Watching the scene unfold, while others were still engrossed in watching the master and disciple dig up old scores, Stark was already on edge as if his seat was on fire. He shouted to Greed, "Hurry up and get someone to stop them!!"
"So, not only did you not seal the edges well, but you really didn't add any reverse safety measures to that disc?" Greed asked, looking at him.
"How would I know they would do that!" Stark couldn't help but say, "I've designed so many levels, most people follow the rules. Even if a few want to cause trouble, they don't go so far as to... as to..."
"I guess you've dealt with Batman and Superman-types," Joker sneered, "But indeed, most of Battleworld is filled with superheroes, and real madmen are rare. But when you do encounter one, it's enough to give you a headache. Have you learned your lesson now?"
"Can we not talk about this? What if he really jams the cage?" Stark was at his wit's end. He turned to Scarecrow, "You were the one who came up with the concept for this room; I only executed it, so if it goes wrong, it's your..."
"The effects I wanted have already been achieved," Scarecrow said indifferently, "They only broke things after the level ended, so that's not on me. If it gets out, it's on you."
However, Scarecrow looked Stark up and down and then said, "Even though this is our first collaboration, I can tell you're not a good person. Do you follow the rules and not cause damage when you're clearing levels?"
"That's different; I used wisdom to solve the mechanical engineering puzzles."
"They used wisdom too," Scarecrow said, "One through circuit delays discovered the way you wired the circuits; the other made a bold guess that the pulley wasn't arranged in the upper room but placed below. They also had the ability to verify their hypothesis through execution. So, you can't put too many restrictions, otherwise it wouldn't be fair."
Stark angrily plopped down on a chair. He adjusted his mask, and Greed quickly stopped him, "Don't move, wait for people to arrive, be careful they don't find out who you are."
"The state I'm in now, anyone who comes would know who I am," Stark said irritably, "At worst, let these madmen come and beat me up!"
With a "bang," a large door opened, and two figures walked in. The five people sitting at the back quickly sat up straight and adjusted the speaking equipment in front of them.
"Welcome, friends. It's unexpected that you made it this far. Please, come in."
Superman and Batman walked in. It was another spacious, cylindrical hall, but bigger and brighter than the previous balance room, with the lights almost glaring.
At the center of the hall stood a tall column, and at the top of the column was something huge resembling a lantern. This large lantern was hexagonal, with six faces, each with a silhouette, showing someone sitting inside.
Below these six faces, at floor level, were six compartments. They were closed from above except for what looked like a rotatable mechanism on top.
The six silhouettes wore masks shaped like a gun, tiger, wolf, weasel, rooster, and scorpion.
Though it was clear from the tone that it was real people speaking, their voices were processed and had such an exaggerated dramatic flair that their age and personality couldn't be determined from them. And with masks on, it was impossible to confirm who was speaking.
"Oh, friend, why are your steps so slow?" The voice came again, clearly addressing Batman.
Batman was indeed moving slowly because he was basically drained. Superman looked very uncomfortable but still supported Batman, helping him walk more steadily.
Batman slowly looked up at the six silhouettes above. They sat still, and due to the angle and lighting, nothing could be discerned from their body types. But he generally understood what the plot was about.
The escape room wasn't a human experiment or a battle royale to select warriors but more like a performance for viewing pleasure. Each group had a better, perhaps the people seated above or the ones controlling everything. But overall, they were likely just for entertainment.
Strangely, even though Batman was now very weak, his silence was like a mountain, making those seated above somewhat apprehensive.
"We seem to have truly angered him," Scarecrow said in the team channel, "He's sure to come after us when this is over."
"If the sky falls, Joker will hold it up," Stark said, "What are you afraid of?"
The agent, forcibly pulled in to play a role, said nothing, only silently praying in his heart for Batman to kill them all.
"True." Scarecrow nodded.
"But you're happy a bit too early," Greed commented.
Sure enough, Anatoli walked into the room. As soon as his expression turned cold, even Lucifer couldn't help but step back. If Batman was a silent mountain, then he was the impending storm.
"Can someone tell me what's going on?" he said loudly, "What are you mysterious guys sitting up there doing?"
The people above poke me, I nudge you, none of them wants to speak. Logically, playing the villain in this stage is something these villains love to do. But sometimes, when a good person gets angry, they can appear more villainous than the actual villains, making the villains seem timid. Whoever speaks now will be like a student being hauled to the office by the headteacher.
People like them never feel they're in the wrong. But people like Anatoli also have the strength and means to make those who feel they're right realize they're wrong. And that's not just about verbal education; what if he climbs up soon?
It's not impossible. Because they went from last place to second place purely through climbing skills.
Anatoli directly climbed up along the chain where the cage was hanging, hooked his leg around the iron chain to form a perfect lock, sat steadily in the air, then used a crowbar to pry the disc open.
Then he climbed back down into the cage. As the cage door closed, the system was supposed to electrify and flood the area, but since it detected the disc was open, it initiated the elevator program, and electricity didn't flow, nor was water released, the cage started rising directly.
If you say you can't clear the stage like this, they are indeed quite skillful to do so. The iron chain is very difficult to climb because the cage's weight isn't enough to stabilize it; even getting on the cage makes it shake a lot, let alone climbing the chain.
However, Lucifer's weight advantage showed here. Sitting in the cage, equivalent to the weight of two adults, compensated for the cage's own lack of weight. And since there was no electricity, he could sit there with the door open without getting electrocuted, effectively stabilizing the cage for Anatoli without shaking along with the rope.
Moreover, how to stay on the rope for a long time is a skill only special forces learn. They can use this technique to hang themselves on cliffs to rest. Although it requires clips and such, Anatoli also took out an iron spike, which he could tie with clothing as a safety clip, leaving his legs to bear only part of the force.
And prying the disc open is difficult too because there's a positive safety valve. But Anatoli just happens to be a crowbar expert, and after changing angles a few times, found an angle easier to loosen, prying it open bit by bit.
Although it seemed time-consuming, it was much quicker than puzzle-solving. Thus they directly overturned from last place to second.
Actually, the real first should have been Loki and Thor. But after exiting the elevator room, Loki stopped Thor and said, "Our pace is a bit too fast; being the first to go in may not be a good thing."
"True." Thor nodded and said, "The earlier stage was worse for the earlier entries. This stage might reverse, but perhaps they're sticking to one path till the end. Let's wait a bit."
Loki estimated the time needed to solve this puzzle and planned to drop their team to the middle, preferably second or third, so the situation might be better than first.
Their timing wasn't precise because Harley and Pamela swiftly claimed third. Despite pulling a little stunt in the middle, they didn't delay much and quickly pushed the door open.
Seeing those six grids, Harley paused for a moment. She didn't pay attention to what the people were saying but instead leaned close to Pamela's ear and whispered, "Do you think we can throw the crowbar up there..."
The people above drew a sharp breath. For better transparency, they used very thin wall material for this lantern. While not easily broken with a poke, if a brick were thrown hard enough, it might break.
"No way. If you just throw it up, and it falls into one of the compartments, that's trouble."
"But from the looks of it, we must choose a compartment; if it falls into one, that's the one we choose, right?"
"We're not the first; what if it falls into someone else's compartment?"
"Communicate with them to toss it back out, right?"
"Clearly, this situation doesn't allow communication; did you hear anyone speaking?"
The two Little Smart Ghosts had to give up and said, "What's the rule again? Can you repeat it? I didn't hear earlier."
Stark truly didn't want to repeat it for them, wanting to say if you didn't hear, then you don't need to hear it. But unfortunately, the game requires six players, so reluctantly, he repeated the rule.
Simply, entering a compartment means choosing the identity represented by the person's mask. Harley came to the compartment door and pulled it. Currently, someone chose wolf and weasel identities, leaving gun, tiger, chicken, and scorpion rooms vacant.
"This is a typical food chain," Harley said, "Could it be another game of big controlling small?"
"Look at the mechanism above," Pamela said, "It seems it can rotate and distribute different things to different rooms. Perhaps it's guessing identity and attacking each other?"
"In these games, picking big or small is disadvantageous; the biggest can be countered by the smallest, like a hunter with a gun stung by a scorpion. Choosing the smallest isn't good either; no face at the food chain's bottom. I think we should pick the tiger."
Pamela nodded, and the two opened the tiger room and went inside.
After the two, it was Shiller and Bruce. They didn't have the best luck, delayed a bit by the Exhaustion Method, and tried the mechanism, making them fall behind.