Days as a Spiritual Mentor in American Comics

Shiller was stunned for a moment after hearing the question, then he flew into a rage.

"So you're still harping on that?!"

Although Shiller was somewhat prepared for Batman's curiosity about his past and the special nature of his past and present lives meant that, no matter how formidable Batman was, it was unlikely he'd be able to unearth the details of Shiller's previous life, the only way for him to glean that past was for Shiller to divulge it himself.

But he didn't ask such things when he was with Arrogant, nor did he ask when dealing with Greed. Just a short time after coming out, he'd been caught and questioned – so I'm the easy target, huh?

And if you're going to ask, do you really need to beat around the bush this much?

Shiller had still been pondering why Batman suddenly started talking about Joker.

He really wanted to tell Batman that not everyone was interested in his and his arch-enemy's twisted relationship. Just like when a brother complains to you after a fight with his girlfriend, Shiller's attitude was clear: if they make up, fine, if not, they deserve whatever comes. He would respect, understand, and send his blessings.

But it turned out that Batman had come straight for him after all.

You're so good at going in circles, you must have been a tire in your last life. Why didn't you start from the very beginning of God's creation?

Batman was watching Shiller's eyes, not missing any emotion on his face, but to his complete surprise, he didn't see any reflection, contemplation, or nostalgia.

The instant he saw the anger, it was already too late to hide.

Hiss!

Shiller gave Batman a stab directly.

"Fuck!"

Bruce, watching the surveillance footage, was taken aback.

Everyone in the lab stood up as well.

The most shocking thing about this scene wasn't the speed with which Shiller drew the knife, nor his resolute intention to kill, but Batman's surprised expression and completely unguarded posture.

Batman had never expected Shiller to harm him.

Shiller stabbed the knife into Batman's heart - not graceful, but precise enough that if he pulled the knife out now, Batman would be dead within 30 seconds.

Bruce turned to look at Greed, only to find Greed turned to stone like a statue.

"What are you surprised about?!" Bruce glared at him: "Isn't that another you? Didn't you anticipate he would..."

"I could anticipate jack shit! Go! Fast! To the Lighthouse!! Batman can't die there!!!"

A group of people rushed out of the lab in a panic.

Shiller let go of the kitchen knife handle.

"Now you can leave your last words." He stood up, shaking off the blood on his fingertips, then said, "Let's see who will take your last words for another strategy, your true match, that lunatic, huh?"

Batman looked up at him incredulously.

"I have just one last question." His tone seemed calm and collected, but his voice was slightly shaky.

"Speak."

"Are you really Shiller?"

The agent laughed contemptuously: "In the thousands of contingency plans you made for me, did you never consider the possibility that I might suddenly attack?"

Shiller was not an emotional man.

"That's because you haven't seen me. You have 26 seconds left."

"I entered the game with Greed the earliest, we were the first players to encounter each other. The information you thought I had investigated was told to me by Greed. In exchange, I had to shift your attention away, making you analyze monsters as hypothetical enemies..."

"You can't fool me, Batman." Shiller interrupted him: "You know Bruce's skill is also first aid; he has enough time to get here. You're not going to die."

"You're saying this to make me believe that what you're saying on your deathbed must be highly credible. But as you're ultimately not going to die, I'll take all of this as a bunch of hot air."

Before Batman could reply, he saw Shiller swiftly put on night vision goggles, grab a gun, and after dashing out of the door, bang bang bang, he shattered all the lights on that floor.

Three seconds later, the group led by Greed came storming up.

Bang!

Greed was shot down instantly, the bullet penetrating straight to his heart.

Amidst the alert sound indicating the fight had begun, everyone stood frozen in terror at the stairs.

What's going on?! Joker's here???

They had hurried too much, no one brought night vision equipment, and unfortunately, the windows on this floor were behind Shiller, who nearly blocked all the light, making it almost impossible to see anything at the other end of the hallway.

In the pitch-darkness, the Pale Knight reached out to help Greed. His hand went over the shoulder, touched the chest, and then froze.

"The heart..." he said.

"What?!"

"The bullet hit the heart."

Bruce suddenly realized; he almost immediately thought of the key.

Did Joker roll a critical success? No, impossible, that dice-manipulating skill of his has a cooldown period.

Unless he didn't roll at all – the serious atmosphere intensified among everyone, including Night Owl. He analyzed, "We've tested before. If there is a key item, you can avoid checks."

"Night vision goggles," Greed said weakly.

Bruce looked up into the darkness ahead, where a vague silhouette could be seen, but it was too dark to make out who it was.

"But why would he want to kill you?" Bruce walked over to Greed, and with the proximity, he could see that blood was gushing from Greed's chest. The spurting of blood indicated that the bullet had indeed hit the heart.

"Because we only have one First Aid Skill," the Pale Knight said more calmly. "He dealt a blow to Batman's heart, and then shot Greed in the heart. Both of them will die in the next turn, but you can only save one."

Bruce's face darkened.

"But I don't understand the point of doing this. Didn't he guess that Greed and Batman had already formed an alliance? They made such a big detour just so that the Joker would reveal his true intentions, and indeed, the Joker has already left the group. Our plan is close to success..."

The Pale Knight shook his head and said, "Haven't you realized it yet? This guy is as despicable as an Agent. If an advantage isn't in their own hands, it's not considered an advantage; it's something that can be destroyed."

"Isn't this harmful to himself as well?"

"No, this is to his advantage," the Pale Knight said, speaking rapidly. "One of Greed or Batman is bound to die; if you save one, the other can't be saved."

"Now, he stands between the two, so the one you can't save and must abandon will have to leave their most important message before dying—there's no way he could miss it."

Bruce also quickly grasped this point.

The situation was as follows:

This turn.

There was a knife in Batman's heart.

There was a bullet in Greed's heart.

Entering the next turn required someone to make a move. If Shiller now fired a shot this way, naturally, the next turn would begin, and these two would inevitably die from severe wounds.

Bruce had a skill that could save someone's life, but it could only be used on one person at a time. After using it, it would go into cooldown and he would not be able to use it on a second person for a short time.

If he actively used this skill, it would still enter the next turn, the effect of the skill would heal one person, and the other person would inevitably die.

That is to say, both people now had a way to enter the next turn.

But Shiller had more initiative because Bruce needed to struggle with whom to save; he must weigh, think, and judge in his heart.

Shiller only needed to fire another shot.

This meant if Shiller fired right now, the other person would die very cleanly, with no time for last words.

So now was the best time for them to leave their last words.

However, another problem was that Shiller was standing right here. Whether it was Batman trying to communicate with Greed, or Greed with Batman, it was impossible for their voices to bypass Shiller and he was bound to hear them.

And with one person inevitably facing true death, the possibility of their last words being false information was almost zero.

Because neither Batman nor Greed were emotional people.

Keeping their mouths shut and not uttering a word indeed could spoil Shiller's plan, but it would do absolutely no good for their own team.

From the previous conversation between Batman and Shiller and the various clues along the way, it was clear that the confrontation between Greed and Batman was staged.

If Greed hadn't cast himself as a heartless businessman who disregards human life, then actually, he and the heroic Batman would have no conflict of stance.

And if Greed's only goal was to make money, it wasn't incompatible with Batman's goal of saving the village.

The reason the two of them took such a big detour was that they were worried about having a dead lunatic like the Joker in the team.

The Joker, only wanting to torment Batman to the core, was too evil and could align with none of them. It would sabotage Batman's plan to save the village, and might not even benefit Greed's plan to make money.

That's why the two teamed up in advance, creating the illusion of being fiercely at odds and even resorting to seriously injuring Batman, dividing the team into two factions.

Sure enough, the Joker slipped up. As others were being taken to the lab, he chose to leave the squad. It seemed like he was avoiding Greed's threat, but in reality, as soon as Greed and Batman successfully regrouped, the situation would turn into everyone against the Joker.

Because the rest of the team, who were kept in the dark, had no united interest with the Joker.

The Pale Knight himself was righteous and more inclined to help Batman. Although Night Owl was an Evil Batman, he wouldn't necessarily like the Joker much. Bruce, although he liked to collect versions of the Joker, was very realistic and wouldn't forcibly twist against the larger force.

As for Shiller, he wasn't even in their consideration. If it were the original Arrogant, he would definitely have stood with the Primary Universe Batman, or rather, his inertia would have made him do nothing at all, satisfied to occasionally express some opinions.

Even an agent would have no connection with the Joker, with no need to help him.

So what was really going on?

Bruce recalled the conversation between the Primary Universe Batman and the agent he had seen in the surveillance footage, noticing nothing wrong.

Wasn't the Primary Universe Batman just telling the agent that we aren't enemies, there's no need for confrontation and testing each other, my only enemy is the Joker, and we already have a very comprehensive plan to deal with him. You just need to follow the plan, and you'll definitely win.

Bruce thought about it and felt there was nothing wrong with those words. If all went well, Greed would tell them the same thing, pacifying both sides and then they could meet up to confront the elusive Joker.

Although every Joker was evil, Bruce felt the Joker participating in this game wasn't as formidable as the one from the Primary Universe. With so many against him, the chances of winning were slim.

The assumption was that the plan actually went smoothly.

And now they had to face the fact that the plan had not only not gone smoothly but had taken a sharp 270-degree turn in an unknown direction.

"Professor? Professor??"

After a while, Bruce finally heard a response, but it wasn't Arrogant's voice; it was Lucifer's.

"Stop shouting, he's gone."

"Where did he go?"

"He went to smoke a cigar."