Chapter 4798: Royal Casino (Eleven)

Following that, Arkham Batman sought out Superman again, but Superman seemed to have exhausted his luck this time—he failed to locate the safe and instead bought items in the store. Arkham Batman stepped forward and punched him, knocking him down, then delivered another blow, sending Superman directly into a near-death state.

Unexpectedly, Superman also possessed a self-activation skill. The instant he fell, he sprang back to his feet, turned, and fired a heat ray that pushed Arkham Batman back, then leapt down from the courtyard.

This time, he jumped all the way down and began circling the hall with Arkham Batman. Arkham Batman had already realized this Superman's strength far exceeded his expectations—at least the Superman from his universe should not be able to figure this out.

It wasn't that circling was particularly difficult, but Superman was accustomed to long-term possession of super senses and super strength. Entering this dungeon, which nearly completely restricted his abilities, made him extremely uncomfortable. He would often be seen attempting to take off, then standing frozen in place because he couldn't fly.

It was like a person who originally had two hands, then suddenly lost one—he would occasionally forget this fact, and when reaching for something, he'd still move the shoulder on that side. This, too, was unavoidable.

Especially regarding ground-based vision obstruction and detouring, Superman had almost no experience with this. Previously, whenever he encountered an obstacle, he simply flew over it, and there had never been an opponent who insisted on playing hide-and-seek with him on the ground, so he should be unskilled at this.

Moreover, after losing his super-brain, Superman could no longer unconsciously record everything he saw. He now had to exert effort like an ordinary person to memorize and think, in order to retain routes and apply them flexibly—this, too, was comparatively difficult.

Who would have thought this Superman was truly a special breed? He not only memorized the hall's layout but also circled the boards with ease. After running past, he even turned back and smiled at Batman.

Arkham Batman pursued him all the way until, finally, as Superman rounded an overturned gambling table, Arkham Batman struck him at the limit of his reach. This punch genuinely frightened Superman.

Even so, he quickly regained composure and then pulled Arkham Batman toward the other side. Arkham Batman had lost patience with playing around. He fired a grappling hook that latched onto the ceiling chandelier, vaulted over the obstacle, and landed directly in front of Superman.

"Heaven, you're cheating," Superman said.

Boom! Arkham Batman said nothing more.

After knocking Superman down as well, Arkham Batman still did not take him to the basement, as he was truly running out of time. Two people remained uncaptured, and if they all attempted to open the same safe, the progress bar might have less than one-third remaining.

Arkham Batman returned to the safe once more, only to find the progress bar unmoved—proving these two individuals were not targeting this safe. He headed toward another likely location, and sure enough, he found the agent opening the cabinet.

This was the most difficult person to handle, Arkham Batman knew. His ejection launch ability was absurd—he leapt with rocket-like speed. Fortunately, the scene was now pitch black, and running that fast made collisions likely.

The agent turned and saw Batman, then sprang into flight again, though he collided with nothing. Arkham Batman was certain this skill must include automatic navigation, for without night vision, moving that fast without hitting anything was beyond human capability.

Arkham Batman decisively abandoned pursuit of the agent. Unless he could close in twice during the skill's cooldown, capturing him was impossible. He did not believe he had such luck, so it was better to focus on more practical actions.

Few safes remained—two were located in very peripheral areas, making it unlikely they'd target those. Arkham Batman only needed to shuttle between the two central safes.

Sure enough, not long after, he apprehended Lucifer at another safe. In Arkham Batman's view, Lucifer should be the softest persimmon—he truly didn't know how to play games.

Still, Arkham Batman remained cautious, for Lucifer's temper was not exactly pleasant; if provoked, he would use admin privileges to flip tables, causing trouble.

Thus, Arkham Batman stood behind him, staring for a while, considering how to act without startling him. Lucifer had strained for a long time before finally glancing back—and saw Batman standing like a wall behind him.

Lucifer darted to the other side of the room in a flash.

"What are you doing!" Lucifer snapped, "How can you walk without making a sound?!"

"I'm thinking, how exactly should I kill you without letting you blow up the entire game directly?" Arkham Batman said truthfully.

"You'd even think of that?" Lucifer replied, his tone laced with mockery, "When you said that to me before, didn't you consider whether I'd be provoked—and blow up the whole universe?"

"……What did I say?" Arkham Batman was genuinely puzzled—he had never spoken to Lucifer before.

"You still dare to make excuses?!" Lucifer raised his voice, "Since you clearly know I……why would you……"

"I don't understand what you're saying," Arkham Batman replied, "Besides our current conversation, I've never spoken to you. If you heard something, it's likely your hallucination."

Lucifer opened his mouth, then said, "But that's impossible. How could Doctor Manhattan possibly have accessed my memories?"

"You mean he said something that frightened you, but he shouldn't have known those things?"

Lucifer nodded, saying, "I thought you had investigated me, learned about me and Anatoly. That might also be uncovered—after all, you're Batman. But what is Doctor Manhattan even supposed to be?"

Arkham Batman understood. It was still the same issue: this skill uses Arkham Batman's fear to mirror others' fear, meaning the designer must know what others fear.

Others were easy enough—reading superficial memories wasn't taxing, many things weren't even secrets, and few had reason to conceal them.

But Lucifer was entirely different. He was not human, not even a biological entity—he was the Universe Administrator, and one of the foundational rules of the cosmos. Reading his memories at will was impossible. Though Batman had once eaten a large melon, that information came from other involved parties sharing it with him, not from extracting it from Lucifer's memories.

Thus, capturing Lucifer's fear was nearly impossible. Without memory access, how could one judge whether his fear was genuine or feigned?

Yet from Lucifer's demeanor, he was genuinely frightened, even showing signs of trauma—indicating the stimulus point was correct. So how did they know?

"Let's not discuss this further," Arkham Batman decided, deeming it inappropriate to debate under Doctor Manhattan's watch, "Are you calm now?"

"Barely," Lucifer said, "But even if I don't cheat, do you think you can actually beat me?"

"I can try," Arkham Batman replied, "And you said it yourself—I am Batman."

The next second, Arkham Batman closed in, devoid of fear toward the archangel, only filled with the excitement of having long wanted to beat this contemptible being. The Batmen had long known what Lucifer had done in Hell.

Lucifer sidestepped, snapped his fingers, and said, "Let there be light."

Instantly, brilliant light flooded the room—soft white light filled every corner. Arkham Batman was dazed by the flash, and Lucifer seized the moment to escape. He leapt from the atrium to the first floor, then began circling the boards with Batman.

If you say Superman is a special breed, indeed there are geniuses who don't rely on super senses or super brains. Then what about Lucifer? How is this intellectually lazy second-generation deity so formidable?

After circling Lucifer once, Arkham Batman realized it wasn't that Lucifer was skilled—it was that his luck was extraordinarily good. While running, he actually staggered and stumbled, each decision resembling that of a headless fly, showing no composure, yet he consistently chose the correct path, evading Batman, and no obstacle could trip him.

"Hold on," Arkham Batman shouted, "Are you sure you're not cheating?"

"Of course not—otherwise Doctor Manhattan would have told you," Lucifer replied, "After all, his amusement park and the Combat Realm are also competitors—why wouldn't he expose my weakness?"

"Then this is……"

"Of course it's because I'm strong!" Lucifer boasted for two seconds, then suddenly recalled something and added, "Well, luck is hard to define. Otherwise, just think of it as divine favor—the beloved son always gets special treatment."

"Your luck is that good?"

"Precisely speaking, the more dire the situation, the better my luck becomes. This is a safeguard God left from my childhood to prevent me from sneaking out and encountering danger."

Lucifer was basking in his pride, unaware that Arkham Batman had been inching forward, punch by punch, until he was within striking distance. With a bang, Lucifer collapsed to the ground.

"Damn it! Batman! You actually ambushed me!" Lucifer predictably shouted, his voice echoing across the entire first floor. But Arkham Batman remained unfazed, he hoisted Lucifer onto his shoulder.

"Put me down! Put me down! Damn it, when I get out, I'll definitely give you a proper lesson!"

"Batman! You can't do this to me! I can't go on that damn chair—being electrocuted will hurt!!!"

"Batman, let's make a deal! After we get out, whatever you want to do, I'll agree to it—I'll guarantee your satisfaction, how about that?"

"I'm not Constantine," Arkham Batman said, tossing Lucifer to the ground, "I also have no intention of putting you on that chair—otherwise God would come after me for trouble."

"You know that already," Lucifer continued shouting, "But even if you're not Constantine, we can still have a good time. Angels have no gender—do you like fiery blonde women? Or dark-haired Spaniards?"

Arkham Batman turned and walked away.

"Wait, don't just leave me here alone!" Lucifer cried, crawling and shouting, "You'd be better off putting me on that chair—at least it's brighter there……"

"Shut up," Arkham Batman said, turning back, "If you don't want this game's recording sent to Doctor Shostakovich, then behave yourself."

Lucifer fell silent.