Chapter 3199

When Schiller saw the pile of electric shock equipment the Joker had rigged up, he felt that the Pale Knight must have wronged Bruce.

In the video filmed by the Joker, only the front half of this equipment appeared; seeing the full picture now, Schiller realized it was normal that this thing couldn't be debugged, because the device in front of him had a rather steampunk aesthetic, like a relic from the Victorian era, and Schiller simply couldn't tell which part of this contraption could generate current.

Schiller began to consider whether he should hand this Deep One over to Bruce.

Catching fish-men is quite troublesome, and his night-vision goggles were running low on power; now they only had this one precious sample in their hands, and if Bruce were to give him another "artificial tribulation," it would be a real problem.

However, Bruce was quite confident; he fiddled with the equipment for a long time, then asked Schiller and the Pale Knight to lift the Deep One to the center of the room, as Bruce prepared to hook him up to the electric shocker.

The Deep One's lower legs had been shattered by bullets, and his nasal cavity and jaw had been smashed by Schiller with a crowbar; he couldn't speak at this moment and could only let out wailing, gurgling screams.

"I'll state first that I don't hold any sympathy for these monsters, but I don't think this is the right method if we want to get information out of him," the Pale Knight said.

Actually, Schiller had no intention of getting any information out of the Deep One's mouth; this guy and humans probably couldn't communicate, and humans would lose their sanity just by hearing the things they said, so there was no need for any interrogation.

But the agent wouldn't perform an autopsy, and the only one with autopsy skills currently was Bruce; however, in this situation, if you didn't let Bruce have his fun, he definitely wouldn't do the real work, so he had to be left to his own devices.

Schiller didn't think the Deep One would be electrocuted to death; this thing's vitality should be quite tenacious, and Bruce, having tested it once on the Joker, should have gained some experience, so shocking him a bit wouldn't be a problem.

Bruce clamped the huge metal clips that conducted current onto the Deep One's limbs, and then inserted a metal rod into his abdominal cavity.

After starting the machine, Schiller only saw the room suddenly brighten; this thing the Joker modified certainly had high power.

The Deep One let out a terrifying scream and then lost consciousness; it was also the first time Schiller knew that such ugly monsters could faint.

Human fear of lightning even predates the fear of fire; although modern humans have integrated electrical energy into every aspect of social life, they still hold a strong fear of direct contact with current, the reason being that current is simply the natural nemesis of carbon-based organisms.

If you eat something bad, you can vomit it out; if you are burned by fire, you can run away; but carbon-based organisms have almost no way to resist current passing through their bodies. The moment current enters the body, it's too late for everything.

Bruce seemed very satisfied with his debugging results; although he had indeed not used knowledge of mechanical engineering for a long time, the foundation was still there after all. Soon, he debugged several more types of current, making the already unconscious Deep One's muscles twitch, looking just like a fish flopping around after being pulled ashore.

After the debugging was mostly done, Bruce finally started the real work; he used a sharp boning knife to cut open the Deep One's abdomen.

The Pale Knight also leaned in to look, but the result greatly disappointed him; the Deep One's internal organ structure wasn't much different from a human's, or rather, for a vertebrate that grows into this form, there is no longer any room for evolution in the layout of internal organs.

Subsequently, he checked the chest cavity and reproductive organs and found they were also similar to humans, but what was more bizarre was that their respiratory and circulatory systems were vastly different from humans; like fish, they rely on gills to filter oxygen from the water, while their lungs can store oxygen for activities on land.

That is to say, they don't actually breathe on land; they rely on the oxygen stored in their bodies for internal circulatory respiration.

After Bruce made a few cuts, he discovered that the weakness of this monster wasn't in the heart or the brain; accurately speaking, the heart and brain were also vital parts, but the simplest way to kill them was to attack the air sacs in the lungs. Once their stored oxygen was exhausted, they would also suffocate and die.

And through this autopsy result, Schiller could know that the time each Deep One could be active on land was limited. After Bruce threw a successful check die, he deduced that this time was approximately 8 hours.

Every 8 hours, Deep Ones active on land had to return to the water to change air, and they also needed a certain amount of time to accumulate oxygen. After throwing another successful die, Bruce deduced that the time to accumulate oxygen was also approximately 8 hours.

That is to say, Deep Ones are on a 16-hour shift system: 8 hours on duty, 8 hours off duty. The importance of this information lies in letting the group know that this kind of monster is destined to change shifts.

Friends who have been assassins know that no matter how tight the defense is, as long as shifts need to be changed, there is always an opportunity to be exploited.

And Bruce also deduced a conclusion, which is that there is no reproductive isolation between Deep Ones and humans, because the two are indeed too similar, although there was no accurate conclusion as to whether what they gave birth to was a human-monster hybrid or just monsters.

However, Schiller knew himself that after Deep Ones and humans mate and produce offspring, the children would be in human form when young, but the older they grew, the more they would lean toward Deep Ones, and they were destined to return to the ocean, unable to survive on land for long periods.

After he told Bruce this speculation of his, Bruce inferred that looking like humans when young might be because the respiratory system was not fully developed, while growing more and more like a Deep One as they aged belonged to the part of the Deep One's genes gradually transforming the respiratory system, forcing the hybrid to return to the ocean, otherwise they wouldn't be able to breathe.

But Bruce also speculated that the reproductive ability of such products of human-monster intermarriage would become weaker and weaker, and after about 1-2 generations, they would no longer be able to produce offspring; otherwise, just from this invasion alone, the number of Deep Ones would grow exponentially, and humans would sooner or later all become Deep Ones.

Schiller didn't want to study Deep One genetics for the time being; he had more important work to do, but he couldn't take Bruce and the Pale Knight with him, because the two of them were neither knowledgeable nor had any resistance in this regard. If either of them went crazy, Schiller didn't want to waste resources dealing with them.

"Now you have two choices," Schiller said. "There is a group of survivors in the village; they have quite good weapons in their hands, but the people aren't very smart. You might be able to go find them."

He was actually hinting for Bruce and the Pale Knight to take over the resources in the survivors' hands, not saying they should go and openly rob them, but to see if they could become the survivors' leaders.

Even if it was for the sake of resources, it was estimated that they could save a few people in the end, and at that time, they could also make use of the survivors' identities.

"What about the other path?" Bruce asked. He really didn't want to save people, especially not people evaluated by this Schiller as "not very smart." He could already imagine how stupid that group of people was.

"Go find Batman," Schiller said after thinking for a moment. "He went to the pier, but his state is probably not very good. I think you can find a way to save him. Now that the Joker is gone, he should be able to exert his full strength."

The Pale Knight opened his mouth; he actually wanted to go save the survivors himself. He wasn't entirely acting out of kindness, but considering that if survivors survived, the tragedy that happened here would have a hope of being made public, which could save more people.

But saving Batman was equally important. The Pale Knight could certainly see how strong this Batman was, especially when set against Bruce, making him appear even more reliable; they needed a leader like that.

"Don't think about splitting up," Schiller said. "Next, you might encounter some things far beyond your cognition—terror, bizarreness, grotesquerie—that make everyone unable to master their own destiny. Human life is as thin as grass, and even if you try your best, you might not be able to fully protect yourself."

The Pale Knight's expression also gradually became serious. He said, "If it's only this monster you call a Deep One, it shouldn't reach such a severe degree. Is there anything else?"

"Of course, these visible and tangible monsters are far from being a disaster. The real disaster is always invisible."

The Pale Knight took a deep breath and said, "I think we should still go back to the village. Besides believing in that Batman's ability, I also feel that he might not need our reckless help. Instead, if he is there, he should also choose to take in the survivors."

"Alright, I might meet up with you later, but it's also possible I won't. It mainly depends on whether I can obtain useful clues at the next investigation site."

"Do you have any advice for us?" Although the Pale Knight felt that Schiller might not know more, and this might also increase his pressure, listening to each other's advice could at least deepen the trust between them.

On the surface, the few people alive now no longer had conflicts of interest; at least the players' faction had unified, and now with a great enemy in front, even if the characters' factions in the game weren't unified, they could at least cooperate temporarily.

Schiller thought for a moment and said, "Do not be tempted."

"Do not be tempted?" The Pale Knight repeated this sentence. He really didn't expect this kind of advice; he thought it would be advice like "stay calm" or "don't be indecisive."

Schiller nodded and said, "As much as possible, do not develop an interest in unknown creatures, and do not think there is a shortcut to solving this problem, and even more so, do not walk up to it, otherwise you will only sink deeper and deeper."

"What about me?" Bruce leaned over and asked. "Any advice for me?"

Schiller hesitated for a moment before saying, "Can you tell me how many points you put into your intelligence?"

"Uh... is that important? Alright, I didn't add any extra intelligence points."

"So how many points is it?"

"5."

"Then it's fine."

"What? No advice?"

"You don't need any advice, just keep yourself in check." Schiller looked at Bruce and pointed at the Pale Knight, saying, "If possible, don't let him die."

The Pale Knight raised an eyebrow; the expression was as if to say, "Let him help me? Are you serious?"

It really wasn't that the Pale Knight was too arrogant, but that Bruce's unreliability was written all over his face. Not to mention anything else, is there any normal person who would let their intelligence be only 5 when playing this kind of game?

"Rely on him to save me? Might as well rely on the Joker who just finished his tribulation to take me away."

Watching the backs of the two leaving, Schiller sighed in his heart. Now Bruce's personality is a natural counter to this kind of superstitious game setting; if he had even a tiny bit of spirituality in this regard, he wouldn't have failed to learn psychoanalysis for ten years.