Chapter 1000: Battle for the High Tower (34) (Patreon)

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Schiller tilted his head slightly, pursed his lips, and then said, "Hmm... there are indeed some additional clues, such as, Lady Darth actually belongs to the Medusa clan. She has a son named Etrigan. The relationship between Belial, Lady Darth, and Etrigan should be the breakthrough point."

"Now, all the clues are truly spoken," Schiller looked at Batman, who returned the gaze. After a few minutes of staring, Schiller spoke again, "There's just a tiny bit more. The one under Belial's command, he's not easy to deal with. He specializes in conspiracy, excels at stirring up situations from behind the scenes, and is better at long-term planning. However, he also has weaknesses. As for what they are specifically, you'll have to find out for yourself."

After saying this, Schiller looked at Batman again, who continued to return the gaze. Schiller furrowed his brows slightly, somewhat displeased, "You must understand, we are essentially one person. I can't possibly reveal my weaknesses to outsiders..."

Schiller sighed and said, "Well, consider this a bonus for your psychological treatment this time. The weakness of conspiracy is that he can't take the stage himself. If you manage to eliminate Belial, he can't become king himself; he'll have to find another monarch. And if you eliminate that monarch as well, he'll have to find the next one."

"Of course, you could try to find a monarch of the type similar to your Helicopter Engine, so that he would have to persuade his boss, who is single-mindedly just, first. He's not very good at persuasion."

Schiller still stared at Batman, who still stared back. Schiller pressed his temples with his hand and said, "There really isn't any more. You're going to avenge me. Why would I deceive you?"

After speaking, Schiller began to pace in place. He looked down at the footprints he had left behind and said, "I don't remember if I told you this, but this isn't a trick for children asking for candy. Are you trying to make me write you a guide on how to defeat me by staying here?"

"You seem quite dissatisfied with the psychological treatment. Of course, I know you're dissatisfied with my teaching and treatment. But do you remember what I told you when we first met?"

"Don't choose my class, kid!"

"You chose the class yourself. Your curiosity toward me burdened me with a difficult curse. Yet, I diligently taught you and even used my expertise to give you psychological treatment... Don't look at me like that. Do you want some medicine?"

"Though I have the prescription authority, I must remind you that I haven't written a prescription in nearly ten years. If you're not afraid of death, I'll send the prescription to Wayne Manor."

"I'm such a tolerant person, even to the extent of returning kindness for resentment. You must understand, my way of treatment..."

"So, I ask you, how's your wound?" Batman interrupted Schiller's rambling and looked into his eyes.

Schiller's pacing came to an obvious halt. He stood in place for a moment, then looked with a sigh. He stabilized his weight with one foot, turned around, crossed his arms, squinted, and stared at Batman.

"Didn't you listen to me before? I said I would be taken away by the Agent, captured by General Putrescent, and these wounds are just a necessary part of my fusion."

"So you don't feel pain?"

Schiller froze again, or it would be more accurate to say he stiffened. He licked his lips, looked at Batman, and asked, "What did you say?"

"You have sensation, don't you?" Batman also looked into his eyes.

Schiller gave a ridiculously absurd smile, lowered his head, blinked, as if sighing, and said, "Why don't you just ask me if I bleed?"

Schiller lifted his upper lip, bared his teeth, and stared into Batman's eyes. "You know, I'm not buying into this. I have no morals, I won't be swayed by conscience, the question of 'being a god or being a human' is meaningless to me. You haven't found a good blade."

"This isn't a blade." Batman took a deep breath and looked into Schiller's eyes. "I just want to know if you're in pain right now, and how your wounds are healing."

Schiller stared straight at Batman, slowly uttered a word, "Get out."

With that said, he turned and walked towards the castle, but Batman followed, and Schiller completely ignored him.

Schiller returned to the end of the long table in the hall, sat down, poured out the cold food from his plate, and made eye contact to instruct the demon behind him, directing General Putrescent to provide him with some new assistance.

However, Batman went to the right side of the table and sat down at the first position on the right. Schiller's hand holding the fork paused for a moment, but he continued to focus on the food on his plate.

"You're feeling nervous," Batman said in a deep voice. "Facial expressions are unnatural, slight tremors in the limbs, muscle twitching, increased heart rate, rapid breathing..."

"If I could see these words on your test paper, I'd be happier," Schiller said nonchalantly, continuing to chew on a perfectly square piece of meat.

"Your chewing frequency has changed." Batman observed Schiller's actions and asked, "You're having an anxiety attack. Why?"

"My anxiety often flares up when I'm with you. If I were revising your paper at Arkham Asylum, Brand would be surprised at why overnight, all the anxiety-suppressing medication disappeared."

"Your words have increased too," Batman said. "Increased heart rate, nervousness, accelerated blood flow."

After saying this, he glanced at Schiller's hands, then continued, "Followed by dry mouth and decreased appetite. Now, the volume of food on your plate is two-thirds smaller on average than before. If you don't want to eat, there's no need to keep cutting."

With a clang, Schiller's knife blade carved into the surface of the plate. He sighed, put down his utensils, although his fingers were trembling, he still wiped his mouth with a napkin.

Schiller turned his head to look at Batman and said, "I've said it before, you're not suited to be a psychologist."

As he spoke, he stood up and walked to Batman's side.

The next moment, Batman tilted his head, and a sharp dining knife was inserted less than a centimeter from his neck. Schiller released his hand and looked down at Batman, saying, "I've said it before, before starting treatment, you should secure your patient."

Schiller straightened up, took a deep breath, and slowly returned to his seat, gripping the back of the chair. He moved the chair forward, took a new dining knife from the demon's hand, and then looked at the side of Batman's neck.

"You should understand, the cut I got from the Agent was completely within my plan. Guilt is your emotion, but it's my weapon. But actually, this knife isn't aimed at you; Constantine is my target."

"So, you don't need to feel guilty about this at all, nor do you need to try to pay more attention to me. I've experienced the power of your attention."

Schiller seemed to relax. The signs of his anxiety attack had completely disappeared. He continued to eat from his plate. Batman reached out his right hand and removed the knife from the left side of his neck.

"Why won't you believe that I genuinely care about you?" Batman threw the knife on the table, making a clang sound. Schiller's movements paused momentarily, but soon he resumed as usual. Batman looked at him and said, "...Increased alertness?"

"You have autism, weak emotions of your own, but you can still become a psychologist, which means you can still perceive the emotions of others. That's why you just had an anxiety attack," Batman said.

"Your logic tells you that I couldn't possibly care about you, but actually, you noticed my concern, didn't you?" Batman shook his head and said, "This drastic contrast even made you have an allergic reaction, like to blue cabbage..."

"You're overthinking it," Schiller replied nonchalantly. The two fell silent, and after a few minutes, Batman suddenly asked, "Between my concern and blue cabbage, which one do you fear more?"

Schiller instinctively opened his mouth, but didn't speak. Batman saw his mouth shape and froze, then he exclaimed in shock, "...The word you were about to say wasn't blue cabbage?!"

Batman took a deep breath, took a moment to recover from his astonishment, and then slowly said, "You actually think my concern is scarier than blue cabbage?!"

Batman felt his thoughts were a bit muddled now. The absurdity of the whole situation far exceeded his imagination. He remembered the initial cause of all this.

Zatanna approached him and invited him to find the whereabouts of the Curse of Extreme Evil with Constantine. And when he learned that Zatanna had the ability of mind travel, he agreed to her request.

The reason he agreed was because he wanted to enter Schiller's mental high tower to find out what Schiller was afraid of.

Next, they had a series of adventures in Schiller's mental high tower room, and in the end, they came up with an answer that made them laugh and cry—Schiller was afraid of blue cabbage.

At that time, none of the three took this answer seriously. Batman even thought it might be a joke that Schiller had set up in advance, waiting for them to make fools of themselves, just like the madman often did.

But what happened next was even more unexpected. Schiller was really afraid of blue cabbage.

A world-class psychology expert, a famous detective, a criminal mentor, someone who could thrive in a city like Gotham and even lead the trend, such a person should have a deeper, more symbolic weakness in various literary works.

Such as childhood trauma, romantic loss, or scars left from some unknown sinful story...

But no matter what, it shouldn't be an extremely common ordinary vegetable—blue cabbage.

Yet, Schiller really feared blue cabbage.

After confirming this fact, Batman really had a feeling of laughing and crying. Reality is often more absurd than fiction because reality doesn't have to be logical.

Wanting to target Schiller's weakness didn't need the huge cost that Batman had previously imagined. The cost of making a bat cape could buy a mountain of blue cabbage.

Batman originally thought this was already ridiculous enough, but just now, Schiller's instinctive reaction told him that reality was even more absurd than he had imagined.

Compared to blue cabbage, Schiller actually feared Batman's concern more.

In other words, Batman didn't even need to prepare the blue cabbage mountain; just preparing a mouth was enough.

And when he realized this problem, Batman's first reaction was equally dizzying.

The answer to the question he had been eager to know was simple and somewhat ridiculous.

But what was even more ridiculous was his resistance to using this answer.

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

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Next Chapter>>Chapter 1001 Battle for the High Tower (Thirty-Five)