"Waaah..."
A woman's sobs echoed through the darkness.
"Joker... I'll kill Batman and avenge you!"
The woman sounded barely in her twenties, young and full of life.
"Harley, don't cry over that heartless bastard. You still have me. He's abandoned you so many times—you should've forgotten him ages ago."
Another voice rang out, husky and mature, with the air of a sultry older woman.
"What are you going to do with the man we rescued? He looks like a police chief."
"Maybe we should rape him first..." The young woman's voice was cut off as if something had stuffed her mouth.
A faint, muffled moan followed, echoing through the room.
A pleasant, rich fragrance filled the air.
It smelled like flowers.
Bai Lang's eyes snapped open. The bright sunlight stung, making it hard to keep them open.
By instinct, he brought up the Blue Panel to block the harsh light.
[Name: Bai Lang]
[Lifespan: 23/120]
[Abilities: Level 1 Firearms Mastery (71%), Level 2 Combat Mastery (5%), Current Propulsion: 164,000 volts/500,000 volts (higher-level ability: Magnetic Field Rotation)]
[Ability Points: 28 (gained by creating ripples that affect the world)]
[Spend 50 Ability Points to draw another ability, or unlock a feature]
"That's better..."
Once the light dimmed, Bai Lang finally opened his eyes and saw the white ceiling above him.
And two women beside him, locked in a kiss.
"Where am I?"
Bai Lang stared at them, bewildered.
The woman on the left wore a baseball-style T-shirt, with vivid red makeup on her cheeks and lips.
The other woman was taller. Fiery red waves fell over her shoulders, and her pale skin held a greenish tinge. Plants covered her private parts, and she exuded a mature, sensual air.
He remembered passing out at the entrance to an alley. How had he ended up here?
He recognized the two women before him: Harley Quinn and Poison Ivy.
But how had he gotten here? Had Harley Quinn rescued him?
"Uh..." Bai Lang started to speak, but the current inside him crackled, clearing away the foreign matter he had inhaled.
Given the fragrance and Poison Ivy's identity, the air might have been filled with spores.
Those spores were no joke. Once inhaled, if Poison Ivy wished it, all sorts of plants could grow inside your stomach.
They would eventually pierce your body, killing you.
The instant she sensed the spores inside Bai Lang being purged, Poison Ivy wrapped both arms around Harley's head and turned to stare at him.
"Why can't my spores get inside your body?"
A flicker of surprise crossed her face. She seemed curious about why Bai Lang's body had neutralized the spores she controlled.
Seeing her friend Poison Ivy's reaction, Harley turned her gaze to Bai Lang, who had just woken up.
"Maybe my body's a little unusual?"
Bai Lang noticed that someone had removed the bullets from his body and even bandaged his wounds.
He directed the current inside him to stimulate the cells around the wounds, speeding up their metabolism and helping them heal.
An itch spread from the wounds. Bai Lang knew it would take at least five or six days for the gunshot wounds to heal.
"Um... thank you for saving me. But could you let me go? I'm still a police officer, and I have a district to look after."
"I'll repay you."
With both women watching him, Bai Lang spoke awkwardly.
A shadowy glint flashed in Ivy's eyes.
She wanted Harley to keep him there so she could study why her spores had all lost their potency the moment they entered his body.
But Harley didn't care. She had saved Bai Lang out of habit from her days as a doctor.
She might be a psychiatrist, but that still made her a doctor, didn't it?
"No need to repay us." She nodded and replied in a slightly nasal voice. "You can go."
With her permission, Bai Lang climbed out of bed at once. He nodded to the two women, then staggered out of the house and down the stairs to the street.
The street was quiet, with only a few people walking by.
Bai Lang's gait changed from a bent, unsteady stagger to a straight-backed stride. Soon, he was walking briskly.
He looked nothing like someone who had been shot.
But his wounds hadn't healed at all, and every step still brought sharp pain.
That was just how Bai Lang was.
Everyone had their moments of humiliation, but no one stayed humiliated forever.
Better to face Gotham today with his head held high than stagger down the street.
He hadn't gone far when his extraordinary hearing picked up Harley and Ivy's plan from the fifth floor of the house.
"...To ambush Batman, we need bait first. What do you have in mind, Harley...?"
"There's another Joker in the Fashion District. I've already met him. I'm going to join forces with him to stage a series of murders and lure Batman into a trap..."
"Then we'll avenge Joker... Mm..."
It seemed Harley hadn't even finished explaining her plan before something muffled her voice.
Hearing the soft moans, Bai Lang quickened his pace and headed for Park Street, the district he oversaw.
Park Street was the district assigned to Bai Lang after he became a police chief. Usually, he and the five officers under him handled minor cases like theft and robbery.
But before he could bring Ryan and the others over, he'd gone to find Deathstroke—and ended up getting hit by Deathstroke's shotgun just before he died.
"I wonder if I brought this on myself. I had no real grudge against Deathstroke, but now one of us is dead and the other's injured."
Bai Lang shook his head and glanced at the Blue Panel in front of him again.
Seeing the 28 Ability Points, he admitted he'd felt a moment of greed.
So far, most of the Ability Points Bai Lang had gained had come from killing people. He'd gotten 20 the first time he killed someone, when he killed Joker, and the second time when he killed Deathstroke.
If he killed every superhero and supervillain in this world, he'd be swimming in Ability Points.
Bai Lang had no desire to become someone who knew nothing but killing. That would be too extreme, and it didn't suit his nature.
When he killed Joker, he had considered taking a shortcut with the Dionysus Factor or the Joker Virus to improve his magnetic powers.
But he'd realized that his will couldn't control the power swelling inside him.
For instance, he'd thought he could handle Deathstroke, only to be suppressed by Deathstroke's electromagnetic pulse and nearly killed by the shotgun.
Once a person grew too arrogant, ruin wasn't far behind.
So he decided to train steadily for a while before making any further plans.
"Good morning, Officer Bai!"
In recent days, whenever Bai Lang passed the street near his home, he saw an old man and a child selling Mexican burritos by the roadside.
The temperature in Gotham had started to drop, but the old man still wore only a thin black shirt.
The child beside him wore a padded coat several sizes too big, plugging the gaps with his hands as he shivered.
Bai Lang went up to the stall and smiled. "One Mexican burrito, please."
"It's so cold out. You're still running the stall?"
The old man's face was deeply lined, and his brows drooped. His hands looked swollen, almost as big as ping-pong paddles.
As soon as he saw a customer, he got busy.
"What can you do? You've got to earn money, no matter how cold it gets. Life goes on."
Just then, the phone in Bai Lang's pocket rang.
"Brrring..."
He answered.
"Hello?"
Ryan's voice came through, sounding urgent.
"Bai Lang! You finally picked up. There have been several murders in the Upper City. Get over here, quick!"
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