The next day.
When Anton arrived at work, he saw a crowd of reporters blocking the entrance to The Daily Bugle. He was first startled, then his head started to ache.
"Mr. Anton, do you admit to the claims online?"
"Are you Batman?"
"Batman's global box office has exceeded 600 million, and there was also a real-life Batman who appeared at the Continental Hotel incident in New York not long ago. Is there a connection between the two of you?"
A group of reporters surrounded Anton, who had just gotten out of his car, firing questions at him like a machine gun, as if they wouldn't let him leave until they had drained him dry.
"Everyone, Batman is just a coincidence."
Anton couldn't take it anymore. He stopped, facing the screens thrust in his face, and gave a wry smile. "Bruce Wayne is just a character I created. He doesn't exist in reality. As for why a Batman would appear in reality, I can only assume he agrees with my vision of Batman."
"Then how do you explain Batman taking out those assassins at the Continental Hotel, who were actually after you and The Daily Bugle?"
These reporters weren't afraid of denial; they were afraid of silence.
As long as you spoke, anything was fine.
"And why did Batman appear in San Francisco just as you arrived, and personally delivered the Life Foundation founder, Carlton Drake, to the police..."
"Mr. Anton, can you explain?"
The reporters pressed on.
"It's just a coincidence."
Anton shrugged, "Coincidence is a tricky thing, no matter how you explain it, it's hard to make sense of."
After saying this, he didn't answer any more questions, and it wasn't until he entered The Daily Bugle building that he finally escaped the reporters' inquiries.
Inside The Daily Bugle, Betty saw Anton sweating profusely from dealing with the reporters and couldn't help but jeer, "Anton, this is the most flustered I've ever seen you."
"If you could get me a cup of coffee, I'd be very grateful."
Anton glanced at her, thinking of the reporters at the door, and felt a headache coming on.
He realized he had underestimated Batman's influence.
Currently, in the system space, Batman's fan value had surpassed 14 million.
This was an astonishing number.
Don't forget, he also spent 9.98 million to purchase Batman's main template.
If he converted these 14 million Fan Points into templates for other heroes, he might not be far from his goal of another persona.
And these 14 million Fan Points weren't entirely useless.
At the very least, when he, as Batman, fought against other opponents, both his armor and equipment would suffer damage.
At that point, the Fan Points would be useful again.
Of course, for now, 14 million was more than enough, not to mention that the number was constantly increasing.
"I'd already anticipated that Batman's identity would become an open secret, but I didn't expect it to happen so soon!"
Anton rubbed his temples, pondering for a moment.
Although online opinion now generally considered him to be Batman with an eighty percent probability, at least a portion of people stubbornly refused to believe it.
The best way to deny a fact is to sever the connection between facts.
Currently, the biggest piece of evidence supporting the theory among supporters was the deep connection between Batman and The Daily Bugle.
Secondly, wherever he appeared, Batman appeared as well.
These two facts provided people with room for speculation and reasoning.
To sever the facts, the former was easy; constantly denying it could be attributed to coincidence.
The latter, however, required some effort.
Anton had a sudden flash of inspiration.
He suddenly thought that Jim would be hosting a party in Los Angeles in a few days, and he would definitely be making an appearance under the scrutiny of the media.
If, at the same time, he could get Batman to appear, it would directly sever the fixed connection between himself and Batman.
That way, he could naturally "disassociate" himself from Batman.
But to achieve this effect, he needed to use a "prop," or rather, a special suit of armor.
With his current Justice Points, he could just buy this special suit of armor.
Rubbing his chin, Anton made up his mind.
It was necessary to do this!
Being as high-profile as Tony Stark and declaring himself Iron Man didn't fit Anton's personality.
Anton preferred to stay behind the scenes for the time being.
The "temporary" part was because as his newly established DC Company grew, and with the increasing number of DC heroes appearing, it would become impossible for him, as the head of DC, to remain hidden. He'd be as conspicuous as a firefly in the night.
But at least until he was ready, Anton didn't intend to reveal himself to the public.
Maintaining Batman's identity within a small circle was the best way to avoid trouble.
After all, Anton admitted he wasn't afraid of anything, except for trouble.
It was the end of the workday.
Anton first instructed Betty to check if there were any reporters outside before cautiously leaving the office building, fearing another encirclement by the press.
Some people say that reporters are the only "creatures" in the world more annoying than flies.
An Dong understood this feeling very well.
Soon, when he opened the car door the driver had opened for him and saw the short-haired woman inside, he was stunned for a moment. Then, he calmly sat in the back seat next to her.
"Someone from the High Table?" he asked.
"Yes, I am a judge of the High Table." The short-haired woman introduced herself, "Aisha Kate. You can call me Aisha."
An Dong's tone was calm, but it revealed a hint of impatience, "I hope we can get this sorted out as quickly as possible."
"Of course."
Aisha said, "Regarding that assassination, I offer you the High Table's apologies."
"I thought you were going to cause me trouble. It seems those people on the High Table aren't fools."
Anton raised an eyebrow.
Although he had a vague idea of how things would play out, he was still satisfied with the High Table's attitude.
This at least showed that he hadn't disgraced the name of Batman.
Aisha didn't respond to him, but instead changed the subject. "The purpose of my visit today, besides expressing our apologies, is to present a request."
"A request?"
Anton said calmly, "If it's an unreasonable demand, then you can shut your mouth right now and get out of my car."
Aisha explained, "It's less a demand and more a request, or perhaps, a collaboration."
"What request? How do we collaborate?"
Anton frowned slightly.
It seemed that the High Table was being a little too accommodating.
Although he didn't take the High Table seriously, it was still a top-tier assassin organization with considerable power, ranking high in the underworld.
In Aisha's words, they actually used the word "request," which was clearly not simple.
"We want to ask you to kill someone," Aisha said.
"Who?"
Anton looked surprised: "The High Table itself is a top assassin organization. Someone you can't kill, why would you think I could do it?"
------------------------
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