Terra Calendar Year 1096. Late autumn.
Lungmen—the city-state that never sleeps—lay like a steel behemoth crouched on the border of Yan. Neon from the inner ring churned the night into a cocktail of crimson and indigo, luxury seeping out through every seam between the skyscrapers.
Inside the "Cloudtop" sky lounge, even the air felt more expensive. Beneath crystal chandeliers, classical music drifted softly. Impeccably dressed men and women held their glasses with practiced ease, smiles as standardized as their perfume.
In a corner sofa, Gu Yunchuan enjoyed the closeness of a Feline actress. Miss Lina, Lungmen's newest rising star, leaned into him; her fluffy cat ears trembled with each giggle, nearly brushing his cheek.
"Young Master Gu, you're getting better and better at making people happy," Lina purred, her voice soft and sweet like freshly spun marshmallow.
A month ago, a bizarre car accident had taken Gu Yunchuan's parents—and shoved the twenty-two-year-old onto the chairman's seat of the Gu Group. In Lungmen's upper circles, whispers followed him everywhere: the Gu heir was nothing but a lucky fool, a pretty face living off an inheritance.
"Making people happy?" Gu Yunchuan turned his head. Under the lights, his black Feline ears looked unusually sleek. A perfectly measured hint of roguishness played at the corner of his mouth. "Miss Lina, I thought my only virtues were being handsome and rich."
"Ugh, stop." Lina tapped his chest with theatrical annoyance, eyes glistening. "Who doesn't know this? You've only been running the company for a month, and you already locked down an exclusive ore supply channel with Rem Bitu. My friends in business say your instincts are sharper than the most calculating Zalak."
"Is that so?" Gu Yunchuan raised a brow, his gaze sliding as if absentmindedly toward a middle-aged man not far away—glass in hand, eyes repeatedly stealing looks in their direction. "Then I should thank your friend for the compliment. Though in business… most things come down to luck."
He lifted a finger and gently hooked Lina's small chin, lowering his voice into something magnetic.
"Compared to those hard rocks, I'm more interested in your perfume tonight. 'Siesta Dream,' right? It's… unusual. Very sweet."
"Y-Young Master Gu…" Lina's cheeks flushed bright red, her breath slipping out of rhythm.
Just then, the middle-aged man finally found his "chance," approaching with a smile pasted on so tightly it looked painful.
"Young Master Gu, I've heard so much about you. I'm Li Di from Hongsheng Group—Vice President. Here's my card." He bowed and scraped, posture low enough to sweep the floor.
Gu Yunchuan accepted the card, his fingertip lightly tracing over the words Vice President. His smile didn't change.
"So it's President Li of Hongsheng. Pleasure. Are you here to show me a path to fortune—pull me along for the ride?"
"N-no, no, I wouldn't dare." Li Di rubbed his hands, looking awkward. "Hongsheng has been hoping to enter the ore raw materials business as well. We heard Gu Group secured Rem Bitu's channel, and we wanted to ask… could you perhaps spare us a little to eat?"
"Spare you a little to eat?" Gu Yunchuan laughed. He handed the card to Lina as casually as passing a used napkin. "President Li, this is Lungmen. There's no free lunch here. If Hongsheng wants a seat at the table, you'll need to bring something worth serving."
Li Di's smile stiffened for a heartbeat—then returned, forced and eager. "Of course, of course. We're willing to pay ten percent over market and purchase through Gu Group. What do you say…"
"Ten percent?" Gu Yunchuan shook his head as if he'd heard a joke, taking a slow sip of his drink. "President Li, are you trying to dismiss a beggar—or do you think I look like I'm short on cash?"
He paused. His eyes sharpened, and he stared Li Di down.
"Go back and tell your boss: you want ore? Fine. Have Fengchi Logistics cough up that parcel of land in the west district. Otherwise, don't come to bother me."
The smile on Li Di's face froze solid.
That west district parcel was a confidential project between Hongsheng and Fengchi Logistics—how could he know? And to demand it so brazenly…
"Y-young Master Gu… I can't make that decision…"
"If you can't decide, then go find someone who can." Gu Yunchuan flicked his hand like he was shooing a whining fly, then turned back to Lina with a warm smile. "Sorry, Miss Lina. Let some clueless fool ruin our mood. Shall we go somewhere else and keep talking?"
"O-okay… yes, Young Master Gu." Lina nodded dazedly, swept up by the irresistible force of someone used to getting his way.
As Gu Yunchuan walked off with the beauty tucked at his side, Li Di's face darkened like storm water. He tightened his grip on the glass, venom in his eyes.
That little bastard. Does he really think he can sit safely in the chairman's chair? Fine. It was time to have some "friends" loosen his bones.
Midnight. Lungmen's Central District. The Gu family estate.
After seeing off the clingy Lina, Gu Yunchuan stood alone before a vast floor-to-ceiling window, looking down on a city that was half paradise, half hell. The frivolous mask from the gala had fallen away. His gaze was deep and cold—utterly mismatched with a twenty-two-year-old's face.
"A whole month…" he murmured.
A month ago, he'd been a mortgage-strangled office drone on a blue planet. One car accident later, his soul had crossed into this perilous world of Terra—into the body of a Feline rich kid who happened to share his name. The original Gu Yunchuan, and his parents, had already been erased from this world in another "accidental" crash.
All that came with him was a cold, mechanical presence calling itself the [Dark Knight System].
"System," Gu Yunchuan thought.
A translucent blue virtual screen appeared before his eyes—visible to him alone.
[Dark Knight System]
Host: Gu Yunchuan
Identity: Son of Lungmen's richest (daytime), Batman (nighttime)
Justice Points: 0 (earned by punishing evil; can be exchanged for equipment and skills)
Current Mission: None
Armory:
Night Bat Suit (Basic): Provides basic physical protection, infrared vision, and signal-jamming functions.
Grapnel Gun (Standard): Range 50 meters; for rapid movement and restraining targets.
Multi-Function Utility Belt: Smoke bombs ×3, flashbangs ×3, basic med kit ×1.
Skills: None
"Talk about a bare-bones start." Gu Yunchuan clicked his tongue. Over the past month, he'd been juggling corporate chaos—soothing shareholders and relatives with knives behind their smiles—while studying the system. Its purpose was obvious: turn him into this world's Batman and clean up Lungmen's crime.
Which suited him perfectly.
In his previous life, he'd been powerless—just another ordinary man. Now he had money, strength, and the means to change things. Besides, that "accident" was full of holes. He needed power to rip the curtain back and make whoever did it pay in blood.
Becoming "Batman" wasn't just the system's demand—it was his choice.
[Ding!]
The screen flickered.
New Tutorial Mission Issued!
Mission Name: Crying in the Alley
Details: In Lungmen's outer ring—Third Slum District—Siracusan mafia member "Scarface" is assaulting a Perro girl who cannot repay a usurious loan. Go stop him and administer the punishment he deserves.
Reward: Justice Points +100. Unlock new gadget: Sonic Bat-Dart.
Gu Yunchuan's eyes iced over.
The Siracusan mob—filth that had drifted in from Siracusa.
"Location. Exact coordinates," he said coldly.
A detailed map of the outer ring appeared. A red dot pulsed urgently.
"Good."
He turned toward the deepest part of his walk-in wardrobe. At an unremarkable section of wall, he pressed his palm to a discreet brick.
Hummm—
The wall slid open silently, revealing a sleek, high-tech chamber. In the center, a black suit—streamlined, smooth, and predatory—stood on a mannequin.
Ten minutes later, a black shadow threaded through the labyrinth of alleyways in Lungmen's outer ring like a ghost.
The Night Bat Suit fit Gu Yunchuan perfectly—light, tough, seamless to move in. The tactical visor inside his helmet digitized the world: wind speed, temperature, distant sounds—everything analyzed and projected.
He moved like a real bat, vanishing into the steel forest's shadows without a whisper.
He reached the mission area quickly. Obscene taunts and a girl's strangled sobs drifted from the second floor of an abandoned building.
"Little bitch, still trying to run? If you don't pay up tonight, I'll show you what it means to wish you were dead!" a hoarse male voice roared.
Gu Yunchuan didn't slow for a heartbeat. He lifted his wrist. The grapnel fired, latching to a third-floor window ledge with surgical precision. A soft motor whirred as his body rose—silent—until he hung outside the second-floor window.
Through dust-caked glass, he saw it.
A burly Lupo man with a vicious scar across his face had a small Perro girl pinned against the wall. Her clothes were torn. Tears and terror streaked her face.
Gu Yunchuan's gaze turned colder still.
He didn't smash through the window.
Instead, he climbed to the roof and slipped down through the stairwell like falling leaf-drift, entering the second floor without a sound.
The scarred man reached for the girl—
—and suddenly his neck went cold.
A spike of agony tore through him. Before he could even scream, his body convulsed and collapsed to the floor, consciousness snuffed out.
Gu Yunchuan withdrew his hand from the back of the man's neck. Faint arcs of electricity danced at the suit's fingertips: a built-in nonlethal shock function, enough to knock out a grown man instantly.
"W-who are you…?" The Perro girl curled in the corner, staring at the black figure in panic.
"Don't be afraid." His voice, filtered through a modulator, turned low and rough. "I'm not here to hurt you. You're safe."
He didn't linger. He crouched beside the unconscious Scarface and pulled a personal terminal from his pocket. The suit's fingers connected to the interface and began cracking it—fast.
Data copy complete. Encrypted communications detected: links to "Hongsheng Group."
The system's prompt chimed in his ear.
"Hongshe ng…" Gu Yunchuan's mouth curved into a thin smile. So Li Di from the party really was dirty.
He crushed the terminal in his hand.
Then he produced a small bat-shaped metal piece and laid it on the thug's forehead—his mark.
Turning back, he said to the still-shaken girl, "Leave. Don't borrow loan-shark money again. As for him—Lungmen's Guard Department will be here soon."
And with that, his silhouette slipped away into the dark corridor, swallowed by shadow.
Minutes later, shrill sirens approached. Guard Department officers rushed into the building to find only an unconscious Scarface—and the stark black bat emblem on his forehead.
Meanwhile, Gu Yunchuan was already back at his estate, as if nothing had happened at all.
Tutorial Mission Complete.
Rewards delivered: Justice Points +100. New gadget unlocked: Sonic Bat-Dart.
Gu Yunchuan looked out at the city's neon chaos.
"Lungmen…" he whispered. "The real show is just beginning."
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