บท 3708: Chapter 2830: Bizarre Feast, Fierce Nightmare (Part 2)
If the elevator could be moved, then it was very likely that the elevator shafts of the 18 floors below weren't all in one fixed position. For Shiller to get down to the lobby, he might have to align all the elevator shafts just like stacking blocks.
However, leaving the 19th floor was somewhat easier. Either align with the elevator shaft of the floor above or the floor below, just aligning with one floor would at least allow someone to take the elevator out of the 19th floor, and with some luck, possibly even more floors.
Shiller chose to align with the elevator shaft below because most of the hotel's functional buildings were located there. The upper half of the entire hotel building was almost all guest rooms with not much to explore.
More importantly, aligning with the lower shaft was easier, as it allowed the exclusion of many rooms using certain tricks.
It was well known that water in most high-rise buildings was pumped from the ground floor. However, in this era, the capabilities of water pumps were limited. Generally speaking, they couldn't pump water directly to the 30th floor and above; even if they could, the water pressure was too weak for a shower.
Thus, many high rises added a pressurized layer in the middle of the building to repressurize the water pumped up, then send it further up.
Nevertheless, the middle floors didn't produce water; water was transported up through pipes. And like elevator shafts, if the pipes were cut off in the middle, the water supply would be disrupted.
This means that if there was water in this room, it would prove that the water pipes below hadn't been cut off, thereby proving that the elevator shaft couldn't possibly be located in this room because there are surely no water pipes in an elevator shaft. Any positioning would affect the operation of the pipes.
It was possible that a room's position below might have been moved, creating a gap leading to a broken pipe; however, just the absence of water couldn't confirm the presence of an elevator, but the presence of water definitely could confirm its absence.
Thus, using the process of elimination, it could be inferred that there was no elevator shaft below Shiller's room. Similarly, the water in Gordon's room, which Shiller entered, also functioned normally, proving that the elevator shaft wasn't located there either.
Combining the previous implication of water issues in the hotel, although not all manifested through toilets, the pollution was definitely spread through the water.
This also led to the conjecture that the rooms with contaminated guests likely had water, thereby essentially ruling out those confirmed contaminated rooms, leaving only a few rooms in consideration.
Before midnight, the suspicious ones were 1900, 1913, 1902, 1904, 1909.
Of course, before executing this plan, Shiller had essentially judged that it was unlikely for the elevator shafts to be located under 1900 and 1913. Even if they were, Shiller couldn't place the elevator there; he still needed two monsters to block the mechanism.
So, the suspicious ones left were the previously seen eyeball in 1902, the half footprint at the door of 1904, and 1909, which Shiller had not inspected.
1909 was the first to be ruled out; as the saying goes, Shiller needed the corridor's monsters to collide on the left side. Room 1909 was too close to the colliding area. Standing in the middle, Shiller's eardrums bled from the shock. Switching signboards there was nearly impossible to survive to dash into the elevator, so it had to be excluded regardless.
Excluding 1909 so easily also stemmed from Shiller's use of more clues to lock onto 1904.
The signboards on room 1900 and 1905 were switched, and their positions were also exchanged. Before the switch, 1900 was directly across from 1904.
Shiller had speculated before that this switch likely meant someone didn't want 1900 facing 1904. If someone intended to enter 1904 without interference from the monster inside room 1900, this made sense.
The decisive clue naturally was the half footprint at the door of 1904. Before seeing Jerome's footprint through Peter's eyes, Shiller didn't dare make a bold guess, but after seeing that footprint, Shiller knew Jerome had an accomplice.
That's right, that footprint probably wasn't left by Jerome himself but by an accomplice of his at that time.
Shiller guessed the elevator couldn't travel between two time points; breaking through the current time point required some special methods, and so far, no one had discovered such methods.
Logically, seeing two identical footprints would definitely lead one to speculate that the other person had been there.
But Jerome's case was special. Precisely because this footprint matched his exactly, Shiller deduced there was an accomplice of his at this time point because in "Gotham," Jerome had a twin brother, the most dangerous criminal in the city—The Joker Jerome.
If nothing went wrong, the investigator whom Little Bruce mentioned, who chased him all over, wasn't Jerome but his nemesis, Jerome.
Since these two people looked identical, it was highly probable that they sometimes shared an identity, making it hard to pinpoint their true identities.
Speaking of the Joker, Shiller knew him too well. If you don't regard this as a script from the Cthulhu mythos and turn your attention back to American comics, then the law between Joker and Batman would definitely be useful.
If Little Bruce had time to message himself from thousands of miles away, it was unlikely he wouldn't seek out the Joker. Despite being archenemies usually, when something serious happened, Batman's first thought would still be of the Joker.
Now that Batman was in trouble, the Joker couldn't be indifferent. Finding this hotel wouldn't be difficult for him, unlike Shiller, who had to rush over from another place. Hence, he definitely arrived much earlier than Shiller.
If Jerome was at that time point, then Jerome had to be at this one. That might have been why Jerome asked if there was a delay in communications between Peter and Shiller, as he might also have a teammate in a different time, potentially leading to inefficient communication.
If Jerome was at this time point, Shiller still trusted his research findings. As the Joker, he possessed a genius-like criminal intellect. As an investigator, being able to chase Little Bruce everywhere indicated his acumen. Since he left a footprint at the door of room 1904, Shiller chose to trust his judgment.
As expected, the Joker was right again; the elevator shaft was indeed directly below room 1904.
And because the Joker was a step ahead of Shiller, Shiller suspected he might have already aligned the position of the elevator shaft below, with most of the elevator on that floor already returning to normal operation.
But this also posed a problem. The elevator was operational, meaning those inside could press the floor buttons, and so could those outside. Shiller, staring at the illuminated button for the 13th floor, felt somewhat conflicted.
He wanted to go to the restaurant on the 7th floor, but he knew he would first arrive at the 13th floor. However, what exactly entered when the elevator door on the 13th floor opened was hard to say, and Shiller had no way to prevent the elevator from stopping on the 13th floor.
The elevator descended very quickly and soon began to decelerate. Shiller made up his mind in the seconds before the elevator came to a complete stop, slightly hunching his body.
Ding!
The elevator doors had just opened enough to let an adult man pass through when Shiller, without looking, dashed out and immediately turned right, pressing himself against the darkened wall on the right side.
With a swish, Shiller saw the elevator doors light up brightly, almost illuminating the entire floor. The elevator, which initially had four metal walls, suddenly seemed to transform into a grand glass palace, each wall divided into countless reflective glass surfaces, all showing Shiller's reflection.
Shiller moved further inside, keeping the light from shining on him. The elevator doors slowly closed, the light dimmed, and the reflections in the numerous glass fragments gradually disappeared.
The elevator left.
Shiller knew he had made the right choice. Staying in the elevator was a death sentence, but trouble followed trouble; although he had escaped the dangerous elevator, he was now on the 13th floor and had to wait for the next elevator.
Bang!
A loud noise came from the end of the corridor on the right. Shiller thought the noise sounded familiar. After thinking back, he realized it was the sound of the monster in room 1913 banging on the door.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Three more consecutive sounds, each closer and louder than the last, the final one sounding as if the door was about to be shattered.
Shiller couldn't worry about much else; he hurried towards the elevator, frantically pressing the buttons. The display panel indicated that the elevator had reached the 7th floor and was on its way back.
Bang!!!!
A door was smashed open.
Shiller chose not to look back, just silently staring at the elevator panel as heavy footsteps approached. Clang... Clang...
The sound of metal chains being dragged grew nearer. Shiller felt his heartbeat quicken, not from nervousness but due to an indescribable, nameless atmosphere enveloping him.
Clang… Clang… Clang…
The footsteps stopped right behind Shiller.
Ding!
The elevator had arrived.
Shiller slowly closed his eyes, gauging by the sound how much the elevator doors had opened, then stepped in without turning to press the button. Instead, he reached out blindly for the button and pressed the close door button.
Throughout the process, he neither opened his eyes nor turned around until the elevator doors had completely closed. Even then, Shiller still kept his eyes closed.
The elevator started descending slowly.
Suddenly, clang!
Shiller tensed up; the creature had followed him onto the elevator.
He absolutely could not open his eyes now because the metallic walls of the elevator were reflective; looking directly at the creature was sure to result in his eyes exploding.
However, just standing there was not a solution. The creature hadn't attacked him yet, which definitely had a reason—either the elevator restricted it, or it was distracted by something else, or perhaps both were true.
Now Shiller had two options.
The first option was to take advantage of the elevator's suppression of the monster, open his eyes to see its true face, and confront it head-on. The second option was to run the next time the elevator doors opened.
Shiller sighed internally; he was a clerk, after all. Battling these monsters for hundreds of rounds was a bit too much—he was ready to run.
But running posed its own problem; if the monster chased after him without the elevator to contain it, whether Shiller could survive even a moment was questionable.
Shiller took a deep breath; he suddenly had a new idea, which was to hope for some luck with either of Batman's arch-enemies—and hopefully not to run into them head-on.
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