I Create the League of Heroes in Gotham

"Dr. Hugo, don't be afraid. You'll be joining me soon." Li Wei approached with the orb of light. "This is evolution. From today on, you will gain unparalleled power and understand the truth of this world..."

Dr. Hugo's eyes grew increasingly terrified.

The words Li Wei spoke at this moment made him feel even more horrified, and yet, eerily familiar.

Wasn't this exactly how he looked when he conducted human experiments?!

If he had a choice, he would rather not have this power!

Unfortunately, Dr. Hugo had no choice.

Under his terrified gaze, the dark green orb of light was pressed against him.

The orb melted, integrating into Dr. Hugo's body without any sensation.

But just as Dr. Hugo let out a slight sigh of relief.

The next second.

A dark green light screen instantly engulfed his entire body!

"Ah..."

A heart-wrenching wail erupted from the depths of his throat. The intense pain caused Dr. Hugo, in his wheelchair, to tense all his muscles, his body trembling.

Immediately after, his form began to change!

Dr. Hugo, who was originally slightly frail, saw his muscles swell at an astonishing rate. The ropes binding his wheelchair snapped one by one under the strain of his rapidly growing muscles.

This change originated from deep within his body!

"Creeeak..."

The metal wheelchair let out a groan of being overloaded, and soon it scattered into pieces.

Li Wei wasn't in a hurry, quietly watching Dr. Hugo's transformation.

When Dr. Hugo finally calmed down again, his appearance had completely changed.

He was a perfect replica of Singed!

Muscular and powerful, clad in tattered rags, with a large dark green tank on his back and a heavy shield in his hand.

The only things unchanged were his bald head and his face.

"Dr. Hugo?" Li Wei asked with a smile.

"Warden Li Wei, you were right. This is evolution, this is transformation!" Dr. Hugo finally raised his head, his eyes filled with an indescribable complexity as he murmured, "Is this knowledge the truth you spoke of..."

Although he retained his consciousness and memories, his stance had fundamentally shifted.

He no longer harbored animosity towards Li Wei but had completely become Li Wei's ally.

Yet, he could clearly perceive this change within himself, which was why his mood was so complex.

The knowledge just poured into his mind had made him involuntarily engrossed. This was the true essence of human modification!

Hextech, the combination of humans, beasts, and machines – a perfect creation...

"Ahem, Dr. Hugo," Li Wei coughed lightly, interrupting his contemplation. "We can discuss the knowledge later. For now, let's talk about the Court of Owls..."

Chapter 14: The Court of Owls

"The Court of Owls..."

Dr. Hugo scratched his head and slowly recounted his connection to the Court of Owls.

The Court of Owls.

It was just a name, not an actual court in Gotham.

In reality, it was an organization hidden in the shadows.

Composed of some of Gotham's wealthy individuals (families), they had been secretly manipulating Gotham from the shadows since the colonial era, shaping it into their desired form.

Using their money, power, and their secretly trained assassin organization – the Talons – they eliminated their rivals.

And they had indeed succeeded.

Before Li Wei's arrival, Dr. Hugo had been invited to join the Court of Owls due to his human experimentation project at Indian Hill Hospital.

Of course, Dr. Hugo was merely a research talent. The elites of the Court of Owls were only interested in his human modification project, which could be used to create more formidable Talon assassins.

Therefore, Dr. Hugo was only a somewhat special ordinary member within the Court of Owls, far from being part of the decision-making body.

Arkham Asylum, despite not being profitable, continued to operate thanks to the financial investment from the Court of Owls.

To those wealthy individuals, money was merely a number.

The Court of Owls and Dr. Hugo agreed to meet periodically. This was both for Dr. Hugo to report on his experimental progress and for the Court of Owls to provide funding for the next phase of experiments.

Coincidentally, tomorrow was the day Dr. Hugo was scheduled to meet with the Court of Owls...

Dr. Hugo's account did not deviate significantly from what Li Wei knew from his previous life.

"Dr. Hugo, can you revert your appearance back to normal?" Li Wei asked seriously after a moment of thought. "This is very important."

"Yes, I can," Dr. Hugo nodded.

Dr. Hugo's figure flickered, and the tattered rags wrapped around him, the canisters on his back, and the heavy shield in his hand began to fade.

Dr. Hugo gradually returned to his previous appearance.

He was wearing a suit and glasses perched on his nose.

The only difference from before was that his physique had become much sturdier, though it wasn't obvious under his shirt, so it wasn't a big deal.

"Very good, Dr. Hugo. Next, I need you to meet with the Court of Owls on the date they've scheduled..."

Li Wei explained his plan to Dr. Hugo in detail, including his two massacres of the Maroni Family gangs.

Now that Dr. Hugo was "one of them," Li Wei naturally had nothing to hide from him.

His plan was for Dr. Hugo to continue acting as the "de facto controller," while he himself would remain the "puppet warden."

Of course, this was from the perspective of the Court of Owls.

This way, Dr. Hugo could use the excuse of needing a large amount of experimental material to ask the Court of Owls for help in restarting Arkham Asylum!

Now that Scott Asylum, which originally monopolized the business of treating criminals' mental health, had been wiped out by him, it was just a matter of pushing things along!

At the same time, they could infiltrate the Court of Owls and receive a steady stream of "research funds" in addition to the municipal subsidies.

Other people's money felt so good to spend!

As for the research results? That would be up to Dr. Hugo, the professional, wouldn't it?

Research experiments didn't yield results with a snap of the fingers!

Dr. Hugo's expression remained serious.

Only after hearing Li Wei's entire plan did Dr. Hugo reach up and stroke his chin.

"Warden Li Wei, your plan is fine, but I have another question..."

"Go ahead."

"With our current capabilities, we could completely wipe out the Maroni Family and the Court of Owls. If there's no rush, I could do it myself without you having to act. Is it necessary to go through all this trouble?"

Hugo wasn't being overconfident; he was stating a fact.

Only by personally experiencing the power of the Hero Template could one understand what a formidable force it was!

Li Wei looked at Dr. Hugo as if he were looking at a lunatic.

"You're right, we could indeed wipe them out, but what benefit would that bring me?" he spread his hands. "As I said, what I need is a Gotham City that combines chaos and order!"

Whether black or white, any order that reached its peak would develop its own set of rules, and everyone would have to abide by them. This would mean that the killing in the city would greatly decrease, and Li Wei's Soul Essence would also diminish.

At the same time, it would mean that Li Wei might not have enough power to face enemies from beyond Earth, thus leading to the destruction of the world.

Admittedly, Li Wei could also continue to be a mass murderer, or even a terrorist against humanity, creating massacres everywhere.

But if he did that, once all the people in Gotham were killed, no one else would even come here, which would be like draining the pond to catch the fish.

Li Wei preferred sustainable development over draining the pond.

Not only would gangsters and villains from other places come to Gotham for "advanced studies," but even the US Congress would privately send criminals here in an endless stream.

—Although it wasn't explicitly stated, this was the commonly accepted reality of Gotham.

This was the City of Sin!

Therefore, to maintain the balance between chaos and order, not only must various forces such as the Court of Owls, gangs, and the police exist, but if necessary, Li Wei wouldn't mind creating some heroes and villains to balance the forces!

This way, there would be a continuous influx of Soul Essence!

Of course, Li Wei didn't explain all this to Dr. Hugo; it was too troublesome to explain.

Dr. Hugo didn't ask any further questions. He would do as Li Wei said.

After all, he was just a researcher; experiments and research were the priority.

Especially since he had just absorbed all of Singed's knowledge and experience in human modification projects, along with a completely new technological system called Hextech, which in his memory was known as Alchemy!

Dr. Hugo couldn't wait to get into the lab and put it into practice!

As a fellow fanatical scientist who disregarded ethics and morals, Singed's knowledge was as tempting to Dr. Hugo as immortality was to a ruler!

"Alright, I'll do as you say tomorrow," Dr. Hugo nodded. "I'm going down to do some experiments now. Do you want to come along?"

Dr. Hugo knew that Li Wei had inherited the same knowledge as him, so he extended the invitation.

Li Wei: ...

"You go ahead, I won't," Li Wei masked his embarrassment with a smile. "I have some other things to attend to."

Did he really have to admit that he didn't understand it?

But Dr. Hugo wasn't letting Li Wei off the hook, and he eyed Li Wei with suspicion.

"You don't understand that knowledge, do you?"

Li Wei's smile froze on his face.

He suddenly remembered a line Camille had said—lies don't hurt, the truth is the sharpest knife.

Li Wei suddenly felt that loading the Singed template onto Dr. Hugo wasn't such a happy thing after all.

Dr. Hugo would never have dared to speak to him like this before at least loading the Hero Template!

Just as Li Wei was so embarrassed he considered forcibly kicking Dr. Hugo out of his office, a sudden roar of a car engine came from outside the window.

A black car stopped in front of the asylum's entrance.

The car door opened, and two people, a man and a woman, got out of the back seat.

Arkham Asylum had finally welcomed its first "guests."

When Li Wei saw their faces, his expression turned serious, and he waved to Dr. Hugo.

"Dr. Hugo, you should go and attend to your experiments. We have guests..."

Chapter Fifteen: The Falcone Family Arrives

Li Wei knew his grand performance had caused quite a stir throughout Gotham City, and he had considered the possibility that someone might follow the clues to find him.

But he hadn't expected it to happen so quickly!

It hadn't even been a full night since he took down the Maroni Family's bar, and in just a few hours, they had found him!

Of course, Li Wei wasn't afraid; at worst, he could just kill them all.

If everyone who knew ended up dead, then no one would know.

Still, it wouldn't hurt to see what they wanted first before making a decision.