This script is adapted from the DC comic "Batman-i, Joker". Any resemblance is purely coincidental.

…………

[Feng Bujue, Level 43]

[Wang Tanzhi, Level 40]

[Si Yu Ruo Li, Level 40]

[Bei Ling Xiao Gu, Level 40]

[Please select the game mode you wish to join.]

[You have selected Team Survival Mode (Normal). Please confirm.]

[Your team is joining Team Survival Mode (Normal). The random value for team size is: Four players.]

[Your team has entered the queue and is searching for other ready individuals or teams.]

[Match complete. Neural connections are being coordinated. Scenario is generating…]

[Loading initiated. Please wait.]

“Welcome to… Thriller Paradise.” A deep male voice spoke the opening line.

[Loading complete. You are currently playing Team Survival Mode (Normal).]

[This mode provides a scenario introduction and has a chance of spawning side hidden quests and a special worldview.]

[Scenario completion reward: Randomly draw a piece of equipment corresponding to your level.]

[The scenario introduction will now play. The game will begin immediately after playback.]

As soon as the system prompt finished, the players were immediately switched to a first-person perspective to watch the opening CG.

Before their eyes, a night sky appeared.

There, no moon or stars could be seen, only countless strange colored lights.

Green, blue, yellow, purple, white, and black… patches and blotches, like paint splattered across a canvas, dyeing the night sky with bizarre colors.

Beneath the night sky lay a city.

To Feng Bujue, it felt familiar yet foreign…

Like the same character drawn by two distinct cartoonists; it would inevitably possess two completely different atmospheres.

“Is this Gotham…” Feng Bujue mused, “What kind of story will it be this time…”

[Perhaps Bruce never imagined such a future.]

The same man’s voice from before began narrating as a voice-over: [Gotham City has become a place of rigid order, where power reigns supreme.]

[The people of the city, filled with extreme fear and fanatical religious fervor, have knelt before the feet of the same “god”.]

[the_Bruce]

[That is his name. Of course, people also call him God, Your Highness, King of Gotham, or… Batman.]

[He is certainly not the real Bruce Wayne. The legend of the first Batman is a thing of the distant past.]

[He is Batman’s descendant, the man who inherited the cowl, the ruler of Gotham.]

“So that’s how it is, this is that grotesque work…” When Feng Bujue heard this, he already knew the general plot of this scenario. Because he had read this comic before. As long as he searched in his Mind Sanctuary, the outline of the entire story would emerge; before long, some details would also become clear.

However… Brother Jue was also well aware that the established scenarios appearing in *Thriller Paradise* might not develop according to the plot of the original work. Over-relying on one’s understanding of the original story could easily lead to a huge loss.

[December 21st, the longest night of the year, the night of pursuit and challenge.] The narration continued.

[As in previous years, the “ceremony” begins at that castle—the black-winged cathedral that belongs to the_Bruce.]

Along with the narration, the camera slowly moved down, and a magnificent castle appeared in the CG scene.

It was a typical Gothic building with towering spires, pointed arches, and huge stained glass windows. The exterior of the building had massive flying buttresses, slender bundled columns, and a cliff-like open platform (which could also be regarded as a balcony, but without a roof or walls, only a circle of stone carved railings).

“Hail Batman!” On the semi-circular protruding platform, a man with graying hair, glasses, and a brown trench coat shouted a slogan. This man, who looked to be in his fifties, resembled Commissioner Gordon in every way.

“Praise the Bat!” “King of Gotham!” Tens of thousands of people gathered on the streets, wearing strange costumes (futuristic clothing, but they looked like cheap rags; to describe it… like a beggar version of Saiyan battle suits), raising their hands and looking up at the people on the castle platform, and issuing devout shouts.

“What day is today?” The man on the high platform shouted, “Who am I?”

“Night of Bloodshed!” “Gordon!” Bursts of responses erupted from the crowd.

“That’s right, I am Gordon, your chief administrator, the prophet of His Highness Bruce, the messenger foretelling his arrival!” He shouted hoarsely, “Praise the Bat! Praise his righteous deeds of slaughter for Gotham!”

[This is the Night of Purification.]

[Every year on this night, the villains who once fought against Batman will be “revived”… and Batman will kill them again.]

[Therefore, this is also an endless Evernight…]

“Behold… your ancient enemies have awakened from death!” The man calling himself “Gordon” continued his passionate speech, “…and are once again bound by the power of His Highness Bruce.”

As he spoke, four cylindrical glass capsules slowly extended from the building. In each glass pillar, there was a person fixed in place by metal shackles.

Anyone who had read Batman comics could easily identify who they were…

“Joker, Harley Quinn, Two-Face, Poison Ivy…” Gordon announced the identities of the four one by one, then paused, “The ritual requires that they all be released from their restraints…” He suddenly grinned at this point.

His laughter was clearly broadcast through the communication device near his mouth. His face close-up and that terrifying laughter were being broadcast on large screens everywhere in the city…

“…The horror from a hundred years ago will once again sweep the streets, explosions, gunfire, cries, screams…” Gordon quickly continued, “Only Batman can save you! Batman sympathizes with your fears, shares your hatred… He will reward your faith with the blood of those villains!”

This guy was completely like a religious fanatic, gesticulating wildly and preaching with a distorted face…

“Long live Batman!” “Long live the King of Gotham!” “Long live the_Bruce!” Such shouts rang out throughout the city.

At the same time, the CG camera shifted.

It could be seen… high above the castle, a solitary, muscular figure had spread his black “wings” and descended upon the pinnacle of this city.