Death Was Coming

"Sorry for the trouble." Harvey bowed to everyone.

"Don't say 'everyone'! They're fine. I'm the one who went through hell!" Roland glared at Harvey.

"I really am sorry. I feel terrible about it, pfft..."

"You're laughing!"

"Ahem. Couldn't help it..."

"At least it's finally over." Bruce sounded relieved, but he hadn't relaxed like the others. The strangely dressed Batman he had seen in the dream still cast a shadow over his thoughts.

"Next, we need to focus on the Falcone family," Commissioner Gordon said. "We still haven't found Scarecrow or the missing Fear Toxin, either."

"I'll question Falcone tonight," Bruce said. As far as he was concerned, force would be the most efficient approach.

"You're going to strip him naked and hang him outside again?"

"It's effective." Bruce didn't deny it.

"Fair enough."

Bruce soon said goodbye and returned to the Batcave to prepare for the night. Before leaving, he gave Harvey a stuffed elephant as a gift, making Roland's face darken.

Commissioner Gordon took a call and left. A gang had robbed a luxury store in Central City, killing a female clerk and making off with jewelry and cash. They were still on the run.

"I'm heading back too." Irritated by the sight of Harvey and Gilda being affectionate, Roland got up and left.

Once everyone was gone, Harvey drew Gilda into his arms. Something about him had changed. He was neither Harvey the Bright Knight nor Harvey the brutal villain.

He had become gentle without losing his edge, resolute without being overbearing, fearless without being reckless.

"What is it?" Gilda asked when she saw Harvey hesitate.

"I'm thinking about something very important." Harvey closed his eyes and began considering how to propose to Gilda.

Abandoned Church

"Boss, you're back! We sold everything you left in the storeroom. Made a few hundred dollars."

"The stuff I left in the storeroom?" Roland thought for a moment. It must have been the items he'd pulled from the prize draws. He hadn't expected them to sell so quickly. "People actually wanted that stuff?"

"Make up a story and it'll sell. Plenty of people in Gotham City are religious," his underling explained. "Especially in the slums. The worse their lives get, the more they believe."

"...Let's stick to scamming rich people from now on. There's nothing to squeeze out of the poor." Roland paused. "As it happens, I've got another batch. Sell it when you get the chance."

"More?"

"Yeah. This batch might be even bigger than everything I'd saved up before," Roland said after a moment's thought.

[Current Goodwill Value: 3123]

After days of doing good deeds, plus what Mad Hatter had contributed, Roland had enough Goodwill Value for more than thirty draws.

Back in his room, Roland washed his hands, lit three cigarettes before the statue of Jesus, and bowed to it. Then he started drawing prizes.

[One Pure Copper Cross]

[One worn Bible]

[One crumpled Bible]

[One slightly damaged Bible]

[One Bible signed by Albert Einstein]

[One Bible hand-copied by a missionary five hundred years ago]

[One Pure Copper Cross]

[One Pure Silver Cross]

[30 Tyr Silver Coins]

[One Ceramic Holy Water Bottle]

[One Crystal Jesus Statue]

[One replica of the chains that bound Saint Paul before his martyrdom]

[Nathaniel Hawthorne's Superpower: Red Letters]

[Shi Buzhuan's skill: Minor Healing Spell]

After using all thirty-odd draws, Roland had received only two abilities. His expression grew darker the longer he looked. He took the cigarettes from in front of the statue and smoked them himself. "I only make a few jokes about you and Hell. You really won't bless me? Your heart's smaller than the holes in your hands."

Boom! A deafening noise made Roland duck his head. It took him a minute to realize Jesus hadn't struck him with lightning.

"Boss, something terrible's happened..." An underling ran in.

"I'm not deaf yet." Roland rolled his eyes and looked out the window. Thick smoke billowed over Gotham City.

"Another fire?" The underling looked toward the smoke. "Wait... Isn't that ACE Chemicals?"

"The Joker's spawn point?" Roland froze. "If that place blew up... we could have a serious problem."

"Yeah..."

"I'll take a look." The smoke drifting upward had turned all sorts of colors. Sensing that something major had happened, Roland mounted his motorcycle and raced over.

For once, Gotham City's firefighters had arrived surprisingly fast—even before Roland. They were already fighting the fire and rescuing people.

Roland got to work too, holding the injured victims' hands as he prayed and occasionally casting Minor Healing Spell on them.

In Glory Game, it was the healing skill with the shortest casting time and the smallest health recovery. Roland had no equipment or attributes to boost it, but even so, its effect on living people was obvious.

In the game, a health bar changing by a few percent was barely noticeable. On a person, though, the improvement in their injuries was plain to see.

Each cast came with a flash of white light, too, leaving the onlookers stunned.

"By the way, how did the fire start?" Roland asked someone nearby as he held a young woman's hand and prayed.

"I saw it start with my own eyes, but... I don't think anyone would believe me," an old man with reddened eyes said with a sigh.

"What happened?" Roland asked, continuing his work.

"There's a little convenience store next to the chemical plant. It sells snacks and drinks to the workers. I was about to buy some toilet paper there when I saw two workers start fighting. I don't know what set them off."

"While they were fighting, they knocked over a shelf. It toppled into a water dispenser and broke the bottle on top, splashing water everywhere."

"The power strip the dispenser was plugged into must've gotten wet, because it started smoking. Then a floor-standing air conditioner caught fire."

"And the shelf beside the air conditioner happened to be stocked with strong liquor. That caught fire too. The flames kept spreading until they burned through the little store and into the chemical plant. Right by the plant entrance was a barrel of flammable, explosive chemicals... Ether, from what I heard..."

Everyone stared at him, dumbfounded. The chain of events was so absurd it hardly seemed like a coincidence.

"Was Death coming for them?" Roland was stunned too. He even forgot to let go of the young woman's hand.