Chapter 1142: Professor (23)

Shiler also looked up, examined the ceiling of this room, and then cast his gaze on Harley's face. He blinked and said, "You mean, this house is yours? You have a building in Cat Getan's most prosperous commercial center???"

Harley shook her head lightly. She stood in place, lifted her foot, and stepped back one step, stepping out of the threshold. She beckoned to Shiler. Shiler was somewhat confused, but he followed and took two steps forward, also stepping out of the threshold.

Harley moved one step to the left, pointed at the road on the left, and said, "This whole street is mine!"

Shiler widened his eyes slowly. He lowered his head, looked at Harley's face, and said with some disbelief, "You mean, you inherited an inheritance? Don't tell me you inherited such a large inheritance?!"

Harley "snorted" and said, "My parents didn't have that kind of ability; they were actually just small-time merchants who only left me a few remote storefronts and enough money to barely scrape by with a middle-class life."

"It's just that I have no interest in business, so I sold those few shops and, plus that sum of money, bought a pretty good apartment in the slums. As a result, two months after I bought it, the rich people renovated that place... That's right, that place is called Living Hell."

"At the beginning, when they said they wanted to renovate, I was the one who took the lead in responding. In order to set an example for others, they compensated me with a building in a better location based on the actual usage area."

"As a result, not long after, gangs started to build cold storage desperately. The place where the building I had was located seemed particularly suitable for building cold storage. Quite a few gangs wanted to kill me. But later, the Falcone family came forward and treated me as a positive example, paying five times the price to buy that piece of land."

"I said I didn't want cash. They gave me three buildings in better locations. As a result, the second phase of the Wayne Group's building renovation project included my house in the scope again, and I changed to a storefront on a street in the East District."

"Later, there was another rich person from out of town, called what... Great King? Said that the location of that street of mine had strategic significance, and spent about five or six times the price to buy it. So I added some money and bought a street in the city center..."

Shiler stared at Harley. Harley looked up at him, revealing a fake smile that didn't reach her eyes, and said, "Envious, unlucky guy?"

"Who said I'm unlucky?" Shiler extended his hand, rubbed Harley's head hard, stopped her from entering the shop, and said, "Alright, Landlady, I will pay the rent on time. You'd better go back to the hospital to work."

Harley stood in place and sighed, then stared into Shiler's eyes and said, "Do you think I care about the rent? What I should worry about, shouldn't it be whether this house can survive until tomorrow?"

"No, I must stay here and watch it." Harley lifted her leg and was about to walk in. While walking, she said, "To prevent you from attracting explosions, alien invasions, or disasters like Batman..."

Shiler was about to explain, but Harley extended two fingers and said, "Now, you have two choices. Either I stay here and watch my house, or once this house has any damage, you compensate ten times..."

Shiler looked at Harley helplessly. To tell the truth, the current Harley Quinzel was completely a child, not a crazy Harley Quinn at all. Actually, she was quite normal.

Maybe some people would say that killing so many people at the age of ten or so, and even having ideas about serial killers, and mixing with that group of lunatics, isn't that crazy enough?

However, this is Cat Getan. The standard of normal here is different from other places. There are not many children here who go to school step by step. Most of them mix in the streets and gangs. The life of the bottom streets is originally a life-and-death struggle, and the children's leaders all have quite a few lives on their hands.

Harley, who killed people to protect her inheritance, and wasn't actively going to kill people, but killed whoever came, didn't manufacture large-scale explosions or massacres, but precisely sought revenge, without involving the innocent. It could simply be called a typical example of legitimate defense in Cat Getan.

This was also why Gordon very much hoped that Harley could embark on the right path. Having seen all kinds of crazy lunatics in Cat Getan who had no reason, in Harley's class, she could even be called a good girl.

Thinking of this, Shiler felt more and more that Harley couldn't stay here. After all, there were a bunch of serial killers eyeing him. If any of them taught Harley badly and made her become Harley Quinn, wouldn't that be misleading the children?

Shiler wouldn't feel that Harley Quinn's life would be better than Harley's current life. The current Harley Quinzel has a large amount of property, a genius brain, a healthy body, and beauty that has already begun to show. She has a great future, why become a lunatic?

Shiler bent down, pressed Harley's shoulder with one hand, looked into her eyes, and said, "I promise, I will try my best not to damage your house. And if it is damaged, I will repair it as it was or compensate for the cost. So you can't stay here..."

Harley looked at Shiler's quite clear eyes. She stepped back slightly and then said, "... You are not the professor."

Shiler was slightly stunned, but Harley looked at Shiler's eyes intently and said, "You have multiple personalities, right?"

"That thesis before wasn't written by you." Harley's tone was very certain: "The person who attracted me wasn't you. You are not my kind. You are completely different from him..."

Shiler tilted his head slightly. He felt somewhat surprised. Harley was the first person who saw that he suffered from dissociative identity disorder without being reminded by others, and they had only met twice.

"Through the articles of that professor, I can see what kind of person he is—serious, cold, having mental mysophobia. More importantly, in the part he discussed, I can see that he is a quite arrogant person."

Shiler's pupils shrank. Because he suddenly thought of one thing: for a very long time before, he was also the Joker.

Judging from the time, the Joker Shiler should have been born earlier than Joker Jack because when Shiler met Bruce, Bruce couldn't be considered Batman, and at that time, Shiler had already been chosen by him.

People chosen by Batman naturally become the Joker, so Shiler became the Joker.

But when Batman was truly born, a Joker would also be born, so Jack became the Joker.

This led to the simultaneous existence of two Jokers in Cat Getan City in this universe.

And it was precisely because two Jokers shared the duties of the Joker that led to the fact that the strength of each of the two Jokers wasn't high.

The Joker personality in Shiler's mind palace and Joker Jack actually couldn't be considered very cruel. Compared to the Jokers in some universes, they were much gentler. Perhaps it was precisely because two souls shared this duty.

And unfortunately, every Joker would attract a Harley Quinn, which was the same as the Batman-Joker aggregation law.

Every crazy Joker, their crazy and chaotic souls, would attract a woman and make them fall into the abyss of madness.

And because Shiler was the Joker who appeared first, Harley Quinzel, who should have become Harley Quinn, naturally found Shiler first.

But the fortunate thing in misfortune was that because Shiler and Harley had a large age gap, when Shiler was the Joker, Harley hadn't grown up. And now, Harley had reached the age to step onto the stage, and the Joker soul in Shiler's body had already merged with Arrogance and was no longer an independent Joker.

Shiler speculated that perhaps this was the reason why the Harley Quinzel who appeared in front of him was still quite normal.

Since Harley was attracted by the Joker Shiler, the process of her falling into madness might be different from that in the comics.

And Harley just mentioned that she read the thesis written by the Arrogant Shiler. This thesis was very likely the trigger for Harley to fall into madness.

If Arrogance and Joker didn't merge, then it was very likely that Harley became a crazy Harley Quinn because she read this thesis and was infected by the madness.

However, this was the latest thesis written by the Arrogant Shiler. At that time, his fusion with the Joker had already begun.

Therefore, this thesis didn't have such a big influence on Harley. So, the one who appeared in front of Shiler now was a girl who was still quite normal, rather than a female lunatic who had dyed her hair in a mess and cut her mouth open.

And next, Harley's words confirmed this conjecture of Shiler's, because she revealed a very fanatical expression and said at a fast speed:

"This article is simply a masterpiece of the world! It is a handed-down masterpiece exploring the relationship between psychology and criminology! You don't know how many times I have read it! I am deeply fascinated by the thoughts in it. I think no matter what price I have to pay, I must see this author!"

Harley's eyes started to become somewhat psychedelic, as if she had fallen into some imagination. She said:

"There must be no one who understands him as well as I do. I also have amazing views on his viewpoints. I must let him know that those crazy ideas filling my brain will definitely be realized in an extremely heroic way. That will be the greatest thing I have ever done..."

"Calm down, Harley." Shiler took a deep breath, constantly soothing Harley's overly excited emotions, and then he said: "Is this still what you think now? Impatiently, impatiently wanting to see this author, even willing to pay any price?"

After Harley paused for a moment, her expression stiffened. She pulled her lower lip to one side, revealed a very complex expression, and then said: "... I don't know."

"I feel that I am very split now. I know he is Shiler Rodriguez. I know I can find him and then realize the crazy fantasies in my brain. But I also feel that this is meaningless. I don't know what I am doing..."

Shiler breathed a sigh of relief. It seemed that his inference was correct. The action of Shiler merging with the Joker interrupted the process of Harley falling into madness, causing her to be crazy, but not completely crazy.

At this time, Harley was already grabbing her hair and screaming in disbelief: "What am I doing? Why did I come here?! No, wait, let me see him... Let me see him quickly!

Shiler pressed Harley's shoulder, looked into her eyes, until she slowly calmed down. Afterward, Shiler spoke: "Alright, you can stay here and watch your house, but you have to take on the work of organizing books. In addition, you have to undergo long-term and regular mental checks..."

"I'm not crazy! Why do I have to..." Looking at Shiler's disapproving eyes, Harley pursed her lips, sighed, and then said:

"Alright, but you have to guarantee that if he comes back, you have to let me see him immediately..."

"Rest assured..."

After seeing Harley, who had obtained an affirmative answer, walk into the room happily, Shiler added a sentence in a low voice:

"However, by then, you might not really want to see him."