Before entering the Boom Tube, Baia asked the system, "Will you be discovered?"
System: No.
Baia: "Are you that confident?"
The system was extremely proud: "Yes, I am that confident. Do you know what a blind spot in knowledge is? There has never been anything like me in this world."
Baia: "Alright, stop showing off. I want to upgrade my skills so that Bruce's measurements can be more accurate."
System: "...You really hold nothing back."
In the previous missions, she happened to gain 35 skill points, which theoretically would allow her to upgrade Goldfinch and Angel's Song seamlessly. However, this also meant that Baia couldn't exchange things from the mall anymore. Some of them seemed useful, but overall, the mall wasn't particularly serious.
[Teleportation Card]: Used to become any pass you can think of.
[Silver Briefcase]: Used to store some animals.
[Three Silver-Plated Teaspoons]: Used to turn directly touched liquid into black tea, oolong tea, and milk.
[C-137's Mission Delivery Box]: Summons a Mr. Delivery to fulfill relatively simple wishes for you.
[Black Suited Civil Servant's Pink Fairy Wand]: Used to erase recent memories of the target.
Now let's look at the upgrade effects.
[Dew of the Moon]: Causes friendly targets to recover 0.2% of their health per minute, lasting 300 minutes.
Rounded up to 5 hours, it restores 60% of health. It's not an immediate combat skill, but it means that in most cases, she only needs to hang it on her patient to heal most damage.
[Angel's Song]: When sung, it continuously restores health to the target. The target's health restores 16% every 5 minutes and can repair old injuries caused by external forces, such as scars, severed limbs, etc.
It becomes effective after singing and becomes a so-called backward progress bar, meaning it takes effect immediately when sung. But Baia's interest wasn't that great. If she could complete the mission of the Heart Like Winter, she wouldn't lack this bit of healing. However, the new description caught her attention.
Baia: "This means... um, it repairs the upper limit of health?"
System: That's right!
It didn't seem very useful in the short term. After considering it for a while, Baia gave up the idea of immediately upgrading Angel's Song.
Baia upgraded Dew of the Moon and used the skill card to upgrade the [Cat's Dance Steps] skill, making it impossible for anyone to find her. However, there were still restrictions such as "cannot use skills," "non-combat status," and "organic beings."
The trip to the Watchtower was not as memorable as Baia imagined. There were no Superman or Wonder Woman. When the Earth was safe, everyone had their own lives to live. Today's duty was taken over by the Martian Manhunter Ron Ronz, who nodded to Batman and Baia as they emerged from the Boom Tube.
The techy hall and the complete glass wall were breathtaking, with the pitch-black background of space dotted with twinkling stars, and the Earth in the center of the field of view was quiet and beautiful.
Baia stood there for a moment, with Batman behind her. "Superman also likes it here."
"Isn't he able to overlook the Earth at any time?" Baia tilted her head.
"It means something different here," Bruce's voice was low and gentle when he looked towards the Earth. "This is the Watchtower, we are the Justice League."
This is where the guardians watch over their most cherished world.
Batman brought Baia here mainly to borrow the detection equipment and to see someone. The sorceress Zatanna Zatara used to be childhood friends with Bruce. However, some of her decisions eventually led to a rupture of trust between them, and repairing relationships was not Bruce's strong suit.
And he wasn't planning on doing so.
A series of detection devices showed that Baia was definitely a human, which meant that Tim's speculation was wrong. But she could understand alien languages, which at least meant that Prisoner Zero hadn't lied completely.
According to Zatanna, Baia's abilities were not magic, and the mutant ability suppression device was also ineffective against her.
Batman wasn't entirely clueless, as there were supers like Steel, Green Lantern, and Blue Beetle—though they hadn't yet figured out what they had been selected for. But this trip wasn't without its rewards; at least Bruce now had a relatively comprehensive understanding of Baia's abilities.
The black-haired girl peeked outside, and Batman immediately spotted her. She blinked at him, meaning she was a bit bored. After all, Bruce deliberately chose a day with few people to bring her here, and Baia had hardly seen any well-known superheroes.
The Martian Manhunter was taller and more imposing than Baia had imagined, and she didn't dare to approach him, but he was very friendly to Baia.
As they were leaving, Baia wasn't very willing. She looked around, hinting to Bruce to stay a little longer at the Watchtower, but Batman, in his usual mode, remained unmoved.
Just as they left, Baia's phone buzzed lightly.
It was a text from Tim.
"I've sorted out your little plan, but are you sure you don't want to talk to Bruce about your bold ideas? :D"
"If I'm sure they can be realized, then it might be better to talk about it, right?"
Baia replied.
Soon, she received a confirming emoji.
A few days later, Gotham was covered in snow.
Silver flakes floated silently in the air, blanketing the ancient Gothic houses with snow, and icicles draped the buildings. Shops were adorned with countless colored lights, ribbons, fresh Christmas trees, and apples, and red, white, and green Christmas banners hung everywhere.
The city of sin occasionally had moments of tranquility.
With less than a week left, Baia hoped to complete the Heart Like Winter mission before Christmas, which would be a miracle.
She exhaled a breath, and a white mist immediately rose, but the girl wearing a white rabbit fur scarf didn't feel cold. Next to her, the boy and the big dog seemed to be in a different season. Tim's coat was a relatively thin suede windbreaker, looking very casual, and Ace was kept warm by his short fur.
"Aren't you cold?" Baia doubted.
Tim smiled, "I think some people really need to exercise."
He couldn't wear a down jacket on patrol, but Baia had wrapped herself up like a round bird ball.
Tim held Ace's leash loosely with one hand and a cup of hot Americano from a street vendor in the other. Of course, the taste was far inferior to the freshly ground coffee at Wayne Manor, but it had a very homely taste. Tim bought Baia a bag of candy canes, but Baia said she was too old for such sweets and asked him to take them back to feed Damian.
They together chose Christmas gifts for the Green family, and Tim fulfilled his promise to Baia to walk the dog together, although they didn't go to the park. Baia suggested they should just pick out a Christmas tree directly, but Tim told her that every year the Christmas trees at Wayne Manor were brought in by aliens.
Literally brought in by aliens.
Baia found that her old apartment was being renovated, and she didn't know who the new tenants would be.
On the street corner, she saw a familiar figure.
A haggard Polly.
Baia hesitated for a moment, then grabbed Tim's sleeve and turned away.
"Doctor!" Polly also saw her.
Baia could only stop, looking at the haggard woman. "What do you want?"
Polly was pregnant, her belly protruding, but her body was so thin that she looked almost emaciated. In those tired eyes, there was no hope for life.
Seeing such a person, Baia just felt depressed, unable to muster any thoughts of anger.
What could she do to retaliate against her? Polly's life script was already so painful and bleak.
"This is a messed up life," she suddenly remembered Holly's words.
"Nothing... I'm sorry... I'm waiting here, just hoping you're okay." Tears welled up in Polly's eyes as she looked at Baia's lifeless eyes. "I'm really sorry."
Baia asked, "How's Jose?"
Polly was silent for a moment. "He suffered severe frostbite... had to be amputated, I'm taking care of him."
"Oh," Baia said dryly, "I wish you both well."
There was nothing to forgive or not forgive. Baia didn't want to think about it too much.
Tim said, "Let's leave Gotham. Wayne Enterprises will send you two boat tickets."
Polly glanced at Tim in confusion, then looked at Baia, who was hanging her head. She had been tugging at Tim's sleeve since just now, wanting to pull him away, and then she nodded.
"Let's go!"
"Why act like an ostrich?" Tim said, "Do you hate them for that?"
Baia kicked a pebble on the ground. "What's there to hate? I'm living well now. When I'm happy, I ride an Aston Martin, and when I'm not, I ride a Lamborghini. And CEO Drake accompanies me shopping. They have nothing."
Tim asked, "Want a candy cane?"
"No!"
The two of them swayed for a while and arrived at the Green family's doorstep.
Mr. Green's surprise at Baia's return was not unexpected. The silver-haired old man pushed up his glasses. "Come in quickly, it's cold outside. You're not going to tell me you're ready already, are you?"
"That's right." Baia nodded as she nibbled on the candy cane.
He squinted at Baia for a moment, then turned his gaze to Tim, who was smiling confidently beside her. "Brought a helper, huh?"
"Not really," Baia glanced at Tim. "I guess I won't need to cheat."
Mrs. Brentree's cooking skills were quite good, but she was getting forgetful lately, often standing in the kitchen with a spatula in hand, lost in thought. Eventually, her husband would take over and finish cooking the lunch. Mr. Green skillfully took the spatula from Mrs. Brentree and finished frying the fish for her.
Surprisingly, Ace shamelessly followed the two old people into the kitchen and even got a whole strip of raw beef as a snack.
Baia propped her chin on her hand and looked at Mrs. Brentree, who looked a little embarrassed, feeling a bit uneasy.
"Is there really no solution?" Baia looked at the wall full of literary books in the house, with many of them being works by Mrs. Brentree from her youth, including editorials, novels, essays, and poetry collections. She asked the system, "When Mrs. Brentree was still Miss Brentree, she must have been a remarkably talented lady."
System: Maybe when she's awake now, she's still a remarkably talented old lady.
Baia sighed with worry. "I hope she can stay that way."
Anyway, Baia definitely couldn't cure such a complex disease like Alzheimer's disease right now.
While Mr. Green went to the kitchen to help, Tim took the opportunity to help Baia review a few points, but Baia had a good grasp of them, answering fluently and offering her own opinions.
When Mr. Green came out, he happened to see the teenagers whispering to each other.
At the dinner table, they had a small debate. Mr. Green only became especially critical during these times, although his questions were relentless and somewhat intimidating. Despite stumbling a few times along the way, Baia overall managed to satisfy the old man.
Leaning back in his chair, Tim simply watched quietly. He wouldn't interject casually, otherwise the girl's efforts would be meaningless.
"Very good. Although I don't understand why you're so persistent about Nora's matter—there are too many patients in this world who need to be saved," Mr. Green finally admitted to her, "but I will do what I can."
They arranged a time, and Baia bid farewell to the Greens with a heavy heart.
Mr. Green sat down leisurely, opened the phone book, and dialed one number after another. Although his students preferred to communicate by email, no one dared not to answer his calls.
Three days later, Gotham Hospital would have a gathering of big names.