Shiller took out his credentials. The credentials of the Brainiac government's law enforcement officers are standardized: the cover is printed with a green icon, and inside there is an anti-counterfeit code and chip, connected to the network the whole time, locating the officer's position, and reporting immediately if there's anything unusual, making it impossible to forge.
"Now I am the investigative consultant for the Gotham Police Department. My judgment serves as strong evidence. If you find this unreasonable, then go to Brainiac arbitration. Until then, please cooperate with the police work. Thank you."
After saying this, Shiller turned and left, leaving Victor to face the mess alone. Obviously, Shiller's words didn't serve as much explanation, the attitude was quite aggressive, almost like saying "what I say goes."
It should be known that foreign universities, especially American universities, are privately owned, professors not only are responsible for students but also shareholders. If a professor is complained about too frequently, they are likely to be judged as affecting the school's operation, thereby losing their job.
So often, they don't act superior and may even be overly polite. Many professors won't let students call them "Professor," but just by their surname, or even by their first name. Moreover, to avoid complaints of racial discrimination, even if you have already taken an English name, they will still seriously call you by your original name. Some also inquire about what gender pronouns to use for you. If you point out that a certain sentence of theirs could have ambiguous meanings, they will at least apologize superficially, many fear complaints.
Although the situation improved greatly during the Brainiac ruling era, professors became more confident, but most people continued past habits and did not treat students very aggressively, unless they were irreplaceable or backed by a powerful patron.
Shiller certainly belongs to the former, singlehandedly supporting the entire psychology department. Therefore, he has always acted tough, and hasn't provoked any complaints. However, this time he has apparently gone too far.
The association culture in America is very prevalent, everyone has their gang. Once labeled as a "murder suspect," it could lead to struggling in any group, including brotherhoods or sisterhoods, and thinking entering them again. This could ruin a person.
There a student wasn't satisfied at the scene and wanted to complain. Typically, Brainiac takes student complaints very seriously, even if there's no conclusive evidence, they send a message to inquire. But this time, all complaints were like a mud ox entering the sea, with no trace.
Smart people immediately realized this time that Brainiac completely stands on Shiller's side. There are only two possibilities, either those people are really serial killers, or Gotham University is going to have a big incident, and Brainiac doesn't want teacher-student strife at this critical juncture.
No matter which it is, they had to choose to accept it. Victor was caught in the middle, neither side being happy. He understood the students' resentment, after all, the Christmas ball was approaching, and you took their dance partners, it isn't easy to find someone else; even if found, there's not much time left to practice.
Moreover, these students usually showed no abnormalities, some of them even sound like they didn't have time to commit the crime. This arrest is too absurd, virtually senseless.
However, Victor also believed Shiller wouldn't harm students. He probably understands better than anyone else bringing students out of school would bring them what troubles. Shiller never deliberately harms students, if he does so, he must be fully sure.
The fault lies in the psychoanalysis method, Victor thought, who invented this stuff? It really leaves no room for explanation, even if he wanted to fabricate something he wouldn't know where to start.
But very quickly, Victor realized Shiller wasn't targeting cryogenics because he went to the psychology department and arrested three.
It could be seen these three were just ordinary students, not the cleanup crew wearing protective suits and hadn't been seen these days. They must have either stayed in their dorms or gone home, just came back now, and got arrested without any chance to argue.
Next was the chemistry department. Jonathan Crane was busy testing if the Black Death Emperor feared him, leaving Shiller to promptly take six, naturally causing quite an uproar.
Additionally, there were other departments where people were also taken, but they were fewer in number. But this sparked discussions across the entire campus; everyone was talking about whether Rodriguez was really crazy, taking police to randomly capture people in school.
But most people were both angry and afraid to speak up. On one hand because of Shiller's long-established reputation, and on the other, Brainiac didn't support them either. So, at most, they would whisper a few words, no one dared stir up trouble.
After grabbing a bunch, Gordon arranged interrogation. At that time, Victor finally had the chance to ask, "Are you serious? Are all these people murderers?"
Shiller shook his head, and Victor's heart jumped to his throat. But soon Shiller said, "They're not all murderers, but they are all living corpses."
Victor immediately widened his eyes, saying incredulously, "All living corpses?! How is that possible?? So many people are..."
"We discovered Pelota too late." Shiller wiped his hands with a towel, then said, "Evidently, she came with a mission. She wants to infect as many students in these three departments as possible, to cause strife. So her main targets are them."
"How... how did you determine this?"
"I can see it." Shiller said, "Thanks to this."
He took a small bottle out of his coat pocket. Victor saw it and realized this wasn't the fear gas, and then, as if something hit him, he stared at Shiller saying, "You didn't drink it..."
"Just a little." Shiller said, "If it wasn't for the mad liquor I mixed earlier, which was all drunk by the gray mist, I wouldn't need to drink this. Jonathan really should consider improving the taste."
"Why did you do this?!" Victor could not help but ask, "The average person can't handle even a spray, yet you drank it..."
Then he carefully observed Shiller. What he saw shocked him. Seeing those gray eyes, Victor instinctively took half a step back.
"What happened to your eyes?" Victor looked at Shiller's eyes.
As Shiller's friend, Victor knows him fairly well. He knows that when Shiller takes off his glasses, he appears colder and more neurotic, intimidating. So generally, Shiller doesn't take off his glasses.
But now, even without removing the glasses, the cold and abnormal focus pierced through the lenses, making Victor feel as though his heart skipped a beat.
"Side effect," Shiller said, "I'm not morbid; to see certain things more clearly, I need some external help."
"You mean drinking fear gas helps you perform mind reading?"
"Actually, it has nothing to do with fear gas. You could freeze me half to death, it works too."
"Then let me handle it next time," Victor said. "At least I can control the situation. Who knows what Jonathan Crane added to it..."
"I trust his professionalism," Schiller replied. "Besides, I didn't catch all the undead; there's still one at large."
"Oh, I see. You want that guy to inform Hugo, right? If he finds out you used your superpower to catch all his men, won't he be furious?" Victor laughed again.
"Alright. Weren't you going to the Frozen Sewer? The police should have enough manpower now, so hurry up and go."
Victor nodded and went inside to talk to Gordon. Soon a team of police officers was following behind him. As he was walking out, he glanced at Schiller, who stood motionless by the door, and said, "Aren't you coming with me?"
Schiller shook his head and said, "You go ahead. I need to patrol Gotham University a few times to see if there are any other stragglers."
Victor thought about it and realized one of them had to stay at the university. Although Schiller's actions caused quite a stir among the students, it shouldn't be enough to provoke anyone crazy enough to confront him.
So Victor left with the team. Schiller stayed a bit longer at the police station but didn't watch the interrogation. He just sat in the reception area, had a cup of coffee, and then drove off, intending to return to Gotham University.
About three miles from Gotham University, the car suddenly broke down. Schiller tried to ignite it a few times without success, so he got out.
This place could be described as desolate. On a good day, one could walk back, but snow was falling heavily now. Driving was hard enough, let alone walking.
Amidst the snow, Schiller looked around and noticed a convenience store with lights on in the distance, so he walked over.
When he pushed the door open, the bell made a crisp sound. The room was very warm. The owner, a tall, chubby bald man, was busy tinkering with a hot dog machine at the counter.
"Hello, what would you like?" the owner asked.
"My car broke down," Schiller said. "I'm a professor at Gotham University. Do you have a car that can take me back?"
"I have one, but without snow tires, I wouldn't be here otherwise," the owner said. "I live in the East District and have wanted to go back for a while."
Schiller nodded, saying, "Then I'll stay here for a bit. Someone should be coming to pick me up soon."
"Want a hot dog?" the owner asked again.
"No, do you have any hot coffee?"
"Hold on, it'll be ready soon." The owner turned to operate the coffee machine.
As the hot coffee was brought out, the doorbell chimed again. A man in a black jacket entered, wearing a mask, with an unfamiliar face, walking straight toward the counter.
Schiller's hand gripped the handle of a nearby umbrella. But the next second, the owner pulled out a double-barreled shotgun from under the counter. The man's steps halted immediately.
"What's in your right hand?" the owner asked in a booming voice. "You think you can fool me, punk? In the old Gotham days, you'd be shot to pieces before taking two steps like that."
The man seemed somewhat angry, but his hand stayed in his jacket pocket. While he was focused on the owner, Schiller grabbed the umbrella and forcefully jabbed the man's right arm. This caused him to lose his balance, and what he held dropped to the floor, making a crisp sound. It was a gleaming knife.
"What the hell is this?" the owner said. "Can't today's young people even find a non-reflective carbon knife?"
"Those days are long gone." Schiller went over, picked up the knife, and wiped it off with a napkin from the counter.
"What do you mean?" The owner looked at him and said, "I don't mind sharing half with you. But this place is too small, and we're not going to have enough space to maneuver."
"He's here for me," Schiller said. "Otherwise, you couldn't explain why such a physically and mentally unfit novice would dare wander outside. My car was tampered with, and he probably couldn't find me there, so he followed me here."
The owner reassessed Schiller. While wiping the knife, Schiller looked at him and said, "He wouldn't expect the infamous 'Deer Hunter' to have a convenience store here."
"It's been a long time since someone called me that." The owner licked his lips, squinting his eyes as he asked Schiller, "Who are you exactly?"
"I told you, I'm a 'Professor' at Gotham University."
The owner hesitated for a moment, then his pupils contracted sharply, and his finger on the trigger twitched.
"Bang!"
The man in the jacket slowly fell, and in the corner of his eye, Schiller gave him a cold smile.
The next second, a card with a green emblem was placed on the table.
"Pour me another coffee, Mr. Deer Hunter. The night is still young."