If you were trying to get through a very difficult game and couldn't make any progress, suddenly, a guidebook is handed to you. It's detailed, logical, not only with rich illustrations but also with emphasis on key points. What would you do at this moment?
Perhaps many people appear resistant, but ultimately they would still welcome it. Even hardcore players, after denying the guidebook, might regret not glancing at the guide when tortured by extremely difficult levels.
Savage chose Gotham as his base on the East Coast, which was already opting for a hell difficulty instance. His strategy was to win over ordinary people and villains in Central City to spy for him, which is the hardest way to play in a hell difficulty instance.
Not everyone is a masochistic hardcore player. Most people still prefer games with moderate difficulty, leveling up step by step. Yet Savage with his outrageous pride, he prefers to skyrocket and looks forward to having a cheat, which would let him rule the Earth immediately.
Through his tireless efforts, he got this lantern in his hands. But it's far from enough. He must conquer the city which has made him fail several times before.
If there's one area the still naive Batman can compare with the later, mature Batman, it is undoubtedly in planning.
Before he officially debuted as Batman, he had already devised many plans. He targeted various dangerous figures in Gotham City, repeatedly investigated them, collected their weaknesses, listing them all. He crafted plan after plan, preparing for his career as a hero.
Looking at these plans, Savage thought, the one who designed this must be a strategic master. These plans interlock with each other with rigorous logic and strong feasibility, rather than pie in the sky.
But what he didn't know was that the person who came up with this plan was only 18 years old in 1987, just a freshman in college.
What was Gotham like three years ago? Even the residents of Gotham were somewhat hazy in their memories. Three years is actually a short time, but it was long for them because so many earth-shattering changes have occurred.
But Savage, who had only been here for a few months, hadn't witnessed the rapid changes in a mere three years. And from the surface, the city didn't look any better.
The phenomena mentioned in the plan book still exist. Thus, Savage naturally thought it was an excellent game walkthrough strategy. As long as he could use these plans, he could conquer Gotham.
In a suite of a high-end hotel in Gotham, a stack of papers on the office desk by the window fluttered gently with the breeze outside the window.
Soon a piece of paper floated out and was caught mid-air by a rough big hand. He pinned it to the felt board at the back of the computer with a nail.
On the paper was the portrait of Godfather Falcone, and facing it was Savage squinting his eyes.
The Godfather would be his first target.
The plan book detailed how the Godfather oversaw Gotham. Even Savage had to admit, establishing an effective order in such a chaotic city was as challenging as reaching the sky.
And this elderly man in front of him not only built the order but maintained it for a good 40 years. To this day, he was still the uncrowned king of Gotham.
"I enjoy fighting the fiercest beasts..." Savage's voice rang out. The Pied Piper, lying in bed healing from injuries, saw Savage stare at that piece of paper for a while before he pulled out the nail. Then he crumpled the paper and threw it into the wastebasket.
Outside the window, the traffic of Gotham was continuously flowing, and the most prosperous business center never slept. The lights of the buildings seemed to listen to Savage's lofty words. This should have been the battle horn blown by the Great King from the primitive era.
However, the first problem Savage confronted was that he lacked manpower. A magnificent Great King like him couldn't possibly assassinate Godfather Falcone himself, could he?
On the other hand, Savage knew that in a city like Gotham, it was not difficult to hire a killer. The hard part was finding a killer daring enough to assassinate the Godfather.
Savage figured that all the gangs in Gotham couldn't possibly be unified. Having been emperor of several kingdoms in human history, Savage knew that even a minor court would be divided into dozens of factions. Who was allied with whom, who belonged to what interest group, and who were enemies... He pondered these things every day when he was a king.
He didn't expect Falcone and his Twelve Families to cooperate without squabbling, nor that there would not be any ambitious young men among the Twelve Families wishing to drive this old lion out of his territory.
But he knew he should not act rashly for fear of arousing the enemy's suspicions. He had to know which of the Twelve Families could be swayed and which ones were loyalists. So he wouldn't accidentally pick the wrong person.
From the documents he acquired from the Batcave, there were records of the Twelve Families. After reading them, Savage had a better idea, because he found that the Godfather had a son, and the son was his only child.
The character profiles Batman had showed that Evans Falcone didn't have a good reputation among the Twelve Families. Many people considered him too timid, not ruthless or strict, and not decisive, not cut out for the job.
But this made Savage very happy. Having been an emperor himself, he knew which type of crown prince would be easier to control. He knew what kind of puppet those ambitious ministers preferred to support for power: Evans had all the characteristics of a puppet.
The puppet should neither be too good nor too bad, too firm nor too weak, too extensively self-conscious, nor completely devoid of ideas. Because he must have something he wanted so that he could be gradually bought and controlled.
In the file Batman shared, Evans had just taken over some of the Falcone Family's industries. He wasn't performing well, too eager. From the words alone, Savage could tell that Evans was desperate to prove himself.
This was simply too perfect a candidate. If they could use him to overthrow the Gotham Godfather, then the entire gang system in Gotham would crumble instantly. He would seize the opportunity in the midst of chaos and secure his position, just as he had done before.
The file stated that Evans would often visit the bars under his control. Savage decided to wait for him there.
The addresses of the bars are clearly written. With a lantern that allows free passage, infiltrating the place isn't an issue. The only problem was that when Savage reached the nearby alley, he realized it wasn't a bar at all.
The place was located at the southern edge of the East District. It was a recently developed entertainment street. There should be three bars, two nightclubs, and two casinos on the entire street, just like other entertainment areas, full of neon-signs, lit up all night.
However, when Savage arrived, there was nothing. No signs, no traffic, no hustle and bustle. The entire street was lined with strange buildings.
Savage saw mob hitmen patrolling at the entrance of the buildings. Not wanting to involve himself with such low-level underlings, he directly used the lantern to pass through the walls into the interior of the room. Then…. he was frozen solid.
This grounded warehouse was connected to an underground cold storage, full of row upon row of frozen goods at very low temperatures.
After the icy Gotham incident, Gotham's old sewers were frozen into a natural cold storage, and the mob built various cold storages above ground to store refrigerated goods, taking advantage of the underground ice layer.
But the quality of the underground ice layer varies. During the icy Gotham bomb detonation, Mr. Freeze (Victor)'s technology wasn't as mature as now. He had to sacrifice some of the stability of the freeze to cover the area and improve freezing efficiency.
As a result, the quality of the underground ice layer in some places is very good, and it can continuously transmit low temperatures with little maintenance. However, in some places, it is not so good. In some peripheral areas, even signs of cracking and melting are evident.
Everyone knows, after the development of the logistics industry, the cold chain is the most profitable. These underground ice layers in good condition are hard to come by, you would tear down whatever there was to build a cold storage, wouldn't you?
Never mind the newly emerged entertainment areas with no significant status, even in North Gotham, the mansion of a few mob bosses was torn down in favor of a cold storage after discovering good quality ice layers underneath. The cost of building the mansion was not small, but if a cold storage can be established, an endless large amount of money can be earned, this is a calculation they are clear about.
Nowadays, these are common sights in Gotham, interconnected cold storages spanning several floors above and below ground. Savage knew nothing and dared to teleport in, stepping directly into Mr. Freeze (Victor)'s freezing trap.
Savage quickly activated the power of the lantern and teleported out, but the direction tuned out wrong and he ended up in another cold storage next door. Lucky for him, he managed to teleport out again, but before he could do anything else, he was discovered by the patrolling mob hitmen.
These were all Falcone Family's territories, and Falcone Family never lacked excellent hitmen.
These people were not casual amateur security guards found in little gangs; each of them could rival the top hitmen of big mafias. They were extremely vigilant, leaving no suspicious place unchecked.
The moment Savage appeared on the street corner, gunshots rang, startling the entire street. Savage didn't even manage to see where so many people sprang out from before finding himself surrounded.
Not wanting to inadvertently alert the enemies, he had no choice but to waste more lantern's energy to teleport a great distance to leave that street.
On returning to his hotel suite, Savage didn't feel disheartened but re-examined the file, thinking that perhaps he hadn't found the right place. Thus, he decided to test his luck again tomorrow.
Just as he was about to rest, Falcone Manor was bustling with activity. In front of Alberto was a mob boss dressed in a suit, tremblingly saying:
"... Yes, young master, we found a suspicious person there, but we didn't catch him... "
Looking at Alberto's facial expression, the mob boss spoke with a trembling voice, ".... It wasn't that the brothers didn't do well, that person could teleport, he disappeared with a 'whoosh'...."
Alberto's face was solemn as he looked at the mob boss and said: "Teleported? Did you see him teleport out of Gotham?"
The mob boss shook his head vigorously.
"Since not, then why didn't you go looking for him?" Alberto turned around and paused, then said: "Forget it, a bunch of useless people.... go and get Cobblepot."
"Whoever dares to touch Falcone Family's things... God bless him."