Guest in the Batcave

The vehicle swayed constantly from side to side on the muddy road, and the three people in the back kept crashing into things. Every so often, the burly Pete let out a pained cry.

"Oh♂!"

"Ah♂!"

Su Ming had the urge to tell him, "Stand still like a good boy♂!"

But in the end, he decided to pretend he had heard nothing.

He silently grumbled to himself. Bliss was so rich, so why had she never paid to fix the stretch of road outside her home? Whenever it rained, even the Batmobile must have gotten tossed around badly, right?

Cindy seemed quite familiar with the place. She turned left and right before darting onto a narrow path covered by all kinds of trees. They could not even see what lay ahead.

Countless branches and vines slapped against the windshield. Some resilient ones even wormed through the windows and struck their armor, flinging water all over the interior.

Su Ming said nothing and simply put on his helmet. Since Cindy said this was the place, she would not be wrong.

They followed the invisible mountain road downhill until they soon reached a small river valley. Because of the storm, the water level had surged, carrying great quantities of yellow mud downstream.

Ordinary people would not have dared to continue under such circumstances. If the vehicle stalled, everyone would be swept into the sea by the flash flood and fed to the fish.

But Cindy had no such concerns. She merely shifted down two gears and drove through the torrent, steering the vehicle into a cave several minutes later.

The cave was nothing like the outside. Instead, it was smooth and open, with a straight concrete road leading deep inside. Ever-burning lights illuminated the high ceiling.

Following the road, they soon reached a massive steel door. It appeared Cindy had blown it up during her last visit, and twisted, charred metal lay curled off to one side.

Without the slightest hesitation, she parked the filthy news van beside the gleaming Batmobile, turned off the engine, and patted the partition behind her.

"End of the line. Get out. Which passenger booked the mysterious destination day trip?"

Su Ming jumped out, removed his helmet, and finally breathed in some dry air.

After stretching his limbs, he immediately moved over to the Batmobile. He had coveted it for a long time in the movies, and now this super toy stood right in front of him.

He took off his gloves and ran his hand over the cold steel machine. Alfred had maintained the Batmobile until it looked brand new. Its glossy black paint gleamed, and every angle and detail was beautifully designed.

A huge turbojet engine and bat-wing-like tail fins sat at the rear. Combined with its wide skid-resistant tires and sleek body, it was mysterious yet ferocious, steady yet extravagant—far better than Cindy's broken Jeep from before.

It was somewhat different from the one in the movies. Perhaps because this was a Parallel World, Bliss's Batmobile looked even more like a weapon.

"Don't get any ideas. I wanted to drive it away while I was here last time, but I couldn't even open the canopy."

Cindy came over. If the Batmobile could lose its tail fins and get a few streaks of orange paint, she would like it too.

"It should be controlled by the computer here. Batman and Butler are both very good with that stuff." Su Ming patted the car window and put his gloves back on. "If you really want it, you can drive it away next time you get the chance, because you've met the best computer genius this time."

Cindy looked at the people stumbling out of the TV station van. Pete still seemed to be dry-heaving, clearly suffering badly from carsickness.

"You mean Gordon's daughter?"

"Mm, that's right. Though she got started a little later in your world, her talent is beyond question. She's one of the best hackers in the world," Su Ming said firmly.

"What about in your world?"

"Tsk. You definitely wouldn't want to mess with her counterpart from another world. The moment you set your sights on her, dozens of people about as dangerous as Batman would come looking for you."

Su Ming smiled. Not to mention that the Birds of Prey were originally Barbara's team, even the Justice League would come after someone for that.

"Mm, she seems valuable. I'll build a good relationship with her. Maybe she can help me out in the future." Cindy stroked her chin as she watched Barbara being helped out of the vehicle. "Assuming we have a future."

"There should still be time. Now that we're in the Batcave, and we have Barbara, intelligence won't be a problem."

The other three finally got out of the vehicle and looked around curiously.

Although the lighting was dim, with only a few faint lamps, once the camera lights came on, they could clearly see gleaming metal platforms embedded in the rock walls at varying heights. Rows of equipment and computers were arranged throughout the cave, while the Batmobile in the center was the most eye-catching sight of all.

"Oh, this place is amazing! Turn it on, hurry! I want to record a special report!"

Vicki immediately grew excited and ordered Pete to start the camera. She took out a mirror and began touching up her makeup again.

Though this was not his territory, Su Ming was generous enough. He spread his hands and said to them, "Make yourselves at home. Relax. Welcome to the Batcave! Oh, but Vicki, the recording rules are the same as before. Understand?"

"Mm-hm."

She merely agreed, and it was unclear whether she had actually listened. But judging by Pete's terrified, frantic nodding, there should not be a problem. After all, he was the one operating the camera.

"What am I supposed to do?"

Barbara looked a little lost. She had not expected the place Su Ming mentioned to be Batwoman's secret base. Did they know each other? And could this place really reveal clues about her father's disappearance?

"Oh, come with me. There's a server here. As long as you can break through its security firewall, you'll be able to access all of Gotham's information."

Cindy immediately brought her before a row of computers. The massive monitor was like a wall, surrounded by numerous smaller screens. Hundreds of buttons covered the console, but there were not even any labels, and they all looked identical.

That was why Cindy had been unable to do anything with it before.

Barbara inspected the massive mainframe, quickly found an external port, connected it to her laptop, and began running a cracking program.

"How is it? What's the situation?" Cindy asked.

"I don't know yet. So far, everything is going smoothly. Batwoman's external firewall is very well designed, but her defenses against physical connections have a weakness." Barbara's fingers flew across the keyboard.

She silently apologized to Batwoman, but she felt no guilt. This was for her father.

Su Ming nodded and gave her room to work. Rather than crowding around the mainframe, he began looking around the Batcave. Since this was his first time visiting in person, he naturally wanted to see how this Parallel World differed from the comics.

There was an empty cylindrical glass display case with a black mannequin inside. It was probably where Batwoman kept her suit. She must have worn it out, but the mannequin's chest was way too big. The proportions were off. Bad review.

A winding spiral staircase led upward. If he was right, it led to the study in Wayne Manor. To come down from above, one had to play the piano in the study.

There was an operating table where Butler often performed surgery on Batman or stitched up his wounds. Alfred truly was skilled at everything.

There was a giant dinosaur model. It looked like a toy model, but in the comics, it was actually one of the Batcave's security measures: a mechanical Tyrannosaurus Rex. It would not kill people, but its programming would have it beat every intruder until they were seriously injured.

Hm?

Something seemed wrong.

"Cindy~!" Su Ming tilted his head slightly and called out behind him. "Did you take care of the dinosaur here?"

Cindy was watching Barbara and chatting with her, trying to get closer and improve their relationship. Hearing Su Ming's question, she asked casually,

"What dinosaur?"

"Emmm."