Chapter 5786: Chapter 4809: Royal Casino (Part 4)

For a moment, Greed was a bit dazed, wondering if he had already returned to the real world. In a virtual asymmetric gaming world, how could someone casually say "I’ll just go answer a phone call"?

You have to understand, this is a holographic simulation game, not the kind of video game where you sit in front of a computer and tap keys. And it’s a player versus player game, not the kind you can pause, go to the bathroom, and come back to keep playing. You’re telling me you’re going to answer a phone call?

Where is the phone coming from? Who would call you? Why must you go out to answer the call right now?

But Greed quickly abandoned thinking about these things because he felt the agent just didn’t want to execute the original plan and randomly made up an excuse to run. So he could only shake his head helplessly and went to find Matt himself.

But the agent was really just going to answer the phone. He followed the guide and arrived next to the wall-mounted internal phone in the storage room.

"Hello, may I ask what you need from me?"

Arkham Batman was momentarily choked. For a moment, he also felt like he wasn’t in a perilous murder game, and the agent just received a bizarre sales call on a Monday morning. He seemed completely indifferent to who made the call and why it was directed to him.

"It’s me," Arkham Batman spoke up. He knew the agent would definitely recognize his voice, so he continued, "I used a skill on you, changing your victory conditions. You should be able to see it. I just want to hear your thoughts."

The agent did indeed see it. He said, "So you’re recruiting me now? You want me to work for you, take them all out, and then let me leave?"

"Exactly, are you willing?"

"Sure."

All of Arkham Batman’s subsequent persuading words were choked back in his throat. The agent agreed too readily, forcing Arkham Batman to consider if there might be a catch.

"Do you have confidence in taking them out?" Arkham Batman asked.

"Taking them out is your job," the agent said, "All I can do is not cause trouble for you. But I wouldn’t be able to cause much trouble anyway. Because with my luck, I can’t win gambling, my skills mainly involve running away, and if you don’t come after me, this game has nothing to do with me."

"You have a gun," Arkham Batman reminded.

"Yes, but the bullets are not infinite, and they are currently less than half," the agent said, "If you hope I can shoot someone at a critical moment or stop their actions, I’m afraid that’s not doable."

"Why?"

"They are very united," the agent said, "If I openly defect, even if I attack Greed who has no attack power, his teammate, like Matt, will certainly come to attack me, and I can’t defeat him. By then, I will surely be eliminated by them."

"Not to mention if I die before them, I can’t achieve victory. This skill of yours should be a one-time thing; if I am easily defeated by them, won’t you have wasted it?"

Arkham Batman briefly pondered, feeling the agent had a point. This ultimate skill can indeed only be used once throughout the game; otherwise, it would be too powerful. As long as time is dragged on, it would be impossible to turn all five people against each other.

With only one insider, this person is very valuable. If they die easily, this ultimate skill would be wasted.

Unlike the Gambler, who, like the Banker, can be controlled but not killed; they have blood volume limits. If killed, they enter a dying state; if teammates don’t save them, they can only lie on the ground, having no function.

So rather than letting them charge into battle in front, it’s better to provide some intelligence behind the scenes. Anyway, there are internal phones to communicate, and information is always valuable for Batman.

Arkham Batman adjusted his thinking and said, "I originally wanted you to take the key shot to solve the most troublesome person. But as you said, even if you knock him down, they might bring him back up and then turn to besiege you, whom you can’t defeat."

"So I think you’d better gather some intelligence," Arkham Batman said, "Tell me about your team’s financial status and operational plans. Perhaps you can also conceal some important information, causing them small troubles, but be careful not to expose yourself."

"I’ll do my best," the agent said.

After speaking, he left, and Arkham Batman watched his back. But soon, his attention was drawn to something else—Superman had found a very important vault in the office upstairs.

Arkham Batman knew about this because when the vault was opened and something was taken, his vision suddenly turned red for a while. Arkham Batman immediately realized that the vault should be equivalent to the seal of the last game, and the ultimate goal for the gamblers was to open five vaults and take the important items inside.

Although the plot of this game is explained even more vaguely than the last one, it can be roughly guessed that five desperados voluntarily ran into the casino to participate in some kind of chase game, with the ultimate goal of obtaining funds. The items placed in the vault should be the key to their turnaround.

And as the casino’s banker and owner, Arkham Batman certainly wouldn’t allow this bunch of thieves to steal his things, so he was hunting them down in the casino. Now that the first vault had been opened, Arkham Batman saw that when another vault is opened, he can unlock another suit; and if three vaults are opened, the Batman Suit will evolve; four vaults opened, and the Batman Suit will be further enhanced.

Thinking about the intensity of the chase at the last minute of the last game, Arkham Batman even started to look forward to them opening the vault quickly.

When the first vault was opened, Greed happened to find Matt. Matt gave him a large pile of chips, all of which he had gathered during this period, and left them all to Greed.

Then Matt said, "I saw Lucifer open a box, and there seemed to be a lot of good stuff in there. I need to get the goods before he finishes gambling. You stay here, don’t wander around, I’ll be back soon."

Greed nodded. He wasn’t actually too worried. Earlier, choosing to stay at the gambling table and deal with Arkham Batman wasn’t entirely due to his insatiable greed. In fact, he had a nearly miraculous survival skill called "Resurrection Coin."

"Resurrection Coin: When you enter a dying state, you can spend all your chips to revive once, immediately restoring to a standing state. The more chips spent, the more blood volume you’ll have when standing, but it won’t exceed 50% of your total Life Value. (Once this skill is used, all chips in hand will be cleared, with a cooldown of 20 minutes.)"

This skill does have a cooldown, but no limit on the number of times. It means that as long as Greed doesn’t get camped or repeatedly hacked, he can keep using Resurrection Coin to keep reviving and running away.

Moreover, though Resurrection Coin has an upper limit on requirements, there’s no lower limit. Even with only one chip, it can activate this skill, though you’ll have just a sliver of blood volume when you stand up.

This is clearly because he lacks means of attack and escape, a balancing skill given by the System. But as long as it’s used properly, he can still move like a ghostwhen bats knock people down, they need to carry them to a certain place rather than execute them on the spot. This means there’s a chance to escape halfway. As long as he revives unexpectedly and runs away when Arkham Batman is off guard, it works.

But now, Greed values his other two skills more because he’s about to start with capital’s original accumulation.

Greed’s first skill is controlling odds. Just like Arkham Batman predicted, this skill can increase the odds of ongoing gambling facilities. The values are generously given, higher than Arkham Batman’s manipulation of odds, as it’s a single-target skill.

And the other skill is quite interesting. This skill is called "Insightful Investor," and the effect is to choose a teammate to invest in. However, the way to get returns isn’t by having this teammate make money. Instead, the closer this teammate is to Ghost, and the longer they interact, the higher Shiller’s multipliers will be. The multiplier will accumulate infinitely upward.

And when the same investment target gets hurt—meaning they get slashed by Ghost—a benefit settlement occurs. If this slash results in near-death, the earnings can directly double.

However, correspondingly, if this teammate stays far from Ghost, the invested money will decrease over time, meaning it’s not a sure-win and could result in a loss.

The best approach is actually to find a communicated teammate, invest in them, then have them kite Ghost, take a hit, and come back after healing to fight again. This way, you can earn a lot of money continuously.

But in practice, it’s impossible to be that ideal. You have to find Ghost first, and if you’re unlucky and can’t find them, that money is lost; then you need to outsmart and outbattle Ghost, and the contact radius required with Ghost is actually quite close. At least, you likely will trigger the background music; finally, you have to take a hit to trigger settlement. If any link here goes wrong, the entire plan fails.

Initially, Greed chose the agent because he’s professional and has a gun for self-defense. Even if he takes a hit, he can turn back and control Arkham Batman, then escape. Investing in him is a no-loss choice.

But for some reason, the agent fled, and now no one knows where he’s wandered off to. Greed couldn’t wait for him to come back all the time, but he was also a little worried about Matt. Although his scouting ability was strong, he lacked controls and escape means, so if he goes to take a hit, he might not make it back.

Greed found a gambling table, manipulating the odds while gambling for chips, thinking about strategies.

Rather than tying himself to one person constantly, it would be better to try several people. All investors know about risk hedging. Although he can have experts like the agent and Matt take hits, someone like Lucifer who can’t play, isn’t taking a hit completely natural?

However, Greed didn’t immediately invest in Lucifer because Lucifer didn’t even understand how to play the game correctly. He didn’t follow the game mechanics at all, making it more of a shopping and gambling simulator. He’s just wandering around the casino, collecting chips, and then gambling.

Because even he doesn’t know where he’s going, Arkham Batman can’t predict his movement path either. And since he’s not a real threat, Arkham Batman won’t choose to deal with him first.

The agent fled and was hard to catch for both him and Matt, who also scouted around Greed, making him hard to catch as well. So, the soft target that’s left is Superman.