PFC Chapter 4502 The Darkest Night (3)
Chapter 4502 The Darkest Night (3)
Chapter 4502 The Darkest Night (Part 30)
The dark-haired boy returned after showering and changing his clothes. Schiller looked at him; he still looked aggrieved, standing in the corner for a long time without saying a word.
Did she spray something at you?
The boy nodded and said, "Yes, she asked me to come here to practice dancing, but as soon as she saw me, she grabbed a can and sprayed something at me. Professor, you know, I...I..."
He seemed somewhat embarrassed to speak, so Schiller explained to Victor in a low voice: "A serious cognitive distortion..."
"What do you mean?" Victor asked.
"Fear of poison gas can instill fear."
“I know that.”
"Some people run away when they are afraid, while others go crazy when they are afraid."
“I really didn’t mean to,” the boy stepped forward and explained, “She sprayed something at me, and then I have no memory of it. When I woke up, she…she…”
“You really should take Brainiac’s advice and take some medicine,” Schiller said, without further criticism, and went back to check on the body. Then he took out his phone and contacted Brainiac.
“Investigate this girl,” Schiller said. “I suspect she’s in the same situation as Perlotta. There might not be many survivors left in the chemistry department. You’d better inform Jonathan as soon as possible, or he’ll go crazy when he comes out and sees this.”
"Schiller!!!!!"
A powerful roar echoed from the activity room doorway. Everyone turned to look, and there stood Jonathan Klein, fuming.
"Why did my student die in the psychology department?!"
Victor felt a headache coming on. The mastermind tactic wasn't particularly sophisticated, but it was undeniably effective. Schiller and Jonathan Klein were both the type of people who cared deeply about their students; if a student were harmed, they would certainly be angry. Jonathan Klein, on the other hand, was more concerned with his reputation and academic achievements, so he would also be unhappy if a student died.
Letting the students of the three departments fight amongst themselves would easily provoke infighting among the three professors. These three professors are all top figures in their respective fields, capable of holding up half the world even in Gotham, a place teeming with madmen. If they were to truly fight, Brainiac would be powerless to stop them.
“I killed her,” Schiller said firmly. “She was no longer alive; she was a corpse.”
Jonathan seemed taken aback by his answer. He paused, then looked doubtful. But he wasn't doubting Schiller; instead, he turned his gaze to the corpse on the ground.
Victor secretly gave Schiller a thumbs up. As expected of a psychology professor, he calmed Jonathan down with just a few words.
Schiller wasn't entirely there to take the blame for his students. If he told the truth, there would be so much to discuss, such as the relationship between the two students, their purpose in being there, and who started the fight. Jonathan needed a reason; he needed to know why his students had died there.
But if Schiller says he killed him, then Jonathan's reasoning becomes much simpler. If Schiller says the man deserved to die, then he truly deserved to die. Because, in the eyes of others, Schiller is a mind reader.
If this person didn't truly deserve to die, he would never have killed the student. And his judgment on whether someone deserved to die was remarkably accurate. Therefore, his opinion itself was a highly persuasive argument, one that even Jonathan would choose to believe.
Essentially, Jonathan didn't trust Schiller, but rather his professional competence and ethical conduct.
In fact, the three leaders of Gotham University were all well aware of each other's professional level. Even Jonathan, who had always disliked Schiller and Victor, had to admit that they were unmatched in their respective fields. Schiller seized on this point and quickly calmed Jonathan down.
“That’s strange,” Jonathan said. “Why hasn’t the one I killed come back to life yet?”
“So that’s what you’ve been waiting for all this time. But I advise you not to wait,” Schiller said. “The mastermind isn’t stupid. If every corpse comes back to life, Brainiac will eventually find something to use against them. He will definitely resurrect some and discard others.”
"The key lies in the standard. Who to abandon and who to resurrect may be random, or it may be manipulated by a mastermind. But in any case, if none of those you are monitoring are resurrected, it means one thing—the fear gas may also affect the corpses."
Jonathan was taken aback for a moment, but he quickly understood the logic behind it and what he should do.
If resurrecting or not resurrecting someone is completely random, then as long as he collects enough corpses, he's bound to encounter someone who will resurrect. However, if none of the corpses he encounters will resurrect, then it proves that it's not random.
If it wasn't random, but rather controlled by the mastermind, the fact that none of the corpses he encountered revived proves that the mastermind was afraid of him. Either they feared he might actually discover something, or they feared he might use fear gas to knock out the revived ones again, rendering the revival pointless.
Thinking of this, Jonathan's eyes immediately lit up. He ignored the students and turned to walk out the door, muttering to himself as he went, clearly extremely excited.
Victor was once again amazed. First, he used his professional expertise to dissuade the other party from pursuing the matter further, then he introduced a new point of interest, completely diverting the other party's attention. The crisis was thus resolved so easily.
This might also be because Jonathan didn't really have much professional ethics. His anger at the student's death stemmed more from anger that his toy had been destroyed. But if there were a more interesting subject, then a broken toy was simply thrown away.
Without Jonathan's interference, the cleaning went incredibly fast. The classroom was quickly tidied up, and Victor froze the fragments to prevent them from coming back to life.
"Where should we take this?" Victor asked, pushing the cart. "Would it be better if we burned it?"
Schiller shook his head and said, "Let's freeze it first. Maybe we can use it for research later."
"What are you thinking about?" Victor noticed that Huller seemed a little distracted.
"The mastermind behind this may not only be hiding from Jonathan. He's also hiding from me."
"What? But he's already started detective hunting..."
“It’s not just one person,” Schiller said. “The one who’s relentlessly targeting me is Hugo. I’m talking about the one who can resurrect others.”
"You mean the entity behind Hugo?"
Schiller nodded and said, "So far, I haven't seen a single living corpse."
Victor thought about it and realized that it seemed to be true. When they went to Jenna's dorm, Perrotta had already been taken away. Schiller hadn't visited her at the police station either, and then she died. And whether it was in the cryogenic laboratory's toilet stall or the psychology learning activity room, Schiller arrived to find them already dead.
“The strangest thing is the toilet stall,” Schiller said. “You just sealed the door with dense ice. And the umbrella I had wasn’t the one with special effects either. Nobody hurt her, but she stopped moving immediately after spraying the gas. That proves that the mastermind cut off control over her directly. What is he afraid of?”
Victor shook his head and said, "It can't be that you're afraid of your mind-reading ability, can it?"
Schiller also felt something was amiss. He didn't recall seeing any scenes of himself analyzing the emotions of corpses. But he couldn't be sure whether he hadn't tried or simply couldn't. In other words, he didn't know if he could perform psychoanalysis on corpses.
However, it seems this mastermind believes in his abilities, which is why he makes these zombies avoid him. This suggests that these zombies definitely have mental issues. Perhaps his psychoanalysis can indeed reveal these differences.
“Schiller,” Brainiac suddenly said, “go to the Gotham Police Department. James Gordon is waiting for you there.”
Schiller frowned: "What are you up to now?"
Brainiac didn't answer. Schiller sighed and said to Victor, "You watch Gotham University, I'm going to the police station."
Victor asked, somewhat surprised, "To the police station? What's wrong?"
“It might be about the activity room,” Schiller guessed. “After all, someone died but there’s no evidence to prove it was a corpse. Brainiac will definitely interrogate anyone who knows anything about it.”
"Alright, go ahead. I'll stay here."
Schiller drove to the Gotham Police Department. The station was still brightly lit, and every officer was incredibly busy. He had barely pushed open the door when he nearly bumped into someone running to deliver documents. The man turned and glanced at him, looking somewhat surprised.
Schiller ignored him and went upstairs to Gordon's office. Gordon had just put down his coffee cup when he said, "You've finally arrived."
Schiller frowned again when he didn't see anyone involved in the case. Then Gordon placed a document on his desk, and Schiller's pupils constricted as he went over to look at it.
"A criminal investigation consultant application form? Are you serious?"
“Brainiac is serious,” Gordon said. “You sign first, then we’ll talk more.”
The application form wasn't complicated; most of it was already filled out. Schiller glanced at it and said, "Brainiac, let me make this clear first. I'm not going to help you read Lucy's mind. That's very unethical, you understand?"
“Why do you think I would do something like that?” Brainiac seemed somewhat displeased. “I can win her over on my own. I don’t need you.”
"So what kind of trouble are you causing now?" Schiller said, shaking the application form in his hand. "Isn't it said that mentally ill people are prohibited from obtaining official law enforcement status?"
“Do you think I want this?” Brainiac’s voice carried a hint of resentment. “Just sign it first. You’ll soon find out what’s going on.”
Schiller narrowed his eyes and looked at the application form again. There were indeed no hidden tricks. He didn't think Brainiac needed to resort to such tactics, so he signed his name.
The photo was uploaded and approved instantly, of course. The printer started working on its own. Gordon took a document cover out of the drawer, put it in the printer, and handed it to Schiller.
Schiller checked it several times, inside and out, but found nothing wrong. The official seal, anti-counterfeiting code, and Brainiac chip were all present. He could use this credentials to access all law enforcement agencies and also to provide compelling testimony in court as a consultant.
In short, his psychoanalytic judgment can now serve as a crucial basis for conviction. He has already won a resounding victory in his race for official status against Hugo.
Schiller was a little confused; how had he won? He hadn't participated in the rankings, but had instead accompanied Victor to sea, essentially temporarily withdrawing from the stage, yet he'd received a windfall?
The problem is, Hugo didn't do anything terribly wrong, nor should he have relinquished his victory so easily. It's really strange.
“Someone helped you,” Gordon said. “He’s in the lounge. Go in and talk to him.”
Schiller pushed open the door to the lounge and then saw a figure in the room that looked remarkably like him.
Half an hour later, Victor looked at Schiller's credentials with awe and said, "What did you give Brainiac that made him break the rules like this and actually give you official status?"
"Ha." Schiller sneered, "You've forgotten that."
"what?"
“‘I have an older brother who works for the government,’ Holmes said.”
Victor paused, then realized what he meant and tentatively asked, "...Mycroft? Wait a minute, our ruler is an electronic lifeform. What position could he possibly hold in the government?"
Schillermo stroked the documents and looked at Victor, saying, "Judging from the timeline, it's probably equivalent to the entire Brainiac government."
My mother has been diagnosed with early-stage lung cancer. Updates may be delayed, please don't wait. Sorry.