"If I didn't owe a huge debt, I'd never leave Boston," a fat, red-faced man loudly boasted, holding a large glass of beer in a brightly lit Gotham bar one night. "It's safer than Gotham, and Wonder Woman, the hero there, is also more beautiful."
Connors Patterson blended with the bar crowd, laughing with everyone else. But deep down, he disagreed with the boastful man.
Wonder Woman is beautiful, but Gotham has no shortage of beautiful women: Catwoman, Poison Ivy, Harley Quinn, Barbara Gordon—each has her own appeal!
"Hey, people say Wonder Woman always shows her long legs. Does she wear anything under her skirt?" a fat, bearded man next to Connors loudly asked.
Connors looked at the fat man with disdain. He had spent time in these low-cost bars and was used to hearing dirty jokes.
"You're talking nonsense. Wonder Woman isn't a stripper. She doesn't run around naked." Not only Connors but also the boastful middle-aged man looked at the fat man with contempt.
"Honestly, she is the goddess in my heart. You cannot desecrate her!"
Laughter filled the bar. A dozen low-class people who had not gone home that night made dirty jokes more openly.
They joked about whether her hard breastplate would scratch her chest or if her battle suit had a vacuum seal.
Among these mostly fat guys with dirty, smelly clothes, Connors Patterson stood out. He was nearly 1.9 meters tall, and his dark red suit could not hide his muscular body. He also had a handsome face.
Earlier, Connors had beaten up a man looking for trouble. Since then, the bartender warned everyone who came to drink not to provoke Connors. He now had a good reputation there.
Connors did not join the discussion about fantasizing about Wonder Woman. He looked at his system.
[Today's juicy gossip: Wonder Woman's inner wear]
[Submit?]
No rush, he thought. He decided to wait for new topics in the bar. If nothing new came up, he would submit the juicy gossip he had gathered today.
Unlike the homeless locals who came to the bar, ordered the cheapest drink, and then boasted loudly, Connors was a time traveler.
Connors Patterson was the name he gave himself after traveling through time. He was a bystander from China, but after arriving in Gotham, his original name no longer mattered.
He called the essential golden finger for time travel the "gossip system." By gathering "gossip" once a day, he could get rewards.
The rewards for "gossip," other people told him, were the lowest. The rewards for "gossip" he found himself were slightly higher. The rewards for "gossip" he witnessed firsthand were the best.
In Gotham City, unexpected things happen at any moment. He knew not to give up until the last second.
This was why he hesitated to submit today's "gossip" task.
Unfortunately, ten days had passed since he arrived. He had only seen the Bat-Signal light up but had not experienced any "gossip" firsthand.
If Connors had not worried about not having any fresh "gossip" after entering Blackgate Prison and not having a way to escape, he would have even tried to do something to attract Batman's attention.
"This won't do," he thought. "It will take a long time to reach superhero level. Relying only on gossip from secondary sources means the rewards will never be enough." Connors secretly felt a headache.
For the past ten days, he heard a series of gossips through other people's bragging in the bar, TV reports, and newspaper articles. He heard Batman had again imprisoned the Joker in Arkham Asylum, that the Gotham forest had recently grown wildly, that a seabed earthquake caused a tsunami but an unknown force stopped it, and that the Daily Planet named the guy in the red cloak Superman.
He also heard much gossip about Bruce Wayne and various female stars.
The rewards from this non-firsthand "gossip" were ordinary, but they gave Connors some savings. This allowed him to buy a legal identity and gain skills to deal with ordinary people, helping him establish himself in Gotham City.
But that was not enough.
Connors did not want to travel through time and become an ordinary person in a world with superheroes everywhere and villains as common as stray dogs.
If something happened one day and he died, it would be too depressing.
With the system, even if the current rewards were mediocre money, fighting skills, and other abilities, he believed the system would bring him surprises if he personally discovered significant news about superheroes.
The clock on the wall ticked, nearing midnight. Connors thought nothing new would happen today and prepared to submit his "gossip" task. Then, a loud bang echoed from the street outside.
Car horns, screaming passers-by, and crazy laughter filled the bar, startling the bragging men.
"What's happening?" Connors perked up. He stood up and went outside before anyone else could react.
As a spectator and as part of the spectator system, he could not stay in the bar.
Screech!
Tires scraped the ground.
As Connors stepped out, a car's tires locked, and it drifted past him, stopping in front of a figure.
The figure stood at the intersection, illuminated by two street lamps. The person did not dodge the car that almost hit him. His hands rested on a baseball bat on his shoulders. His long hair stuck to his face. He looked like a devil in the shadows.
The car owner who nearly hit someone opened his door, cursing. As he stuck his head out, the man in the shadow jumped onto the hood and swung the baseball bat.
"Mother—"
The car owner opened his mouth and uttered one word before the baseball bat struck his forehead, knocking him unconscious.
Crazy laughter rang out again. The unlucky car owner lay on the ground. As a roar sounded, the attacker drove the car into several parked cars and sped away.
The people of Gotham were not surprised. After a few shouts and curses from roadside buildings, the area calmed. The people in the bar returned to their seats and continued to boast.
The only difference was that Connors did not return to the bar. He sat in the back seat of the car that drove away.
"Red and blue hair, crazy laughter, delirious look, pungent chemical smell all over her body…"
"Is this Harley Quinn, just pushed into the chemical pool and abandoned by the Joker?"