Sucked Dry
This chapter was extremely difficult to translate/edit. It feels as if the author is jumping from point to point without trying to make a solid connection with the previous points, and if he/she does, it's done 4-5 paragraphs later. I did the best I could to fix it, but if you see any issues, don't hesitate to tell me so I can improve it.
Enjoy the chapter
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After completing his first rescue mission, Charlie felt mildly satisfied with his swift and straightforward course of action.
In the past, he liked playing superhero-themed games with open maps, the most representative being DC's Batman and Marvel's Spider-Man.
Many titles in both series feature a superhero protagonist who lets you roam freely around the city. You can choose to follow the main storyline or perform heroic feats: see fire, go to the fire, see robbery, save people, basically experiencing the daily life of a superhero.
However, no matter how realistic it is, it is not as "real" as the one he is playing now.
Moving on, Charlie witnessed many injustices in his previous life. Every time he surfed the Internet and saw injustices, he would be filled with righteous indignation like everyone else, but what use was indignation? Can it save people, can it resurrect the dead, can it stop hunger, can it end trafficking?
But ironically, or perhaps hypocritically, if something happened right before his eyes, Charlie reckoned that he would probably stay out of it and pretend he didn't see it.
Most people are the same; at best, wait until you return home, log onto the Internet, and then launch a wave of criticism. Few have the courage to stand up for what is right, especially if it's at their own expense.
But it's different now.
He has power.
A power that would prove difficult to trace back to him.
If Charlie himself acquires the physical strength and skills of Batman, instead of going around beating street thugs, he'll most likely huddle up in a corner, pretending to be a normal person.
Call him a coward, trash, a p*ssy, or a waste, but it won't change the fact that regardless of the situation, as long as it doesn't harm the safety and interests of himself and his loved ones, becoming a bystander to cruelty is never a crime. Why place your life and future in jeopardy for a stranger?
Heroes are honorable, yes. But very idiotic.
Fortunately, "Batman" is different. Such a big bat with a height of 6'2", the face of a villain who beats, smashes, loots, burns, and tortures, doing almost everything except killing people.
The most crucial point is that Charlie can stay out of the radar while enacting "justice."
After all, if Batman is causing trouble outside, what does it have to do with me, Charlie?
Not to mention, there are additional benefits to playing hero. After beating the group of thugs, the game gives 12 hero points, seven of which are for knocking down seven enemies. The remaining five points are for rewarding him for not suffering any damage during his actions.
Just after a smoke bomb fell, Charlie pressed the left mouse button. Batman's set of combos directly knocked them all down, not a single counterattack hitting Batman.
But this is normal; after all, although Batman was forcibly labeled as an "ordinary human being" by the screenwriter, audiences who know a little bit understand that Batman has already broken the ceiling of the category of normal people. It would be a miracle if ordinary gangsters could compete with him.
After playing for several hours, Charlie roughly understood the objective of the game. In short, you manipulate superheroes to defeat spawned monsters (AKA thugs and villains) and collect points, which you can then use to unlock new heroes or draw hero equipment.
However, Charlie wondered if he really had to rely on watching the city at night, every night, to help Justice in order to earn points to upgrade, the efficiency seemed too low.
Not everywhere is as simple and honest as Gotham.
After all, the reason the original Batman in the game series can level up so fast is related to Gotham, a villain's paradise.
Batman's life can be summarized as follows: on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, stop the lunatics who want to blow up the city hall. On Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays, save the city from being poisoned or destroyed. On Sunday, go on a business trip with Superman, fighting aliens and monsters for a change of pace, then return to Gotham the next day for a repeat.
But Charlie wasn't in Gotham, so what would he use to level up when there were no lunatics or criminals to defeat? Would he help the granny cross the road and save the cat that climbed the tree?
No, that seems like Superman's job.
Charlie initially thought so, but soon he found that the actual situation seemed different from what he thought. As he controls Batman to wander around the city for the night, he encounters many things that require him to take action.
For example, goons are taking advantage of the night to rob a jewelry store, creeps are following women late at night, bold individuals are stealing and vandalizing cars, etc.
Only then did Charlie realize that this other world was not as peaceful as he had thought.
It wasn't until after one o'clock in the morning when Charlie realised that he was too sleepy and exhausted to continue. He couldn't bear it anymore, so he had to turn off the game and go to bed.
Strangely, after playing the game for the past two days, he felt his body hollowed out. He was clearly just sitting in front of the computer and clicking away on the keyboard, but he felt extremely tired.
He threw himself into the soft bed without even taking off his clothes and fell into a deep sleep almost as soon as he closed his eyes.
When Charlie woke up, the sun was shining brightly.
In a daze, he stretched out his arms and grabbed his phone to check the time: " Hmm, it's 11:30 already. I've slept through all my morning classes."
scrolling through his phone Charlie opened his messages and realized that he hasent checked his phone since yesterday afternoon, various groups chats with his classmates seemed to have exploded with unread messages, they were enthusiastically discussing the accident that happened yesterday. Walter even sent several messages asking if he was still there and whether he was affected.
Although late to reply, Charlie responded to the message and told his friend that he was fine. Then he stretched himself and got up to do some hygiene.
As soon as his feet touched the ground, he almost fumbled to the floor, he felt sore all over, and nearly lost his footing.
His muscles were terribly aching as if he had been in a high-intensity training exercise with Yujiro Hanma
But the strange thing is, although there is no conclusive evidence, after a good night's sleep, he feels that he has more energy than before, and his physical condition is unprecedentedly excellent, even his waist feels more powerful than before.
But yesterday, he obviously didn't do any strenuous exercise.
Immediately, Charlie thought of the game he had played all night.
Is there such a possibility that when he manipulates Batman to run around outside, it consumes his physical energy to a certain extent?
No, not only is it consuming physical energy, but even the body seems to have been strengthened by exercise to a certain extent.
It seems that the feedback ratio isn't 1:1.
If Batman's exercise consumption is really fed back to the player on a one-to-one basis, with his standard otaku physical fitness, suddenly exercising at such a high intensity all night, he would probably be bedridden by now.
After more observations, He learned that this consumption feedback has both advantages and disadvantages.
The downside is that he can't manipulate Batman from morning to night without restriction because he risks getting sucked dry. He has reason to speculate that the burden of controlling those heroes may be even greater as the superhero abilities are unlocked and later become "super."
The good thing is that in just one night, he has vaguely felt a significant improvement in his physical fitness—this is a fantastic effect that is absolutely unimaginable by any conventional exercise method. Relying on this mechanism, as long as he sits in front of the computer without leaving home every day, his physical fitness will improve rapidly, and it will also lay a solid foundation for him to control stronger heroes in the future.
Gradually getting used to the sore muscles, Charlie got up and went to the bathroom to wash up. As soon as the toothpaste was applied, the doorbell rang throughout the apartment.
Charlie was taken aback for a moment, putting down his toothpaste and toothbrush, he came to the door, and peeked through the peephole.
Seeing who was outside, he opened the door.
Standing in front of him was Melanie Chase, the Secret Service agent he had met the day before.
"Good morning, Mr. Cooper." She said with a professional smile, "May I come in?"
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