Chapter 5789: Chapter 4812: Royal Casino (7)

After leading the two people to escape, Greed breathed a sigh of relief. These two were important forces, especially Matt. His Map Exploration Skill was really crucial. If he were to die just like that, the odds of the Gambler’s side winning would significantly decrease.

"He seems like a different person." Matt said, "His movements aren’t so stiff, and his speed isn’t so slow. It’s almost as if he’s as agile as he was in real life. What on earth was the game planner thinking, trying to make Batman really be Batman in the game?"

"You mean he doesn’t have any other skills and just became like Batman?" Greed asked. 𝚏𝕣𝕖𝚎𝚠𝚎𝚋𝚗𝐨𝐯𝕖𝕝.𝕔𝐨𝕞

Matt nodded and said, "At least I haven’t seen him use any unique skills; it just looks like the usual Batman combat moves. Much more agile than before."

"I see," Greed said, "It seems the game planner’s strategy for Batman’s skills is to weaken him first and then let him regain his original Batman strength. This could be a bit troublesome."

"This Batman is exceptionally strong," Superman said, "When it comes to combat skills alone, none of us is his match. Have you found the items in the safe?"

Both shook their heads, and Superman sighed, "Better find them quickly. I found two; we just need to find three more to win."

"What? We only need to find three more?" Matt was a little surprised. He was too busy helping Greed make money to carefully check the victory conditions. With his powerful Map Exploration Skill, finding three items wasn’t all that hard, was it?

Superman nodded and said, "We should split up and it won’t take long to finish. By the way, I saw you using an item. Where did you get it? A slot machine?"

Just as he asked, Greed stuffed a bunch of items into his arms and then said, "Take these, and quickly go find the safe."

"Why me?" Superman asked, "Even though I plan to do it, there’s no need for you to give me all the items."

"Don’t you get it? You’re the luckiest one among us," Greed explained, "We’ve been wandering around the map for ages and never came across a single safe, yet you found two at once. This proves you’re suited for this job. If you die, we’re all screwed."

"Don’t worry." Superman’s fighting spirit blazed, "I will definitely lead you guys to win this game!"

After Superman left with the items, Matt asked somewhat doubtfully, "You didn’t really give him all the items, did you?"

"I kept a few for you." Greed pulled out several more items. With his skill to manipulate win rates, he almost won every gamble, making a lot of money, and those simple life-saving items weren’t expensive, so he bought a ton of them.

"Aren’t you keeping any for yourself?" Matt said.

Greed shook his head again, handed all his chips to Matt, and said, "You two hurry to find the safe."

Matt squinted his eyes and said to Greed, "You sound like you’re saying your last words. We’re not at that point yet."

"We already are," Greed said, "I know better than you how strong this Batman is. If he regains his Batman abilities, no one else can delay him."

"Why? You obviously don’t have any attack or escape skills, you’re the one who can’t hold him back the most, aren’t you?"

"Whether he’ll be held back doesn’t depend on how strong the opponent is but on how important the opponent is," Greed said, "No matter how strong you are, if he doesn’t want to ’play’ with you, you can’t hold him there. Only those he wants to kill can distract him."

Matt frowned deeply. Because he knew Arkham Batman would definitely want to kill Greed, not only because Greed was the core figure of the Gambler’s side, and suddenly saved two big threats, from both a benefit and emotional perspective, he would definitely be Batman’s number one target.

But precisely because of this, he can’t succeed. The fact that Greed was able to pull out so many items in such a short time is a representation of his management skills. Surviving a bit longer equals a higher chance of victory.

Matt expressed his thoughts and Greed helplessly said, "You’ve also been defeated by your own greed. The problem now is that besides me, no one else can hold him back. Even if you go, you won’t succeed."

"We must at least try."

"That’s just your personal heroism at work."

"Because I am a superhero."

"But I’m your friend. You should understand me. What I want is ultimate victory; what I have to sacrifice in the process is not that important."

Matt knew he couldn’t persuade Greed, so he could only say, "I can only promise you that I’ll seize victory and fight until the very last minute."

Greed smiled at him.

The agent was reading the bar in front of the safe. He discovered this safe on the way, by chance. But he didn’t expect the reading bar to be so long and that he had to stand there, concentrating on solving the puzzle without drifting off, or he might get interrupted.

Just when he was fully focused, he suddenly felt something behind him. He immediately interrupted reading, turned around, and ran. The burst start was indeed very impressive; he disappeared in an instant.

However, while running, the agent glanced back and found it was Arkham Batman. He was somewhat puzzled; when Batman approached before, there was background music. Why was it completely silent now, without any hints?

However, the agent had seen Hunting’s memories, and he knew that it should be because Batman had been enhanced. Fortunately, even enhanced, Batman wasn’t faster than him. As long as he was careful, it was unlikely he would get caught.

He didn’t think Arkham Batman was here to have a chat with him. Although he seemed to have stood on the banker’s side, he understood very well that Arkham Batman would cut him down as soon as the opportunity arose. Every US President only cares for their voters during election periods; this is an eternal truth.

Arkham Batman had approached him for collaboration previously because his skill set wasn’t strong enough at the time and lacked aggressiveness. So he hoped the agent could take a crucial shot. But now that he’s been enhanced, whether the agent is around or not doesn’t really matter anymore. So if they did meet, he might act without hesitation.

As for that new skill set, the agent hadn’t even looked at it. If it enhanced Batman, the agent might be interested in giving it a try. The problem is that it’s mostly about sabotaging the team’s own work, like causing the safecracking progress to regress, or disrupting a store so that it can’t be opened. There’s no room for strategy in such skills, only a diminished experience for others. The agent wanted no part of it.

After circling downstairs for a while, the cooldown for his burst start was almost over, so the agent headed back upstairs to open the original safe. He had barely begun when Arkham Batman showed up again.

The agent burst-started away once more, and Batman didn’t catch up. This time, the agent took a few loops upstairs, waiting for his skills to be ready, and then returned to open the safe. Not long after, Arkham Batman appeared again.

The agent fled once more, but this time, the president’s call alert buzzed again. The agent ran a bit further before answering the call.

"Why are you so fixated on that safe?" Arkham Batman asked.

"What a thing to say," the agent sneered, "You think I can find another safe? If not this one, then which one?"

Arkham Batman seemed at a loss for words. The agent wasn’t intentionally provoking him; he was stating the truth. With his acceleration skill, he should have been the fastest explorer, and indeed, he covered the most area on the map so far, yet he only came across this one safe. If he had the luck to find multiple safes in succession, he wouldn’t be so stubborn about this one. What’s the alternative?

"Don’t hang up," Arkham Batman accurately predicted his next move and said, "Is our cooperation still in effect?"

"What cooperation?" the agent retorted, "You’re so strong now, you don’t need me at all. Who’s to say you won’t kill the donkey after the millstones are done?"

"Don’t you trust my character?"

"I trust Batman’s character..." The agent paused, "But I will never trust the US President’s."

With that, he hung up the phone, ready to circle back to the safe. He had decided to clash with Arkham Batman today, daring him to continue wasting time with him here.

As the agent returned, Arkham Batman didn’t come again. Thus, he easily opened the safe and took the contents inside. This was the third safe he’d opened.

The agent knew that the more safes he opened, the stronger Arkham Batman would become. But since he had seen Hunting’s memories, he knew the power difference between the second and third seals wasn’t significant, just slightly receding. That’s why he dared to proceed so boldly.

But who would have thought, just as he stepped out of the room, Lucifer had opened the fourth safe. Nobody had anticipated this.

Ever since entering the game, all Lucifer did was wander around the map. Yet, he was lucky enough to pass by a safe during his wanderings, and he started working on opening it.

Meanwhile, Batman was slashing Superman and Matt, while Greed was gambling and saving people, completely unaffected by him. Despite having several failures in deciphering, he managed to open the safe.

Arkham Batman gave a knowing smile. With the map function enabled, he could see the safes’ locations. There weren’t that many safes, just three more than the required number of five. Now that it’s easy for Arkham Batman to go up and down floors, he shut down the electrical switches and conveniently checked on the safes’ positions.

He had already seen Lucifer working on a safe but didn’t stop him, or even show up to intimidate him. Instead, he approached the agent and repeatedly sought him out. This was to imply to the agent: you’re the only one working on opening a safe, and I am determined to stop you.

In which case, the agent would continue focusing on that safe until it opened. Arkham Batman, through appearing, cautiously controlled the agent’s speed in cracking the safe. This ensured that both the agent’s and Lucifer’s safes would be nearly simultaneously opened.

The instant the fourth safe was opened, Arkham Batman reached his complete form. Batman’s suit was intensely reinforced, gaining the crucial passive skill— "Unspeakable Fear."

Immediately, all light sources in the casino went dark, plunging everyone into pitch-black darkness.

Superman stopped what he was doing, looked up in shock, but could only see blackness. Suddenly, he heard the pitter-patter of rain.

Superman cautiously felt his way to the window; the sound of rain came from outside. As he leaned closer to listen, a brilliant light flooded the room in a blinding white glow.

"Crack!"

Thunder slashed the sky, its deep rumble resembling a beast’s breath. The incessant flash of lightning caused the indoor light to flicker on and off. Rain beat against the windows, leaving moist streaks.

Then, with another flash, Superman focused his gaze out the window. In the next second, his pupils contracted— the silhouette of the city struck him with inexplicable familiarity, with the skyline pierced by the spire of Gotham Church.

No wonder outside the window had always been sheer darkness, shrouded in dense fog, making nothing visible. This casino was in Gotham!

But then an urgent question struck him— Gotham was Batman’s home turf, and right now, they were being hunted by Batman!