Chapter 154 Party and Umbrella (6)

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Batman was investigating the identity of the mysterious third person involved in the murder case. He was reviewing surveillance footage on his computer.

During the renovation of Living Hell, Batman installed thousands of cameras, but due to the unusual architecture and dense population, monitoring the area became difficult.

The cameras were mostly obstructed, damaged, or blurry, and the residents had no concept of public space, often covering up corners where cameras were hidden with junk.

Despite these challenges, Batman patiently reviewed the footage and eventually recognized the face of Sal Maroni, who had no connection to Living Hell residents and was therefore suspicious.

Batman decided to talk to Maroni to gather information.

In Arkham Mental Hospital, Copperpot revealed to Schiller that he had used Maroni to kill Fish, but also discovered that he had a strange habit of saving people rather than killing them.

Copperpot had strategically led Fish into a room where Maroni would shoot her, but had also caused a disturbance upstairs to attract Batman's attention.

After Maroni fled, Copperpot pretended to be a victim and was saved by Batman, allowing him to frame Maroni for the murder.

Copperpot revealed that Maroni had kidnapped his mother and forced him to participate in the murder plot, but he planned to testify against Maroni and clear the name of the Godfather's successor.

However, Copperpot knew that he could not negotiate with the Godfather and had learned a lesson about what made him the Godfather, something that little Falcone did not yet understand.

"When The Godfather does something, he must have a legitimate and reasonable reason."

"He had no reason to persecute an inconspicuous and nameless pawn who worked diligently for him, was abused and coerced, and was hospitalized for mental stimulation before admission. He had also solved troubles for him before."

As Copperpot finished speaking, Schiller looked at him, and a shadow from the window beam fell on his face. Although his face was still youthful, one could already see the outline of a future ambitious penguin.

Walking among various powers, maintaining a delicate balance, with interlocking plans and almost perfect execution ability, it is hard to believe that a teenager alone has accomplished all this.

"However, your perfect plan still had an accident."

Copperpot heard Schiller's question, and instinctively turned his head away, not wanting to look straight at the doctor. But Schiller still said, "The accident lies in this genetic disease in your family. Your mother was the first to fall ill, causing you to waste too much time trying to subdue and appease her. Then, at the moment when the plan was about to succeed, your feigned illness turned into a real one. So now, instead of exposing Maroni at the police station, you came here."

Copperpot pursed his lips, as if unwilling to admit it, and then said, "You said that this disease can be cured..."

"It can, but you have to cooperate."

Schiller stood up, nodded, and said seriously, "If that's the case, then I admit that you did not commit academic fraud in the field of crime. The design of the entire plan, the preliminary arrangement, the mid-term execution, and the ending were all consistent with your level when you murdered old Edward. Although some processes were a bit complicated, they were still rigorous. If this accident had not happened, everything would have gone smoothly as planned."

"And you have a very accurate grasp of The Godfather's psychology. In this situation, he will not really hold it against you."

"So, let's analyze this accident."

Schiller walked to the other side of the room and pushed a whiteboard over, on which he wrote a series of words, and then pointed to the whiteboard and said, "Schizophrenia is a type of mental illness, and we need to start with this large category to understand this disease."

Then, Copperpot lying on the bed was forced to listen to Schiller's popular science lecture on psychiatry.

Even though he had a genius brain, after more than an hour of listening, he was left feeling dizzy and overwhelmed. There were too many medical terms he had never heard of, accompanied by various case analyses.

During a gap when Schiller drank water, Copperpot said, "I think I'm almost healed. Let me go back to the police station. I still have things to do..."

"Don't be in a hurry. There is one last and most critical part left, such as why you fell ill at that time."

"First of all, dusk to night is the peak period for the onset of schizophrenia, and changes in light can stimulate people with mental illness."

"You should have started preparing at dusk and then acted at night. If I'm not mistaken, the window of the room where you acted could see the sunset, and the light was still very dazzling. This would cause even greater stimulation to unstable people. Next time, find a room without windows."

"And earlier, you were also abused by Fish, and then you were seriously injured in the process of subduing your mother."

"These are all very typical external stimuli."

Schiller turned his pen and said, "You thought you endured silently when Fish beat you and felt helpless when your mother hurt you, but in fact, your subconscious mind remembered the pain more deeply than your rational mind."

"You thought you didn't leave any psychological shadow, but that's not the case."

"The psyche of teenagers itself is not stable enough. If you didn't fall ill this time, you would still have post-traumatic stress disorder after about a month, such as continuous irritability and nightmares, as well as difficulty falling asleep."

"People always imagine themselves to be too powerful. The smarter and more rational people are, the more they think this way."

"But human psychology is actually more fragile than imagined. Just because psychological trauma is not manifested, it does not mean that it does not exist."

Copperpot turned his head away, not wanting to ponder these issues. He said, "I have to go and complete my plan, although it's a bit late, it should still be in time."

"Not in a hurry..." Schiller walked to his desk, flipped through a file, and then said while flipping through it, "From your perspective, this matter has already been explained very clearly."

"But do you want to hear this story from another perspective?"

Schiller opened the file and said in a calm tone, "Ten days ago, there was a murder case near the Living Hell area on Green Street. The police in charge of the case was Harvey Brock, and in his report, he wrote that..."

"Kevin Brown, the gang leader, was found dead in the alley on Green Street, with three gunshot wounds, one of which hit his lung and was fatal. When the police arrived, he was already dead on the scene. After investigating the crime scene, the police determined it was a gang shootout."

"You should be familiar with this case, as you mentioned it in your story just now."

"But what I want to talk about is another case related to this one."

"At the Vicin Umbrella Shop in the alley on Green Street, an umbrella maker was found dead at the store's entrance, shot by a handgun and also died on the scene. After police investigation, it was determined that he was caught in the crossfire of the gang shootout..."

"Finally, the police concluded that two people were killed in the gang shootout in the alley on Green Street."

Copperpot saw Schiller leaning against the window sill with his back to the light. When he put down the file, the light shone on his lens from behind, making it difficult for Copperpot to see his expression, but he had a bad feeling.

"I know what you want to say. This kind of case is not uncommon, and it has nothing to do with me."

"But it has caused me a lot of trouble."

Schiller said in a calm tone, "There have been a lot of rainy days recently, and I use my umbrella frequently. It broke."

"When I went to the umbrella maker to get it repaired, I found out that he had already died."

"Fisk Mooney killed the only handmade umbrella maker in Gotham City."

"Afterwards, I went to talk to her about it, and because of her guilt, she couldn't sleep or eat, and went insane."

"Now, Mr. Copperpot..."

Copperpot began to feel cold behind him. He struggled to move to the other side of the bed to avoid Schiller's gaze, but one of his hands was still tied to the armrest and he couldn't move.

Schiller took out an umbrella from behind the desk, slowly walked to the end of the hospital bed, and then reached out, poking the umbrella tip between Copperpot's two eyes, and said to him:

"Can you explain to me where this umbrella with the Vicin Umbrella maker emblem came from in your hand?"

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