Gunshot Wounds (Revised)

Bai Lang gripped Deathstroke by the throat and slowly tightened his hold.

"Cough, cough..." Deathstroke had been electrocuted by high-voltage current for several minutes. He'd almost been cooked alive.

Luckily, the healing factor in his body was powerful enough to repair his life-threatening injuries in time. Even so, he felt as though he'd nearly lost half his life.

"You're the strongest opponent I've ever faced. You're practically not human. But at least you still have a human weakness."

Deathstroke grinned. There was no fear in his voice—only a cold murderous intent.

He'd taken a hit from his opponent earlier, but now he had a weapon that could bring him down.

Hearing this, Bai Lang turned to look at him and saw that he was holding a stick, its end pressed against Bai Lang's chest.

At the same time, a powerful sense of dread washed over Bai Lang.

"Heh..." Mockery glinted in Deathstroke's eyes. "Super Batman, you've lost!"

As he spoke, a gunshot rang out, and a powerful electromagnetic pulse burst from the end of the stick.

At the same time, several bullets fired from the gun disguised as a stick in his hand, their muzzles belching flame as they streaked toward Bai Lang's chest.

Bai Lang tried to use Current Propulsion to melt the bullets, but the electromagnetic pulse had affected the current in his body, freezing it in place like stone.

With the gun pressed against his chest at such close range, there was no way Bai Lang could dodge the four bullets.

His top speed was only two seconds per hundred meters, while the bullets had already reached a terrifying three hundred meters per second inside the barrel!

There was nowhere to run, and nothing to block them with!!

He had no way to defend himself, nor the terrifying speed needed to dodge the bullets!

There was nothing he could do to avoid it now.

He could only take the shot head-on!

Thwack!!

Several bullets struck his chest without fail, ripping holes in the thin black Batman suit.

The transparent layer of keratin covering his chest tore open, and blood sprayed out. The rusty smell of it spread through the air in an instant.

Intense pain surged from each wound, spreading through his nerves and jolting Bai Lang's brain.

Bai Lang's eyes bulged with rage. In his fury, the current disrupted by the electromagnetic pulse began to flow again.

Red arcs of electricity crackled around him, and he instantly wrapped the four bullets embedded in his body in current.

The cells around his wounds stopped rubbing against one another, preventing more blood from flowing out.

The most dangerous wound had missed his heart by only half a centimeter.

Hearing the gunshot, Batman Bruce Wayne turned his head and saw Deathstroke's terrifying, charred corpse.

The incredibly muscular fake Batman had taken a bullet and was down on one knee.

[Ability Points +20]

A pale blue notification box appeared before Bai Lang. It was clearly the Ability Points he'd gained for killing Deathstroke.

But Bai Lang had no time to care about that. He'd suffered four gunshot wounds, and one of the bullets had come within a hair's breadth of hitting his heart.

Fortunately, the keratin layer had dissipated some of the bullets' kinetic energy. Otherwise, he'd already be dead.

Cold sweat seeped from Bai Lang's forehead, but before it could form into droplets, the high-voltage red current struck it into steam.

Bai Lang was incredibly grateful that his body had grown a layer of keratin in response to the current.

Without that layer, he would already be a cold corpse.

"Are you all right?" Batman Bruce Wayne asked, looking astonished.

In his view, Bai Lang's clothes should have been the same as his own: bulletproof armor made of promethium. They should have been more than enough to stop a handgun.

But when he looked at Bai Lang's chest wounds, he froze.

Bai Lang's clothes were only a thin layer of fabric, nothing like what he'd imagined. All that remained was torn cloth fluttering in the air.

Thud! Thud!

A violent pounding came from outside the hotel room.

"Sir, are you all right?"

It was a hotel employee. The tremendous commotion Bai Lang had caused had clearly been heard throughout the hotel.

The unlucky guest in the room next to Deathstroke had even thought an earthquake was underway.

When no one answered, the employee immediately told the fully armed security guards beside him to break down the door.

After they kicked it to the floor, everyone froze.

The floor-to-ceiling windows, stretching from the floor all the way to the ceiling, had been reduced to shards.

The enormous bed in the middle of the room had collapsed into pieces, with chunks of wood and stone scattered everywhere.

Even the floor was crisscrossed with cracks like the gnarled roots of an old tree, as if the room might collapse at any moment.

Batman Bruce Wayne piloted the Batplane, with Deathstroke's corpse and the gun he'd been holding stowed behind him.

He was astonished that this fake Batman, despite being injured, had still managed to leave the building with his bare hands.

At the same time, Bai Lang's words echoed in his mind.

"Gotham is a great tree, and criminals are the vermin gnawing away at it. Until they're cleared out, the tree will never know peace."

He shook his head, remembering the principles he'd always held firm.

"Killing to stop killing will never be the answer. But letting criminals keep devouring Gotham in an endless cycle isn't a solution either. Gotham needs a different kind of change."

Back at Wayne Tower, he brought Deathstroke's body to Fox's lab.

"Fox, you said this man had some kind of healing factor. See if you can combine it with the Anti-Batman Armor."

Fox had dark skin. Even he couldn't help freezing at the sight of Deathstroke's corpse.

"Young Master Wayne, did you kill him?"

Bruce Wayne shook his head.

"No. Someone else did."

Bai Lang staggered out of the alley. He'd already burned the Batman suit to ash with a terrifying surge of electricity.

The several gunshot wounds in his chest were still there, and blood continued to flow from them.

Bai Lang controlled the current to stimulate the cells around his wounds, keeping them from threatening his life.

Even so, the pain was almost unbearable.

Suddenly, he stumbled and collapsed onto the cold ground.

Surrounded by darkness, Bai Lang caught the sour stench from the nearby garbage can. His consciousness was on the verge of fading.

He bit the tip of his tongue hard, and the pain jolted his brain, bringing his fading consciousness back into focus.

"No, I can't die here."

If he passed out in this alley, he might not survive the night.

He'd really been careless this time.

He'd never imagined that the electromagnetic pulse weapon Deathstroke used could interfere with the current in his body.

Maybe his Current Propulsion was still too weak. It only reached 163,000 volts.

"Damn it, no one said electromagnetic pulse weapons could interfere with a magnetic-field powerhouse!"

He took a breath and steadied himself. Any strenuous movement would bring the bullets closer to his heart and leave him even weaker.

"Waaah..."

A woman's sob suddenly reached Bai Lang's ears, accompanied by footsteps that grew steadily clearer.

He tried to gather his strength and stand, but his body felt colder and stiffer by the moment.

Even the current inside him was like stubborn stone, refusing to obey his will.

At some point, the sobbing and footsteps faded, until at last they could no longer be heard.

Bai Lang let out a long breath.

At least no one had come over.

But before he could feel relieved, dizziness washed over him.

The scene before his eyes gradually blurred.

Thump!

Suddenly, something seemed to bump against Bai Lang's arm.

It felt cold and somewhat hard.

Someone seemed to be watching him.

Bai Lang struggled to open his eyes and see who was standing in front of him.

But all he could make out was a pair of sharply contrasting red-and-blue pigtails, and a face with matching red-and-blue eyeshadow.

Before he could make out her face, Bai Lang passed out.