Starting With Batman

Mission completed.

Charlie had to admit that he felt relieved when he saw these words appear on the screen. The immersion in this game was extraordinary, completely different from any game he had played. He felt that it wasn't just because of its realistic modeling and rendering or the player's high degree of freedom in task execution but also because of the music, visuals, and special effects. No, there were other reasons, things he couldn't quite explain, but somehow they made him feel as if he were actually there.

But now the level was over. The game screen exited the eerie meeting room and switched to the results interface. Charlie received a comprehensive assessment of the number of enemies defeated, combo smoothness, mission completion efficiency, and time taken. 

Charlie felt his tense nerves finally relax. He was surprised to realize that he had been more nervous during the game than he had imagined. Looking back now, the game was quite interesting. Batman's moves were obviously more varied than before, and Charlie didn't notice any repetitive patterns. There were also more auxiliary props than before, a high degree of freedom in task completion, and many details that made the game feel fresh and engaging.

Comic book games are very abstract. Ten comic adaptations, nine of which are usually bad, have been the norm in the gaming industry for many years. Some comic games are born simply because companies don't want to let great IPs gather dust in storage. However, when they decide to adapt them into games, they are often reluctant to spend the necessary money. As a result, some poorly made games were born. These games used simplistic scenes and rough models that seemed to have been done by novice animators, treating players with disrespect. These games forced the idea of nostalgia on players and arrogantly demanded their acceptance.

However, with the arrival of high-quality works like DC's Batman and Marvel's Spiderman series, prejudices against comic games were being eliminated. IP adaptations in the game industry seemed to be heading in a healthier direction. But even so, this was the first time Charlie had encountered such an excellent comic book game. No, even in the entire gaming world he knew from his previous life, this should be a groundbreaking work.

The main plot, however, felt a bit unclear. After the first level, he still didn't understand where this building was, why Batman had sneaked in, or what was causing the madness. He speculated that this was just a prologue, an introduction. The follow-up plot should explain the story's details, perhaps involving a crisis in the multiverse, bringing together the Avengers and the Justice League from different worlds.

Charlie was really looking forward to the next plot and level, but he checked his phone and saw the time. He immediately dismissed the idea of continuing to play. Tomorrow was Monday, and he had to go to class at 8:20 in the morning. He really couldn't continue playing. 

As a sophomore, he was neither like a naive freshman nor a seasoned student who stayed in the dormitory all day. He was in a transitional phase. From an overall perspective of the four years of undergraduate studies, he was probably in a delicate state of partially being engaged but not completely. Most of the time, he went to class honestly, only occasionally skipping a class or two on a whim. 

Skipping another class wouldn't be a big problem, but tomorrow's first class was linear algebra, and the linear algebra teacher was strict and would notice if he missed a class. All that aside, Charlie looked back at his computer; although the style of this game was different from what Charlie expected, it still looked like a typical game without any special features. So, Charlie put his mood in check, quit the game, turned off the computer, and crawled back to bed.

For some reason, he felt unexpectedly tired after playing games all day. He closed his eyes, sank his head into the white, soft pillow, and soon fell asleep.

...

[On the other side of the city]

A cordon isolated the towering skyscrapers, and soldiers in uniforms were scattered around. A black car stopped outside the cordon, and a woman stepped out. She strode through the cordon, and the soldiers on guard saluted as she passed.

In all fairness, she had a pretty face and a good appearance. If she were to wear an elegant suit and skirt, she would look like a corporate executive. The woman walked through the cordon, with soldiers saluting her one after another. She entered the elevator in the lobby and went straight to the conference room on the top floor.

She frowned slightly as she walked into the conference room, thinking that there might be no worse place in the world. Corpses lay on the floor in disorder, blood mixed with other substances scattered randomly about, akin to an abstract painting. There was a puddle of vomit in the corridor at the entrance, left by the cleaner who discovered the scene.

"Everyone on the board of directors was in the meeting room when the incident happened, and no one survived."

A bald man walked up to her with a cigarette in his mouth. He exhaled the smoke and said, "All of them were infected."

"Killed?" the woman asked.

"No. They were attacked, but the assailant didn't kill them." The man said, "Their infection level must have exceeded their limit, and they blew themselves up."

The woman was thoughtful. Her eyes scanned the messy room and quickly focused on the open secret door and the broken stones beside it.

"The identification department said it was that statue, possibly the source of infection," the man said. "The assailant probably destroyed it."

The woman pondered for a moment, then said: "So, someone did our job, and quite thoroughly."

"It seems so."

"Do we have any clues about this mysterious helper?"

The bald man exhaled another smoke ring, looking helpless. "The surveillance video was paralyzed, and we couldn't capture their whereabouts. We questioned the company's employees, and there was only one witness. But the clues he provided are vague..."

"I want to see him," the woman said.

A few minutes later, the woman met the unfortunate security guard. The guard seemed to have been knocked out earlier and still had an ice pack on his head. Before anyone could ask questions, he spoke impatiently, eager to recount his experience.

"I was on a routine patrol when the thing jumped out—quickly, I was caught off guard and blacked out. Later, Xiao Li found me in the corridor... Xiao Li is a member of our security team. I woke up and heard that something big happened..."

"You said 'that thing'," the woman interrupted, "wasn't it human?"

The guard shook his head resolutely, showing fear. "It happened so fast that I couldn't see clearly, but it was definitely not human. It had very pointed ears, large black wings, sharp claws... and it seemed to have fangs, like the vampire teeth in movies, very menacing. And it was huge, over two meters. When it jumped over, it looked like... yes, like a bat! To be honest, I was scared. I've never seen such a terrifying creature in my life..."

When the woman finished questioning, she looked worried. The bald man was still smoking—he had lit a new cigarette.

"What do you think?"

The woman pondered for a moment. "...I have no idea."

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