Chapter 950: Danger (Part 1) (Patreon)

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As they laid eyes on the colossal blue cabbage, all three of them stood frozen in their tracks. The one most bewildered by the current situation was undoubtedly Zatanna. She even dashed toward the blue cabbage, seemingly unable to believe her eyes.

This enormous blue cabbage, like something out of a fantasy world, covered the sky with its lush branches and leaves. Upon approaching it, the exceedingly thick stem seemed impossible to encircle even with the effort of several hundred people.

Zatanna was at a loss as to how to confirm whether this was indeed a real blue cabbage. She approached it and took a sniff, then made a disgusted face. Coughing twice, she stepped back and said, "Yes, it's a blue cabbage. From childhood till now, whenever this thing appeared on the dining table, my dad would go to great lengths to persuade me to eat it..."

Constantine, who was the most severely injured, staggered over as well. He said, "How can I describe this? I can only say it's expected and unexpected at the same time. I once heard Schiller's friend Victor talking about how, when they were dining at a restaurant, Schiller burst into the kitchen and fired a shot at a blue cabbage..."

Zatanna raised an eyebrow in confusion. "Really? I mean, blue cabbage is not exactly delicious, and I've never liked it, but shooting at a vegetable? That's a bit extreme, don't you think?"

Constantine shrugged. "You've been away from Gotham for too long."

Batman, recovering his strength, stood still for a moment before approaching and gazing up at the blue cabbage's branches.

He didn't particularly dislike eating blue cabbage. Batman had never been a picky eater. However, he knew that some people's aversion to certain vegetables might not solely be a matter of taste. Human genetics were mysterious, and it was known that when some people ate certain vegetables, they experienced different tastes.

"Schiller once mentioned that he had a severe allergy to blue cabbage. I don't know if it's psychological or physiological, but if it's the latter, it could explain a lot," Batman remarked.

Zatanna, feeling drained, attempted to find a place to lean against. However, the presence of the blue cabbage was overwhelming. She made a final effort to distance herself from the cabbage's trunk and sat down, sighing. "Are we really going to deal with Professor using a vegetable? We can't just throw blue cabbages at him, can we?"

Zatanna imagined the scenario and wore a disgusted expression. She continued, "Oh my, I don't think I can do this. It's just too unethical to throw blue cabbages at someone. If someone did that to me, I'd go insane!"

"Actually, someone might have done just that," Batman interjected. Both Constantine and Zatanna turned to look at him. He continued, "Do you remember the 'special measures' mentioned in the medical records?"

Batman took out the cookie box again and retrieved the medical records, pointing to them. "Look here, every time Schiller had an episode, the medical records mentioned 'targeted measures'..."

"If Schiller's powers are indeed two to three times stronger, as Constantine suggested, it's highly unlikely that ordinary people could subdue him without causing harm. But every time they took targeted measures, the next step was to take him back to the observation room."

"But please don't tell me that these targeted measures involve blue cabbages," Constantine said with a ludicrous expression. "Are they surrounding him with a circle of blue cabbages to ensure he doesn't move?"

"It's hard to say," Batman imagined the scene and pursed his lips, seemingly trying to suppress other emotions.

"But not every Schiller might be afraid of blue cabbage. Back when Victor and Schiller dined together, I saw him eating blue cabbage. This suggests that he likely has some personality that isn't afraid of blue cabbage," Batman added with a slight frown.

"Wait a minute, if we see that the thing he fears the most in this answer room is blue cabbage, and he has other personalities that aren't afraid of it, does that mean we've been moving within one of his personalities this whole time?" Zatanna got up from the ground and frowned. "How is that possible? Aren't we supposed to be traveling through memories and jumping around?"

"You've never truly entered the High Tower of Thoughts, so you don't know its structure. The High Tower of Thoughts has many layers, and between many layers, you can only pass through an elevator. Without the Elevator Administrator's permission, you can't cross layers," Batman explained with a clear understanding of the situation.

Just as Zatanna was about to respond, they suddenly heard a familiar voice echoing in the air. "What are you doing here?!!"

"Why are you... my goodness! Come out! Leave that room immediately! How can you get so close to that blue cabbage?!!!"

Recognizing the voice as Professor Schiller's, Batman not only didn't follow his advice to stay away from the blue cabbage but instead, with lightning speed, rushed to the thick trunk of the blue cabbage and pressed his back tightly against it.

Sure enough, the next moment, Schiller's figure appeared in the space. He was wearing a suit and holding an umbrella. He looked at the three people standing next to the blue cabbage, his face displaying a perplexed expression.

"How did you end up here? The unexpected guests who invaded my room earlier, was it you?!" he exclaimed.

However, it was Constantine who was more shocked. He said, "Aren't you supposed to be in a battle with All Things Green? How did you end up here?!!!"

But to their surprise, Schiller's face immediately darkened, and time began to reverse as they gazed at each other from a distance.

Like a movie played in reverse, the three detectives' figures exited the room, flew back through their respective memory spaces, and returned to the Spirit Realm.

Just before the three of them could enter Schiller's soul, Schiller was indeed confronting All Things Green.

He stood in the center of the green chamber, facing Pamela, holding an umbrella, and speaking to All Things Green, "So it was you. I didn't expect that during this time, the first decent opponent I encountered would turn out to be the incarnation of a plant..."

"I guess you're here to pressure Pamela, and that's why you've taken such a roundabout path."

"First, you used rainwater to poison Gotham, creating the illusion of plant mutation. Then, you orchestrated the incident where a classmate abandoned Pamela and even attempted to use her as bait."

"Looking at this, it's a stark reminder of how ugly human nature can be. Classmates who were all smiles and laughter at ordinary times not only failed to save her when it mattered, but also tried to harm her. But in contrast, the silent and reserved plants were unwilling to harm her. In such a comparison, which would an ordinary college student choose?"

"You wanted to break through Pamela's psychological defenses using this contrast, to make her willingly become your proxy. However, you didn't expect that she still wouldn't choose you. So, you had to fabricate memories within her memory space and deceive her into signing the contract."

All Things Green, upon hearing this, displayed a very noticeable sense of confusion. It wasn't a single consciousness facing Schiller but rather a combination of many. At this moment, Schiller heard a voice filled with skepticism from one of them, "...What are you talking about?"

"I can only say that you're quite skilled at exploiting human weaknesses. If Pamela were just an ordinary college student, you might have succeeded long ago."

"No, that's not it," All Things Green replied. "I mean, what you just said... that plan. What do you mean by me infecting humans and plants with rainwater, and then creating some kind of event?"

"Your way of denying is really quite elementary," Schiller said, staring at the vines in front of him. "Pretending not to know won't help. Take a good look at the curse on you."

All Things Green's emotions became even more bewildered, not as an act but genuinely puzzled. The fact was, he hadn't conspired to do anything. He had simply passed by, hoping to take advantage of an opportunity.

All Things Green had indeed targeted Pamela very early on, but she wasn't his only choice. All Things Green was made up of various forces, including the Tree Council and the May Queen, and this time, it was the May Queen, who oversaw the vines, that targeted Pamela.

The May Queen also had more than one choice. Their principle for selecting proxies was to cast a wide net and cultivate multiple candidates, then choose the most outstanding one among them.

The reason it was said that the May Queen was just passing by was that when the plants in Gotham City began to mutate, the May Queen was the first to notice.

The May Queen had originally come just to see what was going on, but she discovered that one of her chosen proxies was in a dangerous situation.

The May Queen wasn't human and didn't have sympathy for humans, but she saw great potential in Pamela and didn't want to lose a candidate for a proxy. So, she controlled the vines to save Pamela and entered her spiritual world, intending to make a contract with her.

In simple terms, the May Queen had come to take advantage of an opportunity. She had simply stumbled upon Pamela in a weakened state, and upon entering her spiritual world, she found Pamela's potential to be even greater than she had imagined. She had wanted to finalize the deal right then and there, but unexpectedly, Pamela resisted.

The May Queen didn't understand the human tactic of using incentives and didn't think an ordinary human could resist her will. Thus, her methods resembled more of a kidnapping than a recruitment.

However, to Schiller, all of this seemed like a conspiracy. As he had said before, whether or not the other party was as devious as he didn't matter; he was.

Schiller was accustomed to setting traps for the opposition by exploiting human psychological weaknesses. Therefore, from his perspective as an onlooker, after witnessing this series of events, he naturally believed that All Things Green was the mastermind.

Because, if he were to put himself in All Things Green's shoes, how would he go about forcing Pamela to become his proxy?

For humans, trust and a sense of security were particularly important emotional supports. To make Pamela fully embrace the plant side, he would have to first break her trust in humans, making her feel completely insecure within human society.

Then, he would replace her sense of security from her kind with another mental support—being protected by plants in times of danger.

In Schiller's view, this setup's logic was very sound. If he were in All Things Green's position, he would do the same.

Moreover, the motivation was clear. Schiller knew that in the comics, All Things Green had once wanted to make Poison Ivy, Pamela, his new proxy, but Pamela had refused.

This fact indicated two things: first, Pamela indeed had the potential to become All Things Green's proxy, and All Things Green highly valued her. Second, if a candidate was firm in their refusal, All Things Green wouldn't resort to overly aggressive means; he couldn't forcibly control them.

In this light, the motive was apparent. All Things Green had set up this scheme because Pamela had repeatedly refused to become his proxy. He used contaminated rainwater and the apparent mutation of plants to put Pamela in danger and used psychological warfare to break her down.

In summary, Schiller saw this plan as perfectly normal for the sake of a bowl of vinegar and a plate of dumplings.

But the May Queen was utterly perplexed. She had merely passed by and intended to seize an opportunity, so how had she become the mastermind of all this?

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

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Next Chapter>>Chapter 951: Danger (Part 2)