When a Man Is Nearing Death

"So... John, is this why you were sleeping at the train station?"

Bai Lang stood outside the train station's wire fence, dressed in a Batman suit.

The fine, relentless rain fell over him, but it was kept at bay by the power of Magnetic Field Rotation.

His gaze rested beyond the wire fence.

A figure was curled up there, wrapped in several old clothes and huddled like a wounded little beast.

"Cough, cough..."

John coughed, one hand clutching the tattered clothes draped over him.

In his other hand, he held a pen, writing something in a small blue faux-leather notebook.

Hearing Bai Lang's words, he raised his head. His voice sounded terribly hoarse.

"Cough, cough... Sir, a pickpocket stole my wallet. I had no choice but to stay here."

"Please let me stay here, cough, cough... just for one night. I'll be gone tomorrow."

John's wrinkled face was filled with pleading, as though he thought Bai Lang had come to drive him away.

In fact, when he had worked as a construction worker in Metropolis, he had seen plenty of situations like this.

Many coworkers who were tired and wanted to rest would stay inside unfinished buildings, only to be chased out when security found them.

But he truly had no other choice. An old man with no money in an unfamiliar city could only make do like this.

Perhaps it was because he had broken through with Magnetic Field Rotation, or perhaps for some other reason.

Bai Lang could faintly sense a peculiar emotion within the old man's heart.

It seemed to carry some kind of fate, though even Bai Lang did not understand what was going on.

Right now, he had two choices before him.

One was to leave him alone, or give the old man some money so he could settle himself properly.

The other was to see his good deed through to the end.

Glancing at Death, who had appeared nearby, he sighed inwardly and explained, "I'm not here to drive you away."

"I mean, if you don't mind, you can come rest at my place."

He could not help it. He always showed a kinder side to those who were about to die.

A frightened, panicked expression appeared on John's face.

"I don't have any money. I really don't have any money left..."

Bai Lang added, "I'm not charging you!"

John still found it hard to believe the giant bat-like man before him.

He had spent decades in America, this capitalist society. He did not believe there could be such a good person in the world, someone willing to help an old man.

Even if there were, such a person should not have appeared in a country like America.

"I'm a police officer. You believe me now, right?" Bai Lang took out his Detective ID.

John clearly saw the writing on it, as well as the photo.

He looked Asian, with neat, upright features. In the white police uniform, he appeared stern and incorruptible.

He continued looking at the ID in Bai Lang's hand.

Twenty-three years old. He really was young, yet he had already become a Detective.

John could not help thinking of his son, Mike. At this age, he should have been just like the young man before him.

Handsome, moderately successful, perhaps even with a girlfriend.

John began imagining what kind of life his son Mike was living in this city.

"You believe me now, right? I really am a good person." Bai Lang put away his ID.

"Umm... Detective Bai Lang, thank you."

After writing a sentence in his notebook, John packed his tattered clothes into a bag he had bought at the supermarket for three cents.

Bai Lang led the little old man along, holding a black umbrella over him. The power of Magnetic Field Rotation spread around them as they slowly made their way through the night.

In truth, he had noticed the old man because he had seen Death appear at Gotham Train Station from far away.

He had thought someone had been killed again, but when he hurried over, he found only a ragged white old man curled into a ball.

He could not say why he wanted to help him. Perhaps he simply felt sorry for him.

Or perhaps Bai Lang had seen something more in the old man...

At Wayne Tower, in Fox's laboratory.

After ensuring Dr. Arkham's safety, Bruce Wayne and Fox began upgrading the Anti-Batman Armor together in the laboratory.

After his last battle with the fake Batman, Bruce Wayne was confident that he had gathered all the necessary data on him.

"Two seconds per hundred meters, tremendous strength of twenty tons... that powerful red current, a body impervious to blades and bullets..."

To be safe, Bruce Wayne had Fox upgrade the Anti-Batman Armor by another fifty percent based on that data.

"Add two thrusters each to the legs and back, raising its speed to one second per hundred meters."

"The armor's materials have also been improved. N-series Metal has been added to every component..."

N-series Metal was a mysterious metal with anti-gravity and energy-absorption properties.

It was a miraculous metal accidentally discovered by an engineer under Wayne Enterprises.

In pursuit of a breakthrough for the armor, Bruce Wayne had applied it to the Anti-Batman Armor.

Armor forged from this metal allowed its wearer to fly through anti-gravity and amplified their strength tenfold.

It also produced a remarkable effect when combined with the Deathstroke healing factor previously used in the armor.

No matter what damage the armor suffered, this Anti-Batman Armor would restore itself completely within a minute.

Under Batman Bruce Wayne's fully targeted design, the armor's specifications had reached a terrifying level.

Fox's eyes gleamed with excitement as he looked at the black belt suspended inside the glass enclosure.

The belt was entirely pitch-black, with a golden bat emblem in its center. Patterns resembling dragon scales covered its surface.

After days of effort, the original Anti-Batman Armor had undergone an almost revolutionary upgrade.

"Young Master Wayne, I've named this armor the Anti-Superman Armor."

"It comes with flight capabilities, its strength amplification has nearly reached one hundred times, and those thrusters can also provide ten tons of force..."

"Moreover, it is extraordinarily durable and can withstand impacts of at least twenty tons."

"All weapon systems have also been replaced with electromagnetic pulse weapons. They can greatly counter electrical currents and disrupt magnetic fields..."

Bruce Wayne's gaze passed through the glass enclosure and settled on the Anti-Batman Armor belt inside.

Without any operation, the belt could float on its own.

It was the key weapon in the plan he had devised over the past few days to subdue that fake Batman.

Several newspapers were clenched tightly in his hand.

Without exception, every one of them reported on the appearance of two Batmen in Gotham.

"Two Batmen? Reinforcements for Gotham's Dark Knight?"

"Two Batmen: crime-fighters, or ruthless executioners?"

"..."

Most of the reports concerning that fake Batman had been published by a newspaper called the Daily Planet.

And the related articles had all been written by a female reporter named Lois Lane.

After investigating for some time, Bruce Wayne had increasingly come to believe that the Superman who had appeared in neighboring Metropolis was connected to the fake Batman who appeared in Gotham from time to time.

"Was it you after all...?" A trace of gloom flickered in his eyes.

Instinctively, he had no favorable impression of Superman, who had only appeared a year or two ago, and had been monitoring him all along.

Yet according to the intelligence he had gathered, someone with that sort of invulnerable body could not possibly be affected by firearms, bullets, or electromagnetic weapons.

That contradicted the previous incident where the fake Batman had been injured by Deathstroke's electromagnetic weapon.

Fox opened the glass enclosure, took out the Anti-Batman Armor belt, and brought it before Bruce Wayne.

"Young Master Wayne, would you like to test the upgraded armor's performance?"

Bruce Wayne came back to his senses and picked up the Anti-Batman Armor belt.

Since it was made of nanomaterials, the belt was not large when held in his hand.

He fastened the belt around his waist and pressed his right index finger against the fingerprint authentication area on its right side.

Almost instantly, dense black nanomaterials streamed out from the belt, covering Bruce's entire body like a rising tide.

His pitch-black cape fluttered without wind. Batman Bruce Wayne floated a meter above the ground and casually threw a punch at the force tester.

The powered armor activated, providing a massive increase in strength. The two thrusters on his arm erupted with surging blue flames.

A violent howl tore through the air.

The force tester's striking pad immediately caved in by at least four centimeters, while the display began to flicker.

The numbers kept changing before finally stopping at 34 tons.