Chapter 956: Schiller's "Escape" Journey (Part 1) (Patreon)

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Once Schiller boarded the Federal Bureau of Investigation's vehicle, silence filled the car. Schiller's face wore a pallid expression, and he breathed rapidly. The escorting officer seated next to him couldn't help but speak up, "Are you okay? Do you need medication?"

"I'm experiencing a severe stress reaction. You must... you must provide me with a sufficient dose of sedatives immediately, or I can't guarantee I'll make it to your superiors alive," Schiller said between gasps.

The driver wasted no time and picked up his communication device, saying, "Dispatch someone to the hospital to bring a substantial amount of sedatives."

Afterward, he glanced back at Schiller's symptoms and continued, "We need potent sedatives, ones that target agitation and nervous excitement."

"Thank you. You're even more professional than my students," Schiller said, reclining his head against the backrest.

The agents displayed a considerate attitude. A female agent sitting in the passenger seat said, "Hold on a bit longer. We have to take you to our temporary base before administering the medication."

Schiller had already closed his eyes, trying to suppress his nervous excitement alongside Grey Mist. However, due to the psychogenic nature of the nervous reaction, as long as the stimulus persisted, the excitement wouldn't cease. Specific symptoms included hyperventilation, tremors, and elevated blood pressure, among others.

While Schiller sat pale-faced in the backseat, the female agent in the front passenger seat quietly said to the driver, "Scott, in this situation, can we put a hood on him? Doesn't this have a high risk of causing him to stop breathing? If he goes into shock, we won't have any means of resuscitation..."

She then glanced outside at the road and added, "The streets are filled with broccoli now, and we can't even drive fast. What if he truly goes into shock, and we can't even get him to the hospital?"

"The vehicle is equipped with monitoring devices for his heart rate and blood pressure. If his reaction becomes too intense, we won't use the hood. Besides, he won't have the time to notice where we're taking him anyway," Scott replied, steering the car.

"But...," the female agent looked back at Schiller and said, "What if he's faking it? He's a skilled psychologist; he might be able to induce these symptoms himself..."

"But we can't take that risk," Scott responded coldly as he skillfully navigated past a broccoli patch. "From the moment he revealed his identity, our mission became ensuring his safety at all costs."

"He can die, but not at our hands. Since he disclosed his identity, our responsibility is to guarantee his safety, no matter what."

"Alright, you're the expert, let's forget about it," the female agent said, looking around. "We can't go any further ahead; let's find a side road here."

The car gradually came to a stop. The female agent in the front passenger seat was the first to get out and assess the surroundings. After a while, she returned and knocked on the car window, saying, "Get out, follow me."

The escort agent on the left side of the vehicle got out, but the one on the right side hesitated. Schiller remained motionless in his seat.

The agent glanced at him and then said to the female agent, "I don't think he can move. We need to get the car as close to the stronghold as possible; otherwise, there's a significant risk of him fainting halfway."

The female agent hammered the car window and said, "Fine, I'll guide you in reversing the car into that alley. There's an entrance there."

Scott returned to the driver's seat, and under the guidance of the female agent, the car was reversed into the alley. In the haze of the moment, Schiller felt himself being pulled out of the car. In a daze, he saw a sewer entrance in front of him.

Even in his weakened state, he couldn't help but comment, "I never expected your base to be in the sewers. It's not the era when you used to call spies 'moles,' is it? Sewer vermin?"

The female agent was infuriated and pounded the wall. She looked at the driver and said, "He's this weak, and he's still cursing? Is this how psychologists behave? He's on the brink of death, and he's still defiant?"

"Calm down, Lorena. I hope he has this much to say during interrogation," the driver retorted coldly, then opened the sewer entrance. The group entered the sewer.

They hadn't walked for two minutes when a dark figure appeared above the alley's wall.

Batman had just descended and initially didn't notice anything unusual in the alley. All traces had been meticulously cleaned, much like all the dark alleys in Gotham, with an eerie atmosphere. A decrepit car stood in the center of the narrow path.

However, the tracking device attached to Schiller's raincoat indicated this as the destination. Batman only realized something was amiss after he had descended from the car roof; the alley was unusually clean.

Everyone knew that in a city like Gotham, it was hard to find anyone with a sense of civic responsibility. Most people didn't care about whether they left footprints or trampled on roadside plants while walking or driving. They certainly didn't bother cleaning their muddy footprints.

Yet, this alley had not a single trace of people getting in or out of the car, no footprints, no trampled grass, and no spilled drinks or vomit. Not even a cigarette butt. Any way you looked at it, it was suspicious.

There were no hiding spots in the alley, and the most conspicuous element was the sewer manhole cover. Batman walked over and saw that even the moss around the edge of the manhole cover showed no signs of disturbance. However, this didn't necessarily mean no one had touched it.

Batman knew at least three methods to move bricks or manhole covers without damaging the moss and grass around them.

Realizing the manhole cover might be an issue, he didn't rush to lift it directly. Instead, he placed a night vision monitoring device attached to a string through the ventilation hole on the manhole cover.

Taking out a screen from his belt, Batman saw that the situation in the sewer was as expected. It was filled with dense ice, offering no place for someone to walk.

Squinting his eyes, Batman controlled the camera to pan left and right. In the darkness and ice, he spotted a very discreet little red dot.

He zoomed in with the camera and discovered that behind the ice layer, there seemed to be a utility room, and at that moment, some device was blinking with a red light.

Gotham's sewer system was vast and complex. When it was flooded, not every part was breached immediately. Some of the later-built, better-quality functional areas only suffered minor leaks and had thin layers of ice, making them habitable.

The only question was: how did they get in? Batman furrowed his brow, pondering.

The utility room was separated from the sewer manhole cover by a thick layer of dense ice. Batman didn't believe they had the capability to break through this ice, and even if they did, they couldn't restore it to its original state.

After confirming there were no immediate dangers below, Batman put away his monitoring equipment and opened the manhole cover before jumping down.

During the flooding, the water in the channel took on a wavy pattern, and at the moment it froze, there was some space left beneath the sewer manhole cover, allowing Batman to take shelter.

After jumping down, he realized that not only was there space above the ice layer but also a very narrow crevice on the side, right next to the utility room. When the water had frozen, that area had remained dry, avoiding ice formation.

Sliding through the narrow gap on the side, Batman reached the bottom. It was then that he noticed a hole had been dug here.

The wall near the utility room door frame had been excavated, creating a downward-sloping hole just big enough for a person to pass through. Below the cover-up ice layer, this hole was impossible to see from the nearby sewer entrance.

Inspecting the nearby support structures, Batman realized that this hole hadn't been dug in just a day or two. Had the Federal Bureau of Investigation gone to such lengths to control Gotham?

Batman activated his flashlight and proceeded. However, the further he went, the more something felt off. According to logic, the underground soil in Gotham wasn't this solid. To dig such a long tunnel at this depth without any support structures was implausible. Moreover, there were no signs of water seepage.

In a city rich in underground water resources, with frequent rain and deteriorating drainage facilities, this was nearly impossible.

Batman became increasingly alert because he knew that even with his engineering skills, it was nearly impossible to create such a long tunnel at this depth without any support structures and without water seepage. The Federal Bureau of Investigation wouldn't have been capable of it either.

Continuing along the tunnel, Batman arrived at another sewer junction. Here, the ice layer was still thick, but there was a gap leading to another descending tunnel.

Just as Batman disappeared into the dark passage, Schiller suddenly saw a glimmer of light before him. Agent had brought him through countless twists and turns until they finally arrived in a well-lit room.

They seated him in the center of the room, and Schiller looked up at Agent, saying, "When will my medication arrive? I hope your actions will be swift. If I can regain my composure quickly, you might be able to fly me out of here. Otherwise..."

Schiller shook his head weakly and continued, "You've dug so many tunnels beneath Gotham because you can't attack this city from the surface, which means you're aware of the dangers here."

"I must remind you that getting me out of this city might pose significant risks... cough..."

"I hope, during the upcoming journey, you'll be able to trust me. Only I can lead you out of here, or else... cough, cough, cough..."

"Quick, go fetch his medication," the female agent spoke up. "He's starting to talk nonsense. Listen, Mr. Rodriguez, we do intend to extract you from here because this location isn't suitable for interrogation."

"But the how and where we go is our decision to make. Right now, you're merely a prisoner."

"You'd better take a deep breath and alleviate your symptoms. Your heart rate is dangerously high," the female agent approached, checked Schiller's pupils, and glanced at the heart rate monitor on his wrist. She shook her head.

She stepped back and said to the two agents nearby, "Call the agent responsible for getting the medication, and make it quick. Also, prepare some medication to lower blood pressure and stabilize heart rate. We can't let him die here..."

"Boom! Boom! Boom!"

Continuous, deafening explosions and tremors came from very close to the room. Instantly, everyone struggled to maintain their balance, and Schiller's chair was knocked over.

"What's happening?!! What's making that noise?!!" Lorena looked around in alarm, and one of the agents exclaimed, "It sounds like an explosion from construction work. Someone is blowing up the sewer!"

Schiller managed to get up from the ground and knelt there, regaining his strength. He then gritted his teeth and said, "Get me out of here quickly. The place is collapsing, and we won't be able to escape. Don't tell me that when you dug these tunnels, you didn't prepare any emergency exits..."

As if just realizing it, Lorena said, "Oh, right. Help him up, and we'll use the back door. Hurry!"

However, as the agents helped Schiller and tried to move towards the back door, Schiller broke free from their grasp. He staggered and leaned against the wall, pointing at the center of the room with his eyes closed, saying, "Start a fire... make a big one... quickly!!!"

"What are you doing? Get out of here fast!" Lorena shouted anxiously. She looked up at the ceiling and added, "This place is collapsing!"

"Light a fire!!!" Schiller insisted.

Lorena and several agents came forward, realizing they couldn't move Schiller. They had no choice but to dismantle a wooden chair and ignite a pile of fire using flammable powder.

In the thick smoke, Schiller coughed, but he quickly removed his raincoat, took off his wristwatch, and discarded all the accessories from his body into the fire, leaving only his tie. Everything else went into the flames.

When Batman arrived in the room through the tunnel created by the explosion, he found that Schiller was no longer there, and the signal he had been tracking had completely disappeared.

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

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Next Chapter>>Chapter 957: Schiller's "Escape" Journey (Part 2)