Chapter 181: City ​​Of Bats

This idea originally came from the editor-in-chief of the Jiangdu Daily. At first, it started as a classic column focused on street gangs and community life.

This column has been around for so many years that few people at the newspaper even remember its beginnings.

In its early days, it wasn't a very positive column; whether through the news it reported or reader comments—despite some review and subtlety, there was always a sense of darkness between the lines, and people had plenty to say about many issues. It carried a pessimistic and even hopeless tone.

However, starting this year, the column's content and comments have become brighter. Compared to previous years, the reports in the last couple of months have grown increasingly positive.

What people read in this column no longer centers on innocent folks being oppressed or beautiful girls being stalked and harassed while walking down the street. These issues, which have plagued the city for as long as residents can remember, are now fading away.

As of today, nothing like that has appeared in the column for a whole month. Instead, it now highlights the downfall of organized crime. The underground groups are trying to reinvent themselves.

Even more encouraging are stories of former gang members bravely rescuing cats stuck in trees or drowning, and assisting the fire department during emergencies.

The city is getting better. This isn't just empty talk from those high-ranking officials of the past; it's real improvement happening around everyone, visible to all. At the same time, people understand where this change is coming from.

So, when the editor noticed more positive comments and felt that readers were increasingly inspired and rejuvenated, he came up with a new idea—he wanted the man who transformed the city to see the change reflected in his column.

That's what this program is all about. He specially commissioned the creation of 10,000 simple searchlights, each with a bat shape stamped on the front. He randomly selected 10,000 readers from the column's comments and mailed the customized lights to each of them.

Originally, this event was planned for next week, but the sudden appearance of monsters in the square and the heroes stepping up to fight made the editor realize that now is the perfect time. So, they reached out to all participating readers from across the city, and together, they lit up the bat signals into the sky.

And so, this is the scene—bats filling the sky.

Ten thousand lights, ten thousand marks, and bat signals are scattered all over the city, shooting high above the dark clouds. 

When the city fell into darkness, it was Batman who stood up and gave all the confused and frightened people a light and a direction to look up, letting them know that everything is fine. And when things get better now, they will return the lights of thousands of families. 

… 

When Lytos saw this scene, the huge eye on his body almost went round. From the moment the lights appeared in the sky, he could clearly feel that his nourishment was decreasing. The moment the people in this city showed up, their panic and fear reached an extremely high value. But he never thought that was not the starting point, but the peak instead. 

As soon as these bat signals came on and more and more people noticed them, the negative emotions started to fade away very quickly. He could feel that people's fear of him was fading, replaced by something more positive and uplifting. Not even these tiny people who were surrounded by the siege, facing him, right at his feet. He could feel that these people were not as afraid of him anymore. 

Why!? 

This surprised Lytos. Back then, before he fell into a deep sleep, every time he appeared in the world, he would tear the hearts of countless people and cause turmoil everywhere.

People in ancient times regarded him as a god and a demon; not to mention the idea of resistance, they didn't even dare to think when facing him, and could only let him manipulate them like puppets. 

But people in this day and age feel differently. 

Snapped. 

Batman raised his hand, and the grapple gun helped him rise into the air and land somewhere in the void. When everyone's perspectives were focused, they realized that a light blue wave rolled in midair, and the black steel raptor lifted its invisibility and appeared out of thin air from the night. Batman had already boarded his plane. 

The new type of fighter that Batman obtained after upgrading in the B-level equipment pool is named "Batwing."

It is one of the models with the strongest performance that Chu Cheng found after screening all the vehicles in the arsenal.

Whether it is a tank or an aircraft of the next level, although the weapon system is also equipped with lethal weapons for fighting monsters, the body itself is designed to deal with ordinary criminals or organized terrorist groups at best.

But this one is different. This batwing is designed to be **The Justice League** equipment; from head to toe, it is top of the line, specially crafted for engagements with aliens, far ahead of the advanced technology used by the military on Earth. 

If **Spider Man** is Chu Cheng's strongest individual combat hero, then Batman with this batwing should be one of the strongest DPS in Chu Cheng's arsenal. 

Under the sky filled with bat lights illuminating the night as bright as day, the black steel wings soared into the air.

Batman sat in the cockpit, the windshield sealed, and the automatic lock on the AR screen in front of him immediately aimed at the massive ancient being not far away. 

Laitosi already roughly realized the problem. Its enormous single eye lifted up and locked onto the oddly shaped, streamlined aircraft in front of it. 

This is the one. 

Just because of his presence, the fear of the surrounding humans has been greatly diminished. It seems that everyone has high expectations for him, as if they believe that his existence can turn the tide. 

Ridiculous. 

Lytos felt contempt. 

It can sense that this is just a strangely dressed human, no different from others. This makes it even more absurd that those people think such a mere human can change anything. 

But it also makes things easier— 

—As long as it defeats this person in front of everyone, hopes will be dashed. People whose hopes are extinguished will instead fall into deeper despair, more darkness and fear, and this will provide more nourishment, allowing it to recover to its best state faster. 

Those who think they can carry hope will become false if they are overconfident, bringing even more terrible despair. 

So now it's just a matter of defeating this guy and tearing apart their hopes. 

The moment the thought moved, the tentacles pierced out of nowhere. But the batwing also responded immediately; the two propellers at the bottom sprayed together, and the reverse thrust allowed the light and agile fuselage to move sideways with almost impossible maneuverability. 

The all-around upgraded batwing has more outrageous maneuverability and propulsion than the previous model. Additionally, Batman, assisted by the neural link armor, has nerve reflexes six times that of ordinary people, meaning the batwing's reaction speed has also reached extreme levels. 

As the height was raised to evade, the batwing also counterattacked simultaneously. A missile flew out from the pylon protruding from the bottom, instantly breaking through the sound barrier and flying toward the top of the giant shadow. 

Laitos sneered inwardly. 

Another human toy? 

This kind of flying gadget just got taken down in seconds, and he had also weathered the missile barrage unscathed. This undoubtedly inflated the ego of this ancient being, making him feel that even though time has passed and humans have advanced significantly, toys are still toys after all and aren't worth mentioning in front of higher-level beings like him. 

Just like this unremarkable thing, as small as a finger—can it really send me to my end in seconds? 

Bang. 

The ultra-concentrated freezing energy erupted, and the sky was showered with ice like a heavy snowfall. The almost anti-physical instant low temperature froze his massive body in the blink of an eye. 

Laitos: ???