Chapter 1 God of Bats

The figure was clad in a jet-black bat suit, their entire body enveloped in the skintight outfit, only the mouth and nose exposed.

This bat suit had several noticeable differences from the one worn by Batman in the old days: first, it lacked a utility belt; second, the cape was shaped like a pair of raised dragon wings; third, a bright yellow, incredibly conspicuous bat symbol was printed on the chest of the suit.

"Loyal followers, I arrived in this city long before I had an army, my divinity is built upon your faith." the_Bruce stood atop the cathedral, unfurling his cape and spreading his arms wide, speaking loudly through the communicator near his mouth, "Does anyone want to seize my sacred throne? Tonight is the night! It is your ancient privilege!"

[The crowd in the plaza knelt, listening to the proclamation of the King of Gotham.]

[The searchlights, adorned with the bat symbol and of various colors, swept high into the sky, as if celebrating his appearance.]

"Prove yourself, come and shake my position!" the_Bruce continued, "I, a descendant of the first Bat-God Bruce Wayne, am willing to accept your challenge!" As in years past, he began to lay out the rules, "Tonight, whoever... manages to capture and kill a resurrected villain before I do, will win the chance to challenge me—if you can kill me in combat, you will become the new God!"

[At the same time, four "villains" were released from their restraints.]

As the narration spoke, the Joker, Harley, Two-Face, and Poison Ivy in the images were "lifted" from glass columns. Each of their bodies was encircled by a thick metal ring, to which a steel cable was connected. They were like puppets hanging at the end of strings, lifted and placed into four vehicles.

"This moment... pray to the Bat for your lives!" the_Bruce turned to face the "villains" and said, "Beg for mercy, beg for deliverance, beg for slaughter..."

Before his voice faded, the four villains had already been placed into their respective "rides."

The Joker rode in a flat, triangular modified car. The rear wheels were enormous, taller than the car itself, while the front wheels were normal-sized. Four bright searchlights were mounted on the front of the vehicle, and the bumper was shaped like a "big mouth," resembling a huge smile when viewed head-on.

Harley Quinn's ride was similar in style to the Joker's, but her car was painted in red and black, and it lacked the "big mouth bumper."

Poison Ivy's vehicle was a green flyer, slightly larger than a motorcycle, decorated with plant patterns, and utilized hover technology, lacking wheels.

As for Two-Face's transportation... it was rather shabby. It was a mini-flyer, basically a disk less than two meters in diameter, on which a maximum of two people could stand. Two meter-high control sticks stood on the disk, serving as both controls and handrails.

However, despite its simplicity, at least it could fly, which in some ways, was an advantage.

"Some innocents must die to save others..." the_Bruce's grand rhetoric was nearing its end, "Order must be overturned, redemption will come! My people, reveal your sins before the villains, the Bat will purify them! Now... let the killing begin!"

[For the four of you, the rules are simple.]

[If you can kill Bruce while being hunted across the city, you are free.]

[But to date, no villain has survived this ritual...]

Amidst the deafening clamor and roars, the Joker, Harley, Two-Face, and Poison Ivy, each drove their vehicles and rushed off in four different directions.

They plowed through the crowd, carving a path of blood, and sped onto the streets of Gotham, disappearing into the night...

The opening CG reached its end, and the next second, the players gained control of their bodies.

[Main Quest Triggered]

[Survive the hunt and rendezvous with at least one teammate.]

The moment Feng Bujue came to his senses, the quest prompt rang in his ears. But he had no time to look at the game menu, because he found himself sitting in a speeding car, gripping the steering wheel.

[Your appearance has been adjusted to resemble the Joker from the perspective of the NPCs.]

[You have an extra item in your trench coat pocket.]

Two more system prompts sounded, and at that moment, Feng Bujue stepped on the brakes.

But the car didn't stop... it didn't even slow down.

"Ah~ as expected." Feng Bujue appeared quite calm, he stared ahead, trying to keep the steering wheel under control, and analyzed the situation, "This car has no brakes at all, and..." He tried to move his shoulders, "The seatbelt is holding me firmly in place..."

"For the Bat!" Suddenly, a figure rushed out from the front. The person stood in the middle of the road, shouting slogans and wearing a fanatical expression on his face.

Seeing this, Feng Bujue didn't do anything special; he simply kept going straight, letting the martyr crash into his "Joker car."

Bang—

The person was sent flying and landed on the shoulder of the road. A few seconds later, he died on the spot.

His body lay in a twisted posture in a pool of blood, and some of the purple gas leaking from the front of the Joker car stained him, causing a twisted, grinning smile to appear on the dead man's face.

"Heh... how ironic." Feng Bujue had no sympathy for the death-seeker, he just sneered, "Faced with that situation, the real Joker would never turn the steering wheel. So, the real villain is the one who gets away." He shook his head, "Only a good person would swerve to avoid that person, causing the car to spin out of control."

At the same time, on the street behind Feng Bujue.

A Batmobile quickly arrived and stopped next to the body. the_Bruce jumped out of the car, bent down, and picked up the dead man's corpse, muttering, "Behold... the Joker's first victim."

He wasn't just talking to the air. There were surveillance cameras everywhere in this city, and many mobile cameras in the air were tracking and filming.

"I will avenge this innocent victim, I swear!" the_Bruce said resolutely, his heroic figure broadcasted and played on countless large screens in the city.

Even Feng Bujue, who was driving, saw this scene through the screens on the street.

"Heh..." Jue-ge smiled, "If you dare to come, I dare to kill you..." As he spoke, he took out the [wjQ-308 Military Shovel] from his bag, "But... killing you that way would be too lacking in drama."

Obviously, with all his abilities unrestricted, Feng Bujue didn't take a Boss of the_Bruce's level seriously. Right now, he was already planning something else...

"Hmm... this belt is quite tough." Thinking about his plans, muttering complaints, controlling the steering wheel with his left hand, and using the serrated edge of the military shovel with his right hand to cut his seatbelt... that was Feng Bujue, a person accustomed to multitasking.

Before long, he had successfully freed himself and leaped out from the top of the speeding car.

The out-of-control car soon crashed into a wall and flipped over, while Jue-ge lightly somersaulted in the air, taking a few phantom steps to dissipate the inertia, before landing suddenly.

"Ok... next to deal with is..." He stood in the middle of the street, looked around. The dark street was deserted, but seven or eight meters above the ground, several mobile cameras shaped like falcons were circling.

"Joker! Accept the Bat's punishment!" Suddenly, a loud shout rang out.

Along with the shout, a figure in a bat suit swung down from the air, grabbing a rope, and flew towards Jue-ge.

"Two hundred and thirty-something pounds, ordinary tights, ordinary cloak, mask, and gloves, the muscle contours on the clothes are sewn on, terrible skill, fat and clumsy..." In just an instant, these pieces of information flashed through Feng Bujue's mind.

"Hmph..." Jue-ge looked at the flying figure and snorted coldly. He didn't even bother to use any skills, he just slightly turned to the side, dodging the opponent's pounce.

As the person swung past him, Jue-ge casually delivered an elbow strike to their waist.

"Ah!" The fake Batman fell from the rope, crashing heavily to the ground, the sharp pain in his waist nearly causing him to faint. Compared to that, falling on all fours was nothing.

"What do you want?" Feng Bujue took a few steps forward, walked to the person's side, and looked down at him, "You think you can kill me? Then defeat the_Bruce and become the new God?"

"Ugh... ugh..." The fat man couldn't speak, maybe he was bleeding internally or had injured his spine, or maybe he was just scared.

"Heh..." Feng Bujue laughed inexplicably. He raised his head, glanced at the mobile cameras, then leaned down and said to the fat man on the ground, "Look at your expression... why_so_serious?" He looked directly into the other's terrified eyes, and continued, "Come on, smile."

At this moment, the entire city's screens were broadcasting what was happening here (several split screens on the edges of the screens were playing the scenes of other people escaping in their vehicles), everyone was watching this scene, including the_Bruce himself.

"You don't understand?" Seeing that the other person didn't react, Feng Bujue took out a pistol from his pocket (the gun was the item he received upon entering the script) and pressed it against the fat man's forehead.

"Cough... ugh..." The fake almost cried, but he still forced out a twisted smile. Ironically... he was still wearing his homemade Batman mask on his face.

"Hehe... that's right." Feng Bujue said with satisfaction, then stood up straight and put the gun back in his pocket.

The person on the ground suddenly relaxed, and fainted...

Jue-ge smiled noncommittally, then raised his head and said to the mobile cameras, "My villainous companions, listen up!" He loudly recited, "The dew is heavy at dawn... cranes in cloud nests. The long days only pass with... a game of chess." After finishing these two fragmented lines, he turned and left.

In most scripts, the dialogue between players and NPCs would be automatically translated into the other party's native language. However... the characters in the script genuinely didn't understand the two lines Jue-ge had just said. To them, the "Joker" was uttering strange syllables that made no sense...

…………

At the same time, the other three in the city...

Harley, played by Ruo Yu, was still sitting in her car. Her situation was similar to Jue-ge's a few minutes ago; the car had no brakes and the seatbelt was locked. And her solution was similar to Feng Bujue's - she chose to cut the seatbelt with a longsword.

However, Ruo Yu's ability to multitask was a little worse than Jue-ge's. Controlling a car speeding at high speed while cutting the seatbelt would take her longer. Besides... it wasn't very convenient to use [Consecration] in the car. This wasn't the folding military shovel that was only forty centimeters long when folded, but a longsword that was more than a meter long. It would be awkward if she accidentally cut herself.

Little Ling's situation was slightly better, because she had a military dagger with her, so when Feng Bujue recited the poem, she had already escaped from the flyer. She had cleverly entered the city's sewers, temporarily shaking off the surveillance cameras.

As for Little Tan... his situation was quite terrible. First of all, although his vehicle could fly, the height was limited, it couldn't fly very high; secondly, the speed of the flyer was too slow, the maximum speed was only forty kilometers per hour; third... his hands were fixed to the control sticks with two welded iron rings, and his feet were also locked to the base of the flyer with two similar metal objects.

In summary, Little Tan couldn't reach into his bag to take anything out for the time being, so he could only drive the flyer around randomly.

And the worst thing was... he was trapped in a crowded area. There were a large number of civilians on the streets and in the buildings on both sides, some dressed as civilians, some dressed in fake Batman suits, disguised as Batman or Batgirl. These people were besieging and intercepting "Two-Face" and attacking Little Tan with all kinds of homemade weapons (a few had guns).

…………

The perspective returns to Jue-ge...

After walking quickly for a while, Feng Bujue stopped next to a roadside power distribution box.

"Hmm... this should do." He muttered, and then took out the artifact military shovel again, and quickly pried open the box.

Then, Jue-ge did something shocking - he actually took off his gloves and reached inside...

"Aaaaaaaaaah—" No one knew what he touched, but a flash of electricity crackled and he flew backward. The hand he used was directly charred, and his body smelled of burnt meat. He twitched on the ground for a while after he landed.

But seconds later, Feng Bujue struggled to get up, put his gloves back on without changing his expression, letting the charred flesh stick to the gloves.

The people watching the live broadcast... were stunned.

"Good... this kind of burn doesn't cause continuous health loss, it's just a bit painful." Jue-ge thought, "Hmm... but the loss of Survival Value is really alarming. I withdrew my hand as soon as I made contact, but I still lost 50% of my Survival Value..." He licked his dry lips, "If this happened in real life, it would probably be enough to kill me several times..."

He was right, if he did this in reality, he wouldn't be able to pull his hand back at all. Even if he could, that one second... would be enough to electrocute an adult.

"Hoo—" Feng Bujue stretched after being electrocuted, and groaned comfortably.

The next second, his expression suddenly changed. Five or six golden lights suddenly flew from his hand, each hitting a mobile camera along a very precise trajectory.

…………

"What just happened?" the_Bruce looked at the surveillance images in front of him, which had all turned into static, and asked in a deep voice.

At this moment, the ruler of Gotham had returned to his castle, standing in a room that resembled a command center. The entire wall to his right was filled with screens. In this room, he could see the images returned by all the surveillance cameras and mobile cameras in the city.

Several uniformed staff members (the style was close to the original Robin suit, with an "R" logo on the left chest) were sitting at the high operation seats, busy with various data, feedback and situations.

"Did... did he fire a gun?" The man who called himself "Gordon," and also looked like Gordon, quickly replied. He was standing not far from Bruce, holding his master's bat suit and cloak.

"I don't think so..." Bruce said again, "Even if those rays were shots, but... what about the scene of him getting electrocuted earlier?"

"We've turned him into the 'Joker,' he's a lunatic now, who knows what he's doing?" Gordon said.

"I think I know." Another person chimed in.

He was a bald old man, wearing glasses and a set of earth-colored research clothes. He was Dr. Klibon, the_Bruce's most important subordinate. At the moment, he was using a portable instrument to check Bruce's physical condition (so Bruce had taken off his shirt and cloak).

"This person must be very smart... he realized that there was a tracking chip in his head, but he knew that he didn't have the means and conditions to remove the chip..." Dr. Klibon said, "So, he used the method of electric shock..."

"I think the doctor is right, before he destroyed those mobile cameras, we lost the tracking signal returning from him..." A staff member above turned around and replied.

Bruce immediately followed up, "That is to say... we have completely lost track of him?"

Silence fell in the room.

"Heh... hehe..." Bruce grinned inexplicably, then turned to Klibon and said, "Is the checkup over? How's the data?"

"Uh... the new heart's rhythm is very good, there are no rejection reactions like other transplanted organs." Klibon replied.

"Very good, Klibon, give me another shot of super stimulant." Bruce said, turning his gaze to the surveillance screen next to him, "Leave the 'Joker' until the end. I'll go deal with 'Two-Face' first and appease those rioters outside."