Chapter 597: Who can destroy Schiller Manor? (Part 1)_1

"Alright, no more joking around. Tell me, why on earth did you bring him here? I think, even if you hadn't given him to me, he would have many better places to go. For instance, Selina would understand him well, Alfred would probably like him too." From his hospital bed, Shiller asked, looking into Bruce's eyes.

Bruce gave a sign with his eyes and Shiller gestured to Merkel who walked over, pulled the curtains over the hospital room, walked out the door and closed it, ensuring no one else would pass by.

"Would the owl of a thousand-cat dream have any connection with the owl in reality?" Bruce asked a very important question.

Hearing this question, Shiller frowned. The owls seemed to have disappeared from his life for a long time. That bunch of fools were either being staged for mutual slaughter or trapped under the ground to be pooped on. There wasn't much to pay attention to anymore.

At this moment, Bat Cat uttered a somewhat sharp cry. Shiller understood his words. He was asking: "Are there owls in the real world too?"

Bruce simply explained the affairs of the Court of Owls to him. Bat Cat shook his head and said, "If they are as you said, merely a group of wealthy businessmen controlling this city in the dark, then they are not the same as the owls in my city..."

"As you all saw before, the owls in Cat City Gotham possess shocking dark energy. To be honest, if it weren't for you, my stage alone might not completely eradicate that power."

"If we cannot obliterate them all at once, they'll soon make a comeback." The personality displayed by Bat Cat was far more mature than Bruce's. He wasn't afraid to admit his limitations or the difficulties inherent in certain matters.

However, his tone was always steady. There was no anxiety or pessimism because, however bad things may get for Batman, they could never be worse than disguising himself as the Joker hiding in the sewers.

"Magic owls... wait... the Dark Owl Priest." Bruce said as if he suddenly remembered something. "Do you remember before? I was tracking that Ghost Mom named Lauren."

Shiller thought for a moment and figured out what Bruce was talking about. At that time, there were several murders that seemed like serial killing cases. These cases were like copying homework - the more they copied, the worse they got.

Behind this clear clue, there was a hidden one. The Dark Owl Priest made a pact with Ghost Mom named Lauren. Ghost Mom used candy to sacrifice the souls of those children. Behind all this was the scheming of the Dark Owl Priest.

While Batman was investigating this matter, he discovered the traces of these dark rituals in the history of the Wayne Family.

Also, according to their conjectures at that time, Shiller's umbrella might have been created by the Dark Owl Priest. After all, if they were just wealthy businessmen, they didn't have any occult techniques to create an umbrella specifically resistant to Gotham rainwater.

Gradually recalling these details, Shiller looked at Bruce asking: "Do you suspect that the Dark Owl Priest in reality invaded the dream?"

"Exactly, everything appears a bit strange. If it was simply a racial conflict between cats and birds, the sourceless dark energy is inexplicable."

"The omnipresent cat tribe didn't cultivate any arcane attributes, yet the secluded owls possess such powerful energy. It doesn't make any sense."

Shiller thought and said, "Looking at it this way, there's something wrong with the entire city. Even dream Gotham created by cats should not correspond one by one with all of you."

"The incident of Victor's wife being frozen was even recreated. If it's indeed a cat's dream, can they truly comprehend the notion of freezing your own wife?"

As the depth of thought grew, Shiller found more discrepancies.

It seems, Cat City Gotham is like a city in an absurd cartoon. Many people would marvel at the magic and cuteness of the kitty dream under this kind of drawing style. But when you step out of that dream, many things become strange.

The Thousand Cat Dream is clearly a cat's dream, meaning everything inside should be influenced by the worldview of cats. How cats perceive humans is hard for us to understand, and vice versa. It's impossible for completely different creatures to have shared worldviews.

A city and its citizens, as understood by humans, might be perceived differently by cats. House cats might think of the kitchen sink as a city; stray cats might see puddles on rainy days as rivers. How could a city aligning so perfectly with human worldview appear in a dream supposedly created by cats?

Not to mention, within the worldview of cats, there is the unswerving love of Mr. Freeze. This is totally impossible. The mating of felines is all due to their biological instinct. There's no place for love, let alone moving tales of love crossing life and death.

Even if the dream is conjured up by Catwoman Selina, it may be more whimsical than a human's. When the cats of Gotham dream, they envision an entire Gotham City within human worldview. This seems highly improbable.

This matter appears more like a cat animation created by someone with a human worldview living in human society.

This plot is commonplace in many animated films: applying human worldview to animals, expressing one's thoughts in a more indirect and adorable way. But in fact, if animals do dream, they wouldn't dream about such scenarios. All of these are fantasies based on human society.

"I've been wondering..." Schiller casually held Bat Cat in his arms, scratched the cat's neck, and then said, "Was it pure chance that the Dream of a Thousand Cats suddenly dragged me into its dream?"

"Dream God Morpheus has no need to lie. If he intentionally attacked me, he would certainly mock me out loud. But judging by his reaction, it seems that the Dream of a Thousand Cats' sudden action caught him off guard too - and that is problematic."

"The Dream God has strong control over dreams; he understands the Dream of a Thousand Cats even better. He treats this as playful mischief from a cat, but we can't see it that way."

"Without a doubt, the Dream of a Thousand Cats is powerful. If something really has invaded the Dream of a Thousand Cats, that means they must be trying to exploit this powerful being to do something...."

"Do you remember that legendary tale?" Schiller questioned himself, "Initially, it was the cats who ruled the Earth. The Dream of a Thousand Humans covered reality, and the cats have always been trying to rewrite reality back through the Dream of a Thousand Cats."

"Once someone gains control over the Dream of a Thousand Cats, they might be able to use its content to once again overlay reality."

Bruce showed a serious expression, he said, "So they first created Cat City Gotham in the dream, thoroughly transformed this city, set up puppets, and laid their ambush. Once they took control of the Dream of a Thousand Cats, they would use this dream to overlay the reality, and the real Gotham City would fall into their hands...."

At this point, Bruce couldn't sit still and he said, "Professor, I gave you this cat hoping that we could split up and take action; I investigate traces of the Dark owl priest in the real world, and Bat Cat finds their breadcrumbs in the dream."

"After all, if Bat Cat dreams again, he should go back into the Dream of a Thousand Cats. Now that he is a cat, he can travel between real-world Gotham and dream-world Gotham."

"But I don't know much about the dream world, so I can only leave that to you. In case anything unexpected happens to him in the dream, you can go by boat and bring him back."

Schiller pondered for a moment; while he didn't care about the Owl's plan to destroy the world, the key issue was, they once sold Schiller a destined-to-break umbrella."

Plus, the umbrella Schiller currently had, may break at any moment. If he could get their umbrella-making technology, he could fix his broken umbrella himself."

Schiller rubbed his chin, looking at Bat Cat who was held in his arms, and thought about it before saying, "Alright, even though I've never had a pet before, I can try."

"It's just raising a cat, how hard could it be?"

By the time Schiller completed his sentence, he did not see Bruce, who had already left, with a complicated expression on his face, apparently thinking of a certain gemstone enthusiast."

An hour later, Schiller stood under the chandelier in the hall of his manor, and looked up at the black cat on it, "Get down from there!"

The black cat took no notice, swinging the chandelier back and forth, like riding a swing. When it swung to its highest point, it sprang up, with its claws catching on the painting hung on the opposite wall, ripping it with a harsh tearing sound."

Schiller covered his ears. After Bat Cat tore open the painting, he dove into the narrow space behind the frame and found a key."

Holding the key in his mouth, he returned to the chandelier, this time swinging from side to side. When it swung to the highest point, it jumped onto the second floor's railing, came to the door, and turned the lock with the key. Standing at the doorway, he spoke, "Out of thirty-five rooms... only this one is strategically best positioned, I will take it."

"Merkel! Throw him out!" Schiller pointed outside,

Merkel, who had just walked in with luggage, looked at the chandelier with fallen crystals, the torn painting, and the deeply scratched door. He gulped and said, "No, Bat Cat, you can't choose that room. That is Mr. Wayne's designated guest room; he said its strategic position is unparalleled..."

Bat Cat let out another loud call and began scratching the door. The sharp claws' ear-piercing scraping sound when meeting the varnish followed by the drilling noise was uncomfortable to hear.

In a flash, Schiller disappeared. Bat Cat made a quick backward jump to dodge Schiller's grabbing hand. Then, in three leaps, he jumped onto the window sill, followed the sill to the balcony and then jumped to the balcony of another room."

Schiller flashed again, and this time he did catch hold of Bat Cat. However, he held Bat Cat in an awkward way – the nimble feline twisted its body and escaped from his grip."

Then, Bat Cat assessed this room, "If I've already chosen the other room, the strategic location of this place isn't bad either, and I like the decor... I'll take this."

He turned around to see Schiller giving him a cold stare and heard him say:

"... This is my room."