From Gotham to Night City, my infamy is known to all.

"Yes, it's located in the northern suburbs, which is a bit far from here. You can take a nap for a while."

Poison Ivy nodded and quieted down.

There was also that elderly man from Wayne Group in the car, and she still felt a little awkward about it.

She moved a little to the left and sat behind Leo, leaning against the car door, breathing in the fresh, plant-scented air and enjoying the warm sunshine.

As far as I can remember, it's been a long time since I've felt this relaxed since becoming Poison Ivy...

Rising to Fame: Chapter 240 Poison Ivy: "Damn Batman, I'll remember this!"

Leisurely and pleasant times always fly by. It seems like only a blink of an eye, and the vehicle has already traveled diagonally from the southeastern suburbs of Gotham City to the northern suburbs.

Nothing unexpected happened along the way, causing Poison Ivy to worry for nothing.

Not far from the main gate of the Botanical Research Institute, a magnificent gate is adorned with a gilded plaque that reads "Blue Dream Corporation - Gotham City Branch".

Leo and Poison Ivy got off the bus here, and Afu gave them some time alone under the pretext of going on patrol.

After he left, Poison Ivy visibly relaxed, her arms, which had been clasped to her chest, drooping to the ground.

Leo smiled and said, "Don't be so nervous. Afu is actually a very easy-going elder, and he has a great sense of humor."

"Maybe so, but I don't really like dealing with strangers."

After exchanging a few words, Leo led her into the research institute.

On the way to Poison Ivy's residence, he gave a brief introduction to the research institute, pointing out that it used to be a Wayne Enterprises research institute, but had now been taken over by them.

He then pointed to the staff members he occasionally encountered and explained, “Those are all carefully selected senior researchers, and they are also your subordinates. As the chief researcher and head of the institute, if you feel that some of them are not competent for the job, or have other problems, you can fire them directly without any hesitation.”

It's all worth it to make the green of all things great again!

Poison Ivy nodded and smiled with satisfaction.

She could tell that those researchers were professionals with work experience, completely different from the "research dogs" that university professors casually picked up.

Her own dream was to join a renowned research institute after graduation and work step by step toward owning her own independent research institute.

I never imagined... that my dream would actually come true one day, but in such a bizarre way.

No wonder some fellow inmates jokingly refer to entering Arkham as "further education" during casual conversations...

Upon arriving at the luxurious three-story sunroom, Poison Ivy's mood was like a roller coaster accelerating from the bottom of a valley to the top, overwhelmed with surprise and joy.

"I... live here!?"

"That's right, this is a botanical garden-style residence specially prepared for you, and it has most of the ornamental plants that can be found on the market."

Leo spread his arms, turned halfway around, and admired the lush greenery of his residence.

Honestly, living here is a huge benefit for the eyes, with green plants everywhere you look. The only downside is the strange smell, which is hell for hay fever sufferers.

However, Poison Ivy is of course not included in this list.

"This place is so beautiful! I love it here!"

She reached out and gently stroked the leaves and petals of the plants, as happy as a child.

"You have no idea, ever since I went to prison, all the vegetarian food in the prison has turned into all sorts of purees. They use a blender to chop up all the fruits and vegetables, steam them, chop them up again, and repeat this process several times, just to keep me from coming into contact with any plants..."

"That was really too much! But that's all in the past now. From now on, you can live with these lovely plants as you please."

Leo led her up to the third floor, the top floor of the mansion, which also had the best natural light.

With panoramic floor-to-ceiling windows and a glass dome, sunlight shines everywhere except for a movable screen made of water bamboo around the bed.

Poison Ivy fell in love with the place at first sight, feeling she could stay there forever.

Having achieved his goal, Leo immediately decided to add one last spark.

"Alright, you'll be living here from now on, in charge of all the work at the research institute. But... I have some good news and some bad news. Which would you like to hear first?"

Such a classic question immediately reminded Poison Ivy of the Riddler—whose mouth never stops, yet he can't say much, often just "What am I?" which makes you want to punch him.

She thought for a moment, then sighed, "The bad news is, I want to leave all the bad news in the past. Hopefully, this is the last one."

Leo nodded slightly: "The bad news is—you can't leave this research institute for a year; you can only move around inside."

This is indeed bad news; I'm practically under house arrest here.

But Poison Ivy was exceptionally intelligent and could understand the cause of this bad news: "Is it because of medical parole? Arkham won't let me leave Gotham City?"

"No, not Arkham, it's 'him'."

Leo shrugged.

"My initial idea was to buy an uninhabited island, build a research institute on it, and also provide you with a better working and living environment."

But then he approached me—he said I was a dangerous criminal, and unless I had no criminal record for a year, he wouldn't allow me to leave the research institute and roam the city. If I didn't agree, he'd send me in to be your cellmate.”

He didn't mention the mysterious man's name at all, but Poison Ivy knew without a doubt that the only person who was so meddlesome and domineering was Batman.

He treated Gotham as his own territory and wouldn't allow any criminals to cause trouble.

“I know who 'he' is. In fact, in the asylum, I heard his name hundreds of times a day from different people. That stinky bat…”

Poison Ivy covered her face. Unlike those crazy people who would get all excited and jump around at the mere mention of Batman, she genuinely disliked Batman.

He actually provided the guards with a powerful herbicide, which killed all the plants inside and around the asylum... He was an utterly despicable executioner!

Unexpectedly, he also interfered here, preventing her from going to that paradise of her dreams.

She remembered this grudge!

After successfully drawing some hatred from Batman, Leo led Poison Ivy into the living room and gestured for her to lift a large, half-person-high box covered with a black cloth.

"Here's the good news: with the help of Wayne Enterprises, we've successfully reached a deal with Batman and gotten back what he confiscated from you."

"Things confiscated from me...?"

Poison Ivy thought of something, and rushed forward excitedly, yanking off the black cloth.

Under the black cloth was a rectangular glass box containing a strange plant—its appearance closely resembled the man-eating flower from Plants vs. Zombies, except that its 'head' was green, and two slender vines grew on either side of its body, with a strange flower bud made of leaves at the top.

As soon as the black cloth was lifted, the plant awoke, and its two buds quickly bloomed, revealing two eyeballs inside that resembled the structure of human eyes.

"!"

After seeing the Poison Ivy outside the glass box, it frantically pounded on the glass box, but couldn't make a sound.

"This is a soundproof box."

Poison Ivy didn't have time to respond to Leo's words. She quickly checked the box and found the opening button.

Press the button firmly.

The disposable soundproof box fell apart, and the top pane of glass even hit the head of the carnivorous plant.

It immediately opened its blood-red maw to its limit and howled at Poison Ivy, "Ivy, aww, you've finally come to save me, aww... I thought that stinky bat was going to destroy me, so I brought me out, aww!"

Rising to Fame: Chapter 241 Poison Ivy Takes Office, the Gears of Fate Begin to Turn!

"Frank!"

Poison Ivy tenderly scratched the carnivorous plant's chin, as if petting a cat.

"My goodness, you've gotten so thin from starvation!"

A few tears welled up in the man-eating flower's eyes: "It's all that stinky bat's fault! He only gave me a live chicken every two weeks and wouldn't even talk to me. I had to wail and cry, saying I was human and would get claustrophobia, before he finally got me a TV, which just plays boring old movies on a loop. He's so mean, Ivy, waaaaah—"

This was the first time in Leo's life he had ever seen a talking plant. Unfortunately, it was a loud and incredibly talkative fellow, and... not furry at all...

Poison Ivy was overjoyed to be reunited with her first creation after so long, before she remembered Leo standing beside her.

She introduced the two men: "Leonardo, this is my pet, Frank. Frank, this is my business partner and your savior, Leonardo."

Just call me Leo.

Leo saw Frank's outstretched eye... well, perhaps it was a vine that served as both an eye and an arm, and he forced himself to shake it, despite the strange feeling.

The texture from the palm is no different from that of normal plant vines, both soft and resilient.

"Oh my god, my savior! I'm so grateful! I've been locked in an isolation room away from all the plants, and I'm going crazy with boredom."

The carnivorous plant wrapped its head with two vines and swayed wildly for a while.

"Come here, Leo, I want to give you a hug. This is a kind of contact that ordinary humans will never experience in their entire lives... uh, what kind of contact is it called again? Never mind, it doesn't matter. This is a precious opportunity to hug a magical plant, come on, hug me~ hug~"

Snap snap—Snap snap—

Looking at the carnivorous plant that kept slapping its belly with vines, Leo couldn't help but feel a little hesitant.

Poison Ivy smiled and waved to him: "Come on, Leo, you can treat it like a kitten or a puppy. Frank eats fruit and meat, but I've told it not to hurt people."

The carnivorous plant nodded in agreement: "Yes, yes, I can be a cat, a dog, or even an automatic singing machine. My high notes are comparable to the world's best tenors, and I can sing whenever I need to. Most importantly, I don't shed, I don't leave any waste, and I only need to be fed once a week—what a perfect pet!"

Leo listened to it talking non-stop on the other end, and mustered up his courage to hug it.

The carnivorous plant's body is softer than imagined, exudes a unique plant fragrance, and it even makes a purring sound from its throat like a cat.

Surprisingly, it felt pretty good...

Poison Ivy watched their interaction, her gaze softening.

"Frank was my first creation. He was born on my lab table and was only the size of a peanut at first..."

Poison Ivy felt a pang of sadness as she recalled the past.

After telling Frank's story, she quickly composed herself and got down to business: "So... I'm officially on the job starting today?"

Leo agreed: "That's right, you've now been promoted to head of the research institute, and everything here is up to you. By the way, take this."

He handed over two bank cards that looked very high-end.

"The diamond-encrusted black card contains the institute's research funding, which includes $10 billion. All of the institute's miscellaneous expenses are covered by Wayne Enterprises. The money in this card is used to purchase various research equipment and laboratory supplies, and your use of it requires financial approval from Wayne Group."

The regular black card is your salary card; ten million will be deposited into it on the 1st of each month, and there's currently ten million in start-up capital. You can't leave the research institute, but you can shop online and have merchants deliver the goods you need.

Poison Ivy hesitated before accepting the bank card, deeply moved.

"Thank you, that's good enough. I'll start developing those two crops as soon as possible."

This was exactly what Leo wanted to hear. He took out his phone and sent a text message to Bruce, preparing to complete the final step.

“Ivy, the chairman of Wayne Group will be coming over in a little while. I'll go with you to meet him. If you have any difficulties while I'm away, you can ask him for help.”

Poison Ivy paused, then asked, "Aren't you staying in Gotham? Oh... are you going back to headquarters?"

“That’s right. The company headquarters is in Night City. I need to go there to keep an eye on our competitors so they don’t get the upper hand.”

"Oh……"

Poison Ivy nodded, only then realizing that she felt a little disappointed. She had rarely encountered a human she felt was decent, and she hadn't expected him to leave so soon.

Leo was too excited to notice her little mood and continued reciting the words he had prepared beforehand: "I will be traveling between Night City and Gotham, and I will come here for about ten days each month. If there is anything that is inconvenient to talk about with outsiders, you can wait and tell me."

"Oh! That's alright!"

Poison Ivy's mood improved again.

What follows is a period of idly waiting.

Poison Ivy had her female assistant bring some fish and raw beef from the kitchen, which she then fed to the man-eating plant.

Looking at its hearty and unrestrained eating habits, Leo thought it would be a great source of viewership for a food vlogger.

Afterwards, Poison Ivy changed into a researcher's uniform and invited him to walk around the research institute with her so he could get familiar with his future work environment.

During her stroll, Poison Ivy truly experienced the pleasures that power brings.

Although the staff paid close attention to her green skin, they were all very respectful and polite to her.

This is much better than those prison guards who yell at the prisoners all day long and never give them a friendly look.

Soon after, they arrived at the main entrance and decided to greet the head of the Wayne Group there.

Looking at the bright warning line on the paving stones a few meters away, Poison Ivy knew it was a warning from the annoying Batman.

Cannot leave the research institute for one year...

Hmph, what's the big deal?

Once she develops those two crops, it won't be long before she can severely punish those foolish humans who destroy nature!