Chapter 13: The Game of Emptying the Body

After a heroic act of saving the damsel in distress, dressed to impress, Chu Cheng made a swift exit. He waved his cloak without taking a single cloud with him, and he couldn't help but feel that he looked quite cool.

In the past, he actually quite enjoyed playing superhero-themed games with open-world maps, with the most representative ones being Batman from DC and Spider-Man from Marvel.

Many of the games in these two series had a distinctive feature: you could control the superhero protagonist to freely roam around the city. You could choose to follow the main storyline or just wander around, putting out fires or stopping robberies when you came across them. It was an experience of a true superhero's daily life simulator.

Of course, even in the most realistic games, they didn't hold a candle to the one he was playing now, a game so real that it was ridiculously real.

Chu Cheng had witnessed quite a few unjust events in his previous life. Every time he surfed the internet and came across an injustice, he felt the same indignation and surged with righteous anger, just like everyone else. However, it didn't amount to much.

But honestly, if something like that happened right in front of him, Chu Cheng estimated that he would most likely turn a blind eye and pretend he hadn't seen anything.

Most people were the same. It was enough to imagine being a hero in their hearts, and at most, they would vent their frustrations online when they got back. Very few people had the courage to risk everything for the sake of justice.

But now, everything is different. Now, he possesses power.

As the saying goes, in reality, I nod and comply, but online, I strike with a heavy fist. When I witness injustice, I directly intervene with a flurry of keystrokes. Through the screen, I execute justice.

Furthermore, it is widely known that the effectiveness of certain words and actions varies depending on who says and does them.

The same goes for the task of punishing evil and promoting good—it requires specialization.

Suppose Chu Cheng gained the physical abilities and techniques of Batman and went up to give a thorough beating to street hooligans with a flurry of strikes. Although the person would be knocked down, they might still be trembling and possibly considering the origins of this kid. They might even investigate and expose his entire background once they get back.

But Batman is different. With a height of 1.88 meters, baring his fangs and claws like a big bat, he engages in fights, vandalizes, robs, and sets fires, almost doing anything except killing. When the heads of criminal organizations see him, they dare not even release a fart. They have nightmares of Batman more frequently than wet dreams from their childhood.

The most crucial point is that Chu Cheng can remain detached while doing all these deeds.

After all, if Batman is causing trouble out there, what does it have to do with me, Chu Cheng?

Besides, Chu Cheng also benefits from this. After beating up those people, the game awarded him twelve hero points. Seven points were for knocking down seven enemies, while the remaining five points were a bonus for the Bat-Maneuver not being witnessed by anyone, which is an additional score.

Right after throwing the smoke bomb, Chu Cheng basically mindlessly pressed the left mouse button, and Batman unleashed a combo that took down all of them. Throughout the process, the defense and counterattack mechanisms of the enemies didn't even trigger, indicating that these seven individuals couldn't even land a single hit on Batman.

Well, that's normal. After all, Batman has been forcibly labeled as a "normal human" by the writers, but viewers who have a little understanding know that the Dark Knight has long surpassed the boundaries of an ordinary human. If a regular thug could match him in combat, that would be truly supernatural.

In this way, Chu Cheng roughly understood the game's mechanics. In short, it involved controlling a superhero to defeat enemies and earn points, which can then be used to unlock new heroes or obtain hero equipment through draws.

However, Chu Cheng thought to himself that if he had to rely on patrolling the city every night, like those superheroes in anime, to earn points and level up, the efficiency would be too low.

Where does reality have so many lawless activities? It's not like every place is as morally corrupt as Gotham.

The reason why the original Batman levels up so quickly is probably closely related to the Villans of Gotham, that blessed place.

On Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, there's a lunatic trying to blow up City Hall. On Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays, it's either a city-wide poisoning or a city-wide annihilation. On Sundays, he takes a break and fights some extraterrestrial monsters to change things up a bit, and then he returns next week to continue.

That's the simple and mundane life of Batman.

Engaging in intense battles like this all day long, it's impossible not to level up.

But Chu Cheng wondered, since he wasn't in Gotham, what could he do to level up when there were no lunatics or criminals to fight? Help old ladies cross the street? Save cats stuck in trees?

No, wait, that sounds like Superman's job.

Initially, Chu Cheng thought this way, but soon he realized that the actual situation was somewhat different from what he had imagined. As he controlled Batman to wander around the city for a night, he actually encountered quite a few situations where he needed to intervene.

For example, there were masked robbers raiding jewelry stores under the cover of darkness, individuals stalking high school girls late at night, and real-life showdowns with bike thieves caught in the act.

It was then that Chu Cheng realized that this other world wasn't as peaceful as he had initially thought.

It's as if the emotions of the people here are particularly prone to being ignited. People resort to action rather than words, and even a minor friction can escalate into a direct confrontation.

It was already past 1 am, and Chu Cheng was exhausted and couldn't hold on any longer. He had to shut down the game and collapsed onto his bed.

Strangely enough, these past few days, after playing the game, he felt completely drained. He had only been sitting in front of the computer typing on the keyboard, but he seemed unusually tired.

Completely exhausted, after shutting down his computer, he didn't even bother to take off his clothes and simply fell into the soft bed. He was fast asleep almost as soon as he closed his eyes.

He slept soundly throughout the night, and when he woke up, the sun was shining brightly.

Still feeling a bit groggy, he reached out his arm from under the covers and grabbed his phone to check the time. Goodness, it was already 11:30 a.m., and all his morning classes had passed automatically with a "PASS" status.

It was then that Chu Cheng realized that yesterday, after coming back, he had immersed himself completely in the game, and after finishing, he was mentally and physically exhausted. He hadn't even looked at his phone the entire night.

Apparently, the various group chats of his classmates had exploded yesterday, and they were eagerly discussing the incidents that occurred during the day. Wei Futong had even sent several messages asking if Chu Cheng was still around and if he had been affected.

Chu Cheng quickly replied to his good friend, reassuring him that he was fine. Then, he stretched lazily and got up to prepare for his morning routine. However, as soon as his feet touched the ground, he felt aches and pains all over his body, nearly losing his balance for a moment.

His muscles felt sore as if he had been engaged in a high-intensity battle with a muscle-bound man all day yesterday. He almost stumbled when he stepped off the bed.

But strangely enough, despite the lack of concrete evidence, after a good night's sleep, he felt like he had even more energy than before. His physical condition was exceptionally good, and even his waist felt unusually strong.

Yet, yesterday he clearly hadn't engaged in any intense physical activity. So Chu Cheng immediately thought of the game he played all night.

Could it be possible that when he controlled Batman to move around, it consumed his own physical energy to some extent?

No, it seemed like it wasn't just the consumption of physical energy, but his body also seemed to have been strengthened and exercised to some degree.

Of course, it couldn't be a one-to-one replication of all the physical activities. Chu Cheng was well aware of that. If the game truly replicated the physical exertion of Batman's movements, with his current sedentary lifestyle, he would have been carried away by now after such a high-intensity workout all night.

Chu Cheng's mind raced as he realized that this energy transfer mechanism had its pros and cons.

The downside was that he couldn't control Batman relentlessly, from morning till night, without risking being drained himself. Furthermore, he suspected that as he unlocked more powerful abilities of other superheroes, the burden of controlling them would only increase.

On the other hand, the upside was remarkable. After just one night, he could already sense a significant improvement in his physical fitness—a level of progress unimaginable through conventional exercise alone. By simply sitting in front of the computer every day, he could rapidly enhance his physical capabilities, laying a solid foundation for controlling even stronger heroes in the future.

Having grown accustomed to the soreness in his muscles, Chu Cheng rose from his bed and headed to the bathroom to freshen up. As he squeezed toothpaste onto his toothbrush, the sound of the doorbell rang melodiously through the room.

Surprised, he set down the toothpaste and approached the door, peering through the peephole.

"Damn, those legs are so well-shaped. No, wait, I mean, that figure is so elegant and statuesque. Actually, that doesn't sound right either."

He opened the door, and there, standing before him, was none other than the smiling Special Agent Chen Mei Yue whom he had met just the day before.

"Hello there, young man," she greeted, waving her hand with a smile. "We meet again."