Chapter 73: The Raven's Departure and Farewell Teach Us to Cherish.
As the sun sank below the horizon, the last rays of the sunset gradually faded and disappeared, and the dilapidated, abandoned buildings were enveloped in the approaching twilight.
Wen Yue was tied to a chair in the center of the second-floor room, and the scene seemed strangely familiar. Had this scene... happened before?
This time, Wayne's kidnapping gang was quite large; Wen Yue glanced at them quickly and estimated there were seventeen or eighteen people in total. The kidnapping leader left the room to answer a phone call, and after a while, the sounds of fierce fighting came from outside. After the kidnapping leader let out a miserable and desperate scream, the room and the surrounding area fell into dead silence.
The remaining kidnappers looked at each other, filled with doubt and uncertainty. They sent out four men to check the situation, but there was no response or movement, as if the sand had sunk to the bottom of the water.
The bizarre developments were terrifying, and the remaining kidnappers refused to leave the safe house.
Moonlight pierced through the pale, thin clouds, and a cold wind howled through the dilapidated, abandoned floors, emitting an eerie low murmur. The chandeliers inside swayed precariously in the eerie atmosphere, and the peeling walls cast distorted shadows.
In the deep, dilapidated corridor, unhurried footsteps echoed in the darkness, and the sharp, piercing sound of a crowbar scraping against the floor filled the air. A sudden chill ran through me, sending shivers down my spine.
The heart-wrenching sound grew louder as it approached, accompanied by the rustling of wind. A chill ran down her spine, goosebumps rising on her back. In the blink of an eye, the crime thriller turned into a battle royale. Wen Yue and the kidnappers exchanged terrified glances, falling silent. They were so scared; it felt like they had encountered a deranged serial killer.
"Who chose this location?" Wen Yue moved her lips and squeezed out the words with difficulty, her voice very soft, as if afraid of disturbing something.
"It's the boss..." the kidnapper next to him answered in a low voice, trembling like a leaf.
"That first scream sounded like your boss's," Wen Yue reminded her softly.
"Waaah..." The kidnapper next to him trembled even more violently.
"Playing tricks." A burly, muscular man stepped forward from the kidnapper team, becoming the backbone of the group and taking on the main responsibility. He called on his brothers to rush out and deal with the tricksters outside. They grabbed their guns and ammunition and got to work, demonstrating that all fear stems from insufficient firepower, and that they had nothing to fear in the face of ample ammunition.
The group went outside and a fierce firefight ensued. After a one-sided barrage of bullets, the sounds of beatings followed by heavy thuds of flesh hitting the ground, the crisp crack of bones breaking with each punch, and a barrage of blows aided by crowbars. All that remained were the painful screams and trembling cries of the kidnappers outside the door.
The two kidnappers who remained behind, too cowardly to resist, huddled together, trembling amidst the seemingly endless sounds of the door being broken down. Suddenly, the door was violently kicked open, unleashing a blast of icy wind. A ferocious black figure stood in the shadows. Seeing this, the two surviving kidnappers could no longer restrain themselves and fled through the window.
When Red Hood entered, he only had time to see a few figures disappear from the window. He scanned the player up and down and was about to ask if he was alright.
Watching helplessly as the kidnappers disappeared through the window, the only hostage remained bound and unable to move. The tense atmosphere made Wen Yue's entire body tense. Meeting the red, demonic eyes gleaming in the shadows, the player couldn't help but close her eyes and scream, "Help!"
They feared that the mysterious person's ruthlessness would not distinguish between friend and foe.
If you hit them, you can't hit me anymore.
Jason, dressed in a red hood: "?" It must be my imagination. It seems like Bruce isn't really afraid of the kidnappers.
Jason showed great tolerance and patience towards the amnesiac Bruce, calmly saying, "Didn't I come to save you?" As he spoke, he stepped forward steadily, his body clearly exposed in the dim light.
Wen Yue looked closely and immediately felt relieved. The familiar red-hooded electronic eyes—it was the Savior, not the Terminator. That was terrifying! This guy was even more ruthless than a kidnapper.
"Why are you holding a crowbar?" Wen Yue leaned on Jason's crowbar as a crutch; she was still a little weak from the fright she had just suffered.
"I just picked it up downstairs." Jason was in such a hurry after receiving the message that he only had the two pistols he carried with him, and it wouldn't be appropriate to use real guns.
“…If you hummed a little more whistling, you could make a cameo appearance in Kill Bill.” Wen Yue exhaled with lingering fear.
“But I’m saving Bill,” Jason declared, adopting a righteous and awe-inspiring stance to vindicate himself.
“However, to outsiders, some superheroes seem more like villains than the villains themselves,” Wen Yue joked, looking towards the street corner to her right. Dick and Raven were dragging two fleeing kidnappers closer, one by one. The two kidnappers had their eyes closed and were unconscious, their heads scraping against the uneven ground with a thud.
"This guy is really heavy, all that muscle for nothing," the black-robed raven muttered, dragging the kidnapper's leg.
“Bruce, what should we do with these people?” Robin Dick asked.
"Hand it over to the Gotham Police Department and clean it up as usual." Wen Yue looked up and stretched out her hand, asking the branches hidden by the dense foliage, "Did you call the police?"
A crimson bird flew down from a branch and landed lightly on Wen Yue's fingertips, chirping softly. It was Tim's surveillance bird, the player's night patrol companion.
The tumultuous kidnapping saga has temporarily come to an end.
The Batmobile pulled up beside them. Tim leaned out of the window and said, "Want a ride? Of course, except Jason. I saw your motorcycle parked at the intersection with the keys still in the ignition. That's not a good habit in Gotham."
Wen Yue paused briefly, then put her arm around Jason's shoulder: "Tell me honestly, are you entrapping me?" This was how the player was caught by Jason when they first arrived in this world.
Jason remained noncommittal, shoving the player into the back seat of the Batmobile. "Get in now, I'm riding my motorcycle back, bye-bye." The new car felt excellent, and it was his current favorite.
"I'll conserve my magic too." Raven followed her into the back seat; she and Dick had arrived using magical teleportation. Raven had used most of her magic to seal the Three Palaces, and in her normal state, she needed to suppress the evil power within her, so she didn't have much magic left to use.
Dick charged at Tim, fiercely vying for the steering wheel but ultimately lost and had to sit in the passenger seat.
Tim drove the Batmobile to rescue the player right after school, and didn't have time to change his uniform. He just wore a domino mask to cover his face perfunctorily.
Wen Yue was lounging in the back seat, not even bothering to be polite. She wasn't wearing a mask or a uniform, and was humming an unknown tune. She was in a very good mood.
A beam of light suddenly appeared on the edge of the deep night sky. The tiny beam expanded at a speed visible to the naked eye to form a pillar of light. The air around the pillar of light, which had spatial properties, twisted and fluctuated. The sonic boom channel opened by the Mother Box appeared in front of the player without warning.
The enemy followed closely behind the sonic boom tunnel, their entire bodies covered in Apokolips-tech armor, wielding battle axes, their wolf faces obscured by twin-horned helmets. The figure of Steppenwolf landed heavily on the hood of the Batmobile.
"Boom!"
A deafening roar followed, the immense impact causing the Batmobile to shatter instantly, another Batmobile following in its predecessor's footsteps. The Batmobile boasts impressive functionality and performance, but its rate of destruction and speed far surpasses others. Faced with such top-tier supernatural combat power, the Batmobile's high-tech defenses are utterly insignificant.
The moment Raven sensed the enemy's approach, it spatially teleported all the people inside the vehicle, and they appeared on the roadside not far from the Batmobile.
“It’s here, on one of you.” Steppenwolf stepped on the baton’s twisted and dented hood, the tomahawk scraping against the steel frame with a teeth-grinding hiss. He sensed the Mother Box’s presence, his sharp gaze sweeping over each member of the Bat-family.
"No, no, I don't know what you're talking about." Wen Yue shook her head vigorously. The player could exchange a few words with anyone: "It's obvious you've come to the wrong place and the wrong person. I'm magnanimous and won't pursue the matter of the car accident. Let's part amicably and not waste each other's time. You continue to complete the boss's performance evaluation KPIs."
"Farewell, we'll say goodbye now." Wen Yue pulled her little bat bird along, ready to make a strategic move.
Steppenwolf moved swiftly, blocking the player's path. "Hand over the Mother Box." He was massive and imposing, and his mere presence exuded an immense sense of oppression.
Wen Yue secretly compared the heights of the two sides, and then looked at the opponent's armor and battle axe. This battle was difficult and the outlook was not optimistic. On the player's side, only Raven could barely match their combat strength. However, Raven had the Three Palaces Demon sealed within him, which did not allow him to use his ultimate skill.
Wen Yue tugged at Raven's black robe and whispered a reminder: "Go to the Bat Cave."
The spatial magic flashed by, and the players instantly disappeared from their original positions.
In front of the bat-shaped computer, Wen Yue's fingers flew across the screen as she rapidly issued commands to the system.
"Manor security system activated."
"Lockdown mode has been activated."
"Countermeasures have been deployed."
"The Bat Cave space has been sealed off."
"Automatic counterattack permission has been granted."
"You have been granted the authority to execute the highest security protocol."
...
“Steppenwolves are here.” Tim flipped through the surveillance footage outside the manor, where countless Parademons with insect-like compound eyes burst out of the sonic boom tunnel, their membranous wings vibrating. “And Parademons too.”
"Unable to contact the Justice League." Dick's plea for help went unanswered.
"They went to the Parademon base, planning to raid it." Wen Yue rubbed her temples, feeling a bit of a headache. She hadn't expected that the Steppenwolves would raid her base instead.
"Jason said he's waiting for us at the backup safe passage exit in his Batplane," Raven said, closing the communicator. The backup safe passage was the only exit after the Batcave was sealed off; it was a one-way exit.
The Batcave trembled, and dust fell in a flurry. Steppenwolf's battle axe could cleave through dimensions and shatter planetary defenses, so dealing with the Batcave's defense system was naturally no problem for him.
"The Batcave won't hold out for long, let's get out of here." Wen Yue manipulated the exit to open, and she and Dick Tim stepped inside. Only Raven remained motionless. "What's wrong?"
“Steppenwolf can sense the location of the Mother Box, so I won’t go any further. I’ll teleport directly to the Batplane later.” Raven said calmly, “My magic power is insufficient, so I can only be teleported with one person. You guys go first.”
"Okay." Wen Yue thought this was a good solution and readily agreed, her figure disappearing into the passage.
Tim, who was walking at the very back, twitched his eyes slightly, his all-knowing gaze sweeping over, and he exchanged a knowing look with Raven.
The raven shook its head almost imperceptibly.
Tim's lips moved slightly, silently saying, "Take care." He suppressed his emotions, turned, and entered the emergency exit.
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