amaotonovel Chapter 4651 Desperate Escape (23)
Chapter 4651 Desperate Escape (23)
Chapter 4651 A Desperate Escape (Twenty-Three)
"Tsk." The clown clicked his tongue with a gloomy face. "Why didn't you soak that big marshmallow until it was fully softened!"
"Alright. Your jealousy is written all over your face." Scarecrow crossed his arms, looking at the monitor screen in front of him, and couldn't help but sigh, "Batman is indeed Batman, his speed is like he's peeked at the answers. As for Superman... the game can't start without him."
"See, I told you we should electrify the water." Stark crossed his arms, the screen's light reflecting off his silver-white armor, but his words were chilling.
“We made a mistake with the dimensions,” Mephisto said, somewhat exasperated. “Greed, you didn’t mention there were female players. This distance is too big for an adult male to turn over, but a woman might be able to.”
“No, no, no,” Greed said, “it has nothing to do with gender. It’s because Miss Quezel is more flexible. Someone with stiffer limbs definitely wouldn’t be able to do it. Besides, she can put all her strength into her collarbone, which requires a lot of willpower. She can pass the level without any problem.”
“That’s right,” Stark nodded, clearly approving of Greed. “It looks easy for her, but actually, that position requires a lot of effort to kick, it’s incredibly difficult. You’ll know once you try it yourself. But you’re right about one thing, we need to pay attention to the dimensions, shouldn’t we make the back passage or something a little smaller?”
“There’s no need,” Greed said. “Women are petite, which gives them an advantage in navigating narrow mechanisms, but they also have less muscle strength, so it’s a fairly balanced situation. There’s no need to force an adjustment.”
“Oh, wait a minute,” Jonathan shouted, “What’s going on?! Greed! Look at the other mess you’ve made!”
On the screen was Arrogance pulling out the iron rod. Greed glanced at it, gasped, and hurriedly brought up the control panel, frantically strengthening the ability restrictions.
"No, I haven't written a program for this situation. I can only temporarily lower the power level."
"So you're the only one who can guard against yourself, huh?" Stark sneered. "It's clearly a backdoor you left for yourself."
"No, do you think I'm the kind of person who only knows how to throw punches?"
“That’s good now.” Mephisto shook his head and said, “If you let him continue like this, he’ll tear the entire level down.”
“No, I won’t,” Greed said while operating the system. “I can manually adjust his power level, okay? I’ll add restrictions after the dungeon ends.”
"So what's the underlying principle?" Stark asked, stroking his chin.
“It’s complicated,” Greed said. “You can think of it as pain that stimulates my mind allowing me to release my muscle limitations. And because this isn’t a superpower, but rather a mechanism that’s naturally part of the human body, and mental illness isn’t within the scope of limitations, the limiter can’t restrict it.”
"So you're having an attack?" Mephisto asked.
"That's right. Limiters can restrict all superpowers, but they can't stop a mentally ill person from going insane. Otherwise, wouldn't it be like adding a safety net to a high-difficulty dungeon?"
“Then I’d rather not,” said the Scarecrow. “Seeing the players go crazy and panic is part of our reward. Otherwise, I wouldn’t be doing this job.”
"In other words, when others go mad, they become weaker, but when you go mad, you become stronger. However, since there are no restrictions on going mad, there are also no restrictions on becoming stronger," Mephisto summarized.
“Yes,” Greed nodded, “but it’s alright, I’m keeping an eye on him. Although manual control has a delay and might give him superhuman strength for a short time, this level can’t be cleared with super strength alone. You need to have some confidence in your design.”
“Those two mutants were better,” Stark said. “They had a perfect grasp of the essence of our level design and followed the process step by step.”
"Wait a minute," the scarecrow spoke again, "what's going on now? Greed!!"
They all looked at the monitor screen. When Lucifer appeared in the water with a pair of huge wings, everyone couldn't hold back anymore.
Stark covered his forehead and said, "I know he's an angel, but don't wings count as superpowers?"
"Uh, this is the first time the Battle Realm has received a natural angel." Greed said somewhat awkwardly, "We did data compatibility testing before he went in, but... this is something he brought with him..."
"Can this even fly?" Mephisto questioned. "I've never heard of angels flying with wings. What do you think, Iron Man?"
“Absolutely no chance,” Stark said decisively. “Where would a human get such powerful back muscles to move such large wings? Even if they could flap them a couple of times, they couldn’t lift such a heavy body. Otherwise, wouldn’t birds have evolved for nothing?”
“It’s quite amusing,” the clown chuckled. “It reminds me of the swans on the lake in the park, the kind that are about to die.”
Everyone burst out laughing. Lucifer's wings were indeed a bit comical; they served no purpose whatsoever and looked like a goose thrashing about in the water.
“Wait, what is he going to do?” Mephisto exclaimed, looking at Anatoly. “He’s not going to just… hiss…”
Anatoly snapped his collarbone and removed the ring, making the viewers in front of the screen grimace. Mephisto's grin almost reached his jawbone; of all the people in the group, this devil's reaction was the strongest.
“What a ruthless man,” he sighed. “It’s a pity he doesn’t come here often, otherwise I would definitely ask him if he would like to take up a post in Hell.”
“Even if he doesn’t come here often, you can still ask,” Greed said. “If you’re worried about not being able to contact him, I can introduce you to someone; he loves Hell.”
"Really?" Mephisto said with some surprise.
“Yes, he spent a long time in Hell and made a group of pretty good friends. He even drinks and chats with Satan. He’ll like you,” Greed said with a smile.
"Tch." The clown snorted, looking at the monitor screen with some dissatisfaction. "The first level didn't eliminate anyone. The level's difficulty is still not enough."
"You just want us to praise Batman for being too strong, right?" Scarecrow had already seen through him.
"But you can't deny that he was the fastest to get through this stage," the clown said, gesturing wildly.
"Yes, with his beloved Superman."
The clown's face suddenly darkened again.
"Alright, alright," Greed quickly changed the subject. "Let's look at the second level and see which unlucky little devil will fall for it..."
Stark raised his head high. When Batman found the mechanism on the key and wasn't electrocuted by the trap in the keyhole, he waved his hand and said, "This is Batman. If he fell for it, there wouldn't be any smart people in the world. This doesn't count."
Bruce and Arrogance weren't fooled either. Stark scoffed, "That guy's Batman too, so this one doesn't count."
Then came Charles and Eric. Stark sighed through gritted teeth and said, "Those two just look young; they're actually over fifty. They're just pretending to be young. They don't really count."
When Stark saw that even Thor hadn't fallen for it, he was genuinely on edge: "It must be a problem with the key design! The mechanism on that key is too easy to spot, it's definitely not a problem with my thinking!"
“It’s alright,” said Greed. “The trap wasn’t deadly to begin with; at most, they’d just lie there for a while. Its main purpose is to use the electric current to tell them that this isn’t just a medieval dungeon, otherwise it wouldn’t be fair in terms of reasoning.”
Stark pouted, clearly unconvinced: "If you had listened to me and set up an electrified mechanism in the water, your performance would definitely have been better. You guys just won't give me any room to maneuver."
"Alright," Greed comforted, "aren't there more mechanisms you designed later? There's no need to rush."
Stark then muttered something under his breath and fell silent. The Scarecrow then reminded him, "Here it comes, here it comes, the level I designed is here."
All the groups headed down the long corridor. But when Batman hadn't gone far before turning back, Scarecrow slapped his forehead: "How did he find out?! Did he really peek at the answers???"
"Otherwise, why aren't some people Batman's nemesis?" the Joker said sarcastically from the side. "You made that passageway look like a marathon. If Batman still doesn't notice anything amiss, this year will be the twentieth year I've been visiting his grave."
“I also think the passage shouldn’t be that long.” Mephisto clearly agreed. “Anyone with a modicum of intelligence would suspect something’s wrong. Even those who aren’t that smart would feel uneasy and on guard if they couldn’t reach the end no matter which way they went.
"No matter what you say, I will never design a deadly trap without any warning." The scarecrow shook his head and said, "If I design a three-meter-long passage, no one will have time to react when the water rushes in. It will turn from a puzzle into a massacre, which is completely devoid of artistry. I will never do that."
“Don’t interpret it that way,” Greed said. “When they find their way here, just say it was because you had a change of heart.”
“No,” the Joker waved his hand dismissively. “When they find this place, you all step back. I’ll face Batman alone. Surely he’ll beat me up then?”
"Isn't this way of getting through a bit..." Mephisto frowned deeply as he watched Harley and Pamela hug each other and squeeze through the door from one side. "So far, I only see their advantages. Shouldn't we adjust the size of the door?"
"Don't worry, there's a test of strength later on, isn't there?" Greed said.
“Wait a minute,” Stark suddenly said, “you guys think that mechanism on the door is... oh yes, it is.”
Everyone was speechless at the fact that Lucifer's wings had been damaged. Mephisto wiped his face and said, "I'm a devil, I don't have wings, you can't expect me to be perfect in every way."
“You’re the one among us who should have noticed the wings triggering the mechanism,” Stark said, looking at him with annoyance. “After all, nobody here has horns.”
Mephisto sighed and said, "Well, although it only hit the wing, it's still somewhat effective. You guys did all that before, but you didn't actually hurt anyone, did you?"
Everyone was speechless. These people were indeed strong; any other player would have been killed by now. In the end, apart from the one who broke his own collarbone, Lucifer, who was shot in the wing, was indeed the first to die in battle.
“Looks like someone’s going to skip this again,” Scarecrow said. “Batman’s group and Lucifer’s group didn’t even go to the previous escape room. The carefully designed word puzzles are no longer working.”
They all looked at Greed, who shrugged and said, "But at least we stopped Loki's group. Ignorance is truly terrifying."
“They’re Vikings, isn’t it normal that they don’t understand English? Rather, who would have thought that the word for ‘font’ also means something like ‘Holy Water Pool’?” Stark said, spreading his hands. “Anyway, if it were me, I definitely wouldn’t have been able to figure it out, and I would have given them a bad review.”
"Now you know where all those swearing comments in the comments section come from," Greed laughed.