Chapter 5785: Chapter 4808: Royal Casino (Part 3)

In a moment of thought, Greed calculated inwardly. He circled the table while trying to negotiate, using slick words to persuade Arkham Batman to let him go.

"I believe that as a speedrun player, you should understand that in asymmetric games, the development of the ghost is more important than that of humans." Greed pointed out frankly, "On the surface, ghosts have an absolute advantage, but in reality, humans have a higher margin for error, so ghosts focus more on the early game, whereas humans focus more on the late game. If you don’t develop early on, you’ll be dragged to defeat."

"Of course, I’m not kindly reminding you; the main thing is that you’re making me circle around here, which is quite annoying for me too. Why make the game this way? In asymmetric games, focusing solely on me seems somewhat targeted, doesn’t it?"

"I’ll take it as recognition of my strength, but I have teammates too. Not to mention if they will come to rescue me or not, aren’t you afraid they’ll find some critical items to use against you?"

The more Greed talked, the less Arkham Batman reacted. The two kept circling around the table, and in the few sentences, they must have circled hundreds of times.

"Batman!" Greed raised his voice, "Are we going to circle till the game ends? You brought so many people in just to play like this?"

"Why not?" Arkham Batman replied nonchalantly.

On the surface, Greed showed a helpless expression but was actually delighted inwardly. He wanted to trap Arkham Batman here because he had just met with Matt and had a preliminary exchange about the plan, and Matt should now be searching at the top level.

They agreed that whatever supplies Matt found would all be used for Greed’s operations. Even if he encountered other teammates along the way, he would demand their supplies and chips as Greed’s start-up capital.

Greed could also guess that Arkham Batman wasn’t worried about others developing, probably because he had some remote interference skills, like disrupting their lock-picking sequences or tampering with gambling facilities, allowing him to remain calm and watch him here.

However, if all teammates worked together to search extensively when Arkham Batman wasn’t around, they could not only understand the entire map’s terrain but also gather substantial wealth. As long as they avoid the gambling facilities, the chance of interference is low.

With this, he not only stalled Arkham Batman’s development but also allowed his teammates to accumulate capital freely. Once dragged through the early game, he could operate similarly.

Greed’s calculations were crackling along, but just at this moment, there was a bang, followed by a flash of red light as an agent shouted at the door, "Run!"

Greed almost wanted to hold his forehead. Others were playing asymmetric competitions, while the agent was playing "007: Casino Royale," relying on a gun to go on a rampage, right?

But upon seeing the agent’s expression, Greed knew he must go. So, while Batman was stunned by the shot, he quickly operated the gambling table, withdrew his chips, and dashed past him.

Greed ran forward while the agent turned back to shoot Batman once more. The two ran upstairs together, and while running, the agent said, "I knew he’d come to block you; he surely wants to hold you down."

"I held him down!" Greed emphasized, looking back. "If you hadn’t come, I could have held him for at least two hours!"

"The problem is why he would be held down by you." The agent reacted quickly, "He probably isn’t clueless about the importance of development."

"He surely has some remote interference skills," Greed said.

"I checked the memory of Hunting before coming," the agent said. "The ghost usually accumulates points through various means to activate a big move. After chasing you for so long, he likely has accumulated enough points."

Greed slowed his pace, and they entered a box upstairs. Greed slightly frowned and then said, "Are you saying he’s using me to farm points?"

"Not necessarily, but his remote manipulation skills might also score points. In any case, if it drags on, once his big move is ready, you definitely won’t escape."

"That is indeed a problem," Greed thought aloud. "What kind of big move do you think it will be?"

"That’s unclear, but the big move of Hunting is a state effect that increases speed, eliminates attack intervals, and enhances attack power, called ’God of Frenzy Hunt.’"

Greed pondered and said, "If that’s all it is, then there’s nothing to fear. But I think if his entire set of skills isn’t aggressive, the big move might not be aggressive either. What could it be?"

Arkham Batman looked at his skill panel. It was clear that in this game, two people were gambling tirelessly, one of which should be Lucifer, and the other could be either Superman or Matt.

Arkham Batman understood Superman better. Superman is not a person who enjoys gambling; his gambling is likely because he has no strategy for this kind of game and just follows the main line. The main line gives him chips and tells him there’s a gambling game, so he participates.

And also, through Arkham Batman’s continuous manipulation of the win rate, he had already taken almost all of their chips. Combined with what he acquired earlier, his points had reached 120. He needed just three more chips to activate his ultimate move.

At this point, one of his other skills came into play—’Personally Step In: Select an ongoing gambling game, participate as an opponent, and once victory is achieved in the gambling, the chips won convert to triple points. (This skill can be stacked with the President’s Decree).’

It’s not hard to see that this set of skills is a combo. First, use mapping to see which facility is being used, then use the President’s Decree to increase the opponent’s failure rate, and finally, personally step in to earn points.

It was useless before, actually because I was afraid of encountering Greed. Arkham Batman also knows that if Greed doesn’t have control or escape skills, then his skill might also have a hand in manipulating odds. With both increasing failure rates and the other side increasing winning chances clashing together, the probability of winning decreases.

But Greed was just chased away by him, and now he should still be on the move, not starting a game so soon. So it’s unlikely to run into him. Anyone else is relatively safe.

Arkham Batman reactivates the scouting function. Sure enough, a poker table lights up. He immediately executes a combo, first increasing the failure rate, then activating "enter the field personally," and instantly he appears opposite the poker table.

The Superman across was dumbstruck. He turned to run, but the bout within skills couldn’t be exited. He could only brace himself and say hello: "Hi, Batman."

Arkham Batman disregards him, merely looking down at the poker table. This is a simplified version of Texas Hold’em, each person has 12 cards, chooses the largest combination to play, and there are three rounds, with the best of three games.

Because of using his skill, the cards on Arkham Batman’s side are exceptionally good, with pairs and full houses, and the points are high. Seeing Superman’s tightened brow, he knew Superman’s deck should be weak.

As expected, Arkham Batman plays all combinations, but Superman’s side, the highest he has is a pair, the rest are basically scattered cards. He lost the first two rounds with a best-of-three win for Batman, and Superman shook his head in frustration.

Arkham Batman silently apologized but still took his chips. Superman only had one chip left, but since it tripled, one chip was worth exactly 30 points, totaling 150 points.

Arkham Batman looks at his President Suit’s ultimate move.

"President’s Invitation: The President personally calls a gambler and pardons them. Changes their race to ’Fanatic Voter’, giving them a set of ’voter skills’ in addition to their original skills, and installs a ’Presidential Hotline’ on the map for communication between the president and voters. Their victory condition is also changed to ’successful retreat.’

The reason Arkham Batman is eager to unleash this ultimate move is that this thing is a turning-coat skill. He can directly pull a player over to his side, not only giving them a completely new set of skills but also a direct line of communication with him. More importantly, it changes their victory condition.

"Successful retreat" means leaving the casino through a solo escape route in the event all other teammates are wiped out. This escape route only opens when the gambler side has only one player left; it means winning would require eliminating all other players and leaving through the escape route. No matter who wins, human or ghost, they can’t win.

With this setup, the bound person, even if they don’t actively sabotage their teammates, must slack as much as possible. At least they can’t save teammates about to be killed, because if the person doesn’t die, they can’t win.

Arkham Batman really wants to use this skill on Greed, as it would incapacitate the opponent’s key person.

But he’s also quite a pro gamer, realizing at first sight that this skill shouldn’t be used on the most valuable person but on someone who doesn’t care who wins. More precisely, on someone with a personality that isn’t very extreme.

In reality, turning a leader to your side is also impossible. In situations of equal strength, why would they surrender to you? At worst, they die together.

Not to mention, this isn’t reality but just a game. If Arkham Batman tries to turn Greed over, Greed very likely will rather explode alongside Arkham Batman even if it means losing. After all, this doesn’t forcibly control them; it only changes the victory condition, and they still have a lot of autonomy.

Greed is quite extreme, and he’s the key figure in the opposing team, wanting to lead them to victory judging by current performance. The chances of successfully turning him are very small; the most probable outcome is mutual destruction.

Conversely, if used on someone indifferent to who wins—whether human or ghost—the success rate of turning them is much higher. Additionally, this person’s moral baseline can’t be too high; they can’t be too much a team player, or they might not want to betray.

Then Superman and Matt are basically impossible. Superman doesn’t want to do such things; his moral baseline doesn’t allow it. Matt has a good relationship with Greed, no dealings with Arkham Batman, and wouldn’t betray a friend at this moment.

That leaves Lucifer and the agent. Despite their decent rapport with Shiller, they could be turned. Lucifer is first ruled out by Arkham Batman. Even if he could be turned successfully, he’d likely be a liability. He doesn’t play seriously, roams around since the start, and would be of no use if pulled over.

On the contrary, the agent’s runaway skill is powerful, making capturing him difficult unless he’s pulled over. Moreover, he has a gun. Though friendly fire might be disabled, if turned, no one on the opposing side would be considered his ally and could be shot. A crucial shot at the pivotal moment would dismantle the gamblers’ plan.

And for the agent, who got pulled over, it doesn’t matter who wins; he just wants to get off work. Arkham Batman is confident he can persuade him.

The instant the skill is activated, the location of all players is clear as day, and their silhouettes can be seen. Arkham Batman selects the agent.

"I’ll first protect you to find Matt." The agent was saying to Greed, "I’ll exchange a few tricks with Batman, he..."

The next second, a bright outline of a landline phone suddenly appears in the agent’s vision, a guiding line on the ground leading to the phone, and a voice echoes in his head.

"Dingling, President Calling! Dingling, President Calling! Please go to the designated location within five minutes to take the President’s private call, thank you!"

The agent turns away and walks out, leaving Greed baffled: "Wait a minute, weren’t you going to protect me?"

"Sorry, I need to take a call."

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