There was an old record player with a breezy jazz tune, and in front of the display case, Schiller was wiping a crystal sculpture with a piece of suede.

Although he was only doing the cleaning work, his expression was very focused, and from time to time he stretched out his arm to take the sculpture away, admiring it quite seriously, and with the melodious tune, it seemed to be dancing with a non-existent dance partner.

"Schiller looked very relaxed." Hal frowned and said, "It's even more relaxing than when you were on vacation in Seaside City, isn't the hot sunshine in Seaside City as good as the rain in Gotham?" ”

"You can't ask everybody to adapt to the sun." Bruce said with a blank face: "There is essentially no difference between every day being a sunny day and every day being a rainy day. ”

"Come on." Clark clearly disagrees: "Humans are sunshine creatures, and the sun gives us energy. ”

"That's just you." Bruce turned to look at him.

"I don't understand him either, the Batman of this world is difficult enough, if I run into it, I will definitely hide away." Konstantin coughed lightly twice and said, "But Schiller seems to be enjoying it, don't you find out?" He's enjoying it all. ”

"It seems like there's a difference." Clark touched his chin lightly and said, "When he left Gotham before, his mental condition was not to mention how bad it was, and so was Bruce, after staying at my house for a while, Bruce was much better, but Professor Schiller seemed to be getting more and more tired." ”

"Although it has only been a few days, I still feel that Schiller's mental state is much better than when he was in our universe." Clark shrugged his shoulders and said the truth: "He's more energetic." ”

"It could be some kind of chemical reaction between psychosis." Lucifer's voice came.

"Have you ever thought that the kind of relaxed and leisurely life that common sense thinks is actually not normal in Schiller's view?" A sickly voice also sounded slowly: "That's not the law of his life, maybe that's it." ”

"He understands your good intentions and knows that you can get a lot of happiness from that relaxed life, and he wants to share that happiness with him, so he never tells you that he doesn't really like that kind of life." Greed shook his head lightly and said.

"You're doing the right thing." He laughed sickly and low, "Sounds incredible, right?" He likes this kind of life of wits and courage with Batman, and since it is not painful, there is no need to change it. ”

"The question is, isn't Batman in pain?" Clark raised his voice and said, "Isn't he tired enough?" Doing business during the day, patrolling at night, and fighting wits and courage with all kinds of madmen every once in a while, and now there is another madman, oh my God, who can come to save him? ”

"Do you really think Batman is in pain?" Sickly chuckled, and before Clark could reply, he saw that Schiller had walked to the door and opened it.

Appearing outside the door is Batman.

They had seen each other several times today, but they didn't seem to get tired of it, and Batman came again, arriving at Schiller's residence on time after he had finished the first phase of his patrol.

Without hesitation, Schiller opened the door for him, invited him in sideways, and placed the wine on the table.

They sat down again by the window on the first floor, and the light of the street lamps reflected in the Gotham River reflected everything in front of the window in a somewhat dull dark orange.

"It's hard for me to imagine that one day I'll have a conversation like this with the greatest detective in the world." Schiller took a sip of sparkling wine, the dense bubbles bursting on the tip of his tongue, and no matter how much he liked traditional fortified wines, he had to admit that it was more stimulating and refreshing.

Batman didn't pick up the glass, he just stared at the wine in the glass and said, "I didn't expect that I would talk to others about something other than murder." ”

"Knowing I might be a clown?"

"Nope." Batman replied in the negative, and went on to say, "You're not a Joker, you're nothing like him, you're not infinitely chaotic and crazy, you're under control." ”

"Sounds like an insult." Schiller said without giving face: "I admit it, but I must say that madness that is purposefully restrained is not necessarily more powerful than complete disorder, just as Batman always wins over the Joker." ”

"'Always win.'" Batman read the words in his mouth, then shook his head lightly and said, "If I were to others, I would definitely emphasize this, Batman will always win, but I know that it doesn't scare you, because you know me better than I can imagine." ”

"How many times have you lost?" Schiller asked.

"More than you think, and more serious than you think."

Batman's voice always fits all the music well, and his deep voice should be more suitable for a major symphony, but if it is paired with light jazz, it doesn't seem abrupt, but a bit like a jazz harmony.

Schiller chuckled softly, and then said, "You may think that I would ask you to give an example, but I can imagine what you did, you were too concerned with certain rational things, or you cared too much about victory and defeat, and never admit defeat, so that the people you care about suffered." ”

"But it's not the most painful thing for you, it's that they come back to you after experiencing unimaginable pain, although they don't say it, they still love you, they still worry about you being lonely, so they are still with you."

"That's why I said, you're not a clown." Batman's blue eyes were hidden in the darkness, but they appeared bluer than usual.

"The clown wants me to laugh, but you, like other psychiatrists in this world, want patients to cry."

"Crying isn't the answer, but venting and rebuilding motivation is, and maybe it's one of the ways to regain your smile?"

"You must have been through it to be so apt, but what makes you say it all so lightly? Is it the courage that ordinary people don't have? Or is it the objective, rational, and indifferent third-person perspective that you and I have experienced? ”

"Neither." Schiller shook his head lightly and said, "If you can calmly look at your own and other people's scars, it depends not on indifference, but on reconciliation with the guilt in your heart." ”

Schiller's and Batman's voices were slow and low, as if hypnotizing the air, and the audience in the theater felt hypnotized, their thoughts rising and falling with their every word.

Konstantin focused his attention, as if to hear how to reconcile with guilt, and in a way, he needed this kind of secret the most, not only for what Schiller had done to him, he had too many people and things to blame for.

"Do you know why I studied psychology?" Schiller first asked a question.

The answer in Batman's mind made him hesitate to say it because it would seem a bit narrow, but in the end he said, "To understand others, to understand what they are thinking, to watch out for them." ”

"One reason, but not the biggest one."

Schiller shook his head lightly, took another sip of wine, and said, "As you deduced, I have also hurt people close to me, and it was a direct injury, and the consequences are very serious. ”

"It was this incident that made me firmly choose psychology, I really wanted to understand the psychology of others, but more importantly, I wanted to know what makes people free from the most extreme fear of death, when they know that they may face harm, they do not run away, but wait in place, like a lamb to the slaughter."

"You may never have thought about what human beings do when they are afraid of death, what a powerful instinct they can do, and they can do anything as long as they are afraid."

"It is often said that humans do not have the fangs and claws of wild beasts, but in fact these deadly weapons are hidden in the human soul, and if they want to resist, nothing cannot be torn apart, especially in the moments before facing death."

Batman was silent, but as if thinking of something, Schiller blinked and continued, "But when I hurt them, they went against their instincts, didn't resist, and didn't run away. ”

"Maybe it's powerlessness to resist?" Batman whispered.

"You underestimate the potential of human beings, think about the images that flash through your mind, does the person who has been hurt really have no chance to resist? Or take a step back, and he doesn't even have the slightest chance to escape and retreat? ”

When this question landed, Batman had already got the answer, of course not, if he really wanted to escape, of course there was a chance.

"This kind of thing that goes against their instincts is what makes me the most curious."

"So have you come up with anything?"

"Love and hope."

"Sounds very old-fashioned." Schiller explains: "It's like what the protagonist says to their descendants at the end of a prime-time TV series, but amazingly, that's what the professionals answer." ”

"The victim's love for his enemies?" Batman doesn't seem to agree.

"No, hatred doesn't turn into love, and if there's something like that, it's the aftermath of abuse, I mean, the hope they have for their loved ones, that the people they love won't fail them and will save them."

"But this kind of thinking only adds to the guilt because their loved ones did not save them, and they were hurt." Batman said.

"But it was this love and hope that brought them back to us, and that hope was still alive and well, and the hurt he suffered did not despair them, because they still had hope that we would be better."

Schiller's voice sounded a bit like string music to Batman, and the tremor when it fluctuated was a little upsetting.

"And the only way for us to live up to their hopes is to try to be better, but if we really can't do it, we don't have to force it, because people who can tolerate such harm and don't despair will love you more than you think."

"This kind of love is not asking you to be what they want you to be, but just the simplest wish you are happy and happy, and if you feel that you don't have to change, then don't change."

"The pain caused by your inner conflict and guilt, they must see it, and they will not want you to be like this, because they have forgiven you in a nobler way, which is to return to you."

"Your speculation of hatred for them is completely narrow-minded and prejudiced, trampling on their nobility, living the belly of a gentleman with the heart of a villain, and wasting their minds."

"That's enough."

(End of chapter)