The two slowly approached the majestic building, thinking that entering would be a challenge since it was fortified with walls and cannons, clearly designed to prevent easy access.
Unexpectedly, though there were cannons, no one operated them; and although the walls were tall, they were unguarded, making finding a loophole quite simple.
Shiller always felt that there should have been guards here, because the style of the walls was clearly designed for guard posts; if there were no guards initially, they wouldn't have designed it this way. So, where did the guards go?
Shiller and Gordon found a side door to the castle that was closed but not very tightly, allowing Shiller to nearly fit one hand through to touch the lock on the inside.
Although the castle seemed medieval, the lock was modern, which seemed odd but provided Shiller with an opportunity since he knew how to pick locks.
Finding a tool was not hard; although hotel items couldn't be taken out, Shiller had brought his own briefcase. Lacking professional lock-picking tools but having a bunch of keys, Shiller dismantled a key ring, straightened it into a piece of wire, and quickly picked the lock.
The group pushed open the side door to find a very quiet interior; the front yard still looked like Wayne Manor, but soon Shiller noticed something off in the bushes near the wall.
They walked over softly and discovered it was a person lying on the ground who had been stabbed in the chest and was already dead.
What was strangest was that he was wearing something resembling medieval armor, but it wasn't complete.
Shiller, who had studied the history of medieval Europe, noted that many patterns on the armor were too vague, the style was missing parts, and the way it was worn was incorrect; what was more outrageous was that beneath the armor was a suit.
Shiller opened the armor and found that the man was wearing an expensive suit, which fit the status of someone who might stay at the Wayne Hotel.
There were indeed guards, but Shiller didn't know who had killed them. Looking around, he noticed more figures lying in the bushes ahead, likely guards who had been killed like this man.
Shiller then looked up at the inner door on the wall, clearly the area where these guards had been stationed, but for some reason, someone had sneaked in and dragged them out to kill them.
Shiller contemplated the stab wound on the guard's chest.
Turning, he noticed Gordon staring at the main building of Wayne Manor; he walked over and noticed nothing unusual.
The two stepped towards the inside of the manor.
Just as they were crossing the wooded path, about to reach the main entrance of the manor, a dark shadow suddenly pounced, causing Shiller to swiftly dodge to the side. Turning back, he saw a pair of scarlet eyes.
It was a big dog nearly as tall as a human.
It was more monster than dog, because many tentacles stretched out from its neck, covered in eyes, and the dog's eyeballs were gone, its fangs turned into tiny buds of flesh.
But that didn't make it any easier to deal with for Shiller, who was certain that whether from its mouth or from the tentacles on its neck, any touch on the skin would burrow in, as it looked just like the thing in Gordon's neck.
Bang!
Gordon fired a shot right in the forehead of the creature, but it obviously had no effect. Shiller didn't panic. He took out something resembling a water bottle with a folding metal straw from his briefcase.
While Gordon struggled with the creature, Shiller quickly unscrewed the lid of the bottle, poured a small vodka bottle into it, screwed the lid back on, and lit a match.
When he waved the match at the end of the straw, a tuft of flame ignited and when Shiller pressed the button on the handle, a fiery dragon sprayed from the straw's tip.
Swish!
The flames successfully repelled the creature. Gordon stumbled back a couple of steps while Shiller pressed the button again—the brilliant flame tracing an arc in the air. The creature, unable to dodge in time, was struck directly on its neck, screaming as it rolled on the ground, grimacing whether to continue the assault or not.
The Evil God feared no fire, but the creatures it controlled did. Specifically, as long as they possessed a carbon-based organism, they had to fear flames. Shiller looked undisturbed, pressed the button again, completely unhearing of the creature's screams.
This time, even more flames sprayed out, and the creature looked ready to give up, but Shiller clearly didn't intend to let it go.
He didn't use the sprayer again, but instead rolled to the creature's side, waiting on its only path of escape, opened the bottle lid, and doused the creature with vodka.
Then he threw a match on it.
Although the burning intensity of the alcohol wasn't as powerful as napalm, and its force wasn't as strong, it was sufficient against a dog, notably one that was evidently tainted. The dog screamed and ran off, burrowing into the trees of the garden.
Shiller screwed the lid back on, retracted the straw and repacked the items in his briefcase. Gordon, looking at his bag, said, "You seem very professional."
"I've done some research," Shiller said, "you better not use your gun anymore. I don't deny the lethality of bullets, but the wound is too small, and the deterrent effect is insufficient."
"These creatures, controlled by the Evil God, are driven mostly by sheer aggressiveness and what little instinct they have left, you cannot expect a dog to recognize what a gun is, let alone humans who, in the absence of all logical thinking and memory, would probably not remember that this device could kill them."
"That's because it's a creation of modern human civilization and hasn't yet had the time to embed itself in the human instinct. Under control, the dangers that are embedded in instincts prove more deterrent like fire, something almost nothing in nature isn't afraid of."
Gordon then pulled out something else from behind his back, a Taser Gun; Shiller shook his head and said, "Unless you're Thor who can produce thunder similar to that in nature, it's also difficult to scare them off with this."
"I know that," Gordon replied, "but I've tested it, and the Taser Gun can briefly paralyze the controlled creatures, seemingly because the electric current disrupts some parts of their operation."
Shiller nodded, knowing if Gordon said it, he must be confident, but it made him think of something else.
The pace of modern human advancement was rapid, producing all sorts of bizarre stuff, which was somewhat too advanced for the Evil Gods—there's no creature that a fixed gasoline can't fix, those weapons banned from personal use are basically overkill for these minions.
Most of the human race lacks a proper understanding of the firepower levels of modern humanity; one could say if zombies or aliens had only the abilities shown in movies, they wouldn't make it out of a small town before being blasted to smithereens.
The biggest issue for the human race was not being able to deal with the Evil Gods behind these minions, so eliminating countless minions was futile, but Gordon's comments gave Shiller an idea—did electrical interference with certain parts mean that the Evil Gods also required a transmission and reception device to control these creatures?
Furthemore, affecting a person's judgment could also mean affecting their brainwaves; if that were the case, there would be much to explore, because if Evil Gods could affect human brainwaves, humans could do the same—Professor X is essentially a large-scale Evil God.
If one were to look at this scientifically, the Cthulhu Mythos might just be a giant octopus sending you a compressed file, which after decompression blows up your hard drive due to insufficient space, and even if there was enough space, forcing the files open would burn out your CPU.
In the face of such erosion, there are two methods; one is to destroy the receiver, akin to Wanda and her companions digging out their eyes when in that world—without a receiver, it's hard for the knowledge to be transmitted.
There is another more difficult method, which is to damage the terminal, but that would involve acting upon the Outer God, something almost impossible.
However, if you could refine this strategy, it would involve displacing the signal emitted by the Outer God so it does not match the frequency that humans can receive, perhaps then one could dodge the questions and avoid syncing the frequency, ensuring the brain isn't blown apart.
Shiller pondered these issues repeatedly while walking into Wayne Manor with Gordon.
The interior of Wayne Manor was starkly different from its exterior.
At that moment, Wayne Manor was brightly lit, a crowd of people huddled in the grand hall, shivering; Shiller looked around—they were all dressed in swimsuits.
It seemed these people were hotel guests playing in the outdoor swimming pool when the incident happened and were thereafter trapped here.
But why didn't they leave through the main door after their arrival?
Soon, Shiller had his answer when suddenly a giant head appeared on the second-floor atrium staircase—it was Alfred.
In the "Gotham" TV series, Alfred wasn't very old, resembling more a sturdy, retired soldier, but over time, he had aged somewhat.
At this moment, his head filled several floors of space, nearly stuffing the entire atrium; his face was covered in dense pustules, continuously sprouting tentacles, and his eyes, nose, and mouth had all become nests for the tentacles.
Shiller looked towards Gordon, who immediately understood but shook his head without saying a word, letting Shiller know there were things that should not be spoken of.
Shiller gazed at the tentacles inside Alfred's ears.
In any mythological system, the appearance of a monster isn't fabricated out of thin air, it invariably reflects people's fears towards certain things, like how the rules of a restaurant mirror the fear of violating etiquettes.
The fact that Alfred's facial features consisted solely of tentacles definitely wasn't random; they must hold some significance.
The moment Alfred appeared, several people in the hall screamed, and almost instantly, tentacles from the floor penetrated their bodies, splashing blood everywhere.
Cannot hear, cannot see, cannot speak, Shiller thought; this also represented the fear of certain taboo rules—be it the restaurant or the swimming pool, he felt a strong sense of confinement, like a beast trapped and struggling in a cage, yet unclear where this feeling stemmed from.
Perhaps he should have invited a professional in mental analysis, but now was not the time.
Shiller looked around; amidst the panicked crowd, he thought for a moment and then subtly gestured to Gordon, both moving toward the stairs.
Shiller led the way up the stairs. The enormous creature hovering in the center of the atrium didn't move; Shiller breathed a sigh of relief and hurried up the stairs to the second floor.
The structure of Wayne Manor was different from what he knew, but typically, the rooms in such manors, especially the bedrooms, were located near activity areas; Shiller tried the nearest one and was lucky—it was indeed a bedroom.