Chapter 1 A Day at the Daily Bugle

"Anton, wake up, Anton!"

Betty Brant sighed, looking at Anton, the current editor-in-chief of the Daily Bugle, in disbelief. She couldn't understand how J. Jonah Jameson could make such a mistake.

To hand over his life's work so readily to his own grandson, a rich college dropout who didn't know the meaning of hard work?

What was he thinking?!

"Huh?"

Anton groggily opened his eyes, instinctively wiping a puddle of drool off his desk. He looked up in a daze at the young blonde-haired, blue-eyed secretary in front of him, not quite sure if he was dreaming….

"Anton, this is tomorrow's front page of the Daily Bugle. I need your confirmation and signature."

Betty handed the document to Anton.

Anton signed it without thinking and handed it back to her. Betty walked away, her elegant figure swaying.

Anton's gaze lingered on Betty's silhouette, and information began to surface in his mind.

The young man's eyes widened involuntarily.

His memory had captured an English name from Betty's document, sparking a sudden realization.

"Wait, that wasn't even my name I signed… Anton? Me? I barely passed English with a 70 in high school and scraped through two college exams with a max score of 364. How did I even read that…"

Suddenly, Anton froze.

The document Betty had just handed him, the front page of tomorrow's edition, inexplicably floated before his mind's eye.

Photographic memory!

Anton wasn't excited by this essential skill for a transmigrator. Instead, he slumped back into his soft chair, like a lazy fish, clutching his hair in disbelief.

you're kidding me!

The paper he just signed was the Daily Bugle?

That was enough to make things clear!

Anton was speechless.

It was the 21st century—he knew exactly what kind of story he'd landed in.

And with this kind of story came a golden finger.

Of course, it wasn't something as trivial as photographic memory…

"DC template?"

Anton stroked his chin, mind sinking into thought.

In an instant, time seemed to stop, and he was in a new world.

System space.

This place looked like a lab, with various DC heroes' suits around him: Batman, Flash, Green Arrow, Green Lantern, Cyborg, Atom, Wonder Woman, and more.

Each suit was bathed in a transparent light.

Anton reached out to touch one, finding the light impenetrable—like the safety shorts girls wore under skirts. So frustrating.

"Unlock by increasing Hero Fan Value!"

A line of text floated above the light. Anton scratched his head, and a flood of information surged into his mind like a torrential downpour, leaving his brain throbbing.

"So that's how it works."

Anton understood that these DC hero suits were all prepared by the system for him.

The requirement to unlock them was to increase the fan value of the corresponding hero—fan value could be used to unlock the suits.

And, of course, each suit contained the full abilities of its respective hero.

In other words, once he wore a suit, Anton could become Batman, Green Lantern, Superman, Wonder Woman… well, there was a bit of a gender mismatch there.

But that wasn't important.

Anton was ecstatic. As a film buff, he had been fascinated by the fantasy universes of Marvel and DC countless times.

This transmigration had fulfilled two of his greatest wishes.

He didn't have much attachment to his previous life anyway, and any disorientation from transmigrating had already faded.

"The father of this body is called John Jameson, an astronaut, and my grandfather is J. Jonah Jameson, a renowned businessman in New York and owner of the Daily Bugle."

Anton's eyes brightened.

As a famous newspaper in New York, the Daily Bugle had a market value in the billions and influence across many industries in the city.

So, Anton was a wealthy second-generation heir.

According to his memories, Jonah Jameson had built the Bugle from scratch, starting as a small reporter and growing it into a billion-dollar company. Now, he was a bit tired and wanted to step back and enjoy life.

Thus, he kept his title as CEO of the Daily Bugle, but passed on his role as editor-in-chief to his grandson.

No one questioned the decision.

The Daily Bugle was the dream that Jonah Jameson had brought to life and the company his family controlled. It was his most cherished enterprise.

Who better to leave it to than family?

Who else would they trust if not Anton? Should they trust his father, Jonah Jameson's son, John, the astronaut?

Anton's thoughts whirled.

[The system will now randomly assign the primary hero template]

With that thought, the suits around him flashed like a carousel until one final image appeared—a dark silhouette with a flowing cape and two sharp ears.

"Batman!"

Anton wasn't disappointed. In the Marvel world, Superman might have been a better choice, but Batman was still one of the best options. Besides, Batman was his favorite DC hero. Sure, Superman had more powers, but Batman was practically DC's star character!

[Since the primary hero template is Batman, you will receive a special Newbie Gift Package: Fracture Card. The original 50 million fan value required for Batman's standard suit is now only 9.98 million—a deal you won't want to miss!]

A pleasant notification chimed in his ear.

The armor in front of him suddenly lit up, projecting images.

In addition to the standard armor, various Batman suits appeared, such as the Fenrir armor, Bunny armor, Smasher armor, Insider suit, Anti-Superman armor, Kingdom Come armor, Thermal armor, and more.

Moreover, Batman's appearance kept changing in Anton's eyes.

As a Batman fan, Anton instantly recognized these forms of Batman.

They were all versions of Batman that had turned dark.

The Red Death, The Dawnbreaker, Merciless, Murder Machine, The Batman Who Laughs, The Drowned, Doomsday Batman…

Anton was in awe.

His regret at not getting Superman vanished.

If he could unlock these Batman suits, wouldn't he be unstoppable?

He didn't know how much time had passed when he finally left the system space and once again felt the flow of time.

A soft, warm breeze blew in through the open window.

At that moment, Anton was exhilarated.

All his initial disorientation about transmigrating was washed away by immense excitement.

Of course, unlocking these suits required hero fan value.

For instance, thanks to the Fracture Card, the original 50 million fan value needed for Batman's suit was now only 9.98 million.

However, the special suits and dark versions in the Batman template could not be unlocked with fan value but required Justice Value.

Fan value was straightforward: it represented popularity. The higher his popularity, the more fans he would naturally attract.

Justice Value, on the other hand, referred to points rewarded by the system for doing good deeds or fighting crime, measured in the millions.

Anton checked the Justice Value requirements for the suits in the Batman template.

The lowest was the Smasher armor, needing 5 million Justice Value. Next was the Bunny armor, worth 8 million. The rest were all in the tens of millions, with the highest suit—the Sixth Dimension "Ultimate Armor"—valued at over a hundred million.

"This is tough!"

Anton pondered for a moment, understanding the system's intention.

Fan value indicated that the system wanted him to raise the popularity of DC heroes in the Marvel world, perhaps even to the point of DC taking over Marvel.

Justice Value, however, suggested the system didn't want him using underhanded methods to boost DC's fame but preferred he do good deeds or save the world to gradually surpass Marvel's heroes.

"Interesting!"

Anton chuckled.