After Gordon and Batman left the underground of the chapel, both seemed a little silent. After all, dozens of lives were buried in the place where they were just now in just one month.
Gotham is a dark city, but when this darkness is nakedly placed in front of people, only those with strong willpower can digest the impact of this deep darkness.
Both Batman and Gordon have countless emotions raging in their hearts right now. The first case that Batman, who had just arrived, dealt with, this seemingly boundless evil and lightless darkness lay before him. He suddenly discovered that, as Schiller said, he might indeed not be fully prepared. .
Strong force is just a means to survive here, but if you want to save this city, force alone is not enough.
Just as he was thinking this, Batman turned a corner and saw Schiller standing on the second floor again, holding an umbrella. Under the balcony is where the beggar once lived.
Batman felt ridiculous again. This damn criminal who killed dozens of innocent lives, how could he still dare to stand here? Why are there some people in this world who are indifferent to fresh life? Even cruel enough to kill them without hesitation.
Batman's inner depression turned into anger. Under Gordon's gaze, he jumped up along the street and jumped directly onto the balcony more than two meters high.
"Your trial is coming, damn murderer," Batman said.
"Did you find the evidence you wanted?" Schiller asked.
"Of course, and the evidence is enough to try you."
Schiller suddenly laughed, and he said in an extremely light tone: "How ridiculous, you are still thinking about trying me, the Gotham City Police Department should really award you a Good Citizen Medal, you are really a great police."
"How great would it be if when your parents died, there was such a great policeman who found the evidence left by the murderers and tried them? That's what you think, right?"
"You don't trust the police or the court, but you still look for evidence and try to use judicial correctness to try me. Don't you think what you are doing is contradictory?"
"You have to prove that I broke the law, Batman, and your actions also broke the law. If I will be tried, so will you. You are using criminal behavior to prove that a criminal is a criminal, aren't you?"
Schiller raised his voice and said in a measured tone: "You think you have the ability to use your own means to avenge the criminals. But in the end, you are still an ordinary person domesticated by this orderly society, and you are still talking about evidence and making demands. Judgment.”
“If you can’t put aside these, if you can’t put aside the shackles imposed on you by an ordered society, and if you can’t erase the concepts about law and judicial procedures in your mind, you will never be able to achieve the justice you want. "
"Bruce..." Schiller looked into his eyes and said:
"The law is not justice, you are."
"Gotham's law didn't save your parents, just like it didn't save the dozens of missing people. If you continue to have any unnecessary fantasies about it, you will never become the real Batman."
Schiller could clearly see that Batman's arms were shaking, his hands holding the Batarang were covered with veins, and even his whole body was shaking. Obviously, he became extremely angry.
Schiller's words are really heartbreaking. He reveals one of the young Batman's greatest contradictions.
Gotham's laws failed to save his parents, but Batman, who kept saying he wanted revenge, was still kidnapped by the rules of order. In the end, he still followed justice.
"You want me to seek my own justice?" Batman asked. He then raised a gun and pointed it at Schiller's forehead.
Of course Batman has a gun. In Gotham City, it's almost impossible to survive without this thermal weapon. Let alone justice.
Schiller still seemed calm. He said: "You haven't answered my previous question. Have you found the evidence you want? What is it?"
"Besides the crates under the chapel, there are stains left by you. Inside are dirt and leaves. They are the leaves of the red pine that are only found in Gotham University."
Schiller said: "What does that mean?"
"It means you are the murderer." Batman said.
"Really? I appeared alone on the streets of Mawson Street for no reason, dressed and acted suspiciously. And you found leaves belonging to Gotham University at the crime scene, indicating that the murderer may be someone from Gotham University. person, so I am the murderer, what a rigorous reasoning." Schiller said.
Batman looked at his expression without remorse and guilt, his understatement, and his anger had really reached its peak. Just when he was about to pull the trigger, Gordon ran over and shouted: " Stop! Put the gun down!"
Batman was interrupted for a moment, and Schiller threw a memory card on the ground between them and said:
"Is the evidence conclusive? The murderer went to Gotham University, and I am a university teacher. It is really conclusive."
"Yes, how much you wish that when your parents passed away, there would be someone like you who could shoot the murderer simply and neatly, because the evidence is conclusive."
"Don't mention my parents..." Batman said with a trembling voice, "You criminal."
"You think of a lot of similarities," Schiller said.
"But in your anger you miss more, more differences."
"For example, I have never had any educational background in chemistry or biology. For example, I have participated in the investigation of countless serial murder cases. My anti-investigation awareness is not so bad that I can't even clean up my footprints. More importantly... "
Schiller looked at the memory card and said, "I have more evidence than you do."
Batman's anger subsided slightly because of Gordon's interruption. After returning to his senses, he felt that even in such a wet and cold weather, the sweat on his back was soaked through the shirt.
Batman picked up the USB flash drive vigilantly. He inserted the USB flash drive into the microcomputer on his arm, and a projection popped up.
At this time, Gordon also took a detour and ran into the balcony. He saw in the video that a man in a plaid shirt was sneaking up on the outdoor air conditioner of a house and extending a hose into the window. The figures who were standing and sitting inside fell down one after another, and the man jumped off the air conditioner and walked into the corridor. After a while, he dragged two large boxes, put them on the trailer, and pushed them away , and all the people in the room have disappeared.
This was Batman's inspiration to Schiller. Jonathan really lacked counter-detection awareness. Schiller was standing in the corridor of the building opposite him, taking pictures with a camera, but he didn't even notice.
But yes, no one in Gotham City would hang out in the middle of the night, especially in a slum like this. If you are not careful, you will lose your life.
Gordon suddenly shouted: "No wonder!"
"I remember when registering the addresses of missing persons, it was true that residents on lower floors suffered more, and almost all the victims' houses had balconies..." Gordon said.
Then he looked at Batman and Schiller, and said to Batman angrily: "I really misjudged you. Did you just want to shoot? Do you know that you almost killed someone just now?!"
Batman looked at the projection on his arm in silence. Anyone who was not blind could see that the size of the murderer was very different from Schiller's.
Although Schiller doesn't know how to fight and doesn't work out, he is still very tall. He is only a little shorter than Batman and a little thinner, but he is still close to 1.9 meters. Mi Qi will not weigh more than 60 kilograms.
"Professor Jonathan is a good old man, you think so, right? Because he doesn't check your homework, he treats you very well, and he will never fail your class. But I am different. I am a very troublesome professor who is always in trouble. He found faults in homework, took exams when nothing happened, and threatened all students with the possibility of failing the course."
"So of course I am the murderer, but he is not. After all, how can such a weak, silent, thin and small man be a serial murderer?"
"Stop talking." Batman said with a trembling voice.
He recalled the scene when he faced the beggar that day. From the corner of his eye, he could still see the stain left by the beggar leaning against the wall. The strong feeling of guilt and shame surrounded him again.
Gordon's words added fuel to the fire. He said: "I don't care where you come from, a weirdo who wears tights and causes chaos in the city, but you almost killed a good man. What grudge do you two have? If you have If it’s a personal feud, then go and resolve it yourself and don’t interfere with the police’s handling of the case.”
"Aren't the police in Gotham City busy enough? You want to kill someone in front of me, do you want me to send you to jail immediately?" Gordon said.
Several days of overtime work had made him irritable. He said impatiently: "Weirdo in tights, give me that USB flash drive quickly. I want to take it back for filing... Sir, please come back with me." You seem to know who the murderer is, and we need clues..."
After a moment of silence, Batman silently stretched out his arm and handed the USB flash drive to Gordon.
He found that his ambitious debut trip was completely adding to the chaos. Schiller, the criminal he thought was a big help and provided the most critical evidence.
Schiller said no more, Batman stood still, and on the street outside, it began to rain endlessly again.
Just as he was about to leave with Gordon, he heard Batman behind him say: "...I'm sorry, Professor."
Schiller's footsteps paused, and he felt a little incredible. What did Batman just say? ? ?
Did he just apologize? ? ?
Schiller turned around in disbelief. Batman stood in the shadow cast by the building. The only light shone on his mask. He pursed his lips tightly. Schiller felt very ridiculous.
He is Batman.
Because he is Batman.
And Batman is always right.
Batman doesn't apologize to anyone.
Faced with everyone's doubts, he would only say: "Because I am Batman."
Schiller saw too much about the dark side of Batman in Batman comics, such as preparing kryptonite to defend against Superman, and preparing a plan for everyone in the Justice League to deal with them. He seemed not to trust anyone. Man does not even trust himself.
It has to be said that when the comic editor created this character, these dark sides made him even more charming. It can also leave a deeper impression on readers.
But this also caused Schiller to have a prejudice against Batman.
He thinks Batman should be like that, in the comics. Batman never apologizes because he doesn't feel he's at fault, and he thinks those measures to protect his companions are necessary.
This created a prejudice for Schiller. It's not that Batman won't apologize. When he really finds out that he was wrong, he will still feel regret and guilt.
Schiller really wanted to teach the young Batman some things, such as not to be prejudiced, not to judge people by their appearance, not to be carried away by anger, and to think independently.
But Schiller suddenly discovered that he was actually not qualified to teach Batman not to be prejudiced, because he himself had a stereotype of this character that was difficult to erase. He hoped that Bruce could become the bat in the comics in his mind. Xia, and the faster the process, the better.
But now it seems that this story is not about a wise and knowledgeable professor and his young and reckless students, but a very classic "Pride and Prejudice".
With absolute arrogance in his own reasoning, Batman believed that Schiller must be the murderer. When he had preconceived prejudices and some evidence that just matched his prejudices, he almost shot Schiller.
But Schiller also held a prejudice against Batman, believing that he should be the mature, cautious, and suspicious dark hero in the comics.
Not only do the two of them laugh at each other at fifty paces, they can also be said to be at the same level.
Now Batman seems to have learned this lesson, and he clearly realizes that he is not omniscient and omnipotent.
His reasoning will also be limited by prejudice and lead to great fallacies, and his impulse will become more fatal under this arrogance.
He saw the scar on the side of Schiller's neck, which he had made with a batarang before. At that time, he assumed that Schiller was a criminal and threatened him in the same way as a criminal, although he did not fire a gun today. But as Gordon said, the wound was very deep and would probably leave a scar.
Batman felt guilty about this and very scared.
He thought that the fact that the law could not judge every criminal correctly was not the reason why he used his arrogance to judge others arbitrarily.
And when he cannot guarantee that he is 100% correct, any impulsive act of violence may leave an indelible scar on an innocent person, or even a good person.
He was just glad that fortunately the price paid by the innocent person was not his life.
Batman stood in the shadows and thought that he wanted to prevent this possibility from happening forever, so he decided that no matter how vicious the criminal was in the future, he would never kill anyone.
If any innocent person dies unjustly in his hands, he will become a more heinous criminal than killing his parents.
Because the criminals who killed his parents may have just wanted money or revenge, and the damage they caused was two lives.
And if Batman kills innocent people indiscriminately, then there will be no hope for this city.
In the comics, the setting that Batman does not kill seems to have existed from the beginning.
Schiller did not explore why this was the case. He found the setting inappropriate and irritating. For example, when faced with those annoying criminals, those lunatics who break out of prison again and again to cause trouble, why can't Batman kill them? He had thought this countless times while reading comics.
But what he didn't expect was that in this world, it was because of him and Schiller that the young Batman was determined that he would not kill criminals.
Because he is Batman, he is the city's only hope. If he is defeated by the guilt of killing innocent people, then the city will be completely hopeless.
By chance, although Schiller still failed to allow the young Batman to establish his own spiritual support, he successfully completed one of Batman's settings, that is, not to kill.
Schiller would not have thought that he would regret his meddling this time countless times in the days to come.
When Batman fully matured, Schiller roared in his heart countless times, why couldn't Batman use his fingers to strangle those damn criminals so that they would not appear in front of him again and again? Break his peaceful life! !
And all of this stemmed from what happened today, and he was entirely to blame.
