"Mm, air without a big blue bald head is truly comfortable."
Standing on the streets of Gotham, Fang Yuan finally relaxed.
It was daytime. Nearby, a group of Gang members was chasing a young man into an alley, clearly targeting the briefcase in his hand.
"As expected of the great United States; no wonder so many people yearn for the freedom here," he complained with a curl of his lip.
Of course, before coming here, most people think they'll be able to thrive like a fish in water, unaware that their role is basically the one being chased.
Fang Yuan also stepped inside. When he left Gotham last time, he had set his return for six months later. He wanted to see who was ruling Gotham's underground World now.
Walking into the alley, the young man had already been surrounded by six Gang members. Fang Yuan found it a bit strange that he didn't run toward the main road; why duck into an alley if you're unfamiliar with the route? Could he really outrun local thugs in a maze of alleys?
But soon, Fang Yuan felt even more puzzled by something else.
It was understandable for the young man to run into the alley in a panic, but it was harder to understand why this group of Gang members had no reaction at all to him following them in.
Snap! Snap!
"Hey!"
Fang Yuan snapped his fingers twice and shouted, and only then did the Gang members turn their heads.
"What do you want?" the leader asked impatiently.
Was he trying to be a hero, or was he trying to steal their customer?
Fang Yuan raised an eyebrow and said directly, "Let go of that man; this guy is mine to rob!"
Ahem, when in Gotham, one must embrace freedom.
Unexpectedly, the thugs opposite him immediately showed expressions of surprise, as if they had heard something incredible.
It was just a case of 'black eating black'; how could that be anything but normal in Gotham?
Fang Yuan was very puzzled. Was this group just starting out?
To his surprise, that same question came from the other party's mouth.
"Are you new to Gotham?" the leader asked.
"Huh?"
The man pulled out a card and explained to Fang Yuan, "We have a license issued by the Penguin Gang. This entire street is ours to rob!"
Penguin Gang? License?
Fang Yuan suddenly thought of those two villains who had crossed over from the 'Gotham' TV series: Penguin and Riddler.
A Crime License was something Penguin would come up with in the plot. After obtaining a Crime License, as long as a robbery didn't harm anyone's life and taxes were paid to Penguin, Penguin would then give the Police a cut. The Police wouldn't arrest those with licenses, successfully causing Gotham's crime rate to drop significantly.
When robbery is legalized, how could the crime rate not be low?
However, looking closely at the fine print on the Crime License in the man's hand, Fang Yuan found that it only divided spheres of influence among criminals and wasn't actually linked to the authorities.
True, by now Gordon had already become the Police Director, not to mention the existence of Batman.
But this also showed that Penguin was doing quite well in this World, even able to divide territory for the Gangs.
"Aren't you afraid of Batman?" Fang Yuan asked with a half-smile. "And Gordon from the Police station?"
"Tch!" The man snatched the license back. "Gotham is so big; Gordon can't catch everyone. If I get caught, I'll just consider it bad luck."
If you die, you die; if you don't, you live forever.
Gotham's Gang members really had a philosophical outlook.
"And... Batman?"
The man was even more dismissive.
"Isn't that thing fake?" He didn't take Batman seriously at all. "He's just a character the citizens made up to scare us."
Confirmed by that look: this was someone Batman had never beaten up.
But this was also normal, because Fang Yuan glanced at Bruce Wayne's reputation.
96.
It hadn't broken 100 yet; Batman was definitely slacking off!
Big Boss Fang was very dissatisfied.
Of course, it was also possible there was no bonus from a major event.
But this made Fang Yuan even more curious about the current state of Gotham's underground forces, so he gave the Gang members a friendly smile.
Thud... bang... After a round of friendly communication, Fang Yuan went straight to the Penguin Gang headquarters the men had mentioned, found the boss Penguin, and then used Telepathy on him.
What?
Why didn't he use Telepathy on the Gang members too?
Fang Yuan was laying his cards on the table: his hands were just itching to beat someone up.
At this moment, Penguin, who had previously been shivering with fear from Batman, was holding a meeting for his Gang leaders.
That's how Gangs were; night was their working time, and they'd be busy until at least the latter half of the night. Otherwise, if your rivals were working hard on their careers while you were sleeping, it would be hard to say if your territory would still be yours tomorrow.
As it happened, Little Penguin loved working on his career the most.
When Fang Yuan arrived, Penguin was arrogantly lecturing his subordinates. Sitting right next to him was the Riddler in his green suit. It seemed this pair of 'twin swords' had made a big name for themselves venturing through Gotham.
From Penguin's memories, Fang Yuan learned that the two of them now ruled more than half of Gotham's underground, and they had more underlings than in their original World.
However, they had long been targeted by Batman. There was only one reason they could still be thriving like this—
"Batman, you big-eyed, thick-browed guy, you've actually colluded with the Gangs too."
On the way to Wayne Manor, Fang Yuan complained in his heart.
But complaining aside, Fang Yuan wasn't surprised at all, because this was a suggestion he had previously given to Bruce.
Other superheroes might not listen to Fang Yuan's nonsense, but this Batman really would.
Fang Yuan was just dissatisfied that Bruce hadn't let his reputation reach 100 after so long, preventing him from freeloading a Character Template.
He walked into Wayne Manor with practiced ease; this place's layout wouldn't change for decades. After walking through it a few times, one wouldn't trip even with eyes closed.
"Mr. Fang Yuan?" the voice of the butler-hero Alfred came.
"Hi, Alf!"
Fang Yuan saw Alfred in his pajamas at a glance and raised a hand in greeting.
"You knew I was here so quickly?"
Although Fang Yuan hadn't hidden himself, Alfred had indeed come out very fast.
"Master Bruce has installed many sensors in the manor, which can effectively detect visitors," Alfred explained.
True, now that Batman had been reborn, Wayne Manor couldn't still be like a sieve.
Fang Yuan sized up Alfred and suddenly smiled. "But your spirit is quite good too."
Alfred had clearly been woken from a dream, yet there wasn't a trace of sleepiness in his eyes.
"Master Bruce has many... unique potions," Alfred didn't hide it.
Batman had more than one type of technology to improve the human physique; there was bound to be one suitable for Alfred. After all, as his closest person, Bruce naturally didn't want anything to happen to him.
"But... where is Bruce?" Fang Yuan asked curiously.
The fact that Alfred was sleeping proved that Batman hadn't gone on patrol tonight; otherwise, the enhanced Butler-knight would surely be in the Batcave acting as an assistant. But right now, Bruce was clearly not in Wayne Manor.
To his surprise, Alfred also shook his head. "I don't know. The young master has been traveling far frequently during this period, but he hasn't told me specifically where he's going, and the aircraft has no records."
Fang Yuan immediately smelled something unusual.
Bruce wasn't being Batman and was running off all the time?
He calculated the time, and an answer suddenly appeared in his heart.
You will get 90 chapter ahead for this fanfiction.
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