Days as a Spiritual Mentor in American Comics

The pale knight actually leaped up with a carp's backflip and stared at them with shining eyes.

Chandler had never seen someone look at them as if they had seen their own kin, like a successfully reunited kidnapped child radiating expectation and gratitude.

It was as if saying: "Heaven and earth, you've finally arrived!"

What's going on? False intelligence? Is it not the mayor who's corrupt this time?

Chandler had to struggle to keep his expression in check. He still said very seriously: "Next, we will conduct a comprehensive thorough investigation of the municipal department and we hope you will cooperate with us."

"Cooperate! Of course, cooperate! Absolutely cooperate!" The pale knight came over, shook Chandler's hand, and said, "Where shall you start the inspection? How about checking my office first? Do you know how much my coffee machine costs?"

Chandler forcefully withdrew his hand. Although he was not from Gotham, he had also heard about Gotham's affairs. Previously, when he heard that the newly appointed mayor was a madman, he didn't believe it.

Now it seems, indeed there is no false reputation under a great name.

Chandler coughed twice and immediately sent someone to check the coffee machine. After an inspection by two agents, they said: "Boss, this is a pretty high-end coffee machine, worth around 200,000 dollars."

"Did you buy this? Mr. Mayor?"

"No," the pale knight hurriedly said, "How could I have so much money? This was bought with municipal funds."

Chandler immediately lost interest.

Seeing him stop talking, the pale knight became a bit anxious. He said, "This thing is very expensive."

Chandler waved his hand and said, "Don't play this card with me. You'll claim this is a normal hospitality expense and then produce a pile of evidence, making our previous investigation results useless. Don't even think about using this tactic to delay my investigation!"

The pale knight opened his mouth. He didn't know what kind of evidence could prove that he needed a 200,000 dollars coffee machine.

But he stopped speaking because he suddenly remembered that he had held an auction at Wayne Manor before and everyone knew he was on good terms with the wealthy Bruce Wayne.

Using a 200,000 dollars coffee machine to entertain Bruce Wayne might not even be considered worthy.

There were no other valuable items in the mayor's office. So Chandler went to the entertainment room next. But now there was nothing in the entertainment room either; everything had been taken away by Shiller.

Chandler snorted coldly and said to the outgoing pale knight: "I don't know where you got the information, knowing we were coming in advance. But not even leaving behind a pool table, this clean image you put on is a bit too deliberate."

The pale knight felt wronged to death. Was it him who didn't leave it? It was just too slow!

Chandler didn't want to waste time here anymore. He waved his hand and said: "Go, to the finance department! Check the accounts!"

The pale knight was close to applauding for him. He walked even faster than Chandler. The municipal government's accounts couldn't possibly be without issues! Corruption must be staunchly stopped!

When they arrived at the finance department, to avoid suspicion, Chandler didn't let him in, but he still waited expectantly at the door.

Then he saw a familiar figure. Schiller Rodriguez was slowly coming from the elevator entrance.

"What are you doing here?" the pale knight asked in a low voice.

"I might as well come now than be called later. Better to watch the excitement early," Schiller said as he straightened his suit collar.

Sure enough, soon an agent came over and said: "Who is Mr. Schiller Rodriguez? Our boss has some questions for you."

The pale knight followed Schiller inside. He wanted to see how Schiller could talk his way out this time.

Schiller walked over and shook hands with Chandler. Chandler also didn't beat around the bush. He said: "After the city government shut down, were you responsible for transferring the items in the city hall to the auction house?"

Schiller nodded.

"Good, then let me skip the disappearance of 600,000 pounds of copier paper and 3,200 printers. I just want to know where these 40,000 bottles of ink went?"

"The truck flipped over, fell into the Gotham River."

"Are you sure? Because I will send people to fish out the bottles."

"I won't stop you, sir, but I advise you not to waste your efforts."

"Why? Don't tell me they were eaten by toads."

"You jest, sir. The Gotham River is so polluted, there are no toads."

"Then what happened?"

"Ever heard about the pollution incident at Chemical Plant X15?"

"I'm vaguely aware of it."

"The leaked corrosive chemical agents flowed into the Gotham River, eroding even the glass bottles away."

The pale knight, who had just taken a sip of water from a paper cup, instantly sprayed it out.

"Do you have any evidence?" Chandler relentlessly asked.

"Of course, and there are witnesses, more than one." Schiller calmly replied, "At the time, it was during the battle between the supervillain Joker and Miss Harley Quinn that the sewage valve was accidentally damaged."

"Joker Maria was severely corroded all over her body because she fell into a pool of corrosive chemicals. Miss Quinn was also in a prolonged coma due to the ingestion of toxic gases. Batman was also present."

Schiller handed Chandler two photos and then said: "This is the skin treatment process for Joker Maria at Arkham Asylum, I have a complete set of medical records here. It completely shows the strong corrosiveness of this chemical agent. Even the glass bottles would definitely have corroded away."

Chandler took the photos and the documents, looked at them, snorted coldly, tossed them onto the table next to him, and then said: "Alright, what about these 56,000 bottles of toilet cleaner? Don't tell me they also flipped into the river."

"That didn't happen. But have you heard about the recent pollution incident of the natural forest?"

"Just get to the point."

"At the time, to salvage their corporate reputation from the negative impact of the pollution incident in the natural forest, the Charabang Group sent all the chemical raw materials with purifying components to the natural forest. Unfortunately, they were surrounded by environmentalists."

"Is toilet bowl cleaner considered a purification material?"

"Of course not as a finished product. But I've heard it can be used to extract some raw materials. To show their sincerity, they bought the batch of toilet bowl cleaner."

"And the money?"

"They went bankrupt later and didn't pay."

"What about the toilet bowl cleaner? Environmental activists can't possibly encircle it forever, can they?"

"Later, a murder occurred in the natural forest. To preserve the crime scene, the chemical raw materials were taken to the Gotham Police Department. The toilet bowl cleaner was probably confiscated."

"Why didn't you go and claim it?"

"Because the murderer hasn't been found, and the case isn't closed yet. The goods, being evidence, are going through the judicial process. We can't reclaim them."

"Then why hasn't the murderer been caught?"

"That's a question for you guys."

Chandler touched his forehead with the documents, then said: "Alright, let's not talk about that. What about this? 7600 desks scrapped in a year. Are you all dinosaurs here?"

"The wear and tear might be a bit excessive." Shiller nodded and said, "But the desks are made of environmentally friendly materials. Due to the absence of chemical products like glue, the quality might be a bit unstable. If you think there is a problem with this loss, then we won't buy eco-friendly next time..."

"Stop, I didn't say that!" Chandler quickly waved his hand to signal it wasn't his concern.

"What about this then? The 7000 computers in stock? The truck didn't flip over again, did it?"

"Of course not. They were supposed to be in the warehouse. But at that time, Fels Casino needed computers urgently to implement electronic chips, so we sent them over to support the local industry."

"So now the computers are at the casino? Did they pay for them?"

"No. Because Little Fiers, who signed the contract, is suspected of a heinous murder and is not eligible for bail, we can't see him now."

"So the 60,000 mice were given away with the computers?"

"Not really, they only wanted the mainframes and monitors. The mice are still in the warehouse."

"Really? Then we'll have to send someone to check the warehouse."

"Don't rush, listen to me first. They were in the warehouse yesterday. This morning, we found a mutated python there. It might've eaten the mice thinking they were actual mice."

"What kind of python can eat 60,000 mice???"

"A mutated python, sir."

"And where is the python?"

"It mutated and flew away."

Chandler had nothing to say.

The pale knight was numb.

"Is there any evidence that this python existed?"

"There're many witnesses, sir. Due to the serious pollution problems with Gotham's chemicals, many animals have mutated. Many residents near the warehouse claim to have seen the mutated python."

"You two, go ask around." Chandler gestured to the people behind him.

The warehouse wasn't far away. It wasn't long before his subordinates came back and nodded to Chandler: "Indeed, there are quite a few eyewitnesses."

The pale knight sighed in his heart.

The street near the warehouse by the old city hall building was a drug lane. Forget about a flying python that eats mice, if you ask them if they've seen a Super Saiyan, they would say they have.

"So the accounting records from before the city hall moved don't have any issues?" Chandler asked with narrowed eyes.

"I'm not too clear on that. The mayor hasn't been in office for long. If there are any problems, they're probably not his."

Chandler didn't insist too hard, picked up a more recent document, and said: "Alright, I won't pursue the matter about the old site. But what's with the pool tables and vending machines after moving to the new building? Those things aren't consumables, right?"

"They're not for normal people." Shiller smiled and pulled out a document from his jacket, "Our mayor has been under a lot of pressure since he took office. He's had some mental issues and a tendency to be aggressive. He smashed a few pool tables and vending machines."

"But that's okay. The mayor will compensate personally. The compensation has already been transferred to the municipal funds account. We're considering buying insurance for the items in the mayor's office and recreation room."

Chandler glanced at the documents Shiller handed over, a very formal psychiatric patient's diagnostic certificate with Shiller's signature below.

"Are you a psychiatrist?"

"Yes, I am. I'm also the mayor's staff and the director of Arkham Asylum."

"By the way, sir," Shiller said, as if just remembering, "You're an agent from the Federal Bureau of Investigation, right? I wonder if you handle cases involving illegal gambling with huge amounts at stake?"

Chandler frowned slightly and said: "I'm from the anti-corruption unit, but the FBI has extensive law enforcement powers, of course, they can handle it. What kind of illegal gambling?"

"It's connected to over sixty lives and involves billions of dollars, with almost everyone from the Whole Gotham high society participating."

The pale knight watched as Chandler began to sweat.

Then a sentence from Shiller made him sweat too.

"Just yesterday, someone came to me saying they had gathered complete evidence and planned to disclose everything to a reporter from Metropolis."

"Who is he???"

"Bruce Wayne."