Days as a Spiritual Mentor in American Comics

The pale knight glanced at Batman and understood that he was pondering over the same question.

"Hey, hurry up and give me the wine," Shiller said. "And those capsules too, I still need them."

Batman didn't say much, took the red wine to the door, and passed it through the gaps in the fence's railing to Shiller, then also handed over the capsules.

But the pale knight keenly noticed that the number of capsules didn't match up; Batman must have kept one for himself.

After Shiller got the wine and the capsules, he got back into the car and drove off, showing no intention of hanging around.

Batman also seemed to have lost interest in Ice Sculpture Bruce, hastily heading to the Batcave – the pale knight thought that he was probably going to study what was inside the capsules.

He too was curious about what was inside the capsules, but since Batman wouldn't let him into the Batcave, he had no choice but to turn to Bruce.

"I suggest you don't study that thing," Bruce said. "It's incredibly, incredibly, incredibly, incredibly dangerous."

"Wherein lies the danger?"

Bruce opened his mouth and said, "Remember our last game?"

The pale knight furrowed his brow.

"That thing was given to him by Nya, and I don't know what exactly it does, but it's definitely not something good."

"Isn't that a prop from the game? Can it even be brought out?"

"Anyway, he can. Who knows what his relationship with Nya is," Bruce pondered and spoke. "Everything related to that man is very dangerous; you'd better go and persuade Batman."

"It's least likely that I can persuade him," the pale knight said while taking out his phone. "Now we have to find a way to solve your problem. James and Professor Fries have a good relationship; if you're sent to him, you should be able to regain your freedom quickly."

Bruce had no choice but to comply with the pale knight's arrangement. The pale knight drove him to the Gotham Police Department.

And guess what, when the door opened, there was Shiller again.

Seeing the frozen Bruce, Gordon was obviously startled, but he quickly realized that the man inside the ice sculpture looked somewhat different from the Bruce Wayne he knew.

"It's complicated and can't be explained, just let Professor Fries open it first."

The pale knight thought Gordon would make a phone call, but to his surprise, someone else came out of the room, and it was Victor Fries.

"So you're the thief?" Victor said incredulously. "What in the world do you need to steal, Mr. Wayne? And you got caught?"

Shiller nudged Victor with his elbow and added, "That's not the point. The key is how much he's willing to pay for your thawing technology."

Victor raised an eyebrow, coughed twice, and said, "I'm not someone who cares much about money..."

"500,000," Bruce interjected. "I'll sign the check after I'm thawed."

The pale knight gave him a look that said, "Where do you get that much money from?" and Bruce responded with his eyes, "That's Bruce Wayne's money."

The pale knight disapproved and was about to dissuade him when he heard Shiller telling Victor, "With this money, you won't have to sell the Frozen Cannon anymore."

The pale knight immediately widened his eyes, looked at Victor, who nodded and said, "Yeah, it's not easy to send that thing to an auction house. I don't even know how Maria managed to transport it to such a remote ravine."

"What are you saying? You're going to sell the Frozen Cannon?!" the pale knight incredulously raised his voice: "That's a terrifying weapon capable of freezing the entire Gotham!!!"

"Yes, but all patent rights for this device are in Professor Fries's hands," Shiller nodded and said: "He enjoys a complete technological monopoly, he has the right to sell it."

"Is this a matter of rights?!" the pale knight widened his eyes in disbelief at Shiller: "Such a dangerous weapon must not fall into private hands!!"

"Oh, is that so." Shiller nodded again and said: "Now, who holds the private passcodes to activate the cannon?"

The pale knight was stunned, then slowly turned his head to look at Bruce.

"Why are you looking at me? I changed the codes when I took it from Maria, it's better in my hands than hers, right?! What reason would I have to freeze Gotham?"

"You have no reason to freeze Gotham, but I have a reason to keep you frozen," Shiller said with a smile: "If you never come out, then the cannon can never be activated, and no one else can change the passcodes. The dangerous weapon would effectively remain sealed forever, which would indeed be a stroke of luck for the people of Gotham."

The pale knight was stunned for a moment before he caught on; indeed, if the device wasn't safe in anyone's hands, then putting it in the hands of a completely immobile block of ice would at least ensure that Gotham wouldn't be frozen over suddenly.

He looked at Bruce with slightly apologetic eyes.

"What's that look for?!" Bruce shouted discontentedly: "I've said, I won't use the cannon just like that! Are you really planning to keep me frozen here?"

"Of course not, if you're willing to give Professor Fries some money, then he could help you unseal," Shiller looked at Victor who nodded in agreement.

"That's out of the question!" the pale knight's expressions turned serious, and he said: "I order you as the mayor not to do this, James, arrange for someone to come over immediately."

Soon, the young officers rushed in, with the dark muzzles of their guns pointing at him, Victor could only spread his hands showing he was powerless.

"This seems a bit unreasonable, Mr. Mayor," Shiller suddenly said: "Originally, Professor Fries could have made half a million dollars from this deal, even if you're the mayor, you can't compete with the people for profits, right?"

The pale knight showed a troubled look; at that moment, Victor said: "Don't be like that, Professor Rodriguez. I know the mayor means well, he's worried about the dangerous weapon being used indiscriminately, I completely understand him."

The pale knight showed a grateful expression.

"But I am a bit envious of you," Victor changed the topic and swept his gaze over the room full of officers, then said: "You can mobilize so many police officers to protect yourself and your property."

"I'm not so lucky. Just yesterday, terrible kidnappers broke into my lab, destroying many of my precious research achievements, and I was kidnapped, nearly losing my life..."

"I was hoping to use that money to hire more people to protect my lab. That way, it could also prevent bad people like Maria from intruding here and using my technology to create dangerous weapons, but if that's not possible, I'll just have to endure."

Upon hearing this, the pale knight's expression grew more serious, he turned to Gordon and said: "What's this all about? How could Professor Fries be kidnapped? With his academic level, if threatened, wouldn't that mean creating more destructive weapons?"

Then he turned to Victor and said: "I'm sorry, Professor, I'm not suggesting you're an accomplice. I know you're under duress, and knowledge is always innocent, it's those who misuse knowledge for wrongdoing that are guilty!"

"I'm sorry, our regular police force really isn't enough," Gordon said with a troubled face.

"Don't we still have the GTO?" the pale knight said: "Since Professor Fries was able to invent such a powerful weapon as the Frozen Cannon, there must be even more dangerous items in his lab. If those are stolen by kidnappers, wouldn't it pose a threat to civilians? I think such an incident is definitely grave enough for the Anti-Terror Squad to take action!"

Gordon was even more helpless as he said: "The department is currently communicating with many investors concerning the GTO, and it's possible that the squad will no longer be under our control soon."

"That won't do, go and tell those investors that they must include a clause in the contract stating that even if they get the authority to deploy the squad, they must ensure the protection of Professor Fries's Cryogenic Lab. If anyone disagrees, then there's no need for their investment!"

Shiller gave Victor a look, and as the pale knight turned around, Victor gave Shiller a thumbs-up.