Red-Name Players and White-Name Players

"Eh? Gotham Villain Certification?"

Erin stared in surprise at the achievement notification that had just popped up on her panel after instantly killing Guiji.

The moment Erin finished speaking, she saw Cheng Tian dash toward her. He immediately raised the shield in his hand and angled it forty-five degrees over his head, his sharp eyes sweeping over every place someone might be hiding.

"That old Gotham bat must be hiding somewhere and spying on us. I'd say he's here in person."

As someone who had already earned this honor, Cheng Tian immediately reached that conclusion.

Although Cheng Tian was not truly a Shield Guardian, the defensive boost from Shield Master made it easy enough for him to play bodyguard for a while. Besides, when he signed the Gray Contract, he had already clearly established his role in the party. At least in the current mission world, Erin would be the person he was guarding.

"Open the chest! Run!"

Erin immediately issued the highest-priority order.

"Understood." Cheng Tian followed her and ran without a word.

Clearly, the two players officially recognized as Arkham VIPs had no intention of tangling with Batman.

As mentioned before, quite a few players treated their faction's NPCs, dungeon monsters, and enemies exactly the same. These people would attack NPC companions who had originally been helpers and teammates for the sake of "protagonist equipment."

However, from the moment they struck, the dungeon would undergo an almost irreversible change. The game save corresponding to a player who killed an ally would carry over into every subsequent dungeon. Moreover, it would not only affect the corresponding source material—even certain guest appearances, references, and other game source materials set in the same universe would be affected as well.

Once a choice was made, its consequences had to be borne. That was also the kind of possibility the Space wanted to see played out.

As for Yasha, the twin sister who had fled in the other direction... Cheng Tian had no means of pursuing her, and Erin would be weakened for a while after using that fusion combat skill. So if she got away, she got away. There would be other chances later.

Crouching on the rooftop like a statue, Batman stared absently at Guiji's corpse, which was still pinned to the gate of the abandoned factory. Then he shifted his gaze toward Cheng Tian and Erin, who were fleeing toward the financial district. But he chose not to pursue them.

The elusive Batman always appeared with pinpoint accuracy at every incident in Gotham City. Naturally, he had not missed Cheng Tian and the others' battle, especially since they had not bothered to hide themselves.

But unlike the countless thieves and petty criminals scurrying about like rats in the streets, or gangs openly fighting one another, the confrontation between Cheng Tian, Erin, and the twin sisters looked to Batman like nothing more than a dogfight between supervillains.

Although the Batman from the 1989 film, which served as the basis for this world, would not use excessively brutal methods to bypass the judicial system when dealing with ordinary criminals, this version of Batman had personally killed the Joker.

And it was worth remembering that the bounty mission for killing gang members to obtain quest items had been issued by him.

So this Batman did not actually have as strict a "no-killing principle" as his counterparts from other alternate dimensions.

Besides, although he had already determined that Cheng Tian and Erin were both Arkham VIPs among VIPs, he had also noticed that their targets were gang members and other supervillains. They did not seem interested in ordinary people. Therefore, the ones who should truly feel threatened by letting them continue acting were Killer Moth and the other supervillains.

Then again, gangs had now spread through every corner of Gotham City like poison. As a result, a living gang leader was far more important than a dead one. Once a gang leader died, the gang would inevitably descend into chaos as everyone fought for power. Other gangs would also clash with it over territory. In the end, it was Gotham's ordinary citizens who would suffer.

Setting aside the "warped worldview" of Scallop Warrior, that archer who had been so decisive about killing would probably find another way to target Killer Moth. Moreover, judging by the situation, the man and woman had already joined forces. In other words, the threat to Killer Moth's life was about to rise dramatically.

Now the question was—

Should he find a way to solve the problem of Killer Moth continuing to be attacked at its source? Or should he start considering how to stabilize the Moth Gang after Killer Moth died?

Batman fell into deep thought.

"They didn't follow us."

Erin frowned slightly after breathing in Gotham's air, thick with industrial dust, and signaled Cheng Tian to slow down.

Cheng Tian nodded and calmed his racing heart after the exertion.

But soon, Cheng Tian demonstrated the fine tradition of asking whenever he did not understand something and asked directly,

"Can you tell me about the consequences of killing players, and the rules related to those bloodstained chests?"

"No problem~"

For some reason, Erin seemed a little happy that Cheng Tian had asked. She nodded and agreed at once.

In simple terms, it worked like this: killing one player would forcibly grant one PK Value. As the PK Value accumulated, the drop rate of the "bloody chests" dropped upon a player's death would increase in stages.

Under normal circumstances, a White-Name Player killing another White-Name Player would become a Red-Name Player. A White-Name Player killing a Red-Name Player, however, would not turn themselves red, though it would still increase their PK Value.

Naturally, there was also a matter of judgment involved. If both sides were White-Name Players, and the one who struck first was killed in retaliation, the person who retaliated would still remain a White-Name Player.

Accumulating PK Value as a Red-Name Player could cause the player to be shunned by the protagonist factions, which generally upheld the values of justice. This could force the player faction to shift, gradually increasing the likelihood of being assigned to an enemy faction among the dungeon characters, while also increasing the frequency of faction-conflict modifiers in dungeons.

There might even be bounty missions specifically targeting players with extremely high PK Values.

However, Red-Name Players were still a form of player, and they enjoyed certain special privileges unavailable to White-Name Players.

For example, in some dungeons where "killing protagonist-faction members or allied NPCs yields no drops," Red-Name Players could ignore that restriction, kill NPCs as though they were monsters, and obtain relatively normal drop rates.

At the same time, once their PK Value reached a certain level, they would qualify to use special PK equipment that could only function in battles between players.

In short, being a Red-Name Player was also an optional path for a Chosen Player. It simply did not fit Cheng Tian's gaming aesthetic.

Making powerful demons and monsters, arrogant beyond compare, kneel and beg for mercy, then tearing out their spines amid their terror and wails—that was the scene Cheng Tian liked best.

"Then are you a Red-Name Player?"

Cheng Tian asked another relatively sensitive question. It was hard to tell whether he was simply an oblivious straight man or doing it on purpose.

"What? Scared?"

Erin, who was inspecting the bowstring of the Elven Bow, rolled her eyes at Cheng Tian and shot back immediately.

"Of course not~"

As Cheng Tian spoke, he revealed a benevolent smile that made Erin—the archer who completely overpowered him in overall strength—break out in fine goosebumps.