civilwarnovels Chapter 4775 The Royal Casino (9)
Chapter 4775 The Royal Casino (9)
Chapter 4775 The Royal Casino (Part Nine)
In the deepest, darkest corner of the corridor, there wasn't even a ray of light. Everything should have been hidden in the deepest darkness, but Lucifer's pale skin seemed to glow on its own, so much so that its outline could be faintly seen.
At the same time, he could also see the silhouette of Arkham Batman gradually approaching. Lucifer shrugged: "I'm honored that you went to such lengths to see me."
Batman from Arkham said nothing, simply walking forward to the somber tone of a cello. Lucifer showed no fear, but not in a gesture of resignation; rather, he seemed unaware of his impending death, as if utterly oblivious to everything before him.
Until Batman spoke up.
"Don't be afraid, child."
boom!
Arkham Batman was suddenly knocked down from behind by a strong figure. A burst of heat rays flashed, and Superman, looking at Lucifer, still had the red light in his eyes: "Run!"
Lucifer opened his pale lips and just stood there staring blankly at him. Superman probably thought he was terrified, so he rushed over, grabbed Lucifer, and shoved him up the stairs.
Lucifer then remembered to run. He staggered upstairs, while Superman flew vertically to the top floor. Halfway up, Lucifer realized he couldn't outrun Batman, so he turned back and used Batman's control to barely make it upstairs.
He held onto the stairs, panting, feeling his heart pounding. His grip on the railing tightened, and suddenly he turned to look at Superman, his eyes gleaming with a light that shouldn't be in this game.
Why did you save me?
“We’re teammates,” Superman said. “Of course I have to save you.”
"You think he can kill me?" Lucifer's expression suddenly turned fierce, as if his previous nonchalant and slightly bewildered demeanor was just a facade. "Don't tell me this is a game; he can't really hurt me. Even in reality, you can't touch me. I am Lucifer Morningstar."
“You are not a god,” Superman suddenly said. “No sentient being can be called a god. This is a lesson I learned not long ago. As long as there are feelings, there will be hurt, there will be weaknesses, and there will be salvation.”
Lucifer's lips moved. Suddenly, his expression softened, like that of a true angel: "Do you think I'm afraid?"
“I know I’m scared,” Superman said to him seriously, “so you might be scared, so I’m going to save you.”
Do you think we're the same?
"We are different. But that doesn't stop me from saving you."
“Very well.” Lucifer suddenly sneered and said, “Thank you people like you for giving me the opportunity to mock God—that banishing Adam and Eve from Eden was the worst decision he ever made.”
"My God, what happened to you two?" The agent looked at Matt and Greed lying on the ground and asked, puzzled, "Is one of you Batman? Or are both of you?"
They looked like they'd had a fight, which suggests there's friendly fire involved in this game, but the agents couldn't understand why they'd started fighting. Matt and Greed were quite close, and they should have been even more united in this critical moment; even if Greed went crazy, Matt wouldn't hold it against him.
“It was an accident.” Greed wiped the wound from his mouth and said, “He said he would give me the power, and he told me what he was most afraid of. I trusted the lawyer too much.”
Matt remained silent.
The agent had no interest in pressing the matter. He simply walked over, pulled Matt up, and said, "Whatever it is, we'll settle the score with him after the game is over. Now calm down, okay?"
These words seemed to rekindle Matt's hope. He finally regained some of his senses and glared fiercely at Greed: "Someone's a psychologist, but his comforting words aren't as effective as a single sentence from an agent."
“You’re wrong about that,” Greed stood up as well. “The damage is greater than ten of him combined.”
"Don't get too cocky," the agent instantly exposed his greed. "You've thought about all the sad things in your life, that's why you're holding back your laughter, right?"
Greed gave a soft snort but didn't say anything. But from their behavior, one could roughly guess what had just happened.
Batman activated a mental ability that affected almost everyone, but Matt Damon was undoubtedly the most affected because he is blind. Everything he perceives is imaged in his brain, and hallucinations can deceive him, which is terrifying for a blind person.
Greed rushed over to comfort him, obviously wanting to save him. Matt must be very dependent on him. People always rely on those close to them when they are afraid. However, Greed must have realized that Matt might be more dependent on him than he thought, and he's quite pleased about it now.
Judging from Matt's reaction, it was less anger and more a fit of rage. The agent hadn't dealt with him much, but every lawyer is adept at hiding their true self, and Daredevil is no exception; he's a hunter lurking in the night. If the agent had to describe Daredevil in one sentence, he would say—"In hide-and-seek, it's always the hunter who covers their eyes first."
Revealing his true inner thoughts is a dangerous thing for him. That's why, even though he has a psychologist friend, he won't see a psychologist. Even when he does occasionally seek help, it's only superficial; he mostly confides in psychologists about everyday troubles, without touching on his inner mental state or personality.
Greed seized upon a moment that allowed Matt to partially reveal himself. Though brief and incomplete, it was enough to please him. At least in what he did reveal, greed occupied a higher position than he had imagined.
No one would be unhappy about this. After all, in a person's life, the question of "how good my friends are" may trouble them for far longer than "whether my partner loves me or not."
"What do we do now?" the agent asked mechanically, pulling them out of the tense atmosphere. He then immediately answered his own question, not giving them a chance to steer the conversation back on track, "Find the last safe quickly. Once we open it, we win."
“Impossible,” Matt said. “Batman definitely has the ability to know the location of the safes. I’m sure of that. He must have timed his power-up perfectly so that we wouldn’t have another chance to touch the last safe.”
"Then what do you think..."
“We can only risk our lives,” Matt said. “After all, he has to take people to a designated location before he can execute them, which will definitely take time. That gives the others a chance to escape.”
The agent shook his head and said, "If the mission isn't completed, the only way to leave is to escape alone after all the teammates have died."
“That works too,” Matt emphasized. “Do you really expect a perfect victory against a fully-fledged Batman? It would be good enough if even one of you escaped!”
"It just so happens that your victory conditions have been modified," Greed advised. "As long as you can escape, you'll be a winner too."
“That’s the problem,” the agent said. “If any one of you won this way, I wouldn’t have any objections. Because you genuinely wanted to win, while I didn’t. Rather than letting me win alone, let’s take a gamble.”
Matt looked at Greed. Greed didn't hesitate for long either, saying, "Okay, losing to Batman is still an honorable defeat. Let's take the gamble."
"Who said you were cured?" Matt seemed to be waiting for this question. "Aren't you still as crazy as before?"
Greed simply watched him with amusement until Matt himself gave up. The decision was made; the three of them would proceed step by step. Finding the safes wouldn't be random. Matt said, "First, find Superman and figure out where the two safes he opened are. That way we'll have the locations of three safes, and from those three, we can deduce roughly where the rest are."
Matt had just been attacked by Batman, and now he could see his teammates' locations. Because he was with them, he could also see where Batman was. He noticed Lucifer and Superman were together on the east side, but Batman was also in the southeast corner, heading towards them.
Matt had a hunch, so he quickened his pace. When they arrived, they indeed found a safe in the corner. Lucifer was opening the safe, while Superman and Batman clashed.
Unfortunately, Superman was no match for the fully enhanced Arkham Batman. The heat beams, which previously had a knockback effect, were now completely ineffective. The high-temperature rays struck Batman's armor without any effect. Instead, Arkham Batman sent him flying with a single punch.
Taking advantage of the lull in the attack, the agent swiftly struck, injecting a tranquilizer dart into Arkham Batman. Immediately afterward, Matt stepped forward with a stick, not to repel Batman, but simply to shield Superman from the blow.
Arkham Batman threw a punch, sending Matt flying. Just as Matt was about to follow up with a counterattack, the agent launched himself forward, dashing past Matt and becoming part of the air, successfully blocking the blow. This gave Lucifer time to escape.
However, Lucifer was quite far away, so they could only escape through another door. All of them were low on health, but thankfully no one fell to the ground. Even in that brief exchange of a few dozen seconds, they had witnessed Batman's power.
He was immune to all knockback effects, and the stun effect had almost no effect on him either. The tranquilizer dart stunned him for less than a second, only momentarily slowing his movements. Moreover, his punches were faster than before, with almost no recovery time, and the speed was also much greater than usual.
None of them dared to jump down the skylight, because Batman could jump down too. And apart from Superman, everyone else would have to take the stairs to get up, which would mean losing a significant strategic advantage.
However, they dared not run together, because they were all low on health, and Batman could easily take them all down with a single punch. Those with strategic thinking managed to break away from the group at the appropriate time, while those who didn't know where to run got separated due to running around haphazardly.
Batman from Arkham is now facing a very awkward problem. The powerful opponents are incredibly unlucky, almost unable to find safes. The lucky ones, on the other hand, are generally not very strong.
Logically, the weaker, luckier ones should be dealt with first, but the stronger ones will come to their rescue, and the success rate of the rescue is not low. Things easily escalate into a cycle of the Calabash Brothers rescuing their grandfather, and then the grandfather rescuing the Calabash Brothers.
However, Batman Arkham is also quite vengeful, or rather, what he fears most is Greed's ability to suddenly break free from a near-death state. This ability prevents him from safely delivering people to the electric chair, because Greed could interrupt his transport at any time, and even after being stabbed, he could still stand up and save people.
So, Batman Arkham decided to stick to his guns. He'd go after Greed first, then use a precious opportunity to activate the electric chair to execute the guy.
(End of this chapter)