PFC Chapter 4493 The Darkest Night (21)
Chapter 4493 The Darkest Night (21)
Chapter 4493 The Darkest Night (Part 21)
Tim poured Jenna a glass of hot water. They sat down on the sofa next to each other. Tim said, "I heard there were some problems with Barry. What happened to him?"
“Something is chasing him,” Jenna said. “I don’t know much about the Speed Force, so I don’t know what it is. I’m investigating Perrotta’s resurrection, but it’s not easy.”
Tim raised an eyebrow and said, "Is it really possible to come back to life?"
“For an enemy capable of extinguishing the sun, resurrection is not such a difficult thing to do,” Jenna said, her eyes lowered.
"You just said you can't go any deeper."
"Yes. I solve cases entirely through empathy. The deeper the empathy, the more I know. But..."
“You should know who it is by now, right?” Tim asked, looking into her eyes.
Jenna seemed confused, saying, "It's strange. I think maybe it is, but then again..."
"Again what?"
Jenna pressed her lips tightly to the rim of the cup and said, "I'm not sure. I can't even convince myself."
“You have suspects, but there are things about the killer that make you think it isn’t them,” Tim reasoned. “What’s the difference between them?”
“Theology,” Jenna said. “My analysis in the first part, that is, the motives for desecrating corpses and death, are reasonable. It’s just this theological sense of ritual…”
Jenna shook her head and said, "This doesn't feel right. It's not what I had in mind."
“Name your suspect,” Brainiac suddenly said.
“I can’t say, because I can’t be responsible for my own words,” Jenna said, looking at her phone. “To you, it’s all just a hallucination I had when I saw the crime scene; there’s no real evidence.”
“Another person has died,” Brainiac said. “Two bodies, at the docks and in the south.”
Tim sighed and said, "The night makes the monsters more active. Brainiac, the Dark Ages aren't as simple as you think."
“Gotham is the only exception.” Brainiac sounded like he was complaining, but his tone was extremely flat. “There are too many things in this city that I can’t control. Once night falls, everything starts to go off track.”
“Gotham is indeed special,” Jenna stood up and said. “Your methods work anywhere in the world, except here. Admit it, you need the power of the madmen. Excluding them from society will only make things more difficult.”
She stood up and walked towards the police car, Tim following behind her. They got in and headed towards another crime scene. Jenna tilted her head, staring blankly out the window.
"What do you think..." Jenna hesitated.
“Don’t say it out loud,” Tim said, looking at her. “Things might not be that simple. On this matter, I’m on your side.”
Jenna nodded, forcing herself to cheer up.
“Where are you going?” Brainiac asked as Schiller walked out the door. “If you’re planning to take action against someone you suspect, I advise you not to. If you end up in court, a history of mental illness might help you avoid jail time, but you’ll also have to undergo mandatory treatment at the relevant institution.”
"Then why should I bring you along?"
"Because if you don't take me with you, I'll immediately know you're going to get into trouble, and I'll just keep a closer eye on you."
"Are you saying I'm playing hard to get?"
“You could say that,” Brainiac said. “I admit, the situation in Gotham has indeed taken me somewhat by surprise. These murders are very suspicious and must be connected to the mastermind behind the extinguishing of the sun. I’m also investigating.”
When will you be able to find out?
"No matter when I'm able to find out, your involvement will only complicate matters and affect my judgment."
What do you think I'm going to do?
“If you cause me enough trouble, I will have to do as you say for the sake of stability. If you are trying to get a position as a police consultant through serial murders, I advise you not to do so.”
"Why?" Schiller asked as he sat in the car and put his umbrella down.
"This could cause more damage to social stability than letting the perpetrator go unpunished."
"You can just say I'm more destructive than the murderer."
“That’s right.” Brainiac rarely admitted this directly. “So if you’re going to go this far to investigate a case, I’d rather not investigate at all.”
"So, if I take action, you'll start slacking off?"
"Just abandon Gotham. Because I really can't control all the lunatics here. If they insist on going back to the dark ages, I can only make sure no one escapes."
"A very rational decision." Schiller wasn't being sarcastic, but genuinely praising. "If you had been able to see things this way earlier, the trouble might have been resolved much sooner."
Schiller understood Brainiac's meaning. For now, Schiller and other madmen like him hadn't done anything, and the situation was still manageable. But if Schiller left the stage, the mentally ill would soon take turns, each employing their own unique tactics, spinning on this long-absent dark stage until dawn.
In this situation, it would be unwise to expend significant energy and resources to control this city. The current situation is dire. While the Earth may not be destroyed for the time being, that's all it is—it won't be destroyed. They don't yet have a way to reignite the sun. Brainiac has far too many pressing problems to solve.
So if the lunatics want to return to the stage, Brainiac has no choice but to step down. Because even if he doesn't, he can't control it; he'll just be wasting his time. It's better to relinquish control of Gotham and let those lunatics fight it out.
This can be seen as another version of "letting go of the desire to help others and respecting the fate of others".
In fact, Schiller believed that Brainiac had done everything he could. Both his segregation policies and the nature reserve were designed to protect the safety of ordinary people to the best of his ability. However, he misunderstood one thing: Gotham has no ordinary people.
Or rather, the madmen and ordinary people of Gotham are like the two roots of a plant, forever intertwined, inseparable, and unable to live without each other.
For example, the police department has been using madmen like Schiller to solve cases for the past decade or so. And Schiller has indeed been effective, solving many cases and resolving a lot of trouble.
And similarly, he himself is always creating trouble. Then the police will go looking for other lunatics to solve their problems. This creates a perfect cycle. Everyone in Gotham uses their madness and intelligence to create trouble, but also to solve it.
Brainiac's quarantine measures have reached a critical point. Gotham can't draw up enough nature reserves anymore. If it does, there will be no place for ordinary people to live.
The arrival of eternal night hastened the collapse of this policy. Unsolved murders were occurring, and Brainiac, unable to uncover anything, remained unwilling to enlist the help of the madman. This forced Schiller to find a solution himself. If he intervened, the city would truly be beyond saving.
Brainiac assumed Schiller would drive to the South or East End, where there were plenty of suitable targets. Instead, he drove to Gotham Pier instead. There, Victor was unloading materials for freezing Earth onto a ship.
The act of freezing the Earth cannot be carried out on land; it must occur in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. Victor looked at Schiller approaching, somewhat surprised, and asked, "What's wrong?"
“You seem quite surprised that I’m here.”
"Of course, how come you acted so quickly this time?"
"What action?"
“Setting up the crime scene,” Victor said. “I didn’t come with you because I knew you had multiple jobs and had to find time to play Moriarty. I thought you knew that a book detailing the serial murders could never be published.”
"Why would you think I'd play Moriarty?" Schiller said dismissively. "The detective-murderer trope is so cliché."
"You really didn't go?" Victor asked, somewhat incredulous. "Mrs. Brainiac! Are you sure he never left your sight on his way from his office here?"
“I’m not Mrs. Brainiac, but I’m sure.” Brainiac’s tone also carried a hint of doubt. “Schiller, why don’t you go?”
“Because a detective can’t be a murderer.” Schiller smiled at Victor. “Otherwise, you can forget about making a fortune from detective stories.”
Victor walked over, gave Schiller a hug, and said, "I knew you'd support me. Come on, let's get on board and save the world."
Victor and Schiller disappeared off the ship. Brainiac watched them go using the dock's security cameras, and for the first time, he felt a sense of relief. The next second, however, a message arrived at the police station: "Murder on Mosen Street. The victim is 49-year-old Jerita, a resident of the neighborhood."
Brainiac almost crashed.
Not long after, two more murders occurred. Then came a third. This made Brainiac realize that Schiller might not be Gotham's biggest problem, and that the Dark Ages might indeed be far more terrible than anyone imagined.
"Did you figure anything out?" Brainiac looked at Jenna and Tim, who were standing at the scene of the second murder.
“Jonathan Klein,” Jenna said. “Next.”
"...How did you know?" Brainiac couldn't help but ask as they moved on to the next match.
“The aura of fear is too strong,” Jenna said, wrinkling her nose. “The fear lingering around the deceased is clearly not natural; it must be chemically added later. Industrially produced fear has a pungent, inorganic smell, like mentholatum.”
“I didn’t smell anything,” Tim said. “If it really was Jonathan Klein, he should have been able to precisely time the fear gas dissipate. He’s got that kind of skill. Miss Jenna was describing something on a psychological level, meaning there’s no physical evidence.”
Then came the third case. This time, without Jenna's intervention, Tim glanced at it and said directly, "A long-standing vendetta disguised as a serial killing. The killer is the neighbor next door."
The fourth one arrived not late, but it didn't even qualify as murder. Jack sat to the side with his arms crossed, looking like a victim, and said, "I don't know why he suddenly rushed out when I was turning around. The truck's blind spots are too big."
Tim examined the scene carefully and then said, "It's definitely a staged accident. What's this guy up to? Keep an eye on him, Jack."
“If Brainiac can give me enough compensation for lost wages.” Jack sniffed.
In the fifth incident, it was already close to night, but because it was still dark, it felt like the first night. Jenna and Tim were both intrigued when they saw the crime scene.
“A copycat,” Jenna said. “Without a doubt. And incredibly similar. It’s amazing that he can achieve such a perfect resemblance in both appearance and spirit.”
“It’s even more like it than the first one,” Tim said. “Honestly, I almost thought it was him.”
Jenna circled the corpse, marveling, "Now I'm certain, they were indeed colleagues. Their portrayal of the human spirit and their unique academic atmosphere were exactly the same."
"...Then how can you be sure it wasn't Professor Rodriguez who did it?"
The two said in unison, "Didn't you say he left?"
Jack even looks cute now.