Starting With Batman

When he met those eyes, Charlie felt a chill in his heart.

Charlie didn't dare to look any further. He turned his head, wanting to quickly run away, but found that the escape route had been blocked. A student had already stepped forward, inadvertently blocking his way.

Just when he thought things couldn't get any worse, a black van suddenly drove up. The vehicle drifted smoothly to the sidewalk. The door was then roughly pulled open along the slide rail.

Two individuals stepped out of the van.

One of them was a striking woman wearing a long, black windbreaker that flowed elegantly with each step. The coat was cinched at the waist, highlighting her slender figure. Her hair, a rich cascade of dark waves, framed a face that could easily belong to a movie star. High cheekbones, a perfectly sculpted jawline, and full lips painted a deep, alluring red contrasted beautifully with her fair skin. Her eyes, a piercing shade of emerald, were sharp and intelligent, exuding confidence and a hint of danger.

The other, a towering figure, a bald man exuding an aura of rugged authority, stepped out of the car with practiced ease, the glowing tip of a cigarette dangling from the corner of his mouth. The ember flared briefly, casting a warm, flickering glow over his weathered features and deep-set, piercing eyes.

"It's quite a commotion, and in broad daylight this time." The bald man exhaled a smoke ring. 

"Looks like it won't be easy to cover this up."

"That's not our primary concern."

The woman shrugged. She stepped forward and pulled out a black metallic-looking stick from the sheath tied around her thigh.

She flicked a switch, and the tip of the stick sparked with a silky blue arc.

Then, with an exertion of force in her legs, she jumped into the crowd.

With the duo's appearance, the crowd staring at him lost interest and focused on the two individuals instead.

Amongst the crowd, the arguing couple who somehow squeezed to the front was particularly conspicuous. They were covered in scars; the man's face scratched and bloody, and the woman's originally pretty face bruised and swollen beyond recognition.

While none of them seemed to feel pain, their devastated faces were distorted with anger.

"Not one good thing, not one good thing," the girl said.

"Are you also here to laugh at me?! Laugh at me! Laugh at me! Me... Me... Me...

DO YOU ALSO WANT TO LAUGH AT ME?!" the boy screamed.

"DIE, DIE, ALL DIE!"

With these two leading the charge, everyone swarmed up.

The bald man threw away his cigarette and pulled out a similar electric shock baton. The two, one on the left and one on the right, rampaged in the crowd.

Charlie tried to use this opportunity to escape.

Although he wanted to stay and watch the chaos, safety was more important than curiosity.

But just as he was about to leave, a voice sounded in his ear.

"Sorry to bother you."

When Charlie turned his head, he saw a girl with short hair who seemed to have just gotten out of the van holding a small white tablet, her eyes sharp and dark.

"Look here."

The girl held a strange device that reminded Charlie of a cashier's hand-held scanner.

She pointed it at Charlie and checked the machine's monitor.

Confused, she stared at the monitor a bit longer as if waiting for something to happen while mumbling to herself. "Strange, he's not infected at all..."

At the same time, the bald man and the black-haired woman continued to cause a commotion in the crowd. The electric batons in their hands were skillfully waved around; arcs continued to crackle in the air. Almost every moment, crazed students fell.

Finally putting away the strange scanner, the girl stared at the ongoing commotion. "Don't worry; it won't take long," the girl said to Charlie. "It will be over soon."

Charlie still wanted to leave, but he was well aware that simply running away might be flagged as suspicious. Or... would it? Perhaps it would be even more suspicious if he was keen on staying. 

Charlie finally decided to at least ask some questions first. Not showing curiosity would be even more suspicious, not to mention that he is, in fact, curious about the current happenings. 

After a short period, the abnormal students all fell to the ground, unconscious.

After finishing their work, the two put away the electric batons and walked toward Charlie and the short-haired girl.

As soon as they got near, Charlie started bombarding them with questions: "Who are you people? Is this a hidden camera show? I don't agree to be filmed unless I get paid an appearance fee. Is that a real electric baton? Why..."

"Stop!"

"The Ninth Special Service Division of the Homeland Defense Bureau, Melanie Chase."

The woman quickly interrupted while showing her ID, which had a silver badge on it.

"Ninth Secret Service, Ivan Petrov." The bald man also flashed his ID, then immediately took out a new cigarette and lit it.

Considering this a signal, the girl with the tablet also introduced herself: "Tara Lane."

Solemnly, Charlie reached into his pocket, causing the trio to narrow their eyes. 

Pulling out his phone and logging into his social media streaming platform. Showing them his phone, Charlie introduced himself; "world-class stand-alone gamer, Charlie.

"..."

Tara approached the two and whispered, "The infection level is below 1%, so he has no problem."

"Oh?"

Both were surprised.

"Interesting." Ivan patted Charlie's shoulder. "You seem to not be infected at all."

Charlie pretended to be shocked and nervous; if they find out that he is pretending, which is likely due to what seems to be their line of work, it should be able to hide the fact that he is, in fact, very nervous.

"What... what do you mean by infection?" Charlie glanced at the classmates lying on the ground, his lips trembling. "Is that what happened to them?"

"We can't say," Ivan replied, his flickering gaze faintly masked by the cigarette smoke. "According to regulations, we can't disclose this to the general public."

Charlie looked at the messy scene and the distant onlookers, thinking of how this might be covered up; Large-scale hypnosis?

As if reading his mind, Ivan shrugged helplessly.

"If we can't keep things secret, we simply slow down the spread of information. We can't tell you more according to the rules. We're just humble cleaners. Oh, but the degree of infection in your school is not high. It's a small-scale, mild infection accident. They will be fine."

Thinking of the chaos earlier, Charlie wondered if this was mild; what's serious?

He then remembered what he saw in the game last night, the man cutting off his own head with a knife...

At the two's request, Charlie, as the only sober eyewitness, recounted what he saw in detail. Tara Lane carefully recorded the process on the tablet with a sensor pen.

While talking, another car arrived. A team of soldiers in black uniforms jumped out, set up a cordon, and began to clean up the scene.

"That will be all for now. Thank you for your cooperation," Tara said, putting away her pen. 

"One last thing, please do a physical examination today."

"Don't worry. You passed the scan, so there should be no problem. The physical exam is just in case.

Go to the central hospital today, and they'll arrange a special set of examinations for you with the document number, free of charge."

Charlie didn't like physical exams, but thinking of the crazed students, he felt it might be better to comply.

On his way to the hospital, Charlie had time to gather his thoughts and realized that he had no reason to be nervous. His unnecessary thoughts and actions might actually garner greater suspicion than if he remained calm.

Charlie is aware of why he acted that way. Knowing he now has a big secret, he subconsciously thinks of himself as important, that he is different, yet he should do everything possible not to let others see the said difference.

There's frankly nothing wrong with such a thought process; what's wrong is the fact that he executed it poorly and, like a retard, 'act nervous so they do not know you're nervous.'

"Sigh" 

'Well, what's done is done. Consider me unlucky for thinking of myself clever.'

Arriving at the hospital, Charlie received the most comprehensive medical exam he had ever had.

Then, after eating dinner outside, it was almost five when he got home.

The first thing Charlie did after returning home was turn on the computer and log in to "Avengers VS Justice League: A New Era."

When the game started, the familiar "A" and "JL" Logos appeared on the screen, finally causing his tense nerves to relax a little.

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