Chapter 2967

Shiler was still investigating the matter of the serial killer principal. He applied to the City Hall for permission to view educational materials, wanting to find information on the previous principal of the boarding school Edward had attended.

But as expected, the materials were gone. They must have been artificially erased. Not only was the previous principal's information gone, but the information of all previous principals had been lost.

Then he went to check the historical records of personnel appointments and removals by the Department of Education, but the work level of Cat Getan City Hall was really not worth complimenting. It was impossible to keep multiple copies of records, and checking back and forth was also a mess.

The only way now was to visit the school in person. After all, the current female principal was also a suspect. Not seeing anything in the materials didn't mean there was truly no problem at all.

But visiting a high school so rashly was indeed a bit suspicious. Shiler went to talk to Edward again and only then learned that the high school he had attended previously had a football team.

Shiler had a good relationship with the players and coaches of the Cat Getan University football team because he never missed a game, and people all thought he was a football fan.

Shiler suggested to the coach to go around the high school to see if there were any good prospects. The coach didn't suspect anything. The national situation in the United States was like this: playing ball well was a direct pass to a prestigious university.

But when he saw that Shiler had found such a remote boarding school, the coach also felt a bit puzzled. However, after so many years of getting along, he could be considered to understand Shiler's temper and saw that this professor was not in a good mood, so he didn't ask any more questions.

Arriving at the school, the female principal was indeed very happy. Their school was too remote, the financial situation was average, and there were few opportunities to go out for competitions, so it was difficult for players to find good outlets. Cat Getan University was already the best of the best.

Shiler observed this female principal at close range and found that it was about what he had thought. This principal was not the kind of serial killer who would harm students. She was relatively conscientious, and the school management was also done well.

And within the school, Shiler finally found reliable records of principal appointments and removals. The previous principal was a middle-aged man, the one before that was an old man of a relatively advanced age, and it was very difficult to trace back any further.

Hearing from this female principal, she took office relatively late, arriving at this school to teach only after Edward had already entered Arkham Asylum. That is to say, Edward had an accident during the previous principal's term.

And the previous principal was not transferred due to work errors, but precisely because he was doing well, and was transferred to a better school in the West District to hold office.

Shiler had to drive to that school in the West District to meet the previous principal. He believed the other party was a major suspect, but after meeting him once, he found that it was also unlikely that he was a serial killer.

This principal was younger than the female principal, could be said to be in his prime, was ambitious, and quite capable. Under his management, the school was also thriving, and the football team had achieved repeated successes. If there were no accidents, this person might go to a university to hold office or directly enter the Department of Education within two years.

Then Shiler went to investigate the old man, only to learn that he had passed away two years ago. According to the time of appointment and transfer, he should not have seen Edward either.

Shiler didn't just check paper records, but also visited witnesses. Everyone's testimony matched, and the timeline was also very clear. The only suspect, the male principal, was as far from a serial killer as the Earth was from Mars. The investigation fell into a stalemate for a while.

Ultimately, it still had to start from Edward.

Shiler talked to Edward again, but it was terminated before it even began, because overly frequent conversations and making Edward recall the past were detrimental to his condition and were directly stopped by Brand.

"I don't want anyone to interrupt any of my conversations, Brand. I hope you understand this point," after closing the door, Shiler turned to Brand and said, his tone clearly not very friendly.

"Haven't you noticed you're a bit out of control?" Brand also didn't have a good face. He said, "Even if you are no longer a professional doctor now, you cannot force a patient like this. You are just a psychology professor, not a policeman with a search warrant. Being able to let you talk to the patient is already for the sake of the friendship between the two of us. If you push your luck any further, I will call the police!"

Shiler was speechless. He wasn't even a private detective, just a university professor. But no one cared, and everyone was opening doors of convenience for him. Pushing his luck any further was indeed a bit excessive.

Looking at Shiler's ugly expression, Brand softened his tone and said, "You are a bit anxious again, venting your emotions on some irrelevant matters to avoid losing control. I support you with both hands and feet if you want to track down a serial killer, but don't involve Edward, okay?"

Shiler sat in the chair without speaking. Brand walked to the opposite side of him, sat down, leaned forward, and pressed his hand on the armrest of Shiler's chair, saying, "Go back, drink some wine, and have a good sleep, how about that?"

Mentioning wine, Shiler remembered that bottle of red wine again, so this sentence not only failed to comfort him but instead instantly made the alarm bells in his heart ring wildly.

"Then why don't we both stop beating around the bush," Shiler said, "You also don't always use the identity of a professional doctor to study those 'possibles', or don't pretend to be a doctor anymore. I find it very hard to imagine how a monster with so many ugly tentacles can confidently say he understands human pathology. Whether from a scientific or aesthetic perspective, you are spouting nonsense."

Brand was stunned.

"Are you going to say you aren't? But everything about you is full of holes. How did you come into contact with the former me? And why did you come to Cat Getan almost at the same time as me? Have you never noticed my changes? And what is the meaning of that bottle of wine?"

"And you are a magician, but even Constantine can't say which school you belong to. You seem to have never paid a price for your magic, and you know many things in the magical world, even understanding the past of Zatanna's father."

"This is not something a pathology doctor can do. Do those pits and bumps on your brain that are more than humans' only serve as decoration?"

Brand looked at him.

"You suspect me?"

"You'd better not say any disgusting theories like 'the time spent together isn't fake'. If I had to pick one person from you monsters to accompany me, I would rather it be a giant octopus. At least it can warm my stomach. And you, I don't drink the red wine you sent for other reasons, it's just that your taste is too poor and you are very stingy. Can't you afford Chateau Lafite? Can't you surpass Batman in money either?"

"And, if you are targeting me, why go find my other personality trait? Do you think he will have more common topics with you? Is this your level of psychology? Then I can only say, you have hope of surpassing Bruce's thesis in the proportion of the trash can in my mailbox. After all, you have I don't know how many more tentacles than him."

"Brand, since you have hidden for so long, why expose yourself suddenly now? It wouldn't be because our omniscient and omnipotent great Lord is actually also like the Batman Who Laughs, coveting the piece of fat meat that is Battleworld, right?"

Once the name Batman Who Laughs came out, something finally couldn't hold up. The whole office began to ripple abnormally, as if all things in the world were made of water.

It also seemed as if Shiler was not in his office now, but in a fish tank, as if he had become a swimming fish with nothing to rely on, and now the water was angry.

Shiler, however, remained motionless, just staring coldly at Brand, watching his whites of the eyes being replaced by black, and a thin golden light appearing in the middle of his pupils, brilliant as if encompassing everything.

"I didn't expect we would meet again under these circumstances, Shiler."

"There are many things you didn't expect. You bumped into the Batman Who Laughs and had a passionate kiss, you didn't expect that either, right?"

The state of rippling water suddenly disappeared. Shiler sneered disdainfully and said, "Why not continue? Found that you can't drag me into a hallucination? If you want to do that, go fight that guy holding the Book of Fate, otherwise go find Lucifer. I look forward to seeing you in the pot at his house. You and your favorite red wine will meet again in my stomach."

Brand stared straight at Shiler without speaking.

"I don't understand why you are pestering me," Shiler said to himself, "When you and I went to deal with Barbatos, I thought you were just interested in the Gray Mist. After all, he counts as one of yours. But if you were targeting me when I first arrived here, that's much earlier than the Gray Mist. Why is this?"

Brand remained silent.

"Since you don't want to say, forget it," Shiler stood up and said, "The matter with Edward was me being too hasty, but I am sure I didn't cause any bad influence on him. If there really is, I will be responsible. I'm leaving first."

"No, Shiler," Brand said.

Shiler saw the road in front of him take a turn. This was not a hallucination, but the true ability to modify the world. He couldn't walk out of the room by following this road.

"What exactly do you want to do? Nyarlathotep?" Shiler looked back at Brand and said, "My patience is about to run out. You had better..."

"You owe me money."

"...?"

Brand stood up. His movements were actually no different from usual, and his application of language was also very precise. He wasn't the kind of non-human who spoke in riddles, which proved he wasn't possessed.

"You borrowed my power and didn't pay it back."

Shiler was stunned.

Suddenly he remembered, it seemed there was such a thing.

His original body borrowed debts all over the world, and then canceled the account to avoid debts... Wait a minute, Nyarlathotep is also a god across the universe, just like God and Lucifer. That is to say, canceling an account in one universe is useless; people can check your IP address.

"Hiss..." Shiler gasped.

What is more terrifying than being blocked at the door by a creditor? It's scolding the creditor after being blocked at the door by them.

Shiler took a deep breath and walked back to the chair to sit down.

"But then again..." Shiler said with his back to Brand, "The red wine from Chateau Margaux is indeed not bad. Want to have a glass?"

Two red wine glasses appeared out of thin air on the table, and the red wine with the familiar logo floated up by itself, and the wine fell into the glass.

Shiler pinched the bottom of one of the red wine glasses and didn't pick it up until Brand sat down again.

It's like you suddenly realize that a certain villain who keeps pestering you is actually your creditor. You borrowed his power, but have been in arrears for a long time, refused to return it, had a bad attitude, and tried every means to escape the debt.

He even invited you to stay in a luxury hotel and sent red wine worth thousands of dollars. You didn't drink it and even sent your avatar to send it again.

And you threw a pile of shit at him directly and scolded him.

Shiler had never felt that he had the emotion of guilt, but when clinking glasses, he still moved the mouth of the wine glass slightly downward. The glass collided and made a crisp sound.

Watching the figure opposite, Shiler looked up and drank a sip of red wine—it was indeed not bad.

"To the time we spent together."