American comics: Praising the sun, starting from Gotham!

Xiu En crouched down, ignoring the expanding pool of blood at his feet, and began to search the corpse.

He first pulled a crumpled wallet from robber A's leather jacket, which contained several bloodstained twenty-dollar bills.

Next up was the Remington shotgun.

Xiu checked the chamber; there were still three bullets inside.

Although it's a bit heavy, this thing is more effective than any law on the streets of Gotham.

As for the robber B who was riddled with bullets, Xiu En didn't let him go either.

He rummaged through the pile of rotten flesh for a while and pulled out two magazines and a crudely made switchblade.

"Poor wretch."

Xiu En muttered something and casually stuffed the blood-stained banknotes into his pocket.

There are probably less than two hundred dollars in total, so these two lives obviously won't fetch a good price.

Just as he was about to get up, his fingers touched a hard object on the waist of robber A.

It was a transparent resealable bag containing a dozen or so blue pills.

Xiu En's eyes lit up.

A timely notification popped up on the system interface on the retina:

[Item Obtained: Low-Purity "Pleasure" Potion (x12)]

[Note: This is a low-quality stimulant distributed by the Penguin faction. It has significant side effects, but can temporarily block the sense of pain.]

The sirens had become piercing, and red and blue lights flickered outside the broken convenience store window.

Hugh stood up and tucked the shotgun into his oversized old coat, though it made him look somewhat bulky and odd.

He walked to the cashier.

The young Black clerk was holding his head, trembling, and peering through his fingers at the blood-covered man in horror.

Xiu En reached out and took a lollipop from the counter, unwrapped it, and popped it into his mouth.

The sweet taste melted in my mouth, slightly diluting the rusty, bloody smell.

"Don't be afraid."

Xiu En mumbled something and casually kicked the unloaded Uzi submachine gun to the clerk's feet.

"I'm a reasonable person. These two guys disturbed my midnight snack, so I just helped Gotham clean up some trash."

"Remember to tell the police."

"This is called legitimate self-defense by a concerned citizen."

After saying that, he pointed seriously to the sign above his head that read "Life Countdown," which only he could see, as if the scales of justice were hanging there.

The system seemed to understand his nonsense, and the interface flickered a few times as several new data entries were added to his personal panel.

[The system has detected that the host has completed a truly meaningful real-world combat exercise.]

[Skill module is now available.]

[Passive Skill Input: Street Gunfighting (Lv.1) - If you can't hit your target, then shoot at point-blank range.]

[Passive Trait Input: Minor Muscle Enhancement - Your muscle fibers are now 5% stronger than regular paper.]

Xiu En felt a slight tingling sensation in his thigh muscles. Although he was still a long way from becoming Superman, he could now at least run up three floors without getting out of breath.

Two police cars came to a stop in front of the convenience store after a sudden stop.

Several Gotham City Police Department (GCPD) officers in raincoats rushed down with their hands on their holsters.

"GCPD! Listen up, you people inside..."

However, all they found were broken glass and two corpses.

In the alley behind the back gate, a slender figure had long since disappeared into the dark rain.

Xiu En tightened his grip on the gun, trudging through the mud and water, deeper into the slums.

Now that his lifespan has been extended by two days, he needs to start thinking about the long term.

For example, find a place where it doesn't leak to sleep.

Xiu En wandered through the complex alleyways for more than ten minutes, and only stopped in front of a rickety neon sign after making sure there were no flashing red and blue police lights behind him.

"Bessie Hotel, charged by the hour, no overnight stays."

Push open the door.

The owner behind the counter was a bald man with a fleshy face, staring at a CRT television that was playing a talk show.

"No questions asked, no records kept, cash only."

The boss didn't even look up, as if this was some kind of secret code.

Xiuen pulled two twenty-dollar bills, still stained with dark red blood, from his pocket and slapped them on the counter.

"I need a top-floor apartment with a window, and something quiet."

The shopkeeper glanced at the bloodstained money without even blinking, skillfully put it into the drawer, and tossed out a key with a brass number tag.

"304. The hot water is broken, so you'll need to flush the toilet several times. Also, don't die in there; disposing of the body will cost extra."

"What thoughtful after-sales service."

Xiu En grabbed the keys and silently climbed the creaking wooden stairs.

Room 304 was a bit worse than Xiu En had expected, but at least it had a lockable door.

The wallpaper was peeling away, revealing the blackened walls underneath. The bed sheets were yellowed, bearing witness to countless Gotham residents' bodily fluids and dreams.

Shuen tucked the shotgun he was carrying under the mattress, making sure the Glock was within easy reach of the pillow.

He entered the bathroom, which was so narrow that it could only fit one person.

The tap was spewing out icy, rusty water, but he didn't care.

The cold water washed over his body, taking away the bloody smell of the robbers and cooling down his still somewhat excited nerves.

The man in the mirror was as pale as a vampire, with only his black eyes burning with a flame called "will to survive".

"At least now he looks like a human being."

Xiu En dried himself off and changed back into the old clothes that had been washed clean of blood.

He lay sprawled out on the musty-smelling bed.

For a patient with advanced lung disease who previously had difficulty even turning over in bed.

The feeling of being able to freely control my limbs is so exhilarating, it's like I'm flying!

So he woke up the system panel again.

The string of numbers emitted a reassuring glow in the dimly lit room.

[Lifespan Countdown: 39 hours, 8 minutes, and 12 seconds]

It took nearly forty hours.

This was an unimaginable sum of money in the past.

Xiu En felt like a tycoon wasting time, even luxuriously watching the second hand tick for a full minute.

"If I can keep killing bad guys to prolong my life, could I turn Gotham into a model community?"

Xiu En chuckled self-deprecatingly.

Sleepiness washed over me like a tidal wave.

Xiu En turned his head and looked at the small, dusty window.

It was still pitch black outside, and the sound of rain seemed to have lessened, turning into a soft patter.

"I hope tomorrow will be a good day."

He muttered to himself.

After all, murder and arson are physically demanding jobs. If there's a chance to prolong life through an environmentally friendly and harmless method like sunbathing, who would want to run naked in a hail of bullets every day?

As the numbers fluctuated, Xiu En's breathing gradually calmed down.

In this chaotic city, he had his most precious 39 hours.

Goodnight, Gotham.