Chapter 2237: Late Autumn in the Golden City (Part 36)

Seeing Natasha and Pamela strolled into the garden. As soon as she stepped inside, she felt something was off. It was autumn, and the city's perceived temperature wasn't high. The large trees and shrubs in the garden were gradually turning yellow, but there were far too many vines covering the ground, and they were far too green.

Seeing Natasha followed the steps down from the porch. The moment her high heels touched the stone path, she sensed a shadow move within the shrubbery, as if some small animal had darted past.

"You haven't seen me from other worlds?" Pamela asked.

"Not with my own eyes. Aside from Shiler, the one in your universe I'm most familiar with is Batman. I once played a game with two Batmen."

The swaying shadow in the darkness stilled. Pamela asked, "How did it feel?"

"Not bad. I don't want to say they were smart and strong—that's obvious. If I had to describe them, they were quite hot and sexy."

"Of course, especially when they're wearing the Batsuit." Pamela stepped a little closer.

Seeing Natasha looked down. When she saw a thin shadow slithering past her feet, she instinctively lifted her foot, thinking it was a snake. But under the porch light, she realized it was a living vine.

"Did you get them into bed?" Pamela asked again.

"You know the bed isn't the point. If I could find a little spare time, do you think I wouldn't have?"

Pamela sighed, shook her head, and said, "You look like the type he would like."

Seeing Natasha turned her head, tucked a strand of red hair behind her ear, and stared at Pamela, her expression as if to say, "What do you mean by that?"

"Do you think Batman is hard to handle? Then you're right. He projects that signal to everyone, so that when he finally drops his guard for someone, they simply can't resist his attraction. That is his weapon."

"Interesting."

"He uses this weapon against targets of value. Which is to say, besides beauty, you also need to be powerful. Show him your value, and only then can you get him hooked."

"That's how it should be." Seeing Natasha turned back to stare at the vines and said, "The premise is that the game only has the two of us. But unfortunately, that game had four players—two Batmen. They were too busy guarding against each other."

"Two Batmen, plus you. Then who was the fourth?"

"Shiler."

Pamela's footsteps halted. She heard Seeing Natasha say, "The two Batmen don't even count for much. He is the biggest trouble of all. I kept my eyes on him the whole time; I had no time to look for fun."

"Are you very familiar with him?"

"You could say that." Seeing Natasha turned around again, looked at Pamela's expression, and then the female agent smiled and said, "It seems you are very interested in him."

"I can't deny that. In fact, I have a plan..."

When Pamela finished explaining her plan, Seeing Natasha's expression turned somewhat strange.

She ignored the vines darting around her feet, nearly wrapping around her ankles, and Pamela's eager gaze. She ascended the steps at top speed and returned to the porch.

"Little girl, you're beautiful and have great ideas, but unfortunately, I'm heterosexual. It's still early; I'm going to tour the manor. Goodbye!"

Seeing Natasha strode away, leaving Pamela alone, bewildered.

What happened? The atmosphere just now was clearly great; why did it suddenly take such a sharp turn for the worse?

Pamela was certain that her conversation with Seeing Natasha just now wasn't merely idle chatter. Everything was like a prelude to flirting, and Seeing Natasha hadn't shown any aversion to the advances. Could it be that she didn't want to join in?

But Seeing Natasha didn't look like such a conservative person. Pamela guessed she was a socialite or a female agent; such people likely had more extensive romantic histories than everyone present combined. What kind of big scenes hadn't she seen? How could she have chickened out so easily?

But the departing Seeing Natasha was also cursing in her earpiece.

She found a secluded spot, lowered her voice, and roared at Nick, "... It's precisely because I've experienced it that I know what's going on! And now there's a crazy teenager who wants to flirt with him at the banquet! If we're not careful, we'll all be wiped out!"

Nick seemed to say something on the other end, but it didn't satisfy Seeing Natasha. The female agent cursed again, cut the communication, and turned to look at the increasingly lively banquet hall.

Seeing Natasha wasn't a pushover. She had collected intelligence on Shiler for so long that she could be considered the person in the Marvel Universe who understood the composition of Shiler's personality best.

Aside from the most common "Good Doctor" personality, the Professor personality that had occasionally appeared was arrogant. But both of them lived in the tower, and Seeing Natasha had seen with her own eyes that there was a bottomless abyss at the base of the tower.

The Shiler who had died with her came from that abyss, and the one hosting the banquet today clearly did as well.

The problem was that Pamela was indeed smart and beautiful, and if she were truly a fish taking the bait, then inevitably, the events of that fishing night would play out once more.

But the difference was that Seeing Natasha was a long-lived female agent, while Pamela was a teenager—and very likely a teenager with superpowers who could control plants.

Seeing Natasha didn't even dare to imagine what kind of commotion Shiler would cause while struggling with such a fish. Seeing Natasha even began to suspect whether this banquet was Shiler preparing to hold a spatula and fry all the fish in one pot.

Seeing Natasha hesitated for a moment, then turned and walked toward the second floor. She soon arrived at the window of the second-floor corridor, from where she could see a corner of the garden. She saw Pamela walking toward the depths of the garden, the lush shrubs and branches swaying at her sides.

Just then, a breeze blew in through a gap in the window. Seeing Natasha wrinkled her nose and turned to look at a room at the end of the corridor.

The smell of blood.

The female agent was all too familiar with it. She bent slightly to lower her center of gravity, hugging the wall as she walked over. Even in high heels, she didn't make a single sound.

Ahead was the manor's master bedroom, and Seeing Natasha could clearly distinguish that this wasn't the smell of Shiler's blood. It had a peculiar scent, smelling like blood dripping onto snow.

Gently pushing open the unlocked door of the master bedroom, what appeared before her was an ordinary manor bedroom. Seeing Natasha walked in on tiptoe and found a trace of blood in the floorboards.

Blue blood.

Seeing Natasha suddenly understood. She pressed her earpiece to speak to Nick, but heard footsteps coming from the other end of the corridor.

"The second floor is my bedroom and guest room. The bedroom is currently not open to the public. Perhaps you could check the guest room..."

It was Shiler's voice. Then Seeing Natasha heard another voice respond—it was Strange.

They knew each other?

Of course, it wasn't a question of whether Shiler knew Strange, but rather, how did that group of Shilers living in the abyss know Strange?

Countless mysteries swirled in Seeing Natasha's mind, giving her a splitting headache. However, the two were about to walk over, so the female agent had no choice but to hide on the balcony as quickly as possible.

"Can't I go into the bedroom to take a look?"

Seeing Natasha heard Strange say this and slapped her forehead. Why did everyone have such inappropriate curiosity about Shiler, especially these dangerous Shilers?!

Fine, she herself had once been that fish caught on the hook, so she couldn't judge others. But Shiler had actually agreed! Seeing Natasha couldn't help but start to wonder what kind of relationship the two of them had.

While thinking, the female agent climbed down the balcony. There were lights in the garden, making it brighter than the unlit master bedroom. Standing behind the curtains like this, her shadow would definitely be seen.

Climbing down in high heels wasn't difficult; Seeing Natasha was quite accustomed to it. However, she was somewhat worried that her dress might get dirty, and it wouldn't be appropriate to appear unseemly at the banquet.

Just as Seeing Natasha's foot was searching for the next foothold, she suddenly felt she had stepped on something soft yet tough. She looked back and saw a thick vine extended beneath her feet, and Pamela was standing in the distance, watching her.

As soon as Seeing Natasha landed, she couldn't hold it in anymore.

"Shit! What the hell is going on? Why is Loki's blood in Shiler's room? What happened between the two of them? And what about Shiler and Strange?! And you, what are you trying to do?!"

Pamela landed on the vines, reached out a hand toward Seeing Natasha, and said, "Don't be so serious. We just want to have some fun."

"Do you know what price this will cost?!" Seeing Natasha raised her voice.

"Of course. We know how tolerant Professor Shiler is. I imagine the others are much the same. But that's all for later. Why can't we have some fun now?"

Alright, now Seeing Natasha was certain: this group of people hadn't distinguished at all between the Shiler in the abyss and the one in the tower!

If you provoke Greed or Pride, you will naturally face retaliation. The difference is that Greed might take a long detour, and you'll only suffer a terrible fate when you've almost forgotten about it. Pride's retaliation usually comes faster, because he settles old scores from front to back.

But regardless, they still have reason. Even if they make someone suffer a terrible fate, they won't destroy the overall situation, doing their best to make everything move toward the better—even the person suffering the fate will always gain something or other.

To the "normal" Shiler, this is like a compulsion. They believe that if they have the ability to do so, they should do so. This is also the thought process of the vast majority of ordinary people: if you can make things better while satisfying your own desires, why not?

But the "pathological" ones are not like that.

They appear to have reason and, generally speaking, look like decent human beings, but in reality, they have none at all. They don't care what the situation becomes, how many people bleed, get hurt, or die; they only follow their instincts to satisfy their desires.

Pamela and the others realized that the Shiler hosting the banquet might be different from the usual one, and more dangerous than the usual one, but none of them truly realized just how dangerous the pathological Shiler was.

Loki, who was now missing, was an example. He must have come to the manor early, wanting to discuss something with Shiler, but ran head-on into the pathological Shiler. The outcome could be imagined.

Thinking of how many fish were under Shiler's hook, and that to maintain this important banquet for the exchange between two worlds, she had to save those fish that were nudging their mouths forward, or even already hooked, Seeing Natasha felt a deep sense of despair.

Is this world just one giant fishpond?! ===== CHAPTER 2238 =====