Chapter Summaries

As Gotham’s death toll rose, Li Wei expanded his soul attacks to cover the entire city and accumulated Soul Essence while remaining at Arkham Asylum. ARGUS leader Amanda Waller persuaded the President to authorize a secret intervention in Gotham, leaving her with the authority to send agents there to seek superhumans.

• Gordon learned that Cobblepot’s gang was maintaining order through killings, but chose to let them continue while the police remained overwhelmed.
• Li Wei’s attack range expanded to cover all of Gotham, and his Soul Essence balance climbed to 28,741 points as fear and deaths increased.
• ARGUS identified Jerome Valeska and the scarecrow as possible superhumans and concluded that Gotham’s chaos could give them grounds to intervene.
• Amanda Waller persuaded the President to sign a secret Presidential Order authorizing ARGUS to send a new police commissioner and officers to Gotham and pursue superhumans.
• Amanda Waller left the White House with the signed order and continued to regard superhumans as threats, while ARGUS searched for Wonder Woman Diana’s homeland, Themyscira.

ARGUS prepared to seal off Gotham and sent Amanda Waller to take control of the crisis, while Li Wei remained unconcerned and observed the city’s key players. At Wayne Manor, Lucius Fox’s revelations about Thomas Wayne led Bruce to suspect that his father’s plan to save Gotham had caused his murder, and Lucius’s next remark awakened him to another clue.

• Amanda Waller organized ARGUS, arranged a military blockade of Gotham, and appointed a Marine officer as the next police commissioner before heading to the city with elite agents.
• The mayor told Cobblepot and Li Wei about the coming blockade and urged them to flee, but both refused; Li Wei returned to strengthening the Black Mist by shooting the souls of the dead.
• Two days later, troops stopped Gotham residents from escaping by bridge or river, while Li Wei monitored Jerome, Jonathan, Galvin, and Bruce.
• Li Wei discovered that Galvin planned to kill Jerome with a small knife and then run for mayor, while Jonathan stayed hidden and prepared Fear Gas.
• With Alfred’s recommendation, Bruce brought Lucius Fox to Wayne Manor to help search the family archives for clues about the Court of Owls.
• Lucius told Bruce about Thomas Wayne’s plans to save Gotham, prompting Bruce to suspect those plans were connected to his father’s murder; another remark from Lucius then awakened Bruce to a further clue.

Bruce uncovered a hidden passage beneath Wayne Manor and entered the secret base his father, Thomas, had concealed there. He found a computer whose extraordinary boot-up speed suggested Thomas had been working with technology far ahead of its time.

• Bruce suspected his father had hidden secrets connected to the Court of Owls, but Alfred tried to dissuade him from investigating.
• Bruce found a remote control hidden inside a parchment book and pressed its button, opening a passage behind the fireplace.
• Alfred admitted he knew about the passage and accompanied Bruce inside, where motion-sensing lights revealed a long route leading underground.
• Bruce explored a vast renovated space beneath Wayne Manor and found a table, a wardrobe, and a computer.
• Bruce turned on the computer, and its remarkably fast startup surprised both him and Li Wei, who watched from Arkham Asylum.

Bruce discovered evidence that the Court of Owls had murdered his parents and found his father’s early Bat-armor, then asked Alfred to help build a secret laboratory. At Arkham Asylum, Li Wei met Selina and her poisoned friend Ezri, and sensed new activity in the Hero Shop as he was about to refuse them help.

• Bruce found Thomas Wayne’s files documenting Wayne Enterprises crimes and confirming the Court of Owls’ role in his parents’ murder.
• Bruce forgave Alfred for hiding the truth, declared he would finish his father’s work, and asked him to build a secret laboratory.
• Alfred revealed Thomas’s full-body protective armor, which Li Wei recognized as a prototype of Batman’s gear.
• Li Wei noticed Selina struggling to enter Arkham Asylum with her poisoned friend Ezri and opened the gates for them.
• Selina begged Li Wei to save Ezri, and Li Wei sensed activity in the Hero Shop before answering.

Li Wei recognized that Ezri’s illness was connected to Zyra’s Hero Template and brought her into Arkham Asylum for treatment. After arranging tests, he turned to investigate the link between Ezri and the template.

• Li Wei noticed Zyra’s Hero Template reacting and concluded that Ezri was likely its host.
• Selina told Li Wei that Ezri had been kidnapped, experimented on, and was now losing her mobility as her body turned blue.
• Li Wei offered to cover Ezri’s treatment in exchange for Selina helping him with something in the future, and Selina agreed.
• Li Wei carried Ezri into Arkham Asylum, while Selina left after giving him her phone number.
• Li Wei asked Dr. Hugo to draw and test Ezri’s blood, then returned to his office to investigate Zyra’s connection to her.

Li Wei bought Zyra of the Thorn’s Hero Template and discovered he could draw power from The Green of All Things, learning that Ezri was the future Poison Ivy. After Dr. Hugo reported that Ezri’s blood had plant-like properties, Li Wei went to speak with her and consider how to help.

• Li Wei purchased Zyra of the Thorn’s Hero Template and absorbed plant instincts that let him photosynthesize and rapidly recover mana in sunlight.
• Li Wei sensed a connection to The Green of All Things and realized Ezri was the young Pamela Ezri, who would become Poison Ivy.
• Dr. Hugo called Li Wei with test results showing that Ezri’s blood had characteristics of plant sap and said she insisted on seeing him.
• Li Wei left his research, dismissed Dr. Hugo, and went to Ezri’s bedside to speak with her.

Li Wei decided to keep Ezri at Arkham Asylum while her body changed under the influence of The Green of All Things, and he explored how its powers could strengthen Zyra. Meanwhile, Gotham remained under military lockdown as rioters broke into the homes of wealthy residents.

• Ezri feared she was permanently paralyzed and asked Li Wei to abandon her, but he promised she could stay at Arkham Asylum and he would care for her.
• Li Wei considered giving Ezri Zyra's Hero Template to restore her mobility, but decided the risks of combining it with The Green of All Things were too great.
• Li Wei discovered that Zyra's seed-making abilities complemented The Green of All Things, and he developed new mutated plants inspired by Plants vs. Zombies.
• Over the next two days, Ezri's body grew into that of a young woman, though she remained unable to move, so Li Wei personally fed her.
• Gotham stayed under military lockdown, and rioters broke into the homes of wealthy residents who lacked the Wayne family's security.

Barnes led a heavily armed force into Gotham and began ruthlessly suppressing the rioters, while Li Wei let events unfold as planned. Gordon set out to join Barnes, and Li Wei turned his attention back to Ezri and the Miniature Parallax Monster.

• Barnes ordered his veteran officers to enter Gotham and kill the rioters they encountered, suffering injuries but no deaths.
• As Barnes's squad advanced, word of their lethal tactics spread, and rioters avoided them; Barnes then camped at the destroyed site of the Gotham Police Department.
• Gotham's rioters formed the Gotham Chaos Alliance, but discovered that their planned leaders—including The Caster Khada Jhin, Gotham Beast, Poison Gas Man, and Jerome—were missing and unreachable.
• Li Wei chose not to intervene, viewing Barnes as a reliable ally for Gordon and a source of Soul Essence from the dead.
• Gordon gathered the surviving officers and headed to join Barnes, giving up the authority he had held as Gotham's de facto commissioner.
• Li Wei stopped shooting dead souls and headed out to feed Ezri, then struck the Miniature Parallax Monster with Fiddlesticks's scythe after it mocked him.

Ezri recovered her mobility and made a move on Li Wei, who accepted her advances after she said she was eighteen. In Gotham City, Gordon and Harvey joined forces with Director Barnes, who learned that Gordon was a Marine combat hero.

• The Miniature Parallax Monster returned to Li Wei’s ring, and Li Wei went to feed Ezri.
• Li Wei saw that Ezri had grown into a mature-looking woman, and Ezri sat up naked and revealed she had recovered her mobility.
• Ezri told Li Wei she was eighteen and used her newly awakened ability to release a hormone; Li Wei accepted her advances.
• Gordon brought his surviving officers to meet Director Barnes, who merged them into his own squad.
• Barnes praised Gordon and Harvey for organizing the surviving officers and discovered that Gordon was a Marine combat hero.
• Gordon learned that Barnes and the officers he brought to Gotham City were former Marines.

The Chaos Forces Alliance prepared to attack the newly rebuilt Gotham Police Department, forcing Barnes and Gordon to organize a desperate defense. Li Wei discovered the threat while at Arkham Asylum and decided to personally eliminate the thousands of advancing thugs, hoping to protect his plans and test Zyra’s trial.

• The Chaos Forces Alliance chose a council of five faction leaders to command its attack and set out for the Gotham Police Department with tens of thousands of armed thugs.
• Gordon and Harvey warned Barnes that the alliance was approaching with overwhelming numbers and heavy weapons.
• Barnes ordered his officers to build defensive positions around the police department’s former site, while Gordon and Harvey helped.
• Li Wei noticed the alliance advancing through his surveillance and realized it could overwhelm Barnes’s force.
• Li Wei decided to kill the attackers himself, and stopped sparring with Ezri to prepare.

Li Wei and Ezri left Arkham Asylum for the Gotham City Police Department, where thousands of rioters were preparing to attack. As the first attackers opened fire on the unfinished barricades, Li Wei prepared to use the plants he had modified with The Green of All Things.

• Li Wei agreed to let Ezri accompany him, and she used her power to grow a pale green vine dress.
• Li Wei and Ezri walked from Arkham Asylum toward the Gotham City Police Department without notifying anyone.
• Li Wei hid with Ezri near the police department and used his vision across Gotham to track the approaching rioters.
• The first rioters arrived in vehicles and attacked the officers behind the incomplete barricades with guns, explosives, and flamethrowers.

Li Wei used magically modified mana seeds to create a bizarre, rapidly growing forest that saved the Gotham Police Department's defensive line and stopped the rioters' advance. As the rioters tried to retreat, the plants attacked them with force comparable to heavy weapons.

• The rioters ambushed the Gotham Police Department, killing many officers and sending three Hellfire Chariots toward the defensive line.
• Gordon prepared to sacrifice himself with grenades while Li Wei watched the battle from a nearby building with Ezri.
• Li Wei scattered mana seeds and summoned Strangling Vines, causing giant edible plants and a dense forest to erupt around the defensive line.
• The three Hellfire Chariots crashed into enormous nuts, which formed a stronger barrier than the officers' barricades, and Barnes ordered his officers to defend from behind it.
• The rioters chose not to enter the strange forest, but the plants began attacking them with powerful seeds and projectiles.

Li Wei used magically enhanced plants to slaughter the rioters attacking the Gotham City Police Department, while Ezri realized he shared her plant-based powers and worried that she could not bear children. When the surviving rioters regrouped and called for a missile truck, Li Wei prepared to pit his Kernel-pult missiles against it.

• Li Wei's Wall-nuts, living trees, and other Mutated Plants overwhelmed thousands of rioters, while he watched the battle with Ezri and gained far more power from killing humans than from killing small lifeforms.
• Ezri recognized that Li Wei's abilities were linked to plants like hers, then worried that her altered body made having children impossible.
• The rioters' retreat spread through their ranks, and they fled beyond the plants' attack range before regrouping under the Chaos Forces Alliance council.
• The council rejected another direct attack and unanimously ordered a missile truck to be brought in to bombard the forest.
• Li Wei heard the plan and stopped the Kernel-pult missiles from firing, then decided to compare their power with the incoming military missile truck.
• A council member returned in an old Soviet-style missile truck that an arms dealer had brought from an arms depot in the former Soviet Union.

Li Wei destroyed the Chaos Forces’ attack with a corn missile, then returned to Arkham Asylum with Ezri. They set aside the question of their relationship, and Li Wei told Ezri he could share another plant-related power with her.

• A council member of the Chaos Forces prepared to launch the military missile truck’s rockets, but Li Wei’s corn missile struck the truck and triggered a massive explosion that wiped out the gang and devastated central Gotham.
• Li Wei told Ezri the trouble was over, returned with her to Arkham Asylum, and caused the magical forest and Mutated Plants to turn to ash so no one could study them.
• Barnes led Gotham Police Department officers toward the vanished forest to investigate the explosion and the empty, ruined area.
• Li Wei and Ezri discussed their uncertain relationship; Ezri said she wanted to stay at Arkham Asylum without asking him for promises, and Li Wei agreed.
• Li Wei told Ezri that he also possessed The Green of All Things and offered to give her the abilities of Zyra of the Thorn.

Li Wei loaded Zyra of the Thorn’s Hero Template onto Ezri, transforming her into a stronger plant controller and deepening her connection to The Green of All Things. Meanwhile, Barnes and Gordon discovered that a giant corn cob had destroyed the military missile truck, leaving Barnes questioning whether he could keep serving in Gotham.

• Li Wei explained how Zyra’s Hero Template could combine with Ezri’s power to summon magical seeds and create Mutated Plants, and Ezri eagerly agreed to receive it.
• Li Wei loaded Zyra of the Thorn’s Hero Template onto Ezri, who endured intense pain as her body transformed and new plant instincts and abilities filled her mind.
• Ezri learned about Zyra’s Trial and sensed that completing it might help her gain control over the source of The Green of All Things.
• Barnes and the Gotham officers found the ruins of the military missile truck and the blast site, where thousands of rioters had been killed.
• Barnes watched satellite footage showing that a giant corn cob launched from the forest had destroyed the truck, then asked Gordon whether Gotham had gone crazy and whether he could remain police commissioner.

Gordon and Barnes kept the missile-truck incident secret while the police cleaned up Gotham. At Arkham Asylum, Selina reunited with Ezri, and Li Wei drew Barbara into a conversation about Gordon’s recent life.

• Barnes and Gordon agreed not to tell anyone about the corn-cob attack on the military missile truck, then Gordon joined the cleanup effort.
• Barbara returned to her apartment, found Selina staying there, and agreed to accompany her to Arkham Asylum.
• Barbara offered Selina a place to stay after hearing how she had survived the chaos, while Selina chose not to tell Barbara that Gordon had a new girlfriend.
• Li Wei met Selina and Barbara at Arkham Asylum, where Ezri revealed her grown appearance to Selina and led her aside to explain.
• Li Wei told Barbara that Gordon had worked as a security guard at Arkham Asylum and recounted what had happened to him recently.

Li Wei manipulated Barbara into confronting Gordon’s new relationship, hoping to push her toward becoming a Hero Template vessel, while Ezri left Arkham to take revenge on the scientist who had experimented on her. The chapter ended as Ezri’s living vines entered Jason Wood’s laboratory and charged toward him.

• Li Wei told Barbara that Gordon had a new girlfriend, Leslie, and Barbara became furious and asked Selina to go see for herself.
• Selina agreed to accompany Barbara, while Ezri told Li Wei she needed to handle a personal matter and left Arkham Asylum.
• Li Wei watched Ezri travel to a secluded laboratory where Jason Wood was conducting human experiments.
• Ezri attacked the factory with animated plants, and the vines crept inside as Jason Wood hurried toward his imprisoned test subjects.
• Jason Wood heard the vines approaching and realized something was wrong.

Ezri killed Professor Wood and his captive test subjects, while Li Wei harvested their souls and watched Gotham's police begin rebuilding. Barbara saw Gordon kissing Leslie and finally accepted that he had moved on, leaving her heartbroken as Selina led her away.

• Ezri's giant vines crushed Professor Wood, killed the remaining test subjects, and devoured the factory's flesh and blood to grow stronger.
• Li Wei harvested the souls of Professor Wood and the dead test subjects, then turned his attention to Gotham's police.
• Barnes and Gordon discussed rebuilding the police department, finding a mayor, and Gordon's suspicion that Li Wei was connected to the strange forest.
• Gordon comforted Leslie after she finished treating the injured officers, and the two kissed.
• Selina brought Barbara to see Gordon and Leslie together, and Barbara gave up hope of getting back together with Gordon.

Li Wei watched Gotham recover as Ezri settled into Arkham Asylum and fortified it with Mutated Plants, while Cobblepot and the city’s authorities reshaped the city. The Court of Owls, alarmed by the changes and Bruce Wayne’s investigation, accelerated a plan involving Dr. Hugo at the urging of their Master, whom Li Wei identified as Ra's al Ghul.

• Selina left Barbara after exchanging contact information with her, and a serial killer posing as Barbara’s new neighbor entered her apartment.
• Ezri returned to Arkham Asylum, took up gardening, and replaced its greenery with Mutated Plants that attacked intruders who entered over the walls.
• Gotham restored public order, reshuffled City Hall and its police force, and Cobblepot launched a Crime Foundation to fund new gangs.
• The police and gangs maintained a temporary truce as they rebuilt their strength, while Li Wei’s Soul Essence balance surpassed fifty thousand.
• The Court of Owls prepared to advance a plan requiring Dr. Hugo after hearing that its Master was pressing them, and Li Wei recognized the Master as Ra's al Ghul.

Li Wei watched Gotham’s rebuilding effort bring new money and political ambitions while several villains prepared to emerge. A newly appointed councilman was kidnapped and a riddle was left behind, signaling the start of Gotham’s era of supervillains.

• Li Wei learned that Galvin planned to use Jerome’s gang to build his image before secretly trying to kill Jerome and boost his mayoral campaign.
• Edward Nygma, controlled by his second personality, drafted a plan to prove he was Gotham’s greatest riddle expert.
• Li Wei monitored Barbara as her serial-killer neighbor gained her trust and invited her to dinner.
• Galvin and Wayne Enterprises announced investments in Gotham’s reconstruction, drawing businesses and workers to the city.
• Terrorists kidnapped a newly appointed councilman and challenged Gotham to solve a riddle to secure his release.