Based on Madeline's previous encounters, it could be inferred that she harbored a deep-seated hatred for Silterk, a hatred that penetrated to the bone. She came here without any intention of leaving alive, which naturally meant there was no one she couldn't kill.
If Madeline had known that the guy was hired by Silterk to carry out his evil plans, she certainly wouldn't have let him go. She might have even vented her own hatred on him by dismembering and torturing him.
So why would Madeline commit suicide?
Shiller went over Madeline's actions in his mind, very clearly remembering that after he restored her sanity, she kept shouting, "He's come."
In English, the word "it" referring to objects and "he" referring to people are pronounced completely differently, so Shiller originally thought Madeline was implying the Wandering had come.
But if the Wandering was actually summoned by Madeline to retaliate against Silterk, why would she be surprised? It was even less likely she would yell out, as she would have wanted the Wandering to kill everyone here, not warn anyone.
Instinctively, Shiller felt that Madeline wasn't talking about the Wandering. Besides her grudge with Silterk, the woman had secrets he didn't know about.
"What's the deal with that whole family?" the pale knight asked, looking at Bruce and Greed. He was referring to the family that died in the lighthouse, the same bodies now lying upstairs.
"I have no idea about that," Greed shook his head and said, "I'm not so deranged to go killing a whole family."
"It wasn't me either," Bruce said. "Even if I did need someone dead, I wouldn't involve a little girl. I have my own demons to deal with."
Although the pale knight didn't understand what Bruce was alluding to, he could tell Bruce wasn't lying.
Bruce continued, "Didn't the diary mention that little girl? Maybe it was the gentlemanly Batman who did it?"
He hadn't forgotten to sling mud on the Primary Universe Batman. Shiller thought, too bad there are two Jokers in front of you, let's see if they spit it back at you.
Sure enough, the Joker snorted and said, "If Batman could really do such a thing, he'd be as trivial as you are framing and entrapping."
"What? You dare call me trivial?!" Bruce snarled, "Just wait, I'll have Gordon handcuff you."
"But anyway, Batman is the prime suspect because only his diary mentions that family," Greed shrugged and said, "Even if it wasn't intentional, it must have been his actions that involved them. He cannot escape blame."
"Your framing and trapping are a bit sharper than his, but not by much," said the pale knight. "Indeed, evil yet incompetent."
Shiller ignored their bickering. Instead, he turned to Greed and said, "If you're suggesting that only the Hunter's diary is related to that family, you're mistaken. Who killed Jeff?"
Greed raised an eyebrow but didn't say anything. The others also looked at him; indeed, as Shiller said, the Hunter's diary merely mentioned the little girl in passing, while Greed had directly silenced Jeff with his skill. His connection to that family was the strongest.
"He was just a delusional maniac," Greed said, glancing at Jeff's body lying on the floor. His gaze lingered momentarily on a spot before quickly moving away.
Shiller noticed this subtle gesture and stepped over to Jeff's body. Now that time had stopped, he had all the time in the world to thoroughly examine the body.
While examining the corpse, he spotted an issue: the gash on the body was shorter.
The Detective had been cleaved by Wind Blade up to his abdomen, but Jeff's wound only reached his chest, or more precisely, just below the collarbone, and was not nearly as deep.
Shiller didn't believe Greed was trying to leave a complete corpse out of mercy. There must be a reason for his action.
Suddenly, Shiller looked up at Greed and said, "You didn't want to open his stomach because he also ate fish, right?"
"I don't have to answer every question you have. If you really want to know, you can check for yourself."
Shiller immediately understood what Greed meant. They were in combat mode and couldn't divert to other matters. If Shiller wanted to confirm his suspicions, he would have to end the fight.
Greed was looking to exchange a clue for the end of this fight where he was at a disadvantage. Indeed, he never made a losing deal.
Shiller glanced at Bruce and felt it was indeed not good to injure him too severely, lest Arrogant decided to settle scores with him later. So, he waved his hand and put down his knife.
There was no alert sound, just the list of skills reappeared. Shiller found it strange, so you got Skill Points just for fighting without winning or losing? Couldn't they just fake fight to farm points?
Shiller turned around and caught Greed's gaze, clearly the two thinking the same thing. Nevertheless, Greed still touched his neck, as if worried that someone might mistake the mock for the real deal.
Shiller tapped again, adding more to his First Aid Skill.
His rush to clear up everyone's Talent Skills was actually due to the increasing Skill Points. The more skills everyone had, the more confusing their abilities would become. Once the skills really started to pile up, it would be difficult to discern which was the Talent Skill.
Shiller had already discovered that their initial Talent Skills were the strongest. He searched the list for a long time and couldn't find any skill akin to his own Soothing Soul, which could directly increase mental health value without any obstacles. Most required rolling dice.
After selecting his skills, Shiller walked straight to Jeff's corpse. He took a scalpel from the nearby medical kit and slid it along the original wound, opening the stomach. As expected, he found fish flesh and bones that had not been fully digested.
The terrible stench of fish assaulted them once again. Greed supported himself on the wall, took a few steps, leaned over for a look, and then walked away with disdain.
Shiller, however, was contemplating in his mind, so far there had been three people confirmed to have eaten fish, and the samples were sufficiently abundant.
The pattern Shiller summarized from these three was that they had all eaten their fish raw.
The fish in the first body's stomach was quite intact, clearly raw. Although the fish in the other two were almost digested, by their flavor and the bones, they too had not been eaten in the usual way—who normally eats fish without spitting out the bones?
If it were just tiny bones, that would be one thing, but with the fish's backbone still inside, it couldn't have simply been ingested whole. The human throat has safety mechanisms; eating something too hard would certainly cause vomiting, and these fish were not small, the bones as hard as awls—how did these three eat them?
Even if they were scared of being influenced by the strange, they wouldn't just chop up a fish and swallow it raw, right? What's more, one of the bodies was killed in the kitchen, close to the fireplace—they could have just thrown the whole fish in and roasted it for a few minutes.
Shiller leaned more toward the theory that they hadn't eaten the fish of their own free will. Only by using a tube could the chopped raw fish have been so easily stuffed into their stomachs.
Shiller suddenly thought that Silterk, such a wealthy magnate, didn't necessarily need to find such a remote fishing village for deep-sea fishing. Whether on the East Coast or the West Coast, there are plenty of port cities with far greater capacity than such a small village.
If he wanted to build a lab in a safe place, there really was no need to choose here—America is vast with sparsely populated areas, plenty of wastelands, and the medical industry is not short of money; he could have certainly chosen a better place.
His journey to this remote area must be for more than just fishing and experiments. Whatever could make a man like that hesitant surely involved human lives.
Deep-sea fishing, constructing a lab, the fish within the villagers' bodies...
Human experimentation?
Shiller felt this was the most credible conclusion so far—Silterk might be experimenting on the village's residents.
That could also explain why the lighthouse's Guardian and the Hunter were initially hired by Silterk to work for him, but ultimately turned against him.
Perhaps at first, they were just fishing and keeping an eye on the underground cave. But when they discovered this damned capitalist was actually experimenting on villagers, they wanted to expose him. This also provided a motive for the Hunter's actions.
As for why Jeff's family was attacked, it wasn't impossible that they were silenced by Silterk. However, since they had killed each other, it was difficult to explain exactly what had prompted them.
Once his reasoning was complete, Shiller put the scalpel in his pocket and said, "Now we have two choices, one is to go to the village; we have enough supplies in the lighthouse to make it there. The other is to return to the underground cave to see what's on the path across the river."
The others had naturally thought of these two paths as they had been discussing them just moments ago. Greed turned to Shiller and said, "I know you would disagree with splitting up because you would worry about us playing tricks behind your back."
Shiller nodded and said, "Splitting up is not a good choice. The Wandering is a real threat, even if its characteristics differ from what we've analyzed, it should not be underestimated. With too few people, it's too easy to be picked off one by one."
"I want to go to the lab," said the Pale Knight. "I know there might be survivors in the village, but if we don't figure out exactly what's going on, rushing there would be just in time for their funerals."
Greed and Bruce exchanged glances, and Greed nodded, saying, "I'm more interested in the lab too, mainly because I don't want to let someone run amok here. You know whom he would deal with."
Shiller knew Greed was hinting at him; the pharmaceutical giant and the Church could both be Batman's enemies. Leaving Batman to his own devices was tantamount to suicide by negligence. So even though there were still several floors of the lighthouse unexplored, it was better to pursue Batman first.
In the end, everyone decided to head to the lab first. But to get there, they had to cross the river, and ordinary methods wouldn't suffice; building a bridge was their best bet.
Fortunately, the lighthouse had plenty of supplies. They didn't lack for shelving, which could be reassembled into a reasonably sturdy bridge.
Although the Dark River was turbulent, it wasn't very wide. A completed bridge could be pushed directly to the other side.
But the problem they now faced was that the cave entrance was too small; they could only assemble the bridge beneath the opening. Directly below, though, were the menacing reeds.
"How did he get across?" Shiller murmured, standing before the cave entrance. "At that time, Batman only had four Skill Points; if he used them all on a First Aid Skill, he'd only have one left. So which of the remaining skills could have helped him avoid the reeds' assault?"
While Shiller was thinking, he saw Greed and Bruce already crouched around the entrance discussing.
How about we pull it up?
"What, the reed creature? That thing is so big, how could we possibly pull it up?"
"Then let's pull it up leaf by leaf," said Greed. "One less leaf with each pull. If we can strip it bare, wouldn't it stop chasing us?"
"Good idea. Shall I attract it with something?"
Suddenly, it was as if Shiller realized something. He turned his head to look at Jeff's body in the corner. He had been too focused on the wounds before and only now noticed the signs the body had been moved.
He immediately understood how Batman had done it.
If the Primary Universe Batman's superpower was corpse control, he could actually use Jeff's body as bait to attract Reed's attention and create an opportunity to escape. Besides being a well-known Detective and Martial Arts Master, Batman is also an Escape Master. With such a powerful skill set to assist, escaping from Reed wouldn't be difficult.
But Shiller and his group obviously couldn't do that since no one in the current situation was willing to be bait. It was clear they weren't on the same page, making it very hard to convince anyone to contribute to the team effort.
Shiller turned his gaze towards the two cans of gasoline by the wall.
He said, "We don't actually need to completely defeat Reed. We just need to create a space where we can drop people and materials down."
Bruce had also thought of the clever use of gasoline. He said, "Regardless, Reed is a herbaceous plant. We can totally use gasoline to create a fire barrier."
"But we have to act fast," the Pale Knight said. "Even if the gasoline isn't afraid of the water on Reed's leaves, there may not be enough oxygen in the underground cave to start a big fire."
At that moment, Shiller had already moved the two cans of gasoline over, which were actually two small plastic containers with caps that could be twisted open on the angle, not very big, their combined content didn't even add up to 10 liters.
"I need a flashlight," Shiller said. "And a gun."
"You're planning to go down," Greed said with a frown. "I don't agree... don't look at me like that. Why don't you consider that if he gets into trouble, who will be able to beat the Hunter?"
The Pale Knight looked towards Night Owl, but he was also not entirely sure because the Hunter, played by the Primary Universe Batman, was clearly the classic powerful Batman. Among their group, the only ones who were confident they could win against Batman head-on were probably Night Owl and Shiller.
Night Owl himself was very combat-capable, with likely high points. Shiller didn't have as many points, but for some reason, he was a strong fighter. Only with both of them teaming up they had a solid chance of surely defeating the Primary Universe Batman. Missing any one of them, the rest were sitting ducks.
"It's better if I go," Greed sighed. "In a necessary situation, I will take some extreme measures. Pass me the oil drums."
Shiller knew he was referring to his ability to release Wind Blades, but was this guy's skill cooldown not a bit too quick?
Greed picked up one of the oil drums and received the flashlight from Night Owl. When Night Owl tried to hand him the gun, Greed shook his head and said, "Wait for my signal, then throw down the gun."
After that, Greed descended into the hole. Through the not-so-large opening, they could see Reed rush towards him at top speed, but Shiller quickly ran out of their field of vision. It wasn't long before they saw clumps of Reed starting to collapse.
The gasoline was quickly scattered on the ground, and after Greed shouted, Night Owl tossed down the gun. Greed fired a shot into the ground soaked with gasoline, igniting the fuel and creating a wall of fire.
The group jumped down at top speed, Joker and Bruce then threw down the recently acquired shelves, and afterwards, the two of them also jumped down.
Reed was indeed afraid of fire, using its leaves to slap water from the lake, trying to extinguish the flames. But the burning gasoline was hard to deal with, not something that could be put out just with some water. Whenever it was extinguished in one place, the fire quickly spread to another.
Even so, Shiller noticed that the fire in the cave burned exceptionally fiercely. He remembered their journey here, first walking a long way, then running back halfway, followed by coming back again. After all this hustle, there was surprisingly no feeling of fatigue.
He suspected that the oxygen content in the underground cave might be higher than normal, but in theory, this was not possible unless someone had tampered with it.
They carried the shelves toward the upstream of the river. Upon reaching the far bank of the river, they put the materials down and began to assemble them.
Shiller boldly approached the lake, at that moment the flashlight beam shone over, dazzling his eyes, and he saw Greed moving towards him.
Greed shook the gun in his hand proudly, "Now it's my turn to have a gun. Want to consider apologizing or something?"
"Your gun skills are poor," Shiller said calmly. "If you don't kill with one shot, I'll be the one dead."
"Tch," Greed emitted a grunt, but he knew that Night Owl had given him the gun so easily precisely because this kind of police pistol really wasn't that great – with its short firing range and instability, it required a lot from the user, it wasn't for just anyone.
Greed pointed the flashlight towards the riverbed, where the fish were still swarming. Shiller walked over, grabbed his wrist, and shifted the flashlight's beam downwards, lighting up the riverbank.
There, Shiller saw very obvious signs of artificial excavation.
It goes without saying that the traces beside a naturally formed riverway would be hard to look like they had been scraped by an excavator's bucket. This made Shiller even more convinced that, although the underground cavern was natural, the Dark River was definitely the work of Silterk.
For some odd reason, Shiller thought of some knowledge related to fish farming. He might not have raised fish, but he had seen others set up aquariums, and for fish, the quality, temperature, and oxygen content of the water were all critical standards.
To cultivate so many fish in one go, and ensure they're all lively and jumping around, the data in the cave must be strictly controlled. Shiller thought if they didn't find anything in the lab, they should be able to follow the river upstream to its source and see what they might discover there.
About half an hour later, the bridge was complete. Calling it a bridge was a bit of a stretch—it was more like a ladder created from a pile of shelving units. Though it looked somewhat ugly, Shiller still trusted Bruce's mechanical engineering skills.
"I'll go first," Bruce said, "Who's second?"
Just as Night Owl was about to speak, the Pale Knight glared at him and said, "I'll go second, to prevent you from burning the bridge after crossing."
Bruce rolled his eyes but said nothing. He confidently stepped onto the ladder and walked across steadily. The Pale Knight, being more cautious, slightly bent his body to lower his center of gravity and crossed quickly as well.
Shiller followed closely behind, then came Night Owl. But just when everyone else had crossed, Joker suddenly said, "Oops, I've changed my mind. You guys go ahead, I'm going to check out the cabin again. The snow has stopped for a while, so it should've started to melt, right?"
Shiller caught a fleeting dark glint in Greedy's eyes just as Joker finished speaking. Greed was about to say something when Joker kicked the makeshift bridge into the river.
He then left without looking back.
Now no one could catch up to him; they could only stand on the bank and stare. The group continued down the path while thinking over the situation.
Shiller was sure Joker must have discovered something.
Otherwise, there was no need for him to add those extra words. He could have just destroyed the bridge and left. Yet, he emphasized that the snow had stopped and that the snow was starting to melt.
What would reveal itself after the snow melted?
Shiller couldn't help but recall the crime process Greedy had described, where he had killed the Detective and dragged his body into the cabin. The Detective's upper body had been cleaved in two by the Wind Blade; there must have been quite a bit of blood. Dragging him would definitely leave traces on the ground.
But previously, the snow had covered all the traces, and once it started melting, the evidence would be exposed.
However, this didn't quite fit either. On one hand, they felt that the external temperature was below minus 20 degrees Celsius when they were in the cabin. Under such weather conditions, even if it stopped snowing, the snow wouldn't melt.
On the other hand, there were signs of wear, like small stones, found atop the Detective's head. What was that about? Could Greedy have flipped the body over and rubbed it on the ground?
Shiller had no answer. They continued deeper into the cave, which became narrower and lower to the point they had to crouch to move forward. A few minutes later, Night Owl, the biggest among them, couldn't fit through anymore.
Being thin had its advantages. The Pale Knight, the leanest of them all, managed to move quite far ahead. Bruce, Shiller, and Greedy, though not as thin, were still slender enough to get through, but Night Owl had allocated too many Points to his Body Type and was completely unable to pass.
But if Night Owl couldn't get through, how did Primary Universe Batman manage it? Their body types were quite similar; in fact, the Hunter portrayed by Primary Universe Batman was even more robust.
Shiller suspected that Primary Universe Batman might have another way in, considering this whole string of stories could be one of his fabrications, and it would be natural for him to have a back route.
But they could see the exit just over 200 meters ahead, and they didn't plan on changing their path. Night Owl, who couldn't proceed, turned back, but not before taking away the gun he had given to Greedy. However, he left the flashlight behind for the rest.
The path ahead was so cramped that even crouching wasn't possible; they had to crawl. The Pale Knight, slim and agile, reached the exit first and with the greatest speed.
Next came Bruce, with Greedy Shiller trailing behind. When Shiller reached the end of the passage, he found it was nearly as small as an air duct, barely offering enough space to move. His head could only shift slightly, and it would hit the cave's ceiling with the slightest upward movement.
As Shiller raised his head, he noticed that the ceiling was not smooth. He pushed his body down and stretched an arm upwards, scraping at it with his hand, dislodging some loose stones into his palm.
They were almost exactly like the gravel he had seen on top of the Detective's head.
Shiller immediately realized that the abrasions on the Detective's scalp might not have been postmortem; he must have been in this cave before his death.
But crawling slowly like they were, it wasn't likely that his head would scrape against the top. There was only one possibility for the scalp to be rubbed like that—crawling fast while violently looking up at the exit, which seemed to fit a chase scenario.
Combining what Joker had said with Greedy's expression at that moment, Shiller formed a new theory: indeed, it was Greed who had killed the man, but the body might not have been transported to the cabin above ground, rather through a hidden cave beneath the carpet.
Shiller clearly remembered that when they had started looking for clues, Joker had been squatting, studying the carpet. At that time, Shiller was preoccupied with pondering the game rules and imagining the Wandering's abilities, paying no mind to the details of the carpet.
Perhaps Joker had discovered something, realizing there were holes in Greedy's story, so he dropped hints about melting snow to signal them.