Chapter 172: New Candidate

"Do what you need to do and enjoy life as it happens."

- John Scalzi

...

After a while, the old director, wearing a white coat, walked out of the back door of Gotham General Hospital.

He looked around aimlessly and then headed into an alley behind the hospital.

As he walked, he glanced at the DNA analysis report in his hand.

'Cassandra's DNA is no different from that of a normal human. Why does she have such strong fighting abilities? Well, anything is possible in this world.'

In his thoughts, the director, or rather, Dean, continued, 'With this, I should be able to find her parents and discover her past.'

A few days ago, Cassandra came to Dean's house and asked if he was the Phantom Thief.

This really surprised Dean.

He didn't expect the first person to truly see through him would be not Batman or Robin, but a martial artist girl he had only met twice.

He was lucky that he had not been exposed. He didn't really think of himself as the Phantom Thief.

This was a deeply-rooted idea, not just a lie to himself. So, he had taken advantage of Cassandra's pseudo "mind-reading" ability.

This encounter allowed Dean to learn about Cassandra's immense potential.

Despite being a minor, she had the potential to become the world's strongest fighter.

In the DC universe, the title of the world's greatest fighter was no small feat.

Do you think Batman was good at fighting?

Imagine being able to master all forms of combat and having the best physical abilities, the most combat experience, and exceptionally high combat intelligence.

Taking all of these into account, the highest Batman could possibly be was in the top five, with a big gap between him and the best.

Batman is too old to make big improvements in his fighting skills right now, even if he is very talented. He probably won't be able to beat Richard Dragon at this.

This world is very famous for Richard Dragon, but his name may not be known to a lot of people. He was like a mentor who taught heroes better ways to do things.

He was one of Batman's many masters. He was the best at martial arts and a master of human peak combat techniques.

Dean had heard plenty of legends about him.

He was one of Batman's many mentors and had trained many superheroes. He was praised as the greatest martial arts master and the best fighter ever.

Dean often wonders if martial artists in this world can cultivate inner strength or something similar.

Otherwise, it's hard to explain why so many heroes with superpowers seek out Richard Dragon as their mentor.

What they do know is that the world's top martial artists generally have the ability to read their opponents' movements through body language.

It's like a standard skill, but the difference lies in the accuracy and range of their predictions.

Oh, except for Batman. Among top martial artists, he's the only one who doesn't have this ability.

He predicts others' actions purely through mental simulations instead of reading body language.

It's two different methods and techniques.

However, even though Richard Dragon is famous worldwide, he's still not the world's strongest.

For example, mercenaries like Bronze Tiger, a famous supervillain, are just as strong as Richard Dragon.

Richard Dragon himself has admitted to being defeated by someone who is the real number one martial artist in the world.

He didn't reveal the identity of this person; perhaps he mentioned it, but it wasn't made public.

In any case, there is someone out there whom Richard Dragon respects and acknowledges as stronger.

At this moment, Dean learned of Cassandra's terrifying potential and the various thoughts in his mind.

Extraordinary martial skills, the weird gift of reading the mind through body language, and a pure heart that hasn't been influenced by Batman

What does this mean?

It means that Cassandra has an incredibly rare talent!

If she is given a suit with enough defense, she could easily defeat Batman!

Dean has considered many things. It's tough to survive alone in this DC world, and many of his ideas can't be accomplished on his own.

If he wants to buy a simulation robot with human-level intelligence or a technique that creates clones, the costs are too high.

Dean simply can't afford it.

Just imagine that even Batman has Robin and Batgirl as his assistants. The Justice League is like his team on a bigger level.

Konosuke Jii and Saguru Hakuba help Kaito Kid in the original story. The White Horse sometimes gives information to Kaito Kid himself.

Why can't Dean have assistance like everyone else?

Dean almost felt like he was a demon lord about to be defeated by a hero after Robin mocked him for not having partners while he had.

However, Dean was very cautious in selecting this potential partner.

First, the person must really be able to help him. It would be even better if they could make up for his flaws.

A person with Konosuke Jii's limited skills wouldn't be very useful, especially in such a strange world.

Second, it goes without saying that the person must be trustworthy.

Dean had been looking for a future partner for a while but hadn't found the right person yet.

Those who were trustworthy lacked the necessary abilities, and those with the abilities couldn't be trusted.

Until Cassandra showed up and gave Dean a great candidate.

We don't need to talk about her abilities, but what's most important is that she is very innocent. Not a simple innocence, but a soul that has never been corrupted.

Once he establishes a trusting relationship with someone like her, she will be loyal for a lifetime.

If he doesn't betray her, she won't betray him.

Dean has probably been in Gotham for too long because he wants to properly examine Cassandra, even though he already plans to recruit her as his assistant.

It just so happened that Cassandra's hair had fallen onto Dean's sofa, providing a perfect opportunity.

So he took it to the hospital for analysis.

He wanted to learn more about Cassandra by digging into her past and finding out who her parents were and what kind of life she may have had.

On the other hand, he wanted to find the source of Cassandra's emotional burden and try to resolve it, which would help Dean and her become closer.

'The Gotham General Hospital doesn't have any records of Cassandra's birth or DNA files. The chances of finding them in other hospitals are probably slim. It seems that she wasn't born in Gotham but came from a distant city.'

Dean confirmed it in his mind.

'Cassandra's father or mother is likely to be a criminal, perhaps even a supervillain? Maybe I should look through the FBI or the Department of Metahuman Affairs... Or find a way to sneak into the Batcave for the files?'

'In terms of difficulty, the first seems more achievable, doesn't it?'

...

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