Days as a Spiritual Mentor in American Comics

Greed turned to Bruce with a smile and said, "It seems your teacher has taught you quite a bit."

"Has it always been this way? Does the death of the people at the ball have anything to do with you?"

"No," Greed replied. "That was another strange event."

"The two were quite close, causing some fascinating chemical reactions, ultimately leading to everyone's death."

"Yes."

"Did you anticipate it?"

"Not entirely."

"Did you contribute to the escalation?"

Greed didn't answer but said, "Don't you think you're acting a bit too familiar with me? That's beyond the reach of your Psychoanalysis Method."

Bruce smiled and said, "My teacher taught me a lot."

"But you have never learned as well as you have at this moment," Greed peered into his eyes and continued, "I hope you are learning, not just parroting. Tell me about yourself."

"There's not much to say," Bruce replied. "I've had many interesting patients, you know, those who have narrowly escaped strange events often suffer severe psychological trauma."

"Aren't you just an intern?"

"That's what interns do," Bruce said. "Do you expect licensed doctors to deal with these challenging patients?"

"It seems some patients have made a significant impression on you."

"Yes, they have," Bruce nodded and said. "Some have not fully escaped the influence of the strange, leaving a deep impression on me."

"Like?"

"There was a very weak female patient who had just undergone surgery, her lower body was torn apart, leaving her with such severe psychological trauma that she even feared sharing a bed with her husband."

"I hope you're not about to tell me some tabloid news."

"Of course not. According to her statement, a man possessed by a monster broke into her home and raped her."

"Isn't that just tabloid news?"

"But the thing is, the extent of the tearing in her lower body isn't something a human could do. Her entire pelvic region was completely torn open, the entire process was many times more brutal than childbirth."

"You think a monster did this?"

"Yes. According to her recollection, the man's entire lower body transformed into reproductive organs, his arms were like nails, pinning her down, immobilized, and we indeed found on her shoulders the wounds she described."

"What do you think that represents?" Greed asked.

"Do monsters need to reproduce?"

"Good question. I don't think they need to, nor do I believe they possess human desires."

"Then why would they do that?"

"Perhaps they are mimicking?" Greed offered his guess. "Because humans need to do it, they do it as well."

"What benefit is there in mimicking humans?"

Greed shook his head and did not speak.

"In your battles with dangerous nature, you must have encountered some strange events as well, right?" Shiller asked the Primary Universe Batman.

"Yes. I've traveled to various places around the world with treacherous environments and indeed encountered some odd things."

"Can you talk about it?"

"I saw a deformed baby in a small village in Albania," Primary Universe Batman said. "His left hand had seven fingers, nothing else seemed unusual, and he was just three months old."

"I stayed there for the night, but the next morning, a woman was killed, and I became a suspect. However, I discovered that the strangulation marks on her neck were highly unusual—I've seen strangulation victims before, and the marks on their necks were not like these."

"What might they have looked like?"

"Very small, and due to the marks on the side of the neck, the killer might have had more than five fingers."

"But the one with seven fingers was a baby, right?"

"Yes, that's why I say it's a strange incident. Luckily, I was cleared of suspicion and completed my journey. I never heard about that village again."

"Indeed, the most dangerous darkness always hides at the edge of the world," Shiller sighed and then said, "This reminds me of an incident I encountered many years ago when I had just passed the examination to become clergy. I was only supposed to follow my teacher to a funeral, but nearly all the guests at that funeral didn't survive."

"That sounds too horrific, surely it was big news."

"On the contrary, the Church covered it up. With two clergymen present and yet not a single person saved, it would damage the Church's prestige, so almost no one has heard of it."

"How did the monster do it?"

"At first, the coffin holding the corpse began to show anomalies; the corpse's head rolled around inside the coffin, and then everyone's heads fell off. It was a very terrifying scene."

"How did you and your teacher escape?"

"My teacher couldn't escape; I was just lucky enough to be standing far away," Shiller shook his head and sighed, "Since then, I've realized how dangerous these bizarre events can be, but no matter the danger, protecting the public is also the Church's responsibility."

"I wish there were more clergy members as responsible as you," said the Primary Universe Batman.

"You know? I don't like lawyers, they should be more aptly called 'litigation sharks', always spouting nonsense. But you're different; I find you quite intriguing," the Joker said with a smile to the pale knight.

"I'm not too fond of artists either," the pale knight said. "I find them indecisive and pretentious, and you're not an exception."

"It's too early for such talk," Joker rubbed his nose and said, "I just can't figure out what kind of case could possibly bring a big-shot lawyer like you to this little village."

"I'm hardly a big shot," the pale knight said. "Back in my hometown, I'm only moderately well-known, about the same level as your artistic abilities."

"You're mocking my art!" Joker mumbled, "You obviously haven't seen much of the world."

"What should I have seen then?"

"I've heard lawyers have a lot of clients; haven't you encountered any strange occurrences? I mean, something like what we are dealing with now."

"Do you mean supernatural events? That's not really within the scope of a lawyer's work," the pale knight paused before continuing, "But I have indeed encountered some troublesome clients, out of their minds, crazy, just like you. My colleagues said they've experienced supernatural incidents."

"Why didn't they go to the police?"

"They probably should have gone to the police when the incident occurred, but after it's all over and they want compensation, of course they come to a lawyer."

"Did you manage to get them compensation?"

"Of course not, as I said, they were out of their minds. Who knows if they truly encountered supernatural events or were just trying to extort the insurance company?"

"What happened to them?"

"I'm not sure of the details. All I heard was that someone at a publishing house they were a part of went mad, injured many people, and nearly shoved someone's head into a shredder."

"How did they know it was a supernatural event? What if it was just a deranged killer?"

"Because the individual in question died, and the forensic result indicated that he might have been possessed by some kind of monster."

"From what I know about the coroners, they wouldn't make such a conclusion without undeniable evidence."

"Right, because the murderer's face was stuck to a book. When they removed the book from his face, there were no facial features left; it was as if the face had been smoothed over."

"He gave himself quite the makeover," Joker said with a wide grin, "Since that's the case, let me tell you a funny story that happened at an art exhibit."

"Big names host art exhibits, and I was invited too. But I didn't send my paintings because I thought the act of being put on display was too vulgar."

Joker rambled on about his artistic achievements for a while before continuing, "At that time the exhibit was being set up, and some paintings were not yet placed in display cabinets but were just hanging on the wall, unprotected."

"A worker, as he was descending a ladder, accidentally fell and brushed against a painting on the wall, getting paint on his shoulder. He went home and couldn't wash it off, the stain just grew larger, and eventually he turned into a painted man."

"On the opening day, he sought help from the artist who painted the piece, but people mistook him for a performance artist. While they cheered and took pictures of him, he collapsed, spilling on the floor like a bucket of colorful paint."

"Everyone who touched the paint ended up like him, turning colorful before collapsing into a puddle of paint. The police didn't find any human tissue in the paint heap."

"Fascinating," the pale knight commented. "Absurd and amusing, just like you."

The Joker showed a big, broad smile.

"You say your paintings weren't sent to the exhibit, so how do you know this story?"

"My colleagues told me, but it was quite a sensational event; there should be newspaper reports on it too. Maybe you can check when you get back."

"How long have we been walking?" Greed asked, looking back.

The Primary Universe Batman stopped his conversation and said, "I believe it's been about fifteen minutes. Do you see the end of the river?"

"No, but there are fewer fish," Greed slowed down and eventually stopped, looking into the river.

"I think I still need to do something," Greed said as he walked to the riverbank under everyone's gaze, getting very close to the water. Night Owl was about to follow him but stopped as the others watched.

Greed's eyes seemed to have adapted to the darkness, and he slowly squatted down, reaching his hand toward the river water.

The red dice appeared again, Dexterity 28＜50, check failed.

When Shiller saw the number 50, his pupils contracted—it was the highest value required so far, signifying their guess might be right: the fish had a special use.

But the problem was, the dice only went up to 20, which meant one needed a dexterity score of at least 30 to succeed the check.

The Transcendent had said no one's base score exceeded 60 points, and even with their allocated 30 points, it was unlikely for any single attribute to surpass 90.

It wasn't unsolvable, merely an indicator that the fish couldn't be caught barehanded.

Shiller thought of the fishing equipment in the house; evidently, it was meant to be used, and the river was not far from the entrance to the home's underground passage. They could've gone back to retrieve the fishing gear after spotting the fish.

But now that was impossible; the house had been burned down—where would they find any fishing gear?

Shiller guessed that to obtain the fishing gear, they would likely have to fight a battle, considering only the corpse in the kitchen hadn't been encountered yet.

Once all three battles were complete, someone in the team should be able to max out an attribute, making the upcoming challenge much easier.

Unfortunately, their progress was a mess, out of order, causing this outcome since they hadn't stuck to the script.

In that case, they would need to think outside the box. After a moment, Shiller said, "Does anyone here think they're particularly lucky?"