Chapter 4916: There Is No Batman Here (Twenty-One)

Walking along the underground passage, they arrived at the cold storage door. There was indeed a door here, but they indeed couldn't open it — there wasn't even a keyhole. It probably required some special item to unlock; then again, the items inside were certainly quite powerful. If they were that easy to get, this game would be far too easy to clear.

Shiler placed his hand on the door, thinking. He actually had quite a few ways to force it open, but the commotion would be a bit too great. This was the final boss's territory; using Greed on those bizarre things inside Gao Ta would likely trigger a massive earthquake — not a good choice.

The Grey Mist was of course the best method, but just to open a door, it wasn't worth calling back the Grey Mist with those other traits. The symbiote, however, was indeed a good solution.

"Charles," Shiler said, "you just said the Arkham Knight is here too?"

"Yes, they've linked up with the Viscount Manor team," Charles said. "Right now they should be heading to fight the cemetery boss."

"Can you get him to come over?" Shiler paused, then added, "I remember he has a symbiote inside him."

"Uh, yes, I did sense two consciousnesses," Charles said, "but your side should be very dangerous. If he comes alone..."

"Ask him," Shiler said. He was confident the Arkham Knight would come, because the Red Bee inside him happened to be a speed-type symbiote. The Arkham Knight didn't need to dodge monsters at all — the instant he saw one he ran, and the monster couldn't even catch his taillights.

His guess proved correct. Hearing that Shiler's group had found a cold storage door in a high-level map and needed someone to open it, the Arkham Knight headed over without a second word.

He knew his advantage well. Mobility had always been the key stat for sneaking in — whether flying or running fast, both were best suited for stealing items in high-level maps. Now someone had already found the target for him; there was no reason not to go.

And the Red Bee's speed was no joke. The Arkham Knight charged straight in; every monster that saw him could only rage helplessly. And because the subway station was outside the campus, he didn't need to enter the school grounds, so there was no chance of running into the final boss.

Still, while lingering outside the campus, he subconsciously glanced toward the school interior. Whether it was an illusion or not, he saw a figure holding an umbrella standing on the rooftop, seemingly watching this place, but it vanished quickly.

Finding the subway station and following the passage, he soon arrived at the cold storage door. The Arkham Knight greeted Shiler and Ethan, then said, "What's the situation inside the university? How come I saw a..."

He didn't finish, because he just realized that figure looked a lot like Shiler. He thought it might be a player from another team, but couldn't understand why that guy would stand there watching him. Some bad memories surged up — being watched by Shiler was never a good thing.

"That's the boss," Ethan's mouth was simply too fast; Shiler didn't have time to stop him. "It's modeled after Shiler."

Hiss... The Arkham Knight's expression could only be described as shattered. "Which district? Not the East District, right?"

It was obvious he was already a bit delirious — he didn't even remember which district he was in now. The bad memories were about to replay.

"West District," Shiler answered, "but I'm afraid you'll still have to come when it's time to fight the boss."

The Arkham Knight really wanted to refuse, but there was a problem: the one inside the university now was Shiler, so the one here wasn't Shiler anymore? Die early or die late, it was still death — better to die late.

"I'll do my best," the Arkham Knight said. "Good thing my teammate is Polaris. You didn't make her that afraid of you too, did you?... You didn't, right?"

Shiler shook his head. Greed was extremely protective of his own, so the Marvel bunch basically never saw Pathology — except those who curiously sought death. Polaris's psychological issues weren't that severe to begin with, and her relationship with Magneto had eased now, so of course she wouldn't fear Shiler.

Still, Shiler was also curious — how would Brainiac set it up so that a boss modeled after himself wouldn't fear a mutant like Polaris, and could even fight them on even terms? It seemed rather impossible.

The Arkham Knight placed his hand on the door. The symbiote's slime quickly covered the entire door, seeping into the cracks. Clearly, the symbiote factor's penetration ability was stronger than Brainiac's sealing ability. Before long, with a *click*, the door opened.

A blast of cold air hit them. Shiler glanced inside; just as he stepped forward, the Arkham Knight blocked him and said, "Wait, there might be monsters in there."

"I know," Shiler said, "but the Freeze Generator is a must-get. Even if there are monsters, we'll just have to fight."

"Might not be ordinary monsters," the Arkham Knight said. "Could be a zone boss. We ran into one before — tough to deal with."

Shiler narrowed his eyes slightly. Brainiac was truly insidious — put a whole bunch of locks on it, and the thing locked away was a mini-boss. But regardless, they were here now; fight or not, they had to fight.

Shiler picked up his umbrella — Brainiac indeed didn't allow use of the Anti-Life Equation, but as long as it wasn't opened, the Equation wouldn't take effect — the umbrella's tip had a blade, and even a freeze gun Peter had installed for him.

Shiler hadn't updated the equipment on his umbrella, so the freeze gun was a very early version, nowhere near as powerful as Victor's current freeze gun, but enough for ordinary monsters.

He entered first, and the moment he stepped in, under the dim light he saw a monster — a cocoon hanging from the ceiling.

Countless limbs wove a net, and wrapped inside the cocoon was a monster fused from a man and a woman. They embraced face to face, torsos almost completely merged, heads and necks intertwined, legs tangled around each other, like a very deep embrace.

"You'd better not be implying anything," Shiler said. "Guess if Victor saw this, would he freeze Gotham with a single ice storm?"

"I must remind you of one thing," Brainiac said. "Extreme cold that humans cannot survive is just right for artificial intelligence. Most of my server rooms are at the North and South Poles."

"That's your confidence?" Shiler asked.

"Even so, you don't seem very angry."

"Because your understanding of love is too abstract." Shiler examined the cocoon, even clicking his tongue in wonder. "You're like a child who thinks a man and woman hugging is enough to reproduce. But in reality, hormones, emotions, genes — these things are far more complex than you imagine. And reproduction is only a trivial branch of love."

"Victor might get very angry seeing this," Shiler continued, "but only because it triggers his shame and desire to protect privacy — not because you actually struck a nerve."

"I admit this wasn't done well," Brainiac said, "but I'm very interested in Victor's experience. I thought freezing one's lover in ice was a courtship method only an AI would come up with. Like I said, we really like low temperatures."

"Did you do this to Supergirl?" Shiler asked.

"Supergirl has no servers," Brainiac sighed with feigned regret. "I met her too late; if it had been earlier, it might have worked."

This cocoon didn't look like a monster — all of them had walked right up to it, and it showed no aggression. Shiler thought for a moment and said, "Perhaps once we dismantle the cryogenic devices, this thing will revive. Let's try removing one first."

Ethan and the Arkham Knight went to work. Shiler observed the monster's reaction. When the first cryogenic device was removed, this thing began to pulse like a heart. When the second was removed, the outer cage built of limbs started to move. And when the third and fourth were removed, the fused entity inside finally stirred.

"Do we fight?" Ethan asked. The only reason they still had a choice was because this monster was indeed rather slow.

The moment Ethan's words fell, Shiler and the Arkham Knight had already walked out the door. Ethan hurriedly ran out too. The Arkham Knight looked back and said, "If your enemy has a very long entrance animation, it's not telling you he moves slowly and can be challenged — it's telling you that when the animation ends, that's your death."

As he said this, he glanced at Shiler with his eyes. Back when Shiler went to his universe, that entrance animation wasn't just long. And now the Arkham Knight knew — a slow raise of the hand isn't an apology; it's telling you to run as far as you can.

The three fled the underground passage at top speed. Sure enough, the moment they returned to the surface, the ground began to tremble, then crack. The temperature plummeted; the falling rain turned to snow. Worst of all, the ground began to freeze over, creating a major hindrance to movement.

Moreover, the sudden temperature drop would only affect the agility of the living; for corpses that had long lost body heat, there was no effect at all. Even the symbiote couldn't quite handle this temperature — the Arkham Knight's speed was also affected.

Shiler had no choice but to open his umbrella overhead. This wasn't using the Anti-Life Equation — Batman's cape had a constant-temperature function, and though it wasn't that effective after being made into an umbrella, it could at least provide some cover.

They quickly withdrew from the freezing zone, but ice crystals had formed on everyone's hair and eyebrows. Shiler let out a long breath; Ethan shivered beside him for a long while before recovering.

"I'll go with you..." The Arkham Knight originally wanted to go to Shiler's base to scavenge some things — their base had almost nothing, getting blueprints was the priority.

But just then, Charles brought bad news: "The Viscount Manor squad has been attacked; many are unconscious. Jason, you need to get back fast."

The Arkham Knight's face darkened: "What happened? So many superpowered people going to fight one zone boss..."

"An Outer God," Charles said. "They suffered a mental attack; almost all are unconscious. Now they're trying to launch a joint operation to completely eradicate the Drowners. People from other squads are also heading to Viscount Manor."

"Understood," the Arkham Knight said in a low voice. "I'm heading back now."