Chapter 2974: The Green Trees Are Dense and the Summer Days Are Long (19)

"Let's not talk about that for now." Schiller patted Cobblepot on the shoulder and said, "I heard you and Edward have a good relationship. I hope you can go comfort him and help him relax as much as possible so he can accept hypnotherapy. Usually, a patient must cooperate for hypnotherapy to be effective."

Cobblepot nodded and said, "Actually, I've been comforting him, but the results haven't been very significant. His condition fluctuates; sometimes I feel he's a normal person, but when he's bad, he gets a bit crazy. My mother and I both hope he can get better."

The two walked out of the office and into the corridor. Cobblepot said, "Williams came to Cat Getan quite early. You could say he was among the first batch of people to try their luck here."

"Before the music festival?"

"In fact, it was right when the gangs started to transform," Cobblepot said. "He is a very formidable businessman with a sharp eye for opportunity. Many of those who accepted his investments or partnered with him made a fortune."

"Does that include Bob?"

"Who is Bob?"

"A manager who knows Williams, the person in charge of the Ward-Lade Construction Engineering Group. Have you heard of him?"

Cobblepot shook his head slowly, but Schiller wasn't surprised, as even now, Ward-Lade couldn't be considered a very famous large company.

"Do you want me to look into it?"

"Better not. You should focus on taking care of your mother," Schiller stopped at a fork in the corridor and said, "Pamela obtained a windfall and invested at least 4 million USD with Luo Yi. Together with the liquid funds he can scrape together now, they can finally put preliminary greening renovations for Cat Getan on the agenda. What do you think?"

"That's truly wonderful," Cobblepot smiled and said, "Thanks to that lady's generosity, Mayor Luo Yi will surely thank her properly."

"A party won't be enough to buy her off, unless our Mayor stuffs a dozen beauties into it," Schiller also laughed.

"Money makes the devil turn the mill. Although 4 million USD isn't much in terms of city construction, if it's just to solve the plant issue, it's just about enough. It's truly heartening that the funding issue can be resolved so easily."

"I will give the Mayor that suggestion," Cobblepot said. He waved at Schiller and said, "You haven't been resting well lately. You should go back and get some sleep. Edward's matter will be handled by me. Goodnight, Professor."

Schiller nodded. He was indeed a bit tired. Investigating the mysterious principal had him circling Cat Getan multiple times and cost him quite a few brain cells. He really did need a good sleep.

As night fell, two figures stealthily pried open an office door. By the moonlight outside the window, one could see it was Jason and Dick.

"Aren't you done yet?" Jason whispered, "This company definitely has problems. I've never seen anyone put such a complex lock on a filing cabinet."

"I'm not good at this," Dick complained. "If Tim were here, his lock-picking speed would be top-tier."

"The Wei En Group's stuff is enough to give him a headache. I heard their capital turnover has been having issues lately; he's trying to find ways to cut costs and increase revenue..."

*Click. * The filing cabinet was pried open. The two quickly took out the documents. Jason glanced at them and knew immediately if they were useful.

"Damn it, it's tax documents again. We know you're diligent about paying taxes... They're definitely hiding something."

Jason's communicator vibrated. He pressed the button, and Star-Lord's voice came through.

"We couldn't lure them away for long. The security guards have returned. Did you find what you were looking for?"

"Not yet. Can't you drag it out for a while longer?"

"No. The guards are ordinary people; we can't really open fire on them, but they're very annoying... Are these guys really security guards?"

"Give me ten more minutes!" Jason gritted his teeth and said, "There's definitely a secret here. We'll find it soon!"

"Who's there? Hands up!"

A flashlight beam suddenly lit up outside the window. Jason and Dick were stunned. Just as they dropped the documents and tried to run, police officers swarmed in. Seeing a few familiar faces, Jason knew they weren't getting away today.

Outside the company walls, countless heavily armed police officers had surrounded the Guardians of the Galaxy. The flashlight beams shone on them, causing everyone to squint.

The group was brought back to the Cat Getan Police Department. James Gordon was enveloped in a low-pressure atmosphere, his face as dark as the bottom of a pot.

He slammed the table, and the people pinned against the wall flinched. Not long after, Williams appeared at the police station, carrying a fishing rod.

"Good evening, Sheriff." Williams' attitude toward the police was actually quite good. He shook Gordon's hand firmly and said, "I was just fishing when I heard someone was causing trouble at my company. Where are they?"

Gordon gave him a look. Williams turned his head and acted as if he had just noticed Robin and the Guardians of the Galaxy.

"Damn it... it's you lot! Sheriff, I must tell you, they were causing trouble at my construction site during the day, and I didn't expect them to be so bold as to trespass on my company property. You must make these lawless little brats pay the price!"

"These people..." Gordon looked at the Guardians of the Galaxy and, after a moment of hesitation, said, "They are guests of a very famous psychology professor here."

"Then do you not intend to handle this impartially?" Williams leaned forward slightly, staring at Gordon from above his eyes.

"If you insist, I can do so, but don't say I didn't warn you. You might not succeed in getting them into prison, and if you try, you might encounter some trouble beyond your capacity to bear."

Gordon was as tactful as possible. In reality, he really wanted Williams to open his dog eyes and see if there was any point on these people—from the clothes they wore to the weapons they held—that looked like they were from Earth. Was it a joke to throw them into prison?

Even if they could barely stay here for a night, could they stay in prison for a lifetime? He could handle the law impartially, but did no one consider the feelings of the prison?

Besides, these people didn't enter Williams' company; they were just making noise on the street and hadn't caused any actual loss. Getting them community service would be decent. If he insisted on them going to prison, he'd have to start with the jury, but if he played dirty first, the Professor wouldn't be polite.

As for the two who actually entered the company, one was a Wei En, and the other was Schiller's prized student. If he let them go to jail, the Cat Getan Police Department would never have a peaceful day again.

Williams understood Gordon's subtext. He was clearly very experienced and pulled the Sheriff into a side room, holding his fishing rod and saying, "Listen, James—I can call you that, right? I'm a businessman and don't want to cause trouble, but they've provoked me again and again. I can't just let them off without a lesson, can I?"

He took out his phone, flipped through a few photos, pointed at the contract clauses, and said to Gordon, "I acquired that land legally and in compliance with regulations. Even if that house really belongs to Bruce Wei En, can he disregard the law?"

"If it really belonged to Bruce Wei En, I wouldn't be warning you," Gordon said irritably. "Unfortunately, the person living there is Schiller Rodriguez. He won't talk law with you."

"He will, Sheriff. After all, he's a renowned psychology expert and a professor at Cat Getan University. He's a man of status; he absolutely wouldn't do something like inciting others to commit violence."

Gordon sighed and asked, "What do you want?"

"Now that things have reached this point, I don't want to be too aggressive, but I can't let these little brats go without a lesson. I'll find a friend to mediate. You do us a favor, how about that?"

Gordon weighed it in his mind. After all, this wasn't a bottom-tier brawl; both sides were prominent social figures. Clearly, there was no need to go to court if private mediation could work.

If it didn't involve Schiller, Gordon would have agreed long ago. But he was truly afraid that Schiller had already set his sights on Williams. If that were the case, letting Williams continue to contact Schiller would mean he'd eventually end up hanging in the police station.

Thinking of the last guy who ended up hanging in the police station, a slight chill rose in Gordon's heart. He really didn't want to witness the birth of another work of art.

So he asked, "Who can you find?"

"I have a pretty good relationship with the boss of the Cobblepot Group. He's a very likable young man. I can give him a call."

Gordon frowned. He felt Williams had come prepared. Cobblepot and Schiller had a quite good relationship. If Williams could really reach Cobblepot, this matter would be a sure thing.

"Fine. You can go back first. We'll meet at the police station at 9 AM tomorrow. Don't be late."

Williams nodded.

Gordon glanced at the group squatting in the corner and waved his hand, signaling his subordinates to take them to the detention cell. Whether they could be bailed out would depend on tomorrow's negotiations.

Once in the detention cell, Dick turned on his phone and gave an "OK" gesture to the others. Everyone immediately breathed a sigh of relief.

Soon, a portion of the data was transmitted to Dick's phone—it was sent by Helena and Aisha.

It turned out they had split into two groups. The Guardians of the Galaxy, along with Dick and Jason, went to Williams' real estate company to make a scene and draw the police to that side.

Helena, Aisha, and the New Warriors team secretly infiltrated the Ward-Lade Construction Engineering Group to see if there was anything fishy about the company.

Williams thought he had caught the thieves infiltrating his company, so he would naturally relax his vigilance and might not go to remind Ward-Lade to strengthen their defenses, making it easier for Aisha and Helena to find clues.

Moreover, from some of Williams' performances, Dick deduced that this guy was targeting them—or more accurately, targeting Schiller. These crazy teenagers who acted recklessly were just handles Williams was using to deal with Schiller.

He intentionally started construction right next to Schiller's house while he had guests, provoked them from the moment they met, and let these teenagers get hot-headed and commit the error of trespassing, all so he could force Schiller to come and negotiate with them.

But because there were too few clues, no one knew why Williams was doing this. However, in their eyes, this guy was already a dead man walking.

Dick looked at the data photos on the communicator and was not surprised to see Bob's photo, but he was soon attracted by another piece of information.

"Look at this, you guys." Dick sent the information over, and Jason also noticed it.

This was an income report from about four years ago, recording an engineering payment. But compared to other income items that were recorded in great detail, there was no record of the source of this money.