Days as a Spiritual Mentor in American Comics

When Shiller saw the pile of electric shock devices that Joker had fixed up, he thought the Pale Knight might have wronged Bruce.

In the video shot by Joker, only the front half of the device was visible. Now seeing the whole thing, Shiller realized that it's normal for this thing to be misadjusted because before him stood a device with a distinct Steampunk aesthetic, reminiscent of something from the Victorian Era. Shiller was at a loss as to which part of it could actually generate electric currents.

Shiller began to contemplate whether to hand over the Deep Diver to Bruce or not.

Capturing a Fish-Man was quite troublesome, his night vision goggles were also running low on power, and they only had this one precious sample in their hands. It would be a problem if Bruce caused an artificial calamity.

However, Bruce was fairly confident. He fiddled with the equipment for a long time and then had Shiller and the Pale Knight move the Deep Diver to the center of the room, preparing to connect it to the electric shock device.

The Deep Diver's lower leg had been shattered by a bullet, and his nostrils and jaw had been smashed by Shiller's crowbar, rendering him unable to speak, only able to make miserable whimpering sounds.

"I must clarify, I don't have any sympathy for these monsters, but I think if we want information from him, we shouldn't resort to these methods," the Pale Knight said.

But actually, Shiller didn't plan to extract any information from the Deep Diver's mouth. It was probably impossible for humans to communicate with them. Just hearing them speak would drive a human mad, so there was no need for interrogation.

But the agent didn't know how to perform an autopsy; only Bruce had the skills right now. Under these circumstances, if you didn't let Bruce have his fun, he surely wouldn't do the necessary work. So, they just let him proceed.

Shiller didn't think the Deep Diver would be electrocuted to death. This creature's vitality was quite tenacious, and with Bruce, who had tested once with Joker, likely having some experience, a shock shouldn't be a problem.

Bruce attached massive metal clamps to transmit electric currents to the limbs of the Deep Diver, and then inserted a metal rod into his abdomen.

After activating the machine, Shiller only saw the room suddenly light up. The device modified by Joker was high powered.

The Deep Diver let out a terrifying scream and then surprisingly lost consciousness. It was the first time Shiller knew that such hideous monsters could faint.

Humans have feared lightning even before they feared fire. Although modern humans have integrated electricity deeply into everyday society, a direct contact with electric currents still instills a deep fear—because electric currents are naturally lethal to carbon-based lifeforms.

If you eat something bad, you can throw it up; if you're caught on fire, you can run out, but there's almost no way for carbon-based lifeforms to resist electricity that passes through their body. Once the electric current enters, it's too late.

Bruce seemed quite satisfied with his adjustment achievements. Although he hadn't used his mechanical engineering knowledge for a long time, his foundational skills were still intact. He quickly adjusted several current settings, causing the already unconscious Deep Diver's muscles to twitch uncontrollably, resembling a fish out of water, constantly flopping around.

After adjusting enough, Bruce finally got to the proper work: he used a sharp boning knife to cut open the Deep Diver's abdomen.

The Pale Knight also came to look but was disappointed with the results. The internal organ structure of the Deep Diver wasn't much different from that of humans. Or it could be said that vertebrates shaped like this had no more evolutionary room in terms of organ placement.

Then, after checking the thoracic and reproductive systems, they found those were similar to humans too. However, the surprisingly different part was their respiratory circulatory system—they used gills to filter oxygen from water like fish, while their lungs could store oxygen for use on land.

This meant, in essence, they did not breathe while on land but relied on internally stored oxygen for internal circulation.

Bruce made a few cuts and then figured out that the weak point of these creatures wasn't the heart or brain—though those were vital spots—but the simplest way to kill them was to attack the lung's air sacs. Once their stored oxygen was depleted, they would suffocate and die.

Moreover, from the autopsy results, Shiller came to know that each Deep Diver could only survive on land for a limited period, and after Bruce made a successful deduction roll, he estimated this time to be about 8 hours.

Every 8 hours, the Deep Divers on land must return to the water to breathe, and they also required some time to accumulate oxygen. After another successful dice roll, Bruce estimated that the oxygen accumulation time was also roughly 8 hours.

In other words, Deep Divers operated on a 16-hour shift system—8 hours on duty and 8 hours off. This information was crucial as it let the group know these creatures were destined to switch shifts.

Friends who have been assassins know that no matter how strict the security, as long as it needs to change shifts, there will definitely be an opportunity.

Furthermore, Bruce also deduced that there was no reproductive isolation between Deep Divers and humans; because the two species were indeed very alike. However, it was uncertain whether their offspring were Fish-Man-human hybrids or all were monsters.

But Shiller himself knew that when Deep Divers mated with humans and produced offspring, the children would appear human when young, but as they grew, they would increasingly resemble Deep Divers, and were destined to return to the sea as they couldn't survive on land for long periods.

He shared his speculation with Bruce, who deduced that looking human as children might be because their respiratory systems were underdeveloped, but growing increasingly like Deep Divers as they matured was due to the Deep Diver part of their genes progressively remodeling the respiratory system, forcing the hybrids to return to the sea otherwise they couldn't breathe.

Still, Bruce further speculated that reproduction between these humans and monsters would grow weaker, probably within 1-2 generations they would no longer be able to reproduce. Otherwise, just this invasion alone would cause the number of Deep Divers to grow exponentially, and humans would eventually all turn into Deep Divers.

Shiller did not want to delve into the genetics of the Deep Diver right now, as he had more important tasks to address, especially since he could not bring Bruce and the pale knight along. The two of them lacked both knowledge and resistance in this area, and if either of them went mad, Shiller did not want to waste resources handling them.

"Right now, you have two options," Shiller said, "There's a group of survivors in the village with some fairly decent weapons, but they aren't very smart; you might want to look them up."

He was actually suggesting that Bruce and the Pale knight take over the resources from the survivors, not by openly stealing them but by seeing if they could become the leaders of the survivors.

Even if it was just for the resources, he guessed that in the end, a few people might be saved, and then they could use the survivors' status to their advantage.

"What's the other option?" Bruce asked, genuinely uninterested in saving people, especially those Shiller considered not very bright. He could already imagine how foolish those people would be.

"Go look for Batman," Shiller said after thinking it over, "He went down to the docks, but he's probably not in good shape. I think you might be able to figure out a way to rescue him. With the Joker gone, he should be able to perform at full capacity now."

The pale knight opened his mouth, as he was actually inclined to go save the survivors. It wasn't entirely out of kindness but also considering if some of the survivors survived, the tragedy that happened here could be known to the world, potentially saving more lives.

But rescuing Batman was equally important. The pale knight could certainly see how strong this Batman was, especially in contrast to Bruce that made him appear more reliable. They needed such a leader.

"Don't even think about splitting up," Shiller spoke up, "Next, you may face things far beyond your understanding— terrifying, bizarre, grotesque, making each individual's fate uncontrollable, human lives as fragile as straw, and even full strength may not suffice to keep one safe."

The pale knight's expression grew serious as he said, "If it were only these Deep Diver monsters, it shouldn't reach such a severe degree. Is there something else?"

"Of course, these tangible monsters hardly qualify as a disaster. The real disaster is always invisible."

The pale knight took a deep breath and said, "I think we should go back to the village first, apart from trusting Batman's capability, I also think he might not need us to recklessly rush over to help; instead, if he's there, he would probably choose to take in the survivors too."

"Alright, I might join you later, but I might not, depending on whether I get any useful clues at my next investigation site."

"Any advice for us?" asked the pale knight, feeling that Shiller might not know more, which could increase his stress, but exchanging advice could at least deepen their mutual trust.

From the surface, the few people still alive no longer had conflicting interests, and at least the players' alignment had unified. Now, with a great enemy before them, even if in-game character alignments weren't unified, at least temporary cooperation was possible.

After thinking for a moment, Shiller said, "Don't be tempted."

"Don't be tempted?" the pale knight repeated, genuinely surprised by such advice. He had expected something like staying calm or not being indecisive.

Shiller nodded and said, "Try not to take an interest in unknown creatures, don't think there's a shortcut to solving this issue, and especially don't approach it, or you'll only sink deeper."

"What about me?" Bruce stepped forward and asked, "Any advice for me?"

Shiller hesitated but eventually asked, "Can you tell me how many Intelligence Points you have?"

"Uh... is that important? Alright, I have not added any additional Intelligence Points."

"So, how many?"

"Five."

"That's fine then."

"What? No advice for me?"

"You don't need advice, just try to keep a low profile," Shiller told Bruce, pointing at the pale knight, "and if possible, don't let him die."

The pale knight raised an eyebrow, his expression saying, "You're serious about him helping me?"

It wasn't that the pale knight was too proud, but Bruce's unreliability was apparent. I mean, who in their right mind would play this kind of game and end up with only five Intelligence Points?

"Rely on him to save me? I'd rather count on the recently disaster-stricken Joker taking me away."

Watching the two leave, Shiller sighed internally. Given Bruce's personality and the 'Heavenly Suppress' game's mysterious settings, if he had even a bit of spiritual sensitivity, he wouldn't still be struggling to learn the Psychoanalysis Method after ten years.