Chapter 1230

The FBI West Coast Academy was not established in recent years; in the 1960s, as the Cold War reached its climax, counter-infiltration efforts on both sides became increasingly extreme. Against this backdrop, the FBI established over 20 training academies across 14 states.

However, in the dozen or so years that followed, this approach was deemed ineffective; the more dispersed they were, the easier they were to infiltrate. Consequently, the vast majority of these academies were converted into specialized technical training schools or local police academies. The West Coast Academy, however, was retained due to its unique geographical location and was only recently reactivated.

In recent years, the FBI has been expanding its recruitment and is not short on trainees. Just after the West Coast Academy resumed operations, over 300 active agents and more than 600 trainees enrolled.

Because the academy was established quite early, its location is not remote; to the east lies the largest park in Haibincheng, Visitor Pier Park, and to the south is the school district anchored by Haibincheng University.

The academy's building footprint is not large, but it is shielded by layers of dense forest, making it difficult to see the full picture. Its internal facilities are almost identical to those of Haibincheng University, making it hard to tell it is an agent training school.

The spacious lecture hall has an overall fan-shaped structure. In the front, covering an area of about 120 degrees, dozens of rows of seats extend upward, while in the center lies a circular area containing a long, curved podium.

There is no blackboard behind it, but there is a projector. The projection is larger than a movie screen, and what makes people feel a sense of dread is that corpses and blood occupy the main part of this screen.

The figure of the professor in the black suit appears somewhat small against the backdrop of the images, and a deep yet clear voice comes from behind the podium.

"Psychological profiling of criminals can serve as an important basis for inferring the behavioral logic of their crimes, and it can also provide convenience for subsequent capture efforts..."

Shiler paces back and forth in front of the podium. The seats in the lecture hall are packed with students, all listening intently to the professor's analysis. At this moment, a Latino man in the middle row raises his hand.

Shiler stands still and nods at him. The student speaks up: "Professor, I understand that psychological profiling can infer how a perpetrator committed a crime, but how does that provide convenience for subsequent capture?"

"Speaking of this, we must discuss the relationship between psychological activity and personality. Generally speaking, a person's personality determines how they think and act when encountering certain events—this is what we previously referred to as psychological habits and behavioral habits..."

"Since he has committed a crime with such psychology and such behavior before, he will not change his habits in the short term. Psychological profiling can naturally infer what measures he will take to evade punishment after committing the crime, and we must target these habits..."

The classroom is very quiet; apart from Shiler's lecturing voice, there is only the "scratch-scratch-scratch" sound of note-taking. At this moment, a series of hurried footsteps suddenly sounds from outside the door, appearing exceptionally jarring.

Two people dressed in agent attire walk in. Shiler steps back two paces and turns to look at them. The agents walk up, lean into Shiler's ear, and whisper: "Ms. Waller is on the line; she asks you to take the call."

"I am in the middle of a lecture. Is she in a hurry?"

"She requests that you go immediately."

Shiler sighs, turns his head back, points to a student in the first row, and says: "Miss, please help me distribute the lesson plans on the podium. You all take a look at the content to be covered next; I will be back shortly."

After saying this, Shiler follows the agents and leaves. Upon arriving in the communications room, the phone is ringing incessantly. After Shiler picks up the receiver, Amanda's slightly anxious voice comes from the other end:

"Professor, bad news. Director Fuli has commended the teaching standards of the West Coast Academy and has simultaneously recommended a professor to participate in the teaching at the West Coast Academy, under the guise of adding new blood to the cause of education."

"He wants to insert his own people. Director Fuli arranged this quietly, and the person should have arrived by now. I cannot stop him."

"Amanda." Shiler calls out Amanda's name to interrupt her, then says: "Your stupidity exceeds my comprehension. You knew that group of right-wingers staged the World Trade Center bombing just to get Louis Fuli into power, yet you just waited there and let him send someone over safely?"

"I... wait, they aren't right-wing!"

"They are right-wing; you are the far-right."

Amanda takes a deep breath and says: "Sorry, Professor, but I cannot return to headquarters at all right now. I am telling you this now because Davis tried to take action against that mysterious professor, but it had absolutely no effect. Therefore, we infer that he might be a difficult person to deal with."

"What subject does he teach?"

"Modern History."

Shiler's tightly furrowed brows relax. He confirms once more: "Not a subject like physics, chemistry, biology, or medicine?"

"No, agent training schools don't teach those."

"Then how many doctoral degrees does he have?"

"We haven't been able to find his educational background in the education system."

Shiler's heart slowly settles, but he says: "It seems he isn't from Gotham... Alright, leave it to me. You should hurry and find a way to get out of Denver; stop refreshing my understanding of the word 'stupidity'."

Just as he is about to hang up, Shiler seems to remember something and asks: "What is his name?"

"Eobard Thawne."

Soon, Shiler meets this Professor Thawne at the West Coast Academy. He has short flaxen hair, eyes that droop at the corners, and thin lips. His appearance is unremarkable, and he lacks any unique temperament; he looks very ordinary.

If one had to point out a feature, it would be that when his eyes, pressed beneath his brow ridges, stare at someone, they always make people feel he is overly focused, even somewhat paranoid.

Shiler knows that Eobard Thawne is a very famous villain in the Flash series, the "Reverse-Flash," also known as "Professor Zoom." It was likely he who brought Thomas Wayne to this world. However, it seems that Thomas is not the only victim of this cross-universe traffic accident; Thawne is also stranded here.

Compared to other villains, Professor Zoom has a very unique setting: he is actually a future man from the 25th century. While researching past history, he developed a great interest in Barry Allen, who was once a superhero, and thus began investigating the Speed Force.

He is the Flash's number one fan, but also his number one enemy. He once used the Speed Force to travel back in time and cruelly murdered Barry's mother.

Unlike the Flash, Professor Zoom controls the Negative Speed Force. This power can block a Speed Force user's connection to the Speed Force, pollute the Speed Force, and can also be used to hypnotize or control others.

Shiler and Thawne shake hands. He can clearly feel that Thawne's attention is not on him.

But if one infers from logic, if FBI Director Fuli learned that the lead lecturer for the newly opened West Coast Academy's psychology course was highly likely a KGB agent, then based on his McCarthyist behavioral logic, he would definitely choose to target Shiler.

At this juncture, the person he inserted would certainly have Shiler as their primary target. But Thawne showed not even half an interest in Shiler, which means his cooperative relationship with Fuli is not solid at all; he likely has other motives.

Inferring this far, Shiler already has his suspicions, but he takes no action, merely pretending to know nothing while secretly observing Thawne's behavior.

The next afternoon, Shiler's psychology class is followed by Thawne's Modern History class. The West Coast Academy's course and class system are similar to a university's; after one professor finishes teaching three classes, another professor teaches the others.

As Shiler is withdrawing from the classroom with the students from the three classes, he brushes shoulders with a young man.

But after walking past, Shiler frowns. He is very clear that he has already seen all the students and faculty at this academy and has memorized their appearances, and this young man is not among them.

After returning to his office, Shiler asks the faculty members as if casually: "Have there been any new transfer students recently?"

"Transfer students?" The faculty member looks back at Shiler, smiles, and says: "Professor, this isn't an ordinary university. Even if it looks like the university you worked at before, its nature is completely different."

"After all, this place is meant to train agents; it's not that casual. The number of students in each cohort is fixed, and where they will be employed is already predetermined. If students were allowed to transfer in and out casually, how could we talk about confidentiality?"

Shiler nods and smiles as well: "I see. I shouldn't apply the rules of ordinary universities here. It seems I still need to adapt to this job."

After work, Shiler returns to his apartment and sees a visibly exhausted Lucifer lying on the sofa. Opposite him, Jason and Harley are puffing out their cheeks in anger, each occupying one side of the sofa, with the dog sitting in the middle.

Seeing Shiler return, Lucifer looks as if he has seen a savior. He rushes to the door with tears in his eyes, grabs Shiler's arm, and says: "Have some mercy, Shiler! Get these three away from me! Save your Lord!"

Shiler crosses his arms and sneers: "Didn't you come from Hell to the human world to seek excitement? How is it? Is it exciting enough?"

Lucifer points a finger and says with great indignation: "The two of them are one thing; after all, they are just two kids, and no matter how much they fight, they don't have much destructive power. But this dog, this damn Kryptonian dog, it has infinite strength and is especially righteous!"

"What's so strange about kids fighting? At worst, just separate them. But when it tries to break up a fight, it causes the impact of a missile explosion! My newly renovated bar was almost half-demolished by it!"

Lucifer crosses his arms and says decisively: "Either you take the kids away, or you take the dog away. In any case, they cannot coexist!"

Shiler turns to look at Krypto. He frowns slightly because, in his view, Clark could not possibly have taught his dog to be so reckless and cause destruction everywhere. Krypto's intelligence might be higher than a human's, and as a dog with a righteous heart, even when breaking up a fight, it shouldn't cause trouble that would give Lucifer a headache.

Shiler walks up and cups Krypto's face. Although one really can't read micro-expressions on a dog, Shiler can still see a sense of restlessness in its eyes.

So Shiler pats Krypto on the back, takes it to the balcony, and takes a bottle of wine out of his suitcase. After closing the balcony door tightly, he pours a small capful of Mad Wine and places it under Krypto's nose.

Krypto is instinctively attracted by the aroma, sticks out its red tongue to lick the wine in the cap, and before long, it is dozing off on the balcony lounge chair.

After Shiler enters his dream, he quickly finds Krypto around the Dream Tower. Just as Shiler is about to go up and pet its head, Krypto speaks in human language:

"You are Professor Shiler, right? Clark and Bat-Cat have both mentioned you to me. You must help me; someone has been causing chaos in the cities of the Dream World recently, but I can't catch him."

"Why?" Shiler asks with some surprise.

"His speed is too fast!"