Arkham District Development Plan—back when the Waynes were still alive, they had laid out plans for the city. Arkham District was Gotham City's last undeveloped area, and also the most chaotic place in all of Gotham.
Of course, chaos and profit did not conflict.
The proposal itself represented enormous profits!
The proposal's introduction was like lighting a powder keg on a battlefield.
All of Gotham exploded!
The increasingly tense Maroni Family and Falcone Family had finally gone to war!
No matter which side it was, both wanted to monopolize the profits brought by the Arkham development plan!
Gotham City's two biggest gangs began attacking each other on every front, doing everything they could to weaken the other side.
They had even reached the point where every move drew blood, where hidden arrows had become open guns. Especially within Arkham District, death and injury had become commonplace.
Li Wei waved Stan over.
"Come on, Stan. Follow me. I'll take you to those gangsters..."
Stan forcefully suppressed his body's craving for blood and followed Li Wei into the elevator, leaving Arkham Asylum.
But he could feel it himself—his body was gradually slipping out of control. The blood he had just drunk was nowhere near enough to suppress his thirst for long!
When Li Wei led Stan out through Arkham Asylum's gates and into the moonlight, Stan's body finally lost control once again!
"Awwooo..."
Stan let out a mournful wolf howl at the hazy moonlight overhead.
He could clearly smell the sweet scent of blood drifting through the distant air!
He did not need Li Wei to lead him at all.
A fierce red glow flared in Stan's eyes. Dropping to all fours like a beast, he raced toward the source of that sweet scent!
"I smell blood..."
The mad dog... had been unleashed!
We Meet Again, Stan!
Under the effects of alchemical potions and alchemy, Stan's body had undergone an unknown mutation.
Though he largely retained a human appearance, whether in his habits or instincts, when his body lost control and he lost his reason, he was far closer to a beast.
He ran through Gotham in the night on all fours, his scarlet eyes brimming with thirst for blood.
Stan did not understand why he had become like this, but he craved slaughter. He craved the feeling of tearing apart the living things before his eyes.
Especially the sensation of blood pouring down his throat—it intoxicated him!
It intoxicated him even more than the night wind rushing past his ears in the darkness!
Li Wei followed behind Stan at a moderate distance, watching that ghostlike figure streak ahead at high speed.
"Soon, soon... you'll become perfect..." Li Wei muttered to himself.
Though Stan was fast, to Li Wei, that was all it was.
The physical enhancement brought by combining three different Hero Templates was enough for him to crush any single hero in every aspect, let alone Stan, who had yet to inherit a Hero Template.
Before long, Stan stopped.
Li Wei, who had been following him, naturally stopped as well.
The smell of blood in the air grew stronger, and scattered gunfire could be heard from the alley ahead.
"Aw..."
Stan let out a strange cry toward the night sky, then charged into the alley.
Li Wei "saw" the scene inside the alley even before Stan did. A wall in the corner of the alley happened to have an Invisible Lotus attached to it—the Mass Infatuation Li Wei had previously arranged throughout Gotham!
In the alley, a group of gang members were fighting with firearms.
The gang members were clearly divided into two camps.
Although Li Wei had not stepped outside the asylum in recent days, he knew these two sides were the Maroni Family and Falcone Family, who had recently been "fighting fiercely."
When Stan's howl rang out, the battle in the alley actually stalled for a moment.
"Fuck, how could there be wolves in Gotham?" A Maroni Family gang member cursed under his breath. He picked up a spare magazine, swapped it in, and prepared to resume spraying bullets at the other side.
His brother, also one of the Maroni Family's minor leaders, had recently died at the hands of the Falcone Family.
Of course, avenging his brother was only a small part of the reason. More importantly, he wanted Maroni's reward. Maroni had promised to reward these street thugs according to the number of Falcone Family heads they brought in.
But after he loaded the new magazine and raised his head again—
An incomparably savage face appeared before him.
It was a human face, yet it resembled the most frenzied beast!
Scarlet eyes, jagged fangs—he could even sense the bloody stench in the other man's breath!
"You spilled blood... and called me here..." A garbled whisper squeezed out of Stan's throat.
In that instant, his heart skipped a beat.
"Fuck! What the hell is this thing?!"
When he came to his senses, he raised his gun and pulled the trigger, intending to give the thing a full burst.
Having lived in Gotham's underworld, he had always believed one thing: no matter what kind of freak it was, a burst of bullets could solve it. If one burst was not enough, then use two!
But clearly, he had miscalculated this time!
Bullets erupted from the muzzle, the muzzle flash illuminating Stan's face.
At such close range, practically pressed against Stan's body, Stan naturally had no time to dodge.
Of course, he did not need to dodge!
The bullets struck Stan, kicking up a cloud of blood mist from his body.
But that was all.
Stan charged through the bullets, opened his mouth, and bit straight into the gang member's neck!
Rip!
A dull tearing sound rang out as the gang member's carotid artery was ripped apart, blood spraying everywhere!
After kicking his legs a few times, he was dead!
Until his death, he could not understand why the other side was not afraid of bullets!
Weren't these things the crystallization of modern humanity's wisdom in firearms?
After killing the minor leader, Stan greedily sucked in a lungful of the blood mist in the air.
That was right!
This was the feeling!
The scent of sin mixed with blood was intoxicating!
What flowed through his body was no longer merely alchemical potion, but hatred!
Hatred for evil!
At the same time, as Stan inhaled the blood mist, the bullet wounds on his body began healing at a visible rate, until the bullets inside him were forced out.
The bullets struck the ground with crisp clinks, especially distinct in the alley.
It was the Rage Potion's "bloodsucking" effect!
As long as he inflicted damage, he could recover from his own injuries!
Stan then looked at the corpse in his hands and, with slight disgust, tore it in half!
It had already been dead for two seconds. It was no longer fresh!
But that did not matter. There was still more blood filled with sin, wasn't there...?
"Blood is flowing. Leave none alive!"
When Li Wei saw Stan tear the gang member in half, he inwardly exclaimed in amazement.
So tearing enemies apart with bare hands was real after all!
Still, this was exactly what Li Wei wanted to see. Only by hunting blood steeped in sin could Stan better match Zaun's Fury's Hero Template and inherit even greater power!
Stan was already beginning to become perfect...
What followed held no suspense.
Stan carried out a thoroughly satisfying hunt in the alley.
Though firearms could still injure him, under the bloodsucking effect, the wounds on Stan's body would heal!
"Claws, hunger! Hero, die! Kill... you...!"
"Listen to me! Stop screaming~ Watch you bleed..."
Garbled growls continuously came from Stan's mouth, echoing through the Maroni Family members' hearts like cold winds from hell.
Because Stan had initially attacked the Maroni Family members, the Falcone Family members had even tried to join forces with him against the Maroni Family.
Unfortunately, all criminal blood was on Stan's hunting list!
The Falcone Family members were naturally no exception.
When the Falcone Family members realized Stan was gradually approaching them, they began trying to flee.
But where could they run from a werewolf?
It would only add a little fun to the hunt!
When the alley fell silent again, the only living thing still standing was Stan.
Apart from him, the ground was covered in severed limbs and mangled flesh.
Li Wei shook his head slightly. Compared to when he had made his "debut" as Khada Jhin, Stan was nowhere close.
It was simply too brutal. Elegance never went out of style.
By now, after so much soothing, the thirst for blood within Stan's body had finally been temporarily satisfied.
Stan also regained some clarity.
His vacant eyes swept over the severed limbs scattered across the ground. He stared at his own hands in disbelief.
"Hey! Stan! We meet again." Li Wei sat on a rooftop and greeted Stan. "I told you I would let you end evil with your own hands..."
Good Men and Beasts
Li Wei did not say much to Stan at the hunting site.
After confirming that Stan had regained his reason, Li Wei brought the distraught Stan back to Arkham Asylum.
At that moment, Dr. Hugo had just finished cleaning up the mess in the laboratory.
The moment he looked up and saw Li Wei bringing Stan down from the elevator, he instinctively closed the laboratory door behind him, afraid Stan would go in and destroy things again.
Of course, the distraught Stan clearly did not notice Dr. Hugo's little movement.
Li Wei noticed it, but he only smiled and said nothing.
"Dr. Hugo, come over as well. I think we need to help our new member accept the truth..." Li Wei said, turning back to Dr. Hugo.
Before you continue