mtl008 Chapter 4504 The Darkest Night (32)
Chapter 4504 The Darkest Night (32)
Chapter 4504 The Darkest Night (Thirty-Two)
Brainiac remained silent for a long time, seemingly completely unprepared for Schiller to actually answer his question seriously. It wasn't an easy question to answer, nor was it one that absolutely needed an answer. But Schiller answered anyway.
Brainiac thought it over and over, and felt that he couldn't simply attribute it to Schiller suddenly becoming talkative. He thought that perhaps it was because he had previously expressed his attitude towards humanity that he was able to get such an answer.
Brainiac certainly investigated Schiller's past, but that was a long time ago. Back then, the internet wasn't as developed, so there wasn't much information left. We can vaguely glimpse traces of his legendary deeds, but most of it remains shrouded in mystery.
This professor was like a jigsaw puzzle; the larger, more coherent pieces always appeared in the corners and edges, while the most crucial central clues remained scattered. Until today, Brainiac finally grasped some of the key points.
In fact, Brainiac had always been curious why Schiller could tolerate Jonathan Klein—a genuine psychopath, hopelessly deranged. Klein was a psychologist like Schiller, but had attempted to poison Gotham University. All of these actions should have crossed Schiller's lines.
In reality, Schiller didn't harbor much ill will towards him. Although he would teach Schiller a lesson when he went too far, Brainiac could tell that Schiller had no intention of killing him.
In contrast, the deaths of Hugo and the Mad Hatter seem rather suspicious. While they could indeed have been accidents, the fact that these two individuals possessed mind-controlling abilities were the ones who died inevitably raises questions. Brainiac had also pondered the differences between Jonathan and these two.
Even Jack was included. Don't let Jack's current docile demeanor fool you; Brainiac had heard of the other Jokers' infamous reputations. To avoid provoking him, Brainiac would even keep a close eye on their barbecue poker games, immediately taking down anyone who dared to steal a card. While being praised as a "righteous and impartial judge" by the Joker felt strange, Brainiac remained relentless.
Without a doubt, the Joker was also a madman who was very good at manipulating people's hearts. He and Schiller often crossed paths, but Schiller never thought of killing him. Not only did he not target him much, but he even sometimes coaxed him.
In comparison, the deaths of those two men seemed extremely suspicious. Brainiac had previously harbored some doubts, but because he couldn't understand them, he hadn't thought about it further. But today, that question had been answered.
The difference lies in whether the perpetrator accepts the consequences. This might seem superficial. What Brainiac felt most acutely was Jonathan Klein's imprisonment.
Jonathan relentlessly stirs up trouble, and often fails. Interestingly, he doesn't try to hide his whereabouts. He doesn't run when the police arrive, and rarely confronts law enforcement directly. Unless he happens to be busy on the day the police arrest him, he doesn't kill the officers; he simply incapacitates them with fear gas.
Moreover, his modus operandi remained unchanged for decades: using fear gas. Even after creating many different versions of fear gas, each still retained a very distinct personal style.
He was very proud of his methods, and instead of trying to hide them, he wanted the whole world to know. Only if he used fear gas and no one noticed would he break down.
The Joker is similar. If he wants to commit a crime, he'll make sure the whole world knows it was him. If Batman doesn't realize the Joker is the killer, he'll be furious.
The same applies to Mr. Freeze. Even if Mr. Freeze in other universes doesn't reform and continues his work as a supervillain, he rarely uses methods other than freezing to commit crimes. He freezes people into blocks of ice without ever trying to conceal it.
In general, these people are proud, even arrogant, of their personal characteristics. They want to exaggerate their abilities and let the whole world see how powerful they are. They will never give up, even if it means getting beaten up or going to jail.
You could even say that taking the consequences is part of their personal performance. Whether it's getting beaten up by Batman, being arrested, or even going to court, they believe it's reasonable, even interesting, and that it helps them get known by more people.
You can call them evil, but you can't call them cowardly. They are evil with a sense of righteous indignation, unabashedly radiating their psychopathic charm, even attracting a group of perverted admirers.
Hugo and Tage, however, were different. Their methods of committing crimes were driven by a strong tendency to "escape." They never revealed themselves in public, and their crimes lacked character. Instead, to prevent others from discovering their involvement, they would find scapegoats or simply incite others to commit the crimes while they reaped the benefits.
These can be considered two different styles of crime, neither of which is inherently better or worse. After all, they are both crimes, and there's no inherent superiority between overt evil and covert evil. However, they share another trait: a penchant for kidnapping people for experimentation.
Hugo, needless to say, spent years researching mental patients at Arkham Asylum. Moreover, as shown in the comics, he not only experimented directly on patients, but he also created patients, once even attempting to drive Batman insane.
Needless to say, the Mad Hatter was even worse; he loved using his mind control device to turn girls into so-called "Alice." While Hugo at least employed some psychological manipulation techniques, using methods like amplifying desires to control others, the Mad Hatter's approach was pure, violent brainwashing, devoid of any skill whatsoever.
Their method of committing crimes wasn't necessarily wrong; it was indeed very effective at evading capture. Hugo was never caught, but he just happened to step on Schiller's landmine.
Throughout his youth, he spent his time hunting down these wicked upper-class figures who stirred up trouble behind the scenes. He would kill them one by one, two by two, and when he got into a good mood, he would use these two fragile mages as cannon fodder to finish them off.
Through Schiller's few words, Brainiac pieced together the details of Hugo Strange's life, which remained shrouded in mystery. This gave him a deeper understanding of Schiller and made him realize that Hugo Strange was likely beyond saving.
Schiller had extensive experience dealing with this type of person. Brainiac wasn't entirely sure how Hugo had been lured out, but he had no doubt that Hugo would fall into the same trap a second time, perhaps not even a particularly clever one, because precision made it effective.
While busy with other sanctuaries, Brainiac observed Schiller. He wondered how Schiller, now with official status, would deal with Hugo Strange.
Victor took the credentials, looked at them, shook his head, and sighed, "If Hugo knew you obtained your law enforcement status so easily, he'd probably be furious."
“Of course he should know,” Schiller said with a smile. “He’ll find out soon enough.”
"What are you going to do?" Victor understood the unspoken meaning and began to get excited. "After the detective's and murderer's perspectives, will it be the police's perspective? The detective story will definitely be a bestseller."
Schiller neither confirmed nor denied it, but simply put his coat back on and said, "Were all your students in the lab before?"
“How could that be? There are dozens of people in the entire low-temperature physics department,” Victor said. “But now that classes are suspended, they’re probably all just wandering around in the activity room.”
“Let’s go. Oh, and give Gordon a call and tell him to come over in person.”
“Wasn’t he very busy before? He didn’t even have time to accompany me to install the cryogenic equipment. I wish I could freeze the sewers right now.”
What is he busy with?
"Of course it's a murder case."
"Then let him come over. I'll have the answer here."
About twenty minutes later, Gordon leaned against the doorframe, panting, and said, "If you dare tell me the answer is yourself or your students, I'll hang myself in the psychology department."
Schiller shook his head, stood at the door of the physics department's activity room, and said, "There are a few murderers in here. Come with me."
He pushed open the door. The classroom was a bit noisy at the moment, with about a dozen pairs of students practicing dance. They were all very engrossed in their dances; only a few people near the door noticed someone coming in.
"How's your marksmanship coming along?" Schiller asked Victor in a low voice.
"It feels pretty good, what's wrong?"
"Okay. I'll point out a few people to you later. Make sure you freeze them before they realize what's happening. Freeze them completely, and whatever you do, don't let them escape."
Victor was somewhat puzzled, but he was confident in his skills; he wouldn't freeze someone to death like that copycat did. Those frozen in dense ice wouldn't suffer any harm. He had previously frozen himself and all the students in the group meeting because he was too angry, and Nora had to come and unfreeze them; they were perfectly fine.
Schiller stared intently at the crowd for two or three seconds, then nudged Victor with his elbow and pointed to a few people in the crowd. Victor raised his gun and fired.
boom!boom!boom!boom!boom!
Five shots were fired, successfully freezing all five people. The other students screamed and ran away, the one closest raising his hands and shouting, "No, Professor! We're going back to our homework right away!"
"Good heavens, professor, the ball is just around the corner, can't we even practice for a little while?" someone complained.
"Professor, you've come at the right time. If you hadn't frozen him, he would have broken my toes."
"I'm tired too, how about we go to the library?"
Clearly, Victor lacked authority among the students. But this had its advantages; no one felt that Victor was attacking them, but rather that he was doing it because they were unhappy that they weren't doing their homework or that their dance practice was too long.
But the police who rushed in terrified them, and they shoved and jostled each other into a corner of the room. While low-temperature physics produces many talented individuals, they are truly exceptional. Unlike psychology majors, their minds are relatively fragile.
"What's going on? Why are the police here?"
"Yes, Professor, what crime did they commit?"
Victor looked at Schiller and asked, "What crime did they commit?"
“They are serial killers,” Schiller said. “Chief Gordon, please take them back to the station for questioning.”
"What?! A serial murder case?! How is that possible?!"
"How could Bevis be a serial killer? He wouldn't even dare to kill a mouse!"
"Yes, that's right. Matt injured his leg recently, how could he possibly go out and kill someone?"
“John couldn’t be either. I’ve been spending a lot of time with him lately. How could he have time to commit any serial murders?”
The students were buzzing with discussion. Victor wanted to defend himself, but he didn't have a good reason. It was just too outrageous—the Department of Low Temperature Physics was hiding serial killers, five of them at that! He couldn't even convince himself of it.
Schiller coughed softly twice, and all eyes turned to him. Upon seeing the gray eyes hidden behind his glasses, everyone fell silent instantly.
“Uh, Professor Rodriguez,” someone finally stepped forward, “could there be some misunderstanding? How could so many people be the serial killer?”
Victor was starting to admire his courage. Considering that Brainiac chose to respect the professor without understanding, it's clear how much pressure there was to confront this psychology professor directly.