amaotonovel Chapter 4645 Desperate Escape (7)
Chapter 4645 Desperate Escape (7)
Chapter 4645 A Deadly Escape (Seventeen)
"What's wrong?" Lucifer asked, noticing Anatoly's displeased expression. "Who took these bricks off the wall?"
“Schiller,” Anatoly said in a deep voice, “there’s no one else but him. Only his abilities could possibly be unrestricted in this kind of instance.”
“Oh, you mean him…” Lucifer obviously knew about the fact that “the worse Schiller’s condition was, the better his condition was.”
He then gasped, realizing that given the sturdiness of the floor tiles, the force required to pry them open would be astonishing. This indicated that Schiller's condition might be very poor.
He flapped his wings somewhat impatiently, then said, "Schiller is grouped with us. Wait, could he have entered the game with Bruce?"
Anatoly turned to look at him: "How did you know?"
Lucifer was momentarily speechless: "Good question, but if I were to explain this to you, we'd probably be stuck in last place for good."
“To make a long story short,” Anatoly said.
"Okay, then I won't bring up the past. Anyway, you know that this kind of thing happens whenever the two of them are together."
"What do you mean by 'this kind of thing'?"
“It’s like stabbing each other in the back, or stabbing yourself in the back, or stabbing the other person in the back first and then stabbing yourself in the back…” Lucifer gestured as he spoke.
“Don’t look at me, I don’t know why either.” Lucifer flapped his wings again, his mental anxiety making him temporarily forget the pain. “For the past few years, I’ve been working with the Justice League to separate them, to keep them busy with their own things, and preferably not to meet. Otherwise, this situation will occur.”
“I thought Schiller was much better,” Anatoly said.
“You’re too optimistic.” Lucifer shook his head vigorously. “I don’t deny that Schiller is much more normal. In fact, Bruce has become like a normal person since he stopped being Batman. But when the two of them meet, the abnormal parts of their personalities will erupt. And then the next scene will be blood, blood, and more blood.”
“It seems you’re quite impressed with that.” Anatoly lowered his eyes. “You’ll have to tell me all about it after the game.”
Hearing that his tone was off, Lucifer swallowed hard and said, "Actually, I don't think he's that... um..."
Lucifer gestured for a long time but couldn't find a better excuse, so he could only try to appeal to emotions: "He probably did this to help you. I don't know why he pried up the floor tiles, but it should be useful, right?"
Anatoly nodded. He had no expression, so his emotions were unreadable, but that was what Lucifer feared.
Anatoly began his analysis: "Of course it's useful. We can use this to sabotage the device."
How to destroy it?
“I guess he got his inspiration from a balance scale,” Anatoly said, looking at the device. “The principle of leverage. Since the entire device is electrified and cannot be touched, it’s very difficult to push it over. Even with that kind of force, you can’t get close. The best way to knock the device over without touching it is to use the principle of leverage to pry it up.”
Anatoly had already removed several bricks. The area beneath the brick closest to the joint had been significantly excavated, revealing the edge of the machine's bottom.
Lucifer leaned closer to take a look and was shocked: "It was buried so deep!"
“No, it’s still buried too shallow,” Anatoly said. “The level designers probably didn’t expect anyone to be able to break the tiles, so they didn’t bury it too deep.”
“Yes, theoretically speaking, these floor tiles can’t be damaged,” Lucifer said, shaking his head. “But I feel that even without Schiller, you would have found a way to destroy them, wouldn’t you?”
Anatoly nodded and said, "It's not like there's absolutely no room for maneuver. There are also paved areas around the hole we just climbed up, and the gaps there are easier to pry open."
"You plan to pry your way here?!"
"It's not impossible. You know I'm very professional in this area, and it won't take long."
“The level designer is truly fortunate to have the two of you.” Lucifer shook his head. “It’s all because the Battle Realm is too realistic, with physical rules almost identical to the outside world. If it were really like in the game, with invisible walls everywhere, let’s see how you would use violence.”
“If that’s the case, most people won’t want to play,” Anatoli said. “If you can’t hone your skills in a nearly completely realistic world, what’s the point of the Battle World?”
“That’s true,” Lucifer said. “If it weren’t realistic enough, Batman wouldn’t waste his time playing. It’s precisely because it’s almost exactly like the real world outside, but you can’t actually get hurt or die, that Batman is willing to use this place as a training ground.”
“Alright, let’s see if we can break this mechanism.” Anatoly glanced at the other side of the scale. “If it’s a very complex and unscientific device, there’s no need to cover it up. Since it’s covered up, it means there shouldn’t be any supernatural power involved. If it’s not covered up, people can see right through it.”
Lucifer nodded and said, "Indeed, covering up that side of the scale makes me feel a little guilty. I guess it's because I'm worried that if I'm matched with a mechanical engineering genius like Iron Man or Batman, they'll guess exactly what will happen next."
“This proves that the next level is definitely not going to be good,” Anatoli scoffed. “We’d better hurry.”
"Batman, are you alright?" Superman couldn't help but turn around. He saw that Batman's fingers, which were resting on the wall, were an unnaturally white.
Superman walked over, took Batman's hand, and said, "If you're cold, you can hold onto me."
“No, if we encounter any emergencies, you need to react quickly. If I lean on you, it might slow you down.” Batman didn’t appear weak and looked no different from usual, but his paler lips said it all.
Superman reached out to him. Batman instinctively tried to dodge, but his blood loss had clearly impaired his agility, so he couldn't pull away. Superman simply touched the side of his neck.
“God, you’re as cold as ice.” Superman scratched his head hard. “We can’t go on like this, Batman. We can’t continue. I want to quit. I really want to quit.”
“Clark, I’ve been through much worse. If I had given up so easily, I would be dead by now. What I’m saying is that this is also a kind of training for me. Isn’t that what I came to participate in the game for?”
"God! Hasn't reality tormented you enough?" Superman seemed completely broken down. "Why can't I be you, or rather, why can't you be me? Sorry, I might be a little mentally unstable, just rambling..."
Batman grasped Superman's hand in return: "You think it's a good thing that I'm like you, which proves you're satisfied with your life. That's one of the reasons I work so hard, isn't it?"
Superman was speechless, only trying to suppress something. Ignoring Batman's objections, he helped him forward until they arrived at the next room.
The entire room consisted of only one platform and one door, but the entire ceiling was covered with gleaming steel needles.
Without a doubt, if the ceiling and the steel needles were to fall together, everyone in the room would be impaled. However, a pillar in the center of the platform supports the ceiling, preventing the steel needles from falling for the time being.
The platform is about a meter high, but it is not welded to the ground. The pillars supporting the platform are threaded through the floor, and it seems that there is something supporting the pillars from below.
Superman was utterly bewildered, completely clueless about what was going on. Batman, however, seemed to have an idea. He looked up at the steel needle and said, "This thing is descending."
"What?!" Superman was completely taken aback.
“It’s slow, but it’s definitely going down,” Batman said. “We need to hold it up from below the platform, otherwise if this thing falls, we’ll be pierced.”
Superman opened his mouth, still not quite understanding how to get through. Batman looked up: "The exit is up there."
Ignoring Superman's doubts, he began to feel around on the wall. Sure enough, there was a lever on the wall, but it couldn't be moved by hand at all; it seemed that something would have to fall down.
Batman looked at the position of the lever and said, "Just as I predicted, the passage will appear after this thing is smashed down by the ceiling."
Batman knocked on the wall again and said, "There's an empty space behind here, enough to hide in. You can then step onto the ceiling and leave through the exit."
Superman was completely bewildered; he couldn't follow Batman's train of thought at all, nor could he imagine how to solve the problem.
Batman took a slight breath and began to explain in more detail: "If I'm not mistaken, there's a switch or something under the platform. Once you pull it down, the ceiling will just fall down."
"Hiss...wouldn't that crush someone to death?"
“No, we can hide under the platform.” Batman pointed to the platform. “The platform is actually quite large, big enough for two adults to hide under, and the surface is metal, so it won’t be pierced by steel needles.”
"Oh, and then what? Are you just going to keep hiding like this?"
"When the ceiling collapses, it will knock down the tie rods on the wall. The wall there will open up, and one of us can climb over, stand up straight, and reach the ceiling. There should be an exit above."
“I don’t understand,” Superman said, even more confused. “Why do we need to climb up there? Can’t we just stay hidden at the bottom of the platform?”
“Once the switch under the platform is turned on, the platform should no longer provide any support.” Batman continued to examine the structure and said, “The weight of the ceiling falling on the platform will require the two of us to hold it up.”
"Then let's just tough it out."
“That will be heavy, Clark. You won’t last long.”
"Isn't this a complete dead end?" Superman asked. "You said we need to hold up the weight ourselves, and if we let go, we'll just crash down. So it's impossible for two people to climb onto the ceiling together. Someone has to be at the bottom supporting us, and wouldn't that person be doomed?"
“That’s the significance of that mechanism from the last level,” Batman said. “If one side of the scale is heavy enough, it can lift the other side, which should help hold up the ceiling. It’s the only way that two people can walk across.”
“Then we’ll wait here,” Superman said. “Didn’t you say the plan would succeed? We’ll wait here until the scales hold up the ceiling.” As he spoke, Superman realized—the ceiling was indeed descending, proving they couldn’t wait indefinitely. Either they both held up the ceiling, or one of them held it up while the other ran.
"The question is, can the plan really succeed?" Batman asked. "It's a two-way game, the core logic being whether you yourself have made a contribution, and whether you believe that others will make a contribution."
Superman rubbed his forehead and said, "Is there really still time to explain the specific principles? Batman, you're the one who made the contribution, so I trust your judgment."
“I’m usually a pessimist,” Batman said. “Even if we’ve made enough contributions, I can’t say the plan will definitely succeed. So the best option right now is…”
Batman instinctively looked up, only to see Superman staring straight into his blue eyes. Batman had never seen so much negative emotion in those clear eyes before—anger, sadness, even resentment.
He suddenly remembered what Superman had told him: So far, Superman had always understood him, but there would always be one time when he wouldn't. It all depended on how many more times he would abandon Superman.
It's like constantly adding weights to a scale, making Superman's heart heavier and heavier until one day it completely sinks to the bottom. Batman realizes that every weight is precious and must be used in the right way.
“I think we can give it a try,” he said. “Although I’m unlucky, maybe you are.”