Chapter 3492: Research on Cats and Dogs (Part 51)

In the evening, Schiller drove to Cat Getan Airport. It had been renovated three years ago, and although the overall layout hadn't changed, it at least didn't look so dilapidated anymore.

He came to the arrival channel and saw a little boy led by two flight attendants: short black hair, skin slightly reddish, small freckles around his nose, and uneven tan lines on his neck. He was wearing a red sweater with a fake shirt collar and was sturdier than children of this age group.

"Hello, is this Billy Batson?"

Schiller handed his driver's license to the flight attendants. After repeated verification, the flight attendants handed Billy over to Schiller.

Throughout the whole process, the little boy kept his head up and stared at Schiller, but didn't speak, looking a bit timid, but couldn't help but keep looking around.

After the flight attendants left, Schiller patted his head, supported his shoulders to let him walk closer, then squatted down in front of him and said: "Are you Batson? From Wisconsin?"

Billy nodded, opened his mouth, and quickly closed it again.

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing. You're the professor Dick and the others mentioned?"

"Yes, Schiller Rodriguez, nice to meet you," Schiller extended a hand to him.

Billy looked at the hand, licked his lips, and then reached out to shake it lightly.

"What's wrong?" Schiller asked. "Dick told me you were a very lively child. Why do I feel like you're a bit scared?"

"I... this is my first time flying," Billy pinched his trouser seams with both hands, his eyes turned to the side, and then said, "And this is my first time in a big city."

Schiller sighed and said: "The flight attendant told me you were a bit restless. You didn't think about flying directly out during the flight, did you?"

Billy looked at Schiller innocently. From his clear eyes, Schiller could tell that he had absolutely thought about it, and might even have put it into practice.

"The plane window couldn't be opened," Billy said. "I tried, but I couldn't do it."

"Do you know what the consequences would be if you opened the plane window?"

"Hmm... maybe I could stick my head out. Or maybe wind would blow in."

Schiller didn't refute him. He lowered his head, took Billy's hand, touched his knuckles lightly, and then looked up at him and said: "How old are you, Billy?"

"I'm almost 8 years old."

Schiller's eyes widened slightly, and then he looked Billy up and down again. Billy didn't look like a seven or eight-year-old child at all; his bones were much sturdier than children of this age group; if he said he had already graduated from primary school, absolutely no one would disbelieve it.

"Do you often do chores at home?"

Billy shook his head and said: "My foster family runs a shop in a small town, and I occasionally help move goods. But my mom doesn't let me do that, maybe because she's afraid I'll break the goods."

Schiller thought of the worst possibility: the magic power old Shazam gave him, although it could turn him into an adult for a short time and he would change back afterward, the process of maintaining the adult physique caused irreversible effects on his growth and development, making his bone age far exceed his actual age.

But this must be concluded after a scientific examination, and telling Billy wouldn't be of any use. Although an 8-year-old child had a certain understanding ability, once it involved old Shazam, the problem would become very complex. Even if he knew, he might not understand the key points.

"Alright, Billy. Dick should have already told you that you will join a new foster family in Cat Getan. It hasn't been found yet; do you have any suggestions yourself?"

Schiller stood up and led Billy out. Billy scratched his head and said: "I don't know either. The social worker said whoever I live with, I live with. Are you a social worker?"

"I'm not. But I know social workers, and I will discuss with them to pick a suitable one for you."

"Alright. But I have to tell you, although my biological parents died in a car accident, there was no compensation. Even if they adopt me, they won't get any money."

Schiller slowed his pace, turned his head to look at Billy and said: "Did your previous foster family care about this issue?"

"I can't really say," Billy thought for a while and then said, "Although they said it didn't matter, I don't think it didn't matter."

"How many children did your previous foster family have?"

"Six."

"How many were their own?"

"Two, the two youngest."

Between a few words, Schiller roughly understood what was going on.

In the United States, there is such a group, which is professional foster families. As the name suggests, they rely on being foster families to make money.

The car accident death rate in the United States is not low every year, and many tragic accidents have created many orphans. There are many orphans who are very young and hold a large amount of parental accident compensation, so there are people who specialize in adopting such orphans and raising them to adulthood.

On the day they become adults, they will ask the orphans to leave home, but they must leave behind a portion of the compensation. The vast majority of orphans will agree. They rely on this to make money.

Actually, this is a business. Since it's a business, naturally, costs must be kept as low as possible. Many foster families directly find a boarding school and stuff the children inside.

Although this is worry-free, it costs a tuition fee, and some remote areas don't have boarding schools. Most are raised directly at home, given a meal to eat, asked to do chores at home, and then asked to pay and get out when they become adults.

Billy clearly belongs to this type. It's not that he's starved, but it's estimated that he's just given a meal to eat; let alone education, even common sense hasn't been taught much. The plane tickets were bought by the Young Avengers.

Moreover, it's probably because they knew Billy had no compensation that their attitude toward him became worse and worse, which is why Dick and the others found a way to get him to Cat Getan.

After all, no matter what, the superhero Shazam he plays has really saved people. Although he also messed up quite a few things, you can't expect a small-town boy of 8 to do better.

To liven up the atmosphere, Schiller started talking about a topic Billy was interested in, which was the Internet. At that time, Shazam was very popular on the Internet, not only having a personal homepage but also a large group of fans.

However, when mentioning this, Billy looked particularly frustrated. He shook his head and said: "A woman came to find me before, and after discovering that I was a child, she didn't say anything more. My website was also banned."

"A woman? Is she black? Amanda Waller?"

Billy nodded and said: "Yes, she seemed to say her name was Waller. She wanted me to join some kind of bureau..."

"A. R. G. U. S.?"

Billy nodded again.

Schiller sighed lightly. Amanda's nose is still as sharp as ever, it's just a pity she lacks a bit of luck. Fortunately, she still has a trace of humanity and didn't force the employment of child labor.

It's not that Schiller has any good impression of Amanda, but he feels that Amanda should be sympathetic to her own kind; banning Shazam's website was to prevent people from discovering that Shazam is actually a child.

Although Billy can transform into Shazam, this ability isn't omnipotent; last time something happened on Mount Olympus, his ability couldn't be used. Once targeted by someone with a heart, it's probably hard to escape a disaster.

Schiller took Billy to the car. Billy was a bit excited, touching here and there, leaning against the car window to look outside, screaming while looking.

Schiller thought, if it were the original him, he would have felt annoyed long ago. But now he already had very rich experience in raising children, just urging Billy not to stick his head out, and then focused on driving.

Billy watched for a while, and then started to become a "ten thousand whys," asking this and that constantly. Schiller answered him as briefly as possible.

It's estimated that he was tired from the flight, and Billy fell asleep before long. He hadn't woken up when the car drove into the garage.

Schiller had no choice but to open the back door and shake him. Billy followed behind him, eyes bleary. As soon as he entered the house, Billy let out an exclamation: "Wow—"

"I've never seen a house like this!!" Billy's head shook like a rattle. Schiller had no choice but to throw the slippers he took out in front of him. When changing shoes, he couldn't stop looking left and right.

Bypassing the entryway, he let out another scream, then rushed to the kitchen, followed by another scream, and then pushed open the back door, followed by another scream.

It can only be said that it's fortunate that the houses in the villa area are relatively far apart, otherwise his neighbors would have thought a murder had happened here again.

"Do I live here from now on?!" Billy jumped and shouted excitedly, "Really? Such a good house?!"

Schiller had to press his shoulders with both hands to make him calm down, and said: "No, this is my house. And I can't adopt you."

"Why can't you?" Billy looked a bit frustrated immediately.

Schiller could see that all his emotions weren't faked but came from his heart. Billy Batson at this time was just a very simple small-town boy, perhaps even simpler than Clark when he was young. Considering his displaced childhood, this was quite rare.

"Because it doesn't comply with the law," Schiller said, "I don't meet the conditions for adopting any child. Thank you for liking my house, but you probably won't live here in the future."

Contrary to Schiller's expectation, Billy just sighed and looked very calm when accepting this fact.

He turned and walked to the kitchen, pointing at the fridge and saying: "Can I open this and see? I've never seen such a wide fridge..."

Schiller walked over to help him open it, then looked down at Billy and said: "Don't you feel very sad?"

"A little. But it's not the first time," Billy shook his head and said, "I've visited quite a few foster families before. Their houses aren't as good as yours, but they were pretty good too."

"They were pretty good to me at first, asked me a lot of questions. But clearly, I didn't satisfy them; they just let us go back and wait for news, and then there was no news."

Schiller opened his mouth, not knowing whether to say lucky or unlucky. There is another type of person in the United States, mainly engaged in human and organ trafficking.

"I'm not dissatisfied with you, and I can also honestly tell you that if I think of a way, I should be able to adopt you, or even if I don't maintain a legal adoption relationship, at least I can raise you to adulthood."

Billy turned around, staring at Schiller with some doubt.

"However, I still can't adopt you," Schiller squatted down and looked at him, "My mental state is not stable enough. Although it looks pretty good now, who knows when I'll become a terrifying murderer, which won't do you any good in your growth."

Billy thought he was joking, grinned, revealed a mouthful of uneven teeth, and smiled.

"It doesn't matter if you don't believe it, one day you will understand." Schiller shook his head.

He was telling the truth. He had no way to enter a relationship, build a family, and raise offspring like most ordinary people, mainly because his mental state was a bit too advanced compared to humans.

Many times it looks like there's no big problem, it's because there's no long-term contact, and it's not intimate enough. Even for Jason, Schiller only occasionally gave a few words of advice, rather than living together for a long time.

Of course, there are examples of long-term contact, please refer to Bruce for details. Although the bond between Batman and Joker played a certain role, Schiller's own mental state also contributed significantly. Since that's the case, there's no need to harm another ordinary person.

Schiller patted Billy's head and said: "Although I can't adopt you, I will try my best to find you a good foster family."

He muttered: "Education should be high, must know how to educate, have a house and car, have a stable source of income, and it's best if there are no other children..."

Schiller suddenly had a flash of inspiration, picked up his phone, dialed a number, and said: "Hello? Victor, I've prepared a birthday gift for you..."

?? Goddess of Mercy sending children

? (End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 3493 =====