Chapter 4668: Desperate Escape (47)

Batman and Superman stood in the central energy control room. He looked at the light sources on the walls and the shadows they cast, seemingly deducing something.

"Batman, I just remembered," Superman said, looking at him. "In the previous level, you stared at the ceiling for a long time. What was on the ceiling?"

"Some symbols," Batman said. "After I discovered those symbols, I observed other rooms and found that they seemed to exist in places where the light was very dim as well."

"Symbols? How come I didn't see them?"

"They were all in the deepest shadows of the light," Batman said. "And it seems they can only be seen from a specific angle."

"What are they?"

"Not entirely clear yet," Batman said. "But I think it might be related to a hidden plot. Or perhaps not a hidden plot; it depends on whether we can actually find something here."

"Then what should we look for?" Superman asked.

"Anything, anything unusual," Batman looked around. "Perhaps above, perhaps below; there should at least be an entrance or exit. Perhaps... right in the shadows."

Batman pointed to the space above the massive energy hub device in the very center of the central energy control room, then said: "Go up and take a look. Clark, see if there's anything there."

Clark nodded. His condition was still decent, and he climbed up using his hands and feet. After reaching the very top, he discovered that a brick was missing in the area where the shadows were thickest.

"A brick is missing," he shouted down. "Should I reach in and try it out?"

Before Batman could answer, Superman had already reached his hand in. It was unknown what he felt, but the ground suddenly trembled slightly, and a hidden tunnel door appeared next to the hub device.

Superman jumped down, somewhat surprised, and said: "There really was one. But isn't this a bit too simple?"

Batman shook his head and said: "First, we have to deduce from the plot that there is a third party. Second, the darkest place in every room is a habitual blind spot for most people's vision. If no abnormality was found there, one might not even think of where the room's mechanism is located. Taken together, it's not exactly simple."

Superman thought about it and felt it was true. If it were just him, it would be very difficult to even deduce from the plot that there was another force, because he hadn't actually seen anything at all.

"Wait," Superman realized something else. "This shouldn't be a normal access passage, right? According to the normal level flow, we shouldn't even be appearing here."

"This is also a staff passage," Batman said. "Secret rooms also need maintenance. It's just that they were probably worried about accidentally opening the door, so they specifically designed a switch, which we happened to find."

The two walked down and found that it really didn't seem to be a normal passage, because the ladder ended halfway down, and one had to jump the rest. Superman jumped down first, then waved at Batman above and said: "Jump, I can catch you."

Batman was clearly hesitant. He said: "See what's there, Clark; I won't go down."

"I'm afraid that won't work, Batman," Superman's voice came up. "This place is filled with all sorts of terrifying text and patterns. If you don't come down, I can't even understand what I'm looking at, let alone translate it for you."

Batman had no choice but to jump down. However, Superman caught him perfectly; although he was also knocked to the ground, he didn't let Batman get hurt.

After landing, Batman discovered that it was indeed as Superman had said, and indeed as he had deduced: this place was a cultist den, filled everywhere with magic circles and runes written in blood. Then Batman discovered that he had truly found the symbols he had seen on the ceiling.

Batman mapped the patterns in his mind to those on the magic circles one by one, but still couldn't find anything. It wasn't until this moment that Superman brought over a scroll of notes. After Batman unfolded it, he found it written: "Ten Thousand Hands Become One God — Flesh Sacrifice Ritual."

In the level with the skylight, everyone sat in their respective rooms waiting. Although they had waited for a very, very long time, they were still very patient. For no other reason than because the ones who went were Bruce and Shiler.

Even if they didn't know each other's identities before, by this level, they could already communicate, so they all knew who had left. And it was normal for these two to be slow at clearing the level; after all, they might have a series of pre-clearance rituals like going crazy, stabbing each other, or verbal attacks, so even if they played there for a day, the others wouldn't find it strange.

It could only be said that this was a case of several nested bugs running smoothly. Bruce and Shiler, these two stubborn mules, refused to compromise for the level design, firmly believing their own thoughts were correct, so they just stayed there deducing and researching, without taking any action at all.

And because the others knew them very well, they weren't anxious at all, just letting them be stubborn there. Whether they were acting or waiting, not a single person felt anxious. So much so that they dragged it out until Batman and Superman arrived.

Bruce and Shiler were still discussing the cultist plot.

"The previous levels, although they caused physical harm, clearly weren't this violent and bloody," Bruce said with a frown. "Whether it was the collarbone rings or the blood donation method, it all seemed very restrained. One could even say the designer somewhat hated seeing blood. Otherwise, the blood donation level could have completely provided a fixed blade instead of such a gentle measure as a syringe. The organizer even designed a device to flush the pipes with water; it could almost be called a germaphobe."

"However, there is indeed scientific research showing that the probability of psychopaths among germaphobes is slightly higher," Bruce said. "If the level designer is a psychopath, then it's not strange for him to be a germaphobe. Of course, I don't mean that you are a psychopath, Professor."

"You could have left out that last sentence, thank you."

"Would such a person really come up with plot points like blades slicing arms and guillotines chopping hands?" Bruce continued to deduce. "The last level was covered in blood, with severed fingers all over the floor. This clearly doesn't fit the aesthetic of a germaphobe; even I find it a bit disgusting."

"Even if it's not a germaphobe, for practical considerations, they wouldn't use this method, because cleaning it up is too much trouble. Can you imagine needing a cleaner to hang a rope up to wipe the walls of the skylight? The company wouldn't do that!"

"And this characteristic of excessively pursuing violence and gore usually appears in rituals related to cult sacrifices. For example, needing specific organs, needing to splash large amounts of blood, needing to perform fire or water torture. Only that bunch of abnormal cultists could think of such methods," Bruce said. "So I feel that these last two levels are highly likely to be the work of cultists, with them slipping in their own private goods during the levels, all to use the players to complete a sacrifice."

No sooner had he finished speaking than he heard a very faint sound coming from the wall next to them. The two immediately stopped their movements and assumed a fighting stance. However, apart from the sound, there was nothing.

Bruce cautiously leaned over, but then stopped his steps. He grinned, sucked in a breath, and said: "Professor, it's all because of that hypothesis you told me earlier."

"What?"

"The one where you said you would put a mechanism in the drawer, and as soon as I leaned over, a steel needle would pierce through my brain or something..."

Shiler couldn't take it anymore, pushed him aside, walked to the wall himself, and leaned against it to listen for movement. And from the other side of the wall came a rhythmic tapping sound.

The sound was very faint, mainly judged by the vibration. Shiler quickly realized the other party was tapping Morse code.

"Level, fake, sacrifice, hand."

"Batman?" Shiler tapped back with a crowbar.

"Yes," the other party responded.

Shiler quickly guessed what was going on. Batman and the others must have had their spots squeezed out by Stark, but they didn't just quit; instead, they went to find the cultists' lair.

With Batman's capabilities, he definitely could find it. They might have found more direct evidence there regarding the cultists, and this evidence pointed exactly to their hypothesis—that both the previous level and this one had problems, not arranged by the company, but by cultists slipping in their own private goods. And the purpose of slipping in private goods was to sacrifice flesh and blood.

"Hand, god," Batman tapped again.

Shiler thought about it. Batman might be saying that the god these cultists worship might be related to hands; otherwise, they wouldn't both be messing with arms in these two levels. However, the world is vast, and people worship all sorts of things, so it wouldn't be strange to have a God of Ten Thousand Hands.

But if this level is fake, then what about the real level? Shiler thought that Batman's basic skills in Morse code were still not as good as Anatoly's, or rather, he wasn't very willing to use Morse code for long-winded discussions. Anatoly was different; he could even chat with Shiler by tapping Morse code on the table with his fingers while working; this stuff was probably already engraved in his genes.

However, Batman still gave a clue as concisely as possible—"Above."

Shiler subconsciously looked at the ceiling, and then he suddenly realized that this didn't refer to the top of this room, but to the skylight room.

Shiler told Bruce the clue. After Bruce thought about it, he said: "The cultists shouldn't have the ability to create a large mechanism out of thin air under the company's nose. So it's highly likely they modified the original mechanism. That is to say, the room structure of the previous level was designed by the company, and the winch and iron chains were also built by the company. The cultists did some work on it to change the so-called clearance method."

He paused and then said: "But why did that organizer who snuck in also say they needed to get the key?"

"Because that organizer is the level designer," Shiler finally revealed this shocking secret. "That is Tony Stark."

Bruce widened his eyes, gestured with his hand, and then said, "So those organizers are..."

"They are all Administrators of the Battle Realm," Schiller said. "They aren't NPCs designed for the game; they are the level designers themselves, working behind the scenes."

Bruce opened his mouth, taking a moment to process this astonishing fact, and then understood why Stark had also said that was how to clear the level. Because under normal circumstances, the cultist plotline was likely a mandatory part of the game, so Stark, with his god's-eye view, felt that the level had to be cleared that way.

"Wait." Bruce found another point that didn't make sense. He said, "So he broke in on purpose just to keep Batman and the others locked out? Isn't that a bit too self-sacrificing?"

Schiller shook his head and said, "Do you remember what the penalty for failure was in the Lantern level?"

"Uh, wasn't it execution?"