I'm in an American comic book, and all my teammates are main characters and bosses.

Chapter 63

Looking at the white frost in Ron's hand, Victor didn't immediately lose his composure. Instead, he stared intently at the frost, his eyes, almost pierced by flesh, flashing with analytical light. After a moment, he reached out his hand:

"It's the rule in the underworld, I need to inspect the goods."

"Under normal circumstances, I wouldn't bother with these ridiculous, bullshit rules. But since even Batman has started killing people, I'll give him the courtesy of following local customs."

As he spoke, Ron reached out and shook his hand, placing a tiny speck of dust onto Victor's hand. Seeing this minuscule amount of frost, Victor's face showed a hint of disdain, but he didn't say anything more. He simply pulled his other hand from his pocket and aimed the cryogenic gun, connected to his cryogenic suit, at the frost. With a mode switch, an infrared beam shot from the muzzle, scanning the frost back and forth.

As the information appeared on the tactical visor, Victor's initial suspicion turned to surprise. After a moment of silence, he stood up abruptly and looked at Ron, who was somewhat agitated, saying, "Where did you get this thing...?"

"I guess there are other rules like this in the underworld, such as 'as long as it works, don't ask too many questions.'"

Upon hearing Ron's words, Victor fell into a brief silence.

Victor is an expert in the field of cryogenics, possessing insights and understanding of low temperatures far exceeding those of ordinary people. Admittedly, White Frost is a creation of arcane energy, seemingly leaning more towards the magical realm. However, science is not a religion, but a way of looking at the world. It involves systematically summarizing and generalizing to grasp and understand the causes of a phenomenon from various perspectives. Based on this, powerful mages are essentially 'scientists' within a particular arcane discipline.

As for this world, although Ron didn't know exactly what had happened, he could sense that Victor understood arcane powers... and even had a unique understanding of arcane forms in areas such as 'cold,' 'freezing,' and 'chilling.'

This can be seen from the freeze gun in his hand... In most DC comics, although Mr. Freeze is portrayed as very powerful, he is more often depicted as a villain who uses special weapons to do evil.

In its previous state, the cryogenic gun was simply a cryogenic gun, lacking any significant additional capabilities. However, now, with modifications, it has even acquired the ability to analyze arcane energy forms. Furthermore, thanks to Victor's talent, it continues to shine in the field of cryogenic arcane energy…

Similarly, although he only obtained an analysis of the most basic arcane form and properties of White Frost through the Arcane Gun, the very fact that it could absorb warmth and heat indefinitely was enough to excite Victor.

Even so, this body, which can only maintain life below freezing, can no longer exhibit any physiological signs of excitement.

Although in a state of excitement, Victor's expression, movements, and even heartbeat remained unchanged. He appeared calm and collected, but in reality, his mind was racing. After a long pause, Victor took a deep breath, accepted the white frost from his hand, and said:

What is your quote?

"That depends on the value and detail of the information you provide. Of course, even if I'm very disappointed, I'll still have one gram of white frost as a base payment."

Upon hearing this, Victor couldn't help but click his tongue and say, "One gram? You're fucking stingy!"

"To be precise, it's 0.2 grams, because you've already received that portion of the deposit."

Ron gestured with his chin toward Victor's hand holding White Frost, and said, "Speaking of which, I knew you'd be curious about this thing. Ordinary people, even with just a slight contact, would get frostbite from the heat being absorbed. But you, you're completely unaffected, and you've even become stronger."

"You know that, yet you still dare to ask me for such an exorbitant amount?"

Victor seemed to have a hidden meaning in his words: "My body is below freezing; the colder the environment, the stronger I become. And now... this alley is called Frozen Alley. Can you guess how that name came about?"

"Then guess how my white frost came about?"

Ron looked at Victor with a smile.

Upon hearing this, Victor remained silent for a moment, his lips twitching almost imperceptibly.

To ordinary people, White Frost seems dispensable, useless, and even extremely dangerous, and the farther away the better. But for Victor, the scientific (mystical) properties that White Frost exhibits alone are enough to make Victor unable to suppress his inner curiosity and desire for scientific research.

Because of his physiologically low body temperature, Victor almost never experiences emotions like excitement, except for a few special factors. But now, just from discovering White Frost's interest, Victor can't control his inner desires.

But glancing at Ron's gentle face, and the white-haired woman standing behind him, arms crossed, watching the spectacle with an indifferent expression, and recalling the numerous upheavals and disasters that had befallen the world, Victor deeply realized the dire straits he lived in, a city even dogs wouldn't want to be born into. Suppressing his inner turmoil, Victor quickly regained his composure and calmly said:

"Come in a bit, this isn't the place to talk."

Turning around, Victor led Ron into Frozen Alley. They didn't realize it from the outside, but after turning a corner, Ron and the others quickly understood why it was called Frozen Alley… Unlike other areas of Gotham, Frozen Alley was a city area that had been artificially modified and remained sub-zero for an extended period.

Among them, Ron saw many burly men living there, bundled up in cotton-padded coats even in the sweltering summer heat. Besides them, there were also some dressed in light clothing, their skin a pale blue, coldly watching Victor and Ron as they entered. They didn't speak, just silently observed, their eyes reflecting a deathly stillness similar to that of this decaying world.

"Don't look at these guys anymore, they died long ago when the seawater was polluted."

Looking at his creations, Victor showed no concern whatsoever, only a cold laugh as he said, "Some of them were infected during the World War, while others were accidentally infected after drinking poisonous water before the war. But there's nothing we can do. That Batman in Las Vegas... a hero, my foot! He's more like a bat demon."

"He gave me a large sum of money—although it's worthless in this day and age, it still has some use until the rules are completely abolished."

"Then, let me use this money to revive them, and when the war begins, stand them on the battlefield to wear down the enemy's curse."

(End of this chapter)