Chapter 4793

After leading the two to escape, Greed breathed a sigh of relief. These two were important combat power, especially Matt. His map-scanning skill was truly vital; if he died here, the gamblers' side's chance of victory would drop significantly.

"He seems like a different person." Matt said, "His movements aren't so stiff, his speed isn't so slow. He's practically as agile as in reality. What were the game designers thinking? Do they really want Batman to play Batman in the game?"

"You mean he has no other skills, just become like Batman?" Greed asked.

Matt nodded and said, "At least I didn't see him use any particularly unique skills; he just seems to be using Batman's fighting style. Much more agile than before."

"I see." Greed said, "It seems the game designers' approach to Batman's skills was to weaken him first, then let him regain his original strength. This is somewhat troublesome."

"This Batman is exceptionally strong." Superman said, "In terms of martial arts skill alone, none of us could match him. Did you find what was in the safe?"

Both shook their heads. Superman sighed and said, "Still, we need to hurry and find them. I found two; if we find three more, we win."

"What? Just find three more and we're done?" Matt said, a bit surprised. He had been focused on helping Greed make money and hadn't carefully checked the win conditions. With his map-scanning skill so strong, finding three things shouldn't be that hard, right?

Superman nodded and said, "Let's split up; we should finish soon. By the way, I saw you used an item—where did you get it? From the slot machine?"

Just as he asked that, Greed shoved a pile of items into his arms and said, "Take this and hurry to find the safe."

"Why me?" Superman asked, "Although I also planned to do that, you don't need to give me all the items."

"Don't you get it? You're the luckiest among us." Greed explained, "We've been wandering in the map for half a day and haven't encountered a single safe, but you found two at once. This proves you're suited for this task. If you died, we'd have no hope."

"Don't worry." Superman's fighting spirit burned fiercely, "I will definitely lead you to win this game!"

After Superman left with the items, Matt said doubtfully, "You didn't really give him all the items, did you?"

"I left you a few." Greed pulled out several more items. He had a skill to control odds, nearly ten wins out of ten bets, earning a lot of money, while those merely life-preserving items were cheap, so he bought them in bulk.

"You don't keep any for yourself?" Matt said.

Greed shook his head again, handed over all his chips to Matt, and said, "You guys go find the safe quickly."

Matt narrowed his eyes, looking at Greed and said, "You sound like you're giving your last words. It's not that time yet."

"It already is." Greed said, "I know better than you how strong this Batman is. If he regains his Batman abilities, no one else can hold him back."

"Why? You clearly have no attack or escape skills, so you're the least likely to hold him back."

"Whether he can be held back doesn't depend on how strong the opponent is, but on how important they are." Greed said, "No matter how strong you are, if he doesn't want to play with you, you can't tie him down. Only those he wants to kill can hold him back."

Matt frowned deeply. Knowing Arkham Batman would definitely want to kill Greed, not only because Greed is the gamblers' side's most core figure, but also because he just saved two major threats, from both interest and emotion, he would certainly be Batman's top target.

Yet precisely for that reason, he cannot succeed. Greed pulling out so many items in such a short time is a manifestation of his operational strength. Surviving a little longer means gaining a bit more chance of victory.

Matt expressed his view, but Greed said helplessly, "You've also been defeated by your own greed. Now the problem is, besides me, no one else can hold him back. Even if you go, you won't succeed."

"We have to try."

"This is just your personal heroism acting up."

"Because I am a superhero."

"But I am your friend. You should know me. What I want is ultimate victory; what I have to pay during the process isn't that important."

Matt also knew he couldn't persuade Greed, so he could only say, "All I can promise you is that I will seize victory as much as possible and fight until the last moment."

Greed smiled at him.

The agent stood before the safe reading the slip. He had discovered this safe on the road, also a chance encounter. But he also indeed didn't expect this slip to be so long, and he must stand there, focus his spirit to solve the puzzle, completely unable to slack off, otherwise he would very likely be interrupted.

Just as he was fully focused, he suddenly felt something behind him, he immediately interrupted reading the slip and bolted. The jet launch was indeed very powerful—whoosh, he vanished in an instant.

However, while running, the agent glanced back and saw it was Arkham Batman. He felt somewhat puzzled; earlier when Batman approached, there was background music, but now it was completely silent, not even a hint.

But the agent had watched the pursuit memories; he knew this should be Batman after receiving a boost. Fortunately, even after the boost, Batman's speed wasn't his equal; as long as he was careful, he was unlikely to be caught.

He certainly wouldn't think Arkham Batman came to talk to him. Although he seemed to have already stood on the banker's side, he clearly understood that whenever there was an opportunity, Arkham Batman would still strike him down. Every U. S. president only cares about his constituents during election season—this is an eternal truth.

Arkham Batman previously approached him for cooperation because at that time his skill set wasn't strong enough, lacking offense, so he hoped the agent could fire a key shot. But now he has received the boost; whether or not the agent is involved is actually irrelevant. So if they meet, he might very well act without hesitation.

As for that new skill set, the agent hasn't even looked at it. If Batman were strengthened, the agent might still be interested in trying it. The problem is it's basically all for sabotaging our side, or slowing down the safe-opening progress, or interfering with the shop, causing it to not open. Such skills leave no room for wit and courage, purely degrading others' game experience; the agent doesn't want to use them.

After circling downstairs for a while, the jet launch cooldown was nearly over, so the agent went back upstairs to reopen that safe. The slip hadn't been read for a while when Arkham Batman came again.

The agent jet-launched again to run, and Batman still didn't catch up. This time the agent went upstairs and circled two laps, waited for the skill to cooldown, then came to open this safe. Then not long after, Arkham Batman came again.

The agent ran again, only this time the presidential call prompt sounded again. The agent ran a bit farther and picked up the phone.

"Why are you so fixated on this safe?" Arkham Batman asked.

"You say that, but do you think I can find another safe?" The agent sneered, "If I don't open this one, which one can I open?"

Arkham Batman seemed speechless. The agent wasn't intentionally taunting him; he was stating facts. Originally he had this speed skill, should be the fastest at map-scanning, and indeed, so far he has scanned the largest area, but he only encountered this one safe. If he had the luck to encounter several safes in a row, he wouldn't stubbornly stick to this one. Isn't there no other way?

"Don't hang up." Arkham Batman accurately predicted his action, then said, "Is our cooperation still effective?"

"Effective how?" The agent continued to retort, "You're this strong now, you don't need me at all. Who knows if you'll unload the mill and kill the donkey."

"Don't you trust my character?"

"I trust Batman's character..." The agent paused, "... but I will never trust an American president's."

After saying that, he hung up, preparing to circle back to open that safe. Today he and Arkham Batman have locked horns; if he has the ability, let him continue to accompany me in wasting time here.

When the agent returned, Arkham Batman didn't come over again. So he smoothly opened the safe, took out its contents. This was the third safe opened.

The agent knew the more safes opened, the stronger Arkham Batman becomes. But because he had watched the pursuit memories, he knew the strength difference between the second and third seals wasn't large, just a slight increase, so he dared to open it boldly.

But who would have thought, just as he came out of that safe's room, the fourth safe was opened by Lucifer. This was something no one expected.

Since entering the game, Lucifer's actions have been just wandering around the map. But his luck wasn't bad; while strolling, he passed by a safe, so he has been continuously opening that safe.

On this side, Batman was slashing Superman, then slashing Matt, Greed was gambling, then saving people, completely not affecting him. So despite failing the puzzle several times, he still opened that safe.

Arkham Batman revealed a knowing smile. After obtaining the map function, he could see the safe locations. And the number of safes isn't actually many—just three more than the required five. And now Arkham Batman going up and down stairs is very convenient; he went to shut off the power switch on the way and happened to check the safe locations.

He had already seen Lucifer opening the cabinet, but he didn't stop him, nor did he show up to intimidate him, instead going to find the agent, even repeatedly seeking him. This was to hint to the agent: only you are opening the safe, while I must stop you.

That way, the agent would keep opening this safe until it was opened. Arkham Batman, by showing up, carefully controlled the agent's safe-opening speed. This way, the agent's and Lucifer's two safes would be opened almost simultaneously.

At the instant the fourth safe was opened, Arkham Batman entered his perfected form. The Batman suit received tremendous enhancement, gaining the most important passive skill—"Ineffable Fear."

Instantly, all light sources in the entire casino went out, everyone plunged into pitch-black darkness where one couldn't see their hand in front of their face.

Superman stopped his hand movements, looked up in shock, but saw only darkness. Suddenly, he heard the pattering of rain.

Superman carefully felt along the wall to the window; the rain sound came from outside. Just as he was about to lean in to listen, a strong light illuminated the entire interior in dazzling white.

"Crack!"

Lei Ting streaked across the horizon, the low rumble like the breath of some beast. Continuous flashes of lightning made the indoor light flicker incessantly. Rain lashed against the glass, leaving wet traces.

And just as another flash of light arrived, Superman focused his gaze outside the window. The next second, his pupils contracted sharply—the city's outline held an inexplicable familiarity, and piercing the dark clouds in the distance was the spire of Gotham Cathedral.

No wonder, the view outside the window had been pitch black all along, with thick fog, making it impossible to see anything. This casino is actually in Gotham!

But immediately, he thought of a very important problem—Gotham is Batman's turf, and now they are being hunted by Batman!