Chapter 2965

In the somewhat dim corridor, Shiler looked at Brand. Brand's expression was as usual, seemingly still waiting for the second half of his sentence.

Then Shiler withdrew his gaze and asked nothing, because it was meaningless. Anyone could be it, and anyone could not be it. They might not even know they were it, and might not have been it a second ago, only to become it the next. Therefore, exploring who exactly it was had no meaning.

Moreover, compared to a threat that had not yet been confirmed to exist, Shiler had more important matters to deal with.

Edward Nigma's situation had caught his attention. It could be seen that he was almost recovered, but the stimulation he had once received from someone remained hidden deep within his heart. What kind of butterfly this larva, about to break out of its cocoon, would become, no one knew.

Shiler did not wish for the Riddler to become a criminal. If there was anyone among Cat Getan's many criminals he sympathized with most, it might be this true mental patient. It was precisely because he had been a psychologist that he understood how painful it was for those truly suffering from mental illness.

Unlike sociopaths, the various abnormalities they displayed were not because they wanted to be so different, but because they simply could not control themselves. The most desperate thing in the world was being trapped in a cage of hallucinations, gradually unable to distinguish the world, or even distinguish oneself.

Shiler had just guided out the secret in Edward's heart, but this was only the first step. The means of resolving this secret might determine what kind of path Edward would ultimately walk.

The trouble was that Edward was a mental patient; he did not possess full capacity for conduct. Even if the opportunity for revenge were handed to him, he might not be able to do it. He needed the care and guidance of others.

After returning to the office, Shiler called for Cobblepot. He now accompanied his mother almost all day, only occasionally handling some work remotely, but Shiler still said, "I know you've been very busy lately, I won't take up too much of your time."

"You're too polite, Professor. Actually, I also wanted to chat with you, but I was afraid you were too busy..." Cobblepot smiled.

Shiler could now only see the timid boy from back then in Cobblepot's smile. When he smiled, there was still a hint of little Cobblepot's shyness. Perhaps he was only like this in front of elders like Shiler and Gordon.

"Are you wanting to ask about your mother's condition? Brand showed me Mrs. Cobblepot's medical records. I don't see too many problems mentally, and I'm not a professional regarding the physical side..."

"No, Professor. Whether it's you or Gordon, you have already helped us enough. Although it is difficult to accept the birth, aging, sickness, and death of things, I have experienced more difficulties than this; this cannot defeat me."

Cobblepot paused slightly before saying, "What I want to discuss with you is the environmental problem in Cat Getan. You should have some ideas by now, right?"

"Yes, we are short on money right now."

"Victor told me he could develop technology for large-scale cooling, but it would take at least tens of millions of dollars from research and development to implementation. To be honest, this price is less than I imagined, but our city government still can't come up with it."

It was nearing the millennium. Tens of millions of dollars sounded like a lot in this era, but in reality, the investment in Cat Getan's architectural renovation project was thousands or tens of thousands of times that. By comparison, it wasn't actually that much.

The previous mayor, Luo Yi, pursued the policy of keeping wealth among the people. The income from the Cat Getan Music Festival was not small, but it mostly benefited the small citizens of Cat Getan. Facts proved that Luo Yi had long-term vision; with money in hand, there was no panic in the heart. This allowed the city to barely maintain order even during the Great Depression, and compared to the Metropolis that was gradually losing its balance, it was actually going against the current.

But the downside of doing this was that the city government had no money. Shiler calculated the accounts in his heart, estimating that the largest sum of funds the city government could come up with now was only a little over 2 million, which was just a drop in the bucket.

Due to the poor world economy, ten million dollars was a huge sum for any individual force. The Wei En Group might be able to pull out this much liquid capital, but this would certainly cause damage to the group itself. The Wei En Group was the livelihood of thousands of workers. If Luo Yi were asked to take it, he might not even be willing.

To put it bluntly, the former Cat Getan architectural renovation project had to be done, otherwise, the millions of people in the East District would have had problems. But the current cooling plan, if done, would have some benefits, but if not done, enduring through one summer would be just that. How many people could actually be heat-stroked to death?

This was more like a welfare plan that could be done or not. At this time, it was difficult to get those big shots to make up their minds.

Cobblepot rested his hands on his knees, his fingertips stroking the fabric on his knees, and said, "I'm just thinking, although the bad consequences brought by the super-high temperatures now are just some people getting heatstroke, if it continues to develop like this, it will definitely lead to more problems."

"You mean..."

"Many of Cat Getan's factories have problems with fire prevention and safety regulations. High temperatures easily cause fires. There is also a large mountain range on the northwest side of Cat Getan. Once a forest fire is triggered..."

Shiler rubbed his forehead. Although Cat Getan had already gotten rid of the curse where everything would develop in the worst direction, Cobblepot's worries could not be said to be unreasonable. The losses from one or two of so many factories catching fire would be serious enough, and if that forest caught fire, it would completely destroy Cat Getan's few green spaces.

Shiler closed his eyes, leaned back in his chair, and sighed. He had to admit that he had indeed been a bit too leisurely these past few years, only caring about his own little patch of land, and too many problems had not been dealt with.

"How about this," Shiler said, "I will solve the money problem. You go find Tim, contact Luo Yi, and put factory fire safety and forest fire prevention on the agenda."

"No, no, no, Professor, I didn't mean you have the obligation to solve all this, I just..."

Shiler shook his head gently and said, "Since we let this city take the first step toward change, we must be responsible for the problems that arise in the subsequent process of change. You still need to take care of your mother, don't think too much."

"Professor..." Cobblepot looked at Shiler and said, "Gordon said the same thing. Sometimes I always feel like I haven't grown up yet."

Shiler laughed, but didn't say much more. Cobblepot seemed to remember something and said, "What did you want to ask me when you called me over?"

"You know Edward Nigma, right?"

"Yes, he lives in the ward next to my mother's," Cobblepot sighed and said, "He seems to have been stimulated by something. He has to read riddle books every day. Sometimes my mother and I read to him. He is very smart, almost photographic in his memory."

"Yesterday, when I went to the activity building, I chatted with him. From him, Dr. Brand and I learned that he might have witnessed a murder committed by a certain principal and was almost killed, which is why he has psychological trauma. I want to investigate this matter."

Cobblepot's eyebrows twisted tightly together, his face as dark as if water could drip from it. He said, "A certain principal, which means, someone is wantonly murdering students in Cat Getan?"

"I think so. Edward's situation is special. Dr. Brand and I both believe that he cannot be made to face police questioning, and I'm afraid the police wouldn't be able to ask anything either, so this matter can only rely on us to investigate."

"I understand, Professor. By tonight at the latest, I will contact you."

Cobblepot did not hesitate at all and got up to leave. Shiler looked at his retreating back and found that he had truly grown up.

Shiler himself was not idle either. He carefully read through Edward's medical records and found that he had mentioned some of his past when he was sober.

Edward Nigma was a local of Cat Getan, but he was lucky. He was born into a middle-class family, both parents had shops, and the business was doing quite well, so he attended elite schools from a young age.

He was even a bit younger than Cobblepot. When Shiler first arrived in Cat Getan, he was still a child, but he had lived much better than Cobblepot. At that time, his parents were still alive, and he had been studying under their protection until middle school.

From a young age, he had shown extraordinary talent. Edward often mentioned that he had won many awards in elementary school and had always been deeply loved by his teachers, being a standout among students. It was the same after he entered middle school.

But unfortunately, when he was about to graduate from middle school, his parents passed away. His uncle did not let him attend the high school that had been decided upon, but instead sent him to a more remote boarding school.

Shiler suspected that the problem lay with this boarding school. He called Gordon and obtained the school's information. The current principal was a woman in her 60s. At least in Shiler's view, there was no problem with this principal.

But if one were to check further back, it would be a bit troublesome, because in that era, Cat Getan was still in chaos, having experienced multiple upheavals. Many materials had been lost, or perhaps they had been deliberately erased by people with guilty consciences.

The investigation hit a dead end here, but Shiler was not in a hurry. He took advantage of a gap to give Pamela a call.

"How much money did Greed give you?" Shiler asked straightforwardly.

"5 million," Pamela didn't hide it from him, then continued, "After paying off my mortgage, there's still over 4.8 million left."

"Cobblepot says that the forest in the northwest corner of Cat Getan is likely to catch fire."

"What?!" Pamela's tone immediately rose. She said, "If a forest fire happened right under my nose, wouldn't I lose a lot of face?!"

"There are plenty of things you've lost face over," Shiler sneered and said, "You've been the representative of the Green of All Things for several years, what have you done? Has Cat Getan's greening situation improved even a little bit?!"

After Pamela was silent for a moment, she said, "Sorry, Professor, it is indeed my fault. I'll go think of a way right now!"

After hanging up the phone, Pamela bounced straight up from the bed, saying while getting dressed, "It's over, it's over, it's over, it's over, it's over..."

After hanging up the phone, Shiler called Tim again and said, "Pamela might have some actions recently. If she comes to find you, then cooperate with her."

"Understood, Professor," Tim was clearly still in the Wei En Group office. He said, "I got a set of Mercury energy equipment from that universe. When do you think it's better to launch it?"

"Now is not the time," Shiler said, "Cat Getan already has an Ark Reactor, so it's not short of energy for the time being. If you want to sell energy at a low price, you have to see if you are prepared to fight a world war."

Tim's tone was clearly a bit stiff, "I didn't mean to do that."

"Whether you have thought about it or not, only you know. I don't have mind-reading skills, and there's no need to prove anything to you. There are too many problems surrounding me right now, you had better not be the extra one."

Listening to the busy signal after the phone was hung up on the other end, Tim hurriedly called back to Wei En Manor and said, "Dick, have Jason and the others keep a close watch. Don't let anything happen recently. The Professor is losing his patience."

Dick put down the phone and accurately relayed Tim's meaning to Jason. Helen was also listening from the side. She was a bit confused and raised her own questions to the two brothers.

Jason shook his head and said, "This Professor is probably different from the doctor you know. There is a kind of inertia in him. He will try his best to maintain stability until he can no longer endure it."

"Then what happens after he can no longer endure it?" Helen asked.

"He will become very dangerous," Jason said, "He won't turn grief and indignation into motivation to solve the problem, he will only make himself the biggest problem."