Godhood Unlocked: I Choose Sci-Magic Dual Cultivation

"From Hell...?" Batman tried to find a clue in those words.

Jason did not dwell on it and continued to the next location.

He had already killed nearly all the private soldiers here. In their panic, someone had revealed one of Scarecrow's safe houses.

He quickly arrived at the location they had given him, only to discover Poison Ivy inside.

There was only one guard watching Poison Ivy, while Scarecrow's face filled the large screen behind her.

"Well, well, well, can you tell me who you are?"

Scarecrow stared directly at Jason through the screen, as if trying to see through his mask.

"You dress a lot like a certain bat, but you don't seem to be the guest I've been waiting for."

"But you must have some connection to him."

Scarecrow seemed thoughtful.

Jason ignored his muttering and instructed the AI in his suit to directly trace Scarecrow's signal source.

"That won't do. Even if you're just a troublemaker, you still have to follow the rules of the game."

Scarecrow apparently had someone capable on his end. He quickly noticed Jason's little move and immediately cut off the transmission.

"Come over slowly, kid, or I'll kill this bitch!"

The private soldier left behind to guard Poison Ivy yanked her up and pressed a pistol to her temple.

But Jason's shooting was faster. With a flick of his hand, he blew the private soldier's head apart without even aiming.

Blood and brain matter immediately sprayed all over Poison Ivy's face, making her sick.

"What are you doing?"

Poison Ivy scraped the filth off her face in disgust and shouted angrily at Jason.

But Jason had no concern for her feelings. He turned his gun and aimed it at her.

"Tell me what you know."

"Or what? Are you going to kill me with that gun?"

Poison Ivy sneered. If the man opposite her thought she was some cowardly little thug afraid of death, then he was sorely mistaken.

But the man facing her was Jason. Like Batman, he knew Poison Ivy's weakness.

So he lowered his pistol, but Poison Ivy did not dare ignore what he said next.

"Either tell me what you know, or I'll burn every plant in Gotham City to the ground right now!"

Poison Ivy stared hard at Jason. Was this bastard really not Batman?

"You win. I'll tell you everything."

Poison Ivy told him that nearly half of Gotham City's villains had joined forces to target Batman and kill him.

"You don't seem to be affected by the gas?"

Jason had clearly seen the sealed room holding Poison Ivy filled with the new gas. The private soldiers only dared stay inside because they wore special gas masks.

Poison Ivy said disdainfully, "His cheap gas doesn't work on me. Nature always wins."

Jason realized that Poison Ivy's trait could help him develop a neutralizing agent for the gas.

But he was better at killing people than conducting research.

As if it had heard his thoughts, his communicator received a call. He answered and found that it was Dane.

"Send Poison Ivy to me. I'll develop a neutralizing agent. Your task is to find Scarecrow and kill him."

"Got it."

Jason gave Poison Ivy a shove. Just as she was about to curse his lack of manners, a hole suddenly opened in the ground and swallowed her.

Poison Ivy fell into the Portal and quickly reappeared somewhere new, where Dane stood before her with a smiling face.

"Who are you? What is this place?"

Poison Ivy was extremely wary.

"This is Umbrella Laboratory. Please relax. You're safe here."

"As for me, I wonder if you've heard of Pioneer Technology. It's my company."

Pioneer Technology?

Poison Ivy did not usually pay much attention to the news, so she had no impression of it.

But her natural instincts warned her that the man before her was not someone to provoke. He was extremely dangerous!

"All right, looks like you haven't."

"It's fine. You only need to know that I'm just a little smarter than most people, so I need your cooperation to develop a neutralizing agent for the new gas."

"What if I say no?"

Poison Ivy tested him.

"That would be a shame. I'd put you into a quiet sleep."

"Then I'd use your body for research. Perhaps you'd prefer that arrangement?"

Dane shrugged, showing that he did not care either way.

At the thought of someone touching her all over while she was unconscious, Poison Ivy broke out in goosebumps.

She immediately decided, "I can cooperate, but you can't force me!"

"As you wish."

What a joke. Once you're on my turf, you think you still get to call the shots?

Scarecrow's End

Jason had been thinking about Scarecrow's objective. He was unlike lunatics such as Joker, who simply caused trouble for fun. Scarecrow usually had a clear purpose behind his crimes.

And there was not much time left before he released the new gas across Gotham.

Yet so far, Jason had only seen private soldiers using stupid methods to inject civilians in the streets.

He did not believe Scarecrow intended to fulfill his declaration this way. That would be far too stupid.

"He must have some way to spread the gas throughout the entire city. I have to find that method."

As it happened, Batman was thinking the same thing.

He had also obtained a sample of the new gas from the private soldiers and found Barbara, intending to use triangulation to locate Scarecrow's true hiding place.

"The gas reaction produces several distinctive radiation peaks. We can scan the city for characteristic energy signals and find where Scarecrow is producing Fear Gas."

Jason, watching through the screen, could not help but praise them. "Very smart."

Barbara agreed with the method, but she also raised a problem.

"But the satellites will take several hours to get into position."

Batman said, "We don't have that much time. I'll recalibrate the signal towers..."

Jason turned off the screen and ordered the AI to hijack the satellite signals. His method was much faster than Batman's.

Using the data stolen from Barbara's computer, he quickly scanned and compared the signals to locate the characteristic energy source.

It was at the ACE Chemical Plant.

"Heh. Why am I not surprised at all?"

While Batman was still struggling to set up antennas, Jason had already headed to the target location.

This time, he infiltrated it differently.

Earlier, he had been filled with frustration, so his method of infiltration had been to kill everyone. No witnesses meant perfect infiltration. Nothing wrong with that.

But Scarecrow already knew he existed. Jason was not afraid, but he would not stupidly walk into a trap either.

Sneaking in and finding out exactly what Scarecrow intended to do was the proper course of action.

The night was his best camouflage as Jason slipped inside silently.

With his suit, no other technological means could detect him.

Combining the infiltration techniques he had learned from the League of Assassins with technology, he invaded the ACE Chemical Plant as silently as a perfect Demon's Head.

Jason quickly hacked into the factory's central computer and found the storage locations for several chemical materials used to synthesize the gas.

The bad news was that the computer showed those materials had been almost entirely used up.

That meant Scarecrow might have already produced enough Fear Gas. All he lacked was a means to disperse it.

Jason continued deeper into the factory and cornered a worker who was preparing to leave in one of the workshops.

"Where is Scarecrow now?"

This worker did not look like one of Scarecrow's men.

And that was indeed the case. The worker said nervously,

"Scarecrow is making bombs. Do you know what that means? He's ready to release the gas!"

He planned to use the force of explosions to spread the gas?

Jason frowned. Something felt wrong, but this was undeniably the gas production room.

"Tell me. Where is he now?"

"He's in the Central Mixing Chamber."

Jason left the worker behind and headed straight for the Central Mixing Chamber, where he indeed found Scarecrow.

"I never expected you to find me first. What a surprise."

Scarecrow looked utterly confident. The next second, he even directly exposed Jason's identity.

"I suppose Batman has no idea that his little assistant survived that disaster, does he?"

"Jason Todd."

Jason lifted his Electronic Mask. A large gun instantly appeared in his hand, pointed at Scarecrow's head.

"What is your objective?"

"I saw your fight with Batman. I have to say, you surprised me greatly, Jason."

"You're even more outstanding than before. And I believe you, like us, are sick of that bat."

"Your target is Batman." Jason suddenly understood.

"That's right. Of course it's him. It has always been him. All of this is to destroy Batman."

"But this isn't merely about killing him."

"What we want to kill is the spirit symbolized by the identity of 'Batman.'"

"We won't just kill him. We'll reveal his identity before everyone—damn Bruce Wayne!"

"So join us, Jason."

Scarecrow spread his arms in invitation.

"One more question. How did you discover my identity?"

Scarecrow explained patiently.

"Joker told us the truth in Arkham. He said you weren't dead."

"And Riddler figured out your identity. We all agreed that you should join us. After all, you hate Batman too, don't you?"

"Joker definitely didn't tell you the whole truth, did he?"

"What do you mean?" Scarecrow suddenly felt that something was wrong.

"You actually believed Joker's words? How laughable!"

Jason suddenly fired. The bullet pierced Scarecrow's lung, and he fell backward onto the ground.

Scarecrow stared wide-eyed at Jason, seemingly unable to believe that he had actually shot and killed him!