Ian ultimately overestimated his purchasing power, or perhaps underestimated the economic strength of the role-playing community. The money he carried only allowed him to buy a low-quality imitation costume.
Of course.
Clutching the plastic Bat-shuriken and tugging at the ill-fitting cloth armor, Ian remained confident. He used the cover of night to arrive at a secluded public telephone booth.
This type of communication facility was still ubiquitous in America. Thanks to his parents' professions and his excellent memory, Ian had memorized the contact information of many famous media outlets by heart.
The first call was, naturally, to the editor-in-chief of the famous *Daily Planet*.
"Hello? I'm a concerned citizen."
He deliberately made his voice sound like an adult.
"I saw Batman in the Old Quarter! Yes! It was him! I swear on my father! If I'm lying, may my father run into a bunch of supervillains the moment he leaves the house!"
"Yes, yes, I always like to make grave oaths. May I run into supervillains, too." Ian ended the first call and then made calls two, three, four, five, six, seven... a total of eighteen calls.
Ian didn't spare the local TV stations either.
"Batman! Oh my God! I saw Batman! He was on a date with a woman in the Old Quarter! I don't know why he would wear his superhero costume on a date."
"Maybe his date has a special preference... What are you talking about? Of course, you have to avoid your own city for a date. It couldn't be more reasonable for them to come to Metropolis!"
Next.
It was a media outlet that preferred gossip.
"Exclusive news. Can I get a TV submission bonus for this?... I saw Batman walk out of an alley. That place is often frequented by cheap streetwalkers."
"I believe Batman must have come to Metropolis for a business trip and decided to help those poor women on the side. The specific location? It's here in the Old Quarter, in the gathering spot where the drug dealers like to hang out."
"Gotta go, Batman is walking toward me, pulling up his pants."
For every media outlet.
Ian chose the type of news they liked best. He had once been a man who scrolled through clickbait headlines, having spent time with the 'Shock Department' of his former life's newsfeed, so he knew how to seize a marketing explosion point. After notifying most of the media outlets he knew, Ian hesitated slightly before calling his own journalist mother.
He didn't want his mother to miss out on the bonus for today's Batman news. Journalists in Metropolis were highly competitive, and Ian knew some of his mother's news reports were clearly staged with his father.
The call connected.
His mother's voice on the other end asked who it was.
"Lois, it's me, I'm Batman, your old friend... I plan to expand my superhero business to your Metropolis side tonight."
Ian lowered his voice, perfectly mimicking Bruce Wayne's deep, gravelly, "laryngeal cancer" voice. His [Learning] talent made it easy for him to pick up many life skills.
However.
"No, I'm not Ian, and I'm not causing trouble outside." In all fairness, Ian's voice was one hundred percent the same as Batman's voice.
Yet he still received strong skepticism from the other end of the phone.
"I really am Batman. Can't you just believe me for once—damn it, don't come out. Tonight, Batman isn't going to the Old Quarter. He's rushing back to Gotham overnight!"
"I am rushing back to Gotham overnight... *Hiss*, no, I'm not sharply inhaling because someone beat me up. I'm just checking if I've grown pointy ears on top of my head."
"Okay, Mom, I'll be right back."
Ian exasperatedly hung up the phone with Lois.
Of course, he wouldn't choose to go home immediately. "Right back" never meant immediately, it meant whenever he arrived home, that was the point at which "right back" concluded.
The right of interpretation belonged to Ian, naturally.
Of course.
The right to ignore the interpretation and spank him belonged to Lois.
"Never mind! I must overcome fear to become fear itself!" Ian used Batman's signature gravelly vocal fry. He re-immersed himself in the role he was playing.
The night in the Old Quarter was quite lively.
He didn't find any major robberies.
But that didn't stop Ian, wearing his cheap Batman suit, from running on rooftops and walls in the Naruto-style ninja run, going wherever there were people.
He was practically afraid that people wouldn't be able to spot the black figure in the darkness.
[Job Change Quest: Gain sufficient public attention and support (432/100000)]
The facts proved that Ian's thinking was not flawed, and he and his system were still perfectly aligned. After just a little roaming around, his job change quest had already made decent progress.
The darkness concealed his cheap suit, so most people didn't doubt his identity. After all, not just anyone playing cosplay could leap seven or eight meters between tall buildings to another rooftop, and even perform a dozen backflips mid-air—even Bruce Wayne himself probably couldn't do that without technological assistance.
"Oh! My God! Batman is here! Is there some super terrible disaster in Metropolis again?"
"Look! He lost his footing and fell from the fourth-story rooftop! He didn't die! He climbed up and ran away! It's Batman! This must be the real Batman!"
"Yeah! Just like they say—the one who can't be killed is Batman!"
...
[Job Change Quest: Gain sufficient public attention and support (841/100000)]
[Job Change Quest: Gain sufficient public attention and support (1367/100000)]
[Job Change Quest: Gain sufficient public attention and support (1842/100000)]
...
While scurrying about.
Ian naturally also took care of some trivial matters.
Such as drunken brawls, small-scale gang fights, and deadbeats not paying for sex workers.
He actually did encounter bank robberies and similar cases, but Ian was afraid of a Superman vs. Batman scenario, so he could only pretend not to see them and dared not interfere.
This was for the sake of Batman's reputation, as he didn't want the outside world to see Batman being brutally beaten by a bunch of thugs. Fortunately, the media that rushed to the scene were much friendlier to the "foreign superhero" than to the local heroes.
"He's helping the elderly! Helping children! And a disabled person who might not have wanted to cross the road! He even smiled at the camera. Is this the Batman we know?"
"Yes, this is Batman! This is true chivalry! We've all been lied to by our colleagues in Gotham! Batman is more considerate of the common folk than Superman!"
"I see. Just as we like to smear Superman, it seems the news coming out of Gotham can't be trusted at all. Does this Batman look like he enjoys being elusive?"
"Batman's chin is so handsome!"
"Is Batman's suit a little off? Maybe it's my imagination. It must be my imagination! For tonight's overtime pay! It can only be my imagination!"
...
The local journalists' performance was genuinely friendly.
They vividly demonstrated what it meant for an outsider hero to be more appealing.
And with the arrival of these journalists.
[Job Change Quest: Gain sufficient public attention and support (3232/100000)]
[Job Change Quest: Gain sufficient public attention and support (4331/100000)]
Ian truly experienced the benefits of being famous. If he had used the [Silk-Stocking Superman] account to dispense justice, he wouldn't have been able to attract such a large gathering.
"Look! TV stations are even live-streaming this!" Ian stood on a rooftop, facing the floodlights, and spoke in a deep, low voice.
"How did you know I came to Metropolis? I don't need attention—with great power comes great responsibility. Justice never needs validation from others."
Ian muttered a mashup of famous lines.
He feigned surprise, acting as if he had been accidentally discovered. In all fairness, Ian's behavior certainly wouldn't fool a Gotham local; a Gotham local could probably spot the fake instantly. However, this was Metropolis. The citizens of Metropolis were not as familiar with Batman as the Gothamites.
This was why Ian chose to impersonate Batman and didn't try to hijack his father's account. He had also considered the gentler Wonder Woman, but his legs were simply not long enough.
Some people profit by exploiting information asymmetry to resell goods, and Ian used information asymmetry to resell a hero's image. Reality was always so absurd. He was not only successful but hugely successful.
"Click click click~"
The sound of cameras continually went off.
"Does Superman know you're in Metropolis?"
A troublemaker shouted the question.
"I came here because I saw a negligent Superman. There are still many criminals operating in the corners of Metropolis, but Superman? He only focuses on the big cases—I came to Metropolis to tell the world: what Superman ignores, Batman handles, and who Superman doesn't catch, Batman catches!"
Ian imitated Batman's cadence, his voice impassioned. "Also, the criminals Superman won't kill... Um, I won't kill them either. I only ever lock them all up in prison."
He had almost engaged in *out-of-character* behavior that didn't fit the persona.
Luckily, he re-immersed himself in the role in time.
Countless applause erupted below the tall buildings, and likely on the other end of the live broadcast, too. In any case, the attention, recognition, and support Ian received were rapidly closing in on the quest completion goal.
[Job Change Quest: Gain sufficient public attention and support (34133/100000)]
[Job Change Quest: Gain sufficient public attention and support (47568/100000)]
...
With TV stations live-streaming, the results and feedback were truly impressive. Just as Ian was overjoyed, wracking his brain for more commentary that would resonate with the public.
"Vroom vroom vroom~!"
A huge engine roar sounded from the sky. A reporter looked up and was the first to exclaim, "My God! It's the Batmobile! He really is the real Batman!"
Now, even the sharp-eyed reporters who had noticed Ian's abnormal costume had to believe it. After all, everyone knew that only the real Batman possessed the Batmobile.
The surrounding crowd instantly erupted.
Only Ian, standing on the rooftop, froze in place.
He knew his "account hijacking" couldn't be hidden from Bruce Wayne, but he really hadn't expected Bruce Wayne to rush over that very night to stop his activities.
The good news.
The Batmobile was operating in *driverless* mode.
As for the bad news.
"Plop~"
The Batmobile air-dropped a cell phone.
Ian pretended not to catch it.
He hadn't expected the phone to be tougher than a Nokia. Although it fell onto the concrete rooftop, it was completely undamaged and automatically answered a call.
Feeling a deep sense of dread, Ian rushed forward and stamped on it hard several times, but still failed to destroy the fallen phone—just as Ian was annoyed that he hadn't brought his hammer, a male voice, who had already anticipated Ian's possible actions and whose composure was stable, sounded on the other end of the phone.
"Kid, what are you doing?"
It was very magnetic.
That authentic *Old Bat* flavor was unmistakable.