Chapter 995: The Battle for High Tower (Part Twenty-Nine) (Patreon)

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Upon hearing the word "gentle," Batman rolled it around in his mind once again, but this time, he remained silent. He could tell that as the conversation progressed, the mood of Professor wasn't quite good.

However, if things were indeed as he claimed, then this was truly an undeserved calamity. The timing of the teachers' leave from the freshman orientation was terribly inconvenient, but ultimately, Batman's presence was even more ill-timed.

After giving up delving deeper into this word, Batman began to recall how Schiller, as a teacher, had guided him.

Before delving into this question, he had to ascertain whether Schiller had truly been guiding him.

After some reflection, Batman found the answer to be affirmative. Yet, the term "guidance" was also worth contemplating.

During his first two years, Schiller hadn't actually tutored Batman academically. However, whenever Batman investigated major cases, Schiller's presence was always intertwined.

One of the most memorable instances for Batman was when the female boss in Living Hell, Faye, died. Batman conducted a series of investigations, leading to Schiller's involvement.

Later, Schiller and Jack unearthed the Laughing Egg within his inner self, coinciding with the invasion of the yellow light. Batman and others fought in dreams, ultimately resulting in Schiller summoning Aisha.

Following that, Schiller went to Metropolis, prompting Batman to trace clues to a murder case in Mayor Manor. Then, the journey to Gotham's Cat City was instigated by Schiller, stimulating the Dream of Thousand Cats.

The first half of the journey in the slums had nothing to do with Schiller, but the latter part dealt Bruce a fatal blow.

And this time, Batman's descent into hell was also due to Schiller's plunge into hell.

Upon careful recollection, it seemed that every time Schiller appeared in an event, Batman could learn something from it.

From unraveling layers of clues with detective wisdom, to delving into mysterious dream realms, to facing the madness of reality in the deepest Abyss, to strategizing in large-scale wars, to witnessing the course of revolution...

In the initial events, Batman remained steadfast in his answer: he sought revenge against Criminals. Yet, with the vast array of ups and downs, Batman found that he no longer had a definite answer.

While in the mine shaft earlier, Batman had reconsidered this question: what was he fighting for? What were his ideals? What were his thoughts?

Was it vengeance? Was it to save Gotham?

When contemplating these two answers, Batman instinctively felt dissatisfied. It was hard for him to articulate where this dissatisfaction stemmed from, as if these answers didn't measure up to his tumultuous journey and experiences.

Batman felt that after so many trials, it was difficult for anyone to simply define their life with a single word or goal.

The less one experienced, the smaller their understanding of the world, the easier it was to label themselves narrowly and solidify their thinking towards that label, seeking validation within circles that shared the same label, and thus cutting off all chances of making new choices, walking down such a path without turning back.

However, if the tumultuous journey, scars left behind while cutting through thorns on the road, along with the courage and wisdom gained were substantial enough, people would find it hard to be satisfied with the achievements brought by a small label. This was why the righteous path of the world was full of vicissitudes.

Batman had a similar feeling. If he poured everything he learned on this journey into goals like seeking revenge against Criminals or saving Gotham, he felt he would be shortchanged.

He had seen the sunset in Living Hell, the endless black tide in the Dream Realm, danced with deception and cunning in Metropolis, struggled with poverty and weakness in the slums, heard the roaring rock in Cat City, and witnessed the blood-red sunset in hell.

After walking such a long road, enduring so many injuries, learning and comprehending so much, was it all for striking down Criminals on the streets?

Seeing Batman lost in thought, Schiller coughed lightly and then said, "What you are thinking now answers my current state."

"In my infected state, I gave you the answer you wanted to hear at that time. But both you and I know, that's not the correct answer. It's neither the right answer for everyone nor for you." Schiller sighed and continued, "

"However, for a long time afterward, you believed it to be true, or rather, you've always thought so. For this reason, I had to take many actions to erase the wrong answers, to shake your conclusions, and only then could I truly pursue a correct answer," Schiller said, lowering his head and slowly suppressing the somewhat manic smile on his lips. He continued, "And just after you returned from the slums, something I had long been trying to achieve without success finally had a breakthrough."

"Fate theories are always mysterious, but I have another way to check your condition, and that is by attempting to merge with JokerSchiller, the other half infected. Through the smoothness of this process, I can determine if you've made progress."

"After you returned from the slums, I attempted once again, as part of my routine, and discovered that we could remarkably merge for a short period."

"However, at this point, other problems arose," Schiller shook his head, somewhat ruefully. "While software permissions were reached, hardware integration wasn't as easy."

"When I first arrived in Gotham, Superego realized it was a very dangerous city. He needed some strong personalities to support my actions, to keep me out of danger."

"However, many strong personalities had too much aggression. While I would be safe, Gotham University would be in danger. So, Superego chose the negative trait of pride, which wasn't as aggressive."

"But also because of some special reasons, complete pride couldn't directly surface into consciousness. So, Superego divided them into two."

"Superego isn't a single personality fragment; it's the collective consciousness of all personality fragments, like the administrator of my soul, with significant power and authority."

"Therefore, when splitting the personality fragments, it was done thoroughly. Meanwhile, using a mysterious power, Superego rapidly healed the wounds after the separation, leaving no scars."

"So when I wanted to merge with the other half of my fragment, I found that we had already become two complete pieces, making it very difficult to merge again."

"I believe you should know that during a plant grafting process, both sides need to have wounds for fusion to be possible. In other words, when we are at our peak states, we can't merge."

"After Constantine caused the city to be filled with blue cabbage, you only saw me weakened. But the other half of me, JokerSchiller, also weakened."

"At this point, I realized an opportunity had come. Both of us were in extremely weakened states, so as long as we artificially created wounds, there would be a chance to merge again."

"So, I let the Federal Bureau of Investigation's agents take me away, thinking they would smoothly transport me to Washington for interrogation. This might stimulate my mind and create wounds for fusion..."

Schiller shook his head helplessly. "But I didn't expect that the people they sent couldn't even leave Gotham."

"The plan to use interrogation failed. I had to find another way. I thought, if we were limited by the physical body, then we must seek mental stimulation to bring about psychological trauma. But if we lacked the physical body, we could directly harm the soul to create wounds."

Batman met Schiller's gaze as Schiller spoke. "So, I killed myself and fell into hell."

"The unstable state you observed in me before was because we were attempting to merge." Schiller glanced at General Putrescent and said, "After coming to the mine, I realized an opportunity had come. This brutal owner of the mine should be able to create wounds that satisfy me."

Schiller glanced at the metal buckle on his collarbone. "He did well, but what surprised me was that having wounds wasn't enough for a smooth fusion because during the merging process, I needed a lot of energy."

Schiller peeled off the fatty lower half of a slightly burnt piece of skin, then skewered it with a fork and brought it to his mouth. "So, I asked him for some additional help."

"Perhaps you've heard that powerful demons can devour weaker ones. But in fact, human souls can also do this; we can also devour demons."

"Of course, the strength of a human soul can never match that of a demon's." Schiller glanced at General Putrescent again, smiling. "But humans excel at using tools."

"Even if I could devour an entire demon, I wouldn't resort to such barbaric methods. Humans eat with utensils, chewing slowly. The days of eating raw flesh and drinking blood are long gone."

After saying that, Schiller took the plate from the unfamiliar demon's hand, placed the freshly roasted belly meat into his own plate, cut it into small pieces, and put them in his mouth.

Still lost in thought, Batman finally understood after listening to Schiller's explanation. This Professor seemed to harbor an attitude towards him as if they were enemies. It wasn't just a semblance; Schiller was indeed holding a grudge against him.

Batman was certain that when Schiller guided him in finding the answer to this question, he was settling a personal vendetta. But he had no evidence, and he suspected that there was no teaching involved in this vendetta.

Initially, he thought Schiller was a Criminal, antagonizing him because he disapproved of vigilantes. Then, he thought Schiller was mentally ill, targeting him because he couldn't stand normal people. But now it seemed that Schiller's actions had very clear motives and objectives.

All seemingly abnormal acts of antagonism stemmed from what happened when they first met, matching cause and effect, logical reasoning.

In other words, although Schiller had an illness, his actions against Batman weren't due to a relapse.

So if Schiller's behavior was normal, then who was abnormal?

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

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