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Vivi scanned through her newly unlocked achievements one by one:
[Achievement Unlocked: Gotham Wasn’t Built in a Day]
“New glasses…” Vivi furrowed her brows. “A scholar’s monocle, huh? I do want to build a school in South Hinckley, but I don’t need overly specialized scholars for that, do I?”
Her initial plan was to establish basic literacy schools.
Gotham had the well-regarded Gotham University, along with several other specialized institutions, such as law and art academies. These weren’t as renowned, and at least Gotham University wasn’t infamous for producing Arkham Asylum regulars, which was a relief.
South Hinckley, an island town, lacked the depth for a proper harbour, had little trade, and its mines were long depleted. With no major industries, its residents were fleeing en masse, leaving Vivi to manage the now barren land. Cheap as it was, land left unused was still a loss, and Vivi refused to engage in unprofitable ventures.
To prevent South Hinckley from becoming a ghost town, Vivi knew she had to repopulate the area. But why would anyone choose to relocate from Gotham to this remote, desolate place?
She smacked her forehead and came up with a solution: temporary residents—students. People would come to attend school, and return home during breaks, and the town could regain vitality by building around a university hub. While she didn’t have the ambition to build a full-fledged university just yet, she decided to start with free literacy schools, inspired by one she had seen in Gotham’s East End.
South Hinckley could accommodate tens of thousands of people. One step at a time.
Pulling out the monocle, a prompt appeared before her, prompting her to name the scholar persona it would create. Vivi felt an urge to play around:
“A scholar’s monocle, huh? It’ll fill in a backstory, just like AA’s setup… hmm, if I name it Athena Zeus, how will the system spin it?”
But when she tried, the system rejected the name for being ineligible.
“Fine, fine, I won’t make it suffer.” She casually typed DD, and a moment later, her vision shifted.
“Wait… my name is Daisy Diamond?”
Vivi paused.
Hold on. Diamond?
Having just wrapped up her conversation with Lady Rothschild, the name rang a bell. In the game’s backstory, Anna Alek’s biological father’s surname was Diamond, and his family resided in New York.
Apparently, completing the Rothschild-related task had unlocked a new context. The system openly revealed Daisy Diamond’s identity in the monocle’s description:
[Monocle: Scholar]
“…Why is this scholar a blood-draining glass cannon?” Vivi muttered.
She reviewed Daisy’s skills, which were all focused on learning and support—shorthand, translation, teaching—maxed out but at the cost of health when overused. Running out of health would lead to death.
Sure, dying wasn’t a big deal for players, but studying yourself to death? That was absurd.
[First-time Use Activated: Identity Guidance Quest]
“Ah, like BB’s task at the GCPD,” Vivi mused. She pocketed the monocle and moved to the next achievement.
[Achievement Unlocked: Arrest Frenzy]
“Another prison, huh? Outside of Blackgate and Arkham? That’ll be handy.”
South Hinckley’s detainees had already stretched existing facilities to their limits. Arkham was almost rebuilt, so once its inmates were transferred, things would ease up. Vivi wasn’t sure yet where to build the new prison or what purpose it would serve, but having the option was a win regardless.
[Achievement Unlocked: Criminal Mastermind]
Vivi’s face froze.
…What? When did she commit a crime?
And not just any crime—a major one involving over 500 people. Did Gotham even have such a case? Was this a system glitch?
…Wait.
“Silent Night,” she whispered, her pupils dilating.
That counted?
An incident involving the disappearance of over 500 people—all criminals, including members of the Joker Gang, Two-Face’s crew, Scarecrow’s henchmen, and Black Mask’s operatives. Their absence had made Gotham’s crackdown on organized crime unusually smooth.
“I need to make good use of this title…” Vivi thought to herself. She was well aware of the potential the title offered but hadn’t yet decided how to utilize it. For now, she moved on to the next notification.
Instead of another achievement, a system notice appeared:
[Notice: Game Update Completed]
The figure perched in the tree disappeared in an instant, leaving no trace behind.
Elsewhere, Stephen Strange lay in bed, his physical body at rest while his astral form floated freely in his apartment, perusing a tome.
The book had been sent from Kamar-Taj’s museum archives. Though he had studied it before, Stephen decided it was worth revisiting.
The Dark Dimension wasn’t the sole domain of Dormammu. Various pantheons had left their marks on Earth, and remnants of their dark creations persisted even now. During his half-month in Gotham, Stephen had shared intel with the Bat Family and exchanged interpretations.
…Though their discussions often sidetracked into unrelated conjectures.
In his interactions, Stephen discerned that Vivi White genuinely harbored no ill intent and was singularly focused on Gotham’s transformation. But that, in itself, was what troubled him.
The problem lay in her immunity to corruption.
Dark forces of this nature typically inflicted severe psychological contamination. Prolonged exposure turned victims into grotesque aberrations. Even figures like Alek couldn’t escape such distortions, yet Vivi remained entirely unaffected.
“…A vessel, perhaps?” Stephen mused, closing his book. Slowly, the cryptic remarks of the mysterious figure in New York began to make sense: “Vivi is the key. She can help you.”
As Vivi delved deeper into Gotham’s darkness, those dark forces appeared to coalesce around her. She was a created vessel, and if she wasn’t truly human, it explained why her mind remained unaltered—like a machine incapable of depression.
His meeting with Bella Bettywen reinforced this. She bore the marks of a spiritual contract, and her formidable mental resilience likely served as a stabilizing counterbalance to Vivi. This bond was akin to an added safeguard against the container breaking under the accumulation of darkness.
While Stephen believed C was pursuing “entertainment,” he doubted that this being wouldn’t leverage the game for its own ends. When Vivi fully absorbed Gotham’s darkness, it would likely herald C’s true arrival.
Should he alert the Avengers or the Justice League?
Killing Vivi was pointless. She couldn’t truly die. During his nightly observations with the Eye of Agamotto, Stephen had glimpsed countless futures. Most paths ended in Gotham succumbing to darkness, its shadows spreading outward like a plague. But tonight, he had finally seen a glimmer of hope.
The solution lay in Vivi killing C—the creation slaying her creator. Only then would this cycle truly end.
In the dim light, Stephen gazed inward at his astral form and saw the binding mark preventing him from opening portals to leave Gotham.
Back in the game, Vivi chose to return to the login space.
The game’s design blurred memories upon exiting as a safety measure. For single-player games that could stretch across six months to a year of in-game time, the realism—capped at 60%—still risked deeply immersing players. Blurring memories upon exiting helped prevent post-game anxiety and detachment.
For Vivi, though, it wasn’t a concern.
She often found herself detached, even in-game. Emotions might flare up momentarily, but logic always tempered her impulses. Over two months of gameplay, aside from retaliating against the undying Talons, she hadn’t taken a single NPC’s life.
Vivi opened her eyes within the login space.
The warm glow of a fireplace illuminated a cozy, circular room. She sat on a red upholstered sofa, surrounded by walls lined with bookshelves. There were no doors, only arched windows framing the storm outside. In front of her stood four display cases—three containing mannequins dressed in elaborate costumes, while the fourth remained empty. A small table bore a lantern with a faintly flickering flame.
The rain outside poured heavily, and Vivi leaned back, sinking into the firm cushions of her sofa. She took a deep breath.
The room smelled of wood, fabric, and the refreshing scent of rain-soaked greenery.
For a moment, she simply stared into space.
This was the only part of the game where realism was at 100%.
Every detail—the textures, the scents—felt indistinguishably real. It had been a long time since Vivi had experienced such sensations.
When playing, she always set pain sensitivity to zero and minimized her sense of smell. The muted settings dulled all sensations, leaving the world feeling distant, like viewing life through frosted glass. She could see shapes, but never touch the reality beyond.
A system prompt appeared in front of her.
[Update Complete. You may now re-enter the game.]
[Update Details]
[Event: “Gotham City Children’s Festival”]
EasyRead[Translator]
Just a translator :)
Thanks for the chapters.