Days as a Spiritual Mentor in American Comics

Watching the man leave the café, Rose's expression darkened. She silently recalled the pharmaceutical intelligence Shiller had just mentioned, along with the usual timing of the mayor's medication, her brain racing with thoughts.

The Joker is an insurmountable obstacle lying between Batman and the Pale Knight.

Batman could never collaborate with the Pale Knight without reservations, not only because of what the Joker had done in the past, but also because the Joker never truly left. Once there is a problem with the medication, the Pale Knight could revert to madness at any moment.

How could Batman possibly rely on such a person?

Rose tapped her fingers on the table, her cell phone suddenly rang, she picked it up and answered, her face darkening quickly.

"What did you say? Trouble at Charabang Chemical Factory? There are protesters heading to the Natural Forest, how did they know... Batman! It's Batman again!"

After hanging up the phone, Rose slammed the device onto the table. She thought Shiller was right; Batman could completely use their methods against them because he was one of them—no one knew them better than he did.

Batman might not be able to take down GTO in a direct competition with the funds at his disposal, but he could certainly cause trouble for them, keeping them too occupied to enter the competition, thereby grasping the knife himself.

We can't drag this on any longer, Rose thought. A centipede dies but never falls down. If Batman is adamant about troubling them, their losses will be substantial. Moreover, once GTO really falls into Batman's hands, their good days are over.

"Hello? Dean Tuo Ke? Have you recently checked the medication room? I heard someone stole raw materials from Arkham Asane Asylum's medication room and manufactured a psychiatric drug."

"You've seen the news before, right? The medication that Batman forced down the Joker's throat after beating him up. I don't know who made it, but if you check the medication room, you should know what the raw materials are. Arrange and send them to me as soon as possible."

"I remember you have some old classmates working in pharmaceutical company labs, experts in this field, I need them to arrive in Gotham within three days, no matter the cost."

"Fine, then tell them for me, I need a study on an antidote that can suppress the effects of the psychiatric medication the mayor is taking. Yes, a drug that renders his medication ineffective."

Rose hung up and dialed another number, saying: "Old Gun, find me a skilled thief, someone who can get into Wayne Manor. No, not to steal anything valuable, I need him to steal the medication from Mr. Mayor's hand."

"I don't need all of it, just a sample. I'll pay him 200,000... 500,000, not a penny more, and an extra 100,000 commission for you. Go tonight and hand over the stuff to me tomorrow morning."

Shiller returned to Wayne Manor, Batman was already back. He seemed unaware that the Pale Knight had left. Seeing Shiller, he just slightly raised his eyes, saying nothing.

"May I ask you a question?" Shiller walked to the opposite side of Batman's desk and sat down quite naturally.

Batman remained silent.

"Do you know Selina? Selina Kyle."

Batman still did not speak, so Shiller said:

"Catwoman."

Batman's writing hand paused, he asked, "The thief? Why are you asking about her?"

"Nothing much, has she stolen from your house?"

"No," Batman answered flatly, "Thieves can't get into Wayne Manor."

"How specifically can't they get in?"

Without a reply from Batman, Shiller continued: "If I need her to get in, can you make it happen?"

"Let who in? Catwoman?"

Shiller nodded.

"Why let her in?"

"Just say if you can or not."

Batman was silent again, but Shiller seemed to not care about his silent attitude.

Batman realized this mysterious visitor seemed indifferent to people's attitudes towards him, he didn't even mind rejection. It wasn't feigned composure; his demeanor suggested "If you deny me, I have other means."

Batman didn't know where his confidence came from, but he knew that the "other means" in his mind weren't going to be something good.

"Wayne Manor's automatic alarm system will report the identity of anyone entering here," Batman said suddenly, "It will send directly to my personal communication device, and the defense system will be activated."

"Can it be shut down tonight?"

"Why shut it down?"

"If I say it's to curry favor with your future girlfriend, would you believe me?"

Batman's movements completely stopped, his gaze fixed on Shiller's face, seemingly looking for evidence of his nonsense, but found nothing.

Shiller stood up from the chair and sat on the sofa, back to Batman, saying: "I just did some insignificant work that made some people focus on the medication that the Pale Knight takes. They think the Pale Knight is still at your place, so they should send a thief here to steal samples for research."

"Ordinary thieves wouldn't approach this place, only the very desperate and audacious ones would dare—my guess is Catwoman will take the job, and if nothing goes wrong, she'll come tonight."

"The Pale Knight left?" Batman really hadn't noticed this because at that time Shiller transported the Pale Knight out using Gray Mist, leaving no trace, so Batman naturally wouldn't know.

"Yes, he's gone. After all, he troubled you for quite some time. I thank you on his behalf."

"Who is targeting his medication?"

"Certainly not you, the Dark Knight who always talks about saving Gotham, but when someone does a better job than you, you're not really willing to save their life."

"He won't take what I give him," Batman said.

"If you say so," Shiller replied after standing up, "For some reasons, I have to see Catwoman. So, I hope you can shut down the defense system tonight."

"What if I say no?"

After a few seconds of silence, Shiller said, "Alright."

Those two simple words gave Batman a very bad feeling.

Shiller walked straight out of the manor, leaving Batman with no room for regret. He was finding this man even more unfathomable.

By the logic of a normal person, this kind of refusal should actually signal the start of negotiations, implying that one should put forward conditions or at least toss out some info, ask for the moon, then come back down to earth.

But Shiller seemed uninterested in negotiating with anyone. It was as if even paying the slightest bit of a condition would threaten his life.

But he didn't seem simply stingy, nor conservatively averse to both giving and receiving. It was more like a greed that said, "I won't give anything, yet I still have ways to get everything I want."

Shiller, after leaving the manor, picked up his phone and called Bruce, "Where's the Frozen Cannon?"

Bruce, who was resting on another hospital bed, snapped awake.

"What? What cannon?"

"I'm saying, that cannon capable of freezing Gotham you got your hands on before - where is it?"

"Over 60 kilometers east of the Gotham Bridge, on a mountain. What's up?"

"Besides you, who else knows the location of this cannon?"

"That thing was built by Maria; Maria should know."

"Do you think a bank clerk could make this kind of Frozen Cannon?"

"Uh, seems not possible. So who could it be? Oh, I know, it must be Victor, right? He's the best at handling this stuff."

"What's needed to fire the cannon?"

"An electronic code. I've hacked the cannon's control system and changed the code to my own, so now only I can fire it."

"Alright, I got it."

After Bruce hung up the phone, he felt inexplicably mystified, but he had a bad premonition, so he woke up the Pale Knight, who was also sleeping, and told him about Shiller's questions.

The Pale Knight quickly got up and said, "Hurry to the cannon, I'm afraid he's going to fire it."

"That's impossible, he doesn't have the code, and not just anyone can crack it." Although Bruce said this, he still hurriedly got up and drove to the location.

Shiller's car was one step ahead of them.

Driving to the beat of the sunset that resembled jazz music, Shiller, while driving, picked up the phone and said to the other end: "Director Gordon, I need your help with something."

"What is it?"

"Send someone to look for Mr. Freeze Victor. You should know where his lab is, right? If he's not at the lab, then have the GTO move to the mountain 60 kilometers east of the Gotham Bridge."

"What's going on? What's happened to Mr. Freeze?"

"You're aware that Maria didn't die, right?"

"Yes, but she's badly injured. Surely you haven't seen her?"

"If you were Maria, would you choose to recover peacefully in a hospital, or rush to take control of the super-weapon that can freeze the entire Gotham?"

"If it were me, of course, I'd go for the Healing, but Maria is a madwoman! ... Damn, I ignored that. She's not about to fire the cannon, is she?"

"She's not that foolish. She knows someone breached the control system and changed the code, and without the code, she can't fire the thing. But she has other ways."

In the police station, Gordon, holding the phone, paused for a moment, then rushed out of his office and shouted, "GTO, assemble! Get to Professor Fries's lab! And be quick!"

Dozens of vehicles bearing the Special Anti-Terrorism Squad emblem roared out of the police station, their sirens piercing the streets and alleys of Gotham.

Nightwing led the team into Victor · Fries's lab but only saw a mess, with many items broken, and a small amount of blood splattered on the floor.

The car stopped steadily at the entrance of the valley. Shiller took out the ringing phone, with Gordon's slightly anxious voice coming from the other side.

"Professor Fries indeed is missing; we've found signs of a struggle. He might have been kidnapped! We found half a footprint that seems to be from a woman—it's very likely Maria!"

"Stay calm, Director," Shiller's tone remained unfluctuating as he spoke: "This is an anticipated event. I'm already addressing this issue."

"Don't be impulsive," Gordon cautioned: "That madwoman is not easy to deal with; GTO is on its way."

After hanging up, Shiller murmured in his heart: "Maria is tough, but there are tougher ones still."

The cannon was mounted on the mountaintop, but the equipment that powered it was hidden in an air-raid shelter inside the mountain. At that moment, a figure in the dim cave leaned against the wall and said with a hoarse voice.

"I'm a cryogenic physicist, not a hacker. I can't break into the system and revert the code—you kidnapping me is pointless."

Another shadow looked particularly frightening. She wasn't wearing clothes, but shreds of fabric clung to her, her skin severely corroded as if flayed like a medical teaching aid.

From her body type, one could tell it was a woman, but her hair had been completely corroded away, and her features vanished, leaving only cavities for eyes, nose, and mouth. She was operating a panel with corroded fingers of varying lengths.

This terrible monster of a woman seemed to be at the end of her tether, with blood foam constantly flowing from her mouth, repeating curses in madness.

"I'm going to ruin them, destroy this city, kill them all..."

"I can give you a chance," a voice suddenly appeared behind the monstrous woman.

The monstrous woman spun around quickly but felt a sharp pain in her neck. She saw a syringe planted there.

The bright red liquid was slowly injected into her.

As her vision grew blurry, the intense pain throughout her body gradually vanished, replaced by an indescribable elation and an increasingly frenzied laughter bursting from her chest.

By the time Nightwing and the GTO team arrived, they only saw a figure rise from a pool of blood, a maniacal laughter echoing through the cavern.

"…ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!"