“The rats told me that the box is too heavy. I need to get closer to be able to control more rats at the same time,” Sheila said.

They were already about ten meters away from their target. Just around this wall, across a smelly ditch, they could see Penguin’s men lying on the ground, groaning.

However, even without seeing them, Vivi could directly observe the status above their heads on the map. [Pain] indicated they had just been beaten, [Fear] meant they hadn’t been hit yet, and no status meant they were knocked unconscious.

— Robin was really fast in taking action, ensuring everyone got a fair share of the beating.

But why was he beating them?

This location was too close to Penguin’s headquarters. Vivi glanced and saw Penguin’s reinforcements approaching. She had Sheila control the rats because she didn’t want to reveal that “she” was the buyer. She observed from the shadows, but clearly, Robin’s actions had alarmed Penguin. Delaying any longer wasn’t a good idea.

The box was right at their feet. Vivi picked it up and suddenly paused, saying, “Let’s split up. You go back first.”

After saying that, Vivi glanced at the map and decisively headed toward the edge of the city—

If she guessed right, her second body should have floated in that direction along the water flow. They hadn’t seen the body along the way, so it was a good opportunity to try her luck while “completing the task”.

If Vivi remembered correctly, that direction led to Arkham Island, but there was a high chance the body would be crushed by a garbage processor midway.

Yes, completing the task.

When she picked up the box, Vivi triggered the mission 【Tracker】.

There was a rice grain-sized locator stuck to the side of the box, looking like a fish scale or a pebble. The mission asked her to find “the person who placed the tracker”. Vivi felt a strange sense of familiarity with this mission description.

Since the other party had placed a tracker on the box, why should she bother finding them? She could just increase the distance and wait for them to come to her.

“Maybe it’s Penguin,” she thought, running with the box in the dark underground, effortlessly avoiding the stinky sewage dripping from above. “Does he want to know who I, the ‘customer’, am?”

However, Vivi guessed wrong this time. As the distance increased, the only and most conspicuous green dot separated from the crowd, heading straight towards Vivi.

Vivi: “?”

Well, was she about to meet this upright, muscular bird-like person? The kind who could take on fifty at once.

As the distance between them shortened, it was clear the other party was also fast. The darkness did not hinder Robin at all. Vivi stopped in her tracks, removed the tracker, and stored the mercury-filled box in the system package.

The next moment, the faint light seeping through the gaps was blocked momentarily, and a male figure, somewhere between a boy and a young man, appeared before Vivi.

Huh?

Where was the bird?

Vivi: “……” Disappointed.

A domino mask covered the upper half of his face, revealing only deep blue eyes. His bodysuit, seemingly made of special materials, exuded an advanced and impressive aura, similar to the eavesdropping devices and trackers Vivi encountered.

Upon noticing Vivi, Robin averted his gaze, scanning the surroundings—

Vivi stood at a T-intersection. Besides the entrance Robin appeared from, there were three other paths for escape.

But she didn’t continue to run away—jokingly, the one chasing her wasn’t a red name, but a green one.

Although this green name looked a bit like a pervert in a tight suit, and he seemed quite young.

So, she crossed her arms and confidently asked, “Why are you chasing me?”

Light poured through the manhole cover above their heads, falling on Vivi’s light brown hair. Without the obstruction of glasses, her eyes reflected a deep forest green, leaving a rich hue. Half of her face was hidden under the raised collar, but Tim could almost imagine her concealed expression through her tone.

He was almost amused.

Tim Drake, aka the third Robin of Batman, was also guarding Gotham today.

It all started with the information Peter brought – the gunshots in the city hall at night.

Tim investigated quickly because the information was practically handed to him. Just as he started his investigation, a second incident occurred in the city hall. Black Mask’s men and Penguin’s subordinates clashed, leading to the capture of the feared top assassin, Deadshot. This result was too strange!

Knowing the “assassin was Deadshot,” Tim directly investigated the other’s movements. It felt like solving a problem when he already knew the answer, which frustrated him with a feeling of always being a step behind—

Someone must be orchestrating this behind the scenes.

Otherwise, it couldn’t all be coincidences.

The new mayor, Anna Alek, was the prime suspect, as she benefited from all these incidents.

But there were others, like the person who sold all the “spy information from Penguin” to the mayor. Otherwise, how could she find the opportunity to catch all these thugs? This person could be a traitor among Penguin’s men.

While searching for this nonexistent traitor, Tim discovered an important deal happening tonight involving Penguin. A mysterious customer had ordered almost all of Penguin’s mercury stock.

Crisis honed his intuition. Tim realized the deal was extremely dangerous. Mercury was a hazardous metal in all aspects. Who was this mysterious person suddenly appearing in Gotham, and what did he plan to do?

He had to stop the deal, no matter what.

—After all, smuggling and illegal mercury was against the law.

He interlaced his fingers, joints cracking, as he approached the girl step by step. Her hair was messy, her jacket stained with one sleeve rolled up, and her eyes showed no fear, no different from any other girl at the bottom of Gotham’s hierarchy.

They would do various things for others, sometimes not knowing whether it was right, just to survive.

“I suppose your partner already took the merchandise away?” he asked with a not-so-friendly tone. “And you were left behind to stall me. Robin doesn’t hit women.”

Vivi: Eh?

But you look like you’re about to hit someone, and the dot on the map is still green.

She pondered for a moment and suddenly realized, “Thank you.”

He took out so many of Penguin’s men, which gave her the opportunity to get the box without exposing herself.

Tim: “?”

“Then I’m leaving,” Vivi nodded at him and tossed him the tracker. “Thanks for the hard work and goodbye. Make sure to get some sleep early.”

Above her head, the status [Irritable][Exhausted][Sleepy] kept flashing, like stacking buffs. Where did he get the energy to find her?

After sending a series of mental greetings to the person in front of her, and before Tim could react, strange noises suddenly came from a nearby alleyway, growing louder. Vivi glanced in that direction and then ran in the opposite direction.

Tim hesitated for a second, then chased after her into the alleyway. But when he reached the end, he only saw a bunch of large rats running around. He unfolded the screen on his arm, to find that the tracker had disappeared — just as Vivi was escaping, Tim had silently attached another tracker to her — but it was removed again.

“Maybe I should show her picture to Peter…” Tim thought.

He touched his forehead. A large mercury trade wasn’t a good sign. He lost her trail and perhaps should inform Batman—

Another sleepless night was ahead.

*

Thanks to Sheila, Vivi managed to escape smoothly. Although she wasn’t worried about herself, avoiding a conflict was always good.

After a close encounter, her information about 【Robin】 was updated. One of Gotham’s vigilantes, indeed not a bad person, but this made Vivi very speechless: Why do all of you “Spiders,” “Robins,” and “Penguins,” named after animals, turn out to be humans?

She was so disappointed, tsk.

She wondered if Robin knew Spider-Man and decided to ask him next time if he could help collect a debt.

However, at the moment, she had another task — to call the Iceberg Lounge.

“You didn’t complete our transaction,” she said. “Robin took away the goods I needed.”

There was silence on the other end for a while: “I’m sorry, customer. How would you like to resolve this? We will try our best to accommodate.”

Vivi guessed right!

Thanks to the ultra-realistic freedom of the game—

The people at the Iceberg Lounge only knew that the mercury was missing but didn’t know whether it was Robin or her who took it.

Even smugglers have a certain reputation. Since the transaction failed, Penguin wouldn’t easily default.

Vivi: “You need to refund the entire amount.”

“Of course, guest.”

Vivi: “And I still need that batch of goods. Please deliver it as soon as possible. Let’s change to a safer transaction location.”

“…We’ll prepare as soon as possible, but it will take four to five days.”

When Vivi reordered, the other side initially promised three days. Indeed, as mercury was a difficult metal to store and highly dangerous, the entire mercury stock in Gotham was limited. To fulfill the transaction three days later, Penguin’s compensation could only be “delayed” to four days later.

She vaguely sensed something, like finding a thread leading to the solution of a problem.

Vivi: “Five days? That’s too long. I’m very disappointed in the Iceberg Lounge.”

“The entire Gotham, besides us, won’t be able to supply the goods you need,” the voice on the phone became somewhat firm. “We’re very sorry about tonight. If you insist on canceling the order, we are willing to make a certain amount of compensation.”

After several rounds of verbal sparring, the other side could only promise the quickest delivery in four days.

Vivi thoughtfully hung up the phone and then opened the panel—

【Financial Disposition-Business Investment】—

【8. Establish your own pharmaceutical factory】

This option was activated after obtaining the mercury, as its most common use is in manufacturing industrial chemicals.

Vivi selected this option.

【Please note, that players can only choose three active business investments per month, and the minimum investment amount for each cannot be lower than 200,000 gold coins. Do you confirm your choice?】

【Confirm】

The system automatically generated a pharmaceutical factory’s management structure, salary module, and even loaded a professional-looking company website on the computer. Then it gave an address in a remote area of Gotham, looking realistic as if Vivi really owned such a factory. However, the manager and employees needed to be selected from her staff.

Vivi directly appointed Shelk as the factory manager with a salary of 1 gold coin per month. She then sent him a message, instructing him to start purchasing metals needed for the pharmaceutical factory the next day, inconspicuously including mercury in the list.

—Vivi named the factory “Iceberg Pharmaceuticals,” her intentions almost self-evident.

Mercury is an interesting metal, widely used yet so dangerous. It’s an outlier among metals, perhaps a key tool in overturning Penguin.

Vivi decided to buy up all the mercury in the market.

The office was empty and quiet, only the brown-haired girl sitting cross-legged in the mayor’s chair, toying with a pair of gold-rimmed glasses.

If Tim saw this scene, he would probably have to overturn all his previous guesses about Vivi. Unfortunately, he couldn’t see it for the time being.

And Vivi opened the panel, quickly selecting her second investment of the night—

23:55:17

Mr. Cobblepot, the owner of the Iceberg Lounge, picked up this unfamiliar call. He was cursing his useless subordinates for letting Robin interfere, swearing in his heart to break the nose of the person on the other end of the phone with an umbrella.

“Hello?”