amaotonovel Chapter 3750 The Perilous Situation of Dark City (3)
Chapter 3750 The Perilous Situation of Dark City (3)
Chapter 3750 The Perilous Situation in Dark City (Thirteen)
"Are you...are you okay?"
Batman's slightly complicated tone pulled Schiller back to reality. This prevented the agent from immediately banishing arrogance and greed from his surface consciousness. He had to take control of his body again, managing a weak smile at Batman and saying, "I'm fine. How are you feeling?"
“I can’t say I’m fully adapted to this body,” Batman said, shaking his head slightly. “But with the help of nanotech gear, I think I’ll adapt quickly. Can you tell me about the situation in the city right now?”
“Of course.” Schiller nodded and said, “There are currently three forces in the city: the Holy Order led by the Angel of Death Paul, the Assassin Guild led by Lady Shiva, and the Rebel Army led by Tone. So far, the leaders of all three forces are dead, but the lower-level members are still fighting each other in the city.”
At this point, Schiller seemed to have thought of something else and said, "However, there is a fourth force lurking behind the scenes."
“I know,” Batman said. “The Batman who came to save me and I were defeated by them.”
Schiller's eyes lit up. He said, "Do you know who they are?"
“That Batman seems to know, but he didn’t tell me.” Batman shook his head and said, “I can only tell you that they possess many amazing powers. And the stronger you are, the stronger they become.”
"Could you tell me in detail what happened when the two of you were fighting side by side? Perhaps I can deduce some useful information."
“He came here to save me not long ago. Like you, he gave me the nanotech equipment and told me that he had defeated a crazy Batman and taken it from him. I told him that it wasn’t Batman, but a monster with Batman’s body and the Joker’s brain. He seemed to understand.”
"So, he had already defeated Nano Batman when he arrived here?" Schiller muttered to himself, marveling, "He's just too strong."
“That’s right. Compared to him, I really can’t be called the Dark Knight.” Batman shook his head, showing frustration and helplessness. Schiller looked up at him. Although he was currently using the body of the Angel of Death, his expression, tone, and movements revealed that he was not a very mature person and was far from being the Batman of Arkham.
“Don’t belittle yourself,” Schiller said. “I don’t know if he told you about the difference between the Light Multiverse and the Dark Multiverse. You were just unlucky to be born into a Dark Multiverse that is far too complicated. And it’s not without reason that the mastermind is targeting you.”
“He did tell me that,” Batman said. “He said he suspects the mastermind might be using my terrible condition to deceive kind-hearted Batmen and Robins, to inflict psychological damage on them. I don’t want that to happen, but there’s nothing I can do about it.”
Schiller opened his mouth, about to say something, but then stopped. Damn it, the topic had veered off course again! This wasn't the time for therapy!
“Tell me first what kind of enemy you and that Batman encountered,” Schiller said, looking Batman into the eyes.
"Actually, I don't know."
"what?"
“I know it’s ridiculous, but I never knew what the enemy looked like. All I can tell you is that when he found me and put me back in that broken body, he was badly injured. When I asked him who had injured him like that, he said, ‘It was this city.’”
Batman paused, seemingly pondering the deeper meaning of his words, but clearly couldn't grasp it. He continued, "After we left the underground, the city completely changed. It became pitch black outside, and things kept attacking us from the darkness..."
"what?"
“I can’t tell,” Batman said. “It’s too dark, and we don’t have night vision equipment. But I don’t think it’s a member of the Order, and it certainly can’t be an ordinary, untrained rebel. I think it might be… a ghost.”
"A ghost?" Schiller didn't hide the surprise in his voice. He truly never expected to hear ghost stories from Batman.
“That Batman was injured like that by these monsters,” Batman continued. “They appear and disappear mysteriously, and almost all modern weapons are ineffective against them. We spent about a day like that, and he became more and more silent, and then told me that his mission had failed and he was leaving. He wouldn’t be coming back until he had cracked the secret behind it.”
"he left?"
"Yes. Then I was attacked by them and lost consciousness. When I woke up, I was back in the water tank. It was then that I realized he was right. This was a carefully set trap to trap one savior after another like him. But I really don't understand what those monsters in the shadows are all about. I think that's what he's trying to figure out."
Schiller understood completely. It seemed the monsters that attacked them at the last moment were the Laughing's trump card. Arkham Batman realized then that brute force probably wouldn't solve the problem. To be precise, he was caught in a vicious cycle—his opponent had used underhanded tactics, so continuing to fight in the instance wouldn't yield any good results. Therefore, he chose to end the mission and leave the instance.
But Arkham Batman won't give up so easily. He's the Batman who, in one night, repeatedly crushed all the villains with the Batmobile and even collected all the Riddler's trophies. Having suffered such a heavy loss at the hands of the mastermind, there's no way he'll remain completely indifferent. He must be devising a way to break the deadlock from the outside and putting it into action as soon as possible. And judging by his usual efficiency, the revenge operation isn't far off.
Schiller felt somewhat relieved and said to Batman, "What I need to tell you is that the mastermind follows a rather hypocritical principle of fairness. Simply put, the stronger those who oppose him, the stronger the traps he sets. The Batman who came to save you probably made the battle incredibly difficult because he was completely unprepared for this."
"I see," Batman said, suddenly realizing. "No wonder he said the monsters got stronger after we left. So what do we do now? Try to make ourselves as weak as possible?"
Schiller shook his head and said, "As I said, what the mastermind provides is not true fairness, but a false fairness—the conditions seem equal, but in reality, it still benefits him. What he pursues is still victory, not fairness. So if you shrink back and stop in order not to increase the difficulty, he will not show mercy for it, but will take advantage of you and then laugh at your cowardice."
At this moment, Schiller froze. He sighed and said, "There's no time to analyze. We have to act quickly. If nothing unexpected happens, once I take you away now, the situation in the city will be completely different."
Although Schiller said that, he didn't hesitate. He led Batman, who was using the body of the Angel of Death, out as quickly as possible. After leaving the city hall, it was pitch black outside.
Even more terrifying was the absence of the shouts and explosions. The city was eerily quiet, shrouded in dense darkness. In the hallucinations, almost no color was visible. This meant Gotham had become a ghost town.
Batman behind Schiller took a slight breath. He heard Batman say, "That's it. This is what the city looked like when I and another Batman came out from underground."
"So you think you've increased the difficulty because I have help?" Schiller narrowed his eyes, pulled out a pistol from his pocket, but then put it back after a moment's thought. Batman's statement that firearms are useless against monsters was probably true. He sensed something unusual in the deathly darkness.
“Give me three seconds,” Schiller said. “I need to have a meeting.”
Batman couldn't understand what he was saying, but the agent, filled with arrogance and greed, had already sunk from the surface of consciousness. Back in the tower, the agent said, "Something's wrong. Something's wrong with this city."
“Obviously,” said Arrogance.
"It's suddenly gone from a war movie to a horror movie," Greed said, arms crossed. "It's definitely the Laughing One's doing again. We just don't know what he's up to yet. This is getting a bit troublesome."
“I have an idea,” the agent said. “Let’s go find ‘inspiration’.”
Arrogance and greed both looked at him.
Batman stared at Schiller for three seconds, then regained his composure. But he couldn't help asking again, "Are you alright?"
Schiller smiled at him and said, "I'm fine. I've roughly figured out what happened. Let's talk as we walk."
Batman had a strange feeling, as if the Schiller he was talking to now was different from before, but his expression and behavior weren't significantly different. He didn't know how to describe it.
“You’re right, this city is indeed haunted. But this isn’t Gotham.”
"what?"
"I mean, this isn't your Gotham, nor is it the Gotham I'm supposed to be completing my mission in. Someone has moved the city."
"Changed?!" Batman could no longer hide his confusion and shock. He said, "What do you mean by changing the city?"
"You can think of it this way: the mastermind has a backup city. This city exists in a very peculiar way, like a ghost ship from legend. When this ghost city descends upon a city, it can replace the original city. Everything here is controlled by the ghost city, and the monsters that attacked you were also released by it. The purpose is to deplete your strength and to deceive you—even if you go to great lengths to save this place, it will be of no use."
“I can’t believe it,” Batman said. Then he suddenly realized and said, “Now that you mention it, I remember. The Batman who came to save me before he left told me, ‘This might all be wrong.’ At the time, I didn’t understand what he meant. I thought he was saying that his own plan was wrong.”
“No, he probably means the city is wrong,” Schiller said, spreading his hands. “I’ve said it before, it’s a false sense of fairness. It seems like the city has become dangerous because you’ve become my ally, but the mastermind behind it all is using a switcheroo to prevent me from making any further progress. If the target is wrong, then the plan to save the city will never succeed.”
"Damn it," Batman cursed, then added, "So what do we do now? How do we escape this fake city?"
“Don’t rush, let’s exchange a few blows with him first.” Schiller laughed again. Batman noticed that this smile was completely different from before; it wasn’t a gentle reassurance, nor did it convey any smug satisfaction. In the absolute darkness, it looked exceptionally pale, as if releasing a dangerous signal that it was about to pull people out of this real world and throw them into another chaotic, inverted world.