The third floor was the library.
Since the library played a crucial role in providing an important story backdrop in every ancient city, they had spent considerable effort crafting this level, with numerous mechanisms and secret chambers ensured, lest a missing chamber disrupt the plot flow.
Tim's premonition was not wrong; the foundation and decorations assembled by the criminals from Arkham Asylum were flawless, but the mechanisms poorly pieced together by these amateurs were full of problems.
To create a sense of crisis, a chandelier was supposed to crash down from the ceiling right after they opened the gate down that corridor.
The control for this mechanism was a timer; Batman would step on a pedal and three seconds later, the chandelier would fall, ideally landing right in front of him.
However, the pedal for the timing device was fitted a bit too tightly. Batman did not weigh enough to trigger it, but Superman, walking behind him and heavier, stepped on it and immediately set it off.
This caused the chandelier to drop later than planned, heading straight for Batman's head before Superman and Wonder Woman, unaware of the exact mechanism details, could react. By the time they realized, there was a loud bang and Batman was smashed to the ground.
He crawled out from a pile of chandelier fragments, clutching his head and gasping for breath, while Superman and Wonder Woman quickly went over to help him up. Batman cursed, "Damn those sly cultists!"
From the hole where the chandelier had fallen, Tim glanced down. Fortunately, he acted quickly and pulled on it as it was falling, preventing the chandelier from crashing down directly, otherwise Batman might now be in pieces.
Shortly thereafter, they encountered a suspension bridge. Theoretically, having tighter mechanisms here shouldn't be a problem since there were so many of them to pull the bridge's lever.
But the issue was the bridge was installed by Tim, and the rope was not tied tightly. As the group walked halfway across, the rope snapped off. If it weren't for Green Lantern flying them across, they would definitely have fallen into the river below.
Moving forward, they finally entered the massive library. The pattern on the floor was actually a hint for a puzzle. Solving the secret of the pattern would reveal among countless bookshelves the one with a mechanism, leading them into the secret chamber that narrated the back story of the Court of Owls.
Entering the library, Batman also noticed the complex pattern on the floor that must contain a clue to the puzzle. While the others searched through the bookshelves, he wandered among the carpets.
Tim watched him from a camera at the top of the library. He thought that although the pattern was complicated, it might not pose much of a challenge for Batman.
But as he watched, Tim noticed something wrong. The dozens of floor tiles could not seem to align the pattern correctly no matter how they were turned.
Normally, the correctly returned floor tiles would form something like an arrow with numbers on it, which would indicate which direction and which shelf layer to look at. But perhaps because the tiles were installed incorrectly, no matter how they were twisted, they couldn't form the shape of an arrow.
"Damn," Tim thought, someone might have installed several tiles backwards, now the puzzle couldn't be completed.
As he was scratching his head thinking about whether to sneak down and turn the tiles back himself, Batman suddenly uttered an enlightened "Oh—"
Tim had no choice but to keep his eyes glued to the screen, watching as Batman, through a bewildering series of manipulations, forced some kind of pattern from the seemingly random tiles.
A pattern that had nothing at all to do with the answer.
It could perhaps be seen as an arrow shape, though it was a bit too abstract. Tim looked from one side to the other and didn't believe this could at all be considered an answer to the puzzle, but Batman believed it was.
He immediately called his mates over and said, "Come quickly, this arrow points toward that bookshelf, and this wave pattern must be the layer number of the shelves."
The others flew over, and inside, Tim roared, "Superman! Use your super brain! Tell him it's all trash, not a clue at all!"
But none of them seemed to question Batman's conclusion, Wonder Woman shrugged and even said, "This pattern on the floor makes me dizzy, clues are good, I'll give it a try."
Tim slapped his forehead.
Wonder Woman flew up and searched diligently on the layer of the bookshelf Batman had pointed to. Suddenly, she exclaimed, "Here! There's a loose part here!"
"Quick! Push it down!"
"No!!" Tim yelled from the Batcave.
But it was already too late, Wonder Woman slammed down on the loose panel of the bookshelf.
Bang!
Crash!!!
An entire wall of bookshelves collapsed.
"... That wasn't a mechanism at all," Tim said sorrowfully, "it was just poorly installed!"
However, the twist was, because Shiller had pressed the bookshelf with the mechanism especially tightly, now with half the wall collapsed, only that one oddly-embedded bookshelf remained standing.
Batman immediately took note of this and exclaimed, "Just as I thought; this is it!"
He was completely unaware that this bookshelf was actually located more than 45 degrees to the right of the nonsensical arrow he had deciphered.
Tim sighed deeply, "Well, if hitting the target by accident counts too, and they can get into the secret chamber, I shouldn't ask for too much."
Superman dug Batman out from the books that had buried him, and Wonder Woman carried him over to the bookshelf. They studied it a while but found no flaws.
Actually, it was because Shiller had truly pressed the book used to activate the mechanism so tightly among all the books, it blended in. Fortunately, they still knew the Exhaustion Method, taking down books one by one to try.
After a process of elimination, only that one book was left. Now, the four of them got into a position like pulling up a radish; one hugging another, they tugged at that book—heavy thud!
The book was yanked out, and the four people, having used too much force, banged into the opposite wall. As a result, the surviving bookshelf opposite also came crashing down.
Universe Batman, who was downstairs repairing the maze mechanism, listened to the noises above in confusion. There weren't any violent breach mechanisms in the library section; what was causing all that racket above?
Never mind, he guessed it was probably another issue with the interlocking toy bricks. Universe Batman didn't think much of it and continued to remove the unnecessary tracks when a grating noise that could set one's teeth on edge came from above.
Creak...creak...
"Batman! Get out of the way!!!" Tim's voice came through Universe Batman's communicator.
Crash! Bang!
Four people along with a pile of toy brick fragments fell down.
Superman was stunned the moment he saw Universe Batman, and just as Batman tried to look up, Wonder Woman, quick as a flash, smacked him with a brick, and Batman passed out.
"What on earth is going on here?!" Wonder Woman asked.
"...I was about to ask you the same thing." Universe Batman, holding a wrench in one hand and a bearing in the other, slowly said, "The stairwell isn't supposed to be here, right?"
"We didn't take the stairs." Superman said, "Batman mentioned that a brick at the corner of the secret chamber wall was loose, possibly a secret door..."
Universe Batman was speechless—shoddy construction kills.
He looked up at the large hole that had collapsed from above, fortunately seeing the secret scroll laid out on the table. Luckily, they didn't build a secret chamber and forget to place the scroll; either way, the point of entrance didn't matter anymore.
"Wait a minute." Universe Batman looked at the four of them, then said, "Didn't you get a shield?"
The three who were still conscious exchanged perplexed glances. It was clear they had no idea what Universe Batman was referring to. Batman thought for a moment; after passing through this secret chamber, there should be a grand hall behind it, with a statue holding a shield—that was the fireproof shield needed for the fourth level.
They had thought there was a secret passage in the corner of the secret chamber, and after pulling out that brick, they plunged straight into the fourth level. Naturally, the level behind the third was skipped.
"I don't understand. What do we need the shield for?" Wonder Woman asked, frowning. She looked around; this was just a typical dark maze. Could there still be monsters?
Universe Batman completely saw through her thoughts. In his mind, he thought, we haven't reached the level with monsters yet, and you don't need a shield because I haven't activated the flame mechanism.
At this point, even if he wanted to turn it on, he couldn't. Batman had already realized he had fallen to the fourth level. Coming up with a reason to go back would seem too forced. Since they had already got the crucial clue, might as well treat this place like a regular maze.
Universe Batman sighed inwardly, not sure how many times he had to settle for the next best thing. He thought, Tim was right; this universe was indeed too hasty.
Soon, Batman woke up. Rubbing the back of his head, which was still tender, he said somewhat bewilderedly, "What happened, why did I faint?"
"The secret passage was poorly maintained; it collapsed while we were walking through, and you were knocked out by a falling brick." Superman said, "Luckily, your helmet is pretty durable, otherwise who knows when you would wake up."
Batman shook his still dizzy head, then said, "I told you it was a secret passage, right? How's this level?"
"I just checked; this level features moving walls in the maze." Green Lantern said, "It seems there were supposed to be some fire-spraying devices, but for some reason, they've stopped working."
Meanwhile, back at the Batcave, Tim ran into Universe Batman returning to the Batcave, and the two looked at each other wordlessly.
"I need to deal with those monsters outside," Universe Batman said, "We can't let them run wild for too long."
"Do you need me to come with you?" Tim asked.
"No, you need to keep an eye on things here. If anything comes up, go lend a hand," Universe Batman said, flipping his cape, "And make sure Shiller keeps an eye on Joker. I don't have time to play their game of 'who hates who the most.'"
With that, Universe Batman left, and soon a Batplane disappeared into the skyline.
While the group of four was studying the maze, Tim switched the camera to Gotham City, then he couldn't help but start worrying about his own Bruce's safety.
This Batman was really too efficient.
He first provoked King Kong standing on the rooftop of a skyscraper, then kept flying around among countless monsters, leading the enormous gorilla up to the top of Sauron's Eye.
Then he flew his plane to provoke the bald wizard resembling Voldemort, causing him to cast a spell that hit King Kong in the eye. The gorilla, in pain, struck Sauron's Eye with a punch.
Sauron's Eye, clearly in pain as well, let out a roar and a beam of laser shot out, directly flipping the rampaging Tyrannosaurus Rex below. Batman took the opportunity to jump onto the back of the Tyrannosaurus Rex.
When the Tyrannosaurus Rex stood back up, it found to its surprise that there was a person on its head, whom it desperately tried to shake off, instead getting fitted with a muzzle by Batman.
Batman tugged hard at the reins, controlling the Tyrannosaurus Rex to wreak havoc in the city, smashing an Alien with one stomp and sweeping an Evil Robot away with a whip of its tail.
In less than ten minutes, the monsters of the city, dead or injured, were mostly disassembled into pieces across the ground.
Tim watched in amazement, but this Batman seemed still unsatisfied, shaking his head and saying, "If it was him, maybe it would have been quicker."
The "him" in Universe Batman's mouth was actually Arkham Batman. As he finished speaking, he suddenly realized, when had he become so immature?