Had she been messed with?

An icy white light pierced her eyes.

Ririko frowned.

She still remembered the instant that gun had been aimed at her. Now... had she been rebooted again?

What a waste. That stingy bastard got me killed...

She missed those gleaming pearls, the jewels that had once all belonged to her. Now they were all gone...

The smell of disinfectant hit her nose. She snapped her eyes open and found something covering her left eye.

Her right eye was fine. She could see a pale ceiling with several fluorescent tubes set into it.

She tried moving her hands and feet.

She couldn't.

Looking from side to side, she discovered leather straps binding her wrists and ankles tight.

She twisted one wrist. The strap didn't budge.

Ririko's heart skipped a beat.

This wasn't supposed to happen!

She should have respawned in some default residence, then started her boring daily routine as an NPC.

She raised her head slightly. The straps were fastened to the iron bars of the bed rails. Paint had chipped off in places, as though someone had struggled violently to break free and failed.

Judging by the white sheets and the hospital gown she wore, she was lying in a hospital bed.

Ririko shifted her gaze away from herself and slowly, tentatively scanned her surroundings.

The walls were gray-green.

The only window was small, with no view outside. It looked more like an observation window for watching everything that happened in the room.

A heart monitor stood to her left, its green waveform pulsing across a small screen.

To her right was a larger machine she couldn't name, with a circular display and several rows of buttons. Cables connected it to electrodes on her temples, chest, and arms.

"You're awake?" A low voice came from behind her.

A man in a white coat stepped into her field of vision.

Had he been standing behind me, staring at me this whole time? Ririko wondered.

Where had this creepy bastard come from?

With his back to her, he looked down at the monitoring equipment.

Ririko could see his short, dark hair, neatly combed.

She opened her mouth. Her throat felt a little dry.

"Um... hello?"

The man's hands stopped moving.

He turned around slowly, unhurriedly.

Ririko's right eye got a clear look at his face:

He was in his thirties, with pale skin and sharply defined features, high cheekbones, and a jawline that looked as if it had been carved along a ruler.

He wore lightly tinted brown glasses, deliberately concealing the look in his eyes behind the lenses.

"How do you feel?" he asked.

Ririko's mind raced.

A hospital bed... restraints... an older man... had she been messed with?

"What is this place?" She tried her hardest not to sound so panicked.

The man walked to the foot of the bed, picked up a medical chart hanging from the rail, and recorded some data.

"This is Arkham."

Ririko's brain short-circuited for an instant.

Arkham Asylum.

The most terrifying place in Gotham City, more chilling than any narrow alley or backstreet.

On the streets, you only died once. In Arkham, life was worse than death...

The half-insane villains lived here.

So did the doctors who were even crazier than the villains.

Countless versions of the rumors circulated, but they all ended the same way: few people who went in ever came out normal.

Ririko's lips began to tremble.

"I... I only took some jewelry. I can give it back! It's in my bag. You must have found that too, right? I can pay compensation. I shouldn't have taken advantage of the robbery. I know I was wrong, but I don't deserve-"

She tugged hard at the strap around her wrist. The metal buckle gave a sharp clink.

"-I don't deserve to be sent to Arkham!"

The man in the white coat tilted his head slightly.

"Jewelry?"

"Yes, jewelry." Ririko nodded frantically. "That jewelry store was robbed today, and I swiped a few pieces. I was wrong. Let me out, and I'll turn myself in-"

The man fell silent for two seconds.

"You were shot in the left side of your head... the bullet entered through your temple, grazed the inside of your skull, and exited through the back of your head."

He continued, "I repaired the wound. Your vital signs are currently stable, but your left eyeball suffered severe damage. I'm afraid you'll only be able to use your right eye from now on."

He closed the chart and hung it back at the foot of the bed.

Something felt wrong to Ririko after hearing that. A bullet had gone through her head, and she was still alive?

Even for a bugged NPC like her, that was hardly possible.

Something must have gone wrong somewhere. Perhaps the timeline-reset mechanism had malfunctioned, or there was some other reason-

She hadn't started over. She had been brought here instead.

Slowly, in a small voice, Ririko said, "Then... thank you? Thank you for saving me?"

The man didn't respond.

He turned and returned to his position behind her, leaving her field of vision.

"Could you let me go now?" Ririko asked tentatively.

"Not yet," the man said. "I need to continue monitoring your recovery."

Ririko pressed her lips together.

"Then... how long do you need to monitor me?"

The man still didn't answer.

Her heart sank.

As an NPC, she knew her place all too well.

She had no abilities, no leverage whatsoever to make anyone listen to her.

In a place like this, facing this man in a white coat, she didn't even have the right to bargain.

All she could do was behave and avoid making him angry.

Avoid provoking him into tormenting her with some sick method.

Ririko closed her right eye and took a deep breath, telling herself, As long as I'm alive.

Only by staying alive could she keep raking in money and live the life she wanted.

Suddenly, a line of text appeared in her field of vision.

[System notification: NPC subject has been implanted with "Tomie Tissue"]

[Beginning structural reorganization...]

[Reorganization complete.]

["Mental Corruption System" activated.]

Ririko's almond-shaped right eye widened.

What kind of weird bug was this?

[System rules:

Accumulate "Infatuation Value" with nearby core characters, ranging from 0-100.

The higher the Infatuation Value, the stronger your ability to mentally corrupt core characters.

Number of core characters currently accessible: 1]

Ririko stared at the text. What was "Tomie Tissue"?

Had that older man implanted that stuff in her?

She knew it. That creepy bastard was up to no good!

She lifted her chin and tilted her face toward the man behind her.

He stood at the equipment, focused on the numbers flickering across a larger machine, and hadn't noticed her staring at him.

[Core character: Hugo Strange]

[Identity: Arkham's chief physician]

[Current Infatuation Value: 20/100]

[Infatuation Value interpretation: Sees you as "a somewhat attractive stranger"]

[Infatuation Value growth method: Automatically increases by +5 per hour spent together within 10 meters]

Ririko blinked.

He thought I was "a somewhat attractive stranger"?

Well, that wasn't surprising.

She was good-looking. That was a fact.

She considered it. At five points per hour, they had already spent four hours in the same room.

She tried to view more detailed rules, and the system immediately displayed new information:

[Infatuation Value stages:

0-20: Finds you somewhat attractive

40: Begins to care about your presence

60: Begins to develop possessive feelings

80: Willing to do anything for you

Above 80: Not yet unlocked]

Ririko's pupil dilated slightly as she read the words.

Once it reached over 80, these people would be willing to do anything for her?

Wouldn't that include standing in front of her when her enemies came after her?

Even... signing a will?

Transferring all their assets to someone named Ririko? Wouldn't that be amazing?!

Ririko abruptly sat upright-or, more precisely, tried to. The straps around her wrists and ankles only let her lift her upper body slightly before she fell heavily back down.

But she no longer cared about that.

A bold idea exploded in her mind:

Get close to Bruce Wayne.

The richest man in Gotham was still just a wet-behind-the-ears boy.

She didn't care why his kink was wearing skintight black leather, as long as he was willing to spend money on her...

Then why would she need some stingy bastard?

Why would she need some old man on death's door?

She would be the pearl. She would be the jewel. She would be the most valuable thing in Gotham.

Because she would have Bruce Wayne in the palm of her hand.

The insane plan took shape in Ririko's mind.

She wanted to burst into wild laughter, but immediately suppressed the urge.

Right now, she was a "poor woman who had just woken up after being shot." She couldn't let that creepy man grow suspicious.

Just as she composed her expression, Hugo Strange turned around.