Good Luck

As mentioned before, the Court of Owls' Amber Gold was a transparent, colorless liquid metal.

Always shrouded in an enchanting silver glow, it glittered like a fallen galaxy. Batman of the Main World had once drunk it without realizing what it was.

It was one of the five metals that had turned that Bruce into a doorway. Of course, Amber Gold had some other unique uses as well.

First, as a liquid metal, it was not only sweet but also very thirst-quenching.

Second, drinking it regularly could slow aging, increase strength, and grant weak regenerative Healing Factor depending on the concentration of the metal liquid. Drinking it also produced wonderful hallucinations.

Lastly, if one could find a suitable Blacksmith, Amber Gold could also be worked. It possessed extremely high ductility and malleability. It had a restraining effect on magical creatures such as The Spectre, treants, and werewolves. Added to armor, it could further resist magical damage and curses.

But as far as Su Ming knew, the only ones capable of forging Liquid Metal were probably Hephaestus, god of the forge, and Weaponer in the universe. The more powerful figures dealt in creation or shaping instead, which was on an even higher level.

However, he already had armor made from Promethium, also a "metal," containing an extremely tiny amount of Nth Metal to enhance Magic Resistance. There was no need to replace his armor.

As for his weapons, they were ordinary alloy, but he could not find replacements, so he would make do for now.

The reason he had crouched beside the corpse to observe it earlier was to confirm that the Talon had no Healing Factor. At present, it seemed Amber Gold did not exist on Earth -11. Otherwise, the Court would certainly have used it on their assassins.

He had blown up the corpse to delay its discovery.

When he returned to the other three, he said they could continue onward. Cindy merely shrugged as she put away her weapon. She had long noticed Su Ming gathering information, so she had taken note of the same things herself.

Barbara, on the other hand, checked on Su Ming. She looked at the waist of his armor and only relaxed after seeing that he was unharmed.

Pete, as expected, threw up. When Su Ming had blown up the corpse with a grenade, a small piece of some unknown organ had splattered onto the camera lens. He had finally been unable to hold it in.

He was currently vomiting his guts out—meaning he was crying as he puked. Vicki helplessly carried the camera herself, waiting nearby with her mouth twisted to one side.

"The Court of Owls is here. We don't have much time. We need to find Batman quickly."

Su Ming ran a hand over the white marks on his armor as he spoke to Cindy. He removed his helmet and let the rain cool his head. The bloodshed had left him too mentally overstimulated.

"The entrance to the underground facility. We just need to find fresh footprints, the kind left by a group. In heavy rain, no one can clean every footprint out of the mud."

Cindy patted his shoulder. Rain was washing over her armor as well. She looked around and stated her plan.

Su Ming nodded, exhaled softly, and lit a cigarette while shielding it with his helmet.

"Then I'll leave it to you. I need to calm down. Bloodlust is affecting me."

"Something is wrong with you. You feel hungry because your Healing Factor is at work. It is your body signaling that it needs energy, simply transformed into an instinctive craving for blood and flesh. You may have suffered severe trauma recently without even realizing it—inside your body, perhaps even in your brain."

Cindy raised a hand and felt around Su Ming's skull as though checking for injuries. Her tactical gloves and the armored gauntlets covering them were ice-cold.

"I don't feel injured anywhere, aside from a bit of pain in my head." Su Ming tapped his head, then patted his chest and abdomen.

"That's why I said something is wrong. I can't guess the reason either."

Cindy let go and went to search for a large number of footprints. In weather like this, footprints would look like round, deep holes filled with filthy water.

Just then, Pete, who was vomiting nearby, suddenly let out a scream. Su Ming immediately drew his pistol and aimed in that direction.

It turned out Pete had instinctively found a low-lying pit to throw up in. But the heavy rain had caused another consequence: soil erosion.

Indian Hill had originally been an ancestral burial ground for the Indians. At that moment, the buoyancy of the rainwater had lifted a bleached skeleton right up in front of him.

As he vomited, he suddenly noticed something white before him. Looking up, he saw a white skull bobbing in the water, its hollow eye sockets staring at him.

He could not help but scream.

But before Su Ming could do anything, Vicki smacked Pete, making him stagger.

"Pathetic. It's just a Deadman's Head, and one that's been dead for ages. What are you screaming for?"

"W-W-Wah... a skull! I'm so scared! This place isn't haunted, is it?"

White foam hung disgustingly from the corner of his mouth as he kept wiping at the liquid on his face, unable to tell whether it was rain or tears.

A burly, bearded man over six feet tall and more than 150 kilograms was covering his face and acting cute toward a petite woman who only came up to his elbow.

The sight was too beautiful for Su Ming to bear. He worried he might pull the trigger on reflex.

To comfort him, Vicki scooped the skull out of the water and casually tossed it in her hand.

"See? Where are the ghosts? It's pretty fun. Don't be scared."

Though her method was not quite right, Vicki did care about her partner. Unfortunately, it had exactly the opposite effect. Pete shook his head and backed away several more steps.

With the camera slung over one shoulder and the skull in her other hand, Vicki tilted her head toward the sky and sighed wordlessly, as though all the strength had been drained from her body.

With a numb expression, she sought answers from Highest Heaven Father Zeus. Her partner was truly one of a kind. He was timid and afraid of ghosts, turned pale at the sight of blood, yet ate ten times as much as she did at mealtimes.

Worst of all, to avoid being filmed as an ugly woman, it was industry practice for news anchors to treat their cameraman partners to meals. It was enough to break her heart.

But something good soon distracted her.

"Huh? This skull has Gold Teeth. Nice, they're mine. I can get someone to make them into a ring or necklace later."

Smiling brightly, she pried the row of gold teeth from the skull and slipped them into her pocket. Her blue eyes practically had gold coins in place of pupils, and she immediately forgot all about Pete being useless.

Pete blinked. He had not noticed the gold teeth when the skull was right in front of him, but the moment it reached Vicki's hands, she found them as if by magic.

Wasn't that terrifying enough already?

Cindy returned from the darkness in the distance. The rain made her figure sway constantly, like a hazy cloud of smoke.

She came to Su Ming's side. "Found it, but the path isn't easy to walk."

"That's fine." Su Ming hoisted Barbara's Wheelchair onto his shoulder and motioned for Cindy to lead the way. "Once we get underground, it'll be much better."

"Do you think Falcone has already seen us, after all the commotion we made here?" After witnessing Batman's citywide surveillance system, Barbara seemed especially concerned about privacy. She always felt someone was watching her.

Though every step sank deeply into the mud, Su Ming moved without effort, still striding along briskly.

"Don't worry." He calmly lifted the wheelchair a little higher while trying to step in Cindy's footprints ahead. "This is a homeless settlement. Forget about where he could install surveillance equipment—even if he hid a tiny radio in a wrecked car, the homeless would dig it out and sell it for scrap."

Cindy, walking ahead to lead the way, added, "Hiding here is supposed to be secret. He can't make a move against the homeless nearby, so he can only keep the lowest possible profile. But once we enter underground, things may be completely different."

"The Roman doesn't seem to want Shadow Dancer to enter here. He probably just wants the assassins to get into the city faster."

As they discussed what they might face, they unknowingly entered a place resembling a flood channel. Yet there was not a drop of water here. Instead, it was extremely dry.

The smooth concrete floor was partially concealed by climbing plants, making the place resemble a cave amid green mountains and forests. It looked particularly strange here.

This was absolutely abnormal for Indian Hill. If not for the peculiar smell and eerie sense of horror, Su Ming guessed many homeless people would choose to sleep here rather than inside cramped wrecked cars.

At the end of the dark passage stood a green metal door. There were no signs or words anywhere around it. An even stronger feeling of unease emanated from behind it, making any ordinary person who approached instinctively fearful.

The group arrived before the door. Cindy once again placed explosives around the lock, inserted a remote detonator, and after everyone had taken cover, she placed her finger on the red button.

"Ready?"

"Don't joke around. Deathstroke is ready at all times."

Su Ming smiled and shook his head. The Red Goggles on his mask traced a blurred streak of light through the darkness.