Chapter 86 – Parting Gift

Wake up, eat, go back to the room.

Leo deliberately confined himself all day, putting on a show of diligently working.

Around 8 p.m., Bruce came to find him—informing him that the wine was ready.

Leo understood: trying to send him away at a time like this was as good as declaring war. So he obediently followed Bruce down to the underground storage room.

Upon arriving at B2, he realized this was no mere storage room. It was a vast, open space—more like a logistics warehouse.

Even more outrageous: the wine had obviously arrived hours ago, giving Bruce more than enough time to set up an entire suite of high-tech detection equipment.

Alfred, already waiting, handed a tablet to—Bruce.

Leo extended his hand and grasped nothing but air. His fist clenched instantly.

"3,750 cases of wine, neatly stacked—occupying approximately 90 cubic meters," Bruce read from the tablet Alfred had handed him. "Since you requested plain boxes, it's clear these are for sale."

He looked Leo in the eye.

"So, you're trading high-tech goods from your world… just for these wines? Why not bring in meat or organic vegetables instead? Those should be rarer where you're from."

Leo didn't bother hiding it. He replied bluntly:

"The megacorps back home enforce brutal monopolies. They've pushed for legislation banning the sale of organic meat. As for organic vegetables—only the top 1% can afford them. Not worth the hassle."

Bruce nodded, mentally filing away information:

Corporate monopoly.
Oligarchic rule.
A far worse ecological collapse than expected.
A society so fractured, companies can pass laws against common sense.

It wasn't a good place. Ordinary people must have it rough there.

"Go ahead and collect your stuff. Don't worry about the scanners."

"Like I could stop them even if I wanted to…"

Leo rolled his eyes and began storing his "livelihood supply" back into his spatial storage.

The once-neat warehouse became chaotic as case after case of wine was stacked around the scanning equipment.

If this had been before he started jumping between worlds, Leo's obsessive-compulsive disorder would've acted up immediately. But now? He found the chaos rather beautiful—like stacks of cash in different denominations.

Despite how many crates there were, they weren't hard to collect.

He stretched out his hand and walked from one end to the other, back and forth, brushing each case.

Within ten minutes, the warehouse was empty again.

Bruce, watching, suddenly felt a pang of envy.

If only he could carry all his gear with him at all times—he'd have caught every criminal in Gotham already.

When Leo was done, Bruce asked what he'd been wondering for a while:

"You're leaving?"

Leo paused, then nodded slowly.

"This world's great, but I've got people waiting for me back home. I can't stay long."

Bruce's gaze lowered.

"Why not bring them here? Gotham's big enough for immigrants."

"I can't bring living things with me. If I could, I'd have brought back some extinct animals and made a fortune already."

"Then what happens to Umbrella Corp after you're gone? Will you be back? Is there any way to stay in touch?"

Leo froze.

Every question was a trap. He could message friends from Night City, sure—but Batman? Not yet. Definitely not.

"I'll still be working when I return. Didn't I update version 0.1 during my last visit? I'll try to leave you a test-ready version before I go. Just find some trustworthy techs to continue the research.

As for contact—no way. The barrier between our worlds is too strong. I won't be back for at least a week."

Bruce studied him quietly before nodding.

"One last thing. Since your entry and exit points are fixed, I've cleared out the 44th floor of Wayne Tower. Treat it as your return terminal, deal?"

"Do I have any say?"

"No. You're dismissed."

Bruce waved Alfred over to escort Leo out—he had scanning data to analyze.

A few minutes later, Leo was back in his room.

Alfred gave him a polite smile.

"The young master can be… difficult. I hope you won't take it personally. As a farewell gift, I selected a few fine wines from our cellar. They're in your living room. Please send my regards to your family when you return."

"You're too kind, Alfred."

"Just doing my part. Oh, and don't worry—I personally chose those bottles. The young master didn't tamper with them."

Click.

The door closed.

Leo immediately messaged Shironeko:

[How many of Batman's "toys" did he sneak into my inventory?]

[Dozens. The wine crates were easy to find. The more annoying ones are hidden in the vegetables, meats, and dairy. But no worries—everything here is scanned. Once you're back, I'll clean them all out.]

[Knew it… I'd be more scared if he didn't bug my stuff.]

Thanks to Batman, Leo's post-return cleanup workload had just increased again.

He walked into the living room and carefully packed Alfred's top-tier wine into his storage.

These weren't for sale.

These were for sharing with V.

Gotham, Day 8. 7:30 p.m.

Countdown:
[00:10:00]

With 10 minutes of buffer time left, Leo felt calm again.

"Here's version 0.2 of the Umbrella Surveillance System. I've optimized the code so it runs on your local high-spec machines."

"This is my personal emergency medkit. Since I made it out in one piece, I'm keeping my promise—it's yours."

"Anything else? If not—time to say goodbye."

Bruce took both items, then pointed to a nearby crate.

"Alfred said he gave you wine, so I figured I'd add something you can't buy at a supermarket. Don't worry—it's clean."

Leo had assumed the box was another one of Batman's tricks, but… a parting gift?

He walked over and peeked inside.

Even the cheapest item in there was Kobe beef.

Alright. That was a worthy sendoff.

He'd throw a feast when he got back.

"Then I'll gladly accept."

Ten minutes later, right on the 7-day mark, Leo disappeared before Batman and Alfred's eyes.

No flashes. No ripples. No warning.

The instruments registered nothing.

No quantum signatures.
No dimensional distortions.

Batman stood there, murmuring:

"Not quantum tunneling… No interdimensional energy waves… What is this tech?"

He pulled out his character profile notes.

Doubt had crept in again.

Could someone really just stumble across a time-space travel device like this?

No.
More information was needed.

More clues.