Starting With Batman

Charlie returned to his room and carefully opened the sealed package with a paper-knife.

When he saw the green eye mask inside, identical to the one from the game, he couldn't help but be silent for a moment.

It wasn't an illusion; it was real.

He nervously picked up the small mask. It was made of a material he had never encountered before—cold, soft, and very comfortable to the touch.

He tried putting it on. Somehow, this small blindfold didn't need strings to stay in place or any mechanism to secure it. It fit snugly against his skin and was the perfect size, almost as if it were tailor-made for him. Just like in the game, wearing it didn't affect his vision or movements at all. In fact, he could almost forget it was there if he wasn't paying attention.

Charlie took off the blindfold and stared blankly at the empty package.

What the hell?!

A meticulously packaged parcel, without a sender's or consignee's address, without any information, had appeared in the corridor outside his door almost the moment he clicked the mouse to buy it in the game.

What is this? Interdimensional express delivery? Instant order and delivery?

The efficiency was such that even Amazon would be silenced in awe.

But at least it proved one thing: the game could indeed affect his reality.

Green Arrow, also known as Oliver Queen, was a shooter who specialized in hand-to-hand combat and was proficient in bow fighting.

As for Green Arrow's equipment, his bow, and arrows. The black-tech arrows might still be useful, but Charlie really couldn't figure out what use a simple mask would be.

However, though Green Arrow's mask seemed useless, it made Charlie wonder about the possibility of other superhero equipment being shipped from this summoning array system.

Could it include more useful equipment?

Like Batman's dart hook and uniform, Spiderman's web launcher, or even... Iron Man's armor?

If those could also be manifested in reality, they would be directly transformed into extraordinary powers he could use in the real world!

Charlie sat back in front of the computer, staring at the game on the screen, his expression becoming more complex.

He entered the simulation training module again.

This time, Charlie's mentality was different. If yesterday's tutorial was just for learning the basics, today was purely for mastering and training.

Familiarity with the fighting system, the use of stealth tactics, and the handling of various props... Suddenly, these were not just game skills for Charlie; they were real abilities he needed to learn, master, and skillfully use.

Games were Charlie's specialty, and he had never been so serious about any game in his life. His skills improved rapidly throughout the day.

He found that although the operation details of this game were more complex than those of previous Batman series games, the performance was better once he was familiar with it. With enough practice, players could almost become Batman himself through the keyboard and mouse.

The day was spent in simulation, and night finally fell.

He selected Batman on the hero selection interface and logged in directly.

After a brief black screen, Batman descended into the urban area under the night sky. He landed atop a building in the brightly lit city, his cloak undulating in the bright moonlight.

Charlie immediately recognized the location—it was opposite to the Klein Group building where he had logged off last night.

He controlled Batman to walk to the edge of the roof and moved the mouse to adjust to a bird' s-eye view. Charlie's gaze widened in interest. He could see the cordon set up at the bottom of the building and the personnel standing guard beside it.

From this angle, he could even imagine the angle from which the photo he saw in the forum during the day was taken.

After logging in, the game first reminded him that both the tutorial and the first mission had been completed. The map function had been unlocked, allowing players to explore the city freely as Batman.

Charlie pressed the M key on the keyboard, and the city map of Riverton, where Charlie lived, immediately opened on the screen.

He used the mouse to move his perspective on the map and even found his current location.

Charlie suddenly had an idea.

Could he find himself from this game?

Although this city was also called Riverton, like the city he lived in before crossing, it wasn't exactly the same. Some streets and areas were identical to Riverton in his previous life (including the area where his uncle's house was located), but many places were different.

For one, the current Riverton was more than three times larger than the city in Charlie's previous life.

As previously mentioned, there was no concept of national boundaries on 'this' Earth. In any city, there might be people with the appearance characteristics of various countries and regions from the original Earth.

However, people in the same city usually spontaneously formed different life circles based on race and living habits.

Charlie was old-fashioned in playing games. He recalled being ridiculed by viewers every day when he played Dark Souls in a live stream, saying that the biggest obstacle for someone to spread the fire was hand damage, but for him, the biggest obstacle was getting lost.

[TL Note - I don't play Dark Souls, so I don't know if I translated something incorrectly]

There's a saying that all roads lead to Rome, but it did not exist for him. He only thought that all roads were mazes.

Fortunately, this game was user-friendly enough to include traditional fool-proof navigation functions. Mark a coordinate on the map, and as long as you are not blind, you can reach the destination.

Charlie marked the coordinates on the map. Then he exited the map, and a small round Bat Mark appeared on the screen, with real-time navigation reminding the player where the route's target was.

Batman's claw gun had a load-bearing capacity of more than five hundred pounds, and the cloak behind him was not just for show—it could be shaped into a solid hang glider to help him glide.

The combination of these two pieces of equipment made him feel like he was walking on air in the concrete jungle. Charlie could feel the thrill of scaling walls even through the screen.

Especially when Batman in the game came to an area Charlie was familiar with, flying past his school, the neighborhood where he walked, and the business district he visited, it felt more and more surreal.

Of course, he did not forget to avoid unnecessary sightlines and surveillance cameras during the period.

Batman's jet-black suit was designed for stealth, which made evading detection much easier.

Coupled with the detective mode's perspective hook and a black-tech decipherer that could invade any surveillance camera, it was not difficult to avoid eyes and ears.

Seeing Batman getting closer and closer to the navigation location, Charlie found his heartbeat gradually accelerating.

He wasn't sure if he was mentally prepared for what he was about to see next.

Finally, with a shot of the claw, Batman flew into the air under the ejection of the claw gun, opened his cloak for a handsome gliding sprint, and landed on the roof of a residential building.

Charlie pressed the X button to activate detective mode, and the screen image entered the first-person perspective under Batman's helmet. The image zoomed in rapidly as he swiped the mouse wheel, finally locking onto a lighted window in the opposite residential building.

In the high-magnification screen of the detective mode, through that window, Charlie saw... himself.

That's his room.

Charlie took a deep breath.

He stood up from his seat, walked to the window, and looked at the opposite roof through the window.

Then he saw the Dark Knight standing in the moonlight, his cloak fluttering like a banner in the night wind.

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