Awakening in Arkham, Activating the God-Level Check-In System!

Link opened his eyes abruptly, a mottled and yellowed ceiling greeting his sight.

The tip of his nose was filled with a pungent smell, a mixture of disinfectant, body odor, and mold, making him feel quite nauseous.

He struggled to sit up, looked down at his own hands, and then glanced around.

A set of blue and white striped patient garb hung loosely on his body, and beneath him was a cold iron slab bed.

This was a cramped single-occupancy cell. Aside from the bed, the only other fixture was a cement toilet cast as one piece with the wall. On the heavy iron door, there was only a fist-sized observation window.

Could I have... time-traveled?

Link rubbed his aching temples, and a flood of unfamiliar memory fragments poured into his mind.

The original owner of the body was also named Link, an unlucky Chinese international student who had been framed as an eyewitness after happening to run into a gang shootout. Before he even had a chance to go to court, some powerful gang boss simply tossed him into this psychiatric hospital under the pretext of "mental derangement."

Good grief, such a maneuver was simply lawless.

Link took a deep breath, forcing himself to calm down. The most urgent task was to figure out what kind of place this actually was.

He inched close to the iron door and looked out through the tiny observation window.

Outside was a dim corridor, the walls on both sides covered in scratches and dark red stains.

An old man wearing the same patient garb and white hair was holding a mop, listlessly cleaning the floor.

His movements were very slow, resembling a machine on the verge of breaking down.

"Hey, buddy." Link lowered his voice and rapped on the iron door.

Hearing the sound, the old man lifted his cloudy eyeballs and shuffled over sluggishly.

"New here?" The old man's voice was as hoarse as a worn-out bellows. "Don't waste your energy. No one gets out of here."

"What is this place?" Link asked the most crucial question.

The old man split his mouth to reveal yellowed teeth, his smile filled with numbness and self-derision. "Welcome to hell on earth, kid. They call this place... Arkham Asylum."

Arkham!

Link's heart instantly plummeted to the bottom, a chill surging from the soles of his feet straight to his skull.

Of course he knew this place.

This was the infamous American comic book world, the psychiatric hospital in the DC universe that produced no shortage of talent, and the highest-mortality tourist attraction in Gotham City!

The people locked up here were no mere psychiatric patients, but a group of the most dangerous and craziest supervillains on the planet!

Joker, Scarecrow, Riddler, Two-Face, Bane... which of them wasn't a figure capable of turning Gotham upside down?

An ordinary person like himself with empty hands, thrown into this hell-difficulty dungeon, didn't even qualify to be cannon fodder.

"I'm finished..." Link's face turned pale as he leaned against the cold iron door and slowly slid down to the ground.

He felt his future was pitch black, devoid of a single ray of light. Here, death might even be a luxury.

"Heh... hehehehe..."

Just as Link fell into despair, a spine-chilling, maniacal laugh suddenly echoed from the neighboring cell.

That laughter was filled with chaos, madness, and pure malice, scraping against the glass like sharp fingernails and making one's scalp tingle.

Link shivered all over and instinctively looked toward the neighboring direction.

The old man mopping the floor at the door seemed deeply wary of the laughter as well; his body shrank back, and he sped up his mopping while muttering under his breath, "A lunatic... a true lunatic..."

"Who... is locked up next door?" Link couldn't help asking.

The old man stopped what he was doing, looked at Link with the gaze of a dead man, and lowered his voice. "Kid, I'll give you some advice: stay far away from that room. The King of Arkham is locked up in there, a true devil."

He pointed at the cell door sign next door, which bore only a single word—Joker.

Joker!

Link's pupils contracted sharply.

He actually became neighbors with the Joker?

This was no longer hell difficulty; this was literally throwing a lamb right beside the mouth of a Tyrannosaurus rex!

A strong sense of crisis and the fear of impending death completely overwhelmed Link like a tidal wave.

He had to escape!

Right now! Immediately!

But how to escape? With his scrawny frame, let alone breaking out of prison, he probably couldn't even beat an ordinary prison guard.

Just as Link's brain was occupied by immense fear and despair, hovering on the verge of crashing down, a cold, emotionless mechanical voice rang out abruptly in his mind.

[Host's strong will to survive detected...]
[God-Level Check-In System is activating...]
[Activation successful!]

What on earth?

Link was taken aback.

A system?

The standard-issue welfare for time-travelers, a golden finger?

He almost couldn't help crying out, his heart beating violently with immense elation.

Sure enough, heaven leaves no dead ends!

[This system aims to assist the host in becoming the supreme ruler of the universe.]
[The host can check in at special locations or with special individuals, and successful check-ins will grant generous rewards.]
[Check-in rewards are closely tied to the characteristics of the check-in target and check-in location.]

The mechanical voice explained slowly in Link's mind.

Suppressing his excitement, Link asked inwardly, "System, are there any check-in targets nearby?"

[Scanning...]
[Eligible check-in location detected: Arkham Asylum.]
[Eligible check-in individual detected: Joker.]
[Check-In Location: Arkham Asylum]
[Check-In Reward: F-grade reward, randomly obtain the skill of an ordinary criminal (combat, theft, shooting, etc.).]
[Check-In Individual: Joker]
[Check-In Reward: S-grade reward, Chaos Force (Primary).]

Looking at the two options that popped up in his mind, Link locked his gaze onto the second one without hesitation.

Are you kidding me? F-grade and S-grade—even with your toes you know which one to pick.

Although he didn't know what "Chaos Force" specifically was, the S-grade rating alone was enough to demonstrate its power.

"System, I want to check in on the Joker!"

[Check-in target locked: Joker.]
[Check-in condition: Enter within a ten-meter radius of the target and remain for five seconds.]
[Please complete the check-in as soon as possible, Host.]

A ten-meter radius?

Link glanced at the thick cement wall between himself and the neighboring cell.

The thickness of this wall was definitely more than ten meters.

In other words, he had to walk out of this cell and personally approach the most dangerous man in all of Gotham.

The elation that had just risen was instantly doused by a basin of cold water.

This wasn't a golden finger at all; it was clearly a death warrant!

Get within ten meters of the Joker? And stay for five seconds?

Before the check-in could succeed, he would probably be torn to pieces by that lunatic.

Link's gaze flickered, his brain working at high speed.

Danger and opportunity coexisted.

The system was his only hope at the moment, his only chance to escape this ghost place.

No matter how dangerous it was, he had to try!

Fortune favors the bold!

Link took a deep breath, his gaze gradually turning firm. He inched back to the observation window, staring fixedly at the guard room at the end of the corridor.

A bold plan began to slowly take shape in his mind.