Catwoman: I'll Kill You!

"Huh?!"

At Zuo Ci's words, Catwoman let out an involuntary cry, her voice even cracking a little.

Wait, you're saying you didn't use it? Then what the hell did I just go through? Hallucinations?

It wasn't just Catwoman. Batman's and Jack's expressions changed after hearing Zuo Ci, too.

Batman suspected the guy was playing dumb so he could jack up the price and fleece him, while Jack looked confused and shocked, with a little bewilderment mixed into the shock.

Wait, was the boss about to pull another shameless stunt that plunged beneath the limits of human decency?

"Why are you all looking at me like that? If I said I didn't, then I didn't. Why would I lie to you?

"I'm not actually the devil, after all. Catwoman only wanted to prank us to get revenge for Poison Ivy. How could I possibly do something that cruel to her?"

Zuo Ci spread his hands innocently. When Catwoman heard him say she had done it for Poison Ivy, it was hard to tell whether her stubborn refusal to admit her feelings had kicked in or whether it was because Batman was standing right beside her.

Either way, his words were like a foot coming down on a cat's tail. She immediately bristled.

"I didn't do it for Poison Ivy!"

"Right, right, you didn't do it for Poison Ivy. After all, you left us alone all this time we've been in Gotham, but the moment we finished extorting... ahem, having a nice, friendly chat with Poison Ivy, you came over to steal from us. Obviously, those things have absolutely nothing to do with each other~

"Just like Batman definitely didn't come charging over here in such a frantic hurry for your sake."

At Zuo Ci's teasing, a blush crept into Catwoman's deathly pale face. The words reached her lips, but she couldn't get any of them out. Even Batman's eyes showed a rare hint of evasiveness as he sneaked a glance at her.

"If you ask me, you people really know how to get freaky. Just look at what's happened these past two days. Catwoman stood up for her lover, Poison Ivy, and now Batman has stepped in for his lover, Catwoman.

"And Poison Ivy is his lover's lover, while also being his lover herself. This equilateral love triangle of yours is giving me a headache."

At that, even Zuo Ci was rather speechless. As the saying went, a new ruler brought new courtiers. American comics were often drawn by several artists working together, and every artist shipped a different couple.

Add decades of accumulated spaghetti-code continuity, and it was common for some popular hero to end up having affairs with an entire circle of heroes and villains.

Batman was a textbook victim, though, honestly, it did fit his character surprisingly well.

Meanwhile, Jack was dumbfounded after hearing all that. Wait, what did he mean, they were all each other's lovers? And what the hell was a triangular affair?

He was just a poor, honest martial artist. He had absolutely no idea how any of this worked.

"Ahem. You said you didn't use the spray on Catwoman. Then why did she react like that earlier?"

In the end, Batman broke the slightly awkward silence and steered the conversation back on track.

"Oh, that."

As he spoke, Zuo Ci reached out and produced the bottle of "Meme Pollution Spray" again.

Perhaps the torment had been too much for her, because Catwoman instinctively shrank back at the sight of it.

"This is just an ordinary stink agent. It doesn't do anything else. It just makes everything you smell stink for a little while.

"I'm not an idiot. I only wanted to teach Catwoman a little lesson this time. Why would I use something like meme pollution? That stuff is ridiculously expensive, you know."

Catwoman felt as if someone had hit her brain with a hammer. For a moment, it simply stopped working.

Batman remained silent beside her, but he keenly picked up on one crucial detail: Zuo Ci had said he hadn't used it, not that he couldn't or was unable to.

In other words, could he use a cognition-altering method like meme pollution whenever he wanted?

"Wait, hold on. If this is just a stink agent, then... then that thing I saw earlier was..."

After being offline for quite a while, Catwoman's brain finally started working again, and she suddenly remembered that indescribable necklace.

What the hell was that thing? Surely she hadn't been so scared that her mind had invented it on its own?

"Oh, that? Even simpler. It's just a plastic toy that costs less than ten cents."

It was worth mentioning that Zuo Ci hadn't custom-ordered the necklace. He had picked it up from the East Wholesale Market through the shelves.

Who knew whose tastes were so bizarre that they actually liked something that freakish?

"So you were lying to me about everything?"

Once Catwoman realized the whole thing had been Zuo Ci's prank, her face was no longer deathly pale, and the tears at the corners of her eyes disappeared. Even her trembling grew more violent.

Before, it had been fear. Now, it was anger.

In an instant, Catwoman's entire face turned from red to purple, purple to blue, blue to brown, and brown to black.

She was going to tear this damned bastard to pieces!

"By the way, this stink agent lasts a week. In other words, everything you smell will stink for the next seven days.

"Consider it a free appetite suppressant to help you lose weight. No need to thank me."

Seeing Catwoman hiss, Zuo Ci wasn't afraid in the slightest. Instead, he deliberately provoked her again, pushing the already near-broken Catwoman into a full-blown fury.

"I'll claw you to death!"

"Hey! Batman! Keep your lover under control! She's about to assault an innocent man!"

Without planning it, the other three people present all had the same thought.

What the hell makes you an innocent man?!

Although Zuo Ci was practically begging to be punched, Batman still stopped the furious Catwoman, slung her over his shoulder with one arm, and left this trouble spot.

"All right, job done! Time to clock out!"

Once they had left, Zuo Ci stretched. After all that commotion, his previously gloomy mood had improved considerably.

Sure enough, life really did need a little excitement to spice things up.

"Boss, your card."

As Zuo Ci walked over to Jack, Jack handed him the card Batman had tossed over.

"Oh, right. Almost forgot about that.

"You put in plenty of work this time, too, so let's split the money twenty-eighty. Twenty for me, eighty for you."

As he spoke, Zuo Ci took a universal POS terminal straight out of his pocket, charged twenty thousand to the card, deposited it directly into the system, and handed the card back.

This was another little feature added after the system update. He could deposit money directly into it now, instead of going to the trouble of finding somewhere to keep it like before.

"Oh, thanks, then."

Since the money was being given to him, Jack didn't make a fuss. He simply put it away.

In his eyes, one of Zuo Ci's few virtues was that he was very straightforward. He didn't bother with empty formalities, and that suited Jack perfectly.

"I suggest you withdraw all the money when you have time, then throw the card away. Batman gave it to us, after all. I'd believe you if you told me the whole thing was made of listening devices."

Zuo Ci's personality might have been a tiny bit strange, but he always treated his own people well, so he couldn't just watch Jack walk into a trap.

"Oh, right. Speaking of money..."

As if something had suddenly occurred to him, Zuo Ci instinctively felt his pocket and discovered that the wallet inside had vanished without a trace.

"Ha. I knew it."

There was no need to think about it. Catwoman had definitely done it. He had no idea how she had managed to lift his wallet with almost no physical contact.

"Your wallet's gone, too?! They probably haven't gotten far yet. Should we chase them?"

"No need. I put that wallet in my pocket on purpose. There wasn't a single cent inside, just a few firecrackers.

"Yep. Tuffy's firecrackers."