Chapter 799: The Killing Joke (Part 23)

"There's only one pizza left, but guests from afar are guests, so you eat it." Schiller opened the kitchen valve, heated the pot, heated the pizza, poured two glasses of water, and brought them to the table.

Bruce sat at one end of the dining table, looking at the steaming pizza, but had no appetite. He was now very concerned about the chair that had lost two legs, feeling it was more important than any food.

However, physical conditions are not transferred by willpower. Bruce was indeed very hungry. In the past two days, he had only eaten a little conch and kelp, and could not resist the tempting aroma emitted by modern industrialized food. Then, he still picked up a piece of pizza with trembling hands and put it into his mouth.

Every standard unit in Hell's Kitchen had a refrigerator. The reason this could be achieved was dense ice. The refrigeration method of the refrigerator had changed greatly, the cost became lower, but the freshness preservation performance was better.

Therefore, the pizza tasted very good, just like it had just been baked. Schiller sat opposite, watching him eat. Bruce mechanically stuffed the pizza into his mouth. After eating half of it, he said: "Aren't you eating?"

"No." Schiller replied.

"Then aren't you hungry?" Bruce asked again.

"If I'm hungry, I'll go find something to eat myself." Schiller took a sip of water, turned his eyes away, and blocked the cup in front of his mouth.

Bruce associated this with some bad things, so he immediately couldn't swallow. But at this time, Schiller coughed twice and spat out the water in his mouth.

"God! Why is this water so hard to drink?" Schiller frowned, looked at the water in the cup, and said: "Hasn't a water purifier been installed here yet???"

Bruce drank the glass of water in front of him in one gulp and said: "Yes, but the water purifier is a performance type and cannot guarantee the taste. It's completely different from the independent water purifiers in the wealthy areas."

Schiller frowned, showing a very disgusted expression. He put the water cup back on the table and said: "I need someone to bring me a glass of clean water. This is too hard to drink."

"This is clean water." Bruce replied: "The safety of the water purifier is completely guaranteed, it's just that the taste is a bit worse."

"That's the point." Schiller said while standing up from the dining table.

Then, he walked to the phone in the living room of this house, dialed while saying: "I remember seeing the phone number of the gangs here on the advertisement on the wall when I came in. Let me think... oh, hello, hello."

"... I am Rodriguez, the new tenant here. Today is my first day moving into a new home. I wonder if you could do me the honor of coming to my housewarming party and bringing a glass of clean water as a gift?"

"No, this is not a prank call. I am very seriously talking to you. If you really don't want to come to the party, then just sending me a glass of water is fine."

"Do you think I'm joking? But I really need a glass of water right now. I can tell you the consequences if I can't get this glass of water."

"I have a principle, which is: if I don't have an umbrella, no one is allowed to rain. If I can't drink water, then no one is allowed to drink."

"If you don't send me a glass of water, I will walk 8.7 kilometers southeast from here to the ACE Chemical Plant on the edge of the East End."

"They are currently producing a chemical agent used to make pesticides. The concentrate is still lethally toxic to humans even after being diluted about 1800 times."

"At 11:10 tonight, I will arrive at the northwest gate of the ACE Chemical Plant and lure the bodyguards there away. At 11:30, I will successfully enter the management office of the ACE Chemical Plant and check the location where the chemical agent I need is stored."

"At 11:40, I will come to the chemical plant's warehouse, find what I need, pour it into a bottle, and bring it back to the 'Living Hell'."

"I am not proficient in chemistry, so I cannot estimate how many people will die, but if a large-scale water poisoning incident occurs, you will definitely be blamed. Or, you can also push this matter onto the idiot who made the water purifier."

Schiller glanced at Bruce and said: "Anyway, it was Batman's fault to begin with; he made the finished water here after purification taste too bad."

After hanging up the phone, less than five minutes later, there was a knock on the door outside. After opening the door, a burly man in a suit and sunglasses appeared at the door first, and behind him were four or five bodyguards, each fully armed.

Schiller walked up, shook hands with the burly man, and said: "Hello, Mr. Hans, welcome to my new home, please come in."

Hans didn't move. He looked Schiller up and down, then waved his hand to let the people behind him put down their guns, because he confirmed that the person in front of him was the kind of person he thought.

In Cat Getan, there is a principle everyone knows: if you are in the East End and see someone who looks thin, weak, scholarly, speaks in a pedantic way, and has a gentle tone, there are only two words—run fast.

This is actually a logic that is easy to sort out. Under the public security situation in Cat Getan, if one's strength is not dominant, how did such a person survive?

The "Living Hell" is in a relatively central location in the East End, surrounded by gang territory, and all of them are those prickly characters who are not easy to mess with.

To enter here, there are two ways: either you look like you are not easy to mess with, burly, covered in tattoos, and look like a tough guy.

Or, as long as no one knows you came in, you can come in.

Gothamites are not afraid of those very strong people, because such people can be seen everywhere. Gang thugs, in order to gain an advantage in firefights, are very self-disciplined and make themselves look as fierce as possible.

And those who don't look fierce at all, have a very calm tone, don't use dirty words, and look very easy to bully, yet can still survive in the slums, it shows that they must be using other methods. And this method is quite varied and not easy to pass censorship.

Of course, there will also be some "pigs" from other places who have this style when they first arrive, but the smart ones among them will try to integrate into Cat Getan, use a tough appearance to disguise themselves, and trade for some convenience. And the stupider ones definitely couldn't survive to walk to the "Living Hell."

So, appearing here, what kind of identity he has is self-evident.

And Gothamites are also very clear that using force against such people is not a wise choice. Unless you are sure you can completely crush him to ashes, otherwise, you might see him standing at your bedside and grinning at you the moment you close your eyes tonight.

Looking very serious, he shook hands with Schiller and said: "The water here really doesn't taste good, right? Sir, did you just move in today?"

Schiller nodded and said: "Yes, in fact, I am also here in the East End for the first time. You should be able to tell, I am not a Cat Getan local, I haven't been here long... oh, look at you, I am really too impolite, letting you stand outside for so long, come in quickly."

Hans took a small step back and said: "No, sir, I won't disturb your housewarming party. The water you need."

Hans handed over a bottle of water. Schiller took two steps forward, took it without thinking, unscrewed the cap, took a sip, nodded, and said: "The taste of pure water is still better. Thank you, Mr. Hans. If you encounter any trouble, you can come to me. I am very happy to pay a good reward for this bottle of water."

Hans waved at him and said: "Then, goodbye, sir."

"Goodbye."

Schiller closed the door, drank two more sips of water, let out a satisfied sigh, then took the two cups away to wash them clean, poured a glass of pure water for Bruce, and said: "You really should taste this. It will make the glass of water you just drank feel ashamed in your stomach."

Bruce covered his eyes with his hand and said: "You can't..."

"Can't what?" Schiller looked at Bruce and said: "You aren't going to say I can't deal with gangs, are you? Come on, don't you see what the situation is now?"

"I was suddenly notified to come here to live for a period of time. I am unfamiliar with the place here, and I don't even have a friend I know. I have to find a place to settle down first, meet some people, and then I can find a job, right?"

"Find a job?" Bruce's tone fluctuated. He pursed his lips and said: "What kind of job do you plan to find?"

Schiller sat down, drank water while saying: "I hope this job can provide me with enough food and water, not be too tiring, and preferably satisfy my personal hobbies."

He lowered his head and shook it, saying: "A bit whimsical, right? But people always have to dare to think before they can dare to do."

Bruce had already associated some very terrifying things from his job requirements. He carefully looked at the professor opposite him. In fact, he had never been this close to Schiller before.

This closeness doesn't refer to physical distance, but their situation.

Many times, Schiller was in the role of a teacher. In this situation, he would habitually use language to oppress Bruce to gain the initiative.

And Bruce was usually busy finding opportunities to fight back and regain the initiative. Every time the two talked, they were probing each other, and rarely had a calm conversation.

And now, their situations and statuses were completely consistent. Bruce could also observe Schiller more carefully.

Then he discovered that some of the professor's behaviors were indeed a bit weird. For example, every time he put down the water cup, he placed it precisely at the same point without the slightest error. The octagonal water cup always faced him on the same side.

Schiller would deliberately stare at the water cup when putting it down to ensure it was placed correctly.

At the same time, many of Schiller's movements were actually not smooth, appearing a bit stiff. Bruce discovered that the landing point of his eyes was wrong. He followed his gaze and then discovered that Schiller seemed to be counting the floor tiles.

Bruce carefully recalled the scenes in his memory and discovered that this wasn't the first time Schiller had done this.

He had actually always had subtle differences from ordinary people. This difference didn't refer to his ability to turn into gray fog or mind reading, but that he would show differences from ordinary people when performing certain daily instinctive actions.

This didn't look like obsessive-compulsive disorder, because he didn't have pathological compulsive behavior; it was more like an instinct and a naturally occurring habit.

At this time, Bruce recalled that he seemed to have heard from Victor that Schiller was an autistic patient, and a famous high-functioning autistic patient.

Savant syndrome, a special mental illness where patients show extra genius in some aspects but have cognitive impairments in others.

If Schiller had cognitive impairments in some aspects... Bruce didn't need to think to know which aspects they were. Simply put, it was every aspect that had anything to do with people. ===== CHAPTER 800 =====

If Shiler had cognitive impairments in certain areas... Bruce didn't need to think to know which areas those were; simply put, it was every area that involved being human.