Chapter 4476

Victor nodded. Gotham's culinary culture is quite rich and colorful along the entire East Coast. Because it's by the sea, many people come from fishing families, especially lower-income households. During fishing season, they spend months on their boats without going ashore. So they have the habit of drying cured meats, sausages, and salted fish. These preserved meats can last longer and are well-suited to the damp environment on board, making it convenient for them to cook on the ship.

When they entered the villa, they saw various cured meats hanging by the windows, and almost every window on the first floor was like that, blocked by all kinds of meat and miscellaneous items, rendering the windows useless. It wouldn't make sense for the second floor to be clean and tidy.

But at the time they saw the scene, and in the photos taken now, there was nothing on the windows.

You have to know, in this kind of shared accommodation, it's not that whoever's room is by the window gets to claim the window. Even if Chick's mother didn't have the habit of drying cured meat, he couldn't stop others from doing so, otherwise it would violate the collective survival rules, and he might be kicked out. So it's strange that nothing was hung on the window.

"Did Chick take them down? Because he wanted to perform?" Victor asked.

Shiler nodded and said: "But the problem is, he might only have realized this after putting the rope around his neck. Imagine this: he had everything ready, but when he went to sit on the windowsill, he found that the salted fish covering almost the entire window would directly poke his leg, the sausage would hit his head, and the miscellaneous items placed outside the window would be even worse. This would completely block the lower view, making it impossible for anyone approaching to see him."

Victor couldn't help but cover his head. Shiler turned to look at him and said: "You can't expect too much from ordinary people, especially Chick. He's not good at refining and long-term planning; most of the time he acts on impulse, having a good idea and immediately putting it into practice. And only when he reaches the final step does he realize the first step was flawed."

"Alright. So maybe he slid down?"

"Yes. Untangling the complex lines and moving the miscellaneous items wasn't as simple as he thought. He might have tried midway to first remove the rope around his neck, but he doesn't know how to tie any knot except a dead knot. The knot on the curtain rod is exactly the same as the one around his neck, which proves this point. Tying and untying knots is difficult for him. So he gave up, thinking only the last bit remained, and once he finished that, it would be done."

"And the sudden drop in temperature and snowfall made the window frame very slippery." Gordon spoke up: "He might have slipped while carrying the outdoor items back into the window, not sitting firmly, and just fell down."

"Didn't anyone notice?"

"Maybe it was just that no one was off work then. But more likely, the snowstorm reduced visibility, the weather was very cold, and everyone was hurrying home, so they didn't notice anything abnormal on the exterior wall."

"What about the people inside the window? … Oh, wait. The first-floor windows are all blocked, so it's probably hard to see anything."

"Exactly." Shiler said: "After he fell, the second floor couldn't see him. But the first floor could only see his calves and feet, which didn't differ much from the hanging sausages. And since he had hung himself outside the window, his struggling space was very small, and he couldn't make any sound. Moreover, compared to death by suffocation, spinal dislocation—a more likely cause of death—might only take a few seconds."

"God." Victor made a cross on his chest and said: "Perhaps it was still my fault. Shiler, you're right; back then we should have been firmer, let him know this trick wouldn't work. This kid wouldn't have taken such a risk."

"What about Fanny?" Shiler lifted his eyes and asked Gordon.

"You're right again, great detective. Pelota killed her and tried to frame Milos for it. His initial statement, and your speculation about Milos breaking in to kill her, were basically consistent—Milos somehow bypassed Brainiac's surveillance, went out in the middle of the night, killed Chick, and then, seeing Jenna, worried she had seen him, so he went to silence her."

"Actually?"

"Milos never went out in the middle of the night. Pelota used Jenna to provoke Fanny, tricked her into sleeping in Jenna's bed, then stabbed her to death with one knife."

Gordon flipped through the stack of photos, pulled one out, pointed at it, and said: "Look here, the blade is facing the victim's face. This is Pelota deliberately reversing the blade's direction to stage it as if someone came in from outside to kill. The motive is also similar to what you said—she wanted to enter the chemistry department, Fanny was her obstacle, so she just killed her."

"Even, she would take Milos away from Chick's side, just to murder Fanny and frame him for it. All of this was her direction."

"A standout of the new generation." Shiler commented.

Victor, however, still looked somewhat sad. Even until they returned to Shiler's office, Shiler had just stepped through the door when he shouted: "Brainiac, two cups of hot tea, no sugar, thank you."

The kitchen machine emitted a faint humming sound. Shiler took off his coat and suit jacket, walked over to sit opposite Victor, and said in a tone similar to a lyrical, undulating intonation: "I feel deeply sorrowful, even when I count up these past moments when I've been so sorrowful, and then confirm this is absolutely unique. My student is innocent; he shouldn't have died. But Milos and Pelota are both immature, they're barely twenty, truly too reckless and impulsive. I don't think they have full behavioral capacity, and in these cases, I am the only mature, prudent adult, yet I failed to prevent the tragedy. This is actually because I was too soft-hearted, not firm enough. Victor Fries, perhaps Rodriguez is right. The Land of Gentleness, Heroes' Mound. Your life has been peaceful for too long, to the point that you treat compromise and tolerance as habits, forgetting the daily shadows this dark city has not yet escaped, forgetting the most important survival law in Gotham..."

"Enough." Victor turned his head away and said.

"How much is correct?"

"Except for your self-praise, everything else is correct." Victor took a deep breath, walked over, picked up the hot tea, placed it in front of both of them, then said: "Do you think I should write this part in?"

"Of course, as my cold contrast."

"You're not cold-hearted; regarding this, I admit I was wrong. Often, surface-level gentleness and tolerance don't solve problems." Victor rubbed his face hard: "Young people are exactly at the age when they need strict warnings. I have a bit of understanding why they fear you so much, yet the psychology department has never produced any troublemakers."

"That's actually just because they have the ability to keep things from blowing up." Shiler said: "The psychology department, especially my students in the psychoanalytic direction, are not ordinary people. They don't need to stir things up to this extent to solve problems. But similarly, their way of solving problems is also..."

"Ding-ding! Ding-ding!"

"Brainiac, you're not a phone." Shiler turned his head to look at his phone and said: "If you have something to say, you can say it directly instead of playing a ringtone."

"I think this would be more polite." Brainiac said: "After all, I want to get some screen time in the upcoming《Rodriguez Case Files》, and I believe acting with gentlemanly conduct is important."

"Then what should we call you, Mrs. Brainiac?"

"I have no gender, so male and female titles are both acceptable, but I confirm I have no marital history. Perhaps 'unmarried' would be the appropriate term."

"Get to the point." Shiler remained unmoved.

"Pelota is dead."

Victor snapped his head around. Brainiac paused for a moment before continuing: "After confirming the killer, the police want to hand her over to the judicial process. This serious crime does not allow bail. During the judicial process, he must remain detained. GCPD's detention center heating equipment is currently being upgraded, so she will be transferred to another detention facility about 13 miles away. During the transfer, a car accident occurred, the vehicle flipped completely. The driver and police all fell into unconsciousness. When they woke up, Pelota was already dead."

"Not dead from the car accident?"

"No."

"What about your cameras?"

"They were all damaged together. Only the footage from the moment of the accident was retained, but how Pelota died wasn't captured."

"Has anyone told you?" Shiler stood up and asked: "As an electronic life, your camera quality and quantity even can't compare to Batman's."

"Being able to be compared to Batman is my honor, especially in this regard."

"The emergence of another case has ended my sorrow. I must say, three murder cases appearing in one night, still involving several interconnected people, is a 'spectacle' that could only be seen in the previous era. Now I must admit, I am the one more interested in murder cases, Rodriguez is not. He always sits in the car pretending to nap. Now I'm confident he hasn't been weaving any case context in his mind, while my brain has already been filled with the upcoming case. Why exactly did Pelota die? Who killed her? Is this chain of murders a coincidence? 'No.' Rodriguez's mind-reading ability kicked in again. He answered my inner question. And when I pressed him 'How do you know,' he just silently pointed at the sky."

Victor looked out the car window toward the outside, but saw nothing abnormal in the sky. Shiler then reached out and tapped his own watch. Victor glanced at it, then widened his eyes.

"It's already 7:30???" Victor said in disbelief: "Is your watch broken?"

He pulled out his own phone, glanced at the time on it, and found it was still 7:30. This confirms Shiler's watch isn't broken, because Brainiac's timing is definitely accurate.

In winter, it's indeed true that dawn comes later. Judging by Gotham's location, the latest sunrise of the year is roughly now. But usually, it doesn't exceed 7:20. That is, it should already be daylight now.

However, ten minutes have already passed since sunrise time, and the sky is still pitch black like ink, with not the slightest sign of brightening.

Long ago, when Gotham was always covered in dark clouds, this scene was very common. Because the clouds were too thick, when the sun first came out, it couldn't be seen, and sunrise time was delayed by about an hour. In winter, it was only around eight or nine in the morning that it barely got light.

Victor looked up at the sky. Possibly due to the snowfall, the cloud layer remains thick. Yet, through the gaps in the clouds, one could still see that the sky has not brightened at all, still dark and gloomy, making people inexplicably feel anxious.