Chapter 159: Party and Umbrella (VI)

Batman was currently investigating the identity of the mysterious third person in the murder case. He was checking surveillance footage in front of the computer.

When transforming the Slab, Batman certainly would smuggle in private goods, such as installing thousands of surveillance cameras.

If it were in an ordinary residential area, then with Batman's financial and technical power, he could completely monitor all residents without dead angles using cameras.

But in the Slab, this was hard to achieve. The outrageous building structure and the overly dense active population here made equipment monitoring a difficult matter.

In other places, cameras had 80% viewing angle plus 20% dead angles, but in the building structure of the Slab, cameras basically had 80% dead angles plus 20% viewing area.

And the people living here had no concept of not occupying public space at all. Any nook and cranny where a camera could be hidden would be piled up with all kinds of sundries.

The people here also had no idea of not destroying public property. When they saw something messy on the wall, their first reaction was to give it a shot, which led to 30% of the cameras Batman hid being scrapped within a few short weeks, and another 30% being blocked or blurred.

The remaining 30% were distributed in locations that were all up to luck. Coincidentally, there were no usable cameras in the two or three corridors around the scene of Fish's death. Batman could only look for clues from further away.

The population here was dense, and too many people came and went every day. Just the people recorded in the cameras in the nearby blocks numbered over a thousand. Finding one among them who might know both Fish and Cobblepot was simply like finding a needle in a haystack.

Even so, Batman still showed patience, watching the surveillance footage frame by frame.

Hard work pays off. Soon, Batman discovered a somewhat familiar face from the equipment's footage. It was Sal Ma Luoni.

The surveillance equipment only captured one side of his face, but his appearance had characteristics, and his temperament was also different from others. Batman discovered him at a glance.

After pulling up Ma Luoni's information, Batman discovered that Ma Luoni was not a resident of the Slab and almost didn't have any relationship with anyone here. Therefore, his appearance here appeared very suspicious.

Batman decided to go talk to Ma Luoni. Even if he wasn't the murderer, appearing in the Slab at this time, he must know something.

"Batman? What's wrong with him?" In the ward of Arkham Asylum, Shiler asked Cobblepot.

"I observed this weirdo for a period of time and discovered a very strange thing about him—he doesn't kill."

"And not only does he not kill." Cobblepot said with some disbelief, "He actually saves people. I saw him save a child who was being beaten..."

"How could Cat Getan have such a person?" Cobblepot used a very absurd tone to say, "It's as if not utilizing him would be a loss..."

"Then how did you utilize him?"

"Just as Ma Luoni and I arranged, I lured Fish into a room and then enraged her. Ma Luoni fired from the side and killed her."

"But what Ma Luoni didn't know was that before coming, I had already made arrangements. At the same time we made our move, I let some commotion happen upstairs. I knew that weirdo often patrolled here, so this would definitely lure him over."

"Ma Luoni heard someone coming, and he was eager to escape, while I took the initiative to propose staying behind to clean up. And then, just like Batman told you..."

Cobblepot revealed a creepy, evil smile and said, "I fell there, pretending to have an episode, covered in traces of abuse. That weirdo really didn't kill me, and even saved me. So, I went to the police station..."

"The whole process is clear to me. Then, let's talk about the cause. Things have developed to this point. How do you intend to complete your goal?"

"Ma Luoni kidnapped my mother, forcing a minor and a mental patient to participate in this murder case. I once heard him personally tell of his plan to frame Little Falcone..."

"I will step forward as the only eyewitness to testify against Ma Luoni, proving that the Godfather's heir is innocent and that everything was Ma Luoni's conspiracy..."

"Do you think you can use this to negotiate terms with the Godfather?"

"No, of course I know this is impossible."

Cobblepot looked at the ceiling and said, "From the matter of the Godfather letting me kill Old Edward, I understood a truth, a truth that makes the Godfather the Godfather, a truth that Little Falcone hasn't understood yet..."

"When the Godfather does something, he must be justified, with sufficient reasons and enough logic."

"He has no reason to persecute an inconspicuous... nobody who works diligently for him, is abused and threatened, has even suffered mental stimulation and is hospitalized, and has solved trouble for him before admission."

When Cobblepot's voice fell, Shiler looked at him. A shadow from the window beam fell on his face. Even though his face was still green and immature, the outline of the future great ambitionist Penguin could already be seen.

Wandering among various forces, maintaining a delicate balance, interlocking plans, almost perfect execution ability—it was hard to believe that a child of only ten-plus years old had completed all this alone.

"However, your perfect plan still had an accident."

Hearing Shiler's question, Cobblepot instinctively turned his head and didn't want to look directly at the doctor, but Shiler still said, "The accident happened with this hereditary disease in your family. Your mother had an episode first, causing you to waste too much time subduing and soothing her. Immediately after, just when the plan was about to succeed, your pretending to be sick became a real illness. So at this time, you didn't expose Ma Luoni at the police station, but came here."

Cobblepot pursed his lips, as if he didn't want to admit it, and then he said, "You said this disease can be cured..."

"It can be, but you have to cooperate."

Shiler stood up, nodded, and said seriously, "If that's the case, then I admit that you didn't commit academic fraud in terms of crime. The setting of the entire plan, the preliminary layout, the mid-term execution, and the ending were all at the same level as when you murdered Old Edward."

"Although some processes were slightly cumbersome, they were still meticulous. If this accident hadn't happened, everything would have been completed smoothly according to your plan."

"And you grasped the Godfather's psychology very accurately. In this situation, he indeed wouldn't haggle with you."

"Then, let's analyze this accident."

Shiler walked to the other side of the room, pushed over a whiteboard from the side, wrote a series of words on it, and then pointed to the whiteboard and said, "Catatonic schizophrenia. To understand this disease, we have to start from the broad category of schizophrenia..."

Immediately after, Cobblepot, lying on the bed, was forced to listen to a popular science lecture on psychiatry given by Shiler.

Even if he had a genius brain, after more than an hour, he was dizzy from Shiler's lecture. There were too many medical terms he had never heard of, accompanied by various case analyses.

During Shiler's break to drink water, Cobblepot said, "I think my illness is almost cured. Let me go back to the police station. I still have things to do..."

"Don't be in a hurry. There's still the last bit left, which is the most critical part, such as why on earth you had an episode at that time."

"First of all, dusk to night is itself the peak period for schizophrenia episodes. Changes in light will stimulate mental patients."

"You should have started preparing at dusk and then acted at night. If I'm not mistaken, the window of the room where you acted could see the sunset, and the light was still very dazzling. This will cause greater stimulation to people with unstable minds. Next time, remember to find a room without windows."

"And earlier, you were abused by Fish, and then in the process of subduing your mother, you suffered not-so-light injuries."

*Qing Hu Jian Xian*

"These are all very typical external stimuli."

Shiler turned the pen in his hand and said, "You thought you were enduring silently when you were beaten by Fish, and you were helpless when you were hurt by your mother, but in fact, your subconscious remembered the pain at that time more deeply than your reason."

"You thought you didn't leave any psychological shadow, but in fact, that's not the case."

"The spirit of teenagers is not stable enough. If you didn't have an episode this time, in about a month, you would still have post-traumatic stress disorder, such as continuous restlessness and nightmares, as well as difficulty falling asleep."

"People always imagine themselves too powerful. The higher the IQ and the stronger the reason, the more they will think so."

"But human spirit is actually more fragile than imagined. Psychological trauma not being expressed doesn't mean it doesn't exist."

Cobblepot turned his head away, letting himself not think about these problems. He said, "I have to go complete my plan. Although it's a bit late, it should still be in time."

"Don't be in a hurry..." Shiler walked to his desk and flipped through it, took out a file, and said while flipping, "From your perspective, this matter has been explained very clearly."

"But do you want to hear this story from another angle?"

Shiler opened the file and said in a tone without any ripples, "10 days ago, a murder case occurred on Green Street next to the Slab area. The police officer in charge of this case was Harvey Bullock. In his report, he wrote like this..."

"Kevin Brown, gang leader, was found dead in the tail alley of Green Street, shot three times, with the second shot hitting the lungs, which was the fatal wound. When the police arrived, he had died on the spot. After investigating the crime scene, the police determined it was a gang shootout."

"You shouldn't be unfamiliar with this case. Just now in your narration, it was also mentioned."

"What I want to say is not this case, but another case attached to this case."

"In the Wiggin Umbrella Shop in the tail alley of Green Street, an umbrella maker was found dead at the shop door. The cause of death was shooting with a handgun, still dying on the spot. After police investigation, it was determined to be affected by the gang shootout..."

"Finally, the police's investigation result was that a gang shootout occurred in the tail alley of Green Street, and two people died."

Cobblepot saw Shiler leaning on the windowsill. He was against the light. When he put down the file, the light shone on the lenses from behind him, making Cobblepot unable to see his eyes clearly, but Cobblepot had a bad premonition.

"I know, you want to say, this kind of case is not rare, and it has nothing to do with me."

"But this has brought me a big trouble."

Shiler said in a calm tone, "Recently, there have been many rainy days, and the frequency of my umbrella use is very high. It's broken."

"When I found that umbrella maker to repair it, I found that he was already dead."

"Fish Mooney killed the only handmade umbrella maker in all of Cat Getan City."

"Afterward, I went to talk to her. Because of the guilt in her heart, she couldn't sleep or eat, so she went crazy."

"So now, Mr. Cobblepot..."

Cobblepot began to feel cold behind his back. He struggled to move to the other side of the bed, wanting to avoid Shiler's gaze, but one of his hands was still tied to the armrest, unable to move at all.

Shiler took out an umbrella from behind the desk, walked slowly to the foot of the hospital bed, and then reached out, poking the umbrella tip between Cobblepot's two eyes, and said to Cobblepot:

"Can you explain to me, where did this umbrella in your hand with the Wiggin umbrella maker's emblem come from?"

---Author's Note---

10,000 words delivered today!

Aha! Didn't expect it, right!

Didn't guess it right, so why not give some votes! ===== CHAPTER 160 =====