Chapter 7 - A Surprisingly Guessable System
No matter which city in the United States, the gap between rich and poor communities is always evident. Sheriff Gordon may not be corrupt, but his years of hard work in the police department have brought him considerable wealth, as can be seen from the detached house in front of him.
Gordon led Quinn into the house, and the sound of the door opening alarmed the young girl inside.
"Dad, are you back?"
Barbara turned her wheelchair, frowning slightly. Her father was out all night again, and while she understood that police work required him to be on call 24/7, she wished he would at least notify her in advance.
Gordon was like this, always hiding the truth whenever he went on a mission. He didn't want Barbara to worry about his safety, but he didn't realize that this made her even more anxious. If Gordon had told her that he was going out to find his ex, Barbara would probably have been thrilled.
Seeing her father with a strange boy, Barbara opened her mouth in surprise, "Dad, I mentioned remarriage a while ago, but bringing home an illegitimate child seems like a bit too much progress, don't you think?" Gordon glared at his daughter, knowing that Barbara was expressing her disapproval of him not coming home at night, and he couldn't argue back because he was guilty.
Quinn shrank his neck. Gordon's illegitimate son? That identity was a bit dangerous. He didn't want to end up as the Joker's plaything.
"Don't make such jokes, Barbara. Let me introduce you. This is Quinn. He transferred to Gotham from Central City on his own initiative. For some reason, he needs to stay here temporarily for a while. You two young people can chat with each other. I, uh, have to go back to my room to rest." Gordon stretched and went upstairs to sleep, leaving Quinn and Barbara staring at each other.
Seeing Quinn's embarrassment, the knowledgeable Barbara took the initiative to shake hands with him.
"I'm Barbara Gordon. My dad might be a bit out of touch, but don't mind him. I run everything at home. There are two vacant rooms on the third floor. I'll show you."
Barbara turned her wheelchair to face Quinn, then turned her head and winked at him.
"Quick, pack your luggage. It's time for lunch."
Quinn understood what she meant and pushed Barbara up to the third floor.
Barbara had kept the house very clean, and the two guest rooms were spotless. Quinn chose the one with a better view, which would allow him to detect any approaching danger in advance. More importantly, it was far away from Gordon and Barbara's rooms.
For his own secret and the safety of Gordon and Barbara, Quinn decided to keep a sufficient distance from them.
When the luggage was brought into the room, Barbara was watching from outside the door, her big bright eyes full of curiosity. Not many people had been invited into Gordon's house; only a handful of individuals had received such an honor. Not even Barbara's boyfriend, "Nightwing" aka Gotham's ass, had the privilege.
Watching Quinn arrange his belongings, Barbara's eyes stopped on Lake Toya. "Quinn, did you offend someone?" Quinn smiled wryly.
"Yes." In Gotham, he had offended the two local gangs, the foreign magician, and even the person who is following Manaphy.
"That's it," Barbara lowered her eyes. "Is there no other reason?"
According to Barbara's understanding of her father, this reason alone wasn't enough for him to bring Quinn home.
Quinn habitually stroked the bridge of his nose. "Uh, besides that, it's probably because I'm skilled in fighting."
"Can fight," Barbara chewed on this vague phrase carefully. "Can fight" referred to how well you could fight.
Barbara guessed correctly. Gordon truly valued Quinn. No matter how hard Gordon tried, superpower-related crimes were still beyond the reach of ordinary police. Once the case involved superpowers, even Gordon had to turn to Batman for help.
Gordon didn't have any psychological burden over this, but if given a choice, which policeman would want to rely on a "vigilante" like Batman? Every day on TV, people criticized the Gotham police and sought help from superheroes for everything, making them wonder why they needed the police.
On one hand, there was an increasingly severe law and order situation, and on the other hand, there were yearly budget cuts. Gordon was only human, and he might be tired.
After taking a bath, Gordon lay down on the bed. He wasn't worried that Quinn would harm his daughter. If Quinn dared to do so, Barbara would use her fists to show him who had the final say in the family.
God, he was sorry, even an old man like him might not be able to beat his own daughter.
Hea getting old!
It was also during the early hours of this morning that Gordon drank four cups of coffee, but his drowsiness persisted. At that moment, he realized that he was no longer the Sergeant Gordon who could catch criminals alive without sleeping for three days and nights.
The decline of physical function would not yield to personal will. Think about it; Batman's Robin had changed three times, and it was time for Sheriff Gordon to find a successor.
At this time, Quinn came into Gordon's field of vision. Although Batman said he was not enthusiastic about justice, so what? As long as he can keep his duty as a policeman, it will be fine. Moreover, Quinn is still young, and he can correct his crooked thoughts. Besides, Quinn's resume is perfect. Gordon brought Quinn to his home with an observant attitude, but also a little angry.
"You, Batman, don't say hello every time you leave. You can interrogate the hard-working informants, but the young people I like can't do it. You can train that kid Nightwing, but I can't teach a child like a policeman? 'Replace me with someone who can fight, and see if you can leave quietly in the future!"
Gordon had struggled with this for half his life.
And what is Quinn, whom Gordon placed high hopes on, doing now?
He is worrying about food.
Don't get me wrong, Barbara has already given him to eat, and the taste was very good. What worries Quinn is what food to feed Manaphy in front of him.
Quinn asked Manaphy about the food that humans eat, but it refused to eat it. He asked for fruit from Barbara, but Manaphy still shook its head.
(What exactly do you want to eat?)
Manaphy didn't give an answer, and it didn't even know itself, but it said that it was not hungry, and it was still a little full, as if eating air would make it full.
Quinn didn't let Manaphy remove its invisibility because Gordon's home is not absolutely safe. Maybe Gordon won't spy on Quinn's secrets, but Batman will definitely.
Undoubtedly, Batman must have set up a heavy monitoring network in his old partner Gordon's house. If he believe Batman, Quinn's every move after entering Gordon's house fell into his eyes.
In fact, when he was in the police station, Batman considered that Gordon regarded Quinn as his successor, so Batman said, "I won't give him a chance."
Quinn tried hard to recall Manaphy's information.
Manaphy, a water-type magical Pokémon, has an innate telepathy power and can communicate with any Pokémon.
In the world of Pokémon, Manaphy does not have the ability to be invisible. Its invisibility actually uses the moisture in the air to refract light to hide itself.
(Aren't you only able to communicate with Pokémon? Why can you communicate with me with your mind?)
It can't be said that Quinn is actually a humanoid Pokémon, Arceus in human form? Taking a step back, he doesn't have any superpowers.
"Manaphy?"
Manaphy sighed softly, but it didn't know why.
Manaphy's only memory is that after it came out of the egg, it followed its instinct to swim deep into the sea. As a result, the sky poured heavy rain, thunder, and lightning, and a huge vortex appeared on the sea surface. Before Manaphy could react, it was sucked into it.
When it woke up again, it appeared in a strange city. A group of villains wearing masks caught it and locked it in a glass jar. Every day, they pricked it with a thick and long needle to extract the fluid from its body.
Eighty percent of Manaphy's body is water, and there is no such thing as blood.
Finally, the glass jar exploded, and Manaphy ran outside along the water pipe. Seeing Quinn defeating the man chasing it with water, Manaphy felt relieved and followed him all the way.
Quinn remembered that he was possessed by Yaksha at that time. Sure enough, no one hates the gentle Yaksha, not even Pokémon.
"Manaphy~"
(I'm homesick.)
The two tentacles longer than its body drooped, and Manaphy felt dejected. It instinctively wanted to swim to the sea where it was born, but it already knew that this was another world, and the sea had no home for it.
A warm palm pressed against Manaphy's cheek, and its eyes widened in surprise.
Quinn managed to find out the position of Manaphy's head by touch.
(Although I can't see you, I think you must be sad. But it's okay, I'm with you. I won't make you homeless as long as I have a place to stay.)
Tears slipped from the corners of Manaphy's eyes, turned into crystal-clear droplets, and fell to the floor. It then fell into Quinn's arms.
Hugging Manaphy, Quinn's eyes were complicated.
Why is it that he is the only one who can communicate with Manaphy? Abandoning the idealism of "kindness" and "justice," there is only one thing worthy of praise in him.
The system prompt will sound at the right time.
[[Foreign Visitors] series of missions open. The first time you meet a foreign visitor "Manaphy," you get 100 points. Rescued Manaphy from the hands of the mysterious force, and got a chance to "draw directional props".]
The system pop-up window refreshed Quinn's sense of existence, and he clicked on the directional props to obtain it. His consciousness was instantly pulled into the lottery space.
Unlike last time, there is now an extra computer beside the pool.
"This style... haha."
Quinn couldn't help but laugh; his guess was right. So, this is how one can get points for doing good deeds.
Not in a hurry to extract the items, Quinn exited the system space. He hadn't slept all day and night, and he hugged Manaphy, who was also mentally exhausted.
Two souls from another world embraced each other and fell asleep.
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