Marvel: The Sole Player

Darian and The Penguin noticed the intruder at the same time.

Under the faint light remaining in the room, a tall, black figure emerged from the shadows.

The newcomer wore a half-mask covering the upper half of his face, revealing only a chin with sharp, strong lines.

Two pointed ears stuck up from the top of the mask, making him look like a bat demon lurking in the darkness. He stood there, exuding an intense sense of oppression without even moving.

[NPC: Bruce Wayne]

[Codename: Batman]

[Affinity: 10]

[Evaluation: The most broken character in the DC Universe, Gotham’s idol, the Kryptonian who is wealthy enough to be everyone’s equal, Superman’s external brain, the World’s greatest detective, the Universe’s most powerful knight.]

Gotham’s Dark Knight, Batman!

Even without the information provided by the game system, Darian could identify the other party at a glance.

This was the top celebrity with the highest popularity in the DC Universe, the man known alongside Superman as one of the two DC giants.

However, compared to that scout wearing his underwear on the outside, Batman’s status in DC was very special.

If Superman was DC’s biological son, then Batman was DC’s biological father.

Superman: ...

Unlike other Superheroes, Batman was just an ordinary human.

He had no fancy superpowers, only "money power." His combat relied entirely on his fighting skills, intellect, and the assistance of various black-tech equipment.

Yet, it was this mortal who made countless supervillains and even Superheroes tremble in fear.

The reason was simple: because he was Bat... ahem, because he was a cheater.

In the DC World, there was a saying:

You can fight Batman, but never make an appointment to fight Batman.

You never know how many plans he has prepared to deal with you.

Even if one plan failed, he still had Plan B, Plan C, Plan D...

Relying on these contingency plans, the Bat had defeated countless opponents far stronger than himself.

For example, Superman, Wonder Woman, The Flash, Aquaman, etc., were all his defeated foes.

Don’t ask why he only beat up his teammates.

In short, a prepared Batman was someone even Superman had to fear.

Moreover, Batman had all sorts of heaven-defying settings.

He possessed peak human physical fitness, mastered nearly a hundred types of martial arts, and was also a scientist with a wide range of knowledge, having studied physics, biology, engineering, theology, and more.

He mastered dozens of languages, even communicating with some alien languages without obstacles.

His hacking skills were top-notch; even a humanoid Skynet like Cyborg could be infected by his viruses.

Also, don’t ask why he had to implant viruses into his teammates.

In short, there was almost no skill Batman didn’t have, surpassing even the number of skills Darian, the player, possessed.

What was even more exaggerated was that Batman had basically maxed out all these skills, with any one of them being at a master level.

And all of this was thanks to Batman’s hard work and an indestructible liver.

Although Darian had just been joking with The Penguin that Batman must be an idle rich man, otherwise how would he have time to come out and beat up criminals every night?

But in fact, the reason Batman had so much time was because he slept less than four hours a day, running non-stop for the remaining twenty hours. It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to call him a super "liver-grinder." Hearing about this life-threatening schedule, people in South Korea would have to exclaim "Awesome, brother!"

Even Darian, a player who often stayed up late, felt inferior.

"Batman!"

Just as Darian was sizing up Batman, The Penguin next to him suddenly screamed, subconsciously protecting Darian in front of him.

",,,,"

Darian was speechless, looking at The Penguin with disdain: "No, little QQ, why are you such a coward the moment you see Batman? Where’s your dignity as the King of Gotham?"

The Penguin gave a dry laugh: "Forgot to tell you, I’m not only allergic to bullets, I’m also allergic to bats."

Every time he encountered Batman, Batman would ask him all sorts of questions, and if he didn’t cooperate, it would be a round of fists and kicks.

Sometimes the other party hit too hard, and he would just go black and pass out, only to wake up in a hospital bed. The Gotham Central Hospital ward had almost become his second home.

It was thanks to The Penguin’s deep pockets that he could withstand such tossing.

If it were any other criminal, they would have been beaten to the execution line long ago.

Precisely because he had developed muscle memory from being beaten, The Penguin’s fear of Batman grew day by day. Now, just seeing the bat image, his whole body began to ache faintly.

Ask yourself, how could he not be allergic?

Batman stood on the spot, watching the two in front of him singing in harmony, his brows slightly furrowed under the mask.

The scene before him was a bit beyond his expectations.

Not long ago, Gordon contacted him, saying that The Penguin had kidnapped a Gotham City police officer.

It just so happened that Batman had encountered a problem recently and needed to pry some information from The Penguin, so he rushed over directly.

Who would have thought that the scene of Darian being tortured as imagined did not appear, but instead, the two seemed to be chatting happily.

Batman digested this situation in just 0.001 seconds.

He opened his mouth with that deliberately compressed, hoarse voice: "The Penguin, you kidnapped a Gotham City police officer. Hand the person over immediately."

The Penguin got anxious as soon as he heard it.

He was too familiar with this opening line.

Every time, Batman would start by announcing his crimes, then beat him up justifiably, and after the beating, force him to disclose the intelligence he wanted.

He didn’t know how many times he had experienced this set of procedures.

"Bullshit! I just invited Officer Darian over for tea and a chat. You are slandering me!"

After finishing, The Penguin hurriedly looked at Darian, his eyes filled with pleading: "Officer Darian, say something!"

Darian nodded: "That’s right, it is indeed so."

Batman stepped forward slowly, his gaze falling on Darian’s face, and asked in a deep voice: "Are you sure you haven’t been threatened by The Penguin?"

The corners of The Penguin’s mouth twitched violently.

Just now, he was almost shot in the head by Darian. Who was threatening whom!

"Sure."

Darian patted The Penguin on the shoulder and said happily: "Little QQ and I were chatting very well just now, right?"

The Penguin nodded like a chicken pecking at rice: "Yes, yes!"

Darian suddenly changed the subject: "But we have finished talking. It looks like you two still have things to discuss, so I won’t disturb you."

He saw at a glance that Batman was here for The Penguin tonight, and he had no interest in being an audience in the middle, so he left first.

Batman just watched him silently without speaking.

Darian was not panicked at all.

He was a Superhero, his Justice Value was nearly four digits, and the number of supervillains who had fallen into his hands was too numerous to count. He was a proper scourge of evil.

Could Batman attack a justice-seeker like him? He stepped towards the door, and when he passed by Batman, his pace did not stop at all.

Sure enough, Batman did not stop him.

Only at the moment he brushed past, he slightly turned his head, his gaze following his back for a few seconds.

Although Batman had many doubts in his heart now, he was not in a hurry. Gotham City had never lacked good-hearted people, and he believed that someone would soon answer these questions for him.

*Gulp!*

The Penguin swallowed, a chill suddenly running up his back.

He looked at Darian’s back, which was about to disappear, and subconsciously reached out to stop him: "Officer Darian, wait..."

Before he finished speaking, a tall, black shadow enveloped him from head to toe.

Batman: (^.—.^)

The Penguin: ∑(;°A)

The Penguin stiffly raised his head, meeting the calm eyes under the mask, his fat shaking, pulling out a smile that was uglier than crying.

"Batman, I don’t think I’ve committed any crimes recently, have I?"

He sounded quite confident when he said this.

He had indeed restrained himself a lot recently. He had originally negotiated a big deal with Baso, but Baso was suddenly killed by Darian, so the business naturally fell through.

Since there was no reason, Batman couldn’t beat him up for no reason, right?

Batman pondered for two seconds: "The Penguin, we should talk about you selling arms to the Joker."

The Penguin: "...."

Wasn’t that something from a month ago?

You didn’t bother me at the time, so you were saving it to settle old scores now!

On the other side, Darian pushed open the door of the Iceberg Lounge.

The Penguin’s men were lying on the ground in a mess, all of them severely injured, all groaning in low voices, none of them able to stand up.

However, a careful scan showed that although their injuries looked serious, they had all avoided vital points, and there was no life-threatening danger at all.

Batman’s control of force had reached a terrifying level.

If he said he would beat them half to death, he would never add an extra point.

Darian scanned them and couldn’t help but tsk: "Opening a hospital in Gotham is simply profiteering. With a steady stream of customers sent by Batman every day, it’s hard for business not to be good."

After saying this, he paused suddenly.

Wait, the hospitals in Gotham seemed to be all industries under the Wayne Group.

And the boss of the Wayne Group, wasn’t it Batman, Bruce Wayne himself?

Good guy, it turns out Batman is generating turnover for his own business.

Speaking of the Wayne Group, its scale was indeed ridiculously large.

Throughout Gotham City, from top to bottom, every industry could barely do without its shadow.

Whether it was factories, banks, shopping malls, or hospitals, no matter where you went, you could see the Wayne Group logo when you looked up or down.

Imagine you are an ordinary criminal, earning wages in a Wayne Group factory during the day, then going out to do a job at night. The stolen money is deposited into a Wayne Group bank, and daily expenses are spent in the various stores under the Wayne Group.

If you are unlucky one day and accidentally trigger Batman and get beaten into the hospital, you still have to pay the Wayne Group’s hospital to get treatment.

It’s truly: Earn money in Gotham, spend it in Gotham, don’t even think about taking a penny home.

Other Superheroes talk about protecting their city, which is mostly just a line.

But when Batman says he protects his city, it’s the real deal.

But Darian didn’t envy this at all.

It was just a city; he was a monarch of a country, the King of Sokovia. It was as if no one else had "money power."

Darian listened to the faint screams coming from behind, mourned for The Penguin for half a second, and then turned into a nearby alley.

He stopped and reached into his body to touch it.

Soon, he had a micro-instrument in his hand.

No need to guess, this must have been planted by Batman.

Darian squinted: "This Bat-boy, his persecution mania is probably worse than Nick Fury’s. He even installed a monitor on me, a passerby."

It must be said that Batman’s hand speed was indeed very fast. In the moment of brushing past, he installed this thing on Darian. His theft skill must have reached the max level.

But it was useless; Darian’s theft skill was not bad either, and he noticed Batman’s small movements on the spot.

Darian curled his lips and said proudly: "Mere Batman, still far behind compared to me."

He crushed the monitor casually and was about to teleport away when he suddenly felt something was wrong.

Darian frowned and carefully felt his body again.

A few seconds later, he opened his palm, and there was another micro-instrument in his palm.

"The one just now was actually a decoy, used to cover up the existence of another monitor. As expected of Batman, when he plays routines, it’s really one after another."

Darian was also impressed.

This guy Batman always likes to keep a backup, even the monitors were prepared with more than one.

Darian also crushed this monitor, but he was still a little uneasy, so he simply changed his whole set of equipment, changing into a new set from head to toe.

Then, he found that there was suddenly a pile of micro-instruments in the game warehouse, more than a dozen of them.

Darian: "..."

On the other side, the door of the Iceberg Lounge was pushed open from the inside.

Batman walked out.

He had already received a fairly satisfactory answer.

Batman stood at the door, raised his hand to press the communication device on his ear, but did not get any feedback.

Batman was not surprised by this.

"As expected, not a simple character. After going back, it is necessary to thoroughly check the background of this Gotham police officer."

With a plan in mind, he reached for his utility belt, preparing to take out his grapple gun to leave the scene.

As the Dark Knight of Gotham, the nightmare in the hearts of all criminals, his exit method would never be conventional.

Only by coming and going without a trace could he maximize the sense of oppression that made people’s spines chill.

If he were to run away on his two legs after beating someone up, his coolness would be gone directly. Not to mention deterring criminals, it would be good if he didn’t make people laugh.

However, when his hand reached into the utility belt and touched the compartment specifically for the grapple gun, he touched nothing.

Batman: (∧ U — U ∧)

His grapple gun seemed to have been swiped by someone.

This time it took him a full two seconds to barely accept this reality.

Of course, as Batman, he was never short of backup plans.

He pressed the device on his wrist, and a low engine roar came from the end of the street not far away. A pitch-black car shadow cut through the night and stopped steadily in front of him.

Want him, Batman, to run with his legs? Impossible!

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