mtl008 Chapter 4675 Desperate Escape (47)
Chapter 4675 Desperate Escape (47)
Chapter 4675 A Deadly Escape (Forty-Seven)
Batman and Superman stood in the central energy control room. He looked at the light sources on the wall and the shadows they cast, as if he were speculating about something.
“Batman, I just remembered,” Superman said, looking at him. “In the previous level, you stared at the ceiling for a long time. What was on the ceiling?”
“Some symbols,” Batman said. “After I found those symbols, I looked around the other rooms and found that there seemed to be these symbols in the dimly lit areas as well.”
"Symbols? I don't see them."
“They’re all in the deepest shadows under the light,” Batman said, “and they seem to be visible only from certain angles.”
"what is that?"
“It’s not quite clear yet,” Batman said, “but I think it might be related to hidden storylines. Or maybe it’s not, it depends on whether we can find anything here.”
"Then what should we be looking for?" Superman asked.
“Anything, anything unusual.” Batman looked around. “Maybe up there, maybe down there, there should be at least one entrance or exit. Maybe… in the shadows.”
Batman pointed to the top of the massive energy control unit in the very center of the central energy control room and said, "Go up and take a look. Clark, see if there's anything there."
Clark nodded; he was in relatively good condition and climbed up using both hands and feet. Once at the top, he noticed a brick was missing from the darkest part of the area.
“A brick is missing,” he shouted down. “Want to reach in and try?”
Before Batman could answer, Superman had already reached inside. He touched something, and suddenly the ground trembled slightly, revealing a hidden tunnel door next to the central control unit.
Superman jumped down, somewhat surprised, and said, "There really is. But isn't this a bit too easy?"
Batman shook his head and said, "First, we need to deduce from the plot that there is a third party involved. Second, the darkest place in each room is a blind spot for most people. If we don't find anything unusual there, we might not even realize that the room's mechanism is there. All things considered, it's not that simple."
Superman thought about it and agreed. If he were alone, it would be difficult to deduce from the plot that there were other forces involved, because he hadn't actually figured anything out.
"Wait a minute." Superman suddenly realized, "This shouldn't be the normal entrance, right? According to the normal checkpoint procedure, we shouldn't be here at all."
“This is also an employee access point,” Batman said. “Secret rooms also need maintenance. They probably designed a switch specifically to prevent accidental opening of the door, and we managed to find it.”
The two descended, only to discover that it wasn't a normal passage, as the ladder ended halfway down, requiring a jump. Superman jumped first, then waved to Batman above, saying, "Go ahead and jump, I can catch you."
Batman hesitated, saying, "Look what's over there, Clark. I'm not going down."
“I’m afraid that won’t work, Batman,” Superman’s voice came. “This place is filled with all sorts of terrifying words and images. If you don’t come down, I won’t be able to understand them, let alone explain them to you.”
Batman had no choice but to jump. However, Superman caught him perfectly, and although he was also knocked to the ground, Batman was not injured.
Upon landing, Batman discovered that, just as Superman had said and as he had suspected, the place was indeed a cult hideout, filled with spell circles and runes written in blood. Then Batman realized he had actually found the symbols he had seen on the ceiling.
Batman matched the images in his mind with those on the magic circle, but still couldn't find anything. Just then, Superman brought out a scroll, which Batman unfolded and found the words "One God with Ten Thousand Hands - The Ritual of Flesh and Blood Sacrifice" written on it.
Inside the checkpoint with its courtyard, everyone sat in their respective rooms waiting. Although they had been waiting for a very, very long time, they remained patient. The reason was simple: Bruce and Schiller were the ones going.
Even if they didn't know each other's identities before, they could communicate at this point, so they both knew who was on the path. It's normal for these two to be slow to pass the level, since they might go berserk, stab each other in the back, hurt each other, verbally attack each other, and so on. Even if they spent a whole day there, no one else would find it strange.
All I can say is that several nested bugs ran smoothly. Bruce and Schiller, those two stubborn guys, refused to compromise on level design, convinced they were right, so they just sat there speculating and researching without taking any action.
The others, knowing them well, weren't in a hurry and let them stubbornly persist. Neither those taking action nor those waiting showed any anxiety. As a result, they dragged it out until Batman and Superman arrived.
Bruce and Schiller were still discussing the cultist plot.
“The previous challenges, while they also caused physical harm, were clearly not this violent and bloody,” Bruce said, frowning. “Both the collarbone rings and the blood donation method were very restrained. You could even say that the designers disliked seeing blood. Otherwise, the blood donation challenge could have used a fixed blade instead of such a gentle measure as a syringe. The organizers even designed a device to rinse the pipes with water, which is practically obsessive-compulsive.”
“However, there is indeed scientific research showing that the probability of psychopaths among people with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is slightly higher,” Bruce said. “If the level designer is a psychopath, it’s not surprising that he also has OCD. Of course, I don’t mean that you are a psychopath, Professor.”
"You can omit that last sentence, thank you."
"Would someone like that really go through the motions of slicing off arms with razor blades and chopping off hands with a guillotine?" Bruce continued to speculate. "In the last level, there was blood everywhere, and severed fingers were scattered all over the ground. This clearly doesn't fit the aesthetic of someone with OCD; I even found it a bit disgusting."
Even if you're not a germaphobe, you wouldn't use this method from a practical standpoint because it's too much trouble to clean. Can you imagine needing a cleaner to be hoisted up a rope to wipe the walls of the atrium? The company would never do that!
“This excessive pursuit of violence and gore is often seen in rituals involving cult sacrifices. For example, specific organs are required, large amounts of blood are poured out, and burning or waterboarding is necessary. Only abnormal cult members could come up with such a method,” Bruce said. “So I feel that the last two levels are very likely the work of cult members. They have hidden their own agenda in the levels in order to use the players to complete the sacrifice.”
He had barely finished speaking when he heard a very faint sound coming from the wall beside them. The two immediately stopped what they were doing and assumed fighting stances. But apart from the sound, there was nothing else.
Bruce cautiously approached, then stopped. He grinned, gasped, and said, "Professor, it's all because of that idea you told me before."
"what?"
"You said you'd put a mechanism in the drawer, so that if I got too close, a steel needle would pierce my brain or something..."
Schiller, unable to bear it any longer, shoved him aside, walked to the wall, and leaned against it to listen for any sounds. A rhythmic tapping sound came from the other side of the wall.
The sound was very faint, and it was mainly determined by vibrations. Schiller quickly realized that the other party was typing Morse code.
"Checkpoint, fake, sacrifice, hand."
“Batman?” Schiller tapped back with his crowbar.
"Yes," the other party replied.
Schiller quickly figured out what was going on: Batman and his crew had probably been squeezed out of the running by Stark, but instead of quitting, they went to find the cult's hideout.
With Batman's abilities, he's bound to find it. They might have found more concrete evidence about the cult there, evidence that points to their suspicions—the problems in both the previous and current levels weren't orchestrated by the company, but rather the cult members smuggling in their own agenda. And the purpose of this smuggling was to sacrifice flesh and blood.
“Hand, God,” Batman knocked again.
Schiller thought for a moment. Batman might be saying that the god these cultists worship might be related to hands, otherwise they wouldn't have targeted his arms in both levels. But the world is vast, and beliefs are diverse; it wouldn't be surprising to find a god with a thousand hands.
But this level is fake, so what about the real one? Schiller thought, Batman's basic Morse code skills are still not as good as Anatoly's, or rather, he's not willing to use Morse code for long-winded explanations. Anatoly is different; he can even chat with Schiller by tapping Morse code on the table with his fingers while working, it's probably ingrained in his genes.
However, Batman still gave a clue as briefly as possible—"Up there."
Schiller glanced at the ceiling instinctively, then suddenly realized that it referred not to the top of this room, but to the room in the courtyard.
Schiller relayed the clue to Bruce. After thinking for a moment, Bruce said, "The cultists probably couldn't have created a large-scale mechanism out of thin air under the company's nose. They most likely modified an existing mechanism. In other words, the room structure in the previous level was designed by the company, and the winch and chains were also made by the company. The cultists tampered with it to change the so-called way to pass the level."
He paused for a moment and then said, "But why did that organizer who snuck in also ask for the key?"
"Because the organizer is also the level designer," Schiller revealed this shocking secret at this moment. "That's Tony Stark."
Bruce's eyes widened. He gestured with his hands and said, "So the organizers are..."
“They are all Battle Realm Administrators,” Schiller said. “They are not NPCs that were designed; they are the actual level designers behind the scenes.”
Bruce opened his mouth, taking a moment to process this astonishing fact, and then understood why Stark had also said that's how he cleared the game. Normally, the cultist storyline would be a mandatory part of the game, so Stark, with his god-like perspective, felt that this was the only way to complete the level.
“Wait a minute.” Bruce found another inconsistency. “So he deliberately barged in to keep Batman and the others out? That’s a bit too much of a sacrifice, isn’t it?”
Schiller shook his head and said, "Do you still remember what the punishment was for failing the lantern challenge?"
"Uh, wasn't the plan to execute him?"