Chapter 567: A Typical Murder Case (Part 1) (Patreon)

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In Gotham City, on a somewhat gloomy but still relatively warm morning, Schiller put down his coffee cup and heard the sound of his colleague Anna's high heels approaching. Soon, a blonde U.S. sweetheart walked in and knocked on Schiller's office desk, saying, "The bunch of lazy new students at the registration office is on leave, and you..."

"I'm not going," Schiller replied without lifting his head. If this scenario had happened a year ago, Schiller might still have been just an ordinary professor at Gotham University, instead of what he was now - seemingly writing papers but actually holding industry plans for the Green Lantern Corps and plans for the Mist Crystal industry underneath.

Anna rolled her eyes and said, "You have the fewest classes this week. If you don't go, then who will?"

Suddenly, Schiller snapped out of his daze from the pile of chaotic work. He turned his head to glance at the calendar on the side and said, "It's January now, which should be the beginning of the spring semester. Gotham University shouldn't have any majors starting in the spring, right?"

"Who told you that?" Anna walked over to Schiller's seat, crossed her arms, and said, "You forgot, didn't you? The former president, Seldon, was a liberal arts major, and he established the Literature and Philosophy majors at Gotham University. Ironically, before he left, both of these majors were approved, and the semester started in the spring."

"Oh, right, he probably forgot to tell you that the psychology major was also moved to the Humanities College, so your major starts in the spring too."

Schiller squinted his eyes. He recalled that U.S. universities were slightly different from Chinese ones. Many U.S. universities divided the year into three terms with start dates in January, May, and August. Both the January term and the fall term in August had new students arriving.

However, Gotham University was closer to Chinese universities. While it also had three terms, there were only new student arrivals in August, and there were no spring enrollments.

The reason for this was that Gotham University had fewer colleges and somewhat disorganized administration. To make things easier, some administrative staff had scheduled all majors to start in the fall.

But then, that president named Seldon came along, reformed the administrative system drastically, and created three colleges. Now, all three colleges had spring enrollments.

As Schiller buried himself in work, Gotham's deep winter had passed, and it was now January with temperatures slowly rising, and the spring semester at Gotham University had begun.

Putting down his pen and stretching his stiff shoulders, Schiller felt that spending half a day at the new student registration place wouldn't be so bad. Lately, his mind had been filled with all sorts of messy numbers.

Schiller stood up to leave, but suddenly, the lights in the room blinked twice and then went out with a soft "click." The bulb hanging in the center of the room was now dark.

At this time, daylight was still short, and it was necessary to have some light in the morning to read the text. With the light gone, the room was dim.

Anna looked up at the bulb but didn't show any surprise. She said, "You haven't had early classes these past few days, so you wouldn't know. The college's wiring is aging, and there have been power outages for one to two hours every day. The repeated outages have caused most of the old bulbs to break."

Schiller asked, "What do we do now?"

"What can we do? Just make do with it," Anna replied, returning to her seat and taking out a flashlight from the side. After turning it on, she pointed it at Schiller and said, "Now, Gotham University is the only college on the East Coast without a president. Who do you expect to handle this?"

Schiller shook his head and looked around the room. This was the office where he had spent the most time since coming to Gotham, and it was quite old.

There was no particular decoration style here because most of the furniture had been replaced several times. The white walls, baseboards, and ceilings all had varying degrees of damage, and the only decent desk was already half worn out.

Schiller didn't particularly like overly modern things, but it didn't mean he liked using old, especially when these things had become so old that they affected functionality.

Sighing, Schiller picked up his things and left the office, heading towards the new student registration area.

Arriving at the new student registration area, he found that the power was out here as well. What was even more tragic was that there were no floor-to-ceiling windows in this office, so the lighting was even worse, and the room was pitch dark.

"This is good," Schiller thought. When those new students arrived, they would immediately realize what a wrong decision they had made.

In the upcoming student life, they shouldn't expect to enjoy parties or indulge in romantic relationships, as there were no student activity rooms or party rooms here. The only rooms with independent generators were Victor's cryogenic laboratory and the library.

In the darkness, Schiller moved a chair and sat down. Soon, students began to trickle in. Almost everyone who entered the room hesitated for a moment upon seeing a person sitting in the pitch-black room and then cautiously checked the doorplate before walking in.

Schiller continued to work with his head down. Suddenly, he heard the sound of leather shoes approaching from a distance, sounding very steady and calm, without a hint of panic. Feeling a presence come to the table, Schiller picked up his pen, without lifting his head, and asked, "Name?"

"Lex Luthor."

"Lex... Male dormitory, Building 2, Room 403..." Schiller unconsciously wrote it down, and then he paused, lifting his head. As expected, the figure that had appeared in the darkness was Lex.

"Lex?" Schiller looked at him and then glanced at the form in his hand. He said, "Don't tell me you've applied to Gotham University?"

"In fact, I haven't applied to Gotham University. I'm not old enough to attend college yet. But I made a substantial donation, so..."

Schiller took off his glasses, rubbed his temples, and said, "May I ask about your reasoning behind this? Haven't you visited your local Metropolis University?"

"I have certainly visited, just before I came here for registration, I went to Metropolis University and found that journalism student Clark. I even made him a laughingstock in front of his classmates."

"Since you've already been to Metropolis University, then on your way from Gotham University's gate to here on the road, you should have left without looking back. What gave you the courage to come all the way here?"

The teaching quality and facilities at Metropolis University and Gotham University were not drastically different, but they were worlds apart.

"It's you, Professor, I won't hide it from you. The events at Metropolis Mayor's Mansion and your performance have piqued my interest in psychology. Among all the universities on the East Coast, you are the only one I can trust in terms of academic level."

"Thank you for your praise." Schiller flipped a page in the form in his hand and said, "You're much more likable than Wayne when he first arrived, but I still want to say that you'd better go back to Metropolis; this is not the place for you."

Lex completely ignored Schiller's words, shrugged, and said, "Is there anywhere I can't go? No."

"Where Wayne can go, of course, I can go. I'm not worse than him."

"Seriously, Professor, how are his grades? Is he the top of his class? No relationships, and soon I'll break his record."

Just as Schiller was about to continue speaking, Lex lifted his suitcase. Schiller observed his movements and said, "Don't tell me you didn't bring any security or butler with you, and you plan to stay in the student dormitories."

Lex nodded and struggled to bring the heavy suitcase over. He was so thin that the relatively small suitcase seemed extremely heavy.

Schiller shook his head and looked up at the now extinguished light bulb. He said, "You will pay for your confidence today. Those who don't belong to Gotham will eventually leave."

Lex didn't understand the somewhat fatalistic words from Schiller. He just picked up his suitcase and left.

As he walked through Gotham University's teaching buildings and the square, it was already fully lit outside, but the power was still out, so when Lex entered the dormitory building, it was pitch dark.

What was even more dreadful was that Gotham University's dormitory building had six floors, and Lex lived on the fourth floor, and this building didn't have an elevator.

In other words, Lex had to carry his heavy suitcase and climb up to the fourth floor by himself.

In truth, this wouldn't be difficult for any normal college student. Although it might be tiring to some extent, it wouldn't be too strenuous. However, for Lex, it was a different story.

As he had mentioned before, he hadn't reached the age to attend college; he was three years younger than Bruce, just turning 16 this year. Due to Lionel's control and excessive drug use earlier, his body was in poor condition, and his physical strength was weak.

So, when he dragged the suitcase up the staircase, it was very strenuous. He had to change his posture every two steps, and it wasn't a matter of carrying it but dragging it. The suitcase bumped against the steps, making a muffled sound.

After dragging the suitcase up one floor, Lex was completely exhausted. He could only lean against the staircase, panting for breath, and starting to regret why he hadn't brought his butler and security personnel.

Just then, a tall figure approached, saw there was someone in the staircase, hesitated for a moment, and then said, "Are you a new student this year? What happened? Do you need help?"

"I..." Lex swallowed hard, pointed at his suitcase, and said, "It's too heavy, and I can't move it. But my dorm is on the fourth floor..."

"Oh, I see. It's okay; I'll help you carry it." The tall figure walked out from the darkness, and when Lex could see clearly, it was a black-haired guy with a tall stature, a handsome face, and he was wearing a suit, giving the impression of being well-mannered.

"I'm Lex, from Metropolis. What's your name?" Lex asked proactively, while the guy said, "You can call me Thomas, Thomas Elliott. Have you heard of the Elliott family?"

"I'm from out of town, and I've never left my own city, so I haven't heard of any Gotham families," Lex said as he watched Thomas pick up his suitcase and start climbing the stairs.

"What about the Wayne Family?" Thomas asked.

"Oh, I have heard of them, after all, they are very famous," Lex said, following slowly behind Thomas. He seemed to be walking very slowly, perhaps because he had exhausted his energy earlier, and Thomas had to stand on higher steps to wait for him.

"Oh, then you should know that young Wayne goes to this college, right? Although he doesn't come to class often, you should be able to meet him recently because he's been staying in the dorms."

"Staying in the dorms? Isn't his family very wealthy? Why would he stay in the dorms?" When they reached the third floor, the two took a break in the staircase and chatted.

"Don't mention it, his daughter makes a lot of noise at night, making it hard for him to sleep, so he had to leave Wayne Manor and rest in the dorms to get some peace and quiet."

Thomas spread his hands and said, "My family and his family have been friends for generations, and we've known each other since childhood, but even I don't know when he had a wife and daughter."

Lex frowned, and when Thomas saw his reaction, he continued, "Of course, I understand him. A man should have his own space; he's not the type to revolve around his wife and children."

Seeing Lex's increasingly deep frown, Thomas picked up the suitcase again and walked up the stairs, with Lex following behind. They both arrived on the fourth floor together.

But just as they stepped onto the fourth-floor corridor, a strong smell of blood wafted over.

In the dim light from the window at the end of the corridor, Lex saw that the door of the fourth room on the right was open, and there were two legs sticking out, with blood flowing out from the door.

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Next Chapter>>Chapter 568: A Classic Murder Case (Part II)