Chapter 745

On the evening in the seaside city, the sunset is always brilliant. On the streets of the manor district, the lampposts, adorned with intricate vine patterns, are illuminated in golden yellow. As the evening breeze blows, a piece of paper stuck to a lamppost is set fluttering, tracing a graceful arc in the air.

It flies past the mottled walls of time, passes through the spires illuminated by the sunset, follows the iron railings wrapped in patterns all the way down, and finally drifts into the mailbox at the manor entrance, lying quietly at the bottom.

A hand, always wearing a leather glove, flicks the mailbox lock. After opening the door, he takes out the paper. Looking at the content on it, Merkel exhales with some excitement. With the paper in one hand, he pushes open the manor gate with the other and hands it to Schiller, who is eating dinner.

Schiller puts down the newspaper in his hand, takes the paper, glances at it, raises an eyebrow, and says, "What's going on? Is there really a theater troupe willing to come to Cat Getan to perform Shakespeare? And it's 'Macbeth'?"

"Yes, sir. I knew you would be very happy. This is the most famous Angelica Theater Troupe from Metropolis. They are very popular all along the East Coast, and their specialty is Shakespearean drama..."

Schiller examines the paper. This is just a simple repertoire list from the troupe, with the troupe's name, the plays planned to be performed in this city, and the names of the main play and other light comedies written on it.

This simplified repertoire list also has a very Cat Getan style. The main play is 'Macbeth', one of Shakespeare's four great tragedies, which is a play Schiller likes very much.

But unfortunately, the theater troupes that came to Cat Getan before had no ability to perform Shakespearean plays. The vast majority were just after-dinner skits or light comedies, not serious drama at all. Since coming to Cat Getan, Schiller has not seen a single serious play.

"Quick, Merkel, call this troupe and help me buy one... no, buy two tickets... no, no, no. Besides Victor, Lawyer Harvey should also like this play. Buy him a ticket too. As for Commissioner Gordon... you call and ask him if he is free first. And the Godfather, but I think his actions should be faster than mine?"

Merkel takes the simple repertoire from Schiller's hand, smiles, and says, "Tomorrow, the fact that you like Shakespearean plays will spread throughout Cat Getan City... oh, no, perhaps it will be tonight."

Schiller stands up from his chair and says, "Since coming to this city, I haven't been this happy for a long time. By the way, who is their lead actor? Is their backstage open? Can I meet the lead actor?"

"I will ask for you." Merkel puts the chair back in place, turns to walk toward the phone, and then says, "But as far as I know, theater troupes from Metropolis generally do not accept backstage visits. They want to maintain the mystery of the actors."

"That's fine too. Although I know that the characters they play have nothing to do with them personally, and everything should stay on the stage, I still like to communicate with these actors who play different roles. Their state of mind when playing certain characters can provide me with a lot of material..."

Schiller's steps toward the gate are very light. He says, "If you can get the detailed repertoire list tonight, you must help me see which act 'Macbeth' is arranged in. I hope it's after lunch. I don't want it to be like those after-dinner skits, attracting too many guys who only know how to laugh out loud."

Merkel makes a reassuring gesture, and then he sees Schiller pick up his umbrella and walk out of the manor gate. He calls the driver, then gets into the car, passes through the streets of Cat Getan, and arrives in front of the Bingshan Restaurant in the East District.

After he walks into the restaurant, he finds several children practicing carrying trays. Seeing him enter, they retreat a few steps in terror, but then they remember seeing Schiller before and remember that Schiller seems to be a friend of their boss, so they freeze in place, not daring to move.

The leading child carefully puts down the tray in his hand and then runs upstairs. After a while, Cobblepot comes down. Seeing Schiller's figure, he asks with some surprise, "Professor, why are you here?"

"I came to see your restaurant. How is the preparation going?"

"It's almost ready. It can open within a week." Cobblepot walks down the spiral staircase. He straightens his tie and says, "I was just planning to find someone to post notices and distribute flyers."

Cobblepot points to the table next to him. He and Schiller sit on opposite sides of the table. The waiter brings them two glasses of water. Those children huddle in the corner, staring at the two of them.

Neither Cobblepot nor Schiller pays any attention to those children. They are discussing the opening of the Bingshan Restaurant.

"I think those newsboys and vendors should be able to provide you with great help. Just tuck an advertisement into the newspaper or the kraft paper wrapping the bread, and soon, the entire East District will know the news of your opening," Schiller says.

Cobblepot is stunned for a moment and says, "Tuck the advertisement into the newspaper? I was originally planning to have them make a special trip to deliver them..."

"In the East District, that might work, because the vast majority of residents here do not have independent mailboxes. But if you want to promote in the West District, you must never let them deliver flyers separately. That is very rude." Schiller points out the loophole and says:

"Although I also feel that some of these rules are unnecessary, the gentlemen in the West District just feel that it should be done this way. Theater repertoire lists, flower shop lists, and even bakery price lists can be delivered to the mailbox separately, but opening advertisements cannot."

"Because spending time formulating these things and then printing them on a colored, scented piece of paper proves that these shops are opened for these gentlemen, and they will be very happy to purchase some things."

"But if you directly stuff an opening advertisement into their mailbox, stating it's a restaurant in the East District, and attach a menu, they will feel that you are insulting them. If they see your name again, they might think you are a gangster, forcing them to patronize."

Cobblepot nods thoughtfully and says, "That's true. They might want to see some complex dishes on the menu, rather than simple steak or bread."

And corresponding to him is the lead actress of this troupe, known as the East Coast Pearl, Vicky Sandra.

There are rumors outside that they are a couple, but they themselves deny this. Because they often play couples on stage, many gossip newspapers seize this point to make a big fuss, often following behind them, taking all kinds of photos, hoping to dig out their deeper relationship.

When these materials played in Bruce's mind, he found that this had become one of his instincts, recording every piece of information he heard and saw, and then when seeing things related to it, he immediately reviewed it from beginning to end to ensure that he would not miss any important intelligence.

But what is the use of this? Bruce thought, Batman has become a thing of the past. Now, as long as he puts on the bat suit, he will become a street rat that everyone shouts at.

Even if he wants to help others now, the victims will scream when they see him, like seeing a ghost, running away desperately, and not cooperating at all.

Bruce lowered his head and intended to walk forward, but just at this time, he heard a sound of a vase breaking from a room inside the theater, close to his direction.

Bruce instinctively turned his head, looked at the room where the sound came from. The room was filled with warm light, but similarly, the figure blocking the light also became incomparably clear.

A female silhouette wearing a dress swayed to the window, patted the window twice hard, and then slowly fell down.

Bruce widened his eyes. He rushed toward that window without thinking. Standing at the bottom of the wall and looking closely, he found that the place where the woman had just patted left bloodstains, indicating that her situation was very bad now.

This room is on the third floor on the east side of the theater, and Bruce immediately started looking for a passage that could lead to the third floor. However, the theater only has one entrance, and there is not even a back door. If he wants to rush to the room immediately, climbing the wall is the only way.

Bruce found a drainpipe at the corner of the wall, climbed up along the drainpipe in two or three steps, and then jumped from the balcony of the easternmost window to the balcony of that room.

He pulled the closed window hard, making a huge sound. When looking into the window, he found that a figure seemed to be scared away by this sound.

But because his eyes couldn't immediately adapt to the sufficient light in the room, Bruce didn't see what that figure looked like, and couldn't even distinguish whether it was a man or a woman. He could only see his panicked figure and hear a series of fine, almost imperceptible footsteps.

With a "bang", the window was pulled open by him. Flipping over the windowsill and rushing into the room, Bruce saw a woman wearing a dress fall in the center of the room.

Blood spread along her chest, dyeing most of the dress red. Bruce didn't have time to think too much. He rushed to the woman's side and pressed his hand on her carotid artery.

But it was a pity that this woman was already dead.

With a "bang", the door was pushed open. A group of people rushed in. The person leading shouted: "What's wrong? Why is there such a big movement?!"

Suddenly, a scream came. Bruce looked up. In the bright halo, he saw a familiar face. It was Miss Goth. She screamed and shouted: "No! Miss Vicky! What's wrong with you?!"

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Her footsteps rushed up in a panic, but retreated a few steps because of the strong smell of blood.

In the crowd, a gentleman walked out, helped Miss Goth up, looked at Bruce, and said righteously: "Who are you? Why are you here? What did you do to Miss Vicky?"

"Oh, my god! Mr. Wei En!" Another scream sounded. Mrs. Goth walked out from the crowd. She grabbed the Mr. Witt in front and said: "Mr. Witt, you might not know him. He is Bruce Wei En!"

"Mr. Wei En, what are you doing there? Come over quickly. That corpse might be a bit... I mean... these bloods might not be clean. You'd better come over quickly!" Mrs. Goth beckoned to Bruce with concern.

Bruce stood up, looked at the group of people. There were nine people in a row. Mr. Witt stood in the middle, Mrs. Goth and her daughter stood on the right, another fat man stood with them,

On the left was another young man who looked a bit like Witt. Beside him stood the boss of the Angelica Theater Troupe.

A bit further back, another tall man was squeezing forward. He passed through the crowd, threw himself beside Vicky, and shouted: "No! Vicky! What's wrong with you? Call a doctor! Quick!"

"Alex, calm down!" Another older actor rushed up and held Alex.

Bruce saw that the man called Alex was indeed very handsome. He had long hair and was still wearing armor costumes for the performance. When he knelt on the ground, his whole body clanged.

There were two other people, one of whom was holding a makeup brush, looking like a makeup artist for the troupe, and the other was holding a notebook, possibly a prop master.

More than a dozen people filled the whole room. Not long after, the police arrived.

When Gordon saw Bruce, he reached out and covered his forehead. He lifted the hem of his trench coat to the back with one hand, touched the side of his cheek with the other, and asked Bruce: "Why are you here?"

Bruce stood in place, looking down at the corpse, and didn't speak.

But at this time, Mrs. Goth walked forward and said to Gordon: "Mr. Wei En might have come here for the name. After all, every mailbox in our manor district received the repertoire list of the Angelica Theater Troupe..."

"In the circle of drama performances on the East Coast, audiences can visit the backstage before the drama performance. I think Mr. Wei En might have come for this, just like us."

Mrs. Goth explained a long string for Bruce, but at this time, Mr. Witt raised an objection and said: "When we rushed into the room, he was already here. He was the first person to come into contact with the corpse. He has a great suspicion..."

Mrs. Goth desperately winked at Witt. Witt acted as if he didn't see it. Miss Goth cried on the side, Alex wailed on the ground, and others looked incredulous.

Gordon was annoyed by this situation, so he had to drive everyone out of the room, divide them into groups, let them wait in other rooms, and wait for interrogation.

He called Bruce out first and asked him: "What's going on with you? Didn't I say it all? You should be quiet these few days, otherwise you might really be wanted... wait, why aren't you wearing a uniform?"

Gordon then realized that the person who came here was not Batman, but Bruce Wei En. However, how could Bruce Wei En be involved in a murder case?

This kind of situation now completely exceeded his expectations. Gordon knew a truth very clearly, that is, Batman and Schiller, these two people, as long as either one appears at the scene of a murder case, it proves that this case might have big trouble.

Gordon held his temples with a headache. He looked at Bruce and said: "Well, then what did you see? Who killed the lead actress of the theater troupe?"

Bruce shook his head and said: "I don't know."

Cobblepot recalls and says: "When I was very young, my parents also went to the theater to watch performances, but it was very dark there. I don't remember what was performed on the stage at all. I only remember that my father kept talking to the person sitting next to him."

"Yes, this is the meaning of going to the theater. In fact, I already know the plot of many dramas and have watched them many times, but I will go to watch them with different friends and discuss the plot, the actors' performances, the strength of the troupe, etc., with them. There are too many topics to talk about."

"Am I going to watch this play?" Cobblepot stares at the repertoire list and says: "But I have never read this book, nor have I watched this play. If I don't understand the plot at once, how can I participate in their topics?"

"It's better if you don't understand, or rather, even if you understand, you should pretend not to." Schiller takes another sip of water and says: "You can bring up this topic and then take out the questions you don't understand to ask them. They will definitely explain to you very enthusiastically. If you bring up some topics like movies and TV series, it will set off their taste even more."

Cobblepot thinks while communicating with Schiller. Unknowingly, night falls.

Schiller looks down at his watch and says: "It's getting late. I might have to go to Wei En Manor. After all, he won't be as relaxed as you when solving the trouble of those children."

Mentioning Bruce, Cobblepot's complexion becomes a bit bad. He says: "I can even imagine what the situation is like on his side."

When Schiller leaves the Bingshan Restaurant, the sky is already completely dark. Light rain begins to drift in the sky, and the car lights are like neon in the refraction of the rain.

When Schiller arrives at Wei En Manor, Alfred does not come out to meet him. This is not normal. The old butler almost never leaves here.

Schiller walks into the lobby of Wei En Manor by himself. The lights in the lobby are not turned on. Only the firelight of the fireplace is flickering weakly. The firewood has burned out, and the flames are about to go out.

Suddenly, a sound comes from behind. Schiller turns his head and sees Bruce Wei En drunk on the sofa.