Batman

Gotham City, like Metropolis, is a unique city in the DC Universe. It's located on the east coast of American, in New Jersey, and faces Metropolis across the sea.

Gotham City is a very 'inclusive' city. Its architectural style gathers almost all the countries in the world. It not only has the styles of famous European cities such as New York, Los Angeles, London, and Sydney, but even has Chinese and Japanese styles.

However, this city, which is like a historical site, is shrouded in clouds that cannot be dispelled all year round. Beneath the surface of glitz and glamour lies the cruel sin hidden in the dark alleys. It is no exaggeration to say that it is beautiful on the outside but rotten on the inside.

Gangs, criminals, mad scientists, lunatics – every chaotic scene you can imagine will be staged in Gotham. This is Gotham City, the city with the highest crime rate in the world.

However, just as Metropolis has Superman to protect it, Gotham City also has its own dark guardian – Batman.

On the surface, he is a playboy, but in private, he transforms into a bat vigilante. Whenever the light of the Bat-Signal breaks through the clouds, the criminals of Gotham are plunged into fear, because they know that the vengeful spirit has arrived, and he will transform into the form of a bat to punish all the evil in this city.

He has no superpowers, nor is he a superhuman. He relies solely on his years of arduous training and outstanding wisdom. He challenges the evil of Gotham City with his own strength. He is Batman. In the eyes of most people, he is just a story, an urban legend.

Batman's real identity is Bruce Wayne, the owner of Wayne Enterprises. He has been fighting against evil all his life, but in this universe, old Bruce has been retired for a long time.

Zhang Ye and Pietro took a taxi from Metropolis all the way across Gotham City to Wayne Manor. Along the way, Zhang Ye's heart was in a state of unease. They looked at this city that did not need Batman's protection, and the emotions in their eyes were extremely complicated.

Bruce Wayne has retired, and this city no longer needs Batman, because Gotham City has become one of the safest cities in the world.

And the reason for this is that the Batman of this world did not adhere to any no-kill principle, nor did he send criminals to the police station or Arkham Asylum. He directly killed those criminals!

What Joker, Riddler, Two-Face, these lunatics, what Black Mask, Court of Owls, League of Assassins, these forces, and what Man-Bat, Killer Croc, Solomon Grundy, these supernatural monsters.

One by one, in this Gotham known as the City of Sin, no criminal who had a name could escape Batman's punishment. They all died directly or indirectly at the hands of Batman.

And this is why Gotham has changed from being full of sin to having excellent security.

It is true to the old saying – as long as all the criminals are killed, there will be no more criminals in this city.

Looking at Wayne Manor getting closer and closer, Zhang Ye couldn't help but shake their head slightly. Judging from Batman's actions and results, this is not a normal universe at all, and this universe has obviously reached the brink of collapse.

It's not that Batman can't kill people, but the occurrence of all this has obviously deviated from the development of most universes. If this is not a universe destined for destruction, Zhang Ye believes that after the Batman of this universe kills all the villains, he will probably transform into a villain himself.

Perhaps it doesn't even need to kill all the villains, just kill a Joker or a Riddler, choose one of the two. If any of these two die in Batman's hands, it can plant the seeds of blackening in Batman's heart.

"We're here, sir. The front is private property, so I can't go in." The taxi stopped at the gate of Wayne Manor, and the driver turned his head with a smile.

Although he didn't know why these two kids came all the way from Metropolis to Gotham, he knew that the people who could come to Wayne Manor were not ordinary people. Although this place has looked abandoned for a long time, and the old guy inside hasn't shown up for a long time, Wayne Enterprises is still a very famous wealthy company.

"Thanks." Zhang Ye nodded, took out a large stack of cash from their arms. This was all Pietro's 'labor income'. They didn't know how much extra they gave, but judging from the smile on the driver's face, he must have made a lot of money.

Getting out of the car, watching the taxi disappear on the road, Zhang Ye turned around and nodded to Pietro, then they climbed onto Pietro's back.

"By the way, Zhang, this manor is so big, which house are we looking for?" Pietro looked inside from the gate, only seeing one magnificent castle after another.

"The one in the middle. This door is too high, I need you to run all the way there with anti-gravity, but to be careful, let's go to the castle gate. Even though Old Bat has retired, we can't guarantee that there won't be..."

Whoosh—

"...traps." Before their eyes could focus, Zhang Ye only felt their body tremble rapidly, and then they had already arrived at the gate of the castle. Beside them, Pietro was looking at them with a smile.

"What do we do next? Should we ring the doorbell?" Pietro pointed to the old-fashioned doorbell at the door.

Rolling their eyes at Pietro, Zhang Ye did not answer, but walked directly to the door and rang the doorbell of Wayne Manor.

Obviously, no one has visited here for a long time. Even the button on the doorbell was covered with a layer of dust. After Zhang Ye pressed the doorbell, they rubbed their fingers a few times, wiping off the dust from their fingertips while waiting for a response from inside.

About five or six minutes passed, and the castle was still eerily quiet. There was no feedback from inside, as if no one had lived there for a long time.

"Could there be no one here?" Pietro said.

"No, it shouldn't be at this time. Bruce Wayne is inside." Zhang Ye licked their somewhat dry lips, then they raised their head and saw the surveillance camera with a flashing red light above the door.

Taking two steps back to position themselves in the middle of the surveillance, Zhang Ye looked up directly at the camera and said word by word.

"Bruce Wayne, I know you're here, and I know you can see me. This world needs your help, and I believe you understand what I'm saying. So, can you open the door and talk?"

After Zhang Ye finished speaking, the atmosphere immediately became quiet. Zhang Ye looked at the surveillance calmly. They knew that Bruce would definitely open the door, because from the moment the two arrived at the gate of Wayne Manor, they had been under surveillance, and Pietro's high-speed movement would naturally be seen by Bruce.

And an ability user coming to the door represents that there must be something important to discuss, and it also represents that the seriousness of the matter is very high.

So even if Batman has retired, he will not stand idly by and leave the two of them outside, because he is Batman.

As if to prove Zhang Ye's thoughts.

With a click.

The gate of Wayne Manor opened, and a completely unkempt old man opened the gate with an extremely impatient look.

"...The second surprise of the day, I'm really 'so happy'. Come in, young men."

I'm going to watch the game, and the next chapter will be later.