Chapter 1134: Professor (14)

Having obtained the key information from Shiler, Batman left in a hurry.

Compared to the possibility that Dick had simply reached a rebellious phase and suddenly became difficult to communicate with, it was clearly more likely that he had been influenced by hypnosis.

After all, less than a month ago, Dick was still clinging to him to learn detective investigation techniques; twenty-some days later, he had become like an enemy. No matter how one looked at it, this transformation was a bit too fast.

After Batman left, Shiler did not go to sleep immediately because he discovered that he didn't have enough changes of clothes that he had brought with him.

The set he had dirtied during the surgery was washed but not yet dry, and the set he was wearing had been dirtied again. After changing into a clean one, he had no spare clothes left.

Shiler had originally wanted to call the Rodriguez Manor and have Merkel send some clothes over, but when he came to stay at the hospital, he had driven away the only car. Whether it was tonight or tomorrow morning, if Merkel wanted to come over, he would have to take a taxi, and in Cat Getan, taking a taxi was not that simple.

Although his butler was quite physically capable, Shiler really didn't want to go to the police station to bail him out. Thus, he decided to drive back himself to get a few more sets of clothes.

Although driving at night in Cat Getan was a very dangerous thing, in fact, as long as one didn't pass through those few dangerous neighborhoods, one generally wouldn't encounter any big trouble. Shiler took the route he traveled most often, and sure enough, the trip back was smooth, and he didn't encounter any unexpected situations.

However, just as Shiler stepped into the manor's gate, he heard movement in the back garden. Shiler walked over to take a look and found that Merkel was burning flower fertilizer.

Seeing Shiler had returned, Merkel, who had already received the news over the phone, smiled and greeted him. He glanced at the corpse on the ground and said, "Sir, your speed is quite fast. I thought you would take at least ten minutes to arrive... The luggage has been placed at the door of your bedroom. Do you really not need me to go over and help you?"

"That won't be necessary." As Shiler spoke, he stepped on the mud and walked a bit closer, looking at the things burning on the ground. He had originally thought it was just the corpse of a thief, but as he watched, he discovered that some things seemed completely unable to be burned.

Shiler took a gardening trowel and poked around in the fire, raking out a few charred metal parts. Merkel explained, "For the past few days, there have been these puppet monsters trying to climb over the back wall, but Alfred gave me a moving plant, and they were all caught by the plant's tentacles."

"A moving plant?" Shiler looked at Merkel with some confusion, but soon, a trembling tentacle appeared in his field of vision.

Shiler turned his head and discovered that it was actually the little devil Liujiao brought back from the Immortal Palace. At this moment, it was planted in a large flowerpot.

"Why did Alfred give it to you?" Shiler asked with some surprise. "I thought he would really like this kind of peculiar potted plant."

Merkel sighed and said, "Mr. Alfred indeed likes this devil plant very much...

"But, do you remember? Aisha especially likes things that move. On the first day this poor devil was at the Wayne Manor, half of its tentacles were bitten off. If she bit it again, it would die, so Mr. Alfred had no choice but to give it to me."

The little devil Liujiao lowered all its tentacles at the right time, making a sad expression. Shiler leaned in to take a closer look and discovered that what was planted in the flowerpot wasn't actually this vine devil, but a cluster of shadow ore, with Liujiao's main body wrapped around the shadow ore.

Merkel and Shiler looked back at the fire again. Merkel patted his chest with lingering fear and said, "When I first saw this monster, I was really startled. It was too ugly; it was completely a stitched-together monster."

"The one that came two days ago was just disposed of by me. I didn't expect another one to come after nightfall today. Hearing that you were coming back to get clothes, I originally wanted to bury it first, but I felt that long nights bring many dreams, so I'd better burn it first."

Shiler nodded, feeling that Merkel had handled it correctly. But at this moment, a gust of wind suddenly blew over, choking him into a cough. He then discovered that he was standing exactly downwind of the fire, and the billowing thick smoke was rushing toward him.

Shiler immediately changed direction. He said to Merkel, "I don't need to worry about your combat power. Now, with this devil guarding the garden, the manor should be safe, but you'd better not go out easily. It's not peaceful outside right now."

After giving a few more instructions, Shiler went upstairs to get his luggage. Just as he was carrying his suitcase and intending to walk out of the manor gate, he suddenly discovered that the flag on the mailbox outside was raised.

In the manor district, every household had a mailbox. On the side of the mailbox, there was a small flag. When the paperboy delivered newspapers or letters, he would reach out and raise the flag. When the butler looked out from the window and saw the flag raised, he would know that the newspapers and letters had arrived. The whole process required no communication, so it wouldn't disturb the owner of the manor's sleep.

The flag wasn't made of cloth or other soft materials, but of wood. If no one moved it, it wouldn't raise itself.

Shiler felt a bit strange, so he walked up to check. Just as he reached the mailbox door, he smelled a rotting odor. Shiler felt a bit nauseated, so he stepped back two paces and called Merkel over.

Merkel walked up and opened the mailbox, discovering an already rotting ear inside. It looked more like a pig's. Most of the ear had already rotted, but there was still a piece of good skin on the tip of the ear, branded with a capital letter V.

Merkel used fire tongs to clamp this ear out and threw it onto the ground. Afterward, he discovered a letter deep inside the mailbox. He also threw the letter onto the ground, stepped on the envelope with his foot, and used the fire tongs to open the letter.

But this wasn't easy. Merkel struggled for a long time without opening it. Shiler walked up directly, picked up the letter, and in front of Merkel's shocked gaze, opened the envelope directly with his hands.

There was no writing on the letter, only a drawing. It was a simple sketch of a pig's head, except it was missing one ear.

Shiler paused for a moment, then threw the letter to Merkel and said, "Burn it."

Merkel looked at the drawing and asked Shiler, "Uh, sorry, sir, but may I ask? What does he mean?"

"Don't know, didn't understand." Shiler shook his head.

"Alright, it seems it's something I'm not allowed to know." After Merkel muttered this in a low voice, he took the pig ear and the envelope back to the back garden to burn them.

Shiler carried his suitcase and drove away. On the way back, he still took the same road. But just as his car drove through a narrow street, suddenly, a car drove toward him from the opposite direction.

This road was a one-way street, and the street was very narrow. Two cars driving in different directions had absolutely no space to pass each other. If they were two normal Cat Getan drivers, half of their magazines would have been emptied by now.

However, Shiler didn't hesitate at all. He directly reversed at the fastest speed and backed out of this street.

The car opposite was stunned. It had originally slowed down and intended to stop, but Shiler had already reversed, leaving space for it. If it stopped at this time, it would look a bit unintelligent.

Thus, it continued to drive forward, intending to drive to Shiler's position before stopping. But Shiler directly performed a smooth right-side reverse turn and drove out along the road perpendicular to this street, also not giving this car any space to stop.

Shiler drove forward without looking back. That car seemed unwilling to give up and kept chasing behind him. And when they drove onto the main road, Shiler saw in the rearview mirror that behind the car trying to provoke him, there was another car chasing it.

Because Shiler's reversing speed was truly too fast, these two cars saw that the chance encounter didn't work, so they started to chase.

Shiler drove onto the ring expressway, and they also followed Shiler onto the expressway. Shiler drove lap after lap along the ring expressway, and they also followed Shiler lap after lap.

This chase lasted for a full seven hours, and until the sky turned bright, he still had no intention of getting off the highway.

Finally, those two cars really couldn't keep chasing. The car in front turned first, and the car behind also followed and turned.

And at this moment, Shiler, who was sitting in the driver's seat with his eyes closed and sleeping soundly, opened his eyes and said, "Thank you, Gray Mist, you drove well."

After speaking, he stretched, yawned, and then said, "Returning to the hospital might not necessarily be as comfortable as sleeping in the car."

A car drove slowly into the parking lot of Arkham Asylum. When Shiler got out of the car and walked into his office, he discovered that a figure was already waiting there.

"Oh, Professor Shiler, it's me, Roman. Do you still remember me?" A young man walked up.

Shiler didn't intend to shake hands with him, but instead walked hurriedly to the washroom nearby to wash his hands. After all, he had just touched a letter that had been with a rotting pig ear. Shaking hands with someone like this would be somewhat impolite.

However, Roman's expression stiffened. He withdrew the hand he had extended, but soon, he was full of smiles again and said, "Professor, about that matter I mentioned last time, do you think..."

"I know what's going on with Dick. The problem actually lies in his school... Roman, you're here too?" Bruce, who walked in, paused, then smiled and shrugged, saying, "It seems we two have a meeting of minds and always manage to bump into each other."

Roman's smile became stiff again, and when Bruce walked into the room, he smelled a faint burnt odor.

Following the source of the smell, Bruce turned his head and saw Shiler, whose hands were still wet. That smell of smoke and burnt odor was coming from him.

In fact, before Bruce came here, he called the appointment department, and Mrs. Miller told him that Shiler had just gone to his office, which was why he came over.

And generally speaking, Shiler wouldn't get up so early. If he was already in his office now, it meant he hadn't slept all night.

And Shiler hadn't slept all night—was it to destroy evidence, or to destroy evidence, or to destroy evidence?

Thinking of this, Bruce felt that the first thing he needed to do was to get Roman to leave here immediately. He was afraid that Shiler would count Roman into the category of witnesses and then go to destroy evidence on him tonight.

"Sorry, Roman, although I came later, I have a very urgent matter to discuss with Professor Shiler right now. Could you please leave first?"

Roman, who was standing to the side, was stunned. Just as he was about to speak, Bruce said in a very firm tone, "I will send a recommendation letter of sufficient weight to your father's hands. Recently, you'd better not come here."

But unexpectedly, after hearing this, Roman's complexion gradually darkened, and his originally sunny temperament became somewhat gloomy and neurotic.

"Damn it, you two are playing me!

"