amaotonovel Chapter 4678 Desperate Escape (5)
Chapter 4678 Desperate Escape (5)
Chapter 4678 A Desperate Escape (Fifty)
As everyone suspected, Batman did indeed cut off the power supply, stopping all the mechanisms in all the levels.
They had planned to do this when they entered the central energy room. However, the energy hub had a very tight protective shield, basically just a large block of iron. The gate designers didn't seem to know who they were trying to protect against, leaving absolutely no room for maneuver.
Of course, everyone knows who he was guarding against now. Unfortunately, he didn't guard against them at all.
Batman didn't choose to act at the time because the normal process still offered a chance to win. Batman is like this: if it's his turn to sacrifice himself, he won't hesitate, because that's the most efficient way; but if he has nothing left to sacrifice and someone else has to, he might temporarily abandon his lawful methods and use his intelligence to take shortcuts.
Now, Batman is no longer able to participate in the normal progression of the game; whoever needs to sacrifice themselves during the process is no longer relevant to him. In this situation, he won't care about the normal progression; instead, he'll go straight for the core, taking down the most important parts first.
After confirming that the dungeon contains virtually no magical elements, no matter what traps or mechanisms you design, they won't work without power. So just cut off the power, and the problem is solved.
Of course, he also considered whether a direct power outage might cause some dangerous mechanisms to trip. However, Batman had already found the mechanical engineering of the previous levels to be quite good. He didn't consider any artistic or philosophical aspects; he only knew that the designers' professional skills were indeed impressive. Power-off braking is one of the fundamental safety principles of mechanical engineering, and if it weren't done, even Batman would have to give it a bad review.
After arriving at Bruce and Arrogance's room and having a conversation with them, Batman knew he couldn't count on them. Forget how many times they hurt each other while trying to pull one another out of the fire; just tell me if they're out or not. It's highly unlikely they'd push the other into the fire, and Arrogance's professional ethics wouldn't allow him to do so.
They definitely wouldn't attempt to complete this challenge, and the people outside would likely get stuck because they didn't. So Batman returned to the central energy control room to deal with the giant metal shell.
Actually, it wasn't difficult, because he had already figured it out: the level designers had gone to extremes in cutting corners. The visible parts were meticulously crafted, while the unseen parts were all shoddy work; they were too lazy to even do textures, and some of the employee passageways even had clipping issues.
In this situation, the above-ground parts are heavily guarded, but the underground parts are less so. And coincidentally, the cultist's room is located right below the energy center.
Batman returns to the cultist's room and directs Superman to dig upwards. Sure enough, the floor is only a thin layer, and the protective shield didn't embed much before he dug straight through.
"What do we do next?" Superman asked, looking at the hole in his head.
“Go up and take a look,” Batman said. “Never mind, you go up first, then pull me up. If there’s a control panel, I’ll pull the switch; if not, you can smash everything.”
Greed, who was in the monitoring room, couldn't sit still upon hearing this. This level isn't a one-time thing; once you're done, others will. Smashing ordinary items is one thing, but the energy core is very expensive. Its compatibility has been tuned by the administrators of two major worlds; breaking it and rebuilding it is extremely difficult.
"Death knell! Death knell!" Greed shouted. "Quickly, quickly, go and stop them!"
Deathstroke was resting in the lounge when he heard someone calling him, so he rushed over. Without asking any questions, he got up and went. Following the direction Greed had pointed him to, he arrived at the cultist's room and, seeing the large hole in the ceiling, cursed, "God, who's so wicked?"
He climbed up the hole and saw two figures in the dim light. Batman had confirmed that the power center didn't have a control panel, and Superman was preparing to smash it.
"Stop!" Deathstroke shouted immediately. "Don't smash it!"
But when he walked around the machine and saw who the two people in front of him were, he froze instantly.
Deathstroke stared at Batman and Superman, while Batman and Superman stared back at Deathstroke. They stared at each other for a long time before Deathstroke took a step back, grinned, and said, "It's alright, you guys keep smashing it, I'm leaving."
"Deathstroke!!!" Greed shouted into the comms, "What are you doing? Beat them up!!"
"Are you crazy or am I? You want me to fight Batman and Superman?!" Deathstroke yelled into the comms, "How much do I make? You want me to do this?!"
"That's not your universe..."
“But they definitely know the main universe Batman.” Deathstroke’s mind worked quickly. “If those two turn around and complain about me, how am I supposed to get jobs from the main universe Batman?”
"Besides, aren't you being a bit too optimistic? Why do you think I can beat both of them?"
"Superman has lost his superpowers!"
"Then let me ask you, did Batman have superpowers before?"
Greed was speechless. Deathstroke said, "Mercenaries always do what they're paid for. I can give you a slight discount because of that agent. But you can't give me money to buy a bicycle and expect me to go to the moon. That's not an option!"
“Then you could try to stop them a little,” Greed said. “Just make sure they don’t damage the central control unit.”
“I’ll give it a try,” Deathstroke said, clearly hesitant.
After hanging up the call, he didn't intend to take action but instead planned to talk to them properly. Although Deathstroke was wearing an employee uniform and a hood, he obviously couldn't escape Batman's watchful eye.
"You're a mercenary?" Batman squinted. "You haven't agreed on a price with your employer and are haggling over it?"
Deathstroke gasped. They'd seen right through him; how could they possibly negotiate?
“Looks like I guessed right,” Batman said. “To be honest, I have a little money too. Whatever he gives you, I can give you double.”
Deathstroke couldn't help but glance at Batman. Despite his current poor condition, even disheveled and unsteady on his feet, his words were undeniably convincing. That air of someone so poor they had nothing but money was something truly difficult to fake.
Deathstroke didn't really want to respond, because he still had some professional ethics. But this was Batman, after all; who knew if he'd get a job with him in future interdimensional travels? He couldn't be too certain.
"Well, it's not entirely a matter of money."
“That means they’ve got something on you. I can help you with that too,” Batman said. “Is it the FBI or the CIA? I have connections in both agencies.”
“Let’s not talk about this,” Deathstroke said. “I just wanted to remind you not to smash this thing; offending them won’t end well.”
"So this is very expensive? Or it's very difficult to manufacture, making it rare. Judging from its appearance, it shouldn't be the craftsmanship that's expensive, but rather some of the materials used are very difficult to obtain..."
"Don't give him any information," Greed couldn't help but say. "If you really can't stop him, you'd better leave now!"
"The question now is whether I can leave?" Deathstroke replied. "Do you think they'll let me go?"
Superman was already standing at the entrance to the cave he came from. Actually, in a fight, Deathstroke wouldn't be afraid of Superman without superpowers. But Batman's intimidating presence was too strong; who knew if he had some secret weapon hidden on Superman, the kind that could blast him two miles away with a single touch?
Even knowing that such a thing couldn't be found in a dungeon, Deathstroke still didn't dare to gamble. His ability to accurately distinguish who to mess with and who to avoid was a key reason he became the world's number one mercenary. Being a coward isn't shameful; survival is more important.
Of course, Batman is generally reasonable. When he was harassed by Robin while passing through Gotham and fought back, Batman never took sides. Therefore, Deathstroke had a fairly good impression of him and was willing to help him out.
“There’s a switch at the bottom of this thing,” Deathstroke said, following the teachings of Greed. “You can turn it off by putting your hand down there. Of course, I know you’re worried about traps, so I can operate it myself.”
Do you have a weapon?
“No,” Deathstroke said. Of course, he was making it up; he could pull out a whole bunch of melee weapons from his pocket at any time, but he wouldn’t dare give Batman any weapons, or it would really look like Batman was fighting his way out of the underworld.
"So you're planning to subdue us with your fists?" Superman said, somewhat incredulously.
"I don't intend to lay a hand on you. I'm really here to negotiate." Deathstroke glanced at the plot Greed had just written. "The company never intended to escalate things, not even to the point of harming our investors. This game is a complete failure. You can leave now. But it's best not to cause trouble here, or it won't benefit anyone."
"In fact, there are disagreements within the company about whether to continue such a dangerous project. If you intend to stop this altogether, perhaps your friends would be more helpful."
Batman understood Deathstroke's implication. It was telling them not to overreach themselves in the challenges, but to get out safely first, and then use their connections to pressure the company to stop this cruel project.
“Okay,” Batman said, “turn off the power first, then open the door. I’m going to meet up with the other players.”
Greed initially disagreed, as Batman's team was supposed to fail the level. However, Deathstroke persuaded him, and Greed also remembered that Batman had previously given this level a high rating. If he were allowed to complete it, he might get an 8.0 score and a positive review, which would be a win-win situation.
“Alright.” Deathstroke feigned thought, then agreed, stepping forward and reaching under the glowing orb. With a click, the orb went out. Almost simultaneously, Greed also cut off the power to the lights. Now the entire chamber was powerless.
The mechanism in the atrium room stopped working shortly afterward, and the players each received their keys. But they didn't leave immediately; instead, they waited. They figured either Batman and Superman's group, or Schiller and Bruce's group, would arrive soon.
They were right. The passageway opened, and Batman and Superman walked in, followed by someone who looked like an employee.
The moment they stopped, Superman grabbed the employee by the neck and yelled, "Don't move! Open the door to the secret room on the first floor right now!"
Everyone was stunned by this turn of events. They didn't know why the previously mysterious company employee had followed Batman and his crew in, nor did they understand why Superman had suddenly kidnapped him.
However, Deathstroke, who should have fought to the death, seemed to be just an ordinary employee. He struggled symbolically for a couple of moments and then said, "No, don't kill me, I'll open the door for you."