"Uh, hey? Is Arkham Psychiatric Hospital? Yes, Brand, it's me, Victor, we met at dinner. ”

"Have you seen Schiller lately? …… Oh, yes? yes, I'm a little worried about his recent mental state, would you like to ask him over? ”

"Performance? It's hard for me to say ......."

In the office of Gotham University, Victor crossed his waist with one hand and the phone in the other, and said to the other side, "Do you know how scary? He can even finish eating in 15 minutes, and he's actually starting to eat broccoli! ”

"Remember that dinner at the Wayne Grand Hotel? He deliberately found the kitchen and shot the broccoli! Before that, he kept telling me that he wouldn't use a gun......"

Victor changed the phone in his hand, the hand holding the phone gradually became younger, and the phone changed from blue to black, Bruce took the phone and said to the other end:

"Yes, Dr. Brand, it's a serious situation, he didn't leave until 9:30 when he knew he was going to have class at 10 o'clock."

"Moreover, he didn't go to grab any other teacher's class because he missed a class, and he didn't mention it all day today, didn't leave more homework, and didn't say that he would take an exam tomorrow......"

"Because he didn't even bother to go to the mayor after being late for the traffic jam in Gotham, I think you're afraid you'll have to get him treatment quickly, otherwise it's hard for me to imagine what else he's going to do......"

"Dr. Brand, I found your number in the Yellow Pages of the phone, I hope you don't mind me disturbing me, I am Mr. Rodriguez's butler, Merkel."

Merkel stood next to the telephone station and said in a low voice: "Can you please come over tomorrow?" …… Oh, yes? Do you really not offer home medical services? ”

"Yes, I understand that the pressure of mental illness treatment in an entire city is on one hospital, and of course you will be busy......"

"Yes, I would have preferred you to make an appointment with Mr. Schiller, for a butler is a little offensive, but he is in a ...... state."

"Yes, that's not all, he didn't even frown once all day today, and I think it's really a bit dangerous."

"Okay, look forward to seeing your invitation in the mailbox tomorrow, thank you very much, Mr. Brand."

The next morning, still early in bed, Schiller stood by the window again, stretched, yawned, and went downstairs after washing up in the washroom.

And this time, Merkel got up earlier than him, and when he saw Schiller coming down, he stretched out his hand and said hello: "Morning, sir, breakfast is ready." ”

Schiller nodded, then walked in the direction of the table, and as he sat down to eat, he found Merkel standing by the door, looking out the window.

"What are you doing standing there? Don't you eat? ”

"Thank you, sir, but I've already eaten."

After Merkel finished speaking, he turned his head to look out the window again, Schiller did not understand what was wrong with him, but he shook his head and did not continue to ask, but lowered his head and began to eat.

After a while, the soft sound of the bicycle bell was heard, and Merkel opened the door directly, strode out, the newsboy waved at him, and Merkel handed him the prepared bread.

The newsboy first took out a newspaper from his arms, and after Merkel took it, the newsboy took out another letter, and he said: "This is an urgent letter, but the delivery fee has already been paid." ”

"You know what? You're more dedicated than a professional postman, I didn't think I could be there this morning. Merkel complimented.

The newsboy snorted and said disdainfully, "Postman? The Postman doesn't survive more than two days in Gotham! ”

"I know all the roads from the South to the West, and it doesn't even take an hour to get here, which is faster than the old men who drive."

Merkel gave him a thumbs up, then took out a few more coins and handed them to Bao Tong and said, "Thank you." ”

"Oh, wait, I can't take this." The newsboy suddenly handed the money back, and Merkel looked at him with some surprise, and the newsboy shrugged his shoulders and said:

"It's not the same now as it used to be."

"You know that Colbert in the Northside, right? The Falcone family had him take over the management of the entire Gotham kids, and he had a pretty good set of rules. ”

"I don't understand the specifics with you, but we don't allow illegal tipping now, and if someone reports it, I will lose my job."

"I don't want to lose such a lucrative errand, I've managed to take over all the work on the West End, and since Copote cleaned up those pesky moms and dads, all the money I've earned is my own, and it would be bad if they didn't take me to do it."

Seeing that Merkel stopped where he was, the newsboy threw the coins back, and when Merkel caught the coins, he only saw his back drifting away, he shook his head, and then returned to the manor.

When the letter was delivered to Schiller, who had just finished eating, he glanced up at Merkel, who gave him a smile.

Schiller picked up the envelope, opened it and found that it was a letter from Brand, he thought about it for a moment, and then said, "I have a class this afternoon, so shall I go over tonight?" ”

"Okay, I'll call Mr. Brand back later."

"Wait, why didn't he just call me over?"

"Because this is a formal invitation, the official invitation is to write an invitation, if it is a private meeting, you can call directly."

"Then I'll call him later."

Merkel rubbed her palms a little embarrassed and said, "Sir, it's better for me to go, because it may not be Mr. Brand who answers the phone on the other side." ”

"Then why don't I just let that guy go to Brand?"

"Then I can call first, and after finding Mr. Brand on the other side, I will let you answer the phone......"

Schiller covered his forehead a little helplessly, stopped arguing, and waited until he arrived at school after eating, it was already afternoon.

In class, Schiller first explained the reason for his tardiness, he thought that some students would be quite complaining, but what he didn't expect was that everyone expressed their understanding, and it was almost like "being late is good, being late is wonderful".

Before class, as many university teachers do, Schiller intended to talk to the students about everyday topics, relax the atmosphere, and close the distance, but everyone sat there tremblingly, and no one agreed to him.

When he started to lecture, when it came to the interactive session, when he began to let the group discussion below, the students below all looked at him blankly.

Schiller was stunned for a moment, and then thought, it's 1988, and it shouldn't be the modern classroom model, and he remembers that the teaching model of D.C. Schiller is completely based on the script, and it is forced to require students to memorize by rote until the melon is ripe.

Schiller looked down at his teachings, and only then did he realize that he was not teaching at Harvard or other Ivy League schools, and the quality of the students here was far from reaching the point of flexible learning, and rote memorization was more suitable for them.

After class, Schiller's mood was not very good, on the one hand, the class feedback was not good enough, and Schiller was not very suitable for this one-sided knowledge output model, and on the other hand, he felt that the people in Gotham were a little weird.

I don't know why, my acquaintances have a special attitude towards themselves, that is, there is a trace of worry in fear, a trace of worry in worry, and a sense of sympathy in addition to worry.

With this in mind, Schiller packed his things and drove to Arkham Psychiatric Hospital after leaving Gotham University.

In fact, he had no idea what Brand was doing when he suddenly called him over, but he felt that a chat with a colleague should help release his emotional stress.

When they arrived at Arkham Psychiatric Hospital, Brand was already waiting for him at the door, the two of them shook hands and hugged again, Brand said, "I haven't seen you for a while, how are you doing?" ”

"It's okay." Schiller gave an ambiguous answer, and then, thinking about something, suddenly asked, "By the way, what happened to that Hugo Strange?" ”

"Oh, he, the last time I found him fainting in the examination room, I carried him to the hospital room, and when he woke up, he became a little crazy, and kept muttering about monsters, impossibilities, and whatever, and attacking the nurses."

"And how did you deal with it?"

"What else can be done? He obviously has a mental problem, probably after a long period of medical treatment, he is being treated, we gave him medicine and some palliative therapy, but the effect is not obvious. ”

The two walked inside while talking, and when they arrived at Brand's office, Brand changed the subject and said, "Don't talk about him, let's talk about you, how are you doing?" I don't think you look good. ”

Schiller touched his face and said, "Really? Maybe I haven't slept well lately. ”

"That's right, Victor called me and said, you seem to be under some pressure lately, do you want to do a mental self-test?"

Schiller hesitated, but nevertheless said, "Okay." ”

Brand took out a document from the drawer, Schiller picked up the pen and began to work on the question, after finishing, handed it to Brand, the more Brand looked at it, the more frowning his brows, he shook his head and said, "Have you encountered anything recently?" ”

"Nothing, right? If I have to say, something did happen when I went to the Met, and by the way, I haven't told you about my experience at the Met, but it's still quite exciting......"

"When I first got there, there was a homicide, and then the agents cordoned off the entire estate, and then ......"

"Wait, Agent??" Brand frowned suddenly.

He stood up, strode to the door, opened it, looked left and right into the corridor, then came to the window, closed all the curtains, and at last sat back at the table, looked at Schiller with some apprehension, and said:

"The group found you again??"

Before Schiller could answer, Brand sighed deeply, and then said, "I said at the beginning that it was dangerous for you to choose this path, right?" ”

"Besides, even if you hid in Gotham, you even ran out and threw yourself into the net, did those agents find out your identity? You shouldn't be seen by them, right? ”

Schiller's eyes widened slowly, and Brand looked at his expression, and said with some hatred:

"When you go to school, you look at Marx, I don't want to stop you, everyone has the freedom to pursue their own beliefs."

"After graduating, you said you were going to Berlin, and I didn't say anything, everyone has the freedom to choose their own path."

"After work, you spent some time in Moscow, and I don't want to say anything, although we have different beliefs, but friends should tolerate each other."

"But what I can't understand the most is that you have already joined the KGB, and you actually regret it!"

"If you don't want to complete the task at all, why should you accept it???"

Brand's words seem to have been held back for a long time, and there was anger in his tone:

"At the beginning, you were suspected by the KGB because of the disconnection with Moscow, and you came to Gotham for refuge, but now, you have taken the initiative to leave Gotham and go to the Metropolitan to participate in another mess?!"

"Schiller, I really don't know what you think, after jumping between so many forces repeatedly, are you really afraid that you won't die?"

Schiller, who was sitting in the chair, swallowed his saliva, and at this time, he and D.C. Schiller in the hall of thinking asked suspiciously:

He ...... Am I sick? ”