Chapter 1168: Interrogation (Part 3)

In the reception room of Wei En Manor, Angela paced somewhat anxiously. Before Bruce could ask anything, the female officer spoke like a machine gun:

"I don't know if I told you, but Shiler once saved me. When I was troubled by demons, he helped me banish them and even faded those terrible memories. After that, when I had a mental breakdown due to a murder case, he also treated and comforted me."

"So, you don't have to worry that I have any ulterior motives for helping him; I just want to repay his kindness."

Angela stood in place, hands on her hips, sighed, and said, "I can only say I was lucky. I had only been in the FBI for two months when I was transferred to an understaffed criminal investigation team, and because of my sufficiently well-known resume, I took on an important position."

"Yesterday afternoon, I heard a familiar name, which was Shiler Rodriguez, and heard that he was accused by his students. So, I hid the fact that he had treated me, avoided the isolation procedure, and participated in the investigation."

"The reason I did this was not to obstruct justice, but precisely to ensure justice."

Bruce understood her implication. He put down the coat in his hand, looked at Angela, and said, "You mean, someone doesn't want this case to be fair?"

Angela hesitated. She appeared somewhat distrustful of Bruce, but Bruce could understand, so he said, "You should understand that the Wei En Group can do many things, and you don't have to worry about whether I am sincerely wanting to help Shiler."

"Regardless, he is my university professor, and our reputations in academia are closely linked. On this point, we have common interests."

Sure enough, Angela was moved. Bruce pointed to the sofa opposite him. Angela walked over, sat down, took a sip of water from a cup, and said:

"You know, Shiler was once accused of espionage. Although he was not put on trial in the end due to the tug-of-war between various parties, many people are watching him, and many people believe that if he continues to maintain such a high reputation, then if one day he makes certain choices unfavorable to the situation, it might further highlight the incompetence of certain agencies."

Angela spoke very cryptically, but Bruce understood immediately. The FBI had already arrested Shiler last time, but later, the Cat Getan disaster broke out, and the United States was afraid that its international reputation would be affected by this disaster, so it dared not investigate thoroughly.

If they continued to put Shiler on trial, and Shiler said something in court, then the laughter from the Far East would be deafening again.

Generally speaking, the way to handle this kind of thing would end up with the person committing suicide by shooting themselves eight times in the back, but firstly, Shiler is in Cat Getan, which makes it difficult to handle it that way, and secondly, the FBI also knows that Shiler is not someone to be trifled with. If he were to get a hold of their leverage, they would lose even more face.

These law enforcement agencies would certainly hope that Shiler would no longer have such great influence and voice. If he could be disgraced and lose his reputation, then no one would believe whatever he said.

"I'm not sure if someone organized this conspiracy or if they are just making a mountain out of a molehill, but it is very obvious that someone wants to influence the assessment results." Angela covered her face, her tone revealing deep helplessness.

"I swear, when I said the word 'truthfully,' I almost bit my teeth off, but this professor really answered truthfully." Angela was so excited that her voice cracked a little.

She glanced at Bruce, reached out to touch her lower back, then threw a digital recorder on the table and said, "Fortunately, those agents who don't do field work have no counter-surveillance experience. Listen for yourself."

Bruce glanced at the recorder, then at Angela. He leaned forward, stretched out his arm, took the recorder, and started playing it:

"... If I devote too much attention to one student while neglecting others..."

"... The student I deliberately pay attention to has no subjective initiative—they won't move unless pushed, and even when pushed, they don't move. Even if I wish I could stuff the knowledge points into their brain, they don't take it to heart at all..."

"... Should not treat the jealousy and hatred projected onto special students as a simple personal behavior, but should also understand it as an educational failure..."

"... Not only must they be responsible for the bullying suffered by the student who received extra favor, but they must also be responsible for the students who appear to be villains due to the negative emotions generated by this unfairness..."

Bruce covered his eyes and said, "Roman and Thomas are completely mentally ill. Their targeting of Shiler has nothing to do with whether Shiler devoted too much attention to others."

"Which school bully would undergo plastic surgery to look like the victim? Which school bully would spend every day thinking about taking a joyride over Cat Getan???"

Angela seemed somewhat puzzled, so Bruce briefly explained the relationship between Thomas, Roman, and himself. The female officer's brow furrowed tighter the more she heard. She narrowed her eyes and looked at Bruce, saying:

"So, these two people are actually targeting Shiler because they are jealous of you and want to take away what you have? And Shiler attributes this to his own educational failure?"

Bruce looked aside and said, "It's not entirely because of that, either."

"Shiler's state is very bad." Angela kept clutching the cup with her hand. She said, "You heard it too; he doesn't want to defend himself."

"I know, I know, if you make a mistake, you should admit it, actively reflect, and do better, instead of escaping. As a teacher who is often in a high position, being able to reflect on oneself and admit one's mistakes is very rare."

"But having the courage to admit it should also be done at an appropriate time. Isn't his courage to admit it now just giving an opportunity to that group of people who want to drag him into the abyss?"

Angela appeared very helpless. She leaned back in her chair and shook her head rapidly, saying, "From a fair perspective, I shouldn't shield him, but this was an unfair trial from the start. He should have been more actively using his professional knowledge to protect himself, but he seems to be giving up resistance."

"I don't think he will go to prison, and even if he does, in a Cat Getan prison, it would be no different from being outside. But if the unfair result is really announced and written into public perception, he will never be able to publish any results or be a teacher again."

"I don't know if you can tell, but he really values his education career. He is genuinely proud of his identity as a teacher and is teaching and educating people with heart. Even if there are some mistakes, who doesn't make mistakes?"

Angela kept muttering, as if she was afraid Bruce wouldn't understand. She didn't have much interaction with Bruce, so she didn't know the relationship between Bruce and Shiler, only assuming Bruce was an ordinary student.

She came to find Bruce because she thought the master of the Wei En Group might not accept his reputation being damaged, so she wanted to seek help. But even if she didn't say it, Bruce was more anxious than her.

If Roman the Black Mask might have become somewhat extreme due to innate emotional deficiency and acquired family education, with the main fault lying with his father, then Thomas was truly a pure psychiatric patient.

According to Bruce's understanding, Thomas's parents, the Elliots, were quite popular and gentle, and their education of their child, while not necessarily outstanding, was not fundamentally wrong.

But Thomas was just inexplicably obsessed with Batman and Bruce Wei En, even murdering his parents to undergo plastic surgery to look like him. After failing to take revenge on Batman, he started taking revenge on society.

This level of extremism could not be changed by whether a university teacher paid attention to him. Rather, it was fortunate that Shiler didn't pay attention to him. If Shiler had discovered in advance that there was such a pervert at Cat Getan University, he might not have gone to prison, but into a pot.

Thinking of this, Bruce was filled with anger. It would be one thing if these two people were just bad, as there are many bad people in Cat Getan, but what made people most angry was that they were stupid. They were incited and used by others without even knowing it, which was simply a disgrace to Gothamites.

That's right, Bruce believed that Roman and Thomas were very likely incited by some people. After all, with the brains they had when they went to Shiler's office for a chain-sliding attack, they wouldn't have thought of using their student status to accuse Shiler and attack him from the education career he cared about most.

At the same time, Bruce also knew that what Victor said before was correct: he and Shiler were hurting each other. Shiler caused him to question his emotional control ability, and he also brought Shiler no small sense of frustration.

Devoting so much attention for four whole years, only to end up unable to move him—for any teacher, this is a huge blow. What's more, the whole world knows that Batman has a super-high IQ, so if he can't learn, whose problem is it?

In other words, every time Batman failed to achieve the results he should have in psychology, Shiler might think about how high his IQ was, thereby questioning his own teaching methods.

Bruce also reflected on the previous exam and the reasons for his failure.

He felt that the main reason might be that he had been dealing with a series of criminals using new ideas very smoothly before, so he became a bit complacent.

Or rather, he thought he had mastered the shortcut of psychology, paying too much attention to the changes in the other party's emotions while weakening the observation and the habit of doubting everything he used to be proud of. Otherwise, he wouldn't have failed to even suspect such an outrageous fact as who would call the Cat Getan police to provide clues.

Normally, he must find a balance between paying attention to emotional evidence in a legal context and paying attention to factual evidence, so that these two paths can complement each other and provide him with the greatest help.

Conversely, as he did before, paying too much attention to factual evidence in a legal context or being too immersed in paying attention to others' emotions and verbal flaws are both biased.

Bruce's ability to learn and reflect was outrageously strong. In less than a day, he had already found the crux of the problem and adjusted his mindset, but the problem was that his teacher seemed to be planning to give up.

Bruce had no doubt that Shiler would absolutely do something like going to jail just to avoid teaching him, and he was even more suspicious that Shiler was planning to do just that right now.

Bruce hesitated and looked at Angela. Before he could ask, Angela answered directly: "Impossible. They are watching him very closely. I can't reach him, and even if I did, I couldn't convince him."

"Bruce, why don't you think about it? I was his patient. If I could convince him, then how was I cured by him in the first place?"

The two looked at each other, speechless.

"The problem now is that Roman and Thomas are not accusing him because Shiler is unfair, but because they were incited by others. I think Shiler can understand this, and the reason he didn't defend himself is because he feels he really didn't do well enough in this regard," Angela analyzed.

"If he has to pay the price for his mistakes, it should be an equal price, not an extra price added by a group of people with ulterior motives, thereby ruining his career."

"I don't think he wouldn't have noticed that someone wanted him to pay a higher price. What I don't understand now is why he doesn't mind? No one should not mind this kind of thing, right?" Angela said somewhat puzzled.

Bruce coughed softly and said, "Maybe he feels that compared to going to jail, continuing to be a teacher is more painful for him."

"Why? Isn't he quite passionate about his teaching career?"

Bruce pursed his lips, looked up at Angela, and said.

"The student he mentioned, to whom he devoted too much attention, taught with heart, and favored exceptionally, is me."

Angela slowly widened her eyes. She stared at Bruce's face for a full few dozen seconds before saying:

"... No wonder he wants to go to jail." ===== CHAPTER 1169 =====