"If I hadn't racked up such a huge debt, I definitely wouldn't want to leave Boston."
"It's much safer than Gotham, and the hero there – Wonder Woman – is also prettier."
On a Gotham night, in a brightly lit bar, a fat, red-faced middle-aged man was holding a large glass of beer and boasting loudly.
Connors Patterson mingled in the bar crowd, laughing along with the others, but deep down, he dismissed the old man's bragging.
While Wonder Woman was indeed beautiful, Gotham wasn't lacking in beauties either: Catwoman, Poison Ivy, Harley Quinn, Barbara... each with her own charm!
"Hey, they say Wonder Woman always has her long legs bare. Does she wear anything under her skirt?"
A fat man with a full beard sitting next to Connors asked loudly.
How vulgar!
Connors gave the fat man a disdainful look, but having frequented this low-cost bar for some time, he was already used to these people starting conversations with lewd remarks.
"That's obviously nonsense. Wonder Woman isn't some magical slut; how could she run around with her butt naked?"
Not just Connors, but even the loudly boasting middle-aged man gave the fat man a disdainful look:
"To be honest, she's my goddess, the kind that cannot be defiled!"
The dozen or so lowlifes who hadn't gone home for the night in the entire bar burst into laughter, their lewd remarks becoming even more unrestrained, discussing things like whether her hard breastplate would scratch her chest or if her battle suit was vacuum-sealed.
Among these people with dirty clothes, body odor, and a prevalence of fat men, Connors Patterson, with his nearly 1.9-meter height, his muscular build hidden beneath his dark red suit, and his handsome appearance, seemed somewhat out of place.
However, after a troublemaker who had picked a fight earlier was severely beaten, every person who came to drown their sorrows was warned by the bartender not to easily provoke Connors, so he was now quite comfortable here.
At this moment, Connors didn't join the discussion fantasizing about Wonder Woman but instead looked at his system.
[Today's Gossip: Wonder Woman's Underwear]
[Submit?]
Not yet, wait a bit... Connors decided to see if there were any new topics in the bar before submitting today's gossip.
Unlike these homeless natives who would order the cheapest low-quality wine and then start boasting loudly after arriving at the bar, he was a transmigrator.
Connors Patterson was also the name he gave himself after transmigrating. His original self was a gossip-loving netizen from the Heavenly Dynasty, but having transmigrated to Gotham, his original name was no longer important.
The essential golden finger for transmigrators was called the "Gossip System" by him. Once a day, he could get certain rewards by eating gossip.
Among these, gossip relayed by others yielded the lowest rewards, gossip he explored himself yielded slightly higher rewards, and being present at the scene yielded the best rewards.
Being in Gotham City, where the folk customs were simple and honest, something unexpected could happen at any moment, and he could never give up until the last moment.
This was why he had been hesitant to submit today's gossip mission.
Unfortunately, it had been ten days since he transmigrated here. He had only seen the Bat-Signal light up, but he had never gotten any gossip by being present at the scene.
If Connors weren't worried about not being able to get fresh gossip after entering Gotham Prison and lacking the corresponding means of escape, he would even consider deliberately causing some trouble to attract Batman.
This won't do. How long will it take to reach the level of a superhero? Relying solely on gossip obtained through secondary channels, the rewards are always unimpressive... Connors secretly felt a headache.
In the past ten days, through others boasting in the bar, television reports, and newspaper articles, he had consumed gossip such as Batman once again locking the Joker in Arkham Asylum, the Gotham Forest growing wildly recently, an earthquake occurring underwater causing a tsunami but being stopped by an unknown force, the Daily Planet naming the guy in the red cape Superman...
And a series of other gossips.
Besides these gossips that he saw as clearly related to superheroes, he also consumed a lot of gossip about Bruce Wayne's various scandals with female celebrities.
Although the rewards from these non-firsthand gossips were very ordinary, they allowed Connors to accumulate a small amount of savings, enough to purchase a legal identity, gain skills sufficient to deal with ordinary people, and establish himself in Gotham City.
But this was not enough.
Connors didn't want to transmigrate here and be an ordinary person in a World where superheroes were everywhere and villains were as common as dogs.
If something happened one day and he died an untimely death, that would be too frustrating.
With the system, although the current rewards were just some unremarkable money and abilities like fighting, he believed the system would bring him surprises as long as he personally got some major gossip about superheroes.
The hands on the wall moved minute by minute, approaching midnight. Just as Connors thought there was nothing new today and was about to submit today's gossip mission, there was a loud bang from the street outside.
Immediately after, the sound of car horns, people screaming, and maniacal laughter entered the bar, making the boasting men freeze for a moment.
Something's happening?!
Connors's spirits lifted. Before anyone else reacted, he got up and went outside.
Whether as a gossip-loving netizen from the Heavenly Dynasty or because of the existence of the Gossip System, there was no way he would just stay in the bar.
Screech!
The harsh sound of tires scraping the ground rang out.
As soon as Connors went out, a car locked its tires and drifted past him, stopping just in front of a figure.
The figure stood at the intersection of the light from two streetlights, facing the car that was about to hit them without flinching, with their hands resting on a baseball bat held over their shoulder, long hair plastered to their face, looking like a demon in the shadows.
The driver who had nearly hit the person opened the car door, cursing. As soon as they poked their head out, the person standing in the shadows jumped onto the hood, the baseball bat in their hand raised high.
"Mother..."
The driver's mouth was half-open, having just uttered one word, when their forehead received a solid blow from the baseball bat, and they collapsed, unconscious.
Maniacal laughter rang out again. The unlucky driver lay on the ground, and with a roaring sound, the attacker drove away in their car after hitting several cars parked on the side of the road.
The people of Gotham were so used to all of this that it was practically routine. After a few curses from the buildings along the street, everything returned to normal, and the people in the bar went back to their seats to continue boasting.
The only difference was that Connors did not return to the bar this time but sat in the back seat of the car that had driven away.
"Red and blue hair tips, maniacal laughter, a deranged appearance, a pungent chemical smell all over..."
"Is this Harley Quinn, deranged after being thrown into the chemical pool and abandoned by the Joker?"