Days as a Spiritual Mentor in American Comics

He was subtly asking about one's Luck Points, when the pale knight stood out and said, "I've always been fairly lucky, what about it?"

"I think you might want to check by the river; maybe you could get both the worst and the best outcomes."

Shiller's words were somewhat ambiguous, but luckily, there were no outsiders here; as long as the other party understood, that was all that mattered.

In fact, he just wanted the pale knight to take a gamble for a great success, or even a great failure would do; it might turn out they could fish something out, or find out what was up with the river.

"I think we can start walking," Primary Universe Batman said. "This river must have an end; perhaps it would be better to try there."

After thinking it over, Shiller agreed with his proposal, and the group continued forward. Here, the sense of time was unclear, but Shiller knew Batman must be silently counting the seconds in his mind.

They didn't know how long they had walked when they all started to feel a bit tired, Shiller suddenly spotted a bundle of light ahead.

"Is that the exit?" Night Owl squinted and said.

Shiller suddenly reached out to stop him because he saw fleeting shadows within the light that resembled lakeside reeds.

As they moved a bit closer, everyone saw a lake ahead with some reeds at its edge, and a glowing hole above the right side of the lake surface, seemingly leading to the surface.

Although it didn't quite look like a normal exit, it was the only clue they had so far, but Shiller suddenly thought of the reeds on the dead body in the kitchen.

The cave was not cold, otherwise, they couldn't have walked for so long, which also meant the reeds here were fresher. Shiller compared the two in his mind and realized that the reeds on the dead body might have come from here.

If the owner of the diary was the dead body, did he delay meeting up with the detective because he came here to fish, and that's what led to their tragic end?

However, judging by the state of the diary owner's body, he appeared to have successfully caught fish and didn't die here; perhaps he was well-prepared?

Shiller activated his Clairvoyance and looked towards the reed bed.

Instantly, he saw the dense reed bed lighting up below with interwoven roots at the center of something.

In order to see clearly what it was, Shiller moved forward a couple of steps, and just as he saw the object clearly, he let out a muffled grunt as if a needle had pierced his eyeball.

Shiller stood still with his eyes closed for a while to adjust; when he reopened them, he noticed blood-red traces around his field of vision that didn't change as he moved his gaze.

His mental health value seemed to be at some risk.

However, his skill had not yet cooled down, so he could only put up with it for now.

Shiller saw that the dense roots were gradually twisting into the shape of a human brain.

He stepped back and said to Primary Universe Batman, "Shoot in the direction I'm pointing."

Primary Universe Batman walked over, but he actually didn't see anything; when he found out Shiller was pointing at the base of the reeds, he furrowed his brows and said, "Water significantly reduces the impact of bullets—it might not hit where you want it to."

After estimating the distance in his mind, Shiller said, "Half a meter forward from here should do."

He then moved a few steps to the side to indicate he wouldn't interfere with Batman, who gave him a glance but still moved forward a few steps, raised his gun, and aimed.

Bang!

Splash!

In an instant, the entire reed bed surged as if a wounded beast had been hit at its vital point; all the reeds began to grow wildly, filling the space of the entire lake in a matter of seconds.

"Run back!" Shiller shouted.

The others reacted swiftly too—actually, there was no need for his shout. As soon as the reed bed moved, everyone turned and ran.

The roots of the reeds moved at a great speed under the surface of the river, occasionally shooting up to lash at them.

But the speed at which they ran was not slow. No one here was the type to lack either strength or dexterity; everyone's attributes were quite balanced, so even after walking for so long, they could still run.

They ran all the way back, and it was about halfway when the reeds finally receded.

Shiller felt as though the Transcendent's call "Let the battle begin" was almost on the tip of his tongue but was repressed back by their shameless strategic retreat.

Shiller chuckled to himself. He wasn't stupid—who would want to go head-on against something that obviously wasn't on the same level as those dead bodies?

After the reeds withdrew, the ground was covered with fish.

The roots of the reeds had stirred up the river all along the way, occasionally protruding out; the river was originally full of fish, and many belly-up fish were brought ashore by the reeds' disturbance, naturally becoming the squad's catch.

Bruce walked over and picked up a fish, but he really couldn't see how it was different from ordinary fish, whereas Primary Universe Batman stood beside thoughtfully.

"What do we do with these fish?" Bruce asked.

"Let's just leave them here for now," Shiller said. "We can come back and get them when we need to. Let's continue to check out the previous exit."

As they walked on, there were so many fish that there was barely any place to set foot on the ground, but when they reached the lake, they found that the entrance leading to the lake area was blocked by dense reeds.

The reeds in Shangdu were wet, making it nearly impossible to ignite a fire and burn them, but now the only path was so thoroughly blocked that there seemed to be no other way but to confront the obstacle head-on.

But just then, Shiller suddenly pulled out a sharp kitchen knife from his clothing.

Night Owl, who was holding the flashlight, was momentarily dazzled by the cold light of the blade, and he remembered that the knife used to dissect the bodies in the kitchen had never been put down.

Shiller took out the knife and chopped at the reeds in front of him; reeds are not trees, just ordinary herbaceous plants, so it was quite easy to cut through them.

After hacking away for a while, Shiller managed to clear a path just wide enough for someone to get through. He asked Night Owl to shine the flashlight in that direction, and it seemed relatively calm.

However, it was still risky to enter at this point because if the reeds were merely pretending to be calm and were to seal the escape route once they got close, in a trap-like situation, that would be problematic.

But fortunately, light was still seeping through the hole above them, proving that the exit had not been sealed off, and now it was a contest of agility.

Shiller charged forward, and sure enough, the reeds began to move again as he neared the lakeside.

Without even looking, he ran straight for the hole above, the reeds on the ground growing crazily, trying to trip him, and the blades swinging wildly in mid-air, but Shiller barely managed to dodge them.

However, as he approached the hole, the red dice appeared again, agility 18 > 15, Shiller reached out and grabbed the edge of the hole, pulled himself up with one heave, and was directly over the lip.

The others didn't wait for Shiller to make it before they started running, and they all followed him, dodging the reeds along the way purely on their reflexes. But at the hole, they had to roll for it.

Joker, agility 22 > 15, passed.

Pale Knight, agility 16 > 15, passed.

Greed, agility 31 > 15, passed.

All three of them made it up in succession, leaving only the three Batmen below. Normally, if it had been each to their own, they should have been the fastest, but Batman is Batman, after all; they let the others go ahead, planning to cover their retreat.

Principal Universe Batman felt this way mainly, and Bruce, for some reason, also lagged behind, with Night Owl not feeling reassured, trailing behind him.

As a result, the reeds had already overgrown the entire lake surface, and the difficulty of the agility check had increased sharply.

Bruce, agility 25

Bruce's hand had already touched the edge of the hole when the reeds wrapped around his legs and yanked him down, smashing him harshly against the nearby wall, causing him to spit out a mouthful of blood.

Night Owl, agility 18

Night Owl had no chance to get close to the hole; a sharp reed leaf pierced through his shoulder and tossed him aside, the scent of blood instantly spreading.

But there are always greater talents among the strong, and while Bruce and Night Owl's failures were indeed regrettable, the luck of the Primary Universe Batman was even more astonishing.

Primary Universe Batman, agility 12

A twisted drill-like reed leaf shot through his chest, and Primary Universe Batman's pupils contracted in an instant.

Just then, a shadow jumped down again from the hole, snatched up the shotgun that was thrown aside, and fired a shot at the reeds behind him.

Bang!

Unfortunately, the shotgun was not a scattergun, and it only managed to push back the blades behind; Shiller rolled to the left, sprinted past the attacking reeds, and dragged Night Owl over.

Bruce was the least injured, quickly getting back up after being flung against the wall, and rushing toward the hole.

As he neared the exit, Shiller also dragged the heavily stricken Primary Universe Batman over, and together with the help of the others above, they managed to hoist Primary Universe Batman up.

Night Owl was still able to move; he jumped up, grabbed the edge with one hand, and Pale Knight roughly pulled him the rest of the way up.

Shiller chopped off two reeds that flew towards him, stepped on a nearby reed leaf, leaped up, and successfully made it back on top through the hole.

Everyone had escaped, and all of them breathed a sigh of relief. Shiller put away his knife and took a moment to survey the surroundings.

Unexpectedly, they were not outside but in a small room that looked like a storage area with curved walls and various boxes stacked against the walls, appearing to be lifestyle supplies.

Shiller walked over for a look and found onions, potatoes, carrots, and other vegetables that lasted longer, butter, flour, canned meat, and hygiene products such as toilet paper at the bottom; there were also two barrels of gasoline in another corner.

The others were checking on their injured teammates.

Bruce had the least serious injury, a minor scrape on his back; the blood he spit was because his tongue was bitten when he landed, which is a common injury in such situations.

Moreover, Bruce's reaction was correct—he had to spit out the blood immediately from his injured tongue; otherwise, it could cause choking or even suffocation, so he was in the best shape.

Night Owl's shoulder had been pierced by a reed, but the penetrating reed was thin, and with his high attributes, he wasn't badly off after the bleeding was controlled.

The one with real trouble was the Primary Universe Batman, who rolled a critical failure. Several twisted reeds had penetrated his chest, nearly as thick as steel bars, and although his heart remained unharmed, without emergency medical aid and with blood gushing uncontrollably, his blood volume was visibly depleting fast.

Shiller walked over to examine Primary Universe Batman's injury, but as he squatted down facing Batman, he clearly saw Batman's lip movement.

"You're not a PhD, who are you?"

Shiller paused, checking the wound and smiled back with a lip movement of his own—"Just a regular detective."