Chapter 420: Metropolis Mystery (Part Four) (Patreon)

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A figure fell from the sky, and at the moment of contact with the ground, time seemed to slow down. The splattering of crimson blood resembled waves, splashing onto the elegant tablecloth and hitting the tassels that hung from it. The silver candlestick swayed violently, and after the candlelight extinguished, only the thin line of a cigarette remained.

At the resounding crash of the fall, all the elegant ladies and misses who had been poised and graceful fell into a state of panic. The gentlemen were no better off, disregarding the damage to their expensive leather shoes as they pushed and screamed, resembling sardines caught in a fishing net being unloaded. Chaos ensued as they desperately tried to escape.

Schiller turned his head and saw Lionel take two steps back, covering his mouth with his hand in apparent shock and disbelief. His face turned pale, his fingertips trembled, and his eyes revealed incredulity.

But soon, he took a deep breath, trying to calm himself down. He shouted, "Don't move! We have security personnel!"

His shout had no effect as the intense screams drowned out all other sounds. People desperately tried to distance themselves from the corpse, pushing and shoving, causing many to fall and block the way. The situation was utter chaos.

"Bang! Bang! Bang!"

Three gunshots rang out, and everything fell silent. The entire banquet hall seemed to have been paused, with everyone gaping and looking towards a group of people entering through the main door.

The person leading the group was dressed in a special police outfit, holding a handgun in his hand. The others behind him were similarly dressed, indicating they were part of an organization, but they were completely different from the Metropolis police.

"Federal Bureau of Investigation."

The leader of the group walked to the center of the banquet hall and said, then "snap," he revealed his identification, showing it to the left and right before putting it away. He then loaded the handgun and waved his hand. Two agents behind him approached to inspect Mayor White's corpse.

At this moment, Lionel quickly walked out from the crowd. His face still pale, he bypassed the chaotic area where the corpse had fallen and approached the leading agent. He shook hands with him and said, "Benjamin, you finally came. I was just about to send someone to invite you!"

"This charity banquet was jointly organized by the Luthor family and the City Hall. How could something like this happen?" Lionel's features were squeezed together, showing an unprecedented weariness.

He wore a deeply saddened expression and said, "I know the security situation in Metropolis hasn't been optimistic lately. The police chief couldn't provide an explanation, so Mayor White and I agreed to have the agents stationed here. Who would have thought..."

The agent known as Benjamin furrowed his brow, his expression cold and indifferent, but many attendees erupted in dissatisfaction.

The banquet hadn't even officially begun, and the main character of the event, Mayor White, had already become a corpse. It was as if it was telling everyone attending the banquet that the elaborate security checks by the agents were all in vain.

Many people in the crowd angrily questioned, "What exactly happened? Why did the mayor die?!"

"How did you conduct the checks?! Can't you even detect a gun?!"

"You searched us so thoroughly! Even my fan wasn't allowed, so how could someone bring in a gun?!"

This banquet had invited almost all the elites from the East Coast, including businessmen, politicians, scholars, and renowned media figures. After the initial panic, they gradually calmed down and began to continuously criticize the group of agents in the center of the room.

Among them, a radio host from Chicago waved his fist and angrily shouted, "Look! This is the result of sacrificing our privacy! It's a conspiracy to push for surveillance laws!"

"Correct! Why are you blocking the doors?"

"Move aside quickly! I want to go home! I don't want to be in the same room as this terrifying corpse!"

"Let me leave..."

Benjamin remained unfazed, his expression cold as he surveyed the room. He ran his thumb along the patterns on the handgun and spoke with an icy tone that reverberated in the room.

"The mayor is dead, and now no one can leave."

"You mean to say what? Do you want to lock us up here?!"

"How can you do this?! This is illegal detention!"

Various dissatisfied voices rang out from the crowd, but the agent named Benjamin ignored them. He waved his hand, and several agents rushed in from the banquet hall's entrance, sealing it off.

What was even more frightening was that all the agents were fully armed. Several attendees who reacted too violently were directly knocked out with a stun spray and dragged to a corner by the agents.

At this point, no one dared to protest loudly anymore. Some gritted their teeth and cursed under their breath, while others wore a pained expression, feeling unlucky. Some clever people secretly took out their mobile phones or other communication devices, trying to contact some friends they knew to get out of this trouble.

At the moment the corpse fell, Bruce had secretly pressed a contact device on the back of his watch. This satellite signal communication device would link to his Manor's laboratory and the Batcave's equipment, providing him with data analysis support at any time. But just now, he discovered that all signals had been cut off.

The agents surrounded Mayor White's corpse, examining for clues, while Bruce observed the situation from the sidelines. Schiller, who was also observing the situation from the sidelines, stood still, holding a glass of wine. He was standing in a position closer to the center of the hall than where the mayor fell, so the outward flow of people did not affect him. He continued to stand there, watching the group of agents search for clues near the corpse.

Although the distance was far, Schiller had been looking in that direction when the corpse fell, so he saw clearly that Mayor White died from a gunshot to the head, a fatal shot. He just happened to fall from above the atrium, adding another layer of internal organ rupture, just like all the people who jumped off the building.

After discovering that all communication tools had lost their signals, Bruce began to move towards Schiller's direction without leaving a trace. However, he found that his professor shook his head while holding a glass of wine and walked towards the back of the banquet hall...

Not only did Bruce notice Schiller's abnormality, but Benjamin also noticed it. This abnormality was too obvious. Schiller was the only one moving in the entire banquet hall.

Others at most just looked towards Mayor White's corpse, but Schiller directly stepped over the fallen candlestick and walked towards the back of the banquet hall.

While the other agents were driving the crowd towards the wall, Benjamin strode over and blocked Schiller's path. He looked at him coldly and asked, "Where are you going?"

"I'm going to the bathroom."

Schiller gave a reason that Benjamin couldn't refute. In theory, even if the sky fell, one couldn't stop someone from going to the toilet. This was a reason that could be used confidently in any situation.

However, the fact that he was the first to move in the situation where the corpse had just fallen and the agents were patrolling everywhere indicated that he was not an ordinary person.

Benjamin still looked at Schiller with the scrutinizing and cold gaze unique to agents, and Schiller looked back at him with an unchanged expression, as if he was just stating a simple fact.

"The situation is special, please cooperate." Benjamin still did not move aside, but Schiller did not plan to back down either. The two of them stood there, deadlocked. At this moment, Lionel also walked over quickly and smiled at Benjamin.

"Benjamin, let me introduce you. This is Professor Rodriguez, a world-renowned expert in psychology, a master of criminal psychology who has participated in the investigation of many serial killings..."

"And, he is a guest I invited here. I also wanted to hire him as my son's home tutor."

"My son, little Lex, is almost an adult. I originally wanted to introduce him into the social circle at this banquet. He's waiting in the upstairs reception room. I was just about to introduce him to Professor Rodriguez. You see..."

"Luthor, I'm just doing my job. The turmoil caused by the last Metropolis mayoral election was already bad enough. Now, something like this has happened again. If we don't investigate strictly, do you want the whole world to laugh at us?"

"I know, of course, I know. Benjamin, you've been in Metropolis for more than a day or two. We've been together for a few months. Don't I understand you?" Lionel did not retreat at all despite Benjamin's cold face. He still maintained that amiable smile and said:

"But Professor Rodriguez isn't leaving here. He's just going to the bathroom. What's wrong with that?"

"If I let him go, everyone here will want to go to the toilet in less than two minutes."

"I can prove that I'm not suspicious." Schiller's statement was shocking, and Benjamin immediately focused his gaze on his face, staring at him intently.

"Right, I can prove it too." Lionel quickly said, "When the corpse fell, Professor Rodriguez was talking to me. We were both standing in this position, and everyone could see it. It couldn't have been us."

"I'm not talking about that."

To Lionel's surprise, Schiller denied Lionel's explanation and looked into Benjamin's eyes as he said, "I believe you have already sent my name to the intelligence institution you can contact through the hidden device on your wrist."

"Now, my resume should have appeared on your mobile phone. You might as well open it and take a look."

Benjamin's gaze remained unchanged as he discreetly took out his mobile phone from his pocket and looked at a message on the screen.

While reading halfway through, his finger paused slightly, and then he didn't continue reading. He put the mobile phone back in his pocket and said to Schiller, "The investigation results will be out in a maximum of 5 minutes. I hope to see you here before that."

"No problem, Mr. Lionel. Do you want to come with me? It's a rare opportunity. Who knows, he might not let anyone go to the toilet tonight."

Benjamin didn't look at the two of them and turned to leave. Lionel hesitated in place for a moment before following Schiller's footsteps.

"What's in your resume? Why did he agree?" Lionel asked Schiller.

"Didn't you also read my resume?"

"Oh, yes..."

"Do you think if it was me, I would shoot him directly in the head?"

Lionel opened his mouth but couldn't argue. However, he quickly remembered Schiller's astonishing resume and had to acknowledge that compared to the unspeakable serial killings in his background, Mayor White's death was too ordinary.

As they walked on the road towards the bathroom, Schiller spoke to himself, "A glamorous dance party, a group of celebrities from the political, business, and arts world, a group of agents everywhere but with unknown intentions, a corpse falling from the sky..."

"This opening is just like a scene from some old-fashioned detective stories. I think the perpetrator must be a fan of this genre."

Lionel heard Schiller muttering to himself in a low voice, "Good topic, just bad timing..."

"Professor Rodriguez, do you think this could be related to the serial killer who has been active in Metropolis recently?"

Schiller shook his head and said, "I haven't seen the crime scene of that so-called serial killer, so I can't be sure if he is a genuine serial killer."

"What do you mean?" Lionel asked, very puzzled.

"Criminals who commit serial kisllings and genuine serial killers are two different things. Genuine serial killer are born killers, cold-blooded, ruthless, and derive pleasure from killing..."

"And today..." Schiller touched his wrist and stopped at the bathroom door, turning his head to look at Lionel. "Today's perpetrator is just a clumsy criminal who killed for some kind of interest."

"How did you come to this conclusion?" Lionel asked, confused.

"You know, if it was me, how would I do it?"

Lionel looked at Schiller and asked, "How would you do it?"

Schiller turned his head away without looking at him and said to himself, "At the beginning of the banquet, the host would introduce important guests, right?"

"The host would announce, 'Next, we have the honor of introducing our esteemed mayor, Mr. White!' and then..."

"Our esteemed mayor would descend from the sky."

Schiller turned his head, revealing a chilling smile that made Lionel's hair stand on end.

"Precision, humor, full of drama."

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Next Chapter>>Chapter 421: Metropolis Suspicion (5)