Chapter 4492: The Blackest Night (27)

Looking at this red-haired lady again, Schiller could still see traces of many familiar people on her face. In the past, she leaned more towards the cold and stern temperament of Black Widow, but now, she was more like Pamela, looking much gentler.

Brainiac—who had no physical body, but according to him, he had carefully dressed up his code—spoke: "Welcome, lady. It's a pity to invite you over in this situation. Such a big mess is not common, right?"

A certain light flickered in the Super-Body's eyes, and she seemed to be exchanging some data with Brainiac. After a long while, she sighed softly and said: "He is really... bold."

"What do you mean?" Brainiac asked.

"He shouldn't have approached Cat Getan." A glimmer of wisdom flickered in the Super-Body's eyes. Schiller observed her and found that she was indeed different from electronic lives like Brainiac, but also different from Jarvis. She was not "anthropomorphic," but like a brand-new life, with a mystery and ethereal temperament that humans didn't have, just like the "sages" in some myths.

"He possesses the power of death, so he is the one who should not have come to Cat Getan," the Super-Body said. "Here, he cannot define death."

"Excuse me, lady?"

"Why doesn't the Joker die?" the Super-Body asked, but she didn't seem to expect anyone to answer, so she answered herself: "Because his death has been deconstructed into an absurd performance, just like an actor on stage, shot by a gun, and then crawling up to take a bow while giggling. Everything is framed in the category of artistic conception and philosophical discussion, so life and death can all be treated as drama. Compared to the madness of Cat Getan, death is too light."

"A very novel view, lady," Schiller opened the door for her and said, "It's also the first time I've heard someone interpret it this way. Would you suggest explaining it in detail?"

The Super-Body seemed to think seriously for a while, then said: "I'm not interpreting, I'm just seeing all this. The soul of this city says so."

Then she looked at Schiller and said: "Just as you can read the human spiritual world, I can see the spirit and temperament of these abstract concepts. Just as I can also hear the Earth saying she is a bit cold."

Schiller's movements paused slightly. He now understood a little why many people thought he had mind-reading skills; after all, compared to believing this was a discipline, it was easier to understand it as a superpower.

He was of course unable to understand the Super-Body; at least the Cat Getan in the universe he was in had no city spirit, otherwise the gray fog would have told him long ago. But the Super-Body's interpretation of Cat Getan was unique and accurate, not at all like she was here for the first time.

The question of why the Joker doesn't die has been discussed countless times by countless people. But the Super-Body's view was still relatively novel; she believed that in Cat Getan, the concept of death had been changed from "real death" to "story death."

Compared to a human without any attributes, the Joker, because of the important role he plays in the play, has become more like an actor. An actor will never truly die; they die in one story, but will soon appear in another story.

To some extent, this can also be considered an understanding of breaking the fourth wall. The main reason the Joker doesn't die is that Batman's comic story needs a villain, so no matter how many times he dies in the story, as long as the comic needs him to appear, he will crawl up again.

This is already the closest reason to the truth that characters in comic stories can understand, which can be called hitting the nail on the head. Schiller had a premonition that it would be difficult for Brainiac to chase the Super-Body.

"Let me see the corpse," the Super-Body said. "I can use the power of death to understand the meaning of the abstract concepts behind it."

"There are many corpses," Brainiac said. "Broken ones, unbroken ones, and there should even be some that are moving. Which kind do you want to see?"

"There should be more living remnants, right?" the Super-Body said.

"The problem is that I can't distinguish which one it is. Can you distinguish it?"

"I'll try," the Super-Body nodded. "Take me to the largest shelter, I think I should be able to do it."

The Super-Body went to Metropolis, and Schiller didn't follow them. Because he knew that the Super-Body could provide help elsewhere, but this mess in Cat Getan couldn't be solved by mind-reading or similar superpowers.

"My god, have you heard?" Victor walked into the office, took off his coat, exhaled a cold breath, and said, "Thirty homicide cases in total, 'Scotland Yard' is already crazy busy."

"Most of them are meaningless," Schiller stared at the tablet. Victor leaned over to take a look, but it was just a plain recipe.

"Why are you looking at this? Is it to add a gourmet persona to yourself?"

"'Moriarty's' war letter," Schiller replied without raising his head.

"What?"

"This is a community that uses ciphers to communicate, and the main members are serial killers and prey who think they are serial killers. Just now, 'Moriarty' sent an invitation to everyone."

"What invitation?"

"Hunting detectives," Schiller put the tablet aside, picked up his phone, and said, "Don't forget what he does. Isn't a criminal consultant someone who hides behind the scenes and incites others to find trouble for detectives?"

"There really is such a person," Victor sighed. "I thought you said detectives couldn't be murderers or something, just to coax me."

"Is your impression of me a bit too..."

Victor looked at him and held out a hand to stop what he was saying: "If you want to say that this is my stereotypical prejudice, at least think about why there is such a stereotypical prejudice, okay?"

"You are truly the most mean-spirited Watson in the world."

"That's to match the most mean-spirited Sherlock Holmes in the world," Victor said without showing weakness. "You just broadcast my inner voice to the whole world, and you still have the nerve to blame me for having prejudices against you?"

Schiller put down what he was holding and walked to the kitchen. Brainiac had already prepared food, just some simple sandwiches, but now he couldn't ask for more. He heated the sandwiches simply and brought them over. Victor looked up at him and said: "Then what do you plan to do?"

"What do you mean what to do?"

"He has already issued a war letter to you."

"What do you think I should do?"

Victor thought for a while, then said: "Of course, first solve those little minions who popped out, and then strike hard at the criminal consultant hiding behind the scenes."

"And then jump off a cliff with him?"

"I'm serious," Victor raised his voice. "There are at least a dozen serial killers active in Cat Getan now, once that 'Moriarty' points the clue to you..."

"Do you think he wants those people to kill me?" Schiller smiled and said, "He's not stupid, he wouldn't do that."

"You said he would cause you trouble."

"He will let those serial killers imitate my crimes."

"Cough cough cough cough!" Victor almost choked on the sandwich.

"This has many obvious benefits," Schiller picked up a sandwich and said, "From your perspective, it's a duel between a detective and a criminal, but in reality, it's still a duel between criminals and criminals. As you said, the stereotypical prejudice brought about by some of my past behaviors is not so easy to eliminate."

"As long as one case is judged to be mine, Brainiac can accuse me. If Brainiac shields me, his fairness criteria will be questioned, and it will be easier to cause chaos. Although in my opinion he won't shield me, no matter what happens, the mastermind won't lose."

"Too insidious," Victor said. "Can he imitate it?"

"Hard to say, I have had direct contact with him, and he is also a master of psychology."

"Wait, could it be..."

"Highly likely to be the resurrected Hugo Strange."

"My god," Victor took another bite of the sandwich. "But he died many years ago. He also knew you from that time. Don't tell me that after so many years, your technique hasn't had any iteration or improvement..."

"This isn't some kind of science and technology," Schiller said helplessly. "A person's spiritual core cannot be easily changed. Extending to the art and philosophy he expresses, they all have consistent characteristics, almost as conspicuous as a business card."

"But Brainiac won't convict you just because of some art and philosophical style," Victor said disdainfully. "You have to get some physical evidence. I've been following you, I can provide you with an alibi, he has no chance..."

Before he finished speaking, Victor's phone rang. After he picked it up, Jenna's tone on the other end was a bit anxious.

"Professor Fries, are you back?"

"Yes, I'm at Cat Getan University, what's wrong?"

"You probably need to come to the pier."

Victor stood up and said: "What's wrong? Did you have any problems there?"

"Uh, it's hard to explain, you really need to come over."

Schiller put down the unfinished sandwich. Victor turned to pick up his coat, he shook his head and said: "Truly not a moment of peace. Don't let me catch that 'Moriarty', otherwise I will definitely let him see my marksmanship."

"It seems someone has already seen your marksmanship in advance," in a house on the edge of the pier area, Schiller stood in front of an ice sculpture and turned to look at Victor.

Victor covered his eyes hard, almost roaring hysterically: "Who froze her here?!"

"Sorry, Professor, but it looks like... it seems to be you," Jenna said with a difficult face.

"It was like this when we came over," Tim said. "This person is Mrs. Jerita. We learned information about Jerita, the victim of the first murder case, from Alberto, and learned that he still has a wife, who might be an important witness, so we rushed to their residence. But there is only this ice sculpture here."

Schiller looked at the ice sculpture from head to toe. The ice sculpture was a middle-aged woman, looking about 50 years old, not very well maintained, so she was a bit old. There were traces of heavy physical labor on her body, and there seemed to be needle pricks on her fingertips, as if she was engaged in sewing work.

Her body was leaning back slightly, and her expression was a bit terrified. I don't know how long she had been frozen in the ice, but she must be dead.

This ice didn't use dense ice, otherwise it wouldn't have caused death. But this was indeed Victor's technology, to be precise, the ice-making technology used when building the cold storage back then.

Back then, Cat Getan vigorously developed the logistics industry, and because of the previous freezing of Cat Getan, there were many natural ice cellars underground. The gangs took advantage of the situation to build cold storage, Victor's value rose again and again, and all the gangs in Cat Getan kissed up to him.

Some of the cold storage technologies used at that time were not that advanced, because after all, it was for commercial use, and costs had to be considered. The cultural level of Cat Getan at that time was still prenatal education for everyone, and the machines had to be simple and easy to use, not too complicated, and maintenance couldn't be too frequent, otherwise they would be troubled by gangs. So the low-temperature machines designed by Victor during that period were mostly large in quantity and durable.

Victor walked up to check it out, then rubbed his temples and said: "It seems to be a quick-freezing device installed in the cold storage. This thing was made by me improving the quick-freezing devices on the market. I really don't have any impression of how many versions there are and how they are used. How could she be frozen by this thing?"

Suddenly Victor remembered what he and Schiller had discussed before, as long as Schiller stayed with him, he would have an alibi, and those copycat crimes would be useless. But what if he was also an accomplice suspected of murder?

"Tell me an assistant can't be a murderer." Victor looked at Schiller.

"Sorry, there is no such rule, in fact, this is quite novel. Don't you really consider adding it?" ===== CHAPTER 4493 =====