Chapter 3 World Consciousness: A Wild Child? Stolen...

In the foyer, crystal chandeliers hang like stars, and the marble floor reflects the light and shadow of the ceiling murals, creating the feeling of stepping into a palace frozen in time. In the living room, the velvet sofas gleam with a pearly sheen in the warm light, while the gold leaf carvings on the wainscoting and the fireplace present a blend of classic and modern styles, hinting at the rich cultural heritage they embody. A spiral staircase, located at the center of the space, ascends, enhancing its grandeur and openness while maintaining a sense of solemnity and order.

Wen Yue slowly stepped inside. The manor was empty and quiet, without any trace of life.

[Background: Thirteen years ago, two gunshots rang out in Crime Alley, taking the lives of two owners of Wayne Manor. Since then, this Wayne family territory has been deserted. Today, Wayne Manor welcomes its new owner, and as the current head of the Wayne family, you have gained the right to use it.]

Since arriving at Wayne Manor, the game panel is no longer that indifferent, lifeless screen it used to be. Hey, this isn't like you at all! Why aren't you playing dead anymore?

"Come in quickly," Wen Yue greeted Jason, who was still standing at the door. "Make yourself at home!"

Jason, as the second son of the Wayne family in another universe, is indeed like that in a certain sense.

Jason has been eating and drinking for free for so long, now it's finally time for him to pay up!

Wen Yue's sinful hand reached for the ceramic vase on the stairwell pillar, which looked very high-quality and valuable.

[Friendly reminder: System assets belong to the game; players have no right to gift or sell them.]

The player weighed 100 pounds but had 99 pounds of rebellious spirit. Wen Yue smiled coldly and continued to get the vase.

Take it, take it—I can't take it.

What happened?

The rebellious player, seemingly possessed inexhaustible energy, assumed a stance with one foot on the ground and the other on the stair pillar, using both hands to try and uproot the ceramic vase. However, the vase seemed welded to the pillar and remained completely still. After trying several different positions without success, Wen Yue, panting heavily, placed her hands on the vase and continued her struggle.

"Okay, okay, is this how you play it?" Wen Yue called Jason for help.

Jason watched the whole process from the sidelines, and after Wen Yue stepped aside, he eagerly reached for the vase.

What kind of vase is so hard to lift? He wanted to see what the trick was.

The next second, Jason stumbled and fell to the ground due to the force of his fall. Sitting on the floor, holding the vase that wasn't nearly as difficult to handle as he'd expected, he looked at Wen Yue with a bewildered expression. "What happened? Were you playing me?"

Wen Yue: "?" What's going on? You damn system, you're messing with me!

"Uh." Wen Yue couldn't very well say that the system was behind it all, so she could only bitterly take the blame. "This... is a surprise!"

“I think the vase suits you very well… I mean, you look like an artsy type. A vase can be placed on your desk with a few flowers to cultivate your taste…” Wen Yue tried to justify herself, but the more she spoke, the more embarrassed she felt, so she quickly changed the subject, “Well, after that fall, are your ribs, shoulders, head, chest, waist and back all okay?”

Jason, who had just gotten up from the ground, was confused. He replied, "It's... all right?"

Wen Yue gripped the ground with her toes: Now, I mean, can't we just randomly send a wave over and make her stay in Gotham Harbor?

"Why don't we release them?"

"ha?"

"Spare my life."

The gentle, righteous power and noble character moved Jason, and the matter was finally resolved.

"Feel free to look around, take whatever you like, don't be shy, it's okay even if you take everything." Having learned from the mistakes the system made, the player has shown more mature wisdom and judgment.

Players can't touch anything in this manor, but Jason can, right?

Unfortunately, Jason showed little interest in these things and took his leave after briefly looking around the manor. Wen Yue was left alone in the empty room.

That makes sense. As a low-key rich guy, Jason is probably more interested in things like the Batmobile, new guns, and high-tech weaponry. She'll definitely repay Jason once she gets her hands on them.

Below Wayne Manor lies the Bat Cave.

There are many ways to enter the Batcave. In the comics, you need to set the clock at Wayne Manor to 10:48 (the time Wayne and his wife were murdered) for the entrance behind the clock to open. Other Batcave locations are hidden behind bookshelves and require pressing a button in the Shakespeare statue or a model of the manor in the fish tank to open. In Nolan's film, the Batcave is opened by pressing a piano key or by using the study chair.

After exploring the interior of Wayne Manor, Wen Yue discovered that all of these methods could successfully enter the Bat Cave.

In addition to entering from Wayne Manor, the Batcave can also be accessed from outside the manor.

It can be said that the entire underground of Gotham City is a network of interconnected bat caves, and other entrances will need to be explored and verified in the future.

After activating the character panel, the game map is also updated and displayed. Players take the elevator to the Bat Cave to continue exploring new maps.

The Batcave is equipped with supercomputers, monitoring equipment, and other necessary tools, and even includes a private changing room for players to enhance the gaming experience. Besides these, the most prominent area displays the Batsuit and other items, but they are all completely empty.

After wandering around for a while, Wen Yue sat down in front of the Bat computer and complained speechlessly, "How can I be Batman without even a Batsuit? And how can I, a complete weakling, possibly beat the plethora of criminals in Gotham? I'd be smashed into a cookie." The game is making things difficult for an ordinary working person like me.

Don't worry, players don't need to participate in person; they can simply operate the game from their computer.

Suddenly, the bat computer made a sound, and Wen Yue jumped up like a cat with its fur standing on end.

"Who?" Her voice trembled with fright.

【I am the game system, and also the world consciousness of this universe. It's a pleasure to meet you, Wen Yue.】

"Did you bring me here?"

[It's me; you've already died in the original world.]

[This is a recording of your world from three days ago—]

After the computer screen flickered, a surveillance video appeared. The girl in the video opened the game she had just received, then slammed her head against the computer and remained motionless.

"I'm gone just like that?" Wen Yuexin felt a chill in her heart.

Three days is enough time for her to make a round trip to the crematorium; by then, the player's body will have been reduced to ashes. She'll never have to go to work again; she can just go straight to her grave.

【Yes. 】

[There is no Bruce Wayne in this world. Since you had sufficient soul strength and filled out the application form during player recruitment, I've transferred you to fill that role.]

Oh, so this guy killed her.

I've been given a free ride!

Wen Yue's heart, which had been cold and desolate, finally shattered. She thought to herself, all she did was fill out a beta test registration form; it wasn't a contract of servitude, it wasn't a capital offense! What had the players done to deserve this? She just wanted to experience the new beta game, right? It turned out they were just luring people in to kill them.

Life's hardships and tribulations come one after another, and He's relaying them punch after punch. Why does He just keep throwing more and more punches at the players?

"Didn't we have Thomas Wayne and Martha Wayne before?" Wen Yue had investigated the Wayne couple's shooting case during her previous search. "Didn't they have Bruce Wayne?"

Thomas Wayne and Martha Wayne are characters I created and portrayed. There was no Wayne family before this; I altered everyone's memories.

I've been running the Wayne Group for years.

Bruce Wayne does not exist in this universe, and your body was created by me.

A few short sentences packed with information were enough to make a gamer's CPU spin.

Good heavens, the World Consciousness has taken care of everything regarding Bruce Wayne's background and prerequisites. It's clear that the World Consciousness really wants a Bruce Wayne. But that's not a reason for it to just kidnap any player to be Bruce Wayne!

"Without Batman, would there be the Joker?" It is well known that Batman and the Joker are like sunlight and shadow, often appearing together.

The Joker does not exist in this universe, nor will he ever be born.

Good news! The game has been downgraded from Hell difficulty to Hard mode.

The World Consciousness continued: "I have a lot of work to do, and it's impossible for me to play a human all the time. Thomas Wayne and Martha Wayne appeared for a day to facilitate memory implantation."

Therefore, we need you to take on the role of Bruce Wayne. You are on a high level, on the same level as me, and can communicate and cooperate with me normally.

Wen Yue was stunned for a moment before she realized: in a sense, readers can indeed be considered high-level observers.

But is this your home? Did I eat a single meal of your rice? You come here and start rummaging through my yard!

Just as she was about to relax and enjoy life, fate dealt her a cruel blow. She was a pillar of the nation, and before the homeowner even had a chance to inspect the new house, she saw you putting her child into the new shell.

This world consciousness has no sense of boundaries whatsoever!

"Don't worry about your safety. When completing Batman's missions, you only need to control the clone through the computer. If your main body is in danger, I will synchronize with your consciousness to help fight on your behalf," the world's consciousness said gently.

It seems we don't need to add trees on top of trees anymore. Wen Yue's basic safety is guaranteed, so the game has been downgraded from hard mode to normal difficulty.

This universe is sinking and gradually approaching the Dark Multiverse. I've slowed down the sinking using some methods, but I have to get back to work now... Goodbye...

World consciousness comes and goes in a flash, disappearing without a trace.

The Dark Multiverse? Is it the Dark Multiverse she's thinking of? Take back what I said earlier, normal difficulty has turned into hell mode.

Wen Yue's heart turned cold again; my heart is filled with sorrow, and no one knows my grief. Even if the player broke the law, even if Gotham is a place of bad feng shui, the tragedy of life cannot be attributed solely to her family!

The so-called Dark Multiverse must be mentioned in terms of the three types of matter used to create this world: matter (multiverse), antimatter (antimatter universe), and dark matter (Dark Multiverse).

The Dark Multiverse was originally a dark domain used by the World Forgers to forge worlds. The World Forgers used the World Forge to devour and recycle those unqualified and imperfect universes.

If this universe is truly falling into a dark multiverse, it's understandable why the world's consciousness is so eager to recruit people, making players become Bruce Wayne.

Since Bruce Wayne doesn't exist in this world, Batman also doesn't exist. In a sense, this is a kind of absence? As an imperfect world, it inevitably gravitates towards the Dark Multiverse.

So the world's consciousness kidnapped the innocent Wen Yue from the outside, making the player play as Bruce Wayne, aka Batman. So all of this is to save the world?

Okay, while players admire His lofty ideals, His lack of human touch and practical experience—He just comes in and kills her with a flurry of actions, then puts her back in his bowl, claiming it's all for justice?

Wen Yue saw that He was unaware of the power of the Fourth Calamity.

All day long, they open their eyes to talk about family, country, and the world; the moment they close their eyes, they're forced into doing something completely unnecessarily. This kind of work is done by the "world consciousness," leaving one utterly bewildered.

If it's a true Fourth Calamity, then there's nothing more to say, just wait for the feast to begin. Get ready to chop up the world's consciousness, mix it into filling for dumplings, and then just reboot.

We're nothing all day long!

A note from the author:

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