"A more terrifying, more extreme possibility." Bruce looked at the surveillance screen, sighed, and said, "Maybe the terrible consequences I told Pamela weren't a joke. ”

"What do you mean?" Lex asked him with his arms crossed.

"If nothing else, Talia should have rushed out of the Rodriguez estate half an hour ago in a mad manner, but she didn't."

"Maybe Professor Schiller has subdued her."

Bruce just glanced at Lex who said this, and said as he tapped on the keyboard: "If it's Professor Schiller, then his response is not to subdue this one, either kill or drive away, and if Talia is really subdued, then it proves that he won't be the professor." ”

"And we still have a worse option." Bruce stopped what he was doing, turned to look at Lex and said, "Talia wasn't subdued, she was attracted. ”

He looked up again to let the cold light of the surveillance screen shine on his angular, and said as if sighing, "If Talia doesn't come out of the Rodriguez estate for another two hours, she's completely fallen." ”

Lex, who was sitting in the office chair next to him, crossed his arms and looked at Bruce suspiciously and slightly dissatisfied, and said, "I don't understand, what are you speculating about, what are you worried about?" ”

Bruce's movements paused, as if considering the need for a detailed explanation, but seemed to think that Lex might be his teammate, so he explained as much as he could.

"If Thalia doesn't come out, it proves that it's probably not Professor Schiller who is in this manor now, you know, he has a lot of personalities, and I happen to have seen one of the most dangerous of them."

"Who?"

"Manipulation."

Bruce lowered his eyes, and Lex saw in his eyes an unparalleled seriousness that was not at all comparable to the deliberately flat face and downturned corners of his mouth when he was Batman.

"Beneath Schiller's tower of thought lies an abyss in which his essential pathologies are not acquired, not even outright evil, but the real Schiller in a time period that we have not been exposed to and cannot understand."

"And the most dangerous thing about them compared to the personalities on the tower of thinking is that their highest need is to satisfy their interests, and there is no concept of morality, law, or even emotion."

Bruce's Adam's apple rolled up and down and said, "They kill or save someone just because it makes them feel funny." ”

"So what?"

"So as long as it's fun enough, manipulation will manipulate anybody and go down to anybody, which means we're going to be his target too."

"But why? We're just ......."

"Because it's fun." Bruce took a deep breath and said, "Usually Professor Schiller thinks about the interesting part, but that's just an add-on, he gets something interesting out of something interesting, and he adds some fun to something that can bring benefits." ”

"But the pathologies under the abyss will be completely disregarded for profit, and it is not within their consideration whether they will satisfy their own needs like an infant who does not know how to feed themselves, and whether they will harm themselves or others."

"Then you might be surprised at how completely his attitude shifted." Bruce sighed and said, "It's as if we're his mortal enemies, and he'll do anything to destroy us, but that's not because we're his enemies, it's just because he finds it funny." ”

"What's the fun?"

"It's funny when he sits in a cool, air-conditioned room and moves our mouths, and we're going to be chased up and down by those who are bewitched by him in the 38 degrees Celsius weather."

"So, what's so interesting about that?"

"You're not the kind of person who would strangle a sparrow with your bare hands at the age of seven, so you'll never understand what's so interesting." Bruce covered his forehead and said, "The sadists rejoice in the suffering of others, and he just wants to find himself a proper leisure time in the sweltering summer heat." ”

"It's like sitting on the edge of your bed in a daze, watching the blades of an electric fan spin, feeling happy from fantasizing about the machine providing you with cool and tiring work until you run out of life and die."

"Sounds naïve."

"To be morbid is to be naïve, to be regressive, and to pursue pleasure without regard for the consequences is in itself the prerogative of infants." Bruce stared at the screen a little distracted and said, "But dare you say you've never done that?" ”

Lex sighed softly, and decided to talk something more practical, so he said, "So we're like circus clowns, doing everything we can to have some fun with him." ”

"Come on, it's more like he's letting the lions out of the circus, and we're just two unlucky guys sitting in the audience."

"But you're his student."

"That's why they won't let me go."

Lex slapped his head on the back and said, "So what the hell have you been doing for the past four years?" ”

"I pretty much understand what Professor Schiller is, but if you're demanding that I understand Schiller, you'd better start working in the lab from now on." Bruce looked up at the ceiling and said, "...... Then find a way to let me live another five million years. ”

Talia wakes up to a dark brown ceiling, hollow lines that look more like a nested labyrinth in the hazy vision, and it is Schiller's voice that pulls her consciousness back.

"Miss Talia, Miss Talia, are you awake?"

Talia felt her cold sweat soaking through the silk sheets, why was she lying defenselessly in a stranger's or even an enemy's house? Didn't even feel how the other person got to her bedside!

She had never seen such a loss of vigilance in her past life, so her thoughts were interrupted for a moment, and at that moment, she felt a cold object slip into her hand.

Talia looked down and saw that it was a glass of ice water, she took a deep breath, tucked her thick black hair back to her head, put the cup on the bedside table and said, "Thank you, but I'm not thirsty." ”

She was really afraid of this Breaking Bad master and apprentice.

Talia thought that Schiller might have drugged her, and even though she didn't drink the tea Schiller provided, she knew that there were many ways to poison her, and that it wasn't a good idea to stay here any longer, otherwise anything she came into contact with could be poisonous.

"I'm sorry I took the liberty of breaking into your room, but I knocked on the door and you didn't answer, I'm afraid something happened to you."

Schiller sat down on the edge of the bed, leaned sideways, looked back at Talia and said, "I have come here to apologize to you, miss, Miss Pamela has just come to me and brought me news that my student Bruce Wayne has stunned you in a lawless, immoral, and even appalling way on his way to date you. ”

As soon as Talia opened his mouth to say something, Schiller pressed a hand on the sheet, leaned forward to look at Talia, and said seriously: "I don't know why you didn't tell me about this when you came to see me, or if this is actually a worse signal, you know what he did, but you don't care." ”

Talia kept her mouth open, then closed her mouth again, her eyes turned to the side, she thought, so why didn't she justifiably accuse Schiller of Bruce?

She couldn't have said that if she had time to get her nails across Bruce's skin in advance, it would have been Bruce who was stunned, right?

Talia speculated that this might be another temptation from Schiller, so she said: "He probably did it because of some of my previous excesses, so I ......"

"For example?"

A hint of confusion appeared between Talia's eyebrows, and she looked at Schiller and said, "Like what?" ”

"What excesses have you done?"

"I called his private number several times when he never left me contact information, half of the time it was picked up by his housekeeper, I went to the places he frequented to look for him, but I didn't find it, I asked some of his classmates and friends where he went, but they didn't know."

"Simply put, you're harassing him."

Talia nodded without scruples and said, "So if he ......"

"Then he should apply to the police for a physical restraining order against you, instead of drugging you to stun you."

Talia was really stunned, she stared at Schiller, wondering if she was having auditory hallucinations.

First of all, even if Schiller wasn't the man behind the world's manipulation, but just an ordinary Gotham man, the word alarm coming out of his mouth was magical enough.

"He has seriously violated the law and morality, Miss Talia, and the only reason why you would be indifferent to this, I can only think that his identity and position threaten you and make you afraid to speak out about what has happened to you."

Schiller sighed softly, as if in pity, and said, "And if even you don't have the courage, it's really hard for me to imagine who else would stand up in such a situation." ”

"This is bad news for me because it means that there's a good chance that my students are harming a lot of people in the same way in places that I haven't been paying attention to, and they're all afraid to speak up."

It happened so quickly that Talia didn't understand what was going on, but the main reason was that Talia was never a victim.

This beautiful and dangerous woman is a villain at all times, she has never been a perpetrator and a perpetrator, crazy and evil, ruthless, dark and terrifying are the comments she often hears.

"I think you might have misunderstood me." "I have long stressed to you that I am not a weak little girl. ”

"He did make you unconscious, didn't he?" Schiller also looked at Talia and said, "Are you pretty sure you won't be in danger during that time?" ”

How can Thalia know for sure? In fact, it was the biggest mistake she'd had in a decade, and it was fair to say that if it hadn't gone awry with their own plans, Talia wasn't sure what would have befallen her.

"I'm sorry, but it wasn't my intention to put pressure on the victims." Schiller stood up from the side of the bed, his shadow covering Talia that made him feel like a sparrow in front of the window.

"Either way, my conscience is telling me that I am afraid that I am partly responsible for my educational failures, and I hope that a good dinner will heal your wounds, at least partially."

Schiller suddenly bent slightly, Talia stiffened to move at the rapid closing of the distance between the two of them, and when she turned her eyes slightly, she saw the translucent fangs glinting in the afternoon sun.

He must have bitten the necks of many people like this, pumping the venom of words into their brains, sucking, nibbling, devouring ......

Schiller almost whispered in Talia's ear: "Please be sure to take part, Miss Talia, and give me a chance to soothe my guilt, and offer precious ingredients for your kindness." ”

After Schiller left, Thalia sat on the bed and was silent for a long time.

She turned her head to look out the window, relaxing with the view and concentrating on her distraction.

(End of chapter)