Batman

Gotham City, like Metropolis, was a city unique to the DC Universe. It lay in New Jersey on the American East Coast, facing Metropolis across the sea.

Gotham was an exceptionally "inclusive" city. Its architecture gathered styles from nearly every country in the world. It had the styles of famous European cities like New York, Los Angeles, London, and Sydney, as well as Chinese and Japanese styles.

Yet this city, like a historic landmark, was shrouded year-round beneath clouds that could never be dispelled. Beneath its glamorous surface lay the brutal sins of dark alleyways. Calling it gilded on the outside and rotten within would not be an exaggeration.

Gangs, criminals, mad scientists, lunatics—every kind of chaos one could imagine played out in Gotham. This was Gotham City, the city with the highest crime rate in the world.

However, just as Metropolis had Superman watching over it, Gotham City had its own dark guardian—Batman.

On the surface, he was a playboy; in private, he became a bat-themed vigilante. Whenever the Bat-Signal pierced the clouds, Gotham's criminals would fall into terror, because they knew the vengeful ghost had descended. He would take the form of a bat and punish all evil within the city.

He had no superpowers, nor was he a superhuman. He relied solely on years of grueling training and exceptional intellect to challenge all the evil in Gotham City by himself. He was Batman. In the eyes of most people, he was nothing more than a story, an urban legend.

Batman's true identity was Bruce Wayne, owner of Wayne Enterprises. He had spent his entire life fighting evil, but in this universe, old Bruce had 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 could not calm his thoughts. Looking at this city that no longer needed Batman's protection, his eyes were filled with complicated emotions.

Bruce Wayne had retired, and the city no longer needed Batman, because Gotham City had now become one of the safest cities in the world.

The reason was that Batman in this world did not uphold any no-killing rule. Nor did he send criminals to the police station or Arkham Asylum. He simply killed them!

The Joker, the Riddler, Two-Face—lunatics like them. Powers like Black Mask, the Court of Owls, and the League of Assassins. Supernatural monsters like Man-Bat, Killer Croc, and Solomon Grundy.

Every last one of them. In Gotham, known as the City of Crime, no notable criminal could escape Batman's punishment. All of them died, directly or indirectly, at Batman's hands.

And that was why Gotham had gone from a city full of crime to one with excellent public safety.

Just as the old saying went—if you killed all the criminals, there would be no criminals left in the city.

As Wayne Manor drew closer, Zhang Ye could not help shaking his head slightly. Judging by Batman's actions and their results, this was not a normal universe at all. This universe had clearly reached the brink of collapse.

It was not that Batman could not kill, but everything that had happened had clearly departed from the course of development in most universes. If this were not a universe destined for destruction, Zhang Ye believed that after this universe's Batman killed all the villains, he would probably become a villain himself.

He might not even need to kill every villain. Killing just the Joker or the Riddler—either one would do. If either of those two died by Batman's hand, it would plant the seed of darkness in Batman's heart.

"We're here, gentlemen. The area ahead is private property, so I can't go any farther." The taxi stopped at the gates of Wayne Manor, and the driver turned around with a smile.

Although he did not know why these two children had traveled all the way from Metropolis to Gotham, he knew that anyone who came to Wayne Manor was no ordinary person. Though the place had looked abandoned for a long time and its old master had not shown himself in years, Wayne Enterprises was still a famous corporate empire of immense wealth.

"Thanks." Zhang Ye nodded and pulled out a thick wad of cash from his pocket. It was all Pietro's "earnings from labor." He had no idea how much extra they had paid, but judging from the driver's smile, the man had definitely made a killing.

After getting out of the car and watching the taxi disappear down the road, Zhang Ye turned and nodded at Pietro. Then he climbed onto Pietro's back.

"By the way, Zhang, this manor is huge. Which of these houses are we looking for?" Pietro peered in through the gates and saw nothing but one magnificent castle after another.

"The one in the middle. This gate is too high, so you'll need to run there using anti-gravity all the way. But to be careful, we should still go to the castle entrance. Even though the old bat has retired, we can't guarantee there won't be any—"

Whoosh—

"—traps." Zhang Ye's vision blurred. He felt his body tremble violently for an instant, and then he was already at the castle entrance. Pietro stood beside him, grinning.

"What do we do next? Ring the doorbell?" Pietro pointed at the old-fashioned doorbell by the entrance.

Zhang Ye rolled his eyes at Pietro without answering. Instead, he walked straight to the door and pressed the doorbell of Wayne Manor.

Clearly, no one had visited this place in a long time. Even the doorbell button was covered in dust. After pressing it, Zhang Ye rubbed his fingers together to brush away the dust from his fingertips as he waited for a response from inside.

About five or six minutes passed, yet the castle remained eerily quiet. There was no response at all, as though no one had lived there for a very long time.

"What if nobody's home?" Pietro asked.

"They are. At this point in time, Bruce Wayne should be inside." Zhang Ye licked his somewhat dry lips, then looked up and spotted the surveillance camera above the entrance, its red light flashing.

He took two steps back to position himself in the center of the camera's view. Looking directly at it, Zhang Ye spoke slowly and clearly.

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

After Zhang Ye finished speaking, the atmosphere immediately fell silent. He calmly watched the camera. He knew Bruce would open the door, because from the moment they had arrived at Wayne Manor's gate, they had been under surveillance. Bruce would naturally have seen Pietro's high-speed movement as well.

And when a superpowered individual came knocking, it meant there was certainly something important to discuss. It also meant the matter was extremely serious.

So even though Batman had retired, he would not stand by and leave the two of them outside, because he was Batman.

As if to prove Zhang Ye's thoughts.

Click.

The doors of Wayne Castle opened, and a completely disheveled old man pulled them open with an extremely impatient expression.

"...Today's second surprise. I'm just 'so happy.' Come in, boys."

Watching a match. The next chapter will be updated later.