Chapter 4343 - 3438: Skilled Divine Doctor (End)
Shiller walked over and discovered that it was a spiraling mining tunnel, with a deep well in the middle leading to deeper parts of the mining area. There were clear signs of people having been here, which seemed to belong to Natasha and Arkham Batman.
"These two lunatics wouldn't have just jumped down, would they?" Shiller glanced at the shoe prints around the edge of the well and then said, "I wouldn't be this crazy even inside High Tower."
"What's that?" Strange pointed at something below. Shiller looked down to see there was a lamp, seemingly in a room. The light was very faint, barely visible without looking closely. If they had jumped straight down, they probably wouldn't have stopped here.
Of course, the two of them would not directly choose to descend to the bottom of the deep well, even though they knew there were problems there; they could only make their way slowly. So they planned to first take a look at that door.
The two walked down the spiral passage and arrived at the door. Shiller gently pushed the door, finding it unlocked. He walked in cautiously.
Unexpectedly, there wasn't much dust here. When Shiller saw the nurse uniform hanging by the door, he understood what was going on.
There were two rather peculiar existences in the hospital; one was the Nurse, and the other was the Bear Caregiver. Both of them roamed the inner layers of the hospital.
Shiller had previously asked Manny, "Why can't you walk through the corridor outside the operating room and have to go through a passage back to the front desk, then from another passage to another operating room?"
Manny's answer was, "That's not my place."
In other words, only the two ends connected by the passage are under Manny's control within the hospital. Each room is separate, like different USB drives plugged into a computer; all can connect to the computer, but can't directly connect with each other.
But the parts beyond this, the Bear Caregiver and Nurse could come and go freely. This proved they weren't like Wood or Mr. Raven, working inside the hospital; rather, they seemed more like an external monitoring system.
According to previous speculations, if the continuously cultivated monster was a trap, there would have to be someone nearby watching over it. The Nurse and Bear Caregiver were likely to be playing such a role.
Shiller began to search through the Nurse's living quarters and soon found a photograph under the bedside table. In the photo, he saw the face of the Nurse, but a younger version, looking more like a living person, not the later withered appearance.
In the photo, he was standing with several other youths, with a building in the background, looking like some research institute. There was a gear depicted on the sign of the house.
"Looks like the Nurse comes from the Steam Empire."
Suddenly, they heard a commotion outside the door. Shiller immediately exchanged a glance with Strange. He approached the door and peered out the crack, seeing a figure sprinting in their direction.
Strange had assumed it would be some victim being chased by the Nurse, but when the figure got closer, it turned out to be the Nurse herself, running forward in a stumbling rush.
"She might want to burst in," said Strange.
"Knock her down when she opens the door," Shiller said. Because he had heard from Arrogant before that Batman had subdued the Nurse by ambushing her, which proved that although she might be somewhat terrifying, she wasn't that strong in reality.
Shiller and Strange both leaned against the door, watching the figure approach. Just as the person reached to pull the door open, Strange pushed forcefully, and with a loud thud, the Nurse was knocked to the ground.
Seizing the opportunity, the two quickly slipped out of the door and ran down the spiraling stairs without looking back, not pausing until they had descended two floors before looking up.
A silhouette was slowly approaching the Nurse sitting on the ground.
"Who is that?" Strange asked, puzzled.
Shiller's face suddenly changed. He hurriedly pulled Strange along and ran downward, not stopping for a moment until they reached the very bottom of the pit, where they finally paused to catch their breath.
Strange was also out of breath. Gasping, he said, "Why did you run so fast?"
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"Do you remember me mentioning... there might be new players joining?"
"What about it?"
"That should be a new player, but an old acquaintance," Shiller said, catching his breath against the wall.
Strange asked who it was, but Shiller shook his head and stayed quiet. They had no choice but to continue moving forward.
There were two passages at the bottom of the pit; Shiller chose the wider one and walked to the end before realizing there was a locked door with a strange-shaped keyhole.
Shiller knew at a glance that the corresponding key should be the hospital's main door key. Manny had given him the key that night.
Suddenly at this moment, footsteps were heard from behind. Shiller immediately turned around to look at the passage behind. Approaching were Natasha supporting Stark and Arkham Batman.
Shiller let out a sigh of relief and said, "How did you get here? Tony, what happened to you?"
Stark waved his hand and said, "There's a big guy down there, quite troublesome, we can't handle it now. Batman's trap has temporarily trapped him. We still need to go back and find a solution."
"You just fell down?"
Stark nodded and said, "Luckily, I was testing the Mecha at the time, or I really would've been a goner."
"So what exactly is it?"
"A strange creature transformed by machinery, ugly-looking, but wailing like a little girl," Stark said, frowning, "about six or seven stories high, with many metal arms. It was one of those things that stretched out and dragged me down."
Shiller could now almost confirm that the Steam Empire was behind this, but it was not within his main storyline focus. So he just briefly shared what he knew.
"Alright." Stark said through clenched teeth, "I'll show them what real steam technology is."
Shiller took out the hospital's main door key, then said, "If everything goes as expected, the truth about the plague should be behind this door. Our main storyline probably ends here."
"The problem now is who I should pass the hospital and the money I've earned to..."
"Isn't it obvious? It should be me!" Stark raised his voice and said, "I'll give them something to look at!"
"Although I do wish you'd teach them a lesson for me, obviously, I'd prefer something more tangible."
"What do you want?" asked Stark.
"Do you have any Battleworld Coins?"
Stark nodded.
"How many do you have?"
"Over 800," Stark said with a smirk, "I've bought all the gift packs in the mall, along with things like Advanced Battle Orders, Monthly Cards, and Annual Cards..."
Shiller gasped, that damn tycoon!
"100 Battleworld Coins, non-negotiable. Otherwise, I'm selling to Batman, and then he would own the entire mine and all the equipment in the hospital."
"No way!" Stark said, "He's too annoying. If he becomes the master of this hospital, he will definitely remodel it into something hideous. I can't stand his dark aesthetic..."
Natasha nudged Stark with her elbow, signaling that there was a Batman here. But the Arkham Batman didn't care at all. He wasn't the type of player who focused on scientific research and infrastructure; he was an assassin.
And, he actually agreed with Stark's opinion. His battlesuit was among the trendiest of all Batmen, and he too thought his counterparts were sometimes too monotonous.
"50," Stark immediately halved the offer.
"80, and I can't go lower. I've got the hospital's management sorted out, and all the departments are well-organized. There's so much space underground, and as long as you keep running it, this can be a completely self-sufficient base."
Stark thought about it, but he was now completely consumed by rage from the betrayal, and he nodded, "Alright, 80 it is. I'll transfer it to you once I get out."
Shiller nodded in satisfaction and then took out a key to open the door—unsurprisingly, it was an entire chemical factory. All kinds of metal pipes, gas tanks, and liquid pumps were available.
At the end of the room, countless pipes led to a series of glass jars. The jars housed all kinds of mummified corpses showing various ailments, like Black Death Day, Silver Moon Madness, Ore Disease, tentacle parasitism...
The countless plagues began here and spread to all places through the town's sewage system, eventually leading to a great plague.
Shiller sighed softly, at least their story line was already complete.
Overall, hundreds of years ago, someone persecuted a little girl, and then the Steam Empire used this as a pretext to create a monster for defense against neighboring nations. They built a base underground to trigger plagues, allowing the special-bodied, modified little girl to absorb the souls of the deceased plague victims, becoming a huge bomb buried underground.
Shiller saw the inscriptions on the wall slowly shift, forming a sentence—"The truth about the plague is uncovered, please make your choice."
Another sentence slowly emerged: "Important decision: this may greatly disturb the world situation, please choose carefully."
Shiller only glanced at it before turning to say to the Arkham Batman: "Help me destroy this place, thank you."
The Arkham Batman nodded and then went to set the explosives. But just then, another familiar figure walked in through the doorway, it was the Bear Caregiver.
"Are you really going to do this?" the Bear Caregiver asked, "Our neighbors have been restless all along. They've wanted to use the convenience of magic to raid Westchester but have hesitated because of what we've set up here. They haven't made a move yet."
"Manny is the best deterrent for them, only needing to sacrifice some descendants of the Cultists to ensure that the two great empires do not go to war, saving more people. But if you destroy this place, they will probably act immediately, and that might spark a world war..."
"If you hadn't said that, he might not have made up his mind," Strange said, arms crossed, "But if you say it could spark a world war, it's probably a done deal for him now."
While saying this, Shiller had disappeared. He'd gone to help the Arkham Knight set up the explosives.
The Bear Caregiver choked, feeling helpless, he looked around and said: "I've told you, it could trigger a world war! You can't do this!"
"We're not doing it, Shiller wants to blow it up," Natasha said.
"Then you should stop him..."
Everyone looked at the Bear Caregiver with disdain. Strange let out a cold laugh and said: "If you don't stop him, at most two empires will fight each other. But if you stop him, who knows if some alien civilization will come out tomorrow and start an interstellar war with you."
"Exactly," Natasha nodded, "If you all get wiped out together, you won't have the chance to go to world war, and that would settle it once and for all."
Just as the Bear Caregiver was about to say something, Shiller appeared behind him and kicked him out the door, then slammed the door shut with a bang.
"You guys go over there and hide. The bomb's blast radius is limited; it won't hit you. Don't go out until things have settled down outside," Shiller directed them to the corner of the room.
Natasha looked at him, puzzled, and asked: "Why? Wouldn't it be safer to hide outside?"
Shiller shook his head and said: "Seeing as you've been quite helpful, I'll give you two pieces of advice."
"First, in the remaining time of the game, don't trust anyone who looks exactly like me. Second, never turn your back to anyone."
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!
Amidst the smoke rising from the bomb blasts, the figures of Shiller and Strange gradually disappeared into the room.
After a brief silence, a terrible scream suddenly came from outside the door, vaguely recognizable as the Bear Caregiver's voice.
"Aaaahhhhhhhhh——"
The scream stopped abruptly, and the atmosphere turned dead silent.