chief spoke candidly, "Back then, there were barely any investigative methods, and in such a small place, no one cared how the police solved cases. Anyway, someone died, and whoever had a bad relationship with them was arrested. Jin Jiesi was the one with the worst relationship with Satean, so he became the murderer."
"Alright. How about the case files? Can I see the files?" Kent actually wanted to show the files to Batman, he was best at this sort of thing, capable of uncovering the truth from any Spider Silk clues.
The chief shook his head, saying, "Unfortunately, an unidentified person sneaked into the police station back then, set a fire, and burned down the entire records room. Those days only paper files existed, and after the fire, nothing remained."
"Could it be the real murderer who did this?"
"I don't know. Everything I know about this case is passed down orally within the police station." The chief shook his head and added, "If it weren't for how famous this case was, I wouldn't know such old events."
Kent furrowed his brow even deeper. He initially thought he could get more clues, but now it seemed like more mysteries. However, his instinct told him that Jin Jiesi was not the real murderer; the real culprit should be Berg, who ultimately benefited. That whole family was rotten.
"So, was the woman calling for help on the phone Satean?"
"If what you said is right, with circus advertisement in the background... Typically, circus advertisements aired during prime time radio shows at that era, which was also when the murder happened. So it's certainly possible it was the former Flying Angel."
Kent pondered. Though the call should be guiding him to the town's clues, it now seemed there might be other plot points yet to trigger. Speaking of other matters, Bruce's daughter is missing, and they haven't encountered any related clues yet.
Kent thought for a bit, then asked, "If Satean's ghost is real, where do you think she would be?"
The chief was stunned by the question and replied, "How should I know? If you hadn't given me this camera, I wouldn't even know Ghosts actually exist."
Kent scratched his head. He somewhat envied Batman's effective brain. Presented with so many clues, yet he couldn't make sense of any.
"Since she called you, why don't you ask her." The chief said, "This camera can capture ghosts, maybe the phone can call them. Just ask her."
"Right." Kent immediately realized, "I'll go back now and ask her tonight. By the way, leaving this with you."
Kent handed the camera to the chief, saying, "Don't worry, there aren't any important photos here. But it seems your wife has something to say to you, you can use this to communicate."
The chief's expression was complex, but he kept the camera, watched Kent leave, then picked up a notebook nearby, aiming its lens at the notebook while talking softly, "Dear, write here if you have something to say."
After leaving the police station, Kent returned to his office. His colleague was a bit surprised to see him and asked, "Weren't you on vacation? Why are you back so soon?"
"I was really concerned." Kent spoke frankly, "Is that harassment call still coming?"
"Of course, it's at the same time every day, punctual as can be, but nobody dares to answer except you." The colleague shook his head.
Kent felt relieved. He knew the call was not just revealing town clues, there must be some other role. He first returned to his apartment, took a shower, changed clothes, and went to a fast-food place to eat heartily, refilling his Energy bar.
He glanced at his health bar, fortunately not losing any health. After all, he was seriously playing as a plot character, barely deviating. Perhaps that's why, even though he faced Evil spirits head-on, he hasn't died yet.
He patted his chest and said, "Rest assured, little one. No matter how complex this gets, I'll dig all of them out; none will get away."
At night, Kent stayed by the phone. Right on time, the phone rang, and Kent quickly picked it up. Fortunately, there were hardly any colleagues during the night shift; he was the only one left in the office. This time, Kent didn't repeatedly ask "Where are you?" or similar questions; he directly said, "Hello, are you the Flying Angel? I sympathize with your plight, and I really want to help you. Can you tell me what to do?"
The woman's scream came to an abrupt halt, followed by silence, then a hissing sound of electric current came from the other end, and suddenly the phone emitted a "beep" that startled Kent.
Then, the numbers on the keyboard began to light up. Kent hurriedly found a pen to write down, realizing it seemed to be a phone number.
After the numbers finished lighting, the phone was hung up. Kent looked at the string of numbers hesitantly but still picked up the receiver and dialed them. The phone kept ringing busy, seemingly no one answering, but also not automatically hanging up.
At this moment, Kate, who had just finished teaching Linda how to drive, dropped her off, and returned to Aunt Cain's house, suddenly heard a sharp, ear-piercing telephone ring.
The sound was like a death warrant, echoing in the empty and old house. Kate was scared into a cold sweat; luckily, she was now a puppet and wouldn't get weak-kneed.
Kate took a deep breath, gathered her courage, thought about the vile face of the evil spirit, and ultimately walked towards the direction of the telephone ring, discovering that the sound came from the clock hanging in Aunt Cain's living room, the one that rang at ten o'clock.
A clock producing a telephone ring was such a bizarre phenomenon that Kate forgot to be afraid. He started to contemplate, if this was indeed a telephone, then which part was the receiver.
Kate didn't know, so she could only try. She reached out and touched the clock's pendulum, and sure enough, a voice emerged from within: "Hello, hello? Satean?"
Kate immediately recognized Kent's voice. She said, "What the ghost? It's me, I'm Kate!"
Kent was also stunned. The two remained silent for over ten seconds, unsure how to express their surprise. How could a call be made to a teammate like this?
Kent knew his mind probably wasn't sharp enough, but Kate, as Batwoman, was certainly more capable than him. So he told her everything that happened in Siv City verbatim.
Kate almost instantly responded, saying, "Linda."
"What?"
"Linda is the only living person in the town, not only unafraid of evil spirits, but even surviving water pollution and someone poisoning the water. She's not particularly special herself, which proves someone is helping her; it's very likely the Ghost of the Flying Angel you mentioned, Satean. This also explains why the call reached Aunt Cain's house."
Kent had too few clues, still a bit confused. Kate didn't have time to disclose all the clues, so she said, "Linda drove away from the town, I suspect she's heading to Siv City. Try to find her; if the Ghost of the Flying Angel is protecting her, she must know a lot. Hurry!"
Kent hung up the phone and rushed out of the office towards the only road leading into the city in Siv City. But he calculated the time in his heart: although this small town wasn't close, it had been several hours from day to night, driving certainly reached by now, going now would probably be too late.
But unexpectedly, as soon as he reached the road, he saw a figure walking this way. The person wore a red dress, walked briskly and quickly, and held the trademark trident in her hand.
"Linda!" Kent shouted.
Linda looked at him, seemingly a little happy. She walked quickly over and said, "Why are you here?"
"I'm here waiting for you. Kate called me saying you went to the city, she was worried about you and sent me here to pick you up. But she said you drove here, where's the car?"
"I'm not very good at driving," Linda said irritatedly, "I accidentally drove off the road, so I had to walk over."
"Are you okay?" Kent asked quickly, "Didn't get hurt?"
Linda shook her head and said, "But I've been walking for a long time, I'm a bit hungry, do you have anything to eat?"
"Yes, I'll take you to eat."
Ten minutes later, the two sat in a fast-food restaurant at a window seat. While watching Linda devour her food, Kent didn't know where to start. He pondered and still said, "You..."
Before he could finish speaking, he saw the paper wrapping Linda's hamburger gradually unfold, row after row of text appeared on the wrapping paper. Kent's eyes gradually widened.