Hearing that Darian wanted him to be a lackey, The Penguin was naturally unwilling.
He was, after all, a prominent overlord in the Gotham City underworld.
Giving up a perfectly good position as a boss to work as a lowly employee for someone else—if word of this got out, where would he put his face? He wouldn't even have the nerve to look his peers in the eye when greeting them in the future.
The Penguin took a deep breath, trying to figure out how to refuse without offending the other party.
However, before he could speak, Darian suddenly pulled out a tablet, tapped the screen twice with his fingertip, and handed it directly in front of him.
"These are the company's future projects. Take a look first."
The Penguin took it with some suspicion, lowered his head to glance at it, and instantly froze.
His small eyes widened, his fingers began to swipe frantically across the screen, flipping through faster and faster, and his breathing became heavier and heavier.
After flipping through it for several minutes, he suddenly looked up, his eyes fixed on Darian, filled with disbelief.
"Officer Darian, are the projects on here... all real?"
"Of course."
Darian nodded calmly and picked up his wine glass for a sip. The taste was average; not as good as Pepsi.
The Penguin swallowed, his Adam's apple bobbing hard.
Although he came from a gang background, his business acumen was sharp. He could tell at a glance just how terrifying the commercial potential of these projects was.
It was no exaggeration to say that if he successfully executed just one of them, he could create several billionaires in America.
Compared to these projects, his shady businesses were simply not worth mentioning.
Don't think that just because illicit trades make money fast, they are actually that profitable.
When it came to efficiency in making money, he couldn't even catch up to those capital giants if he tried.
Take Wayne Enterprises for example—the black-hearted money he had scraped together over the years by working day and night probably couldn't even match a fraction of Bruce Wayne's pocket change.
Seeing such huge profits laid out before him, it would be a lie to say he wasn't moved.
The Penguin signaled for the long-legged women beside him to withdraw with his eyes, and Darian didn't stop them. Once everyone had left, only the two of them remained in the hall.
The Penguin leaned forward and asked tentatively, "Officer Darian, excuse my presumption, but where did you get these projects?"
If it had been Bruce Wayne who brought out these projects, he could understand it; Wayne Enterprises was a massive conglomerate, and it wouldn't be strange for them to have any kind of technology. But Darian was just a Gotham City police officer; why would he have these things?
Darian didn't answer immediately. A faint light flashed around his body, and the silver-blue ultron armor instantly covered him, leaving only his head exposed. "What do you think?"
The Penguin: ∑ (°A°)
News about Omni-Man had already been everywhere. Even someone who had just been released from Arkham Asylum had heard of Omni-Man's terrifying combat record.
First, he took down the alien army that invaded Earth, and later, even the legendary Angel and demons died at his hands. The absurdity of it sounded like fake news made up by someone.
The Penguin had seen the image of Omni-Man on the news, and that ultron armor of his was exactly the same as the one Darian was wearing now.
He never dreamed that the Darian in front of him was actually Omni-Man himself. It was just as ridiculous as hearing that Bruce Wayne was Batman.
The Penguin originally thought that Darian single-handedly slaughtering half of Arkham Asylum was already very exaggerated. Now it seemed Darian had been restrained; if he had really let loose, he feared not a single prisoner in Arkham Asylum would have escaped.
Thump!
The next second, The Penguin slid to his knees on the spot, his movements as smooth as if he had rehearsed them.
"Officer Darian... ah, no, Boss, I, Oswald Cobblepot, will be at your beck and call from now on!"
The Penguin didn't hesitate for a second; any delay would be disrespectful to his own future.
Unlike those peers who were obsessed with causing trouble, his thoughts were very simple: he only wanted money and power.
The business projects Darian had brought out were far more profitable than his current illegal businesses. More importantly, these were legitimate businesses, and the money earned would be clean and legally protected, with no need to worry about being investigated.
As for power, it went without saying. In front of Darian, this Omni-Man, any status or position was empty; even the President of America was just a nobody on the roadside.
With this super thigh to hug, who would dare to provoke him in the future?
Darian was not surprised by The Penguin's instant kneeling. As long as one had power and influence, and provided enough benefits, recruiting him as a lackey was not difficult at all.
It was just that Bruce looked down on The Penguin; otherwise, with the financial resources of Wayne Enterprises and the identity of Batman, if he asked The Penguin to be his Robin, he probably wouldn't refuse—it would just be a bit of an eyesore.
Darian smiled and raised his hand. He originally wanted to pat The Penguin on the shoulder, but the other party was so short after kneeling that he couldn't reach his shoulder even while sitting, so he let it land on his head instead.
"Then I'll leave the company affairs to you to manage. As for those crappy, unprofitable, high-risk businesses of yours, shut them down quickly, lest that Bat-boy keeps staring at you all day and beats you up and throws you into Arkham at the slightest excuse."
"Understood." The Penguin nodded quickly.
The thought of going straight became even firmer in his mind. After he changed his profession, that persistent Batman would have no reason to beat him up randomly anymore.
The Penguin thought for a moment, looked up, and asked: "Boss, which project should we push forward first?"
Darian thought for two seconds: "Let's make games first; I'm personally more interested in that."
"Games?" The Penguin looked hesitant: "Boss, forgive my bluntness, but games are all one-off deals. If the price is too high, no one will buy them; if the price is too low, the profit margin is thin. They shouldn't make much money, right?"
He never touched games and had no concept of the industry. In his view, games were just toys for ordinary young people to pass the time. Each sale was just one sale; they couldn't be repurchased continuously like daily necessities, so the profit was really limited.
Darian chuckled: "Who said we have to rely on selling games to make money? All the games we make will be free."
The Penguin was stunned on the spot: "How do we make money if it's free?"
"You don't understand this, do you? The free stuff is actually the most expensive."
Darian explained slowly: "First, use a zero-threshold entry to pull all the players in. Once the user Base is large enough, open in-game purchases and let the players spend money crazily—for example, selling skins, skill effects, or even items that increase combat power."
He rambled on about a whole bunch of tricks used by game companies in the real World. In a nutshell: We create games with heart, and players create happiness with money.
The Penguin listened, dumbfounded. Who knew the small gaming industry hid so many twists and turns?
The gaming industry in this World was still in its development stage, and Darian's free-to-play plus in-app purchase model was simply a dimensional strike.
The Penguin's brain turned extremely fast. He instantly smelled the astonishing profit space within it, and the more he thought about it, the brighter his eyes became.
He was very familiar with this model. First, let you taste the sweetness for free; once you're addicted, charge you; and finally, squeeze you dry. How was this fundamentally different from him selling ice?
No wonder games were nicknamed electronic heroin; didn't this hit right into his area of expertise? Being a cyber drug lord actually seemed quite exciting.
Thinking about it this way, The Penguin's resistance to games vanished, and instead, he became enthusiastic.
"Boss, I have an idea." In his comfort zone, The Penguin's brain became exceptionally active, and he said excitedly: "How about we bind all games into the same account system? Accounts can add friends to each other, and we can pair it with a membership level system. The money players charge can be exchanged for exclusive virtual currency, and the recharge amount directly corresponds to the membership level. The higher the level, the more benefits and privileges in the game."
"This way, players not only compete in the game, but their account levels can also be compared. Once the urge to compete arises, the motivation to spend money will be even greater. I've already thought of a name for this virtual currency—let's call it Penguin Coin; it matches our company name perfectly!"
Darian: "..." As expected of someone from the underworld; his heart is truly black.
"Just do as you see fit." Seeing The Penguin so full of energy, Darian was instantly relieved and simply let him go and tinker with it.
"Since you've become my lackey, I won't treat you badly." Darian took out that bottle of shortys joy and tossed it over casually: "This is a gift for you. Just drink it."
"Thank you, Boss!" The Penguin was both surprised and delighted, quickly leaning forward to catch it steadily with both hands. He didn't hesitate, impatiently unscrewed the cap, and drank it all in one go.
Not two seconds later, a sour, swollen sensation spread from the bones of his limbs, followed by a dull pain that drilled through his whole body.
"Ahhh!" The Penguin let out a painful scream, his legs went weak, and he collapsed to the ground. The bones all over his body made a series of delicate, crisp sounds, and his body slowly stretched and lengthened to a visible degree.
After a full five minutes, his screams finally stopped. When The Penguin climbed up from the ground, his expensive, custom-made tailcoat was stretched out of shape, two buttons on his jacket had popped off, and his trouser legs had shrunk above his ankles, revealing two sections of his calves.
Clearly, The Penguin had indeed grown a lot taller. It was just a pity that his starting point was what it was; even if he grew ten centimeters taller, he was only 168 centimeters.
But The Penguin didn't care at all. He stumbled to the mirror, looked at himself in the mirror, and his eyes turned red: "I've grown taller, really taller! Now I'm 170 centimeters!"
Darian was very disdainful: "Honestly, you're not honest at all, always rounding up. Can't you learn from me? 1.82 meters is 1.82 meters; I never report myself as 1.85 meters to the outside World."
The Penguin asked in surprise: "Boss, are you that tall?"
"Of course." Darian said with a calm and indifferent face.
He didn't explain that this was his height with shoes on, and his shoes were three centimeters high. Anyway, The Penguin didn't ask, so there was no need for him to say.
The Penguin's executive ability was indeed remarkable. Not long after, a game company named Penguin was registered and established in Gotham City.
With the help of Ultron, the super artificial intelligence, Penguin Company launched its first work at light speed—a large-scale multiplayer online game with a Superheroes theme, clearly riding the wave of the current Superheroes trend.
The game's graphics were quite fine, the gameplay was unique, and more importantly, it was permanently free. Once the news came out, the entire gaming circle exploded.
Immediately after, Penguin Company threw another bombshell: the game would officially include the images of The Seven to appear in the game, and they had already obtained the official authorization from the creator of The Seven, Omni-Man himself.
Now, not only were the gamers crazy, but the fans of The Seven were also boiling over. Major media headlines scrambled to report it, and the game had accumulated a huge number of pre-orders before it was even launched.
Bruce specifically asked Darian what the hell he was doing because of this. Darian told him with a righteous face that all of this was for the long-term development of The Seven.
Using games to promote the positive image of The Seven, making the public trust them more, and at the same time earning operating funds for The Seven, hoping to build their own space Base for The Seven outside of Earth as soon as possible.
After all, in DC comics, Justice League has a space Base, so how could his The Seven lack this kind of prestige?
Bruce felt that Darian must be harboring some bad intentions, but he couldn't stop the other members of The Seven, who had already been successfully persuaded by Darian and all expressed their willingness to hand over their portrait rights to Darian.
Looking at this group of teammates who were sold and still helped count the money, Bruce sighed, indicating that he couldn't lead them at all, and then turned his head to continue fishing for information from Diana and Arthur, collecting intelligence to constantly modify his coping plans.
During this time, Darian hadn't been idle either. Although the number of demons in the human World had indeed plummeted after Mammon's plan was declared a failure, there were still sporadic evil spirit incidents popping up every few days.
The Ultron Robot was in the church, listening to people's confessions while incidentally taking on exorcism commissions for Darian, although the mission rewards were very small.
It was a pity that Darian and Constantine had a falling out; otherwise, he could have just dumped all these trivial commissions onto Constantine to run errands.
Darian had tried to look for replacements, but found that professionals who understood this line of work were even scarcer than giant pandas. Unable to find a suitable candidate for the time being, he had to go into battle himself.
His way of handling commissions was extremely simple and crude. If he was in a good mood, he would follow the process, recite a spell, and then exorcise it; if he was in a bad mood, he would even skip the lines and just burn it with Hellfire, leaving not even ashes behind.
Over time, many demons in Hell came to know this scourge, so much so that later, as soon as demons saw Darian, they would scramble and crawl back to Hell as if they had seen a ghost.
This kind of day didn't last long before an emergency communication from Bruce suddenly came in.
"Something happened. Not long ago, a terrorist attack occurred underneath the subway in Midway City. According to witness descriptions, the attacker was not an ordinary human, but a creature with obvious non-human characteristics. The casualty figures at the scene are still being counted, but it has been confirmed that at least dozens of citizens have died."
"According to my investigation, this is very likely related to a member under Amanda Waller."
Darian checked the intelligence sent by Bruce. It was about a woman named June Moone, who was an archaeologist and a professional at getting into trouble.
The intelligence showed that June Moone's body was possessed by an ancient soul named Enchantress.
Later, Amanda Waller found the heart of this ancient soul somewhere, and whenever the other party disobeyed, she would electrocute the heart to control Enchantress to work for her.
Good grief, why does this scene look a little familiar?
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