1 Chapter 1: Prologue

Name: Mason Cooper

Race: Standard Human

Age: 17 years old

Identity: Gotham City high school dropout, low-level security personnel at the Iceberg Lounge, Penguin's reserve Bodyguard.

Status: Daydreaming (for 7 minutes and 27 seconds), security duty (slacking off)

Trait: None

Skill: None

Suggestion: The small leader is approaching, it is suggested to end the slacking-off state immediately.

"Swish"

On the busiest street outside of the Gotham slums' most profitable Iceberg Lounge

Mason, who was in a dream-like state, snapped out of it. His dazed eyes blinked, and he stood up straight, adopting a vigilant posture of looking around in all directions.

He happened to be noticed by the small leader who came out of the bar with a cigarette in his mouth among the reserve Bodyguards slacking off.

"The quality of this batch of newcomers is not bad."

For reasons unknown, the small leader with a "soup" tattoo on his shoulder nodded satisfactorily and pat Mason, who stood out among the waste minions, on the shoulder to encourage him.

"This is the kind of spirit our Penguin Gang reserve members should have. All you useless drug addicts and losers should learn from him!"

He shouted drunkenly, making the group of young ponies around the same age as Mason startled, but after the boss left with a grin, their eyes towards Mason became less friendly.

"We all agreed to slack off together, but you secretly studied, right?"

Mason didn't care about the hostile glances around him. After confirming the boss had left, he stared at the translucent screen in front of him with text, seeming to want to break it open and crush it to see what secrets it held.

Mason Cooper is an old "Black Flag" gang member in Gotham.

His father, who died in a gun battle at the pier last month, was a backbone member of the Penguin Gang and was said to have been a veteran who fought alongside the famous Penguin himself. But Mason ain't no star student, just a regular "black second generation" struggling to finish school.

After his cheap old man was killed to death, he was summoned by the gang as a glorious soldier under the command of the Penguin.

The young man had little objection to this career plan before he was killed by a bottle of alcohol falling from a high altitude last night. But after another soul awakened within him, the new Mason felt that this situation was simply fucking awful.

To be a black gangster in Gotham City, isn't that the same as joining the German army in 1944 and pledging allegiance to the captain in '1949?

No.

Not even as good as that.

The young man with bandages still wrapped around his head was bored looking at the traffic of people and cars on the street and glanced at the luxurious Iceberg Lounge behind him.

For the seventh time, he refused the "cigarette" handed to him by the African guy next to him and couldn't help but complain.

'Put me in a shitty drama and I would just be a cannon fodder character who wouldn't survive a single episode.'

'This won't do! I need to figure out a way to clear my name and make some money so I can leave Gotham. I could live under the protection of Superman in Metropolis or follow the gorgeous and badass Wonder Woman in London. How awesome would that be?'

Suddenly, there was a loud explosion from the top floor of the ice mountain bar behind him, just as Mason, the "black second generation" had the rebellious idea of quick and easy money.

A group of small thugs didn't realize what was happening before a large piece of burning scrap fell from the sky, smashing several unlucky guys around Mason and causing chaos on the street.

"Quick! Someone has stolen the boss's treasure! He ran over there! Follow me!"

The little head honcho, who was talking and laughing with Mason just a moment ago, suddenly turned into a madman and charged out of the bar with his boss and a group of real gangsters.

He yelled at his new lackeys and pulled out a black pistol from his pocket, tossing it to Mason and saying:

"You, come with me! The gang remembers your old man's contributions. Do a good job tonight, and you'll have a bright future ahead of you."

"Ah, yes, a bright fucking future. Got it."

What else could Mason say?

The boss had loaded his fucking gun.

Mason could only carry his own gun with worn-out rifling and follow his boss into a car. In an instant, more than a dozen cars loaded with gangsters broke into the flow of traffic on the main road, chasing after the fucking thief who had the fucking nerve to escape.

"That bastard was injured by the boss, he can't run far. He's fucking dead for daring to provoke the Penguin Gang."

The boss in the car was fucking excited, drinking alcohol and making his face flush red. Maybe he was even fucking high on drugs, making him look like a mad bull. But to Mason, his fucking rantings were just like farting.

His attention was focused on the handgun in his hand. In his unique semi-transparent HUD, there was a small label on the gun:

Name: Gangster's Old Gun

Quality: Junk Item

Effect: There is a 15% chance of a barrel explosion every time the gun is fired. The highly worn rifling gives bullets a 50% chance of entering the Brownian motion state.

Item Description: Try not to use the gun for your own sake. Using it as a war hammer is the correct way to use it.

After reading this label, Mason saw another line of text in front of his eyes: Holding an engineering creation, the Engineering Skill Branch is opened, currently at Level 0, and Engineering Item Modification is unlocked.

There was a flash of light in Mason's eyes, and the three-dimensional handgun appeared in front of him.

This thing was obviously simulated based on the appearance of his "blow-up gun", but it was more concise and powerful than the gun in his hand. The drawing also thoughtfully listed the assembly process and suggestions.

Basically, it's a fucking tutorial on how to build a new gun with materials.

"This thing is fucking sick," Mason exclaimed.

He felt like he had unlocked a new career as an arms dealer on the first day of his transmigration.

The car stopped at a dark alley filled with garbage, and the shouting and screaming gang members jumped out of the car and rushed into it. The small boss also brought Mason into the uneasy darkness in front of them.

"You go over there, I'll help you guard the back," the boss said to Mason, pointing his gun at him and making Mason angry.

What the fuck does he mean, guard the fucking back?!

It's clearly asking me to be cannon fodder and go ahead first.

The damned alley was dark without even a street light, but Mason, with a bandage wrapped around his head, didn't argue, considering the persuasiveness of the breech-loading gun in his hand. He held the gun and entered the alley before him.

Loud and chaotic noises came from the other side, along with random gunshots, fearful screams, and the sound of heavy objects falling, which frightened Mason.

A black figure leaped over the low wall and fell into the black trash pile, fluttering a few times before becoming motionless as if dead.

"What happened?"

The boss guarding the entrance of the alley heard the noise and walked over, holding a gun.

Mason pointed to what was in front of him and looked at his own leader, dragging out a woman covered in blood from the trash. She was wearing an exaggerated black tight-fitting suit, which almost showed her terrifyingly slender figure completely.

She also had a strange red visor on her head, resembling the red eyes of a black cat, and the most unique thing was that there were two cat ear on the left and right sides of her headgear.

This catgirl in the tight suit is too spicy.

'Isn't this Catwoman?' Mason immediately recognized the heavily injured woman in front of him from her unique outfit. She had a wound on her abdomen that seemed to have been inflicted by the Penguin while she was stealing something.

"Ha, I knew it, today the advantage is mine!"

The boss's face lit up when he saw his underling discovering the thief. He bent down and carried the unconscious Catwoman onto his shoulder. He then gestured to Mason and whispered, "Go start the car! Don't alert anyone else."

"Huh?"

The young man was stunned but then heard his boss imparting some "tips for a gangster's career: "You're silly, what's the use of splitting the spoils among so many people? In our line of work, you have to be quick and nimble. The boss rewards according to merit. You're in luck tonight."

"I'll have the meat, and you can have the soup. After this, work with me properly, I won't treat you unfairly."

"Sure, I'll learn from you."

Mason showed a look of being taught while giving a thumbs up to the boss and glanced at the Catwoman he was carrying, his eyes flashing with some thinking.

'He had just been thinking about how to clear his name, and now here was an opportunity. So, the question now was whether he would do it or not and how he would do it.'

With this kind of thinking, Mason quickly drove to a hidden spot at the entrance of the alley and opened the car door, whispering to the boss, who was running out with the Catwoman in his arms.

"Boss, the car is ready!"

The boss, anxious and afraid of someone else stealing his credit, was overjoyed and rushed over with the Catwoman.

And in the moment when he bent down to get into the car, Mason narrowed his eyes, swung the crowbar hidden in his hand, and smashed it at his own boss.

Do it or not?

The two options, rescuing Catwoman and washing his name by joining the invincible Batman or staying in the Penguin's gang and buying personal insurance for his underlings, were both in front of him.

Mason didn't take more than a second to make his decision.

Just as the attack occurred, his field of vision suddenly changed:

"Enter combat mode! Combat assistance activated, preset attack ways marked."

The boss, facing away from Mason, had his vital points marked in red light as soon as the combat assistance was activated. Mason could even see a virtual attack route generated before his eyes. He just needed to swing the crowbar according to that arc to take down or knock out this guy.

In an instant, there was no time to think.

A cold crowbar hit the back of the head of the hot-blooded gang boss with a bang.

Drunk and high on drugs, he had been taking advantage of the unconscious Catwoman's curvy body when he fell to the ground without making a sound.

Blood flowed from his head, but he was still breathing.

This scene also shocked Catwoman, who was lying weakly in the car but had already grabbed a short knife like a cat's claw and was prepared to fight back with all her might. She stared in disbelief as the gang member attacked his boss and couldn't understand why he would do such a thing.

"Can you still drive?" Mason threw the car keys to the wide-eyed

Catwoman, who moved to the driver's seat while holding her wound. She glanced at the young man who was helping her and asked in a hoarse voice, "Why did you save me?"

"In the past, I didn't have a choice, but now I just want to be a good person," Mason said, lowering his head. He urged, "Hurry up and go. I don't expect you to repay me, just remember that I'm Mason Cooper. Is this yours?"

Mason picked up a strange-shaped mechanical hard drive from the ground, which looked like a sword. He wiped the blood off it and held it in his hand. Meanwhile, the weakened Catwoman started the car and didn't forget to release her explosive female hormones even in this desperate moment.

She stretched her body and joked, "I heard that the Penguin even buys insurance for you guys. It seems that it's still not enough to buy people's hearts. This thing has a tracking device on it, and I won't get far alone. The Penguin will never let anyone who has come into contact with it go. You're in trouble, little guy."

"Get in the car. We have to deliver it to Batman. Only he can handle this."

"Bang!"

Bullets flew by with the sound of bustling footsteps in the alley, hitting the car door and sparking.

Mason no longer hesitated, crouching down and getting into the car. Catwoman stepped on the gas pedal, and the car shot off at top speed, ruthlessly smashing through the garbage in front of them and into the dark street.

The gangster cars quickly caught up, and a chase broke out on the street.

The gangsters were insane, taking out automatic weapons and shooting at the car, shattering the rear windshield and forcing Mason to crouch down.

However, he remained in combat mode, aided by his superb combat skills.

As he picked up the pistol he had snatched from the boss, the floating red crosshair and simulated ballistic trajectory made the young man feel like he was playing an ultra-exciting FPS game.

"Drive steady!"

A bullet flew over and knocked off the side mirror, causing Mason to shout at Catwoman and crawl into the back seat, lying flat with his hands on the gun to prepare to fire back.

"You're crazy! Are you trying to tickle them with a pistol at this distance?" Catwoman screamed from her injuries.

"You just drive, sis. I am doing my work, you should shut up." Mason replied without turning his head.

He then took a deep breath, looked at the floating targeting crosshair on the screen, locked onto the windshield of the pursuing car, and aimed his gun at the driver.

Aligning the preset bullet trajectory with the target, he quickly fired two shots.

The first shot pierced a hole in the windshield of the rear car.

The second shot hit the driver's arm.

The poor guy screamed and then lost control of the vehicle, crashing into a nearby taxi, flipping over and smashing into the ground.

'Successful execution of one shot, shooting branching skills proficiency increased, currently at Level 0' a message appeared in a translucent screen in front of Mason, shaking him.

'This thing has experience and levels?! Is human life just an experience? Don't play these hellish jokes, you bastard'

"Who are you exactly?" Catwoman looked at Mason's two shots in the rearview mirror and said to this mature big sister with a sidelong glance. "Are all the penguin gang's henchmen monsters? Or is there a masked vigilante in this city that I don't know about?"

"I've already told you, I had no other choice." Mason looked at the gangsters chasing them from behind and fired a few shots, forcing the second car to stop

He turned back to Catwoman and shouted, "Where are you going? Don't you want to find Batman?"

Catwoman really wanted to tell Mason that she was going straight to Wayne Manor, but her lover really disliked exposing their true identities, so Catwoman could only remain silent and accelerate.

"Go to Gotham City Police Department at the next turn" Mason probably guessed Catwoman's thoughts from her silence and said in a deep voice.

"There is a device there that can contact Batman, and it's even closer than here. I can hold out, but you can't delay your injury any longer. Can you contact Commissioner Gordon"

"You're quite a clever little thing, cutie. Despite your young age, you surprisingly make people feel at ease." Catwoman also understood the young person's plan. She gritted her teeth in pain and threw her phone with a flick of her wrist, saying while driving: "The third number."

"Bang."

A gunshot rang out.

Mason fired the last bullet in the handgun's magazine, causing the third car with the approaching gangster driver to perform a backlip

The fleeing vehicle sped forward. Against the backdrop of the bright explosion in the distance, Mason threw the empty handgun out the window and pressed the communication key on Catwoman's phone.

"Hello? Commissioner Gordon? Don't panic, I need to tell you something."

"A large group of penguin people's gang members are planning to attack Gotham Police Department. God knows what these thugs are up to, but I saw RPGs in their cars, so you better be prepared in advance. They will be there within five minutes. Remember to turn on the Bat-Signal on the roof! We really need that man now. You know who I'm talking about!"

.....

i would probably release a advance chapter in patreon tomorrow

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