Rubbing his head, Wayne found it genuinely difficult to come to terms with this.
After only two hours of sleep, he still hadn’t fully recovered.
“So you’re the same?” he asked Thomas in his mind after taking a drink of water.
“I can’t do that. There’s no way I could function on that little sleep. If I’m going to sleep, I need to sleep properly for a while,” Thomas answered bluntly.
There was still quite a difference between Thomas and Bruce.
Especially when it came to Wayne Enterprises—they handled things in completely different ways.
Bruce still made time to deal with some of the company’s affairs, but Thomas had long since abandoned Wayne Enterprises altogether.
The person who had mattered most to Thomas had already fallen in that alley.
Moreover, because Thomas habitually relied on firearms to solve problems, his hand-to-hand combat skills were far inferior to Bruce’s.
Naturally, he couldn’t compare to Bruce in terms of physical conditioning, either.
“Still, I’d suggest taking advantage of this time to train yourself. I don’t know how Bruce managed it, but judging from your current physical condition…”
“If you don’t control your diet and keep training, there’s no way your body will stay at this peak level.”
Although Thomas wasn’t especially knowledgeable in this area, from his perspective, Wayne’s body absolutely had to be maintained properly.
“Any recommendations for workouts or meal plans?” Wayne asked, chatting with Thomas simply because he had nothing better to do.
Even though the old master had always treated criminals the same way the Punisher did, at the very least he could help Wayne understand how to maintain his physical condition.
He had no intention of ending up like Peter Benjamin Parker, who couldn’t even keep himself in shape after hitting a midlife crisis.
“Jogging. Twenty-mile (32-kilometer) runs. Yoga. At night, you’ll also need to train your fighting techniques.”
Thomas rattled off a long list of activities.
But after finishing, he paused and looked around at the surroundings.
“You’re also going to need a large training facility—and a proper place to live.”
“Got it.”
Wayne sighed helplessly.
It wasn’t as though he didn’t want a first-rate place where he could properly train.
If he wanted a location suitable for training—one that could also serve as his own Batcave—Wayne figured he’d probably spend the next half month running around the criminal underworld nonstop.
Even then, he wasn’t sure whether he’d have enough money by the end of it.
For now, all he had to do was wait for something to go wrong on Kingpin’s side.
Once it did, he could use his own skills to transfer everything into his own hands.
It was the simplest and least harmful approach.
As for what would become of Kingpin, Wayne couldn’t care less.
Besides, once everything was over, that guy would end up being handed over to the police by the little Black Spider anyway.
Wayne simply intended to finish everything before the police got there.
“As for the meal plan, we’ll talk about it after you’ve got some money,” Thomas said, having no intention of telling Wayne about it now.
Without reliable access to ingredients, even if he explained every recipe, there was no guarantee Wayne would be able to find what he needed.
By then, Wayne had already changed into athletic clothes and was preparing to head outside for a few laps.
At the moment, it was the most suitable exercise available to him.
Under the pitch-black night sky, probably no one would expect someone to be out jogging at this hour.
Even though New York had already seen a significant decline in ordinary criminals thanks to the presence of all those masked heroes…
The criminals still active now weren’t the sort who dared rob people with nothing more than a handgun.
Anyone still operating in New York these days had their own specialty.
Otherwise, nobody would believe you were a supervillain.
Stepping outside, Wayne stretched his limbs, bringing his body into the best condition possible.
He was actually curious to see what kinds of monsters and freaks came out in New York at night these days.
But now that Spider-Man was dead, even though Wayne had stirred up trouble in Hell’s Kitchen, those supervillains clearly no longer had any interest in working the night shift.
There was no way to lure the little Spider over anymore.
It had to be said—Spider-Man really was everyone’s favorite.
Whether among the heroes…
Or the villains.
It was just like how outsiders who wanted to meet the Bat usually had to have a serious talk with the leaders of Batman’s biggest fan club first.
Only if they were accepted might they get to meet Batman.
But most of the time, those talks never ended in agreement.
Although Wayne’s nighttime jog wasn’t particularly noisy, it still attracted the attention of a certain Spider.
“A midnight jog?”
Watching Wayne run into the distance, Spider-Noir frowned.
After Tombstone had recalled all the lookouts in the surrounding area, Spider-Noir had continued observing everything from the shadows.
He intended to protect the family of the Spider-Man who had already died.
Naturally, Wayne’s every move had been under his watch.
Thanks to his black-and-white appearance, even standing out in the middle of the night made him remarkably difficult to notice.
Of course, if someone did notice him, they’d probably faint on the spot.
A completely colorless person was frightening no matter how you looked at it.
Spider-Noir fired a strand of web toward the direction Wayne was running and swung after him.
He intended to find out exactly who this man was.
If he was a bad guy, then Spider-Noir would be doing this world a favor by taking him down.
If he was a good man, then Spider-Noir would make sure he didn’t become another victim of whatever criminals prowled the city at night.
Spider-Noir had been shocked by just how different modern-day New York was from the New York of 1933.
But considering that even Spider-Man had died in this city…
It seemed that after all these decades, public safety hadn’t improved at all.
If anything, it had gotten worse.
And anyone wandering around this late at night…
Yet in only that brief span of time, he suddenly realized he had already followed Wayne for several miles.
That kind of speed was impossible for an ordinary human.
Now Spider-Noir was even more convinced that Wayne was probably a criminal.
He simply lacked any concrete evidence.
Wayne’s breathing remained steady as he thoroughly enjoyed the run.
At the same time, he kept an eye on the little tail following behind him.
As a detective, Spider-Noir’s stealth skills were indeed impressive.
Combined with his black-and-white coloration, they were practically flawless.
Unfortunately for him, Wayne himself was essentially using cheats.
Not to mention that he also had the genuine Thomas Wayne inside his head.
Wayne had no idea Spider-Noir had actually decided to tail him.
He simply assumed the man was monitoring the surrounding area for suspicious activity.
So he continued running as if nothing was happening.
But the next moment, just as Spider-Noir fired another web and prepared to swing ahead of Wayne, his body suddenly flickered with overlapping black-and-white afterimages.
In an instant, he split into several figures.
The intense pain robbed him of all control, and he fell straight to the ground.
Thud!
The sound was impossible for Wayne to pretend he hadn’t heard.
“Hello? Are you alright?”
Wayne turned back and called into the dark alley.
“Do you need any help?”
He cautiously walked toward the alley.
Only after Wayne reached Spider-Noir did Spider-Noir finally recover.
“I’m fine. I’m okay.”
Spider-Noir sprang to his feet with a kip-up, dusted off the dirt he’d picked up from the fall, and even confidently tipped the brim of his hat.
“Y-You’re Spider-Man! Didn’t they say you were dead?” Wayne exclaimed in shock, with a trace of fear on his face.
“And… what’s with that outfit?”
As he spoke, he subtly took a step backward.
It was obvious he was frightened by the appearance of someone he couldn’t even tell was human or ghost.
The acting Wayne displayed this time was easily worthy of an Oscar.
Just grab the PDF and binge the entire story from start to finish!Guys,
(End of Chapter)