Marvel: God-Tier Talent—Infinite Critical Strikes!

”That’s only natural. I’ve heard Gotham City is infamous. Criminals are everywhere, so hiding one person there would be easy!” Princess Diana cut off her assistant again and continued ranting.

”Uh... yes...” The female assistant thought for a moment before stammering, ”Since Your Highness already understands that much, then what happened next should be well within your expectations... Just a few days ago, one of the ancient Greek artifact exhibitions under your name was robbed as well...”

Wonder Woman, who had initially looked perfectly relaxed, jolted upright at those words and cried out in shock.

”What? My exhibits were stolen?”

”That’s right. Aside from the large sculptures, all the smaller paintings and scrolls were taken... But just as you said, this is Gotham City. With law and order here being what it is, I don’t think there’s any need to be too anxious...”

Before she could finish, an enraged roar erupted from inside the car, loud enough to be heard from far away.

”Gods damn those thieves! My ancient Greek artworks!”

At that moment, Karl obviously had no idea that one of the DC Trinity had just arrived in Gotham City.

Right now, all his attention was focused on preparing the casting campaign for his talent show.

”Since this is our company’s own program, if we’re lowering the barrier to entry, then we also need to bar performers who have already debuted. Otherwise, we’d just be giving free publicity to other companies and helping their artists maintain their popularity. That would be unfair to unknown contestants and a complete waste of our time!”

The Riddler rubbed his eyes as he spoke.

He no longer had the leisure to play guessing games with anyone. This self-proclaimed genius had practically become the only strategist at Karl’s side, and every matter seemed to require his input.

Karl nodded, but quickly added,

”Our company doesn’t have enough name recognition yet, so we can’t completely ban professional performers. After all, those people can bring publicity and attention with them. Let’s do this instead: anyone who’s already signed to an agency is barred from competing, but unsigned performers are eligible. And the champion can sign with our company afterward!”

Karl made this rule because he remembered a talent competition from his previous life where plenty of overhyped veteran singers had repeatedly stumbled on the same stage.

That was why he decided to leave the door open. Perhaps he could find a few suitable talents among them and bring them into his own media company.

”This way, more people can enter while the show still maintains a certain level of competition. That’s the overall framework. Base the full-scale promotional campaign on this. I want our advertisements all over Gotham City by tomorrow!”

At that point, the Riddler looked up and asked,

”Then we need a name for this talent show, right? These are the names we came up with. Pick one.”

As he spoke, he pushed a stack of cards in front of Karl.

They were covered with all kinds of proposed names, such as Miracle Showcase, Heir to the Bat, and many others.

Karl looked through them for a while before pulling one card from the stack and placing it on the table.

”Let’s use this one.”

The Riddler picked up the card.

Printed across it in large letters were the words:

I Am a Legend!

Night descended over Gotham City.

As always, darkness concealed the city’s ugliness, while neon lights dressed every corner in color, making the entire city look deceptively lively.

Diana—Wonder Woman—moved across Gotham’s rooftops like a cat.

She was no longer wearing the clothes she had worn during the day. Instead, she had changed into her battle armor. Her expression was fierce, and she looked as though she could barely wait to catch someone and start a fight.

Diana had not come to Gotham City empty-handed.

She had entered the city openly under the cover of holding an art exhibition. Part of the reason was to conceal her true identity, while another part was to advance her research into ancient Greek art.

The initial press event had been extremely successful.

Several prominent figures in Gotham City had expressed a willingness to fund Diana’s research, while her private art collection had also been warmly received. Some of the pieces had even earned considerable praise at Gotham auctions.

But things had barely begun before her plans suffered a brutal blow.

Her most valuable pieces had all been stolen, leaving scarcely more than scraps behind.

If those sculptures had not been so enormous, she might not even have had those left.

As for finding one thief in a city populated by millions...

That was unquestionably a difficult problem.

From Wonder Woman’s perspective, anyone capable of bypassing every layer of museum surveillance, slipping inside without making a sound, carefully packing away all the artifacts, and leaving without even triggering an alarm had to be a seasoned professional.

An ordinary petty thief could never accomplish something like that.

And someone that skilled—someone bold enough to pull off a theft like this—was unlikely to disappear forever.

There was every chance the thief would choose the same victim and strike again.

After reaching that conclusion, Diana stopped hesitating.

She returned to her true role, armed herself with a sword and shield, and took to the streets.

She intended to capture the thief with her own strength and deliver justice according to her own understanding of it.

Even so, the countless surveillance cameras scattered throughout every corner of Gotham City had no trouble spotting a shadow moving across the city.

When Wonder Woman’s figure flashed across Gotham’s rooftops, the cameras quickly captured her.

After all, Diana was not a Gotham native.

She was far too conspicuous and direct to spend her time worrying about cameras hidden away in inconspicuous corners.

At that moment, inside the monitoring room of the Gotham City Police Department, an operator sat bored at his desk, staring at the surveillance screens.

Normally, an assignment like this would have been handled halfheartedly.

But under Constantine’s relentless pressure, they had no choice but to give it one hundred and twenty percent of their attention. Red-eyed from exhaustion, they stared at the dense wall of screens, trying to find the supposedly sexy female cat burglar they had been told to look for.

”I can’t take this anymore! Gotham City may be weird, but there’s no way some gorgeous woman is really running around stealing things in the middle of the night! If someone looked that good, wouldn’t it be easier to make quick cash at one of Gotham’s strip clubs?” one officer complained. ”This sounds less like police work and more like somebody’s fetish. Where the hell did he even get this idea?”

”No, this is just torture!” another officer cut in. ”That bastard Constantine, acting on behalf of the new commissioner, is just making our lives miserable! ...Wait. What the hell is that?”

Just as the two of them were complaining, Diana suddenly appeared on one of the screens.

The image froze on her figure.

She wore ancient Greek-style armor, her tall, lithe form shooting past the camera like a warrior.

”Hah! What are the odds? I can’t believe we actually found her just like that!” one of the officers exclaimed in surprise.

”But... this woman is way too imposing. She looks more like a warrior than a cat burglar... And she’s different from the woman in the video Constantine showed us before,” one officer said uncertainly.

”Who cares? That sly bastard only told us to look for a sexy woman moving across the rooftops. He never said anything about her attitude or appearance beyond that,” the other officer replied dismissively. ”Just find someone who fits well enough and dump the problem on him. Don’t you want an easier assignment?”

With that, he sent the information directly to Constantine’s phone.

(End of Chapter)

[100 Power Stones = 1 Extra Chapter]

[Check out my Patreon to read 20+ chapters ahead]

[[email protected]/Zukooo]

[Thanks for your support!]