Chapter 5: Save
Generally speaking, Marcus Zhao Di believed that no one is born evil. Perhaps there are exceptions to this rule in the world, but Victor Fries was not one of them.
He was originally a genius cryogenic scientist, a soulmate to his wife. However, as Drake had mentioned earlier, his wife had contracted a terminal illness for which there was no effective cure anywhere in the world.
Victor was an indomitable genius and a devoted husband. Instead of succumbing to despair, he began researching his wife’s condition in hopes of finding a treatment.
But his wife’s illness was already severe, with little time left. Using his intellect and knowledge, Victor created a high-tech cryogenic device to freeze her life functions, essentially pausing her condition and buying time for his research.
Yet, as dark as Gotham itself, no beautiful story here escapes tragedy. One day, the company funding Victor’s research sought to terminate the experiment for profit reasons, leading to a fierce conflict with Victor.
This confrontation caused a gas leak from the cryogenic device, resulting in a catastrophic accident. Miraculously, Victor survived but the accident altered his cellular structure. His entire body became cold-blooded; his body temperature had to be maintained below zero at all times to survive. Exposure to normal room temperature would be fatal.
He engineered a set of cryogenic armor and various freezing weapons for himself and began exacting brutal revenge on everyone involved in the accident. From then on, Gotham gained a tragic supervillain, losing a brilliant cryogenic scientist.
He continued to keep his wife frozen, relentlessly pursuing a cure, funding his efforts through robbery and other means. He still lived in Gotham, and despite everything, was considered a relatively low-threat villain.
******
The scene shifts back.
Marcus sighed. “Do you have any grudge against the doctor who gave you that advice?”
“No... why do you ask?”
Marcus was certain that Drake had just seriously pondered the relationship between himself and that doctor.
“Do you know what happened to Victor Fries now?”
“I heard after an experimental accident, he and his wife disappeared.”
Thankfully, Marcus hadn’t yet come into contact with Mr. Freeze. Otherwise, he’d seriously start preparing to run.
******
“What are you going to do?”
“I don’t know. I finally settled down here with my wife, but now I’ve lost all hope.”
Drake held his head, nearly breaking down as he muttered, “I don’t know, I don’t know... I just want to rob some money today so I can pay next month’s medical bills...”
He slumped on the rooftop, suddenly breaking down into tears and furious curses. “And then I fucking ran into you! I actually believed your bullshit, thought you could help me, even brought you home! I’m an idiot, I can’t save her, I’m a fucking useless idiot... sob sob...”
Marcus didn’t stop him. He had been suppressing despair and pressure for too long; letting it out through tears was good for his mental state.
Marcus pulled over another iron chair, wiped the water off it, and sat down, mimicking Drake. The biting cold penetrated his skin, sending a slight sting deep within.
Staring at the distant blurry city lights, Marcus sighed softly in the darkness.
A thin rope breaks at its weakest point; misfortune always finds the unfortunate.
******
“Click.”
The rusty iron door’s lock turned, and it creaked harshly as it opened.
“Drake?”
Slow footsteps sounded, weak and unhurried.
“Camilla, I’m back.”
Marcus and Drake entered the room, seeing a gaunt, bald woman emerge from inside. She looked very weak, needing to lean on the wall to walk, her spirit bleak and weary. Upon seeing Marcus, she seemed quite surprised, but after Drake introduced him, she gave Marcus a gentle smile.
Her smile was kind and soft. Though her body was frail to the point of skin and bones, and her face pale and bloodless, her expression still bore traces of the sunny woman she once was.
******
Judging by her appearance, Marcus estimated she had no more than three months left—maybe less. Though he wasn’t trained in medicine, anyone seeing her would recognize a life nearing its end.
The room was not as dirty or messy as Marcus had imagined. Drake had kept it clean. Though the furniture and decor left by the previous tenant were old, they were still usable. The couple seemed accustomed to living here, showing no disdain for the rental in words or actions.
While Marcus was observing, Mrs. Camilla slowly pulled a handgun from behind her back, then returned it to a drawer in her room.
Clearly, if it hadn’t been Drake who opened the door, the barrel would likely have been pressed against the intruder’s head first.
Marcus relaxed a few seconds after seeing the gun. After all, this was Gotham—the slums—where not carrying a gun at home or outside would be the true anomaly.
That made Marcus wonder: was the gun Drake carried real?
The thought crossed his mind just as he saw Drake enter his bedroom, take out the pistol used in the robbery, combine it with a magazine from his pocket, and place both into the drawer.
Well, at least it was a real gun, but when the barrel had been pressed to his head, the gun didn’t have a magazine.
No, thinking about it carefully, it was still infuriating.
Marcus glanced at his own inventory in the marketplace. His newly purchased save point remained unused. If he had been shot in this state, his isekai bootstrapping legend would have ended completely.
He thought for a moment and immediately used the save point here in the small house.
“Save point successfully used. This save point has twenty loads available, with unlimited duration. When entering near-death status, you may choose to load this save point or forgo the load.”
“Please note, a maximum of five save points can exist simultaneously and can be canceled at any time.”
“Please note, you may use funds to relocate the save point’s spatiotemporal coordinates or recall it.”