"Good morning, Jack!"

  "Good morning, Mike! How was your experience st night?"

  "Tch, that girl was crazy! If it weren't for the special drugs Wayne Enterprises developed before, I wouldn't have been able to handle her. Maybe you should give it a try."

  "Really? Now I’m definitely curious to see if she’s as wild as you say..."

  The sky above Gotham was rarely clear.

  On the bustling streets, everyone wore a smile, basking in happiness.

  Honestly, this looked nothing like the Gotham Norin remembered, where supervilins roamed freely and the gangs were more powerful than the police. It felt like two entirely different worlds.

  It was as though this was a different city, merely sharing the same name—Gotham.

  But the frequent mentions of Wayne Enterprises made it clear to him:

  This was Gotham, the Gotham from the DC universe, home to Bruce Wayne!

  Here, there were mad scientists collecting human materials, street thugs of all races, bck mages studying dark magic, schizophrenic criminals, and ruthless supervilin gangs who kill without a second thought.

  Gotham, though not rge, was packed with countless dark organizations, big and small.

  If this was really the Gotham he remembered, then most of the people he was seeing right now were probably not "good people."

  Norin felt as though his luck had been completely used up the moment he crossed over.

  First, the Bck Cloak world that seemed bright on the surface but was actually dark underneath; now, the lightless Gotham City.

  And let's not even mention the ever-dangerous Marvel world.

  From Marvel's New York to DC's Gotham...

  Tsk, one home might explode at any time, and the other might blow up too.

  It was truly fate, wasn’t it?

  Norin shook his head. He’d been here for an hour now and had gathered some information, confirming that this was indeed the DC universe.

  In the newspaper, he even saw mention of Arkham Asylum.

  Yes, that Arkham.

  The pce that had produced all kinds of "talented" individuals like the honest businessman Penguin, the inquisitive Riddler, the environmentalist Poison Ivy, the model husband Mr. Freeze, as well as Two-Face, Scarecrow, Bane, and more.

  Of course, it also housed the most terrifying of them all, the Joker.

  "Ugh, with no doctorate or anything, am I really going to make it out of here alive? Maybe I should just head back to the Bck Cloak world instead," Norin muttered, gazing up at the sunny sky, deep in thought.

  "Hey, handsome, are you lost?"

  A blonde girl, dressed seductively with a good figure and decent looks, called out to him enthusiastically from nearby.

  "No worries, I'm just a little lost on the road of life," Norin waved at her, appreciating how warm and friendly Gotham's citizens seemed to be.

  As he waved, some fine powder, carried by the breeze, entered the girl's system as she took a breath. She had no idea, and by the time the effects took hold, she had already fallen into a fantasy of her own.

  "God bless, today must be her lucky day! Just a few steps out the door and she runs into a super handsome guy!"

  Oh, she could already picture the envy in her cssmates' eyes when she walked into school with him. Tonight would surely be unforgettable...

  As the girl daydreamed, her gaze suddenly became vacant.

  Norin led her aside, beginning to ask for more information.

  This was one of the mental drugs provided by Ophelia, capable of briefly controlling someone's consciousness, inducing a hypnotic effect.

  Currently, it only worked on ordinary people; those with strong willpower or extraordinary physical constitutions were immune to its effects.

  If supported by scientific methods and used long-term on a specific target, it could evolve into a complete brainwashing technique.

  Thanks to prolonged exposure, Norin had developed immunity to Ophelia's toxins.

  Additionally, after some time, Ophelia's genetics had improved and some of the mutation-reted physical traits, like her tongue, had been altered.

  The abilities to resist toxins and shed skin had also been enhanced.

  Norin had even acquired a few new abilities.

  One of them was thermal perception, which allowed him to sense infrared heat and generate a thermal image of his surroundings. This ability helped him assess situations without being noticed, even in complex environments. He could move easily in the dark, and his sensitivity to temperature changes was so precise he could detect shifts as small as a fraction of a degree Celsius.

  Another new ability was vibration perception, which heightened his ability to sense vibrations from the ground or walls. He could pinpoint the direction, distance, and weight of any moving object around him, and estimate their size and number.

  These two abilities greatly enhanced both Norin and Ophelia's ability to survive and fight.

  In addition, Norin's reaction speed had been dramatically improved. According to Ophelia's data, their reaction time was several times faster than that of ordinary humans.

  Even elite, specially trained soldiers couldn't compare.

  Even without much training, Norin could use his enhanced reflexes to easily take down a rger, stronger Hydra soldier who had undergone professional training.

  Ophelia, having undergone systematic training herself, became terrifyingly powerful with this enhancement. According to her, she could easily subdue more than ten S.H.I.E.L.D. agents, and even face off against top-tier agents like Bck Widow.

  Though, based on intel, Bck Widow had reportedly been injected with the Super Soldier Serum, making a confrontation difficult to predict.

  ….

  Several minutes ter, Norin found himself on another street, but his expression was oddly conflicted.

  He seemed to have ended up in the wrong pce.

  This was DC, but not the DC he remembered.

  In this universe, there were no Superman, no Fsh, and no Aquaman. The concept of superheroes was limited to fiction, with no reality to speak of.

  There had been no alien invasions of Earth, and demons and gods were merely myths.

  While there were some urban legends in the city, none had been verified—much like in his previous life.

  Gotham did have Batman, but he had become a legend, no longer active for quite some time. People specuted that Batman had either retired or died.

  Nowadays, people can only watch old Batman footage on DVDs.

  Bruce Wayne existed, but he hadn't been seen at any public events in the past few months.

  As for the terrifying supervilins, Norin hadn't received many answers from the kind citizen he had spoken to; they seemed to have disappeared.

  Thanks to Wayne Enterprises' efforts, Gotham has become one of the most developed cities in the country, with its citizens consistently ranking highest in happiness.

  The city boasted comprehensive medical, educational, transportation, and social welfare facilities.

  At first gnce, Gotham had truly transformed into a peaceful, ideal city.

  All the famous vilins had vanished.

  Humans remained Earth's dominant species, and there were no signs of extraterrestrials.

  It could be summed up in two words: Safe.

  But the more Norin thought about it, the more unsettling it became.

  He instinctively gnced at a TV on a supermarket sign nearby. The slogan on the screen read: "Welcome tourists to the safest city, Gotham, in 2013!"

  2013?

  It seemed like...

  The problem was much bigger than he had thought!