Chapter 4792: Royal Casino (Six)

The situation still developed beyond Greedy's expectations. Matt was cut down in a single encounter, and since Zhou Xuan didn't show up, he didn't earn many chips. But this wasn't the worst news. From the speed at which Matt fell near death, Greedy could tell that Arkham Batman must have received a significant boost.

Greedy also cursed Doctor Manhattan in his heart: enhancing Batman's appearance and physique wasn't enough; did they have to give him an even stronger skill set?

As for Arkham Batman, the reason he could take down Matt so quickly actually comes down to two words—ambush.

To be precise, it was a waiting game. Arkham Batman knew Matt could see through him and would certainly come to save Superman, so he set a trap.

He brought Superman to the chair with the green marking, which was electrified and seemed capable of killing a person. After tying Superman to it, he waited here for a while, pretending he still had things to do, and planned to leave through the front door.

As expected, Matt sneaked in through the back door. And just as he was about to operate that chair to save someone, Arkham Batman returned and punched Matt down with one blow.

His wind-up before punching was very short. After knocking Matt to the ground, the bat dart added damage, followed immediately by another punch. Strangely, this time two punches were enough to bring him near death. It seemed Superman's base stats had been enhanced, allowing him to survive three punches without dying.

When Matt fell, Arkham Batman finally eliminated a major threat. Now, Greedy had no attack skills, Lucifer didn't know how to play, the agent had defected, and world peace was not far off.

"Matt is down." Greedy sighed and said to the agent.

"Someone must have completed the seal," the agent said. "Completing two seals unlocks a new skill, and continuing to complete them strengthens it further. Matt might have been caught off guard and ambushed."

"What should we do now?" Greedy said with a slight headache. The situation could be described as taking a sharp turn for the worse; the time left for them to develop was truly insufficient, and Batman would soon come knocking.

The agent also let out a light sigh, saying: "I could just leave on my own, anyway my victory condition has been changed."

Greedy raised an eyebrow, and the agent briefly explained what had happened to him after being hit by a skill. Greedy thought for a moment and said: "So if you leave, does that count as him winning?"

"Probably, though it might not be a perfect victory."

"That works too," Greedy said without hesitation, "If we can't escape, then you leaving alone is fine. Or you could tell him our position, he takes us all out, and you can just walk away."

"Don't joke around," the agent said anxiously, "If it were just the two of us, we could do that. Anyway, we're one person. But have you considered Lucifer and Matt? Even Superman wouldn't do. They'll kill me, this traitor."

"That's why I'm telling you this—I have no intention of defecting to Batman. I don't want to be hunted by Superman, Lucifer, and Nightwing together. This isn't my duty, and President Mr. didn't pay for this."

Greedy laughed and said: "Then you will indeed be hunted. Especially Matt—he and I are close, and he could be described as hating evil like an enemy. If you offend him, you can forget about ever going to the Central Universe."

"So we need to figure out what to do now," the agent said, "I'm alone, I can't stay here to protect you while also going to save Matt. And Lucifer is out of the question."

"No," Greedy said, "just let Lucifer go save him."

The agent looked at him doubtfully, and Greedy continued: "Lucifer isn't useless; he just isn't invested. But that might only be because he feels no pressure. You saw during the escape room—he wasn't just playing, he was really into it."

"Wasn't that because Anatoly was there?"

"We can do it too," Greedy said, "I'll hide first, you try to find him."

"Where will you hide?"

"Obviously in the closet."

Although it wasn't very safe, there was no better option. After the agent left, Greedy found a closet in the hallway and hid inside. After that, he could only leave things to fate.

Arkham Batman indeed came over quickly. With unrestricted movement and a grappling hook, searching the five-floor casino was a breeze. Moreover, he had night vision goggles, so nothing could escape his sight.

Arkham Batman could still use the President's suit skill, allowing him to highlight gambling facilities currently in use. When he highlighted them before, someone was using them on this floor, and he suspected it was Greedy. Now, as long as he took care of Greedy, the game was as good as won.

After going upstairs, he first checked the rooms, especially those where the used gambling facilities were located, but found no one. Then he went up another floor, and shortly after came back down. Afterward, disbelieving, he returned to this floor again.

Hiding in the closet, Greedy could only curse in his heart: This floor doesn't have it—can't you go check the top floor? Who gave you the confidence that I'm definitely on this floor? Don't you know rabbits don't eat the grass beside their burrow?

In fact, he had truly underestimated Arkham Batman. Just because of that psychological tactic he used during the hunt, which let Black Widow escape fail, now Arkham Batman is always anticipating Shiler's anticipation.

He thought, Shiler will definitely play the "dark under the lamp" tactic. Meaning, even though he knows I'll come looking for him, he won't run far away, but will just hide around the facilities I previously used.

After I come around and search once, find nothing, I'll assume he's already fled and go look farther away. That way, he can seize the opportunity to slip away, go to another place to show a trace, continue playing this trick, and waste my time.

I have to admit his prediction was still quite accurate—Greedy's plan was exactly like that. It's not that he didn't want to play prediction games, or prediction-of-prediction nesting dolls, but his strength simply didn't allow it. Not mental strength, but he lacked escape skills. Even if he ran, he couldn't get far, and might even run headfirst into something. Playing "dark under the lamp" was also a helpless move.

Seeing Arkham Batman stubbornly staying here, Greedy actually hesitated about whether to come out and show himself, pretend to be cut down by him, then escape midway. But even if he escaped halfway, without acceleration skills he couldn't go far, and that board-trick routine would definitely not work.

Arkham Batman finally began checking the closets. It wasn't that he hadn't thought of this before, but he hadn't known closets could hide people. After all, in the previous round, none of them had hidden in a closet, so he didn't know this rule existed.

Watching Arkham Batman check one closet after another, Greedy finally gave up his fantasy. But he realized there might still be another way out—that is, to get Matt back on his feet.

Arkham Batman didn't know Matt could stand up from near death on his own, so he would certainly be unprepared. He had many control and survival items in hand; the moment Matt stood up, he could throw them at Arkham Batman, then use a medical kit to pull Matt up, and the two of them walking together could escape.

But how to get Arkham Batman to bring himself to Matt? He didn't know where Matt had been cut down, and Arkham Batman obviously no longer accepted persuasion.

Greedy weighed it in his heart, thinking about whether to use items for a desperate last stand, but in the end he still gave up. He didn't want to waste items like that.

Greedy held his breath in the closet, listening to Arkham Batman's footsteps growing closer. The moment the closet door opened, he flashed out, dodged Arkham Batman's first punch, and immediately ran toward the end of the hallway.

His straight-line speed was completely no match for Arkham Batman's, so he quickly left this straight path, jumped down from the courtyard. Upon reaching the first floor, he casually picked a direction and hid behind a gambling table, using the line of sight to conceal himself.

He didn't know if Batman had marking skills, but he could observe. Arkham Batman unconsciously observed the surrounding environment and carpet, trying to find footprints, but of course there were none. For fairness in such games, they usually don't give too many external factors; otherwise Batman would still be invincible, and his detective skills and full-map transparency wouldn't differ much.

Arkham Batman truly didn't mark Shiler. His bat darts need to hit to take effect—just now Greedy dodged quickly, so his fists and bat darts didn't hit him. And his line-of-sight block was just right—Arkham Batman truly didn't know where he went.

However, Arkham Batman could slowly search, because he had night vision goggles. And the hall was very open; he just needed to stand at a few angles to see if anyone was hiding behind obstacles. Greedy also couldn't move under his eyelids, or he'd be discovered just the same.

And Greedy was playing the idea of changing angles to block line of sight. Seeing Batman walk forward, he hurriedly shifted to the right, but didn't expect Arkham Batman to come straight charging this way.

Greedy sucked in a breath of cold air, turned and ran, but it was too late. Arkham Batman lunged forward with a burst, threw a punch, and Greedy lost a large chunk of health. The next blade followed immediately, and Greedy collapsed directly onto the ground.

He sighed helplessly in his heart—once caught, there was nothing to be done. Batman probably had night vision; even his small movements were seen.

Arkham Batman lifted Greedy up and also headed toward the basement. Greedy, who had thought only the agent could turn things around, saw Superman and Matt tied to chairs in the same room, and his eyes lit up instantly. What a turn of fortune!

He hadn't expected that this final execution site would actually be the Great Passage, with everyone tied in the same room.

This also left Arkham Batman helpless. He had thought that not executing in order this round would make things simpler, and indeed there was no sequence rule, but they changed another execution rule: this electric chair's power could only be activated twice.

Meaning, he had to conduct a mass execution. With five players, only two activations allowed—so either 32 or 41, but not one-by-one electrocution. So he could only pile them together and electrocute them all at once, which also gave Greedy an opportunity.

Arkham Batman carried Greedy, intending to place him beside Superman's chair. Just as he was lowering him down, Greedy used a revival coin, instantly escaping the near-death state, then pulled out an item—a wolf-repellent spray sprayed onto Arkham Batman's face. Taking advantage of the moment he was controlled, he operated Superman's chair and pulled him down.

Superman also understood tacitly, fired a heat ray, pushing Batman back two steps. Greedy then seized the moment to put Matt down as well. Matt's X-ray vision had long been on, and the three of them ran toward the door at top speed.

When Arkham Batman pursued, Greedy threw a slime item onto the ground. Arkham Batman felt a bit nostalgic for his previous round's ground immunity skill, but he didn't step on the trap—instead, he kicked off the wall and jumped over. But this also delayed him a bit, and the three had already vanished into the distance.

Arkham Batman slammed a punch into the wall, shouting: "Don't let me catch you, Greedy!"