Days as a Spiritual Mentor in American Comics

Chapter 5913: Chapter 4934: There’s No Batman Here (21)

Following the underground passage, they arrived in front of the cold storage door. There really was a door here, but they really couldn’t open it, there wasn’t even a keyhole. It probably needed some kind of special item to unlock, which made sense—whatever was inside had to be pretty powerful. If it were that easy to get, this game would be way too easy to clear.

Shiller pressed his hand against the door, thinking. He actually had quite a few ways to open it, but all of them would make too much noise. This was the final boss’s turf; if he used any of those weird things Wong had stashed in the High Tower, it would probably trigger an earthquake, which was not a great option.

The Gray mist would obviously be the best way, but it was just opening a door—no need to call back the mist that carried other traits. The Symbiont, though, was a very good option.

"Charles," Shiller said, "you just said the Arkham Knight is here too?"

"Yeah, they linked up with the Viscount Manor team," Charles said. "Right now they should be heading off to fight the graveyard boss."

"Can you ask him to come over?" Shiller paused for a moment, then added, "I remember there’s a Symbiont in his body."

"Uh, yeah, I did sense two consciousnesses," Charles said. "But it should be dangerous where you are. If he comes alone..."

"Just ask him," Shiller said. He was pretty sure the Arkham Knight would come, because the Red Bee inside him happened to be a speed-type Symbiont. The Arkham Knight basically didn’t ever need to dodge Monsters—he could bolt the instant he saw one, and the Monster wouldn’t even catch his tail lights.

And his guess was absolutely right. The Arkham Knight heard Shiller’s group had found a cold storage door on a high-level map and needed someone to open it, and he rushed over without a second thought.

He knew his own strengths very well. Mobility had always been the key attribute for stealing stuff—whether you can fly or just run fast, you’re the best candidate to sneak into high-level maps and nab items. Now that someone had even done him the favor of locating the target, how could he not go?

And the Red Bee’s speed really wasn’t for show. The Arkham Knight just charged straight in, and every Monster that saw him could only rage helplessly. And since the subway station was off campus, he didn’t need to enter the university itself, which meant there was no chance he’d run into the final boss.

But while he was circling outside the campus, he subconsciously glanced toward the school. He didn’t know if it was his imagination, but he saw a figure holding an umbrella standing on the rooftop, like it was watching this place, then it vanished.

He found the subway station and followed the passage in, quickly arriving at the cold storage door. The Arkham Knight greeted Shiller and Ethan, then said, "What’s going on inside the university? I think I saw a..."

He didn’t finish his sentence, because he’d just realized that silhouette looked a lot like Shiller. He figured it might be a player from another team, but he couldn’t understand why that guy was just standing there watching him. Some unpleasant memories surged up—having Shiller staring at you had never been a good sign.

"That’s the boss," Ethan’s mouth was way too fast; Shiller didn’t manage to stop him in time. "The one based on Shiller’s model."

Hiss... the Arkham Knight’s expression practically cracked. "Which district’s? Don’t tell me it’s the East District?"

It was obvious he was already a little out of it—he couldn’t even remember which district he was in right now. Great, the bad memories were about to replay.

"West District," Shiller answered. "But I’m afraid when it’s time to fight the boss, you’ll still have to come."

The Arkham Knight really wanted to refuse, but there was one problem—if the Shiller in the university was the boss, then the Shiller in front of him wasn’t? Either way, early death or late death, late is still better.

"I’ll do my best," the Arkham Knight said. "Good thing my teammate is Polaris. You didn’t traumatize her as badly, did you? ...You didn’t, right?"

Shiller shook his head. Wong was extremely protective of his own people, to the point that the Marvel crowd basically hadn’t seen Morbid much, except the ones who went looking for trouble out of curiosity. Polaris’s psychological issues weren’t that serious to begin with, and things between her and Magneto had smoothed out now, so of course she wasn’t afraid of Shiller.

Still, Shiller was very curious how Brainiac would set it up so that a boss modeled after him wouldn’t be afraid of a Mutant like Polaris, and could even trade blows with them. That didn’t sound very plausible.

The Arkham Knight pressed his hand against the door, and the Symbiont’s slime quickly spread over the entire surface, seeping into the cracks. Clearly, the Symbiotic Factor’s penetrating power was stronger than Brainiac’s locking power. After a short while, with a click, the door opened.

A blast of cold air rushed out to meet them. Shiller glanced inside. Just as he stepped forward, the Arkham Knight blocked him and said, "Hold up, there might be Monsters in there."

"I know," Shiller said. "But we absolutely have to get the Ice Formation Device. Even if there are Monsters, we can only fight."

"It might not be a regular Monster," the Arkham Knight said. "It could be a regional boss. We ran into one before—wasn’t easy to handle."

Shiller narrowed his eyes slightly. Brainiac was really something—so many locks, just to lock up a mini-boss. But either way, they were already here. Boss or not, they had to fight.

Shiller picked up the umbrella—Brainiac indeed wouldn’t let him use the Anti-Life Equation, but as long as he didn’t open it, the Equation wouldn’t activate—the front of the umbrella had a blade on it, and Peter had even mounted a Freeze Gun on it for him.

Shiller hadn’t updated the gear on his umbrella, so the Freeze Gun was a very early version. It wasn’t as powerful as Victor’s current Freeze Gun, but it was good enough for dealing with ordinary Monsters.

He went in first, and as soon as he stepped inside, under the dim light he saw a Monster—a cocoon hanging from the ceiling.

Countless limbs were woven into a web, and what was wrapped inside the cocoon was a Monster formed from the fusion of a man and a woman. They were embracing each other face-to-face, their torsos almost completely fused, their heads and necks joined, their legs intertwined, like a very deep embrace.

"You’d better not be implying anything," Shiller said. "You think if Victor saw this, he’d freeze Gotham solid with one ice storm?"

"I must remind you of one thing," Brainiac said. "Extreme cold that Humans cannot survive is just right for artificial intelligences. Most of my server rooms are in the North and South Pole."

"Is that what gives you confidence?" Shiller asked.

"Even so, you don’t seem very angry."

"Because your understanding of love is very abstract." Shiller sized up the cocoon, even clicking his tongue in a bit of wonder. "You’re like one of those kids who think as long as a man and a woman hug, they can reproduce. In reality, hormones, emotions, genes—these things are far more complicated than you imagine. Besides, reproduction is just a tiny offshoot of love."

"Victor might get very angry if he saw this," Shiller went on. "But only because it would trigger his sense of shame and his instinct to protect his privacy, not because you actually hit a nerve."

"I admit this wasn’t done well enough," Brainiac said. "But I’m very interested in Victor’s experience. I thought freezing your own lover in ice was the kind of courtship method only an artificial intelligence would come up with. Like I said, we’re very fond of low temperatures."

"Did you do this to the Super Body?" Shiller asked.

"The Super Body doesn’t have servers," Brainiac sighed with feigned regret. "I met her too late. If it had been earlier, maybe it would have worked."

This cocoon didn’t look much like a Monster, because even after they all walked up to it, it still didn’t show any Aggressiveness. Shiller thought for a moment and said, "Maybe once we deactivate the low-temperature device, this thing will revive. Let’s dismantle one first and see."

Ethan and the Arkham Knight both went to work. Shiller watched the Monster’s reactions. When the first Ice Formation Device was removed, the thing started to beat like a heart. When the second Ice Formation Device was removed, the cage formed by the outer limbs began to move a little. Only after the third and fourth were removed did the fused body inside finally start to move.

"Do we fight it?" Ethan asked. The only reason they still had a choice was because this Monster really was a bit slow.

As soon as Ethan finished speaking, Shiller and the Arkham Knight had already walked out the door. Ethan also hurriedly ran out, and the Arkham Knight looked back and said, "If your enemy has a very long entrance animation, that’s not telling you he’s slow and can be challenged—it’s telling you that once the animation ends, it’s your death sentence."

He said this while glancing at Shiller. Back when Shiller went to his universe, that entrance animation wasn’t just long, it was endless. And now the Arkham Knight knew: a slow-raised hand isn’t an apology; it’s giving you time to run as far as you can.

The three of them left the underground passage as fast as they could. Sure enough, as soon as they got back to the surface, the ground started to tremble and then crack open. The temperature dropped rapidly, and the rain falling down turned into snow. The worst part was that the ground began to freeze over, creating a huge obstacle to movement.

Moreover, the sudden drop in temperature only affected the agility of the living; it had no effect at all on corpses that had long since lost their body heat. Even the Symbiont couldn’t quite handle this temperature, and the Arkham Knight’s speed was affected as well.

Shiller had no choice but to open the umbrella over his head. This wasn’t using the Anti-Life Equation; Batman’s cape had a constant-temperature function. Even though it wasn’t as handy after being turned into an umbrella, it could still help a bit.

They quickly withdrew from the frozen zone, but ice crystals had already formed in their hair and on their eyebrows. Shiller let out a long breath, while Ethan shivered beside him for a long time before finally recovering.

"I’ll go with you..." The Arkham Knight had originally planned to go to Shiller’s base to swipe some stuff. Their base had almost nothing, and drafting blueprints was serious business.

But just then, Charles brought bad news: "The Viscount Manor squad was attacked. Many people have fallen unconscious. Jason, you need to get back here, fast."

The Arkham Knight’s face darkened. "What happened? So many superpower users went to take down a single sector boss and they still..."

"Outer God," Charles said. "They were hit by Psyshock, and almost all of them passed out. Right now we’re planning a joint operation to completely wipe out the Drowned. The other squads are also heading to Viscount Manor."

"I got it," the Arkham Knight said in a low voice. "I’ll head back now."