Vivi was excited but didn’t rush to draw cards; instead, she washed her hands first.

After washing her hands, she still didn’t immediately open the system. She paced around her office, remembering the [Honest Merchant] badge and the contact lenses in the character interface that she hadn’t checked yet.

【”Honest Merchant” Badge】

【Honesty is a virtue. Wearing this badge, people will be more willing to engage in large transactions with you, believing you to be an honest and reliable person.】

This virtual badge, similar to a title, appeared on Vivi’s new [Badge Wall] in the system interface, so there was no worry about losing it.

Then Vivi opened the character interface to check—

【Contact Lenses: C】

This reward was different from before, describing the lenses without detailing an identity or requiring her to name them. This confused Vivi, as previous rewards had always been something like 【Mayor Glasses: Anna Alex】.

【The player created this identity. C exists and doesn’t exist; “C” has no past and cannot see the future.】

【——Perhaps this is because the player can create this future.】

【Imagine the image you want to create in your mind.】

【Are you ready…■■■?】

C’s personal interface background still showed an indistinguishable back, now with this introduction.

“So, I’m supposed to create a character?” Vivi felt her head swell. “It took me three and a half hours to create ‘VV’ before.”

Indeed, whether it was Anna Alex or Bella Bettywen, once Vivi named them, their “past” emerged, allowing these characters to integrate into the game’s background. However, Vivi’s true self had no “past,” and the spontaneously mentioned “C” had none either.

[TN: Oh, a little glimpse into ViVi’s past?]

As a result, she found that “C,” under the Penguin’s influence, became “Mr. C,” with NPCs attributing all sorts of bizarre backstories to him.

She thought, “What is Mr. C’s image now? He got the Penguin imprisoned and took over his subordinates… but I just made them start a construction company. In their eyes, am I my own subordinate? Feels like a very mysterious character.”

Even though “C” rarely appeared, Vivi used “C’s” mystery to back her actions, achieving quite a lot.

In that case, she decided to create a male character since she always got too immersed in female roles. A male role didn’t matter as much—perhaps her limits would unconsciously be lower?

This way, if C did something bad, how would it be related to Vivi?

A vague silhouette of a mysterious figure appeared in her mind, and the system prompted her to “switch characters.”

Vivi chose [Confirm].

She turned to look at the full-length mirror in the corner.

The man in the mirror had long, silver-white curly hair, a golden left eye, with his right eye covered by bangs. Even without a smile, he seemed to be smirking. He wore a white long coat with intricate patterns, a shirt underneath, the cuffs fluttering slightly in the breeze, with silver embroidery gleaming softly.

With his gloved left hand, he swept his bangs aside, revealing a familiar green right eye—the same green Vivi often saw when playing as her true self.

This outfit wouldn’t look out of place at any ball, but the man’s expression was somewhat off.

Though the body was still controlled by Vivi, she smoothed her long hair back and then unbuttoned her collar, removing the coat and shirt. She wasn’t planning to explore the anatomy of a male body; rather—

A seam opened in the exposed chest, glinting with a metallic sheen under the light. She opened Mr. C’s chest cavity.

Numerous intricate parts operated smoothly within, with a faintly glowing magic circle at the joints. Technology and magic harmonized perfectly inside this body.

A deep blue heart lay at the center, motionless, half-suspended, blue like Gotham’s midnight sky, with no blood flowing within.

“Interesting.”

The man’s voice was lazy. His skin closed up again, resembling some sort of liquid metal.

Vivi thought of something: “Why do I need mercury when disposing of bodies?”

1,000 gold could buy 8,000 degrees Celsius high-temperature incineration, and 5,000 gold could buy enough mercury to soak the entire body. She hadn’t tried the other two options, but she knew in this game’s world—

Mercury was a magical item.

Maybe she could research it later with more bodies.

For now, Vivi needed to study this Mr. C, whose heart did not beat.

It was strange because when using other bodies, her heart beat, she breathed, and had a pulse. However, she had never seen herself bleed. Not bleeding was normal; if she bled, with the game’s dark and tragic background, it might not pass censorship.

But C seemed more like an artificial human—when playing Bella, no parts popped out upon injury!

Also—

“Do your contact lenses only come in one piece?” Vivi felt an alien sensation in her golden left eye, while her green right eye felt normal, almost like “Vivi’s” original.

She tentatively scratched at her eye.

Vivi: “…”

She felt as if her fingernail was scraping against stone. The perpetual smile on “Mr. C’s” face in the mirror almost faltered.

This was a puppet assembled from machinery and magic!

Moreover, since it wasn’t a real human… Vivi suspiciously glanced downward. Forget it, there was nothing there.

[T/N: Lol]

Vivi opened the system interface for Mr. C.

【Contact Lenses: C】

【Identity: You may create an identity yourself】

【Background: Congratulations, player. You can fabricate a background yourself】

【Skills: Seems to have no usable skills】

【Evaluation: Some people want to kill you, some want to love you. Your reputation spreads in dark corners. Is this hope or a curse?】

You are so useless, Mr. C. Vivi was speechless for a moment. She reached into the chest cavity again and removed the blue heart.

Mr. C died instantly, and Vivi’s perspective shifted to the death observation view. She chose to revive, and a teleportation marker appeared on the map—

Currently available teleport points: 【1. Warden’s Office in Blackgate Prison】【2. Mayor’s Office Study】【3. Lost】

The body turned back into Vivi’s own body. She sighed; perhaps Mr. C’s high degree of freedom made it difficult for her to know how to use him properly.

She had already planned what to do when the teleport points refreshed. Now, she needed to hide the body first before drawing cards.

The body before her lay with closed eyes, appearing as if peacefully asleep. Her cause of death was likely the same as C’s, losing her heart, and the stone-like heart in Vivi’s hand disappeared after revival. Such components couldn’t be preserved.

She reached out to touch 【Vivi】—

【A body named “Vivi,” with “VV” carved on the back of the neck】

【In some people’s eyes, a poor soul controlled by “Mr. C”】

【Player can choose…】

Vivi paused, suddenly having a new idea.

She opened the interface. Bella’s interface showed a motorcycle, Mr. C’s was empty, and 【Vivi】’s interface displayed three bodies, the third being this one, dead from losing its heart.

Vivi silently dragged this small marker to Mr. C’s interface panel. Perhaps it was a pointless attempt?

The girl opened her eyes.

When she died, it was as if she had fallen asleep, but now her eyes were open.

A silent magic occurred; the girl’s body seemed to disassemble and reassemble swiftly, with magical glows flickering inside her body. At this moment, she could become anyone, or perhaps everyone was her.

Silver hair appeared, golden pupils replaced the green eyes, and the only identifiable right eye was hidden by bangs. She died as a girl and revived as the elegant and mysterious man, who stood up, smiling at the warden before him.

Then… he stood still.

Vivi: “Turn around.”

The coat flared like a skirt as he spun. Vivi grabbed his coat’s edge, looking up.

Now using her real body without any glasses, the man was significantly taller than her.

Vivi: “Speak.”

“Vivi,” the man said stiffly, lowering his head and placing a hand on her shoulder, “Gotham’s security is minus ten because the lowest is minus ten.”

These were the words Vivi silently recited in her mind. She stared at her reflection in his golden pupils, while the system interface displayed her face—this was the view from “Mr. C’s” perspective.

Vivi remained silent, issuing commands in her mind. The man’s movements became increasingly smooth, as if she were controlling two characters simultaneously—but players have limits and can’t truly multitask, leading to split focus. The smooth actions were simply because her real body was almost in standby mode.

“Wow…” The principle was clear: since Mr. C wasn’t “alive,” even placing glasses on a corpse allowed him to move.

Just like how Vivi once tricked Deadshot with a corpse wearing the mayor’s glasses in the bathroom, buying her time.

In the room.

The silver-haired man held a young girl as they danced silently. Spinning, there was no music, but those who saw this scene seemed to hear their hearts playing softly. The girl’s eyes were filled with the man, her small hands clutching his glove tightly, seemingly smiling, yet not.

The curtains were tightly drawn, the windows shut against the pouring rain, but their shadows reflected on the window. Suddenly, the dance stopped, and the man vanished in an instant, leaving the girl with raised hands, still gazing upwards.

“Click” The light went out.

This was all the Batcam captured.

No one, at least not now, knew—

Vivi discovered that “Mr. C” could also teleport using map markers!

But Mr. C’s appearance was too conspicuous. It would be great to have an item to change his appearance.

She turned off the light, teleporting Mr. C back, and the two of them, heads together, squeezed onto Bella’s long seat, secretly clicking “Confirm Ten-Draw” in the dark.

This broken game had no guarantee system. According to rarity, it could draw gold, silver, white, or bronze items. Why did Vivi insist on turning off the light?

Because gold shines more brightly in the dark!

Ten blank cards floated, flickering with a faint glow visible only to the player. Vivi whispered, “Gotham.”

At that moment, the cards’ light dimmed, then lit up one by one with different colors.