"That's right." The pale knight nodded and said, "The term 'obsession' is well used here. In a positive sense, it's persistence; in a negative sense, it's paranoia. But you must admit, there is a foundation of paranoia in your personalities. It's just that different life experiences lead you to either hide or display this trait."
Natasha fell silent, then seemed to have a revelation.
"Me, Selina Luthor, Barbara Gordon, Pamela Isley, Nemocine, Fiona Travell... we are indeed all quite obsessive." Natasha counted off the names one by one.
Natasha, of course, needs no further explanation. In her case, she seems less obsessive only because she's aged, and the Soviet Union is long gone. If she hadn't been an obsessive person, she wouldn't have been passionately involved in the gene modification program.
Selina Luthor seems to have inherited the Luthor Family's genes, and her brother Alexander Luther was a very obsessive person. Seeing her methods, Miss Luthor clearly will stop at nothing to achieve her goals.
Barbara Gordon, who would rather go against her biological father to be Batman's assistant, is a stubborn character. Even with a lower-body paralysis, she refuses to give up her career with the Batman Family, so she is indeed persistent.
Poison Ivy requires no elaboration; a firm plant protection advocate who retaliates against anyone who harms plants. She gets so crazy that not even Batman can stop her, truly the stubborn among the stubborn.
Nemocine, a patient of loneliness, her obsession may be pathological. From her interest in investigations, she is the type to be very committed to knowledge and truth.
Fiona, on the other hand, inherited her father's legacy with determination to become a democratic fighter, facing Death calmly. Consider the fact that she's only 17, and can face Federal Bureau of Investigation agent interrogations without wavering or fear, clearly showing her level of persistence.
All these red-haired women drawn into the matter, apart from their red hair feature, can be called stubborn in some sense; once they fixate on a target, there's no turning back. Their personalities all share this common undertone.
Even so, Natasha still couldn't understand. She said, "Okay, even if we're similar in some aspects, why is it us?"
The pale knight and Batman were also somewhat puzzled. Batman said, "If it wants something from you, or wants to use you for something, then it shouldn't choose you. Because your kind often are independent, strong, achieving goals through your efforts, making your psychic world fulfilled, without needing others to provide emotional support. You never lack love, absolutely not good targets for inducement and manipulation."
Natasha thought about it and realized it was true. All the above women are basically antonyms of love-minded individuals. Although Poison Ivy likes Batman, in her heart Batman's status clearly doesn't match plants. If forced to choose between the two, Poison Ivy would definitely opt for the latter.
The others are similar; it's not that they lack people they like, but in their eyes, the number one priority is always their goals, not any individual.
This type of person is the hardest to manipulate. If their goals align with yours, they will like you, but when faced with difficult choices, they will always choose their careers. The basis of manipulation is emotion; if emotions are not prioritized, even gods can't help.
Natasha recalled that Arrogant had judged similarly about her. Her number one priority is always that tombstone, leading her to instinctively avoid the emotions of others, attempting to interpret them superficially.
Even Natasha's first love Bucky and the exceptionally good Arkham Batman are no exception. If this electronic life wants to meddle, it would be immensely difficult.
"Then there is only one possibility left." Batman said, "It seeks not profits but emotional returns."
Natasha was even more perplexed. She said, "Didn't you say we aren't good subjects for emotional expression?"
"Yes, but what if it isn't seeking returns?"
"You're confusing me, you just said it wants emotional returns..."
"I mean, it isn't looking for you to love it, but rather, it's using you to explore gender relationships. Through interactions with you, it gains something naturally, which to it is profitable."
"Gender relationships"—that word again, Natasha thought. Previously, in the scandal photos and Eden Killer case, Shiller mentioned that the killer might be exploring gender relationships. At that time, she thought it absurd because this conclusion was too far-fetched, lacking supportive evidence in between.
But as the number of victims increased, involving more and more cosmos, the case's outline became clearer, Natasha realized it might actually be this way.
She couldn't help but complain inwardly that Shiller's skills can't even be explained by the Mind Reading Technique. Mind Reading Technique can only read current thoughts, not predict the future.
Natasha remembered Arkham Batman once told her that besides needing rigorous logic and thinking, a good detective requires inspiration. They need an ability to jump over a crucial link at a certain moment, directly reaching the truth.
At that time, Natasha thought he was speaking nonsense, that if logic doesn't link step by step, how is it different from blind guessing?
But now Shiller showed her how outrageous this thinking of skipping critical links and reaching truth is. In fact, Natasha knew the whole truth when she entered Shiller's office with scandal photos.
If she'd chosen to believe at that time, rather than insisting on detouring to investigate more people to complete the evidence chain, then their struggle might have reached the next stage by now.
Natasha sighed inwardly. She couldn't blame herself; Shiller's eerie skills made trusting him instantly unlikely.
Tony Stark's face immediately popped into Natasha's head.
The agent quickly shook her head, pulling her scattered thoughts back, then continued saying, "But it hasn't interacted with us..."
"Who said it hasn't?" The pale knight looked towards Fiona and said, "Didn't it save Fiona? Unlike humans who more rely on verbal communication, this lifeform leans towards direct actions. Imagine if Fiona were just an ordinary 17-year-old girl, wouldn't she feel touched and curious being saved by a mysterious figure?"
"But it knows Fiona isn't like that."
"So it wants to know what Fiona will do."
Several gazed at Fiona but didn't see any gratitude or curiosity on her face. On the contrary, her expression turned somewhat serious. She shook her head solemnly, saying:
"I don't trust it. Moreover, knowing how much I value Gotham's independence, it used scandals and dirt to threaten senators to reconsider the referendum, even imprisoning me. Obstructing my ideals, harming my career is hurting me, definitely not loving me. No reason is acceptable—death sentence."