The Perfect Way to Turn Back Time Is to Cherish the Present

"Why can't you hear me? My daughter."

White Phantom looked at a loss.

Why couldn't his daughter see him? And why had she come out to work?

Death appeared beside him.

"Now that you've seen your daughter, will you come with me to the Mysterious Realm?"

"Am I really dead?" Despair appeared on White Phantom's face.

Bai Lang sat to one side, eating as he watched Death and White Phantom.

White Phantom looked like a middle-aged man in his thirties. His face somewhat resembled Molly's, so he was probably the spirit of Molly's father.

"Wuu... wuu... wuu..."

The middle-aged spirit finally broke down in tears.

"My daughter is still so young... I'm dead. How will she live from now on?"

Death stood before him, looking like the big sister next door.

She shook her head helplessly. "How about having your daughter accompany you?"

Hearing those words from the Grim Reaper before him, the middle-aged spirit shook his head over and over like a rattle drum.

"She's still alive... she's still alive..."

"Then come with me to the Mysterious Realm obediently."

"Can you let me see her one more time?" the middle-aged spirit pleaded.

"Just one look."

Death respected his wish and allowed him to walk over to his daughter.

She, meanwhile, came around and sat opposite Bai Lang.

"As you can see, this is your big sister's job—and my duty."

Bai Lang paused with his spoon in hand. "You're there for the beginning and end of every life. They're fortunate."

"I rather like their journey." Death glanced at the rice bowl in front of Bai Lang.

Stir-fried pork with chilies had been simply poured over rice, giving off an enticing blend of chili and rice aromas.

It was clearly human food, yet it interested her somewhat.

"Can I speak to that spirit for a few moments?" Bai Lang asked.

"Of course."

As Death spoke, an identical bowl of stir-fried pork with chilies over rice appeared before her, even with the same plate as Bai Lang's.

Bai Lang nodded, then stood and walked toward the middle-aged spirit not far away.

"What should I call you?" Bai Lang asked as he approached him.

"Y-you can see me?" The middle-aged spirit, Calvin, wore an expression of utter surprise.

"My name is Calvin. I'm Molly's father."

Bai Lang nodded. "I'm Bai Lang, a police officer and the owner of this restaurant."

"How did you die?"

Though the question was somewhat presumptuous, Bai Lang still felt it necessary to ask.

"I remember I'd just gotten off work at the convenience store and was heading home... Then I saw several men wearing Joker masks..."

"Life was already hard enough, but for some reason, my wife and I both suddenly wanted to laugh..."

"The last thing I saw was my wife lying beside me with her mouth stretched wide, wearing a strange smile..."

Bai Lang fell silent. It seemed Calvin and his wife had both died from Joker's Laughing Gas.

"You're already dead. The world of the living can't keep you here. Is there anything you want to say to your daughter? I'll do my best to pass it on."

Calvin fell silent for a moment, seemingly thinking.

"Live well."

"Please tell her that for me. Thank you."

He looked at his daughter, who was still among the living, his gaze filled with hope.

"How old are you this year?"

Bruce Wayne looked at Molly, who was wearing an ill-fitting server uniform.

The girl before him was about five foot one, her face still childish. Why had she already come out to work?

A faint suspicion arose in his heart.

Perhaps the owner of this restaurant was illegally employing boys and girls.

"Thirteen, sir." Seeing his exceptional bearing, Molly told him truthfully.

"Oh my goodness, child, you're working at such a young age?"

Alfred, standing beside him, was somewhat surprised.

"Where are your parents?" he asked.

Molly lowered her eyes. "They're both dead."

Bruce Wayne was immediately moved. This little girl before him had lost both her parents at the same age he had.

It reminded him of the past.

Just then, a tall, handsome Asian man in a black trench coat walked over.

In fluent English, the man said, "Molly, Gardner is looking for you."

Hearing this, Molly apologized to Bruce Wayne and Alfred, then slipped into the kitchen like a kitten.

"Her name is Molly. Her parents died in the Joker Laughing Gas incident."

Bai Lang's gaze passed over Bruce Wayne and settled on a seat by the window.

There, the middle-aged ghost was following Death toward the Mysterious Realm.

Hearing him, Bruce Wayne felt sympathy for Molly as well.

"At her age, she should be in school."

"I heard you recently built an orphanage in Gotham, specifically to take in homeless children," Bai Lang asked casually.

"Oh, you mean she should receive aid from the orphanage and perhaps have the chance to go to school afterward?"

Bruce Wayne asked, "And what should I call you, sir?"

"You can call me Bai Lang. Detective Bai Lang." Bai Lang recalled everything he had discussed with the middle-aged ghost just now.

Molly's family had been at the bottom of Gotham's social ladder. The middle-aged ghost and his wife had often taken odd jobs, picking up scraps from the cracks between Gotham's various social classes to support their family.

Yet even so, Gotham seemed unable to accommodate them.

In truth, this city could not accommodate anyone who followed the rules and upheld order.

"I'll have the Wayne Foundation provide her with assistance," Bruce Wayne said with a nod.

The Wayne Foundation was a charity organization he had founded himself.

Having lost both parents at a young age, he had always held an extra measure of compassion for children, especially orphans.

"There are many cases like this in Gotham. Things need to change at the source."

After leaving those words behind, Bai Lang departed. He entered the back kitchen and found Molly.

The thirteen-year-old girl leaned against the wall, tears on her face as she sobbed softly.

"I wish I could go back to the past. Then I'd be able to see them..."

Bai Lang sighed and handed her a tissue.

"There are indeed people in this world who can reverse time, but there is no way to reverse it perfectly."

He thought of The Flash, Barry. That guy had always wanted to save his mother, but every time he reversed time, he created a huge mess.

After a pause, he continued, "Molly, the best way to reverse time is... to cherish the present."

"Thank you." Molly accepted the tissue and wiped her tears.

"Officer, you're a good person."

Bai Lang could not help shaking his head as he looked at Molly, who had inexplicably called him a good guy. He reached out and patted her head.

"Someone asked me to pass along a message."

"Live well."

"The dead are gone. We're still alive, so we have to keep moving forward."

The girl looked at him through tear-filled eyes, her gaze full of unease about the future.

"Maybe..."

[Ability Points +4]

"According to DC universe lore, Gotham's true rulers are the Court of Owls, and the Court of Owls' leader is the Bat God, Barbatos."

"Barbatos was originally the World Forger's pet, and later he even took over the Dark Multiverse."

"And it seems there's also a resurrection pool belonging to Trigon beneath Gotham..."

"Looking at it this way, no wonder Gotham became like this. It's practically the cesspit of the entire universe."

The more Bai Lang thought about it, the more he felt that changing Gotham and leading it toward justice would be extraordinarily difficult.

But thinking of the death he had just witnessed, as well as the abilities he had only just gained, Bai Lang did not lose heart.

"I've already found the best way to obtain Ability Points..."

Bai Lang let out a long breath and looked up at the scene before him.

Pitch-black clouds hung over the city, and faint light filtered through gaps in the cloud cover, falling across the skyscrapers.

Beside the towering buildings, lights glittered as music and dancing flourished amid drunken extravagance.

At the base of the high-rises, where the concrete and asphalt roads stretched to their ends, clusters of low, dilapidated houses stood packed together, with coughing and crying occasionally drifting out.

Wisps of smoke floated from the wooden shacks into the alleyways nearby.

Dull thuds, curses, and sobbing spilled from the narrow alleys.

"This is fucking Gotham now."

Bai Lang withdrew his gaze, stepped forward, and headed resolutely toward Park Street.