Gotham City, a certain nameless alley.
The afternoon sun lazily shone on the ground, illuminating an area.
A group of hooded thugs hid in the shadows, making noise.
'Put on your hood properly, rookie!'
'After we finish this job today, we won't be nobodies anymore. Imagine backpacks full of cash, our faces on the front page.'
The burly man shoved a wine bottle into his mouth and gulped it down happily.
'Whoa, I'm feeling it, I'm feeling it! Listen up—my money's piled high, bullet cups with ice, we can pop bottles all night long...'
Leo finally managed to swat away the big hand that was pulling at his hood, only to see the 'Boss' holding a wine bottle in one hand and patting his belly with the other, shaking his head and singing a hype song.
That hoarse, smoky voice was making him want to vomit.
Drinking heavily before robbing a bank? If this succeeds, he'll eat the entire wine bottle!
He closed his eyes and 'looked' at the upper right corner.
In his vision, which should have been pitch black, a string of green information was lit up—Crossing Over Charging—[01:51:05]
After one breath, 05 became 00. Without a doubt, this was a countdown.
When the countdown ends, he should be able to cross back to his original world.
He swore that from now on, he would never again be so impulsive as to randomly click on pop-up windows that suddenly appeared.
In the middle of summer, he was only wearing a pair of shorts, sitting in front of his computer coding, and then he closed his eyes and opened them again, suddenly appearing in a damp, dark alley.
Every time he thought of that scene, his eyes couldn't help but get moist.
What was even more despairing was that the newspaper he found in the nearby trash can clearly stated, "Arkham Asylum experiences another breakout; the most dangerous inmate escapes. Why can't our protectors 'solve' the criminals once and for all?"
The picture in the newspaper was of a grinning Joker. He sat in a cage, the corners of his mouth turned up, looking happy as if he were at a party.
Leo's heart sank when he saw this, and he already had an ominous feeling.
After he flipped through all the pages of all the newspapers, this premonition turned into a real and undeniable nightmare.
He had crossed over to the DC world, and he was in the most dangerous city in this world—Gotham!
The only things that came with him were his shorts and the 24-hour countdown he could see when he closed his eyes.
Oh, wait, he also had his glasses and slippers... Thank God, thank His ancestors eight generations back!
If there was anything worse than this, it was when he was struggling to make an environmentally friendly outfit out of newspapers and suddenly ran into a group of lunatics.
The strong man leading them, who was the beer-bellied guy in front of him, grabbed his new clothes, tore them in half, and then let out inhuman laughter: 'Hahaha! Brothers, look! Here's a poor guy who got caught stealing someone's woman and was kicked out!'
Leo tried his best to explain, saying he was just taking a walk here and flipping through newspapers to find a job.
But this kind of nonsense, which he himself didn't believe, only led to more unrestrained laughter.
And after the laughter, he was faced with two choices:
Either join a vibrant social group and rob a bank together.
Or be knocked out and sold to a black market doctor or anyone willing to buy his ass.
Leo, as a 35-year-old programmer 'optimized' by a big company, was so arrogant; could he endure this humiliation?
He could!
At that moment, he recognized the boss and swore to serve him diligently until his death!
The Boss was also very happy and comforted him—saying he would help protect his ass when they went to prison together later.
Leo was very moved. Look how nice this boss is... Sooner or later, he'll stab him twice in the back to let him know how dangerous it is to be the boss.
After that, he received a set of casual clothes that smelled strongly of male body odor, which were originally white but were now light yellow.
After putting them on, his body felt warm, but they were a bit smelly...
He had originally planned to endure for 24 hours and escape at light speed as soon as the time was up.
Unexpectedly, this group of lunatics had astonishing initiative and planned to rob a bank the next day.
Leo himself was very against this operation, but he didn't have an 'equality device,' while others did. So he was just a junior member and had no say.
Now, in another dark and narrow alley, they were waiting for the last member. It was said that this mysterious person was the lead figure. He was experienced and responsible for planning all the steps of the bank robbery.
They waited for a full half hour. The group of unreliable thugs had drunk so much they could barely stand. A gray minivan finally arrived late and stopped in front of everyone.
Bang—Clang—
The back door was kicked open, and a familiar figure jumped out of the car with flamboyant dance steps.
He was wearing a bright purple suit, his face painted with that iconic pale makeup, and the corners of his mouth curved into a strange arc.
'Good afternoon, everyone.' He spread his arms and bowed in an elegant and exaggerated manner. 'It's a pleasure to meet you all~'
'Hahaha—!'
He seemed genuinely happy. After greeting them, he burst into hysterical laughter.
The laughter was sharp and piercing, yet it carried an irresistible magic, as if it could penetrate everyone's soul, making them involuntarily laugh and go mad with him.
The drunken thugs instantly sobered up and started laughing with him. But this laughter wasn't from the heart, nor was it from joy; it was full of flattery and ingratiation.
Leo could tell that these criminals, who were ferocious towards ordinary people, were afraid.
Their trembling legs, darting eyes, and stiff, ridiculous smiles all showed that they were afraid of the Joker.
There's nothing to be ashamed of. How many people in Gotham City aren't afraid of the Joker?
Here, the gap between criminals and supervillains is sometimes wider than the gap between humans and animals.
For a moment, almost everyone was laughing awkwardly, except for one person who genuinely couldn't laugh.
This anomaly was undoubtedly Leo himself.
Not only could he not laugh, but he also wanted to cry and wanted to scream.
Holy shit!
The living, breathing Joker!!
The person he least wanted to see in Gotham City.
If he met other supervillains, he could still make some disguises based on their personalities to protect himself. But this was the Joker, the damn Joker!
Even Batman couldn't guess what madness he would unleash next!
Leo accidentally made eye contact with him for a second, his heart skipped a few beats, and he had to use all his facial muscles to force out a smile that looked worse than crying.
A cunning light flickered in the Joker's eyes. It lingered on his face for a few seconds. 'Oh-oh-oh—such clean and harmless eyes, they remind me of a lost fawn in the forest.'
'Where did you find such a guy, who looks like a newborn chick?'