Days as a Spiritual Mentor in American Comics

After finishing his examination, Shiller didn't speak further. He checked Batman's chest wound, a rather severe piercing injury. Without prompt medical attention, his life expectancy would be less than two hours.

Although Shiller had examined him, he lacked medical expertise, so he simply stood up and stepped aside to let Bruce, who had surgical experience, approach.

Bruce examined the wound and shook his head, saying, "It doesn't look good. The bleeding won't stop, and I first need to drain the blood from his lungs to prevent him from choking on his own blood. Then we'll need medicine and bandages..."

"I'll go look for some," Shiller said. "This gentleman will come with me."

He glanced at Greed. Greed said nothing, and Bruce's gaze shifted back and forth between the two men, finally nodding his approval.

"For safety," Shiller said, picking up Batman's shotgun, "I need to take a gun. I'll try to bring back some supplies, but don't get your hopes up too high."

After he spoke, he stood, leading Greed out the door. Only once they had left the room did Shiller realize they were likely in a lighthouse.

He recalled the opening animation mentioning the nickname for the small village, "The Lighthouse Covered in Snow," which he surmised came from the very lighthouse they were in.

It was easy to see that the lighthouse was huge, unlike any Shiller had ever seen before. Calling it just a lighthouse seemed an understatement—it looked almost as big around as the Animal Fighting Arena.

Exiting into a large hallway with windows letting in faint light, he could roughly make out the interior.

The decor was somewhat outdated, seemingly decades without repair, but the place was still clean—not a wreck or remotely abandoned. The wood flooring, although worn, indicated quality and deliberate design.

The hall was semi-circular, with a round carpet laid in the center of the floor. To Shiller's right was a reception desk, with a door directly opposite and a spiral staircase beside it.

Shiller cautiously skirted around the carpet and reached the door opposite, surmising it might lead to a security booth or room with first aid supplies.

Greed had been following him and now positioned himself on the other side of the door, giving Shiller a meaningful look. Shiller gently pushed the door open with the barrel of the shotgun.

The door opened.

"Aow!"

"The battle begins!"

As the door opened, Shiller and Greed saw a shadow dart out—a hulking Hunting Dog with the broad back and shoulders of a bear.

"Please kill or subdue the Hunting Dog within five rounds, current round count is 1."

Shiller immediately felt as if his soul had left his body, allowing him to observe the scene from a third-person perspective.

More importantly, during the pause in time, they didn't need to keep in-character and could speak openly—a primary reason he had brought Greed along.

"Where did Arrogant go?" Indeed, as soon as time paused, Greed asked, "Why did he take off in the middle of playing?"

Shiller rolled his eyes and said, "He obviously went after the Transcendent. The Transcendent silently copied our abilities. With Arrogant's pettiness, how could he let that pass?"

"I knew it." Greed sat down, saying, "He copies and then hands off the abilities to Bruce. Arrogant never wastes time seeking revenge. The Transcendent is probably already unlucky."

He paused, then added, "But I didn't expect him to pick you. What do you think his intentions are?"

Shiller shook his head and said, "I think they're still concerned about the memory segment you deleted, although I also don't know what it was. But after all, I was created because of that. They might think you might cause trouble for me, which could make you reveal what exactly happened at that time."

"The memory bank is shared. After I deleted it, I didn't know either," Greed said. "They're wasting their efforts."

"That's not necessarily true; you certainly made thorough preparations before deleting the memory. Who knows when you might remember?"

"Let's not dwell on old stories. I just didn't expect you to be willing to come here. Aren't you supposed to be on vacation?"

"Yes, but if I didn't come, they would have made Bishop come instead. Bishop refuses to come at any cost, so it had to be me."

"It seems Nyarlathotep has been giving him trouble," Greed quipped, mouth twisted. "He's the one closest to the morbid side. I don't believe he can't handle Nyarlathotep. He's just using it as an excuse to be lazy."

"Actually, they initially wanted Jun Heng to come." Shiller thought for a moment before saying, "But it seems like in this game, my skills, especially in combat, are needed more."

"You did look quite impressive just now," Greed complimented, but then quickly added, "If it's just about fighting, we might as well have let Violence... I mean Moonlight come. You must have another task, right?"

Shiller spread his hands and said, "The fact that I once worked at an enforcement agency can't be hidden from Batman. For him, those from law enforcement stand out like elephants in a crowd. Not to mention, Arrogant once taught at the enforcement agency."

"So what?" Greed said dismissively. "What's so scandalous about having been an agent?"

"But the real question is, how did we become agents?"

The two looked at each other, eye to eye.

"I told you, I don't know," Greed emphasized again. "I deleted that memory, so I don't remember either, but anyways, they caught us with some evidence."

"Do you think that's normal, or in other people's eyes, would they catch us with evidence?"

"Uh…"

Greed hesitated slightly and said, "Even the wise can make mistakes, horses stumble, humans falter…"

"You know Batman is thorough. If he finds out we've been agents, he'll definitely investigate why people like us became agents. Do you think you'll have peaceful days then?"

"I don't think he can tell," Greed said hesitantly. "The personalities that often surface don't have any traits of agents. As long as you don't come out, I think... Oh my God, you're not trying to fish for Batman, are you?"

Greed furrowed his brows deeply and said, "Superego and Arrogant can't find it out themselves and want Batman to help them investigate? This is like inviting the wolf into the house! I disagree!"

"A suspect can't be on the jury." Shiller shrugged and said, "You were the one who acted initially, now it's no use disagreeing."

"Which Batman do they want to investigate? Don't tell me it's the Primary Universe Batman... No, we can't let him investigate, what if he really finds something?"

"What exactly did you hide initially?"

"I told you, I don't know," Greed said irritably. "But I must have had my reasons for doing it."

"You really don't want Batman to investigate?"

"Yes, but you've already told him your identity. He might seem like he's about to die now, but he definitely has thousands of contingency plans ready in his head; once he gets back, he will surely investigate thoroughly."

"But he can only investigate our universe, he can't investigate things from our past lives. What are you scared of?"

"You better not be trying to trap me with your words," Greed said. "We all know, this isn't really about a past life. Just in this universe alone, there are at least three people who know if you count Anatoli as still alive. So how could it not be found out?"

"All he can find out is what exactly you and Anatoli were up to. The details of past lives aren't even clear to Anatoli, only we know about them. Where do you think he could look?"

Greed paused slightly and looked at Shiller, saying, "If it's something only I know, then it can only be found through the 'Mind Reading Technique'... Bruce got the Psychoanalysis Method copied from us; only he could see the clues, no wonder Arrogant was in such a hurry to find the Transcendent. Does the Transcendent have an ulterior motive?"

"That's not it," Shiller shook his head and said, "Even he can't turn over the memory bank, and since you deleted the memory of that time, we don't even know anymore, where could he possibly look?"

"It's not that simple. If Bruce finds out that Shiller has a piece of memory he himself doesn't know about, and it's the very thing that forced him into the law enforcement agency, he'd definitely go investigate it eagerly."

"That's exactly the problem," Shiller stated. "This lost memory is like Pandora's Box, just like you said, something you avoid couldn't be anything good. If no one knew it would be one thing, but what if something really comes up?"

"Then why did you appear?" Greed raised his voice slightly. "As long as no one knows I've been an agent, wouldn't that solve it?"

"Covering your ears to steal a bell." Shiller commented. "Bruce is still inexperienced and hasn't dealt much with the law enforcement agency; he might not have noticed, but the Primary Universe Batman definitely did."

"Don't think that because he calls everyone 'PhD' so affectionately, once he gets free, he will definitely dig deep into our and Anatoli's matters. Once he starts, can you still keep it from Bruce?"

"Better to confess to a lesser charge than suffer from resistance. Letting him know proactively might even make him less aggressive."

Greed couldn't help massaging his temples and said, "I never believed before that one lie needs a thousand lies to cover it up, now I somewhat understand."

"You used to just think that even if a thousand lies were needed to cover it up, you could come up with them. It was just a bit of effort, no harm done. But if something goes wrong with Bruce probing into that memory, I want to see how you explain it to Arrogant."

After shouting, Greed lay down on the ground in the shape of a spread-eagled figure, saying, "Maybe it's nothing to worry about?"

"I hope you can always stay this optimistic."

Shiller stood up, returning to his body, and Greed also weakly floated back to his.

After the first round started, Shiller's first move was to take out the kitchen knife from his embrace and throw it to Greed, and he instantly darted to the right, dodging the Hunting Dog's bite.

He turned and ran toward the door he had come through, with the Hunting Dog chasing behind him. Greed stood still for two seconds before remembering to grab the knife and chase after.

Woof! Woof! The Hunting Dog was barking furiously.

Just as it was gathering strength to pounce forward, Greed stabbed it in the lower back with the knife. The Hunting Dog, in pain, turned to bite, and Shiller, who was originally fleeing, turned around and came back, holding the Shotgun by the barrel, and smashed it hard on the Hunting Dog's head.

Bang!

The Hunting Dog was knocked to the side, quickly got up shaking its head, and as it hesitated, Greed seized the moment to pounce, joining Shiller in pinning the Hunting Dog down, slicing open its soft belly with the kitchen knife.

Immediately, its organs and blood spilled everywhere, and the Hunting Dog moaned a few times before lying still on the ground.

But, just as the door was just opened, several pairs of scarlet eyes lit up behind it.