Chapter 35: Battle with the Crowbar

Ten days ago, in the Regulans Mountains...

The silent darkness of the night descended, bringing a bone-chilling cold that was even more unbearable than the daylight. As the light gradually faded, the entire mountain range was engulfed in darkness, and one could almost hear the cracking of ice deep within the frozen crust.

In the pitch-black night, devoid of moonlight, the mountains were reflected in a silver-white glow. The biting wind howled, carrying with it countless snowflakes that resembled feathers. The night sky, filled with swirling snow, seemed to be descending slowly, obscuring the distinct contours of the snow-covered peaks.

The snow-covered mountains in the midst of a blizzard were like a breathtaking painting—beautiful to the point of suffocation, yet deadly and perilous. Those caught in the storm were like insignificant dots on the canvas.

A black off-road vehicle was parked halfway up the mountain, with almost half of its body buried in the snow. A young man, bundled up in a padded coat, shone a flashlight and struggled to suppress the trembling of his hands as he tinkered with the engine beneath the raised hood.

The car's air conditioning had stopped working three hours ago, but he still couldn't get the vehicle to start. In anger, he kicked the front tire, nearly sending himself tumbling in the process.

Frustrated, he sat back inside the car.

"Still can't get it started?"

The voice came from the girl sitting in the passenger seat. Resting her head against the edge of the car window, her beautiful face seemed frosted, her lips pale and devoid of color, lending an eerie touch to her appearance amidst the icy terrain.

The young man made an effort to sound more optimistic.

"Don't worry, the rescue team will be here soon," he reassured his girlfriend.

But his voice seemed to grow more distant in the girl's ears. The snow-covered mountains outside the car window, the swirling snowflakes, all seemed to blur before her eyes.

She felt her eyelids becoming heavy, as if soaked in water. Gradually, her body felt as though submerged in bone-chilling seawater, sinking little by little into the dark abyss, until even her own existence faded away.

In a daze, she faintly heard her boyfriend calling her name, and her body swayed like a reed in the wind.

"I'm just a little tired," she murmured indistinctly. "I just need to rest for a bit."

"Hang on a little longer! The rescue team is coming soon, just a little longer!" The young man shook her frantically, as if his trembling hands could halt the fading warmth of life.

Light pierced through the snowy curtain, like a sword breaking through the darkness, and countless snowflakes danced like ethereal spirits in the golden glow.

"They're here!" the young man exclaimed in ecstasy. "Can you hear it, Yunyun? They're here! You've held on, you're amazing! We're saved!"

Yunyun? Yunyun, can you hear me?

She heard the boy's voice growing fainter, along with other chaotic sounds.

Did he make it?

That's great.

Satisfied, she closed her eyes and peacefully slipped into eternal slumber.

Ten days later, the present.

A bright burst of fire erupted from the muzzle, and a grappling hook shot out from the silenced barrel, firmly gripping the edge of a building.

The rapidly contracting load-bearing fibers transformed Batman into a black silhouette as he shot towards the position of the grappling hook. Just as he approached the edge of the building, he suddenly detached the rope, launching himself even higher with an accelerated propulsion. In a fraction of a second, his cape electrified and unfolded into a glider, allowing him to glide through the air like a true bat.

The Wayne Enterprises-produced memory fabric, usually soft but capable of hardening with an electric stimulus, was the perfect material for real men. It was essential for home flights.

Over these past few days, patrolling the city had become Chu Cheng's daily routine. Every night, he would go online and roam the city, randomly selecting a lucky passerby as his training target.

Oh, and occasionally, he would turn on the Bat-Signal just for fun.

The description of the Bat-Signal he obtained from the reward pool informed him that he could freely activate the Bat-Signal in the sky of any area within the current city.

The circular searchlight would hover in the darkness for three minutes, impossible to trace without a light path, appearing as if out of thin air.

Of course, this Bat-Signal didn't have much practical use, mainly meant to intimidate people. It was a way to send a message to all the criminals, letting them know that this place was under my protection as Batman, and they should think twice before causing trouble.

If possible, he would have preferred to stay home all day, skipping classes and gaming. After all, earning points and gaining experience was the most important thing for him at the moment.

But unfortunately, men always have moments when their desires exceed their abilities. In his mind, he would think, "I can still do it. There are three hundred rounds waiting for me to complete," but his body would truthfully admit defeat.

Chu Cheng was starting to realize something: the game was great, but it demanded a lot from the players. Gaming for too long in one go left him feeling completely drained the next day.

So, despite hating himself a little for not having a few more livers, Chu Cheng had to exercise moderation for the sake of his health and only go out at night. It worked out well since there were more things happening at night, making it easier to earn experience. Plus, it was easier to do things in the dark, and less likely to attract attention.

That's also why, although Chu Cheng had obtained several other heroes, he still loved using Batman as one of his main characters.

In fact, he had tried giving other heroes a chance before, but none of them were as good as Batman.

Either they were not effective enough or too attention-grabbing, or they were powerful but drained the battery quickly. He tried using Captain America once, and although his physical abilities were clearly superior to Batman's, the gameplay sensation was different. After only half a night of playing, he felt exhausted compared to when he used Batman.

If we consider energy efficiency and environmental impact, the most energy-saving hero he currently possessed would be the Crowbar. He tried it out and spent the whole night roaming around without feeling tired, and he even had enough energy to attend classes the next day.

On that particular night, while driving the Crowbar, he coincidentally encountered a group of street thugs. The leader had a non-mainstream hairstyle and, along with his gang, was carrying TVs and other items out of a store.

Those who were aware knew they were looting, but those who were unaware might have thought it was a massive sale at Gotham's Zero-Dollar Shop.

Chu Cheng maneuvered the Crowbar and blocked their path.

The leader was taken aback at first, but then he laughed and said, "Hey, buddy, you're a bit late. We've already picked out everything good from here. Why don't you check out the shop across the street?"

It seemed like the guy mistook him for a fellow thief.

But it's not surprising. Look at the Crowbar's appearance—a burly black man with a scruffy hairstyle and a strange skull emblem on his chest. It's hard for anyone to believe he's a good guy.

However, Chu Cheng didn't waste time with words. He immediately had the Crowbar show off his prized possession and gestured towards the thugs to compare weapons.

The guy with the ionized hair on the other side burst into laughter as soon as he saw the Crowbar's weapon. "Ha! Just a physics sword? Who doesn't have one of those?!" He then waved his hand and had his lackeys reveal their own weapons, which turned out to be even bigger and bulkier than the Crowbar's.

The guy with ionized hair probably thought they were in a martial arts tournament on Mount Hua. They relied on their numbers and the belief that "there's no need for martial arts principles when dealing with evil outsiders." They thought they could easily defeat the Crowbar. Little did they know that the script the Crowbar was following was "The Big Guy Eats Shit." The Crowbar could shoot laser beams, for crying out loud.

The street thugs were caught off guard and ended up getting beaten up badly. Some of them were seriously injured and almost had to be taken away.

However, after that night, Chu Cheng never used the Crowbar in battle again.

Apart from the fact that it was underpowered and had poor performance, the Crowbar was essentially a thug who had turned a physics sword into a laser rifle. Not to mention comparing it to Batman, even when compared to the other heroes Chu Cheng had acquired, the Crowbar fell short.

More importantly, he lacks superhuman abilities and high-tech gadgets. He can't stealth or perform acrobatic feats, resulting in low combat efficiency.

As he was gliding through the night sky, a small exclamation mark suddenly appeared on his map, catching Chu Cheng's attention.

Having grown accustomed to this operating system, Chu Cheng knew that it meant Batman had detected something unusual in the nearby area. In other words, there was an opportunity to gain experience and points.

Chu Cheng pressed the "M" key to open the map and quickly checked the marked location.

A bank?

Well, well, has it finally arrived? Classic bank robbers?