Chapter 1135 Professor (7) (Patreon)

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"Not approved." Schiller said without lifting his head: "You don't have a recommendation letter."

With a "thump", a document was handed to Schiller. Without looking, Schiller said: "No way, no one's recommendation letter will work. Your grades are too poor. Being able to graduate with your thesis is already not bad."

Another paper was handed over. Schiller glanced at it and saw it was a Gotham University transfer application with several seals. He finally lifted his head, leaning back relaxed in his chair. Looking at Bruce with a smug smile, he said: "You must not have expected that I submitted my resignation earlier than you."

But Bruce remained unruffled. He handed Schiller another document - an approval notice for an intern doctor position at Arkham Asylum. Schiller grunted and said: "Regardless, I won't approve it. I don't take postgraduate students. What else could you..."

Just then, the telephone rang again. Schiller stood up from behind his desk, glancing at Bruce as he walked past to answer the call. Gordon's booming voice came through:

"Schiller, please! Let Bruce find something proper to do! Let him study under you! If he keeps pestering Selena every day, we'll lose another excellent nurse!"

"Why can't he just study in Victor's department?" Schiller asked.

"Because his physics studies are too enjoyable! He only needs two hours a day for coursework, then spends 10 hours dating Selena! Please! If she also has to spend time dating, who will do the nursing work?"

Schiller rolled his eyes: "You mean, if he comes to the psychology department for us to torment each other, then he'll be able..."

Just then, a knock came at the door. Schiller said "I'll hang up first" into the phone, then went to open it. Mrs. Miller stood outside.

Seeing Bruce there, she paused, then smiled and nodded at him, saying: "Look at this kind billionaire. He just provided our hospital with a new electronic record system, so nurses no longer have to write by hand!"

"He's so young, intelligent, full of energy - even willing to personally intern at our old psychiatric hospital. Jesus, I haven't seen such a fine young man in years!"

"But he..."

"Good Lord, put aside those stuffy academic thoughts, Professor Schiller! We're overwhelmed as it is. Having help is a huge blessing. You won't reject others' kindness, right?"

Schiller's mouth opened, then closed. He turned to eye Bruce up and down. Bruce gave him a wry smile. After Mrs. Miller left, Schiller asked: "...What exactly do you want?"

Bruce shook his head slightly: "No more jokes. Last night, following the leads, I tracked the hospital killer's temporary base nearby. He seems to be targeting you next."

"I learned from him that many serial killers are targeting you." Bruce stared at Schiller's face, as if searching for any hint, but finding none in his expression, he had to ask directly: "Why do you think that is?"

"Probably because...I'm a psychologist?" Schiller walked back behind his desk and sat down, leaning his head against the chair back as he looked up and said: "You know, these deranged murderers scorn ordinary people, yet enjoy hiding among them to view things from their perspective."  

"They see ordinary people as stupid and oblivious, but are curious about their inner workings. They detest mainstream views, don't want to integrate into society, but want to know the psychology and direction of the masses."

"In their eyes, psychology is an amazing discipline - a shortcut to understanding people without joining society or interacting with ordinary folks. They see it as a path."

Bruce frowned: "If so, shouldn't they study psychology as students themselves?"

Schiller shook his head slightly: "Don't use normal thinking to speculate about them. When they learn there's this shortcut, their first reaction isn't to take it themselves, but to kill those who do."

"If they kill me, it proves they're stronger than me." Schiller lowered his gaze, then looked out the window.

Bruce shook his head, feeling this reasoning was too contrived and had many holes. 

For instance, if Schiller's reputation was already world-renowned, why were these serial killers only acting now? And why had they seemingly coordinated to either all come or none come after him?

A flash of insight came to Bruce - were these serial killers too organized?

How did the hospital killer know the other serial killers' movements? Were they communicating somehow? And what would be the point of that communication?

Several questions flashed through Bruce's mind. He had no leads on the others for now, but he could immediately answer the last one - what point would these maniacs have in communicating if not to boast about their murders?

A surge of anger rose in Bruce's heart at the thought.

After all he'd been through, Batman knew some people committed crimes out of desperation, others in the heat of passion. Whatever the reason, they deserved punishment, but there should also be efforts to explore the root causes and backstories.

He also understood that shallowly attributing complex criminal motivations to mere personal choice failed to address crime's underlying issues. To truly tackle crime required first "understanding" criminals.

Here, "understanding" didn't mean empathizing with them, but seeing the motives behind their criminal acts and what societal issues they might represent. Finding similarities between cases and analyzing their societal root causes more holistically.

But no matter what, there was almost no redeeming societal angle to explore for those who enjoyed murder itself - just some innately deranged souls indulging their evil, cruel natures to harm others.

Standing there, Bruce felt his mood sobering again. Originally, he had chosen to return to the psychology department just for entertainment, while ensuring the killers after Schiller didn't harm innocents.  

But now, he was somewhat glad he'd made that decision.

After returning from hell, Batman had deeply reflected. He had never forgotten his core purpose - eliminating criminals.  

The key shift was realizing that defeating individual criminals wouldn't achieve that goal.

Crime itself was a societal issue. Even crimes of passion ultimately stemmed from failings in family and societal education in fostering self-control.

While some say society shouldn't be blamed for everything, in truth, the personalities of individuals shaped by that society are its responsibility. They must face consequences for their mistakes, but that doesn't mean underlying societal factors can't be examined.

After studying various philosophies and battling ideological struggles, Batman found his own path.

Since crime wasn't a personal choice but a societal phenomenon, he would strive to address potential underlying societal issues, eliminating crime at its roots.

Since returning to Gotham, Batman had put this into practice.

For example, in terms of livelihood, actively carry out building renovations to address the chaos caused by the poor living conditions of slums, build a city-wide water supply system, and reduce the impact of rainwater that may contain unknown substances on Gotham Citizens.

In terms of education, vigorously support technical schools, and at the same time, start from children to provide compulsory education in basic technical fields, and then combine small classes into larger schools for systematic education.

In terms of employment, relax the age threshold for Wayne Group's technical workers, no longer fixating on procedural justice, allowing children to work in factories, at least they can learn some technical skills, and hanging out with gangs, apart from learning all kinds of vices, has no benefits.

At the same time, cooperate with Mayor Roy to implement his East Coast Cities' self-help plan, introducing casinos from Ca[ital] City, learning from Brooklyn's beach and tourism development, and cooperating with Chicago to establish a police training school.

So far, these plans have been going smoothly, so Bruce has had the leisure to come and see the excitement of Schiller.

However, now he suddenly realizes a problem: if all his plans proceed according to the ideal state, and the final results are all perfect, with the whole world turning into the ideal form and everyone living the life they want, can crime be completely eradicated?

Before today, Bruce thought it should be possible.

Although petty theft, property infringement, and other crimes may not be completely eradicated, at least heinous crimes such as murder, which Batman hates the most, can be eradicated.

But at this moment, he realizes that the answer may be negative.

Because in this world, there is a type of person who is a "Born Psychopath".

They are born different from ordinary people, and their brains can receive a signal that ordinary people cannot receive, which makes them feel pleasure from harming their own kind, becoming addicted to it, and sinking deeper and deeper, unable to pull themselves out.

From a probabilistic perspective, such people are very, very rare, but with the vast population base on Earth, even if the number is small, there are probably tens of thousands of them scattered around the globe.

Can Batman stop them?

Perhaps, when Wayne Group truly controls the entire world, Batman can indeed use sophisticated monitoring equipment to find them one by one, but the problem is, can he prevent these people from being born?

The so-called brain abnormality is just a metaphor; these people actually do not have pathological features, and their genes are not problematic. It is foreseeable that, whether now or in the future, there is unlikely to be technology that can tell whether a person is cold-blooded after being born.

Even if Batman's black science and technology allows him to determine which people are born cold and cruel, he cannot prevent a baby from being born for this reason. If that were the case, shouldn't people with explosive tempers also not be born? Shouldn't people with melancholic personalities also not be born?

And for such a person, from birth to growth to having the ability to kill in their teens, no one can judge whether they are such a person, so there is no way to prevent it early on.

No one knows if an ordinary child around them might be plotting to chop off their neighbor's head.

After much thought, Batman feels that he still has to rely on psychology.

Since there is no way to prevent these people from appearing, and he has to be prepared to struggle with them for life, it is better to keep the weapons in his own hands.

"So, what are you doing here?" Schiller asked Bruce.

Bruce seemed a little dazed, but quickly refocused his attention, then looked at Schiller and said very seriously:

"I need to take a shortcut."

"...Speak human."

"I need to go back and write a thesis."

[Read at www.patreon.com/shanefreak, and thanks for the invaluable support!]

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