I, V, Gotham Legend

"Harry?" Valerie seemed to have an impression of this name, but there were a lot of people named Harry in the United States, so it was possible that she was confused.

"So you are the famous V? I've seen the video of you defeating the Riddler." Harlin boasted.

Although his tone was deliberately admiring, since it was not the first time that Harlin had seen such a unique and mysterious person, she was not too nervous.

"Hehe, I relied on my high IQ to play with that arrogant guy." Valerie raised her chin proudly, very satisfied with Harlin's flattery.

Harleen looked at Valerie's smug expression and a sudden realization dawned on her.

This girl is a little bit easy to understand.

"Gotham feels really safe with someone like you." Harlin stroked the fur.

"No... I'm not a hero. Everything I do is profitable." Valerie denied it flatly.

Although she has recently discovered that she has been too helpful and has done too many good things, she still doesn't want to be misunderstood as a hero.

The main reason is that being a hero is easy to be PUA. Batman is 007 all day long, doing good things without any reward, and yet he is still wanted by the government.

It would be better to admit openly that you do things for money and fame, which will benefit everyone.

Having said that, Valerie still admires people like Batman who have principles and the perseverance to implement them.

"No matter what, you are the one who saved Gotham." Harleen said Valerie's familiar comment, and then revealed her true intentions, "But doing something like this must also put a lot of pressure on you, right?"

According to the information provided by the person who hired her, Miss V seems to have some violent tendencies.

"Yeah..." Valerie looked up at the sky with melancholy, "I can't find the feeling of being alive anymore."

Although she now has many friends, Valerie still feels a little lonely. She always has a feeling that she is out of tune with this world.

I thought I would be able to find a sense of belonging in this city after becoming a legend, but after experiencing the life of a celebrity for a few days, the feeling of loneliness became more severe.

"Pressure is the driving force that pushes people forward, but most people will be crushed by it." Harlin brought out a bowl of chicken soup for the soul, "Perhaps, we can use a gentler way to relieve it."

NO2. You also have this day

There was a knock on the door, and Harlin was forced to interrupt her inspirational speech.

"My drink is here." Valerie pressed a button on the table and the door of the private room opened automatically.

Harlin looked at the waiter in surprise as he respectfully handed a cup of Coke to Valerie's table.

"Do you like Coke very much?" Harlin took a sip of the expensive drink in her hand whose name she couldn't remember.

“In the past, I would order drinks named after my friends, and I thought I was cool at the time.” Valerie took a sip of Coke, “but then I realized that those people had nothing to do with me.”

"You mean... a friend who's not a big deal?" Valerie said vaguely, and Harlin didn't quite understand.

Valerie looked sad, but she didn't want to explain too much to the psychiatrist.

After all, she is not the real V, but just an ordinary person who traveled through time in the image of V. The bonds that V in the game experienced were not her real self.

In fact, Valerie has been traveling through time for nearly five months, and identity recognition is no longer a problem. The reason why she suddenly became sentimental today is because something major happened that overturned Valerie's outlook on life.

She is having her period.

Different people have their menstruation at different times depending on their physical constitution. This is Valerie's first time menstruating since she traveled through time.

She originally thought that she was a highly modified Cybertronian and no longer had this function.

Originally, Valerie thought that she had just lost Kun, and was happily playing role-playing games, but the unexpected menstruation interrupted her self-identification and made her realize that she was a different person from her previous life.

Having said that, this is just normal mental activity during the menstrual period, and Valerie should be able to return to normal after her relatives leave.

"Struggling under the pressure of self-assignment for a long time has caused you to become a little exhausted. Perhaps you should change your environment and lifestyle, travel, or try food." Harlin returned to the topic and gave suggestions based on her brief observations.

Valerie, who was on her period, drank an iced cola and nodded to Harlin: "You make sense."

It doesn't seem right that a billionaire like me has never squandered her money.

Having said that, I don’t feel like moving during my period, so I’ll consider it after I feel better.

Valerie was chewing on the ice in her Coke, calculating in her mind.

Harlin looked at Valerie's puffy cheeks and couldn't help but feel relieved.

Although Valerie's tone and lazy attitude sounded like she was having her period, she didn't look like she was having menstrual cramps, so I must have been overthinking it.

"By the way, doctor, you don't look very well." Valerie swallowed the ice cube. Although she felt some pain in her abdomen, she didn't pay much attention to it.

Harlin had heavy bags under her eyes and looked like she might fall asleep at any moment.

"I used to work the night shift in prison, and my biological clock is a little different." Harin answered the topic simply.

Since she had to go to work later, she did not deliberately adjust her biological clock.

"Really busy... I know someone who often works the night shift, and he always seems full of energy." Valerie pinched her chin.

The more you compare Batman with other ordinary people, the more you can understand his superness.

The news was still being broadcast on TV, and Harlin asked Valerie a few questions responsibly. Valerie was very cooperative afterwards.

When the one-hour consultation ended, it was already evening.

"Do you need me to take you back? You were invited by Malone, right?" After seeing Harlin start to pack up the documents, Valerie knew it was almost time.

"Thank you for your kindness, but I can go back by myself." Ha Lin didn't know who Ma Long was. Her leader just sent her a MMS message and asked her to come here.

Valerie didn't force it, but she still put on her mask, walked out of the club with Harlin, and cancelled the facial recognition authentication.

"Thank you for your hospitality." When they returned to the ground, Harlin suddenly thanked again.

She had just ordered an expensive drink but hadn't paid for it yet, so it looked like Valerie had already paid for it.

"Ah? What did you say?" Valerie was surprised for a moment, then she reacted, "You're talking about drinks, that's nothing, anyway, I own this club."

Harlin turned around in shock and looked at the ten-story building behind her.

She had heard that the owner behind the club bought the entire building.

"This was originally my home, but now I have a new place, and it would be a shame to give up the old house, so I bought this building and renovated it," Valerie explained.

After getting the government's approval in a few days, she will vigorously expand this building and create a V Building in the new city area as the V Group's official headquarters.

"You are so willful..." Harlin looked at the busy building and suddenly became curious, "What is the name of this club?"

“…For the time being, let’s call it [Afterlife].” As she was still going through an identity crisis, Valerie was a little hesitant when she said this name.

There are many bars in the game 2077, but the most impressive one has to be Afterlife.

Afterlife is the place to take quests in the game. It is full of middlemen and mercenaries. It is also the most legendary bar in Night City.

In the game, this bar is also built underground and was converted from a morgue. It is so classic that this was the first thing Valerie thought of when she was thinking of a name for the bar.

After sending Harlin to the taxi, Valerie went back into the bar and went straight to the bathroom.

She felt that her pad was almost full and needed to be replaced quickly.

Twenty's technology probably never dreamed that it would be used in this area.

On the other side, Harlin was leaning against the window admiring the night view of Gotham and thinking about her life.

Every psychologist will have a similar state after completing the consultation, which is a bit like sage time.

In the previous conversation, although Valerie had internal friction and confusion, she did not see the boredom and numbness that had been tormenting her.

If you think about it, Mr. J is the same. He is always smiling, and it is always fun to talk to him. He can always find a happy angle.

Their lives have nothing to do with the daily lives that the public knows, but they seem to be full of passion and complete at all times.

Harlin looked at her face reflected in the glass window, her thoughts becoming increasingly distracted.

She seemed to be back to a month ago, when she was in the car being held hostage by the clown, and she was looking at her own reflection in the car window like this.

The emotions of that time came back to him, the fear of dying at any moment when he was held hostage, the resistance and guilt when he was forced to kill, the terror when Batman overturned his car.

And when everything is over and all the negative emotions fade away, your whole body will be filled with excitement and pleasure.

Harlin came back to her senses and bit her lower lip to wake herself up from her gloomy thoughts.

Maybe I should go traveling...

NO3. Underground Black Boxing

There are many rooms buried underground in Gotham, which are used as venues for secret transactions, or performances and competitions that cannot be shown on the public.

In the basement of an ordinary laundry, a bloody fight was in full swing.

A two-meter-tall giant pinned down another ferocious-looking man, and his teeth bit into the man's neck like a wild beast.

Blood flowed from the teeth, down the man's neck and onto the floor. The desperate man lay on the floor, slapping the floor with his palms helplessly.

The onlookers cheered and encouraged the strong man to win.

This is an underground black boxing match that uses bloodshed as its selling point, and it is protected by the recently emerged big gangster Scarface. Except for psychopaths, those who can come here all want to have some relationship with Scarface.

Under the strong man's biting, the young man who was pressed under him gradually lost his strength and fell into a coma due to suffocation.

The strong man stood up and raised his arms to celebrate his victory.

The onlookers clapped very cooperatively, not only because they won a large sum of money in the bet, but also because the sturdy man was Scarface's right-hand man, known as "Rhino".

"Harvey Dent and Jim Gordon thought they could bring down all the gangs by working with a clown in costume, but they can't change the foundation of this city!" Rhino gave a speech, "The people of Gotham need our protection, and just like a healthy person has healthy bone marrow, an immortal gang needs fresh blood!"

This black boxing match was just a gimmick and was essentially a job fair for the gangs.

"Come on, let me see your courage." Rhino walked down from the ring, "You can climb up, we only need the last ten people standing."

Rhino's words made the applicants look at each other in bewilderment. They were here to find a job, and the promotion didn't say that they had to work hard.

Seeing the confused expressions of these applicants, Rhino sneered contemptuously. Then he clapped his hands, and the rolling shutters were closed on all the exits of the basement.

The gangsters standing on the periphery raised their guns and pointed them at the confused applicants.

"Now is the moment of greatest opportunity. Black Mask is missing, Penguin is in prison, Roman is retired, and every ambitious person in Gotham is gearing up for success."

Rhino repeated with reverence what the boss had taught him before he came here.

"So, if you think you can go to the next one if you can't get the choice here, you are just playing Scarface for a fool. The only ones who can leave here today are the new members of the gang!"

Rhino sat on a folding stool and signaled the ring with his eyes: "Now, you know what to do... By the way, the boss also said that if you don't see blood within a minute, I will kill you all... How long has it been now?"

The gangsters outside had already loaded their guns, and this scene frightened the applicants so much that they trembled.

"Ugh...Ah!!" As if fighting to the death, one of them suddenly pulled out a dagger and slashed at the people around him.

As if taking the man's courageous roar as a signal, the applicants started fighting together. They didn't even get on the ring. Blood and screams echoed in the basement.

Rhino sat on the stool, slightly dissatisfied. He originally wanted to watch a boxing match, but it didn't matter anyway.

After this selection is over, I believe my status with the boss will rise, maybe even surpass that so-called Arnold.

Rhino has had a poor brain since childhood and has a lot of strength, so he has suffered a lot from society. Fortunately, he met Scarface Boss, who is short but very intelligent and charming. It is Rhino's honor to devote his life to him.

The applicants were already fighting each other. Most of them were unarmed, but some had weapons drawn. In this game, using weapons was not considered a foul.

Their weapons had been confiscated before they entered, and those who were able to bring in a dagger were all capable people.

Having said that, they still didn't fight hard enough. Up to now, there was a river of blood but no one had died. Rhino was already getting a little bored watching this.

Just as he was thinking about whether he should go down and speed up himself, he suddenly heard discussions coming from outside the roller shutter door behind him.

Rhino turned his head and looked at the tightly closed roller shutter door with dissatisfaction. The fighting in the house was so loud that he could not hear clearly what was being said outside the door.

He was just about to stand up and teach the person outside a lesson when he saw a hemisphere suddenly bulge out from the rolling door, as if it had been hit by something.

There was another sound coming from outside the door, like a woman teaching a student a lesson. Then, the rolling door was hit again, and a small white fist penetrated the iron door and came in.

Then, just like tearing a piece of paper, the person outside the door tore open the iron shutter, and a delicate and familiar face was exposed to everyone inside.

The noise was so loud that even the people who were still fighting inside were stunned. They looked at the sudden intruders in disbelief.

"Did you see that? You have to open the door like this to scare the people inside." Valerie turned around and said to Helena, who was wearing a battle suit.

Helena nodded in confusion, but she remembered this piece of knowledge.

"Who are you? Are you here to cause trouble?!" Rhino asked bravely.

"That woman... is V! We are saved!" Compared to the rhinoceros who hadn't thought it through, the applicants who often paid attention to hot spots recognized Valerie at a glance.

This is the superhero who beat up the Riddler. She must be here to save us, right?