American comics: Praising the sun, starting from Gotham!

Xiu En's fever finally subsided.

He coughed lightly with a solemn expression that wouldn't seem out of place at a funeral, as if the ostrich that had just tried to bury itself in the mud wasn't him at all.

"Eating is eating, and work is work. We need to get down to business now."

He straightened his clothes with a serious expression, trying to restore his lost dignity.

"Ivy, I need a disguise. Help me upgrade my clothes. You know, it's not safe in Gotham if you're too handsome."

"puff……"

Ivy let out a very disrespectful laugh, but the newly advanced Plant Queen didn't actually sabotage her.

The vines in the greenhouse danced with her fingers, clinging silkily to Xiu En's hem.

Under the emerald glow imbued with the magic of nature, the trench coat had several dark gold leaves adorned with scraps of radiant rubies at the collar. Not only were they beautiful, but they were also high-level magic resistance amulets.

"Concealment and protection, a dual benefit in one."

Ivy clapped her hands with great satisfaction, then created a new small sunflower clone, which very consciously gathered its roots and placed them on Xiu En's left shoulder.

The two Ivy spoke together.

"I added an invisibility effect, so even if you run naked in the street, no one can see your face unless you actively want them to see it."

"But wearing these clothes doesn't exactly qualify as streaking."

Xiu En looked at himself in the mirror, made a brief comment, and was very satisfied with the style that made him look like the mastermind behind everything.

He pushed open the greenhouse door.

He originally planned to take off with a sonic boom or crash into the window, but then he remembered that the big shot was still watching him, so he figured a civilized person should use the front door.

So he pretended to hail a legitimate taxi.

Speechless all the way.

The driver didn't even dare to glance at the strange passenger, who was completely covered up and had a sunflower on his shoulder, in the rearview mirror.

The suggestive magic engraved in the trench coat's magic circle made Xiu En's presence both prominent and transparent, like a background panel that was subconsciously ignored.

Wayne Group headquarters building.

This tallest, most luxurious, and busiest skyscraper in Gotham is currently handling catastrophic compensation work following a massive blackout affecting half the city and a seafood attack.

With his hands behind his back, Hugh swaggered through the security gate that would stump half of Gotham's agents, like a board member who hadn't yet received his salary.

It's possible that half of it is due to the new clothes, and the other half is because he's on the whitelist.

The elevator stopped at the second-to-last floor. That was the heart of the entire group, the CEO's private domain.

Through the door, bursts of arguing, typical of the elite, accompanied by the sound of documents being slammed on the table, drifted out like haggling in a market.

The Dark Knight, who usually goes around beating people up in strange clothes at night, is now facing an enemy even more troublesome than Bane, namely a joint attack from the Department of Law and the Department of Finance.

"Excuse me, Mr. Shuen, do you have an appointment? Mr. Wayne is dealing with a very urgent public relations crisis."

A secretary wearing black-rimmed glasses was still typing rapidly on her keyboard at the door, but a professional aura kept Xiu En out.

In the past, Xiu En would have kicked the door open and rushed in to steal the coffee.

But now, well, he's a god with good deeds.

"It's okay, I'll wait for someone."

Xiu En raised an eyebrow, forcibly suppressing the urge to go in, and turned to sit down on the waiting chair next to him, crossing his legs.

"You're actually waiting?"

The sunflower on her shoulder swayed, her tone filled with disbelief.

"That's called self-cultivation. What does a potted plant like you know?"

Xiu En picked up a fortune magazine from the side and covered his face with it, then closed his eyes to rest in a posture that would infuriate Dr. Fate.

Inside the door, Bruce had just signed a check for the maintenance fee of a flagship that was enough to buy a small country.

He rubbed his throbbing temples and glanced at the security terminal that had been flashing on the monitor for the past five minutes and now showed a red dot sitting right outside his office door.

The hour hand completed two more revolutions on that expensive Swiss wall clock.

Shuen even started seriously studying the yacht GG on the back cover of the financial magazine in his hand. He wondered if Bruce would take back his black card after he bought this cool-looking floating object with his black card.

"You actually got absorbed in it?"

The sunflower leaf on his shoulder trembled slightly, sending him an incredulous signal.

"I'm thinking about a certain conversion rate in the monetary system."

Xiu En closed the magazine and began to spout nonsense with a straight face. Although the blush on his face had faded, his posture was now strangely upright.

The secretary looked up at him for the fifth time, still expressionless, but the force with which she typed on the keyboard was at least twice as strong as before.

Finally, the sound of the door opening was like a clarion call of liberation.

A large group of executives, carrying briefcases and with pale faces, filed out like defeated soldiers who had just retreated from the battlefield.

Holding documents covered in signatures, they were still muttering calculations about the concrete budget for repairing the dock. (The following phrase appears to be unrelated and possibly a separate news item: "Soul Valley's new work is here, updated first across the entire internet!")

He cast a look at the guy sitting by the door, dressed in a long overcoat and looking like a weirdo, with what seemed like a strange glance, then hurried away.

If looks could kill, they would have razed the Wayne Group to the ground three times already.

Xiu En even politely waved to the last person, who, freed from the influence of the clothes, suddenly remembered the luminous object, startling the somewhat balding CFO so much that he almost slipped.

As the bystanders cleared the area, Bruce loosened his tie, his eyes revealing a weariness that suggested he could buy the entire city of Gotham.

He first glanced at the surveillance footage at the door out of the corner of his eye, then his gaze fell on Xiu En, who had sprung up from his chair.

Bruce paused for a moment, seemingly searching for a suitable adjective to describe the scene.

"I never imagined I'd see you sitting so normally outside my office door."

"That will cost extra, charged by the minute."

Xiu En straightened his collar and organized his words.

"Mr. Wayne, it seems you've finally solved your wallet problem? I sat here for a full ten minutes to demonstrate the qualities of a law-abiding citizen, without even scratching off a single piece of plaster."

Bruce raised an eyebrow, clearly surprised by this civilized revelation.

"Well then, Mr. Consultant."

Bruce even gave a slightly amused smile and gestured for him to enter.

"Come in. Now that you've learned to make appointments and wait, I imagine what you have to say is more interesting than those financial statements."

Xiu walked over without any hesitation, the sunflower on his shoulder proudly unfurling its leaves as if it were some kind of medal of honor.

"afternoon tea."

As Xiu En passed by the petrified secretary, he tapped her desk with his knuckles.

"I want it sweet, oh no, just a little bit sweet, two servings."

Then he looked at Bruce.

"Oh, right, there's that old story about vampires. I want to see how the antidote research is going."

The tea arrived quickly.

Hugh poured the syrup mixture into his mouth. He wanted to say, "Damn, why is it still so sweet?" but he held back.

"Excellent hospitality."

He gently placed the cup on the table.

"Well then, tour guide, shall we go see the other Bruce? I can sense that he's not at the manor right now; he's down here."

"Come with me."

Bruce pressed a button behind the painting.

The wall slid open silently, revealing a small space with only one elevator.

"Is this your happy hometown?"

Xiu En stepped inside, and the sunflower on his shoulder adjusted its position as if it were entering a state of combat readiness.

"This is just a storage room for old documents."

Bruce pressed his fingerprint and lied without batting an eye.

When that futuristic alloy door opened again, this was the lowest level of the Wayne Tech Building, whiter and more ruthless than the Bat Cave, and more like a pure scientific sanctuary.

In a closed room with one-way glass on all four sides, a man is sitting with his back to the door.

Even from behind, Xiu En could easily recognize who it was.

Bruce Wayne.

Hello, it's nice to see you again.

The man inside turned around.

The movements were slow, lacking the sharpness of a Gotham Nightmare, instead carrying a sluggishness reminiscent of someone recovering from a serious illness.

Although it was still the same face, the deathly pale skin, as if he had been soaking in ice water for years, and the pupils that were slightly narrowed under the fluorescent light but still retained a bright red base, silently told the story of his physical transformation.

The vampire's fangs, which could once even crush steel, have now been worn down and degenerated into a shape more like human tiger teeth.

He held a cup of viscous liquid that looked like red paint in his hand, and the blue veins on the back of his hand were still clearly visible, but the chilling bloodthirsty aura had completely disappeared.

This is a ferocious beast whose fangs have been removed; although alive, it looks more like a specimen.

"You've already developed an antidote? It doesn't seem to be working very well."

Xiu En stroked his chin.

"I don't know much about medicine, but this guy looks like a drained eggplant. He probably couldn't even beat a goose with a fighting power of only five, right?"

"This is the price."

The voice of Bruce the vampire inside the glass room responded to Shuen.

"This antidote is more like a rewrite. It forcibly overwrites the mutated sequence with human genes. I am indeed no longer thirsty, and I might not even be able to beat a child, but I am no longer the blood-sucking Dark Knight."

"This is a choice we made together."

Bruce from the world of Shuen stood outside the glass, his hands in his pockets, his eyes filled with complex emotions.

"Living, as a human being, is far better than being a blood-sucking monster in that world."

Ivy manipulated the sunflower's sensory tentacles to scan it.

"From a plant's perspective, the cells in his body are fighting, not in a way that's about to explode, but it's definitely chaotic. He needs energy, not blood, but a purer kind of energy."