Days as a Spiritual Mentor in American Comics

In a spacious and bright office, Shiller was leisurely sipping coffee, enjoying the rain scene outside the floor-to-ceiling windows, while the two people opposite him were busy. One was flipping through various documents, and the other was checking information on a computer.

The man flipping through the documents, although dressed in a suit and leather shoes, had half of his face looking as if it was burnt, appearing extremely terrifying. Yet, even with such a face, one could tell his complexion was not good.

Two-Face, Harvey, was one of the few Gotham Villains lucky enough not to be transformed into a vampire by Bruce, with Penguin Man being another, for neither of them were the type to wreak havoc openly. Even if they committed crimes, they would try every means to evade responsibility.

Because they were professional enough, even Batman found it hard to send them to an Insane asylum with just cause. Long-term residents in the Insane asylum were those from the Martial Faction like Bane and Killer Croc; intelligent and rational characters were not permanent players.

The Pale Knight, initially, had not managed to control Two-Face using Clayface, because controlling him was useless. Two-Face was just an ordinary person; he could not cause destruction like Bane or control others' minds like Mad Hatter. Controlling him, aside from occupying a backpack slot, was of no use.

This led to him not falling into Maria's hands, nor into Bruce's. It was Shiller himself who personally requested to bring him over.

His current bad complexion was mainly because of Shiller; Shiller wanted him to notarize a will that was forged.

Just now, Shiller had forced Two-Face to call a friend from the notary office to make a call to the Pale Knight, asking them to come over now to confirm the will. Although the notary office was quite far from Wayne Manor, and despite Gotham traffic, they only had about an hour to forge the will.

Shiller then casually crossed his legs, watching while saying, "Hurry up. Don't think I don't know that you've done this sort of thing often. You think you can drag out the time to fool me? No way!"

"I'm telling you, our Mayor is currently with Batman. What do you think will happen if they come and find out you're playing them?"

"This is what you asked us to do!" Two-Face gritted his teeth.

"Didn't you agree? If you were firm in your refusal, would I still be holding a gun to your head?"

Two-Face vented guiltily because Shiller had hit the nail on the head; indeed, that was his job.

After becoming a criminal, Two-Face could no longer practice the regular lawyer trade. But being a villain with a lawyer background is different; he had many connections in upper society.

Usually, he made a living by solving legal troubles for wealthy people. But if it was about regular legal issues, those people had their own legal teams. Those who sought him out were always about irregular matters.

Among them, avoiding taxes legally, Yin-Yang contracts, forging wills, etc., were jobs he was very skilled at. So, when Shiller came to him, he thought it was just another usual transaction and thus agreed, having already taken the money.

But when he saw the contents of the will, he was stunned.

Now, the news was full of reports about the explosion at the Charabang Chemical Factory, and here you are with a will, saying you want to inherit the Charabang family leader's estate - isn't this blatantly saying you're the perpetrator of the chemical factory explosion?

Two-Face didn't want to get involved in this kind of thing at all, but the payment from Shiller was significant, so he thought about delaying for a while, to let the situation cool down before proceeding.

But then Shiller found his hiding place and even asked him to help find a friend at the notary office to notarize the will today.

With the situation being more powerful than the individuals, Two-Face had no choice but to find an old friend of his. He was initially thinking about dragging out the time, at least until the news frenzy died down a bit, but then Shiller made the call to the Pale Knight.

Thinking about facing Batman next, Two-Face realized that forking the will was going astray in the Underworld; no matter how absurd the logic of the will, he still had to reproduce it 100%.

"Why else would they say pressure is the driving force of progress? Normally, forging the complex will of such a large conglomerate would take at least a whole week, but Two-Face, with his strong business capability, managed it within two minutes before the arrival of the pale knight and Batman."

"The pale knight looked at this freshly made will somewhat speechlessly, saying, 'The ink isn't even dry yet, who are you trying to fool?'"

"But Shiller shook his head and said: 'It is their law that puts the will first; naturally, we can exploit this law.'"

"'But they will expose you.'"

"'It's not about what they are going to do; it's about what we can accomplish.' Shiller looked at the pale knight and said, 'If we can keep everyone quiet, then this will is real, and even God would see Charabang signing it.'"

"The pale knight furrowed his brows."

"'What is going on here? What are you trying to do?'"

"Shiller stepped in front of him, looked into his eyes and said, 'Now you have an opportunity.'"

"'What opportunity?'"

"'An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth.'"

"The pale knight looked at him, and Shiller walked around the desk to the bookshelf in the office, picked up a book, flipped through it and said, 'They can use the natural disaster fund to drain Wayne Enterprises, so naturally, we can use the Natural Forest Protection Fund to drain Charabang.'"

"Batman suddenly looked up at him."

"'If I'm not mistaken, the natural disaster fund spends more than three billion a year, with various hidden expenditures reaching up to ten billion, which is why Wayne Enterprises' cash flow is so tight.'"

"The pale knight looked at Batman, whose face showed no emotion, but the pale knight realized that Shiller might be onto something."

"A fund project is a financial tool, and as long as it's finance, there are many manipulations that can be executed. A fund established within a company can even short its own company through various means, emptying the cash flow is not a problem at all."

"The pale knight didn't understand much of this, so he turned to Batman and said, 'Why is this happening? What can they do to you if you simply don't disburse the funds?'"

"Batman turned and glanced at him as if to say he was naive. Without him speaking, Two-Face directly said, 'Before running for mayor, I would advise you to go to college first, Mr. Napier.'"

"'The natural disaster fund was established by Wayne Enterprises, aimed at repairing the damage caused by Batman. For instance, if a building is destroyed and needs to be rebuilt, the natural disaster fund needs to pay for it, right?'"

"The pale knight nodded, as that was his understanding of the process."

"'But no.' Two-Face continued while flipping through documents, 'Wayne Enterprises has an engineering group, and it's the best in Gotham, wouldn't it be better for Wayne Engineering Group to undertake the construction?'"

"The pale knight nodded again, the saying goes that 'water from your own well doesn't flow into others' fields,' of course, this was better, so he said, 'But the natural disaster fund will also pay.'"

"Two-Face shook his head and said, 'No, they won't pay; to be precise, they'll delay payment.'"

"The pale knight's eyebrows slowly knitted together."

"Furthermore, in the procurement of raw materials, Wayne Enterprises also produces them. They need such materials for repair constructions. Thus, they apply to purchase but continuously delay the payments."

"Why not just refuse to supply them next time?"

"If we refuse, they won't go anywhere else to buy." Two-Face sneered, "Either they say the cost is too high or that there is a shortage of supplies; either way, they want to buy from their own company."

"Our great philanthropist, Bruce Wayne, believes that repair work is of paramount importance and can't be delayed. After all, it's all about sponsorship; using raw materials and labor from the construction team as sponsorship isn't out of the question."

"But in that case, there wouldn't be a need for so much funding from the natural disaster fund," the pale knight said. "Why not give less?"

"If we give less, the destruction will increase." Batman suddenly interjected, "Then Wayne Enterprises' construction teams wouldn't cope, and they wouldn't have enough raw materials to support operations. They would have to make external purchases, which would cost money."

The pale knight's eyebrows knotted tighter, seemingly twined together. He now deeply understood why the wealthy claimed that committing crimes in Gotham was the best investment.

If Batman gives money but no materials, they would just keep delaying until Batman couldn't wait any longer and had to reallocate resources; if Batman provides materials but no money, they increase crimes until Batman cannot reallocate enough materials and is forced to give money.

"What a worthless fund," the pale knight said. "Might as well dissolve it."

"If crime does not stop and the fund is dissolved, who will repair the damage?" Shiller asked.

"Then let the crimes stop," the pale knight replied.

"If Batman doesn't fight crime, how will crime stop?"

"Then go fight crime!"

"That will cause destruction, and we'll need funds to repair!"

"Then establish a fund!"

"The fund will drain Wayne Enterprises!"

"Then dissolve the fund!"

"Then who will fix the damage?"

The pale knight was at a loss for words.

"What are you trying to say?" he asked, turning to Shiller.

"I'm saying, you're out of money," Shiller said, standing by the bookshelf, looking at the two. "Not just you, Batman and Wayne Enterprises as well."

"So?"

"There's a chance in front of you to get rich: use the Natural Forest Protection Fund to drain Charabang. You might think this is absurd, but I happen to have a plan that works."

"What do you plan to do?"

Shiller put down his book and walked over, saying, "It depends on what you plan to do."

The pale knight wanted to press further, but Batman had already caught on to Shiller's implication. He said, "What you want to do is illegal, but you don't want to be responsible for it, so you need our agreement."

"No no no, you're mistaken. What I want to do is entirely legal; it's just that the people I need might be somewhat illegal."

"Who are you looking for?"

"Penguin Man."

Shiller fixed his gaze on the pale knight, finally revealing his true intention. "Penguin Man was once your greatest adversary and the biggest obstacle to the enactment of the Napier Act. But since you became the mayor, he has disappeared. Where did you take him?"

The pale knight stared at Shiller without speaking, and after a long while, he said, "You don't understand. He is the sharpest blade of Gotham's upper class, far too dangerous. He must not reappear in Gotham."

The pale knight awaited Shiller's retort, but all he got was, "Alright."

It seemed Shiller felt there was nothing more to discuss; he turned and walked away. The pale knight reached out his arm to stop him, and Shiller turned back.

"Promise me, don't seek out Penguin Man. Giving him even a glimmer of hope would be the gravest mistake you could make."

Shiller smiled slightly and said, "Mr. Mayor, I hope you understand. What I want to do doesn't fail just because someone is missing. Every obstacle you place in my path will ultimately escape your control, not mine."

After saying this, Shiller opened his umbrella and left the notary's office, with the pale knight staring at his retreating figure.

"I think he's right," Batman said. "If you give him Penguin Man, at least we can guess what he's up to. If he finds someone else, we will be as passive as today."

"In your eyes, Cobblepot hasn't caused much damage to the city, but in reality, his evil intelligence has undermined the city's foundations. The elite can't afford another such sharp biter."

Batman sighed and said, "You still don't understand."

"What?"

It wasn't Batman who answered, but Bruce, who had just come in from the rain. He said,

"Guarding against everyone is not as crucial as guarding against Shiller himself taking the field."

Bruce shook his umbrella, continuing,

"Bad news, Shiller has offered Gordon a price he can't refuse for Charabang Group. GTO is theirs now."

The pale knight's breathing hitched.