Unlocking the Biochemical Field

No one answered.

The doors remained shut. Inside, the silence was unnatural.

"Commissioner, every camera on the second basement level has gone down. The last footage we received... was strange."

An officer ran over and handed Gordon a tablet.

Gordon took it. The screen showed a blinding red glare, then dissolved into static.

"Demolition team, blow the doors open," Gordon ordered.

Several SWAT officers approached the doors cautiously with C4.

Before they could plant the explosives, the heavy steel doors gave a teeth-grating groan.

They bulged outward.

The SWAT officers backed away and raised their rifles.

Another deafening crash came from the doors. Someone had torn through the two-finger-thick steel plates from the inside.

The stench of blood and burned flesh rushed out.

Several young officers caught a whiff and doubled over, retching.

A bare-chested man emerged through the opening.

His slicked-back hair was dark red, and his body was drenched in crimson. He looked like a demon fresh from hell.

The red dots of hundreds of laser sights settled on Chu Men.

"Hands up! Get on the ground!" Gordon shouted through a megaphone.

Chu Men stopped and glanced up at the helicopters circling overhead.

He ignored Gordon. His knees bent slightly.

The concrete sank beneath him, forming a pit two meters wide.

Spiderweb cracks spread in every direction.

Bang!

The air tore apart with a sonic boom.

Chu Men became a blur and shot into the sky.

The gale knocked dozens of riot officers at the front off their feet, and every police car alarm began to blare.

The shock wave drove Gordon back several steps, slamming his back against a patrol car.

He looked up. Only a hazy red streak remained in the night sky. In the blink of an eye, it vanished into the clouds.

"What was that thing?" a SWAT officer asked as he scrambled to his feet, horror written across his face.

Gordon did not answer. He stared at the torn-open doors of Arkham Asylum, an unprecedented chill rising within him.

Gotham was about to change.

High above the city.

An icy wind howled, and the temperature had dropped below freezing.

Chu Men hovered above the clouds, looking down on the city of sin.

Neon lights flickered, staining the night sky a sickly purple-red.

Gotham City.

There was no law here, only violence and chaos.

Just the way he liked it.

The blood on his body had frozen into dark red flecks of ice.

Chu Men closed his eyes and felt the power flowing endlessly through him.

He no longer had to watch his every word around others. He no longer had to bow and scrape.

From now on, he was Homelander.

Anyone who got in his way would die.

His gaze pierced the clouds and settled on a broad lake outside the city.

Chu Men leaned forward and plummeted.

He punched a deep crater into the water. A column of water shot skyward, sending waves more than ten meters high rolling outward.

The water washed the blood from his body.

He opened his eyes. He could see the lakebed clearly.

A few minutes later, he surfaced.

The blood was gone, revealing pale skin and perfectly sculpted muscles.

Treading water, Chu Men looked toward the brightly lit city in the distance. A smile tugged at his lips.

He was hungry.

He needed to find somewhere to eat.

And pick up some clothes while he was at it.

Chu Men slowly rose from the water and set his feet on the shore.

He followed the road toward the city at an unhurried pace.

The night wind dried his hair, restoring its original black color.

At the same time, at Arkham Asylum.

A striking black Batmobile pulled up outside the gates.

Its door swung upward, and a man in black armor and a Bat-shaped cape stepped out.

Batman.

Gordon approached him, his face grim.

"You're too late."

Batman said nothing. He strode through the torn-open doors.

Gotham City, East End.

This was a breeding ground for crime, turf the gangs claimed as their own.

Bare-chested, Chu Men walked through an alley full of puddles.

The streetlights flickered, and a few rats darted around a dumpster.

At the mouth of the alley, five thugs in leather jackets blocked his path, baseball bats in hand.

The leader, a blond with a cigarette between his lips, looked Chu Men up and down.

"Well, look who's here. Out selling yourself half-naked at this hour?"

The blond blew a smoke ring and tapped his bat against his palm.

The other thugs laughed crudely behind him.

"Hand over anything valuable. Then get on your knees and lick my shoes clean. I'm in a good mood tonight, so I might let you go."

The blond pointed his bat at Chu Men, his tone brazen.

Chu Men stopped and looked at the five pieces of trash who had no idea what they were getting into.

In his previous life, he would have had to avoid street thugs like these or pay them to leave him alone.

Now?

He did not even want to speak to them.

Chu Men kept walking without slowing.

Seeing himself ignored, the blond's face darkened.

"You're dead!"

He swung his bat viciously at Chu Men's head.

It whistled through the air.

A few homeless men in the alley closed their eyes, unwilling to see what came next.

Crack!

The solid-wood bat struck the top of Chu Men's head with a dull thud.

Splinters flew everywhere.

The blond stood holding half a bat. Both his hands had gone numb from the impact, and blood flowed from the torn skin between his thumbs and forefingers.

Eyes wide, he stared at Chu Men's completely uninjured head.

"How is that possible..."

Chu Men turned his head toward the blond.

He raised his right hand, pressed his index and middle fingers together, and casually flicked the blond's forehead.

Crack.

The blond's skull caved in, and the tremendous pressure forced his eyeballs from their sockets.

His body flew more than ten meters backward and slammed into the brick wall at the end of the alley.

The impact left a man-shaped crater in the wall. The blond slid to the ground and lay still.

The remaining four thugs froze.

Their weapons fell to the ground.

They stared at Chu Men, not even breathing.

"A... a monster!"

One thug screamed and turned to run.

Heat stirred around Chu Men's eyes.

Two thin red beams shot out and sliced through the fleeing thug's legs.

His scream cut through the night.

Chu Men walked over, bent down, and picked up a reasonably clean leather jacket from the ground. He put it on.

A little small, but better than nothing.

He looked at the other three thugs.

All three dropped to their knees and began kowtowing desperately.

"Please! I have a family! Kids! They're waiting for me at home!"

Their foreheads struck the filthy puddles. Blood mingled with dirty water and ran down their faces.

Chu Men ignored their pleas. He raised his foot and crushed the head of the thug whose legs he had severed.

The screaming stopped.

The remaining three wet themselves in terror, filling the air with a foul stench.

Chu Men frowned and took a step back in disgust.

"Get lost."

The three scrambled out of the alley as if they had been granted a pardon.

Chu Men watched them flee. He needed someone to spread fear.

It was time for Gotham's underworld to welcome its king.

[Host's do-as-you-please mindset has strengthened. Biochemical Field unlocked.]

The system's voice sounded again.

With a thought, Chu Men covered his body in an invisible, transparent Force Field.

The puddles on the ground were pushed aside by the Force Field. Even dust could not come near him.

Good.

When he ran into that guy who wore his underwear on the outside, he would have nothing to fear.