Chapter 3253: Bloodied New City (Part 13)

Bruce was also stunned watching the Pale Knight fall.

"You poisoned him?!"

"I'm not that evil." Schiller carried the Pale Knight to the sofa and continued, "Half of the capsules are filled with gray fog."

"That's not evil??!"

"This is just a routine medical examination." Schiller ignored Bruce completely. He let the Pale Knight sit on the sofa, stuffed a pillow into his arms so he wouldn't fall over.

Then he asked the gray fog in his heart, "Did you see the process of the drug taking effect? Is there anything special?"

"This seems to be a special drug for schizophrenia." The gray fog said, "But the efficiency of treatment is very low, and drug resistance develops too quickly. The person who made it shouldn't know pharmacology."

"As expected, can you replicate it?"

"Yes, but it will take some time, and I need some special ingredients. Can you find the pharmacy of a psychiatric hospital?"

Schiller looked up and asked Bruce the same question. Bruce was stunned and then said, "I have completely controlled Arkham Asylum. The pharmacy there has traces of being invaded. I suspect it's Harley. She might have prepared the medicine there."

"I have to go there in a while, but before that, I have to talk to an important character."

"Important character? Who?"

"The Joker." Schiller stood up from the sofa and said, "But this is not a good place to talk. You go get a car, and we'll go to Arkham Asylum."

About twenty minutes later, Bruce drove the Pale Knight, placed him in the chair of the treatment room, and put a straitjacket on him. Schiller personally went over to check the restraint straps and confirmed there was no problem. He said to the gray fog, "Temporarily block the drug effect. I need to talk to the Joker."

No changes could be observed by the naked eye, but the Pale Knight's mouth soon raised. When he opened his eyes, madness reappeared in his eyes.

He struggled and found that he was tied very tightly, so he immediately became angry, waving his claws like a wild beast.

"Listen, Mr. Joker, we don't have much time, so don't waste it on meaningless probing." Schiller, standing behind the observation window, said quickly, "This city is staging a farce. For you, this is the worst situation, because Batman has cheered up again, but you don't have the qualifications to go on stage."

The Joker turned his head sharply to look at him. He seemed to possess the Pale Knight's memory. He stared at Schiller and said, "It shouldn't have been like this. My dear Maria would welcome my arrival."

"Don't mention that stray dog. Still the same sentence, I don't have much time to debate with you, and I don't want to hear any crazy philosophy. I just tell you, I can let you regain this body. After gaining freedom, what do you intend to do to repay me?"

"Do you think you can threaten me like this? Even without you, I will come back sooner or later, and that damn robber who plundered everything will only die miserably!"

"I can let you come back, and naturally I can let him come back. Is such a condition enough for you to talk to me calmly?"

"No, I can't work for you."

"Then it seems there is nothing to talk about."

The Joker shook his head triumphantly and said, "There are many stupid politicians like you. They all want to use my madness to seek profit for themselves, but that makes me sick. I don't want to do this kind of thing."

Schiller said, "Alright, gray fog, control him."

The Joker stopped moving. Schiller walked out from behind the observation window. He held a needle in his hand and used this needle to draw a tube of blood from the Joker's arm.

"Make him faint." Schiller continued, "Let him sleep for two hours. We'll go see if we can formulate a special drug."

The Joker fell headfirst onto the table in front. Schiller pushed the door out and said to Bruce, "You are the last person to see Maria. Find a way to find her."

"What happened?" Bruce was still blank.

Schiller shook his head without speaking, just turning to go to the pharmacy. Bruce chased after him and said, "You have to give me a reason for doing this, right?"

"If you need a reason, then don't do it." Schiller gave up easily. He took out his phone and dialed Gordon's number.

"Hello, Commissioner, how is the negotiation going? Yes, I know you heard the most shocking price in your life, but this is just the beginning."

"No, don't loosen your mouth yet. Next, Batman might contact Nightwing. He has great interest in the GTO... Oppose? He just opposes the GTO not being under his control. With the opportunity to fully master this team, he won't give up."

"I didn't call to give you advice. I just want to ask if you know who held the natural disaster fund in the past?"

"Yes, I know this fund is for wiping Batman's butt, but Batman won't manage it himself. There must be someone who handles it... Ruth? Do you have her contact information? Okay, thank you very much."

Schiller hung up the phone, pushed open the door of the pharmacy, put the gray fog in, found a chair and sat down, and entered a string of numbers on the phone.

"Hello, is this Ms. Ruth? I am the mayor's aide. You can call me Schiller. I have some questions about the natural disaster fund that I want to consult you. Are you free now?"

"Okay, see you in half an hour."

After Schiller hung up the phone, he looked up and asked, "How is it? Can you replicate the medicine?"

"If you are talking about the original medicine he is taking now, yes, I can, but because there are not enough medicines here and its drug resistance is too strong, I can only formulate a week's dosage at most."

"And at the end of the medication period, there will be very serious adverse reactions, and even stomach bleeding. Do you want me to formulate it?"

"It sounds like you have an improved version."

"Yes, the improvement space for this kind of medicine is very large, but I am not professional enough. If you can find a few drug research and development experts, I can go into their brains to see and absorb the knowledge I need."

Schiller

"I'll do my best."

Bruce heard the conversation between Schiller and the gray mist. He said, "That's the crux of it. Based on the traces of this type of drug used by Harley, I can replicate it, but the effect isn't good enough, and it cannot be taken long-term. If we want to improve it, it will require a significant investment."

Schiller turned his head to look at him. Bruce, not understanding, wanted to press further, but Schiller stood up and said, "If you're trash, just practice more."

After saying this, he stepped out of the room.

Bruce chased after him. Schiller said to him, "The Pale Knight should be awake by now. Go comfort him and tell him I didn't poison him; I just used another method to perform a physical examination, and his condition is currently very grim."

"He cannot stay at Wei En Manor any longer; he must be hospitalized. For the time being, he should stay at Arkham Asylum, but don't let anyone know about this. It's best if people think he is still at Wei En Manor."

"Alright, that's simple enough," Bruce said. "But I don't want to stay behind to look after him. I want to go with you to meet that Ruth."

Schiller turned back to look at him, appearing somewhat strange, and said, "You've dealt with her before?"

"Before you arrived, in order to save the Cat Getan municipal government's economy, we made many efforts. There was a full 3 billion in natural disaster funds, which naturally fell within the scope of our efforts."

"It looks like you didn't succeed."

"Yes, because she is a very difficult woman—greedy and evil."

"Greedier than me? More evil than me?"

Bruce was choked up.

"Compared to you, that's just a drop in the bucket."

"Then stay behind, keep a close eye on the Pale Knight, and ask him about the specific details of the Napier Act. You have to understand these things eventually."

Bruce appeared very reluctant. Just as he was about to follow Schiller onto the elevator, he was pushed out. Schiller pressed the close button and said, "If you don't want to work, then don't keep bothering me. I don't have time to waste on you."

The elevator doors slowly closed. Bruce pursed his lips and turned to walk toward the ward where the Pale Knight was staying.

The Pale Knight was already awake. He felt surprised to see Bruce enter. Bruce sat by his bedside, poured him a glass of warm water, and said, "Schiller told me to tell you that he didn't poison you. He just used some magical abilities to help you with an examination and had a little chat with the Joker."

"The Joker? He's back? Did I lose control? Did I hurt anyone?" The Pale Knight sat up straight and asked.

"If you were hoping the Joker would hurt Schiller, then I can only tell you that your hope was in vain. The Joker didn't even touch Schiller, and he didn't even win the argument."

The Pale Knight lay back down on the bed and said, "It seems my choice was correct. He is indeed capable of dealing with that madman."

After saying this, he surveyed his ward, fell into memory, and slowly began, "The director of Arkham Asylum was bought off by the upper class. He would regularly release the lunatics here, letting them run wild and cause destruction on the streets."

"At that point, Batman would step in to stop their criminal behavior, but this came at a price. Often, many things would be destroyed, and then the Cat Getan Natural Fund would have to step in to clean up after Batman. That is how they profited from it."

"I didn't see the director," Bruce said. "Schiller doesn't want the news of you being here to leak out. He wants people to think you are still at Wei En Manor."

"It's always a long time before I can figure out what he's planning. Perhaps this is also part of his plan."

"Do you intend to cooperate with him?"

"Of course. His performance has already proven that my choice was right. He got Batman back on his feet and didn't let the Joker cause any trouble. Although the economic situation is still not optimistic, the public has more confidence in me. This is all his credit."

"You'd better not think that way," Bruce shook his head and said. "Why do you think he is helping you? Justice?"

"Of course not, but no matter what he wants, I can give it to him," the Pale Knight said. "The wealthy people who have always been above this city have taken everything from everyone here, yet they have done nothing."

"Schiller has already brought improvements to this city, so why shouldn't he take these things?"

"I hope you can maintain this optimism when you see the bill," Bruce sighed and said.