Thriller Paradise

"Captain Gordon will come to this factory later tonight and arrest Mr. Freeze. Twenty-four hours later, an event will happen where Gordon has defeated Mr. Freeze in another location."

Feng Bujue did not hurry to enter the factory but first walked around the factory to observe its layout and plan an escape route.

"Speaking of which… this time, the scenario seems to have started a bit too early. None of the important events have transpired yet. The car that is responsible for transporting the inmates of Arkham has not been intercepted. So, the Black Mask will order the inmates to go after Two Face's military arms and conduct a series of actions like assaulting the Gotham City Police Station and so on. At the same time, the battle for the cowl between the superheroes will go on simultaneously…"

He calculated the timing in his mind.

"If I am to be present for all of these events, I will have to stay inside the scenario for about two to three days. That is obviously not possible. This is not a sleeping mode scenario, and staying too long in it will surpass the time that is permitted by the system… In other words, in this Killing Game, the system did not prepare any situation for us to change the course of the plot. It only borrows the location of Gotham City to provide us a stage for the fight."

He had an accurate assessment of the setting, but the quest that was laid before him was immensely hard…

As the player with the weakest combat stats among the six players, to change the situation around and obtain victory, Feng Bujue would have to make use of all possible resources that he could find from the scenario.

When he was reading the newspaper, he came up with three different solutions.

The first one was to kill and take over the identity of Black Mask. Then he could control the inmates of Arkham and make them attack the other players.

The second solution was to sneak into the Bat Cave to steal a lot of equipment and use them to help him in combat.

The third solution was to steal Mr. Freeze's Freeze Ray Gun, also known as 'Cold Gun' or 'Freeze Ray'. It was one of Mr. Freeze's signature weapons and could shoot a cryogenics laser beam that froze anything it touched, encapsulating the victim in ice. According to some lost record, once a person was frozen by the gun, they had exactly eleven minutes to escape the ice with their life.

The first solution was the best solution, but it would be extremely hard to put it into action. Even though Feng Bujue knew about the real identity of the second generation of Black Mask and knew what his goal was and how he was going to go about to approach that goal… The hard part was finding this person's hiding place and then replacing them. He would then have to push the time for the jailbreak forward. There were too many extenuating circumstances in this solution, and any of the interconnecting links had a high chance of failure.

The second solution was a middle-tier solution. There was no issue with the time, but the problem was with the risk and difficulty. There were currently two Batcaves in Gotham City. One was at Wayne Manor, and the other was located in the collapsed subway at the bottom of the city. The site was constructed after the series of events in Batman: No Man's Land. Be it Bruce Wayne's Bat Cave or the copycat Bat Cave that was DIY-ed by Jason Todd, there would be plenty of equipment to be found at either of these places, and they would be of at least excellent quality.

It was not hard for Feng Bujue to find either of them. With his power of analysis, he would only need to check the map and the related information of the city's traffic. But the problem was… it was easy to find them but hard to get in and even harder to get out. Currently, the superheroes from the Network treated the Batcave as their base. Barbara—Captain Gordon's daughter and the former Batgirl—had been seriously injured and incapacitated by the Joker in the Batman: The Killing Joke. She was the current Oracle and stayed in. the Batcave most of the time. If he snuck into the place to swipe some stuff and ran into any of the superheroes, things would not end well for Feng Bujue.

Jason Todd's Batcave would be unguarded most of the time, but if there was someone there when Feng Bujue snuck in… and that someone was unfortunately the owner of the Batcave, there would be no exit for Feng Bujue since he would be brutally killed by Jason Todd.

In this scenario, Jason Todd was like a version of Batman who would not hesitate to kill and knew how to use guns. Based on the comics, the third generation Robin had an extremely lethal and cruel fighting style. He was good at all sorts of martial arts, was an impressive marksman, and could slip away easily in the darkness. When he was moving in the dark, the criminals that fell by his hand would have a hard time catching his movement.

No matter which Batcave he targeted, with Feng Bujue's combat ability, the chance of him failing to walk out from the Batcave would be drastically higher.

Therefore, he chose the third solution, the one with the fewest benefits but the one that he had the most confidence in. Mr. Freeze was a normal fighter, and he had a clear weakness in his fear of heat. As long as he did not face him head on when he was armed with the Freeze Ray Gun, it would not be that difficult to take him down. Even a normal person like Captain Gordon was able to do it.

Furthermore, even if Feng Bujue apprehended Mr. Freeze before the police arrived, it would not affect the main plotline of this scenario that much. It would only cause Dr. Victor's capture to be moved ahead by one day. After all, at the end of the day, Mr. Freeze would be sent to Iron Heights Prison, and it would not leave any effect on the plot at Gotham.

"If only the time for this scenario was longer… I could have tried to collaborate with some of the more powerful supervillains by providing them with information like the location for the superheroes' lair. In that case, perhaps they would be so in my debt that I could have even asked them to deliver a few nukes to the other players…"

Feng Bujue mumbled to himself as he imagined this shortcut to win the Killing Game. By then, he had already taken a tour around the factory, inspected it thoroughly, and returned the spot where he first got out from the taxi.

"Hmm… Looks like it is a good option to enter the place through the second-floor window…"

"So, you plan on stealing Mr. Freeze's Freeze Ray Gun, huh?"

A voice interrupted Feng Bujue's thoughts. When Feng Bujue heard that, his heart squeezed, and he jolted in response. His brain reacted swiftly in that moment, coming to the realization that he must have run into another player.

"By hearing what you have to say… it sounds like you have been following me for quite some time." Feng Bujue called himself to calm down as fast as he could to face this imminent threat as he slowly turned around. He turned toward the source of the voice. "Why didn't you ambush me then? Why did you wait until now to show up? Don't give me an answer like… 'there is no need to'…"

King of Shadows' unassuming figure appeared before Feng Bujue, and he replied in an even tone.

"Even for an ambush, one has to plan it accordingly," he said as he took out a gun from his inventory. "For me, if I want to ambush you, I have to rely on something like this."

Feng Bujue had just put his guard up, but to his surprise, the other party calmly put the gun away into his inventory.

"Haha… unfortunately my marksmanship is only level F, and with this distance between us, there is an eighty percent chance that I will miss," King of Shadows commented with a smile. "And if I try to ambush you with a sudden close-distance strike, for a player like myself with a level E fighting mastery, I similarly do not have not much confidence that the hit will be successful. Furthermore, we are all players over level 30. I don't believe that you would not notice someone sneaking up to you.

"Other than that, based on what I have observed so far, you are a very careful and cautious person. If there is someone within five meters of you, they will attract your attention if they move their arms, much less take out a gun."

As Feng Bujue listened to the man speak, he was observing the other person. He was not going to let any details slip his attention. After all, knowing the enemy was half the battle.

After the man finished, Feng Bujue replied, "I cannot see any sign of deceit on your face. That can only mean two things… either you are a godlike liar, or what you are saying is all real…

"If you are a player with lousy marksmanship and fighting mastery levels, then… there are only two possibilities that you could have chosen to appear before me now."

As he spoke, he extended a finger. "First, you are very weak, so you want to form an alliance with me to deal with the other players in this scenario."

He raised the second finger. "The second possibility is of the three masteries, workmanship, Sorcery or summoning, you are very powerful in one or more, and that gives you enough confidence that you can defeat me."

"Oh?" King of Shadows' interest was piqued. "As conceited as it sounds, you are not wrong. Anything else?"

"Of course, there is." Feng Bujue's lips curled into a smile. "Be it when I was walking or taking the taxi, I was paying attention to whether someone was following me, but I did not notice you at all. I believe that you know I was unable to notice when you are following me. In those circumstances, when I was in the open and you were in the dark, why would you choose to show up? If you want to kill me, wouldn't the timing be better after I deal with Mr. Freeze?

"Based on what you've told me, I've come to a conclusion like this… No matter the method of tracing that you used, your method of fighting… must be extremely eye-catching."

King of Shadows' gaze shifted.

"Like a giant robot, a sorcery skill with large and colorful effect, or a summoned creature like a large beast," Feng Bujue said. "If I put it into that perspective, then this makes a lot of sense. If you made your move in the city, you could have easily killed me, but that would have attracted the attention of the police, superheroes, and even the other players.

"And if you use the type of fighting method that I talk about, then there is indeed no reason for you to wait for me to intercept Mr. Freeze, because making your move now will lead to the same result." He pointed at the road that he had arrived from. "This factory is far from the city center, and there are not that many people around. I believe… actually, far earlier when I took the taxi to enter this area, you planned to make your move. But when you were following me, you maintained a very long distance away from me, so you only decided to show up and approach me after I had taken a look around the factory."

King of Shadows looked Feng Bujue up and down. "You are… Feng Bujue?"

Since Shiva, Understanding Death, and Seven Kills all showed their guild name on the combat ability ranking, and Not a Scaredy Cat looked like the IGN of a girl, when King of Shadows saw the Underworld Frontline badge on Feng Bujue's shirt, he made this conclusion.

"Yup. That's me," Feng Bujue replied. His tone was mocking and sarcastic, like he was some big character.

"You have good analysis skills. If there is a chance in the future, I would love to cooperate with you," King of Shadows said. "But this time, I believe this is the end of you."

Beneath his normal appearance, a harrowing presence started to appear. "Players outside of the top ten combat ranking are not going to be my match."

"Oh? Does that mean that you are on that ranking too but you are hidden?" Feng Bujue attempted to swindle the man.

King of Shadows did not deny it and admitted coolly, "I am number nineteen. My title is Man in the Shadow, King of Shadows."

"You are ranked nineteen, but you said those underneath top ten will be unable to beat you," Feng Bujue said with a serious face. "If that is how we are going to play this game… then let me tell you a little secret. I know that my name is not even on the ranking, but no one on the ranking will be able to beat me."

"Humph… Do you think I'm bluffing?" King of Shadows said with a smile. He also took out a small blade from his inventory. Feng Bujue was prepared because he was the one who was bluffing. He had summoned Death Poker. If the man suddenly charged at him, he could use the shield to block.

Neither moving too fast nor too slow, King of Shadows stabbed himself with the blade.

"Hey… Brother… What are you doing?" Feng Bujue said. "Are you trying to scare your enemy? Let me advise you, this might work on others, but it won't work on me…"

"Haha… I'm sorry. I need to use a large amount of my blood, and it has to be fresh, so I have to do this every time." King of Shadows smiled bitterly. "Initially, I did not understand this skill and made random cuts on my arms and legs. They are all now filled with wounds, but that only wasted my health potions. Later, though, I got it. It should be a direct stab to the lungs… Cough…"

He spat out a mouthful of blood.

"What in the world?" Feng Bujue took out Mad Moxxi's Bad Touch from his inventory and then raised it toward the man. "Looks like you are unleashing a highly dangerous skill that needs to sacrifice your own blood!"

Feng Bujue's marksmanship was Level D, and this distance was just perfect. More than ten bullets flew out in that few seconds, and they all hit the target. Unfortunately, when the bullets were about to hit King of Shadows' body, they appeared to run into an invisible wall, and they all bounced away.

"I paid a high price to buy a set of armor that is specifically used to defend against bullets. It has reflection properties," King of Shadows said with a smile. "And it was all to buy these few precious seconds…"

His blood soon spread on the ground, and it morphed into a blood pool underneath his feet. This moment, there was a flash that crossed King of Shadows' eyes. The next second, the blood on the ground seemed to boil and bubble.

Feng Bujue did not try to fire off another round. After he saw that bullets were useless, he put the gun away. He took out Death Poker and sent out a royal flush. At the same time, he kicked on the ground beneath him and shot out like an arrow, following the cards. King of Shadows pulled out the blade and held the wound as he retreated. But he staggered and had trouble even standing. His speed was no different from a normal person, and from this initial glance, there was no way he could avoid the coupled attack from Feng Bujue and the Death Poker.

This was an opportunity that Feng Bujue would not miss. When he was halfway through, he took out the stool from his inventory. He waited for the enemy's defense to be broken by the Death Poker, and he would follow it up with some head bashing.

To his surprise, as the cards flew to King of Shadows, a giant arm suddenly reached out from the blood pool. A gale of blood blew, and it managed to divert the Royal Flush from the Death Poker away from its original trajectory.

Seeing this, Feng Bujue quickly stopped himself from moving forward. He leaned to the side and arched his leg to the side to sidestep the giant arm, going for the King of Shadows himself.

King of Shadows was unable to evade and was caught by Feng Bujue.

Pa pa pa…

The blows from the stool landed on King of Shadows like rain drops. One had to admit that Feng Bujue was incredibly familiar and good at using this weapon…

"As expected, you are a player who specialized in Summoning Mastery! But that also means you have Level E fighting mastery! You couldn't be weaker!" Feng Bujue did not hold back from whacking the man. In Feng Bujue's mind, there were two reasons an antagonist would lose.

One, they liked to drag out the situation when they had the advantage. This was common in most movies. A villain was holding a gun aimed at the main character's head, but he did not fire the gun. Instead, he started to grumble and mumble, talking about his grand plan. In the end, the main character used this opportunity to turn the tables and win the match.

Two, undoing their pants to fart. Similarly in these movies, these antagonists would be armed with weapons, but they liked to have the main character tied up somewhere, place a bomb next to them, and then leave. What kind of rationality was that? This was like a husband drafting a divorce paper before starting the search for the mistress. Unnecessary.

Feng Bujue would not make this kind of mistake. When the enemy maimed himself by stabbing himself in the stomach, he started to shoot and continued with his attacks. That was how he obtained the advantage in this match. At that moment, Feng Bujue was certain that he had to follow through with this formula. He would never stop attacking before his enemy morphed into a burst of white light and disappeared.

Unfortunately, this kind of 'advantage' was only an illusion…

"Hehehe… Hahaha…" King of Shadows hugged his head and squatted down in defense. He looked like the defeated party, but he was still laughing.

"Are you a masochist or something?" Feng Bujue felt like the man was dying too slowly, so he took out the wrench and aimed it heavily again and again at the man's head. "First, you used the knife to stab yourself, and now you are laughing so loudly when you are being beaten."

"How many of my Life Points… do you think your attacks have drained?" When King of Shadows asked this question, his shoulder that shielded his head was hit heavily by the wrench. The wound burst open, and even the bone was exposed, but from his tone, it did not sound like he experienced any pain at all. "Eighty percent? Ninety percent?"

"Why don't you tell me?" Feng Bujue pulled his elbows back to his ribs and then poked right at King of Shadows' chin. Even Feng Bujue did not expect that the front end of the wrench would poke directly into the man's skull. Based on the depth that it went it, he believed that the man's brain would be injured, and his Life Points should have dropped to zero.

"Cough… Gah…" With his chin punctured, King of Shadows was unable to speak normally. But to Feng Bujue's surprise, he put down both of his hands to reveal his seriously wounded face, and he squeezed out the following from his ruined mouth. "My… Life Points… Still… have… nine… ty… nine… percent left."

"You are quite a serious person, aren't you? You answered my question directly. Is that even necessary? You are just showing off now…" Feng Bujue seemed to have already noticed something. His gaze moved away from King of Shadows and turned to look at the arm that reached out from the blood pool behind it. By now, it was not only an arm but a whole monster that had crawled out from the pool.

The monster had a humanoid shape, and it was about five meters tall. It was extremely strong and looked like the Hulk. Its body had layers of half-congealed blood that looked like waves. The colors were shining ruby and gold. The monster's head had two black holes and a mouth. It did not look that creepy, but the feeling that it gave off could be summed up in one word… strong.

"Since earlier, I have been sharing the Life Points bar of this Blood Golem." King of Shadows' voice had returned to normal. Feng Bujue retreated several steps to prevent himself from being attacked from both sides. When he turned to look at King of Shadows again, the wounds on the man's body were recovering at a startling speed.

"Don't worry. As I said earlier, my real form is very weak," King of Shadows said. "But if you kept on attacking me like just now and opened your back to a punch from my friend, I don't know what would have happened."

Feng Bujue raised his eyes to take a look at the Blood Golem and thought to himself, Just what kind of people are these players who take up the top spots at the combat ability ranking in this game?