Starting from scratch, Batman crushed my dream of getting rich

Chapter 603 Arkham Knight

The sight before him left Ma Zhaodi speechless.

"The old village is back"—this phrase might be the most beautiful thing for the remnants of the old era, or for some once-wealthy but now impoverished families. But for him in Gotham, it was a devastating blow.

What? Feelings for Gotham City's past?

Bullshit emotions. The best state for Gotham is to live in its memoirs. What bullshit Sin City? It's best if they never come back in this lifetime.

"Are you kidding me?" he couldn't help but angrily question the system, "All my hard work over the past years, catching criminals, infiltrating undercover agents, building allies, finding people to rebuild Gotham City, and all of that is wiped out by just one sentence from you?"

[Please note, two misconceptions need to be corrected—first, it's not a "refresh" return, but rather a "convergence." This is a moment of "overlap" between two universes, meaning that Gotham City at this time is an overlap of two Gotham regions from different universes, thus presenting a different scene from this universe.]

Secondly, the current situation is not caused by the system's actions; on the contrary, it is because the current situation is about to occur that the system provides the corresponding prompts and preparations.

"What? What are all these things?"

Ma Zhaodi's mind was a complete mess: "What is 'overlapping universes'? Has this ever happened in the DC universe? Which universe is my universe overlapping with? Is it just Gotham that's having problems, or is the entire universe having problems?"

[Due to the influence of your cognitive perspective on the flow of time in this universe, the development of time is extremely unstable. The system cannot provide further guidance, but can only confirm that once the convergence begins, the degree of overlap between the two universes will gradually and slowly increase. When a certain critical point is reached, the two universes will begin to merge, and this process will be irreversible.]

"No, so why did this happen?"

Ma Zhaodi was still skeptical of what the system said. Before he returned, everything in this universe was fine. Why did he encounter this situation after returning?
Before today, his trust in the system was second only to Bruce, almost on par with Harvey. Even now, he didn't feel that the system harbored any ill will towards him. However, he couldn't be sure how the system viewed this universe. Would it value it as much as he did? Or would it merely treat it as a starting area for issuing missions?
If it is the latter, then the system certainly has an incentive to sabotage before the Gotham reconstruction plan is completed, or to rebuild after the plan is completed.

It makes sense that a sufficiently chaotic Gotham is more conducive to issuing missions.

However, the system rejected his conjecture.

Forgive my bluntness, but your speculations about the system are heavily influenced by online articles. Your immediate priority is to uninstall the Tomato app from your phone.

"Damn it, shut up! I believe you! I believe you!"

Ma Zhaodi was horrified: "Don't suddenly say something that could blow up a book! I don't want to get a lawyer's letter!"

In short, the situation in Gotham itself, under the layers of "encryption" in the upper narrative, requires no special changes or additional enhancements. The system checks that this environment is a sustainable blue ocean for working, and there is no need to use meaningless measures such as conspiracies or lies to damage your good relationship.

“Wrong,” Ma Zhaodi retorted immediately. “My memory is excellent. Don’t try to fool me. I remember you saying that the flow of time in this universe depends on my perspective. In other words, under normal circumstances, Gotham in this world wouldn’t get those inexplicable patches, and the situation would never worsen. The patches are in other branch universes.”

Yes, but no—this conclusion contains some fallacies.

The system, however, denied Ma Zhaodi's statement.

"What do you mean?"

Please carefully recall the significance of the terms "normal development" and "cosmic concept" for the DC universe.

Ma Zhaodi was stunned.

[Under normal circumstances, should no universe in the DC universe have perished by now? If the universe is at peace, should the number of DC universes in the hyperchronic flow remain constant, neither increasing nor decreasing?]

[You should be very clear about this, shouldn't you? Those cosmological concepts that will be familiar in the future, yet are still in their infancy; those worldviews that are still in the future—52, New 52, ​​Golden Age, Silver Age, Hypertime Flow] [Their foundation and scope of influence are not this universe, but objectively exist throughout the entire Hypertime Flow, and are steadily developing. As one of the universes within the Hypertime Flow, this universe can avoid some settings that only exist in individual universes, but cannot avoid any major events that cause structural changes throughout the entire universe.]

"."

Ma Zhaodi fell silent.

The system is right, the patch is for Gotham, but no matter which Gotham it is, it is still located within the DC universe.

"So that's how it is with those two universes? Completely merged?" Ma Zhaodi asked again, "Is there any way to separate them?"

Please confirm more information about overlapping universes first.

crunch--

The door was opened, and Ma Zhaodi came out of the room.

He turned his head to look behind him, and what he saw was no longer the familiar black security door, nor even his small house. Instead, it had become a two-story detached house with a courtyard.

"Wouldn't this count as getting rich overnight?" he thought to himself, daydreaming: "Sitting at home, a house falls from the sky."

Just then, across the street, the TV screen of an empty burger joint suddenly started flashing static.

Ma Zhaodi glanced over subconsciously, and a familiar face suddenly appeared among them.

"Gotham City, you only have a little time left—seeing so many citizens still remaining in the city, I must say, this is beyond my expectations."

Once beaten up in the street by Ma Zhaodi alongside the Mad Hatter and used as a training ground for newbies, he has become a complete supporting character in the Battle of Laughter. The Scarecrow, who used to seem insignificant, is now emphasizing his absolute presence in every corner of the city, on every screen, and on every loudspeaker.

Beneath the black hood was a tattered, dirty burlap hood that resembled a scarecrow's face, a mute mask. His cloudy brown eyes gleamed with an unreadable dark light, and his voice was unhurried, yet the words he spoke were all the more powerful.

With each word spoken, the sense of oppression and despair grew stronger. Ma Zhaodi had never seen a scarecrow with such a terrifying aura before today. This was not the same kind of creature as the scarecrow in his memory.

“I gave Gotham a warning, but the city doesn’t seem to appreciate it. In that case, prepare to face destruction with Batman tonight.”

“Last time, I used five ounces of poison gas to kill everyone in the burger shop. This time, I will show the whole city what fear is.”

sizzle-

The TV screen turned back to its static-like appearance.

【Ding】

The system's voice sounded at just the right moment.

[Intelligence gathering complete, target identified]

This convergence universe is the Arkham Knights universe.

(End of this chapter)