Chapter 1143 Professor (Part Fifteen) (Patreon)

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Upon hearing Roman's words, Schiller and Bruce were both stunned. They then looked at each other and said in unison: "You two are working together?... I'm not familiar with him."

However, Roman directly erupted, shouting hoarsely: "You have ignored my work! You just let that group of stupid police investigate!! You already knew everything, but you pretended not to know anything and acted in front of me!! You damn... damn..."

"Wait, let me interrupt for a moment." Bruce raised a hand and looked at Roman, saying: "What's wrong with you?"

Before Roman could speak, Bruce said: "Okay, Roman, I know your father put a lot of pressure on you, but I can help you deal with this. This is not a handout or anything, it's just friends helping each other. If you feel uncomfortable about it, you can help me back in the future."

"Bruce Wayne! Batman!! You idiot!!!" Roman shouted out Bruce's name loudly, and the word in the middle of his sentence made Bruce frown. He said with some surprise: "What are you talking about, Roman? Okay, given your family's strength, it's not difficult to know that I'm funding Batman, but this is part of my charity work..."

But Roman looked at him gloomily and said: "Do you still want to keep pretending? Do you think I don't know that Batman is you, Bruce Wayne, your own person?!"

A look of helplessness appeared on Bruce's face, and he was just about to continue explaining when Roman let out a cold smile and said: "You two, you should have guessed my identity since the day I committed the crime at the hospital, right?"

"You deliberately pretended not to know, just to try to break me psychologically!" Roman looked into Batman's eyes and nodded, saying: "The Gotham vigilante... lives up to his reputation."

Bruce opened his mouth slightly, then licked his lips and looked Roman up and down, saying: "You just said that the case at the hospital was done by you?"

"Correct!" Roman gritted his teeth and said: "That's the one, the case that you didn't even bother to look at! That's the one you just handed over to the regular police!!"

As he spoke, Roman's tone became filled with indignation. He started pacing quickly around the room, saying: "I spent a full three months finding the perfect target, making the most meticulous plans, and achieving the best results. But you... you didn't even bother to look at it! Do you know how much effort I put into it? Wasn't it spectacular enough?!"

He sat down on the office sofa, covering his face with both hands, and said in a tearful voice: "Not only did you refuse to go and investigate, you completely ignored me, and even came up with such a vicious way to humiliate me... Well done, are you satisfied?!"

Bruce opened his mouth, almost blurting out "So you're the genius killer who made Schiller his second target?"

The reason Bruce didn't say that was because he felt it was just too Schiller-like.

As for the details of those cases, Bruce still had some things he didn't understand. He was just about to open his mouth to ask when Schiller spoke up and said to Roman: "I'm sorry, but I don't write recommendation letters for anyone other than my own students. If being wealthy enough could change my decision, then Bruce Wayne here wouldn't have almost failed to graduate."

"What the hell are you doing?!" Roman stood up again, looking at Schiller in disbelief and shouting: "I'm a serial killer! I'm a psychopathic murderer!! A person who just brutally killed a doctor!! Standing right in front of you!! And you're still talking about recommendation letters?!"

"Or do you want me to talk about the phone calls harassing me?" Schiller asked Roman.

Roman was taken aback and said, "When did I ever call you on the phone to harass you?"

"Oh, so that wasn't you?" Schiller was also a bit surprised, but then he shook his head and said, "Well, then we have nothing else to discuss."

Bruce also understood Schiller's meaning. He walked to the door, picked up the phone, and said to the other end, "Hello? Commissioner Gordon? There's a murderer here, you need to come arrest him... Yes, the killer from the hospital case."

After Gordon came and took Roman away, Bruce didn't say anything, just gestured with his finger at Roman. Once Roman was gone, Bruce looked at Schiller, and Schiller gestured for him to sit down. Bruce rubbed his chin and began to analyze:

"He just emphasized that he chose a perfect target, which means Doctor Richard must have had some special qualities, otherwise he wouldn't have stressed it so much."

"The nurse's description of Doctor Richard was indeed a bit strange. If what the nurse said is true, then Doctor Richard doesn't sound like a typical Gotham local at all. How could Gotham have such an exemplary doctor, sober-minded and skilled in surgery?"

"But what's so special about Doctor Richard..." Just as Bruce fell into contemplation, Schiller timely reminded him, "Don't forget, his second target was me, and serial killers love to find common points in their targets."

"Common points..." Bruce murmured for a moment, then said, "Correct, you two are both doctors, but what else? Wait a minute..."

Bruce suddenly turned his head and stared at Schiller, narrowing his eyes slightly, then said, "That Richard, is he also a serial killer?"

Before Schiller could provide any more clues, Bruce said, "I see. I understand now."

"What do you understand?" Schiller asked.

"I understand... the weakness of serial killers." Bruce walked over to the sofa and sat down, revealing a slight smile, then said, "Their weakness lies in the fact that they are not ordinary people."

"Their emotions are inherently weaker than ordinary people, and their behavioral patterns are also different from ordinary people. So when they try to hide in the society of ordinary people, pretending to be one of them, they always overdo it, don't they? ... Professor Schiller."

Bruce emphasized Schiller's name a little extra, and after shifting his gaze away, he continued, "To prevent others from suspecting them as bad guys, they naturally have to disguise themselves as good people. But they don't know how to be an ordinary good person, so they can only choose to be a perfect person."

"Good character, excellent abilities, never arguing with others, and not even getting angry at all - this is the kind of good person they imagine. They think that as long as they pretend to be like this, they can blend into the society of ordinary people."

"So Doctor Richard would have such a good reputation, he is a very typical example of someone who wants to disguise themselves as an ordinary person and integrate into society, but ends up overdoing it."

"However, there is another doubt - the killer's leg was injured by Harley, right? Why does Roman's gait seem normal, without any inconvenience?"

"...No, that's not right." Bruce spoke up: "Roman should have an accomplice. Perhaps that day, the one left at the hospital was not just one person, but two. One was injured, and the other one saved him."

"Correct, it must be that way." Bruce stood up from the sofa, pacing around the room as he said: "That day, I felt something was off. How could a person with such a serious leg injury still be able to run back to the base, and leave almost no traces, no matter how wealthy he is, that wouldn't be possible."

"But if he had an accomplice, everything would make sense."

"They worked together on the crime, and after the crime, they both stayed at the hospital to observe the situation. One of them might have tried to do something, but ran into Harley and got a shovel to the face."

"He desperately jumped out of the window, and his accomplice saved him, took him back to the base, and treated his injury... But can an injury like that really heal?" Bruce said with some doubt: "These cold-blooded and inhumane people, wouldn't they abandon a useless companion?"

"I don't remember if I've told you this before," Schiller suddenly spoke up. "Generally, the real serial murder case killers don't collaborate."

Bruce thought about it for a moment, then nodded and said, "That's right. Does that mean Roman isn't the real serial murder case killer?... No, I can sense that cold-blooded quality in him."

"But there is one exception," Schiller continued. "And that is when they have a common enemy."

"A common enemy? You mean..." Bruce's gaze fell on Schiller. He remembered that in Roman's base, the note he had seen mentioned that the serial killers all wanted to kill Schiller.

"Are you saying that all the serial killers who come here will collaborate?" Bruce's expression became somewhat grave.

In his mind, if Schiller were to face any serial killer, the one who would end up in trouble would definitely not be Schiller. But if he were to face a group, and a group that would even collaborate, it might not be so certain.

"Aren't you going to do something?" Bruce asked Schiller.

"Do what?" Schiller leaned back in the office chair, showing no signs of nervousness at all. He picked up the newspaper next to the desk and started reading, and Bruce slowly furrowed his brow.

"You're not Schiller." Bruce stared at Schiller, and Schiller's eyes peeked out from above the newspaper, looking at Bruce. Before Schiller could speak, Bruce pointed at the newspaper and said, "When you used to read the newspaper, you would always wear gloves, because you felt the ink would dirty your hands."

"And I've seen the serial murder cases you've orchestrated. You would never get yourself covered in blood, because you think it's not elegant and too dirty." Bruce raised an eyebrow and said, "...You have a very serious obsession with cleanliness."

"You're not Schiller," Bruce repeated.

"I am." Schiller looked at him seriously, but then he smiled and said, "Just not the Schiller you know."

"Who are you then?"

"I told you, I'm Schiller." Schiller stood up from behind the desk, walked in front of Bruce, folded the newspaper in his hand, and then looked up at Bruce and said, "Perhaps you should know that the Schiller you know is called 'Pride', and you may also know that he has another personality trait called 'Greed'."

"So you're also one of the Seven Deadly Sins?" Bruce asked.

Schiller nodded, but then shook his head, smiling at Bruce and saying, "I used to be 'Sloth', but not anymore."

Schiller tilted his head back slightly, looking at the scenery outside the window behind Bruce, and slowly spoke:

"Pride and Greed have combined to become stronger. And the first thing they did after becoming stronger was... to realize Schiller's dream."

"Dream?" Bruce repeated the word.

"Correct, the current me is the result of them using their enhanced power to realize the dream." Schiller looked at Bruce with a smile and said, "Now you can call me - 'Mediocrity'."

"Or simply... an ordinary person."

This time there were fewer silly mistakes.

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

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Next Chapter>>Chapter 1144 Professor (Part Sixteen)