Godhood Unlocked: I Chose Sci-Magic Dual Cultivation

He reached out to grab her, his heart full of unanswered questions.

Recently, Selina had been trying to move toward the side of the law, the right side, the better side.

She had clearly not stolen anything in a long time, so why had she struck again today?

Something was definitely wrong.

But just as Batman's hand was about to seize Catwoman, a streak of fire flashed past and severed his rope.

A sniper!

Batman reacted quickly. He immediately spread his cape's glider wings and dropped from the rooftop onto the head of a gargoyle.

He swiftly scanned his surroundings, trying to locate the shooter.

But when he magnified his view with the 17x lens to inspect the distance, a flash of fire suddenly appeared in his vision.

He had been shot. No matter how fast Batman's reflexes were, they could not outpace a supersonic bullet. The round struck his mask dead-on.

Taking a bullet to the face head-on sent Batman tumbling downward, and he crashed heavily onto the ground.

The place where he landed was Yamada-gumi territory in Crime Alley.

The Yamada-gumi thugs seemed to have been waiting there for a long time. The moment they saw Batman fall, they swarmed him.

Every thug charged in with clubs and blades. They did not use guns, since gunfire could easily draw the police.

More importantly, they were afraid of drawing Red Hood.

Recently, Red Hood had killed more gang assassins than they had assassinated in the past year.

They assumed that after falling from such a height, Batman must have lost the ability to move.

But Batman quickly showed them how wrong they were.

Ever since discovering that beings like Superman and Shazam existed in this world, beings far beyond normal limits, Bruce had stopped wearing his old suits.

He was not a stubborn man. Since the new Nano Suit was more useful, why would he still wear a conventional suit?

As a result, the fall from the skyscraper had not actually hurt Batman at all.

The reason he had not moved was that he was adjusting the suit's power output.

He had just fought Killer Croc. If he used that level of strength against this bunch of trash, he was worried he might accidentally kill them.

So after taking several hits, Batman decisively counterattacked.

He snatched a short steel baton from one man and, in their first exchange, broke the nose of another nearby man, knocking out a few of his teeth in the process.

Then, with a sweeping strike, he broke the arms and ribs of several of the nearest men.

As they howled and collapsed, Batman wrapped himself in his cape. When he spread it again, he flung out Batarangs.

The sonic bombs exploded, and countless hoodlums fell stiffly to the ground.

Batman walked forward, occasionally kicking anyone who still had the strength to rise, putting them quietly to sleep.

He raised his head, looking both toward the direction of the attack and the direction Selina had gone.

Who was targeting him?

After thinking it over for a while, he called Dane.

"Batman?"

On the 3D display, Dane's face appeared beside a furnace.

"If you have something to say, say it quickly. I'm a little busy."

Dane was firing up the furnace to refine a divine artifact. He had said that he would forge a hidden weapon infused with the Power of Death, and he intended to follow through.

"Has anyone else from the Justice League been in Gotham recently?"

"Wait a moment. Let me check."

Batman waited for a while before Dane answered.

"I just checked. Poison Ivy and Barbara returned to Gotham a month ago."

"Apparently, they want to form an all-female hero team and are recruiting members now."

"Oh, right. Clark seems to be over there too."

Batman frowned. "What is he doing here?"

"I heard he made friends with a police officer named Owens there and has been staying as his guest recently."

Was he really that popular?

Batman thought back to the times Clark had helped build up cities as an ordinary person.

He shook his head. Though still wary, Batman had to admit that no one could dislike Clark's personality.

He was practically the embodiment of all the good in the world. Even knowing that he possessed Superman's power—

Bruce still found it difficult to imagine Clark committing evil.

"Anything else? If not, I'm hanging up."

With that, Dane decisively ended the call without waiting for Batman's reply.

That guy's personality is still as awful as ever, Batman thought expressionlessly.

Batman fired out a nano-cable, intending to follow the ballistic trajectory and see whether he could find more clues about the attacker.

But before he could begin, Alfred suddenly called.

"Master Bruce, something has happened to Master Grayson!"

Nightwing!

Batman's heart tightened, and he hurriedly summoned the Batmobile.

"Send me the location. Damn it! Didn't Dick already return to Bludhaven?"

"He was worried about Miss Barbara, so he has been staying with her recently."

"How is Barbara?" Batman grew even more anxious.

"Miss Barbara is with her other friends right now. She is safe."

Batman recalled what Dane had said a few minutes ago. It seemed Barbara really had found several teammates.

The Batmobile was fast, and it did not take long to reach the address Alfred had given him.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Bruce had barely stepped out of the car when he heard several gunshots. He immediately ran toward their source.

He arrived just in time to see Red Hood slaughtering the armed gang assassins!

A familiar figure lay on the ground nearby.

Batman rushed over and carefully examined Nightwing's injuries.

They were terrible. His skull had suffered near-catastrophic damage. He needed surgery immediately!

"You're late again, Batman."

Right in front of Batman, Red Hood blew the last gunman's head apart.

The remaining unarmed men trembled in fear.

They were all "smart people" with sharp eyes, the kind who had thrown away their guns the instant they saw Red Hood arrive.

"Don't kill me! I threw away my gun! You can't kill us!"

Red Hood actually put away his gun upon hearing that, but there was no way he intended to let them go.

He walked over to the man who had spoken and grabbed his right hand.

"Is this your dominant hand?"

Beneath Red Hood's blood-red mask, the gunman nodded frantically.

Crack—!

Red Hood sneered and snapped his hand, listening to his agonized screams as he said viciously, "Of course I won't kill you. But you don't mind if I make sure of it, do you?"

Seeing this, how could the gunmen behind him dare remain?

They fled backward in a panic, but Red Hood pursued them.

Anyone who dared pick up a gun was shot in the head without mercy.

Red Hood's new rule: disability or death.

You had to choose one.

Mystery

Seeing Red Hood still chasing those people down to kill them, Batman wanted to intervene.

But he did not have time, because Nightwing's condition was extremely critical!

It had even reached the point of becoming life-threatening.

He drove the Batmobile at top speed and brought Nightwing to the Batcave.

Upon hearing that Nightwing had been injured, Barbara hurried back to the Manor as well.

Then, after the three of them carefully examined him, they discovered with great dismay that Gotham City did not have a doctor good enough to perform Nightwing's operation.

The Scarecrow incident had caused too much chaos. Gotham had yet to recover, and no skilled doctors were willing to stay in a hellhole like this.

But Batman suddenly remembered that he had a childhood friend he had long been out of touch with, who happened to be a specialist in neurosurgery.

Bruce had kept track of the man's accomplishments. He knew that this old friend might be capable enough to save Nightwing.

It was not that he had not considered asking Dane for help, but since Dane had hung up on him earlier, he had been completely unable to contact him.

He really did seem busy.

With no other choice, Bruce finally called Thomas Elliot.

"Bruce?" The person on the other end sounded very surprised as well.

"You haven't called me in a long time."

Hearing the nostalgic tone in his old friend's voice, Bruce tightened his grip on the phone.

He did his best to remain calm. "Tommy, I need you... I need your help."

Thomas lived in Philadelphia, not far from Gotham.

After receiving Bruce's call, the renowned neurosurgeon quickly rushed over from Philadelphia.

The two childhood friends met at Gotham General Hospital.

But there was no time to catch up. After changing into surgical attire, he quickly entered the operating room.

After a full ten hours of surgery, Thomas finally snatched Nightwing's life back from the hands of death.

The moment the surgery was declared successful, Bruce could not help letting out a long sigh of relief.

The Bat-Family all came to visit Dick, and even Damian was no exception.

When Nightwing felt a little better, Damian could not help mocking him.

"You're an absolute disgrace to us! You actually let a bunch of trash ambush you successfully~."

Nightwing's head was wrapped in bandages, with only one eye exposed.

He was listless right now and did not have the energy to trade barbs with Damian.

As soon as Dick had improved a little, Bruce ignored Thomas's objections and insisted on transferring him to his own Manor.

As Dick's attending physician, Thomas was furious.

"You're disregarding his life, Bruce."

"Wasn't I the one you asked to save him?"

"If you wanted him dead, you should have done nothing from the start!"