The story between Copot and Gordon is rather complicated. Copot is actually a descendant of the Four Families. By this era, the Copot family had declined, leaving only an old ancestral home where both Copot and his mother lived.
The heritage of the Copot family was almost entirely lost. Cobblepot knew nothing of the arrangements his father had made in the past, but it might have been a stroke of luck; he heard some nonsensical ramblings from his mother, which he initially dismissed as the ravings of illness, yet he indeed found stairs leading to the attic behind a bookshelf.
In the attic of his ancestral home, Copot discovered his father's diary. At the time, there were already abnormalities in Gotham City. Cobblepot immediately linked these two events and learned about a plan concocted by the Four Families 20 years ago.
It was essentially too late to start now, but fortunately, his father had done much before him. Their family's task was relatively simple: to guard the last base of the Court of Owls and ensure the safekeeping of the equipment for refining Bat Gold.
In Gotham, the Four Families each had their responsibilities. The Kane family and the Wayne Family were both tasked with acquiring metals from outside, while the Elliot family and the Cobblepot family were responsible for collecting and refining metals within Gotham City. The pool of Amber Gold was collected by the Elliot family, while the Cobblepot family needed only to gather Bat Gold.
Through the memories Martha obtained from the cultists, they took over the laboratory for refining Bat Gold. However, lacking any knowledge in mysticism, they couldn't operate the equipment and had to seal off the lab. Members of the Copot family guarded it, taking away the finished product once the metal was refined.
Copot's timing was neither too early nor too late; the metal had just finished being refined. However, all metals possess a property that makes them difficult to preserve with conventional equipment, such as test tubes and syringes.
But years ago, the Four Families had already discovered a way to preserve these metals using Amber Gold: direct preservation within a human body. Copot surgically removed the skin from his legs and embedded the Bat Gold into his calves.
Following the clues from his father's diary, he arrived at Wayne Hotel and successfully transported the Bat Gold there.
Gordon actually had nothing to do with this matter. It was one of his team members, a descendant of the Kane family, responsible for collecting promethium metal, who rushed to Wayne Hotel as soon as the incident occurred.
However, as can be known from the original text, the Kane family produced hardly any capable people, and this unfortunate person tasked with the mission was just an ordinary person. He faced a life-and-death crisis soon after his arrival and had to seek help from Gordon.
Gordon, being a police officer, could not simply ignore the situation, so he led his team to Wayne Hotel. Fortunately, the unfortunate man did not die. He saved the man but found himself trapped inside the hotel.
It was this unfortunate man who told him that he must make a trip to the rooftop swimming pool, because from his family elder's records, he learned that subsequent plans were stored on the fourth floor of Wayne Manor.
Clearly, the manor was too dangerous for ordinary people. The entire team was nearly wiped out, and Gordon became contaminated. Knowing he wouldn't survive, the man whose surname was Kane disclosed the plan, allowing Gordon to use his body to reach the fourth floor and obtain the exact location of the Ancient City.
The promethium metal was placed inside this team member's body. After Gordon acquired the body, he used the contaminated abilities to transfer the metal into his own head, ensuring that no matter how many times he switched bodies, he could always carry the metal with him.
Gordon originally planned to head to the Ancient City to wait, but at that time, the big-headed character was guarding the door leading to the backyard, making it impossible for him to pass alone. He reluctantly returned to fetch reinforcements, encountering Shiller on the 19th floor during a temporary rest.
As for the N-metal inside butler Alfred's head, Shiller believed it was Thomas who had put it there. After all, the leaders of the Four Families, including Thomas Wayne, had made efforts. He must have obtained the N-metal but knew his body could be taken over, so he placed the N-metal inside the old butler's body.
The Amber Gold was inherent to the Ancient City, the Bat Gold was refined by the Court of Owls and brought by Copot, the Dionysus Factor was extracted by Jerome who knew Martha's plan, the promethium was handed over to Gordon by a descendant of the Kane family and brought along, and the N-metal was sourced by Thomas and placed in Alfred's head. With this, the origins of the five metals were essentially clear.
From this, Shiller could roughly guess the situation in the hotel. The Conspiracy Faction that had been hindering the guests inside the hotel was actually the contaminating power of the Outer God, and the Reckless Faction, which used toilet water and door-bashing monsters, was likely controlled by the Four Families who had mastered the underground water system and Amber Gold.
The balance encountered in the hotel was deliberately created by the Four Families, as both the hotel and Wayne Manor had a passage leading to the Ancient City underground. However, since the targets were Thomas Wayne and Martha Wayne, the manor was bound to be extremely perilous. Thus, the descendants of the Four Families could only reach the Ancient City through the hotel.
When the contamination erupted, the hotel would undoubtedly become dangerous; a force was needed to counterbalance the pollution from the Outer God to ensure those who obtained the metals could smoothly reach the Ancient City. Therefore, they used the sewer system, mixing Gotham's dark-contaminated Amber Gold into the water before sending it into the hotel to counter the Outer God's pollution.
The monsters in the hotel, who barely had any senses and could only bash doors, were actually contaminated by Gotham's darkness, similar to the wild animals contaminated by Gotham Rainwater.
The clever part is that locals like Jerome or Copot are actually not afraid of Amber Gold's contamination. It's like having lice but not feeling itchy; they have been soaked in too many rainstorms to count. Even at high concentrations of Amber Gold, it would only excite them temporarily, ensuring their ability to traverse the hotel to reach the Ancient City.
Overall, the plan of the Four Families was executed perfectly. If not for their lack of theoretical knowledge in mysticism and a bit of bad luck—Barbatos being imprisoned in the Dark Source—they would have truly set off a significant metal event today.
Unfortunately, as Shiller said, missing by a fraction of a millimeter can lead to an error of a thousand miles. Today Barbatos could not come, the Gray Mist just came for a wine fest and ran off, and a spokesperson of the Dark Lord did nothing more than run errands, leaving Shiller quite unsure how to resolve this mess.
As the saying goes, the person who tied the bell should be the one to untie it; only one prominent protagonist had yet to make an appearance in the entire story.
No sooner had Shiller thought this than he saw the surrounding scenery rapidly recede. Within a matter of seconds, the damp, dark walls of the Underground Ancient City had retreated tens of thousands of meters, and those people who had been close at hand shrank smaller and smaller, disappearing into the horizon.
A cold wind blew, and countless snowflakes began to dance in the air. When Shiller opened his eyes, all he saw was a vast expanse of white land. On the horizon, a group of hunched figures passed by but vanished in the blizzard a moment later.
With a clang, Shiller heard something fall to the ground. He turned his head and saw a dark object on the snow nearby.
Walking over, he found it to be a flute, seemingly made of damp ebony wood. When Shiller picked it up, he found it to be heavier than he had anticipated. It did not need to be played; the wind on the snowy plain alone made it emit a mournful wail.
Shiller placed the flute to his lips and paused, seemingly thinking about what kind of tune to play. After a long moment, a lively little tune rang out across the snowy field.
Normally, people would call this cheerful, humorous tune filled with childlike innocence—Mickey's Wonder House.
The flute vanished with a snap.
Shiller smiled, unconcerned, and continued walking forward because he had already seen a small cabin in the direction the flute pointed.
It seemed close yet was far away. Shiller walked for a long time without reaching it, but he persisted, occasionally looking back at the long trail of footprints he left on the snowy field.
Eventually, he arrived in front of the cabin, shook off the snow from his body, and when he opened the door, the scene before him changed completely.
This was a dark cemetery with no sky, no sun, and no moon—only endless darkness, towering tombstones, and indistinct shapes of gravestones.
The horizon was cluttered with one tall room after another from which terrifying, hoarse, and mad drumming sounds and the monotonous, subtle tones of a flute emanated.
Shiller walked toward the large house, passing row upon row of tombstones, until he stood before that massive building that seemed to be inhabited by giants.
The buildings spread out from this point, layer upon layer cascading down. Shiller found himself standing on the edge of a cliff, with layers of houses guarding the central, largest grand chamber.
Shiller saw many dark shadows holding golden instruments, dancing elegantly yet eerily between the buildings, while a desolate song occasionally wafted through the wind.
Standing on the cliff's edge, the wind lifted his hair and robe, and Shiller shouted down into the chasm, "Nyarlathotep—"
No one responded to him. A gust of wind blinded him, and he used his arm to shield his eyes. But when he lowered his arm, he found himself standing in a desert.
In the distance, large pyramids shimmered brilliantly under the sun, and people leading camels walked by, carrying the moisture of an oasis in the wind.
Shiller turned around and saw an oasis in the distance. He was not sure if it was a mirage, but he started walking toward the pyramid anyway.
This time, the distance was not great, and he soon arrived in front of the pyramid, which was much larger than the real pyramids. Standing at the entrance, humans were not even as tall as one of the bricks at the doorway.
Shiller walked along the carpet that had been laid out, finding that it bore no resemblance to a Pharaoh's Tomb but rather resembled a vast temple. Statues of Anubis lined both sides of the corridor, and portraits of Pharaohs hung solemnly and dignified on the walls.
Shiller walked straight ahead until he reached a brightly lit temple hall. In front of the throne stood a tall figure dressed in Pharaonic attire, his black and gold robe trailing on the floor, spilling down the steps like golden sand.
Every move he made carried an arrogant grace. His dark complexion radiated an irresistible allure, and those eyes, almost too dark to see the pupils, glowed faintly in the dim room.
As he looked over, Shiller's gaze met his just in time.