Days as a Spiritual Mentor in American Comics

Bruce still drove to Wayne Manor.

Now, the Pale Knight was not at Arkham Asylum, and there was no meaning for Shiller to go there; Bruce's instincts told him that Shiller's ultimate goal was Wayne Manor.

As expected, as soon as Bruce arrived at the entrance of Wayne Manor, he saw Shiller standing there.

As soon as he got out of the car, Shiller approached and said, "You've come at the right time. It's your turn to shine."

"What?"

"There's a computer over there. Hack into Wayne Manor's defense system and shut it down for at least 6 hours."

Bruce turned his head and saw a generator and a complete desktop computer setup, obviously dismantled from a municipal building.

"Have you been waiting here specifically for me?" Bruce asked as he looked at him.

Shiller nodded and said, "I've been waiting for half a day."

"What if I say I won't do it?"

Shiller then pulled something from behind him, aimed it at Bruce, and pressed a switch, instantly a beam of ultraviolet light hit Bruce's skin, causing it to start sizzling.

"Ow!! Ah!! Put it down! Hurry, turn it off!" Bruce cowered and ran, nearly dancing on the spot.

When Shiller turned off the ultraviolet flashlight, Bruce grimaced, touching the burnt parts of his skin, and glared angrily at Shiller.

The more Bruce stepped back, the angrier he got. Opening his mouth, his fangs revealed, he took a step forward, only to hear a click.

He looked down to find that he had stepped on a small blue disk and was instantly frozen into a block of ice.

"Now, you explain, I operate. If we can't crack the defense system, you stand here until dawn."

Bruce glared at Shiller, cursing him silently with his eyes.

Bruce never thought he'd underestimate Shiller, but he did underestimate Greed. Where did he get an ice-making device? He isn't friends with the cosmos' Victor!

But a man in an ice block has to bow his head, although he doesn't feel uncomfortable now, his mouth is open, and lately, there have been many reporters camping at Wayne Manor's entrance, and it would be troublesome if they saw his fangs.

He suddenly realized, all this was a plot by Shiller, he was just trying to infuriate him, to make him open his mouth.

Bruce had no choice but to do as Shiller said.

He initially thought Shiller's manipulation would be clumsy, and even if he told him how, he might not succeed in hacking the defense system, but soon he realized he was overthinking; that gray Symbiont seemed quite skilled at it too.

This left Bruce somewhat puzzled; since Gray Mist could hack, why specifically seek him out?

But he quickly realized again, Greed always acts without taking responsibility, always needing someone else to take the fall, so he can forever stand on a moral high ground, looking down on everyone.

When Batman asks who cracked his defense system, Shiller could easily pin the blame on him. Compared to a stranger from nowhere, Batman would more likely believe another universe's counterpart could easily breach the defense system.

Bruce gritted his teeth within the ice, but he soon realized he got angry a bit too early.

The defense system was breached, and Shiller swaggered into Wayne Manor, fetched a cart from a storeroom, placed Bruce on it, and pushed him up to the second floor of Wayne Manor, entering the room just above the back door.

Shiller tied Bruce to the outside of the balcony above the back door and then set up a ridiculously simple tripwire trap, before moving to a kitchen island near the front door window where everything could be seen.

By now, it was dark, and warm light emanated from inside the manor, standing outside the gates of Wayne Manor one could clearly see a man busily working in front of a window.

The cunning Invader realized this route was blocked, so taking advantage of the night's cover, she moved to the garden's side door, nimbly leapt onto the wall, and then rolled onto the ground.

She tiptoed to the back door, Bruce immediately called out to warn her, "Don't come over! There's a trap!"

The petite figure was startled by the sudden voice, and instinctively jumped in the opposite direction from where the voice came.

"Ah!"

One foot stepped right onto a rope.

Bang!

A massive block of ice fell from the balcony, hitting her perfectly, and pinning her immovably to the ground.

Shiller pushed open the back door and walked out.

"Hello, madam, I've been waiting for you."

Dressed in a black stealth suit, Catwoman stretched her arms and lay on the ground, struggling to free herself, but the heavy object on her was too much, especially right on her waist, preventing her from exerting any strength. After straining for a while, she sighed and gave up.

At that moment, she felt the weight lifted off her, and a hand reached out to her. Catwoman no longer cared about the intention; she hurried to her feet.

Catwoman patted the dirt off her body, stared at Shiller with wide eyes, and then said, "Who are you? What are you doing inside Wayne Manor? I thought I'd meet that rich guy."

"And have a beautiful encounter with him?"

"Stop joking," Catwoman waved her hand, "I'm trapped this time, but where did you find such a talking ornament?"

"This is no ornament," Shiller said with a smile.

Catwoman then turned her head to carefully examine the object that had crashed onto her, and then she realized that it was indeed not the human-shaped sculpture she imagined, but a real person, except seemingly frozen in a block of ice.

"Good heavens!" Catwoman looked carefully at his face and said: "Isn't this Bruce Wayne? Did you kidnap him?"

Shiller shook his head, just opened the back door, and then said: "This is not a good place for talking, please come in, madam."

Catwoman looked at the ice block with a puzzled face, but still followed step by step into the manor.

Bruce thought Shiller would carry him inside, but Shiller suddenly closed the door with a bang.

It turns out saying this was not a good place was because I am here, and Bruce began to gnash his teeth again.

After closing the door, Shiller invited Catwoman to sit on the sofa and said, "I know someone paid you to come here and steal something, how much did he give you?"

"I cannot reveal information about my employer." Catwoman shook her head.

"Okay, but I know he gave me two million for the same purpose."

"How much?!" Catwoman jumped right off the sofa, saying: "Two million?!! He only gave me fifty thousand damn it!!!!"

"It seems a middleman has made a lot from you." Shiller handed her a cup of hot coffee, then said: "I can offer you double that price, and then you can take what you want."

"How do you know what I want?"

"I told you, my purpose here is the same as yours, only I arrived earlier and successfully took control of Bruce Wayne, neutralizing the biggest threat."

Catwoman looked troubled and said, "If that's the case, then it's normal for you to be offered a higher price, after all, the risk levels of theft and kidnapping are different."

Shiller walked back to the island platform, and Catwoman couldn't help but follow his movements, she saw a wine bottle on the island platform's surface, looking like some kind of red wine, with some capsules scattered beside it.

The man was pouring something out of the capsules, then pouring the red wine into the capsules.

Thinking of what she was meant to steal, Catwoman began to believe what Shiller had said, she took a deep breath, mustered her courage, and said: "I want two hundred thousand, I will leave Gotham to lay low after this job, it won't work if the money isn't enough."

"No problem, but you must deliver this item directly to your employer's hands, don't go through any middlemen."

"That's impossible." Catwoman shook her head and said: "I'm not afraid to let you know, Old Gun is a professional middleman, his clients are all big shots, he won't betray his clients, and he definitely won't let me meet them."

"That's your problem." Shiller said: "My minimal requirement is you watch him hand over the item to the employer, otherwise I won't pay."

Just as Catwoman was about to speak, Shiller added: "I'll give you three hundred thousand, figure out the rest for yourself."

This price clearly broke through Catwoman's psychological defenses, although she's a jewelry thief and many jewels are very expensive, those are auction prices, the stolen jewels without certificates are not high in price on the black market, three hundred thousand is no small sum, enough for her to live lavishly in Hawaii for half a year.

Catwoman hesitantly bit her lip, then said: "Alright, I agree, but I need half as a deposit, I need the money to buy some information as well."

"I can给你十万先给你十万先给你十万元咪咪咪}}],

"I can give you a hundred thousand upfront, but don't think about taking the money and running, my money is not that easy to take."

"Of course, you even dare to kidnap Bruce Wayne, I won't do anything stupid." Catwoman said.

Shiller picked up the capsules he had just prepared and handed them to Catwoman, then said: "Give me your account, the money will be transferred immediately."

Catwoman didn't even know how she left Wayne Manor, the payment was made so crisply—that was a hundred thousand dollars.

This also made her feel like she had gotten involved in something serious, her sharp feline instincts telling her she had gotten in over her head,

but thinking about the two hundred thousand dollars that would be transferred soon, no issue seemed too big.

Catwoman took a deep breath, took out her phone, dialed a number, then said: "The job's done, meet at our usual place, cash for goods, you better not think of playing me, or you'll find out what I'm capable of."

After hanging up the phone, she dialed another number, took another deep breath and said: "Boots, I need you to keep an eye on someone for me, I'll give you ten thousand."

"It's not me being generous, aren't you going to ask who it is?... No, not very dangerous, but it might cause you trouble, I need you to watch Old Gun, the next two days he goes out, you tell me."

"Fifteen thousand tops, I'm not making much on this one, don't even think about doing anything yourself, your tracking skills are not up to snuff, careful or he might blow your head off."

After hanging up the phone, Catwoman's expression turned cold, she drove the stolen car, turned into a dark alley, and knocked on the only lit window.

The window opened a crack, a wrinkled old face flashed by, Catwoman handed over the wrapped capsules, the receiver inspected them, then said: "Seems like it got wet? Are you sure there's no problem?"

"How would I know?!" Catwoman said impatiently: "This is all I found! Hurry up and pay up!"

"That won't do, if the goods are in bad condition, the client will deduct from the payment."

"Well, find someone else who can get into Wayne Manor if you can, don't think I don't know how much you've skimmed, if you dare deduct from my payment, don't blame me for not being nice!"

The receiver was silent for a while, apparently negotiating with someone, then a box was handed out, Catwoman immediately opened to check it, confirmed that it was fifty thousand yuan, picked up the box, and got in the car.

As she drove away from the street, she saw a few figures stealthily walking past, their eyes lingering on that window just now.

Catwoman secured the money, drove off the street, but didn't go too far, she knew if Old Gun had eaten enough, he wouldn't wait until the next day to deliver the goods.

Sure enough, as it neared midnight, her phone rang, a man's gloomy voice came through.

"Old Gun is out, he drove off, took the alleyway, the license plate number is…"

Catwoman immediately drove to follow, being very careful, focusing all her attention, but what she didn't notice was that another car was tailing her.

In the car, Shiller gripped the steering wheel, the residual glow from the headlights leaving a golden shimmer on his glasses.