Novellv Chapter 4774 The Royal Casino (8)
Chapter 4774 The Royal Casino (8)
Chapter 4774 The Royal Casino (Part 8)
If it weren't for the inexplicable increase in readings within his field of vision, Superman would almost have thought he was genuinely scared. His heart was racing, he felt dizzy, and even his steps became heavy—all because a number in his field of vision was rising.
"The unspeakable fear: When you know who he is, when you know where he is, you will inevitably feel fear. Only death can stop him."
Superman took a deep breath, trying to suppress the feeling of panic with sheer willpower. But he failed without a doubt, not only because it was a forced negative state, but also because he had to admit that realizing they were fighting Batman in Gotham was indeed quite stressful.
However, Superman did not give up. He quickly took the chips he had found in the drawer, groped his way out of the room, only to find that he could no longer remember the location of the store he had seen before.
He couldn't possibly be that forgetful. Superman immediately realized that even without his super brain, it was impossible for him to be thinking about finding a store after collecting the chips one second, and then completely forgetting the location of a store he had seen earlier the next. Had someone forcibly erased his memory?
"Damn it," Superman muttered. The negative effects of fear weren't just an increased heart rate or heavy steps; it could affect his mental state, causing his thoughts to become disordered and his memories to become confused.
As darkness fell, Matt paused for a moment. However, his vision was completely dark to begin with and unaffected by the light. What made him stop was that he seemed to vaguely hear a laugh.
Matt knew perfectly well that this was definitely not any player's laughter, much less Batman's. The laughter sounded extremely sinister, even sending chills down his spine.
"Hey hey hey..."
Another laugh rang out. Matt jerked his head around, though he couldn't see it, he looked in the direction the laughter came from, but to his perception, there was nothing there. No ghosts, no one.
"hey-hey……"
Another laugh rang out. Matt took a few steps to the side and steadied himself against the doorframe. His powerful senses had never deceived him; even when his mind was shattered, he remained as sharp as ever. This proved that it couldn't be a hallucination; he must have been attacked in some way.
“Batman…” he murmured. There couldn’t be anyone else but Batman. And that laughter… could it be the Joker?
Batman couldn't possibly send the Joker to attack him. So it's highly likely that it was some kind of psychological attack manifested in the form of the Joker.
Matt wanted to calm down; he really had no reason to be afraid of the Joker. Although Batman and Daredevil had similarities, Daredevil and the Joker had no connection whatsoever, and the Joker's nonsense couldn't possibly affect him.
Thinking this, Matt let go of the hand and prepared to walk towards the door. But as soon as he took a step, he bumped solidly into the wall.
In that instant, Matt broke out in a cold sweat, and his fingertips began to tremble.
His senses deceived him.
There is no door there.
There has never been a door there.
What was the door frame he was holding onto?
In that instant, Matt was plunged into genuine fear. Because no one understood better than him just how many things a truly blind person without superhuman senses could truly fear.
He could touch anything. A pillar, a window frame, a balcony railing, or even... Batman's arm armor.
The thing didn't feel metallic, but he had no way of knowing. He didn't dare touch it again.
Sight is the most important and indispensable sense for humans. The most common psychological problem among the blind is a lack of self-anchoring. Many people don't know if they are truly alive.
Vision is incredibly persuasive. Everything you see constantly sends the signal "this is real" to your brain, but other senses lack this persuasiveness. Everything you hear, smell, and touch requires secondary processing by the brain before it can form an image. This means that anything you experience could be an illusion woven by your brain.
People born completely blind often fall into this dilemma: Is the world really as they perceive it? Because without any reference points, everything is unreliable.
People who become blind later in life experience slightly less of these symptoms, and the images formed in their brains are more precise and convincing than those born blind. However, as time goes on, they too fall into the same loneliness and helplessness as those born blind. They don't know whether they exist in physical form or consciousness, and sometimes they even forget they have a body, believing themselves to be dead and their souls to wander the world.
Matt wasn't born completely blind, but he had been blind for a long time. Even more frighteningly, his senses were far more acute than those of a normal person and had never deceived him. Because of this, he rarely experienced the complete helplessness that a typical blind person would feel. This also meant that if his senses were to become completely impaired, he would be even more disoriented.
Just as he stood there, bewildered, a hand suddenly grabbed him. A greedy voice rang in his ear: "It's me."
Matt didn't even care if it was a hallucination; he grabbed Greed's arm. He knew he was using too much force, because Greed let out a low groan of pain. But he couldn't even loosen his grip, still holding on tightly to the other's arm.
“Don’t be afraid, Matt.” Greed’s voice was gentle. “I’m here. I came to find you the moment I started hallucinating. Are you alright?”
“I’m fine,” Matt said through gritted teeth. “I’m a superhero.”
“Yes, yes, yes, you are.” Greed’s tone held a hint of amusement. This did indeed appease Matt. He loosened his grip slightly, but still dared not completely let go of Greed.
"This skill is a bit targeted at you, isn't it?" Greed was clearly trying to calm Matt down. "Can you tell me what you saw?"
"I heard laughter, probably from a clown."
"Oh, maybe Batman transferred the fears he experienced onto you."
"The fear he experienced?"
"Yes, he killed the Joker before, and part of the Joker virus transferred to him, causing him to have a persistent hallucination of sharing a body with the Joker." Greed briefly introduced the plot, "The Joker is muttering in his head and occasionally bothers him. However, under these circumstances, he defeated hundreds of enemies, completed a lot of missions, and found more than two hundred trophies overnight."
Matt loosened his grip a little more, as if to encourage himself: "Yeah, it's just an illusion. If Batman can beat him, why can't I?"
"Of course you can. But you have no grudge against the Joker. If it's just his hallucination, you don't need to be so afraid."
“I’m not scared,” Matt stubbornly insisted. “I’m just a little… a little confused about the situation… what is Batman doing?”
"You're changing the subject again. It seems you've encountered something that terrifies you. What could it be?"
"Didn't you say I was your friend? Can't you guess?"
"It is very impolite to point out what the other person fears most."
“I’m giving you the right to say this.”
“Okay.” Greed seemed to smile again. He leaned towards Matt, then gently hugged him, wrapping his arms around his body and stroking his back. This series of soothing gestures made Matt relax a little.
Greed whispered close to Matt's ear. "Hehehe..."
When the scream rang out, the agent's eyes widened in shock. If he wasn't mistaken, it was Matt's voice. Could something have made Matt scream so desperately—that Greed had attacked?
Could it be that the president has more than one voter?
But he didn't want to think about those things now, because that familiar music started playing again. This time it was a modified version, much lower and more somber, with some disjointed parts—a rhythm that suddenly stopped and then suddenly became rapid, sounding somewhat eerie.
The agent instinctively reached for his gun. He examined it, and just as he looked down at his arm, he suddenly noticed that the lines of the tattoo on his arm were distorted.
Why won't you stay?
Why do you always run away?
Why wasn't it long enough?
These few sentences seemed to come out of nowhere, but the agent seemed to understand what they were trying to say, and simply commented: "Boring illusions."
The font kept switching between the three sentences. It didn't sound like someone was asking questions, but rather like an inner voice echoing.
“I know what you want to hear. I crave but also avoid building long-term relationships, so I always take on jobs readily, connect with others almost without expecting anything in return, and then turn around and leave under the guise of taking a vacation after the task is over, ending it cleanly. Like a playboy addicted to one-night stands.”
"But that's what secret agents are like. You can't find any secret agent who isn't afraid of being alone and is good at building long-term relationships. The nature of their profession means they have to operate on the dark side of society, which inevitably brings mental stress. They need social interaction to maintain their mental health. But everyone who gets involved with a secret agent doesn't live long. Avoiding witnessing someone's death is the greatest sincerity a secret agent can offer as proof of friendship, so we always leave very quickly."
“Deep emotional connections are a terrible thing, because the more you invest, the more you lose when the other person dies. I prefer to live for the moment and take it easy. You have to allow that some people are more willing to prioritize quantity over quality when it comes to emotional comfort.”
The agent sighed softly: "If one of Batman's abilities is to make people reveal their deepest fears, then he has undoubtedly succeeded. Because I used to be unable to even form a long-term emotional connection with myself, I hated self-communication, but now I'm talking so much about my tattoos, it's really strange."
"However, a professional agent would quickly correct this mistake. One of my clients is a top lawyer who has made countless enemies. I need to go see Matt."
(End of this chapter)