Night fell.
Beneath the dark clouds, the Bat-Signal lit up as usual.
After Bai Lang had fully adjusted to his strength, the current within him surged to astonishing new heights.
The current inside him gathered together, turning into terrifying, deep-red high-voltage electricity.
[Current Propulsion: 163,000 volts] → [Current Propulsion: 164,000 volts]
Great. He was getting closer and closer to 200,000 volts.
Even if he ran into that sniper again, his keen instincts and superhuman reflexes would be enough to dodge the shots.
Unless there was more than one sniper, or they had some other large-caliber weapon.
Now dressed in a suit identical to Batman's, he was ready to head to the New City Royal Hotel and find Deathstroke.
A massive figure appeared in the shadows of a narrow street. A few drunks blinked, then wondered if their eyes had been playing tricks on them.
"Did something just run past me?"
When they saw nothing, the drunks lay back down and resumed snoring loud enough to shake the heavens.
By then, Bai Lang was racing from the Gotham Forest back to Gotham City at the terrifying speed of three seconds per hundred meters.
Gotham was surrounded by water on three sides. The Gotham River flowed relentlessly along its western edge, while the southern coast bordered the sea and was home to Gotham Harbor.
Only the north was covered in forest.
New City bordered Crime Alley. Perhaps because the police chief stationed there was relatively competent, crime in the area was unusually low.
Bai Lang stood atop a skyscraper, gazing at the Royal Hotel across the way.
Whoosh!
A gust of wind swept past. A black figure had appeared beside him without a sound.
It was Batman—Bruce Wayne.
In fact, Bai Lang had noticed him long ago. Not long after Bai Lang entered Gotham in his Batman suit, the Batmobile had appeared behind him.
"We need to talk," Batman, Bruce Wayne, said, deliberately lowering his voice.
"Bruce Wayne, I don't want to talk to you." Bai Lang watched the lights come on in the building across the street.
With his superhuman vision, he peered through the windows and saw the interior in perfect detail, searching for Deathstroke.
"I know you're looking for him."
Even with his vision magnified tenfold, Batman, Bruce Wayne, couldn't make out the details inside the building across from them. But he had visited Penguin, too.
Clearly, he had learned something from Penguin.
Thanks to Super Batman's appearance that night, he had hardly needed to lift a finger before Penguin told him everything.
The moment he showed up, Penguin had surrendered.
That had made him realize just how staggering the other man's power was.
It was a force beyond the bounds of the ordinary world. No ordinary person could stand against it.
It only strengthened his resolve to get the other man to rein himself in.
When the fake Batman beside him didn't respond, Batman, Bruce Wayne, continued:
"You killed Joker, but a few days ago, another lunatic appeared in the Fashion District. He calls himself 'Joker.'"
"Your method of wiping them all out won't change Gotham. It won't make Gotham any better!"
Batman, Bruce Wayne, tried to reason with him. But when he turned around, Bai Lang was nowhere to be seen.
Bai Lang had already found the room Deathstroke was in.
He paid no attention to Batman, Bruce Wayne, who was still going on beside him. He bent his legs, muscles swelling, then pushed off with all his might.
BOOM!!
Like a cannonball, he shot forward at explosive speed, carrying an unstoppable force of impact.
With a suffocating pressure surging around him, Bai Lang charged straight toward the room where Deathstroke was staying.
Deathstroke had clearly noticed the black figure outside the window.
That terrifying presence made his face change in an instant.
Amid the thunderous crash, the black figure slammed into the room at the Royal Hotel like a meteor.
BANG!!
The concrete floor cracked instantly. From the black figure at its center, the fractures spread in every direction like a spiderweb.
The lights flickered wildly as dust and smoke burst through the air!
The cloud of dust and debris exploded throughout the room, sending the air surging outward.
Ignoring the burns left by the electric shock, Deathstroke snatched up the alloy sword beside him. His expression tense, he stared fixedly at the figure in the smoke.
[Ability Points +4]
Bai Lang stood at the center of the cracks and looked at the prompt that had appeared before him. He seemed to realize something.
He turned to look behind him and saw apprehension written all over Batman, Bruce Wayne's face.
Looks like he's already come up with dozens of plans to deal with me...
That was what Bai Lang thought.
Tonight's main goal wasn't to kill anyone or get revenge. It was to earn Ability Points.
He needed enough power to break through to 200,000 volts in one go, so he wouldn't have to fear ordinary bullets anymore.
That was why he had chosen to drop from the sky and crash into the Royal Hotel.
Besides, Batman, Bruce Wayne, was here. He could foot the bill for tonight's damages.
Fortunately, Deathstroke's sniper accomplice wasn't here.
Suddenly, a blade flashed inside the room.
Bai Lang instinctively twisted to the left and saw Deathstroke swinging an alloy sword at him.
The current surged through Bai Lang's body and gathered between his fingers. He reached out, pinched the alloy sword between two fingers, then squeezed.
CLANG!
The alloy sword snapped apart, breaking into piece after piece.
In that instant, Deathstroke knew the man was Super Batman, the same person he had fought the day before!
At the thought, the injuries on his body began to ache faintly.
A black figure rushed in through the window. It was Batman, Bruce Wayne, wearing the same suit.
"Your methods will only cause massive destruction. They won't change Gotham!" Batman, Bruce Wayne, shouted angrily at the scene around them, which looked like a ruin.
"It's fine. This isn't my Gotham." Bai Lang gave a self-mocking smile.
Even after all these days since arriving in this world, he still couldn't get used to this crime-ridden city.
Every day after work, he saw gangs beating people in the alleys. The poor crowded the slums, and riots broke out from time to time in the homeless camps.
Everything around him told Bai Lang that this wasn't his city.
He shook his head inwardly and shot out an arm, grabbing Deathstroke as he tried to escape.
Deathstroke tried to attack him, but Bai Lang's entire body was now brimming with high-voltage current.
And Deathstroke was wearing metal armor. The powerful current conducted straight through it, shocking him so badly that every moment inside his metal suit felt like an eternity.
The powerful current ravaged his body.
"But this is my Gotham!"
Batman, Bruce Wayne, couldn't hold back any longer. He stepped in front of Bai Lang and roared.
After making sure the camera he had set up had recorded everything that had just happened, Bai Lang nodded.
"Yeah, yeah, whatever. You're paying for everything tonight."
Batman, Bruce Wayne: "What?"
"Enough." Bai Lang still used Current Propulsion to disguise his voice, making it identical to Batman, Bruce Wayne's.
But at six foot six, he stood a full head taller than Bruce. Standing face-to-face, they looked like a large and small version of the same person.
"I'm in a pretty good mood right now, so I'll teach you something, Bruce Wayne."
Holding Deathstroke, Bai Lang felt a thought take shape in his mind.
Looking at Bruce Wayne in front of him, he said:
"Gotham is like a tree riddled with insects. If you don't get rid of them, the tree will eventually turn to ash."
"Your actions have struck at the criminals like those insects, but they've also left criminal eggs behind in Gotham's tree."
"Why did a second Joker appear? At its core, it's because criminal eggs still remain in Gotham."
As he spoke, Bai Lang tightened his right hand around Deathstroke's neck, gradually squeezing harder as if weighing whether to kill him and cash in on a big reward.
Bruce Wayne stood motionless before him, carefully considering Bai Lang's words.
[Ability Points +4]
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