Chapter 3560: Edge of Tomorrow (Part 17)

"Rare guest." Victor looked back at Shiler, who appeared at the door, and said, "Don't you always complain that my lab is cold and you don't want to come? Why are you here now?"

"I'm here to remind you to update your cleaning equipment, because we might have a 'big battle' next." Shiler said with his arms crossed.

"Are you reminding me that you're about to go on a killing spree?"

"I don't have the time for that, and we are the logistics group, only responsible for cleaning up the scene."

"That's easy to say. After cleaning up the rehearsal room last time, my back ached for a whole night. Cleaning work is really not easy."

"Think about that 500,000 annual salary; does it feel a bit better?"

"You're too good at comforting people." Victor stretched and turned around, leaning on the lab bench and saying, "Did you read the email the Support Society sent you?"

"Yes, they are becoming more and more like a housekeeping company; they learned the junk mail trick well."

"Two of my students complained to me about them." Victor said with his arms crossed, "What surprises me is that the more troublesome they are usually, the more they dislike them; while those students who are usually law-abiding and follow orders have chosen to retreat or join."

"That's normal. People who are used to following orders don't all deeply realize the significance of order itself. Many people are just disciplined and choose the survival method that requires the least brainpower, so it's inevitable that they have a herd mentality."

"An order appears, and they choose to follow it; and when another order overrides the usual order, they will change themselves and continue to adapt to the new order. This significantly increases their survival rate, so there are many such people now."

Although Shiler said so, there was no contempt or sarcasm in his tone. He continued: "This is a kind of survival wisdom, although it occasionally makes them accomplices to evil, but considering that those who are mavericks are sometimes even more evil, it is really hard to blame them."

"That's true." Victor said, "When a person needs to protect themselves by not showing their personality but by following the crowd, you can't expect them to fight for anything."

"Instead of exploring these philosophical questions here, we should consider something more practical. I guess someone will take action against the Support Society soon. To prevent things from getting out of hand, we need to help them clean up."

"Do you know where the Support Society is? Did Cobblepot's investigation yield results?"

"No, this wasn't investigated." Shiler shook his head and said, "They told me in an email themselves. If you reply to them, maybe they will tell you too."

"Truly crazy." Victor sighed, "In fact, I have never felt the changes in Cat Getan so vividly. The new generation seems to have lost all vigilance, not worried at all that such actions will attract demons."

"The essence of Cat Getan has never changed, it's just that the sunlight creates a peaceful appearance, making people pay too much attention to the shiny things during the day, while failing to see the truth of the night. Those monsters lurking in the depths of the shadows have never gone far; they are just hiding, waiting for an opportunity." Shiler said.

"If you say so, this place can be called a monster's nest. Is this another meaning of birds of a feather flock together?" Victor smiled and said.

"Perhaps you can call this the real Batcave. Bats themselves are symbols of darkness and fear; when they don't inhabit the cave but choose to fly out to do something, darkness and fear will descend."

"Right, compared to the Dark Knight, this interpretation is more in line with common sense." Victor walked behind the lab bench and said, "I got an automatic cleaning agent-spraying cleaning machine from an equipment manufacturer; the cleaning power is very strong. Maybe we don't have to worry about bloodstains on the floor anymore."

"Bring everything, let's go around the old campus."

"They are there? No wonder there was no movement here. But that's good, something happening on the old campus won't affect the football game. That's what you're thinking, right?"

"They picked a good coffin for themselves, why should we delay attending the funeral? Let's go, there might be a good show tonight."

Just as they were about to leave, it started to rain lightly in Cat Getan. However, because the temperature during the day was still okay, the rain wasn't that cold, just slightly damp, making the lush greenery on the new campus look a bit more verdant. Pedestrians in the rain walked in a hurry, and the sound of footsteps trampling on water droplets sounded like another rainstorm.

The car drove around the east side of Cat Getan University's old campus and stopped under a beech tree. From here, one could just see the huge graffiti on the side wall of the art gallery.

The bolt of the side door was a bit rusty, and when the bolt was pulled open, it made some teeth-aching sounds, but it was drowned out by the sound of the rain and didn't attract anyone's attention.

Victor pushed the door open and looked back at Shiler. The globe head under the umbrella was rotating slowly, and looking through the hazy rain lines, it gave people a sense of unreality as if they were still in a dream.

"Should I also design a mask or something for myself?" Victor said in a low voice, "That way no one will recognize me and send me junk mail."

The two of them walked in along the side door and came to the top floor of the art gallery. They pushed open the door to the rooftop and stood on the roof of the art gallery looking down.

The art gallery was the tallest building on the old campus, and from here, one could overlook the rest of the campus. The teaching building next to it was very quiet, and a few moving figures could be vaguely seen.

Victor stood on the edge of the roof for a while and said: "Looks like they are all students from out of town. That's right, outsiders always have a naive fantasy about this place, feeling that their set of things works in Cat Getan."

"Have you heard of the 'Illuminati'?" Shiler suddenly said.

"You mean that urban legend? If they didn't invite you to join, then the status of this evil organization in my heart would have to be greatly reduced."

Shiler laughed and said: "I have never been interested in secretly controlling the world. I mean, the Brainiac Support Society's membership conditions are a bit like the legendary Illuminati."

"You mean you must do a bad thing?"

"To be precise, you must do something out of the ordinary. In psychology, this is called a 'compliance test'."

"I don't understand." Victor said, "Joining this organization is to be the mastermind behind the scenes controlling the world; if you still have to be subservient to others and make a fool of yourself in public, what's the point?"

"Controlling the world is just a slogan. Just like the Brainiac Support Society, do those who are threatened to join really feel that they can gain the status of a lord by welcoming Brainiac and rule even one city?"

"Sounds unrealistic. If a super artificial intelligence also uses backward systems like enfeoffment to govern humanity, I'm afraid it will be very difficult to last long."

"That is exactly the case. All cults are nothing more than this; grand goals are just slogans. What makes others flock to them is the actual benefits this collective can bring them—immediate, non-delayed benefits."

"What benefits can the Support Society bring to its members?" Victor thought while saying, "Brainiac's software can be used by anyone, and there is no threshold. He doesn't seem to favor them either; at least the fact that Harley's criminal evidence wasn't made public proves that he doesn't care about any Support Society."

"Sometimes, benefits don't just refer to extra wealth and power; they can also be basic things."

"Basic?"

"Yes, for example, safety." Shiler said, "If those who don't join are not safe, then gaining safety by joining is like gaining benefits."

"Sounds completely like a scam."

"It is indeed. For ordinary people, all their things are easily deprived, including safety. They have too many loopholes and handles for people to grab, so it's easy to threaten them. The means of threatening their safety and then requiring them to join to obtain basic safety is indeed a scam."

"This sounds like it has big loopholes." Victor said, "What if they can't guarantee basic safety?"

"We will know soon." Shiler looked at the teaching building opposite.

When the sky just darkened, one could see car lights flickering in the distance. Cars were approaching here, as if premeditated, and as if passing by.

Several cars stopped on the side of the road, and the people in the cars didn't move for a long time. Until the sky was completely dark, a few figures could be vaguely seen entering the teaching building, followed by a long silence.

Victor thought he would hear gunshots and screams, but the deathly silence lasted for a long time, until the rain stopped, and there was still no movement in the teaching building.

"What exactly is the situation inside?" Victor couldn't help but ask.

"They won't use guns." Shiler said, "This is a school, not a street block occupied by gangs. Once a gunshot rings out, the police will arrive soon. If there are survivors, the risk of exposure will increase."

Just as he finished speaking, the entire teaching building went dark, and all the lights went out in an instant.

"The power switch was pulled." Victor said, "That's a good way. Most people will lose their vision in an instant of darkness and will be very panicked, making it easier to succeed."

"That is indeed the case. More importantly, if the windows let in light, the movements of people inside the room might be seen; if they are filmed by some camera, that wouldn't be good."

"Will there be any movement?" Victor narrowed his eyes and stared at the teaching building. He felt some screams would come.

But the fact was that there was nothing. If you listened carefully, you could hear some very slight sounds of tables and chairs colliding, but there was no human voice—no screaming, no calling for help, no talking.

"This is one of the benefits of cold weapons." Shiler said, "Human vocalization is too dependent on vocal cords; as long as you can touch the neck, death will come very quietly."

"Should I say a famous teacher produces excellent students?"

"I didn't teach them this."

"Yeah, you just moved up the time of the next group meeting and gave them new thesis revision tasks. This greatly compressed the time they had to deal with this group of idiots, so they could only take such immediate means to solve the trouble other than the thesis."

"This is the power of knowledge."

"No, if the person doing this kind of wicked thing wasn't you, they would definitely take simpler methods."

"What method?"

"Kill this damn supervisor."

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 3561 =====