Chapter 4797

Since they had to find the last safe, they had to split up. Now was the time to test their luck; no matter how capable Batman was, he could only catch one person. Who he caught might not be who he wanted to catch, but it would definitely be whoever he ran into.

Among this group, whose luck was the worst went without saying. After parting ways with the others, Greed hadn't even gone down half a floor before he saw that tall figure blocking the doorway.

"What did you see in your fear?" Arkham Batman advanced unhurriedly, his footsteps steady. But that low voice, those heavy footsteps, were like a death knell.

The background music rang out again. This variation carried an ethereal quality like morning bells and evening drums, reminding one of the lamplight swaying outside the window on a certain sad night. Greed stood there, looking at Arkham Batman, and said: "When your child leaves you, when you can never find him, what you saw is what I saw."

Arkham Batman's steps faltered. Greed continued: "Those unspeakable fears come from you, and are faithfully reflected in us. Oppressed, isolated, struck, controlled, abandoned..."

Arkham Batman didn't know what they had encountered, but he could roughly imagine. These unspeakable fears came from Arkham Batman's experiences. Superman felt the darkness he felt in Gotham. Matt felt the terrifying hallucinations of sensory confusion after being infected with the Joker virus. The Agent felt the entanglement of being unable to reconcile with himself. Lucifer felt a tragic fate as if anchored. Greed felt the lonely helplessness of everyone drifting away from him.

But at the same time, these tragedies had also once profoundly occurred in them, resonating with their fates, letting that pain and powerlessness strike straight at the soul, bringing indescribable horror.

This wasn't like Doctor Manhattan. Arkham Batman realized this immediately. Batman had once studied Doctor Manhattan extensively. They knew Doctor Manhattan couldn't be called a carbon-based life form, nor even an emotional life form. He was more like an absolutely rational natural creation, even describable as indifferent.

Such a person's grasp of the mind and manipulation of emotions shouldn't reach this level. Or rather, he wouldn't employ such methods. It seemed there were other existences hidden behind this Manhattan Amusement Park.

While thinking these things, Arkham Batman had already walked up to Greed. He didn't hesitate, directly knocking Greed down with two punches. He understood Greed hadn't chosen to flee because he had given up. He stayed to say these words to remind Arkham Batman that this amusement park was not simple.

But this wasn't a good place to chat. Arkham Batman hoisted Greed up. He knew Greed had a skill to resurrect and stand up, but it was meaningless now. Even if he could resurrect, he simply couldn't run away.

Carrying Greed, Arkham Batman went all the way to the basement. He put Greed on a chair, locked his hands and feet with clasps, but didn't rush to activate the electric shock device.

"Are you waiting for someone to come save me?" Greed asked with a smile.

"If there is, I won't refuse either." Arkham Batman checked the equipment on his belt, then said, "Tell me in detail what you all encountered."

Now they were all in the game Doctor Manhattan created, so naturally they couldn't openly mention him. But everyone was smart; they all understood what they were really talking about.

"This is a very interesting skill," Greed spoke first, "Its most exquisite point lies in being able to make your pain and ours correspond one by one. Empathizing with others should lead to mutual understanding. But under the high-pressure environment of hostility, resentment inevitably arises — belittling others' pain, belittling one's own pain."

Greed spoke obscurely, but Arkham Batman still understood. This skill inflicted the pain Arkham Batman had once felt onto others. But the selected segments were exquisite, just right to hook the psychological shadows of those attacked.

Leaving aside whether dredging up old shadows would affect mental health. Just in this environment, suffering this kind of mental attack was enough to make one panic-stricken, even feel a breakdown.

In this situation, people can't help but generate an emotion, similar to "Why are you obsessing over this," or "Why am I obsessing over this." Going further, it's like: "Our emotions will get everyone killed."

This emotion actually stems more from the primal genes of social animals. In extremely harsh survival environments, even where each day might be their last, a group will instinctively exclude those who cannot control their own emotions.

For example, in ancient times, a tribe was hunting. They crouched in the grass ambushing prey. But at this moment, someone complained about the weather or environment, or someone on bad terms with a companion erupted, causing a noise that made the whole hunt fail, and the whole tribe had to starve along with them. Such a person would certainly be expelled from the hunting party, because lacking rationality and calmness, they could not bring more food to the tribe.

Although in critical moments one indeed shouldn't focus too much on one's own emotional feelings, but should preserve one's life first. But if at this time one receives stimulation causing emotions to affect reason, self-doubt inevitably arises — wondering if one truly lacks the ability to handle the current situation, and wondering if one's weakness has burdened the whole collective.

This is an extremely terrifying wavering, especially at critical moments. Once at a moment requiring a decisive decision, one doubts one's own judgment ability, thereby hesitating, one might truly lose one's life here.

The skill "Unspeakable Fear" undoubtedly utilizes this principle. In critical situations, it emotionally stimulates people, causing loss of control in their emotional part. Letting them feel this loss of control, they doubt their own abilities, thereby further interfering with their judgment and execution.

And more cleverly, this not only excavates the gamblers' own fears, but also imposes the fears Arkham Batman once experienced onto them. This makes the players doubt themselves while also breeding dissatisfaction toward Arkham Batman.

Almost no one doesn't know what kind of person Batman is. He is powerful, steadfast; nothing can really shake him. But if one empathizes with his pain, it's another matter. Although righteous people would think it remarkable that he can overcome such pain, if it appears in this way at this moment, it inevitably carries a touch of cold ruthlessness — "what you do not desire, do not impose on others." If not steadfast enough, resentment will inevitably arise.

Not everyone necessarily thinks this much, nor necessarily to this degree. But as long as there is a little bit, or after the game ends, when they calm down and reflect, they feel something is off — that is undoubtedly chiseling a crack in the sculpture of Batman's authority.

The Fighting World indeed has many difficult dungeons. Some even Arkham Batman nearly suffered losses in. Many mind-manipulation techniques have appeared inside, many originating from Shiler, making many players suffer terribly.

But those were mostly limited to inside the game, completely unrelated to outside matters. Arkham Batman had never seen anything related to his personal experiences in the Fighting World's plot.

But this time was clearly different. This strengthened upgraded Batsuit could be said to have wrapped these dumplings for this vinegar — the most important part is this mental attack skill.

This also contains a certain psychological manipulation technique. First give a not-quite-satisfactory skill set; as the situation grows increasingly tense and no progress can be made, then give a sufficiently powerful set. Many people would then immerse themselves in excitement, busy unleashing skills to kill left and right, completely failing to notice anything wrong.

But clearly, neither Arkham Batman nor Greed were such people. Although they were temporarily enemies, they both clearly knew this was just a game. After leaving the game, many things were more important than the game's victory or defeat itself.

"I imagine you can't wait to leave." Arkham Batman said.

"Indeed," Greed didn't refute either. He nodded and said, "Everything will get better, won't it?"

The moment electricity flashed, Greed's body suddenly tensed. He violently lifted his head, but didn't seem to feel much pain. His figure quickly turned to ash and dispersed. This was somewhat unscientific. But Arkham Batman had long known this game wouldn't leave corpses. Probably to prevent someone from playing with corpses — although he wouldn't do that, there was no guarantee someone wouldn't want to.

"Everything will get better..." Arkham Batman murmured this sentence softly. He actually felt something was off. Greed did seem impatient to leave, looking like he wanted to exit the venue and go find trouble with Doctor Manhattan. Arkham Batman didn't doubt he would do so, but always felt he had some other meaning.

But Arkham Batman also had no leisure to consider much. He had to stop that bunch from opening the safe. Now only one safe remained; once opened they could run away. That was not the result Arkham Batman wanted.

Arkham Batman had the map in hand. He could clearly see where the remaining safes were located. Based on the gamblers' previous positions, Arkham Batman walked toward the direction of one safe.

He had just arrived when he saw Matt already there fiddling with the safe. Arkham Batman had already swung his fist, but Matt suddenly turned back, directly flashing a high-powered flashlight in his face. Arkham Batman's vision went completely white. By the time he reacted, Matt had already run out.

Arkham Batman glanced at the safe-opening progress — not even a quarter complete. Matt probably didn't have a skill to accelerate the progress bar. Arkham Batman quickly gave chase, but Matt used pepper spray again. This made Arkham Batman somewhat annoyed.

It was because he didn't catch Greed dead early on, letting him develop, leading to them having so many items now. But now wasn't the time to be angry. He chased again, but Matt blocked his vision once more, followed immediately by a door panel slapping his face.

Arkham Batman wasn't anxious either; he just chased behind him like this. After Matt's items were used up and he was chased into an open area, he was still knocked down by Batman with one punch.

However, Arkham Batman didn't take him to the basement. Because that would take too much time. Matt had no self-revival skill; the others should be busy opening the last safe and wouldn't come save him. So Arkham Batman just carried him to a small room and threw him there.