PFC Chapter 3851 The Nameless Bat (21)
Chapter 3851 The Nameless Bat (21)
Chapter 3851 The Nameless Bat (Part Twenty-One)
The girl quickly divided the photos into three parts, pointing to each part from left to right and saying, "Toy #1, Toy #2, and Copycat."
"What do you mean?" Gordon's expression turned serious.
“The real Eden Killer wasn’t one of those three.” Nemosini spoke quickly as always. “Number 1 was a man about 1.83 meters tall, right-handed. Considering the distance between the initial crime scene and the body, and the weather that day, he likely had military training and served in tropical regions. He had an injured left leg and may have some form of psoriasis. He was married… one, two, three children. He had three children to support.”
"Number 2 is a woman who is no more than 1.7 meters tall, with light blonde hair and severe hair loss. She may have recently encountered some trouble... she is in debt to the gang. She has a nerve problem in her right hand and a history of drug abuse. She worked in the kitchen of a restaurant that required a lot of deep-frying, and she was still working there when she committed the murder."
“As for the copycat… I don’t know,” Nimosini said. “One possibility is that the other party is a very skilled killer who left no trace; another possibility is that he is the Eden Killer you are looking for, just disguised as his copycat.”
Gordon's mouth hadn't closed since Nimosini started speaking. He looked at the photos he'd brought over again, but found no evidence to corroborate her claims.
“If Batman were here, he would agree with me,” Nimosini said. “If you show him these things, he will come to the same conclusion.”
"You mean you're as good as Batman? Wait, how do you know Batman?"
Nimosini's impatient expression returned. She began to sway her body unconsciously.
Gordon could only look at Schiller. Schiller nodded and said, "She's very talented. Perhaps Batman would be willing to have her as an assistant."
"Oh, God. I don't want my adopted daughter to be the one sneaking around my office one day. Anyway, let's talk about these cases. What do you think, Professor?"
“You know I see things from a different perspective than you do,” Schiller said. “I can’t offer you such specific clues as this clever detective, but I can try to analyze the killer’s thought process.”
Nimosini suddenly turned her head and stared at him.
"What did you see?" Gordon asked.
"Loneliness, studying..."
"as well as?"
"Some kind of disguise."
"What disguise?"
"Missing".
"Missing?"
Gordon looked confused and couldn't understand at all. The words were too fragmented to form sentences. He could only ask Schiller to explain it more clearly.
“He was lonely,” Schiller said. “But he was proud of his loneliness. This loneliness did not contain envy of happy lovers and fulfilling families, but rather a kind of disdain. He considered all kinds of social interaction in the secular sense to be a sin. He was annoyed.”
Is he socially inept?
“He may exhibit social difficulties, but not because he is incapable of socializing; rather, he hates it. He doesn't want to socialize with anyone. He enjoys his solitude. That's why he targets clients and prostitutes.”
What's the connection?
"This is purely a relationship based on money and sex, not a way of forming social relationships that is recognized by the public. He is praising them, believing that this process is more noble than making friends, finding a lover, or starting a family."
"He's a customer of prostitutes too?"
"No. He's just learning."
"study?"
“He was exploring human physical relationships,” Schiller said after a pause. “I won’t go into some of the less healthy concepts of sexual psychology, given that there were minors present. In short, he believed that the emotionally detached physical relationship between a client and a prostitute was excellent learning material.”
"But he killed them."
“It was experimental,” Schiller said. “His aim wasn’t to kill, but to preserve something. It was a bit like photography.”
"photography?"
"Yes. Killing them in this state was, for him, a form of photography, a way of permanently preserving something."
Is it some kind of art?
"No. He's still an apprentice. He hopes to understand more things and is far from the point where he can express his own thoughts. He seems very green and naive."
Gordon couldn't help but glance at Nimosini.
Nimosini, however, seemed not to see him at all. Her eyes were fixed on Schiller. Looking at Schiller, she said, "Are you talking in your sleep?"
“I am not, miss. Just as you can’t understand people in foster families, I can’t communicate with you in the way you’re used to when it comes to murder.”
Nimosini stared at him intently. But Gordon had no time to concern himself with any conflict between them. He leaned forward, looking at Schiller, and said, "So who is he?"
“Miss Nemosini is right. The Eden Killer didn’t do it himself; he only controlled two people, a man and a woman, and another copycat who might have been the one to initiate the attack. I suggest you arrest the person who did it first; the target is clear.”
Gordon hesitated for a moment, then took out his phone and began assigning tasks. He headed towards the back garden. While he was away, Nimosini stared at Schiller with bright eyes and said, "How did you do that? You have empathy?"
"When I'm analyzing these things, do you think I'm a killer?"
“That’s exactly what I’m wondering about. If you were the Empathy Killer, I would definitely be able to tell. I would be able to tell that the Eden Killer is sitting right in front of me, but I don’t see the slightest trace of imitation on you. This means that you’re not the Empathy Killer, which is why I’ve come to these conclusions.”
"Yes. This is not simply empathy, but psychoanalysis."
"Psychoanalysis?"
"Yes. Empathy, the application of psychoanalysis, and the theory of psychoanalysis are three different things. Although they are related, the gap between them is stronger than most people imagine."
Do you have a talent for empathy?
“I do. But it’s a talent that requires you to shatter your own rationality and completely immerse yourself in a vortex of broken emotions in order to unleash its power. It’s a very dangerous state; you might have a mental breakdown before you even catch the murderer.”
“You’re not using this, and you’re not breaking down at all. You’re more stable than anyone could imagine,” Nimosini said, staring at him.
“What I used was not empathy, but a talent for psychoanalysis. This talent is very special, usually based on hallucinations caused by my spectrum of symptoms and mental illness.”
"Are you also a spectrum disorder patient?"
"Yes. But my situation is complicated and cannot be summarized by a simple disease. You can think of it as sand blown by the wind falling and forming a castle, or as monkeys all over the world choosing a letter and pressing it down to create the entire book of Shakespeare."
“You are a miracle,” Nimosini said.
"Considering who turned me into this, yes, I am an unrepeatable miracle." Although Schiller said this, there was no sense of pride in his tone; he remained very calm.
“That’s incredible,” Nimosini said. “Can’t you adopt me? I think we’d have a lot to talk about.”
“The problem is that, as someone with a history of mental illness, I cannot meet the adoption requirements,” Schiller said.
“That’s just an excuse,” Nimosini said. “Someone like you can get everything easily, and you don’t care about any legal provisions. You don’t do it simply because you don’t want to.”
"I just didn't want to be too blunt, miss. That would be too hurtful to you."
"Okay. I don't think you should be willing. You're the kind of person who finds reasoning based on facts boring. I'm interested in you, but you're not."
“I have seen one person who has reached the pinnacle in this field,” Schiller said. “Compared to him, others are truly lacking.”
Nimosini stared intently at his expression, then said, "Batman? You think that pinnacle person is Batman?"
Schiller nodded and said, "So if you're talking about having common ground, you should go to Batman. Even if he doesn't adopt you, he'll probably get Gordon to loosen his grip on you a bit."
"But as far as I know, he's a control freak. Why would he want me to be involved in more cases?"
“He has many assistants like you. He doesn’t keep them in a greenhouse, but rather trains them as much as possible. His educational philosophy will not disappoint you.”
Nimosini lowered her head and remained silent, clearly deep in thought. Just then, Gordon returned, looking rather grim. He looked at Schiller and said, "Two more bodies have been found in the red-light district. Shall we go check them out?"
Schiller glanced at the rain outside the window, sighed resignedly, and walked to the door to pick up an umbrella. He looked at Nemosini and said, "We can't leave a child like this, who isn't fully capable of acting, alone here. Let her come with us; she can stay in the car if necessary."
Gordon didn't hesitate; he nodded, clearly recognizing Nimosini's talent through his previous conversations with his subordinates. She must have been right about many things.
Schiller handed Nimosini an umbrella. He opened his own umbrella, and Gordon put on a raincoat. The group got into the police car.
The closer one gets to Gotham's red-light district, the more bustling the streets become. Shop signs and neon lights blurred in the rain, their reflections on the water creating a chaotic scene. This was Schiller's only chance in the real world to see something like what he imagined.
The car sputtered past, splashing raindrops. Schiller thought of the letter Batman from the main universe had sent him:
"...I just returned from the magic academy. I have new ideas for the planning and development of my cosmic energy system. I'm afraid I'll be busy looking at the universe for the next while, trying to find an opportunity to upgrade Earth's energy system during the war."
Unfortunately, despite my thorough preparations in Gotham, one case took me by surprise. Gordon is overwhelmed with work, and a young girl named Nimosini, who recently returned to his place, is exhibiting typical symptoms of autism spectrum disorder. Gordon, preoccupied with his own affairs, likely won't have the time or energy to dedicate to her.
I would like to request that you return to 125 Kazsovo and look after that poor little girl for a while. It would also be greatly appreciated if you could offer assistance with Gordon's ongoing case.
Thank you very much. —Batman, Doctor
Here we go!