Chapter 1753: Summer in Fool

Shiler turned his head to look at Cobblepot. He was already vastly different from the cowering umbrella boy he had first met. Cobblepot was not tall, nor was his build particularly strong; judging by his bone structure, he wasn't the type to grow into a large man, but he was already much better off than the scrawny boy from before.

He was wearing a suit of the kind often worn by gang leaders, his hair was neatly combed back, and his leather shoes were polished to the point of reflecting the patterns on the ceiling. Yet, he still rubbed his hands together nervously, smiled at Shiler, and asked, "Professor, do you have any time recently?"

"Is there a problem?" Shiler put down the lecture notes in his hand and looked at Cobblepot, saying, "If there is, ask now. The professor's office isn't equipped with a computer for the time being, and I likely won't be going to the multimedia classroom to check emails for a long time. The weather is too hot right now."

"Yes, the weather is a bit too hot," Cobblepot sighed and said, "But I asked Mayor Luo Yi, and he said this is for the sake of developing the tourism industry. Cat Getan's beaches and seawater conditions are actually better than Metropolis'; the only thing lacking is the sunshine."

"Those tourists who traveled from afar seem to love sunbathing on the beach. Lex didn't activate the equipment for two consecutive days, and quite a few people left disappointed, so the machines have been running almost constantly since then."

"Gothamites will just have to adapt," Shiler shook his head slightly and said, "The current temperature is still within the normal range. The high incidence of heatstroke is because Gothamites are unprepared; they are still working under the sun at their original pace without any sun protection, and on top of that, there is no air conditioning. Of course, they will get heatstroke."

"However, it will be much better after this summer passes," Shiler turned his head back to organize his notes and said, "Gordon has organized plenty of manpower for disaster relief in advance, so there shouldn't be any major issues."

Cobblepot nodded. He licked his lips lightly, appearing somewhat nervous, but he still spoke up: "I know this is a bit presumptuous, Professor, bothering you on such a hot day, but there has indeed been a strange matter recently. It might be a murder case."

Shiler frowned slightly, and after pondering for a moment, Cobblepot said cautiously, "The Godfather suspects it might be organized poisoning, but nothing like this has ever happened before. You know, this isn't the Gothamite style..."

Cobblepot wore a troubled expression. He looked left and right, discovering that the other students were all slumped over their desks with no intention of coming over to ask questions. The surroundings were very empty and quiet, and their conversation wouldn't be overheard by anyone. Only then did he speak: "The Godfather suspects it's outsiders, such as the FBI, who have always been interested in Cat Getan."

"But the Godfather cannot say it explicitly. The Twelve Families already have many complaints about the massive influx of outsiders and the chaotic management. If this fact were to be made public, the Twelve Families would definitely be clamoring to give them a piece of their mind."

"Once the conflict intensifies, it will become an obstacle to the development of the tourism industry and industrial upgrading. Therefore, the Godfather has entrusted me to investigate this matter secretly."

Cobblepot's brow was tightly furrowed as he said, "Professor, I would never be so rude as to consult you about my private affairs in class, but this matter is truly too suspicious. I believe psychology might be able to answer my doubts."

During the process of Cobblepot recounting this matter, Shiler had been observing his expression. Cobblepot's face was very serious, but it was filled more with confusion. Furthermore, judging by the caution in his questioning, Cobblepot must have investigated and thought about it privately for a long time without results before he mustered the courage to come and ask Shiler.

Shiler hadn't been very busy lately. The only thing he couldn't help with was the high incidence of heatstroke, because he was a psychologist. After helping Luo Yi write a notice reminding citizens to pay attention to heatstroke symptoms, he had nothing left to do.

The group of children at Wei En Manor were all still in the main universe, and the lunatics at Arkham Asylum were all staying obediently in the laboratory because the weather was too hot; no one came out to cause trouble. Shiler's main work recently was teaching, so when his student encountered trouble, he was actually happy to help.

"It's not convenient to talk here. I have two classes this afternoon. Let's meet at the entrance of the faculty restaurant around six o'clock."

"Thank you so much, Professor."

This class passed quickly. The second class was a psychology major course, but very few people came, so Shiler had to change this class into a Q&A session as well.

On the way to the restaurant after class, Shiler felt a headache coming on. Every teacher had this kind of trouble: if the course progress was too fast, he worried the students wouldn't have time to review; if the progress was too slow, he had to rush forward, fearing he wouldn't finish teaching. Shiler was currently troubled by the latter.

This was perhaps a chain reaction of a vicious cycle. Because of Cat Getan's terrible security situation, not many out-of-town students dared to apply here, and the locals couldn't adapt to the suddenly changing climate, collapsing in droves.

Shiler pushing the teaching progress forward now meant that more than half the people wouldn't be able to hear the lecture. But if he didn't push forward, he definitely wouldn't finish teaching before the final exam. Yet, if he made the sick students insist on attending class, the sick students wouldn't be able to take it in.

If he wanted to cure heatstroke immediately, as long as the sun existed and Gothamites were too stupid to learn how to use sun protection, Shiler's speed of curing them wouldn't necessarily keep up with their speed of getting sick. But if he turned off the sun, it would be detrimental to the tourism industry that wanted to develop the Golden Coastline.

Shiler hadn't expected that enemies like cosmic tyrants wouldn't give him a headache, but daily teaching tasks had truly stumped him. Sure enough, such was the fate of every teacher.

While thinking about how to adjust the course to catch up with the teaching progress as much as possible, Shiler walked toward the faculty restaurant. On the way, he ran into Victor again, but it looked like Victor only had one class in the afternoon, so he had already finished eating and was walking in a hurry, looking like he was in a rush to go somewhere again.

Shiler wanted to stop Victor to ask about the specific situation of that student, but once he thought about how Cobblepot might still be waiting for him, he dismissed the idea and walked quickly toward the main entrance of the faculty restaurant.

When he arrived at the faculty restaurant, Cobblepot was indeed already standing at the entrance waiting for him. Shiler walked up the steps quickly, and Cobblepot followed behind him. Shiler turned his head and asked, "How long have you been waiting?"

"I just arrived too, Professor." Cobblepot took out a handkerchief from his pocket to wipe the sweat from his forehead and followed Shiler into the restaurant.

Very unfortunately, the faculty restaurant didn't have air conditioning either, but there were more windows here, and the building structure was better than the classroom. There was a cross-breeze blowing through, which was much better than the stuffy state in the classroom.

After Cobblepot walked in, he let out a sigh of relief, like a fish that had just come ashore. He wiped the sweat from his forehead again and sat down next to a large window with Shiler.

Shiler glanced at the menu, and just as he was about to order, the waiter walked over and said, "Sorry, Professor, the restaurant's head chef has fallen ill, and the more complex main courses cannot be made."

Shiler sighed, looked at the menu, and said, "Then tell me what can be ordered. We'll just eat something simple."

Shiler looked at Cobblepot, seeking his opinion. Cobblepot sighed and said, "Many restaurants in Cat Getan are in this state now, otherwise I would have invited you to eat outside."

The two ordered a few scattered dishes, basically focusing on staples. Shiler ordered a sweet and sour Spanish paella, while Cobblepot simply ordered a Caesar salad, completely avoiding thick soups and desserts, and refusing butter and heavy sauces. Clearly, even if Shiler wasn't afraid of the heat, the atmosphere of this scorching summer made one lose their appetite for greasy things.

While dining, Cobblepot opened the floodgates and began to recount the strange things the gangs had encountered during this period.

"The Spencer family was in a great deal of trouble before because of their daughter's marriage. Old Mr. and Mrs. Spencer's health has never been very good. Some time ago, Old Mrs. Spencer contracted a strange illness."

"A strange illness? What kind of strange illness?"

Cobblepot opened his mouth and said with some hesitation, "I didn't see the specific situation either. I only heard the female attendants who were caring for her say that the doctor had never seen this kind of illness, and Old Mr. Spencer felt that his wife had been cursed."

"Were there no symptoms?"

"I heard it was full-body swelling," Scott pursed his lips and said, "I can understand that. If a patient's appearance is abnormal, family members are usually unwilling to let outsiders see it. Old Mrs. Spencer had actually been bedridden for more than two years, but it was still a bit suspicious that her condition suddenly changed. Old Mr. Spencer was also guarding against someone plotting against her."

"What illness did Mrs. Spencer have?"

"Stomach cancer. This lady was old, and everyone in the know was clear that she wouldn't live long. Old Mr. Spencer had already accepted the reality. More than a month ago, Old Mrs. Spencer passed away, and the funeral was held at Cat Getan Cathedral."

Shiler pondered slightly and discovered the strange point in this story that was otherwise just ordinary. He rubbed the patterns on the handle of the silver spoon with his finger and said, "There are indeed some diseases that can cause edema in the extremities. If the condition is quite severe, full-body swelling might indeed occur, but stomach cancer..."

"Old Mr. Spencer and his wife had a good relationship. Even if death was inevitable, he didn't want her to suffer, so he hired many doctors, letting them think of ways to eliminate this swelling, but none of them had any effect."

"Including the doctors at Wei En Hospital?"

"Yes, including some doctors who came from Metropolis."

Cobblepot paused again, glanced at Shiler's complexion, and then said, "I know this is a bit disrespectful to science, but Old Mr. Spencer went to see that old priest at Cat Getan Cathedral, and the old priest said this wasn't a curse..."

"Originally, it was still okay. Old Mrs. Spencer was already terminally ill, after all. There was no need to investigate what exactly that strange symptom before her death was about. After all, the dead cannot come back to life."

"But just one week later, the eldest son of the Fanas family also died. He had also suffered from full-body swelling beforehand. He was only sixteen when he died. Fanas simply couldn't accept it."

Cobblepot sighed deeply and said, "Originally, because of their faith, the direct members of the Twelve Families do not accept forensic autopsies. But the Fanas family only had this one son, and Fanas was counting on him to inherit the family. Suddenly, he was just gone like that. Fanas swore he must find the murderer."

"He thinks it's an intentional murder?"

"I'm afraid that's the only possibility." Cobblepot stared at the salad in his plate, recalling as he spoke: "Young Fanas was only sixteen, physically strong, and had no hereditary diseases. He had even joined the basketball club at school, and there were no signs at all before he died. Fanas had never heard his son say he was feeling uncomfortable anywhere."

Shiler pondered slightly and asked, "Then what were the forensic examination results?"

"Full-body edema caused by acute poisoning." ===== CHAPTER 1754 =====