Days as a Spiritual Mentor in American Comics

Chapter 5909: Chapter 4930: No Batman Here (17)

Red Robin turned around and handed the lantern to Damian. He half-knelt, pinched a bit of soil from the grave’s surface, put it under his nose, sniffed, and then said, "There’s a stench of corpses. This is abnormal as if a body climbed out from here."

Damian took a light breath. He stepped on the soil beneath his feet and then said, "The body climbed out, so where did it go?"

"The mission is directing us to investigate this," Red Robin said, "Be cautious. There’s a 60% chance of combat in this mission, meaning that even without investigating, we might run into monsters..."

As soon as these words fell, a few of them saw a staggering figure behind three rows of tombstones. Damian was about to draw his gun, but Red Robin stopped him: "If all those horror movies I’ve watched weren’t for nothing, once you fire, it will alert more bodies to climb out."

Damian sighed: "What are the odds Batman will make me an N Metal Greatsword?"

"Not bigger than you can snatch one from Deathstroke," Red Robin pulled out a short stick. He wasn’t skilled with this, but it’s all he had. Damian merely had a shovel. They hadn’t brought many cold weapons. Nightwing had taken all the useful equipment for a combat mission. Although this investigation mission had a relatively high chance of triggering combat, it wasn’t as intense as a pure monster fight, so they didn’t bring any good gear.

Sure enough, a corpse so decayed it was bloated was wobbling toward them. Red Robin rushed forward, hitting the corpse on the head with his stick. With a splat, the head shattered, brain matter spraying out, almost splattering on Damian.

"Oh, damn it, be careful," Damian said, "What if this thing is infectious?"

"Sorry," Red Robin said, "I didn’t expect it to be so fragile."

That corpse wouldn’t be easy prey, as it lunged directly at the shorter Damian. Damian dodged with a flash, then tripping it with his foot and slapping it on the back with his shovel.

He was just about to hit it again when he noticed the corpse seemed to be swelling. He quickly shouted, "It looks like it’s going to explode, run!"

The two hurriedly ran out, and then heard a boom as the corpse exploded. It wouldn’t matter if only one exploded, but it seemed the explosion indeed alerted the surrounding corpses. One hand after another started stretching out from the graves.

No one knows where so many newly buried corpses came from, but they climbed out, seemingly not having been dead for long. Without good equipment and fearing that gunshots would attract more corpses, the two soon found themselves on the roof of the tomb guardian’s small cabin.

When Shiller arrived, he witnessed this scene of a living-dead siege. He was uncertain whether someone was carrying out a mission or if this place was inherently like this, with him crossing levels to challenge the regional leader’s old nest.

But regardless, he was here to dig grave soil, so it’s better without corpses. Since when corpses climbed out, they had already dug a hole in the grave, he only needed a few shovels to excavate the soil beneath the coffin.

"Tim and Damian are trapped," Charles’s voice sounded in his ear, "Are you going to try to rescue them?"

"I really want to save them," Shiller said, "But do I look like I could save them? I didn’t even bring a gun."

Despite saying so, Shiller still glanced towards where the corpse swarm gathered, packed the dug-out soil, and walked over.

The graveyard wasn’t big, and soon he saw the two shooting from the rooftop. In this situation, there was no choice but to fire. But because of the gunshots, the corpses were tightly surrounding them, showing no intention of dispersing.

"Now this is a bit troubling," Shiller sighed.

And at this moment, the two on the roof also saw Shiller. Red Robin first showed a joyful expression, but quickly said, "Wait a minute, which one is this? Isn’t that the Professor or the Agent?"

"I don’t know," Damian said, "But in any case, it’s Shiller. He should be able to save us, right?"

Just as these words were spoken, Shiller walked over. Red Robin took a cold gasp, "Don’t come over! There are corpses underneath!"

Then he saw that the group of corpses completely ignored Shiller, letting him enter the tomb guardian’s cabin and climb up the ladder to the roof. When Red Robin turned back to look at him, it was as if he had seen a ghost.

"Wait a minute, are you Shiller?!" It’s not surprising they were suspicious; there was speculation that monsters might disguise themselves as players. If he’s a real player, why don’t the corpses attack him?

"Charles," Shiller shouted, "Please give them an explanation."

Charles sent a compressed package to the two of them. Red Robin was a bit better, but as soon as Damian decompressed it, he felt himself drowning in a sea of knowledge.

Stuff like "collective unconscious," "death archetype," "Jung," a bunch of professional psychological terms flooded him, making Damian dizzy. Just as he thought Charles might have sent the wrong thing, Red Robin seemed thoughtful.

How the bodies started moving shouldn’t be too deeply pondered since this is a game; the crafted monsters can move regardless of how unscientific they are. However, Brainiac is ultimately an artificial intelligence; what he creates isn’t entirely nonsensical, tending to have inherent logic.

The reason why "collective unconscious" is called unconscious is because it’s something hidden in places people aren’t aware of, and unlike personal subconscious, the collective unconscious might not disappear with death. Remaining brainwaves can still trigger instinctive bodily reactions and connect to instinct archetypes.

Or rather, the most scientific explanation for why corpses move would start with collective unconsciousness. It suggests that after people die, consciousness merely sinks into deeper subconsciousness, or collective unconsciousness, and a part of the collective unconsciousness floats up to control the body, making the corpse move.

If Shiller can interfere with the collective unconscious, then he could indeed manipulate corpses. Red Robin realized this and immediately turned to Shiller, "Can you make them leave?"

"No," Shiller answered straightforwardly, "but I can make them not see you. If you leave now, they won’t chase you."

"How is that possible?" Damian said, "So you’re a Necromancer? Isn’t there a bit too much of a gap between you and your other counterparts?"

"First of all, I’m not a Mage, and secondly, I can’t manipulate the undead. Besides, if I could manipulate corpses, it should be closer to the other me." Shiller said, "You’d better hurry and leave. Or do you have other tasks to complete?"

They certainly had tasks to complete, but Red Robin didn’t say much. After all, he couldn’t say for sure whether being surrounded by corpses or staying with Shiller was more dangerous. The most important thing was to escape now.

The two climbed down from the rooftop, came into the cabin, and didn’t forget to grab the task clues. Carefully pushing open the door, they found that the corpses outside really looked as if they hadn’t seen them. The two seized the opportunity and dashed away.

Shiller also scavenged a bit in the cabin, but there wasn’t much in terms of supplies, only finding some materials. By the time he went out, the corpses had already scattered.

Shiller didn’t care where the corpses went. As a result, Harley and Pamela, having just completed their mission and emerged from the eerie villa, bumped into the mighty army of corpses.

"What’s going on?" Harley widened her eyes, "How come there’s another battle???"

Pamela shook her hand. They had just tackled a tough bone. Unexpectedly, their original investigation task triggered a local boss. The villa was inhabited by a Fake Angel, floating the whole time without touching the ground, and capable of shooting lightsabers. Pamela found it quite challenging to fight.

If it hadn’t been for Harley getting into position, and Pamela using vines to bind him and striking him with a chilling blow from behind, who knows how long the fight would have lasted. As they were discussing bringing more manpower for future tasks and being more cautious, they encountered these corpses rushing out from the cemetery.

"Brainiac, what are you playing at!" Harley said, "We just finished fighting the BOSS, and you sent so many monsters to block us..."

"I wasn’t responsible," Brainiac replied, "In the same area, it’s easy for such chain reactions to occur when doing tasks."

"You mean it’s the work of another team?" Pamela was a little annoyed, "They lured the monsters out, but should have finished them off."

"Can you still manage?" Harley looked at her with some concern. "Or else, we should run. These corpses aren’t fast, we should be able to escape."

Pamela extended her hand, "We can’t let them roam in this area, or others won’t be able to complete their tasks. I’m still..."

Before she could finish speaking, a loud shout was heard. Then, the whole area lit up with dazzling solar storm beams sweeping across, turning all carbon-based life forms it touched into charcoal.

Two figures emerged from the fog, a tall and strong metal-armored man and a green-haired woman.

Pamela tentatively called out, "Arkham Knight?"

"Polaris?!" Harley exclaimed with delight, "How did you come here too?"

"Of course, to participate in the game." Polaris crossed her arms, smiled gracefully, "JARVIS needs a more detailed assessment of this game system, but he and Wanda had to look after their kids, so they asked me to come over."

"Who’s this..." Harley gestured with her eyes suspiciously.

"Jason, Jason Todd." Arkham Knight lifted his mask, looking more cold-blooded between the brows than the usual Red Hood, with scars on his face adding to his ruggedness.

"I’ve heard so much about you," Harley said, "How did you two get to know each other?"

"During the last Multiverse war," Polaris shrugged, "He saved me, or perhaps I saved him. I figured since I’m in Gotham playing games, I should find a local ally, so I called him."

"Are you in the South District too?" The group continued walking as Pamela asked. "There are three player teams in the South District now, it’s quite lively."

"We’re in the southeastern junction," Polaris said, "You could say it’s the East District or the South District. But there are more combat missions in the South District, while the East District is all investigation, so we came over here."

Pamela nodded, realizing these two were indeed better suited for combat. Polaris’s abilities seemed born to clear monsters, and Arkham Knight was not weak either. Note that this is a figure who fought Arkham Batman to a standstill.

"Can we visit your base for a tour?" Polaris asked, "Our base is in a two-level store. I’m kind of regretting it; we chose a place too small, leaving no space for many things."

"No problem," Pamela said, "Our base is over there. Can you open a teleportation portal?"

"No," Polaris sighed, "Brainiac said the wormhole adaptation isn’t done, teleportation portals don’t work. Let’s walk over."