Crossing into Arkham

Crossing Arkham

"Oh, shit! Mumu, why are you still sitting on the toilet? Is that damn toilet really that attractive?"

The bathroom door was pounded heavily, and a rough voice shouted from outside.

Miao Mu sat on the toilet holding an adult magazine, looking in a daze at the rattling bathroom door. Where was this?

No, where was I?

Miao Mu stared wide-eyed, a flood of memories echoing and emerging in his mind, making him clearly understand what the cruel play of fate meant.

The Statue of Liberty holding high its torch had, just as he finally boarded a homeward flight and closed his eyes to rest, refreshed and transmigrated him right here.

Gotham!

"What the actual fuck!"

Miao Mu stood straight up, his identity information flooding into his brain all at once. He had the same name, Miao Mu, a Chinese-American, parents deceased, working as an intern police officer at the Arkham Police Department.

Ah, spare me.

Miao Mu slumped right back down onto the toilet, his face turning pale. He had only spent a few years studying at a third-rate public university in Chicago; surely he didn't deserve to be exiled to Gotham?

Could life possibly be this miserable? He had jumped straight from a difficulty-level school shooting server to this natural-disaster, overpowered hacker server where the world got destroyed every few times.

Crash, the bathroom door was pushed open. A white muscular man in police uniform pinched his nose and roared, "How long are you planning to squat in here?!"

Miao Mu stared and blinked very innocently.

"The captain has already spoken. If we can't find that thieving little scumbag, we're all going to be fired. What are you still doing? Let's move!"

With that, the white muscular man reached out, grabbed Miao Mu by the shoulder, and dragged him toward the exit. The anxious expression on his face was completely genuine.

By this time, Miao Mu had also processed all the memories and understood who the guy in front of him was: Jerry Cabson, an intern partner from the same cohort, and the captain he mentioned...

Was none other than Wei Fei, the captain of the Arkham Precinct and the superior of his superior. Last night, a cat burglar had visited his home, cleaning out and taking away everything of any value.

As a police captain being looted by a cat burglar, Wei Fei was burning with rage. He threw a furious tantrum the moment he came to work today, chewing out virtually everyone in the precinct from top to bottom, even including the police dog.

And Miao Mu had just happened to be taking a paid dump in the toilet...

"Wait! I haven't wiped my ass yet! Don't drag me!"

"Useless! You're all a bunch of good-for-nothing freeloaders!"

Even from far away, Wei Fei's furious scolding could be heard echoing from the meeting room as he paced back and forth incessantly in front of the conference table.

Miao Mu quietly unlatched the door from the back, sneaking in just like a late student. Hugging the wall, he crept all the way to the end of the table and sat down, curiously sizing up his surroundings.

Gotham City of rustic charm, Arkham of outstanding talents—that was said of the most famous Arkham Asylum.

Any villain who had never visited Arkham Asylum couldn't truly claim their villainous journey was complete.

However, what concerned Miao Mu even more was Batman: the superhero in DC Comics, the Dark Knight of Gotham, the head of the Wayne Family, the orphan Bruce Wayne.

Yet his memories held nothing about Batman whatsoever, just a mass of utterly useless mental garbage. This account was totally ruined.

Still, managing to get into the police department meant he had a rice bowl to secure, and at least he didn't have to worry about sleeping on the streets, Miao Mu thought to himself.

"Speak up! Are you all deaf?!"

Standing abruptly at the front, Wei Fei roared once more. His face was as red as a boiled lobster, terrifyingly crimson. Anyone could tell he was genuinely furious.

"Um, should we go investigate first?"

A sergeant sitting on the right side of the conference table raised his hand and spoke, though his expression was extremely forced. A cat burglar who came and went without a trace—who on earth could catch someone like that?

Besides, there were not even any clues. The captain refused to say how much stuff or how much money had been lost, and wouldn't even let them inspect the crime scene. How was anyone supposed to investigate this?

"Then go!!!"

Hearing those words, the police officers in the meeting room felt as if they had received a pardon. They scrambled toward the exit, and Miao Mu, sitting at the very end of the conference table, was actually the first one to slip away.

His first priority was to find a copy of that day's Gotham newspaper, squatting right on the ground to read it with rapt attention.

The front-page headline of the Gotham Gazette was explosive.

Wayne Enterprises CEO, Mr. Bruce Wayne, officially returns to the corporate core and will deliver a speech tonight.

The entire front-page headline featured only a large photo of Bruce Wayne: wearing a meticulously tailored handmade suit, a sparkling diamond watch on his wrist, sporting that roguish smile, and accompanied by a gorgeous beauty.

No matter how you looked at him, he was an enviable playboy, with gossip news swirling around him continuously—starlets, models, and stunning beauties.

Yet Miao Mu knew very well that beneath this frivolous exterior, Bruce Wayne maintained an ascetic lifestyle simply to keep himself in peak condition, treating wine and beauties as nothing more than an act.

Of course, Miao Mu was also quite pleased, because the information on this newspaper was clear enough: this was the main Batman universe, rather than one of those terrifyingly complex multiverses.

Although he didn't know much about the DC multiverse, he certainly knew about the Batman Who Laughs—the Batman infected with the Joker virus. Before transmigrating, that had been his phone wallpaper.

The rest of the newspaper's information wasn't of much consequence, but it basically confirmed that this was the period when Bruce Wayne had finished traveling and training around the world, just before he became Batman.

If that's the case, I don't need to worry too much.

Miao Mu muttered to himself. In the early stages of Batman's career, there weren't yet many world-destroying supervillains.

To be honest, his very first thought upon finding himself in Gotham had been to run away, greasing his heels to slip off to Metropolis under Superman's protection or Central City where The Flash operated.

Miao Mu stood up and looked at his youthful reflection in the glass window: still black hair, yellow skin, and sharp facial features that carried a hint of handsome charm.

Since he had transmigrated, was there a cheat system?

Miao Mu narrowed his eyes and rubbed his chin, shouting mentally in his heart: Come out, system! It's you!

[Ding! Adventure Treasure has refreshed—please explore on your own.]

"Holy crap! It's actually real!" Miao Mu blurted out in astonishment.

Before he could finish processing his shock, Jerry Cabson walked over from behind, threw an arm around his shoulder, and lowered his voice with intense excitement:

"I know who stole from the captain's house."

"???"

Miao Mu was stunned upon hearing this. As for this matter, he actually knew a thing or two; in Gotham, if you talked about a phantom thief who left no trace aside from their lord Bruce Batman, that would only be Catwoman, right?

Yet Jerry Cabson paid no attention to Miao Mu's expression, merely lowering his voice to say, "As long as we crack the case, we can become full-fledged police officers! And the captain even said whoever catches the perpetrator gets promoted to sergeant!"

Hearing this, Miao Mu understood why Jerry was so excited. The temptation of turning directly into a regular police officer was simply too huge for interns like them.

Right now, they were even worse than temporary workers: they relied entirely on their legs to get around, and their monthly salary was worse than a dog's—literally worse than a dog's, since the Arkham Precinct police dog, Carbin, had a higher monthly salary than they did.

"You know who it is?" Miao Mu asked in a deep voice.

Jerry nodded earnestly.

"Then what the hell are we waiting for, let's go!"

Miao Mu headed straight outside, walking while studying whatever on earth that Adventure Treasure thing actually was.