American comics: Praising the sun, starting from Gotham!

"etc."

Xiu En is stretching his shoulders.

Hearing that name, which represented almost everything of money and power in Gotham, uttered by this plant-like woman living in ruins, he paused in his tracks.

"You mean Bruce Wayne, the guy who's always grinning like an idiot with a supermodel on the front page? You know he's Batman?"

He deliberately dragged out the questioning tone in his voice.

Which version of Gotham is this? How did Poison Ivy, a rookie Batman, know that the rookie Batman was Bruce Wayne?

"I thought the enemies in your line of work were usually the police or owners of some chemical plants that hadn't gone bankrupt yet. I didn't expect the landlady's connections to be so...high-end?"

"High-end?"

Ivy gave a cold laugh.

"That was when he was a child, before he learned to use money to protect himself."

She seemed too lazy to delve into the mockery in Xiu En's eyes, or perhaps the overwhelming aura of anger made her indifferent to such things.

She casually tore off an electronic component and threw it into the pile of trash that Jeremy had painstakingly cleaned up.

"Back then, we didn't have so many nicknames, like Poison Ivy or Richest Man. Everyone was running around on the streets. The only difference was that he already had a deadpan look on his face, as if he wanted to control everything, while I just wanted to prevent those damn weeds from dying so quickly."

She stopped pacing restlessly halfway through her sentence.

Those green eyes, which were originally filled with anger, suddenly turned to look at Xiu En, or rather, at the halo surrounding Xiu En.

"ha."

Ivy suddenly burst into laughter, as if she had discovered the truth.

She walked up to Xiu En and held her finger up to the edge of the halo.

"I was wondering why that control freak suddenly became so interested in my azaleas."

"They're not here to spy on me. They're here to spy on you."

"I?"

Xiu En pointed to his nose.

He tried to argue his way out of it.

"Just to see a homeless man who's about to cough up his lungs? Doesn't he have a rather unusual taste?"

"For a homeless man who can turn half of the West End into daylight at night."

Ivy pouted.

"Bruce is more curious than a cat, especially about weird things that aren't part of his usual logical plan."

"Fine, since this pile of trash is here for you."

Ivy suddenly snapped her fingers.

The vines that had been writhing like snakes around them suddenly fell silent and shrank back into the soil.

"Then there's no need for us to get angry here over a bunch of lifeless plastic shells."

She walked over to the pile of fertilizer bags that hadn't been moved yet, pulled out a men's long trench coat that looked like it had been picked up from a garbage dump but was very clean, and threw it at Xiu En without saying a word.

"Put them on."

Xiu En caught the trench coat and was a little stunned.

"Where are we going? And..."

He held up the garment in his hand and smelled it. Although there was no strange smell, the size looked like the standard attire of a down-on-his-luck detective from the last century.

"This looks more like playing the role of an exhibitionist."

"Don't let your filthy thoughts affect my taste. I'm lucky if I have anything to wear. Gotham is cold at night."

"Since that playboy is so eager to see it, let's just go and ask him for the ticket fee."

"Go to Wayne Manor. That's Bruce's doghouse."

"That rich guy might be scary when he's wearing that tight suit, but as long as he's still wearing that mask of 'I'm just a simple rich kid,' he's a hundred times easier to talk to than you, that idiotic believer who only knows how to kowtow."

Joestar, who was about to bang his head against the wall as a sign of repentance, stopped awkwardly upon hearing this.

"M-Master?" He looked at Xiu En pitifully.

Xiu En sighed and put the tattered trench coat on.

"Let's go."

"This isn't a fight, Joestar. We're going on a... friendly visit to high society."

"And while you're at it, grab a nice meal."

Soon after.

His gaze fell upon the enormous, ornate iron gate in front of him, which seemed to completely separate the two worlds.

This is the legendary Wayne Manor.

The sheer oppressive aura emanating from those two stone monster statues guarding the entrance was enough to deter half of Gotham's petty thugs from making way for them.

Wow.

Jerami huddled behind Shum, his voice trembling.

Normally, a small-time hoodlum like Jerami standing here would only be thinking about two things.

One concern is whether the dogs inside will rush out and bite me to death.

Secondly, I wonder if the electric fence on top of the wall will bake me alive.

But now, his mouth was agape.

"This door looks even sturdier than a vault. Is the boss planning to just blow it up?"

Joestar stared warily at the spikes at the top of the door.

"Those are the devil's teeth. We must be careful, sir. This place reeks of money and blood."

"Shut up."

Ivy didn't even slow down; she walked barefoot on the rain-soaked asphalt and went straight to the gate.

There was a touch panel hidden beneath the carving, emitting a faint red glow.

She gave a thumbs up.

A crisp beep pierced the rain.

Immediately afterwards, a buzzing sound of electricity came from the brass microphone next to the panel, which was not disguised.

"It's me. Ivy."

The Poison Ivy woman's voice was utterly unfriendly.

"I know you're in there watching that giant monitor, Bruce. Open the door. Or I'll turn all those maple trees in your front yard into man-eating vines."

The door slowly opened inwards.

Xiu En raised an eyebrow in surprise, suppressing the urge to cough.

"It seems you have more influence than I thought, landlady. I thought we'd at least have to exchange a few words with an old butler with a heavy British accent."

"face?"

Ivy turned around, her expression somewhere between mockery and a strange sense of nostalgia.

"Don't think of me as something so sophisticated. The reason he opened the door so quickly is simply because he had left that door open for that stray cat before it turned into what it is now."

She went in first.

"When I was Jeremy's age, I was also an orphan. Back then, I didn't live in a greenhouse; instead, I lived in various corners of Gotham with Serena, a thief who hadn't yet learned how to wear a tight leather suit."

"Serena?"

Jerami jogged after him, his eyes darting around as if trying to find some gold in the garden.

"Serena Kyle. Now she's just a thief who likes to scratch people everywhere."

Ivy spoke casually.

"Back then, she would often sneak in at night when no one was around, and for a while she even lived here. She said the milk here was always the best. And that young Bruce who cried like a log at the funeral was probably too lonely, because he never called security."

Xiu En listened to these gossips, and his feelings were quite complicated.

"So you mean that playboy was a spendthrift from a young age?"

Xiu En asked in a low voice.

"Maybe. Anyway, he always grants Serena's requests."

Ivy snorted coldly.

"Although at that time I was more interested in why the roses planted by that old man named Alfred could bloom so beautifully than that cup of hot milk."

She suddenly stopped and pointed to the Wayne Tower ahead, its silhouette appearing menacing in the lightning flashes.

"But it seems that his problem has not only not improved, but has become even worse. He even wants to monitor someone like you who can glow like a human accessory."

"Such touching childhood memories."

"So our opening spell is actually a friendship that hasn't expired yet?"

"No."

"My fingerprints are still on his special guest list and haven't been deleted. That control freak probably wants to make sure that if I ever go crazy and come after him, he can at least see it on the surveillance footage immediately."

Ivy snorted coldly.

"Hurry up."

Ivy urged him impatiently.

"I can smell that nauseating air freshener. Bruce must be waiting in the living room."