Chapter 1 Hidden Mission Activated

Just then, the system voice rang in Feng Bujue's ear.

He immediately opened the quest log and saw the line [Personally confirm the whereabouts of at least ten super-villains]. Moreover, this task already had progress when it first appeared, with [Current progress 2/10] written after it.

"Two out of ten, huh..." Feng Bujue thought for a moment, then muttered, "Killer Croc in front of me definitely counts as one, Harley Quinn... or rather, Dr. Quinn, definitely counts as one too." He paused. "But if Penguin and Two-Face are also included, then the villains whose 'whereabouts I know' should already be four..."

With that thought, Feng Bujue shifted his gaze from the wall and focused the flashlight beam on the torso of the skeleton.

"Hmm... I understand..." While investigating, he also distracted himself by deducing information related to the task, and quickly came to the correct conclusion, "Learning the whereabouts of villains through the 'script introduction' does not meet the prerequisite of 'personally confirm' in the task description. I have to 'see the person alive or the body dead'."

The fact was just as he thought. This hidden mission was not just about intelligence gathering; players had to personally find a villain, or find conclusive evidence that the villain was dead, to be considered as "confirming their whereabouts."

As for other methods... such as obtaining relevant information through television, newspapers, the Internet, phone books, or even hearsay, it would not unlock the task progress.

"Let's take a look at this shackle..." Feng Bujue, having understood the task, turned most of his attention to the "metal armor" on the skeleton.

There was a tightly fastened lock on this restraint, but there was no keyhole at all, meaning that the person who made it never intended for the wearer to take it off. Judging from the size, it was undoubtedly "tailor-made" for Killer Croc. Someone with Feng Bujue's build wouldn't be locked in at all, because he could easily wriggle out of it with a simple shrug.

"Heh... sure is tough." Feng Bujue tried to bend this restraint with his hundred-plus jins of grip strength, but to no avail, which was within his expectations. If it couldn't even withstand his strength, how could it possibly restrain Killer Croc?

"Hmm?" Just as Jue Ge was about to let go of the restraint, he suddenly felt something strange on his hand...

At that moment, a force like gravity appeared where his skin and the restraint were in contact, spreading through his palm and slowly creeping towards his forearm, causing his entire arm to feel weak.

It was a very subtle feeling... like a black hole constantly expanding inside your body, sucking in all the energy around it.

"F*ck!" Feng Bujue reacted quickly, blurting out a curse while hastily withdrawing.

And a few seconds after his hand left the restraint, the strength in his arm quickly returned...

"This thing..." Jue Ge immediately became alert. "Isn't a common metal from the human world..."

As he spoke, he took out the Mad Moxxi's poker cards again, wanting to test whether he could cut through the material with them; however... he couldn't cut through it with the cards either.

"Whoa~" Feng Bujue's curiosity grew even stronger. He took out *The Autobiography of Chuck Norris* from his bag and used it to analyze the data of the metal. The result he got was...

"Huh? Mass-produced Inaron alloy?" Jue Ge was also shocked when he saw the data.

Feng Bujue knew a thing or two about "Inaron metal"... It was one of the hardest and densest metals in the DC universe. In the comics, it was often described as "indestructible," and it also had properties such as "reflecting any light, ignoring temperature effects, being an insulator, and turning matter into a weightless state."

But Jue Ge wasn't quite sure what "mass-produced Inaron alloy" was. It was the first time he'd heard the term.

"Wait a minute..." A few seconds later, Feng Bujue realized something else. He followed the chains on the restraint all the way to the bed frame next to it, then grabbed the bed frame and shook it a few times, his expression changing. "Are the chains and the bed also made of this material..."

This situation answered several of Jue Ge's doubts... such as why Killer Croc didn't break the chains and escape, why he didn't dismantle the bed and escape, and why he didn't drag the entire bed with him...

"I see..." Feng Bujue spent some more time testing it out, and generally understood the effect of this alloy. "If the contact time is short and you don't exert force... the 'loss of strength' effect appears slowly and is not obvious. But if you struggle while maintaining contact, you will quickly become paralyzed." He stroked his chin and muttered, "Hmm... good stuff. If you could make a pair of handcuffs out of this alloy, most characters below the 'planetary level' (here he used the Yu-Chao League's rating system as a matter of course) should be easily subdued."

He was just thinking about it, but in reality, he had no way to make it happen.

Right now, Jue Ge didn't have any props or skills that could be used to cut this alloy... and the restraint, chains, and bed were all connected. Obviously, he couldn't fit the entire bed into his bag.

At this point, he began to miss [The Must-Break Defense Blade]. With that, he could easily cut up all the "mass-produced Inaron alloy" here and take it away. Thinking of this... he couldn't help but curse "Mad Eye" a few times in his heart.

"Sigh... forget it." In the end, Jue Ge could only reluctantly console himself before leaving, "Anyway, I don't have the technology to smelt this alloy..."

He reluctantly searched this "room" again, and after confirming that there were no other flag-like settings besides "triggering the hidden mission," he packed up his props and returned the way he came.

As Feng Bujue started running forward again in the sewers, the pressure in his heart increased slightly, because at this time, he had already deduced that the person who trapped Killer Croc here... was probably Batman.

If this was a DC universe that Jue Ge knew well, it would be easy to handle. Even if Batman was very powerful in the setting, with a premeditated mind and intelligence advantage... it wouldn't be impossible to take down. But... a strange, unfamiliar universe, and a Batman who used scientific technologies that even Feng Bujue didn't know, and whose style was unclear... wasn't so easy to deal with.