Chapter 1141 Professor (Four)_1

In America, names such as "Harry," "Henry," "Harley," and so on, are very common, applicable to both sexes and with various similar-sounding variants.

If a billboard falls over on the side of the road, at least one of the ten people it falls on will be called Harry or will have a relative by that name.

So, when Shiller heard this name, he did not react immediately. But in the next second, he heard Gordon's voice coming from downstairs: "Miss Quinzel, what happened to you? How come you're covered in blood?!"

Shiller furrowed his brows slightly. He quickly left the room where the body was and walked downstairs. To be honest, he was somewhat curious about the infamous Harley Quinn. After all, Harley Quinn was a well-known psychologist in the world of American comics.

In the comics, Harley Quinn had worked in Arkham Asylum before she became the Joker's sidekick. She was an excellent psychiatrist.

However, in Shiller's recollection, the comics did not give detailed accounts of Harley's career as a psychiatrist. It only mentioned that she was an excellent student with a commendable professional ability, or else she wouldn't have been assigned to treat the Joker.

Since Wayne Hospital is arguably the best hospital in Gotham, it's not surprising that the high-achieving Harley Quinn would work there.

Shiller made his way through the somewhat chaotic crowd downstairs and arrived at the room from where the shouting had originated. Just as he was expecting to see a quiet lady in a white coat and glasses, he discovered that a teenage girl, around the age of 14 or 15, was standing in the center of the room.

The young Caucasian girl standing in front of him was covered in blood, making her facial features unidentifiable. Judging from her figure, she was not yet an adult. She was also small and slender compared to her peers.

But what contrasted greatly with her physical appearance was the large shovel she was holding, which was taller than most people. The blade of the shovel was covered in blood, and there was a large blood stain on the ground. There was also a trail of bloody footprints leading up to her. The room was filled with the stench of blood.

At first, Shiller was a bit taken aback. If this girl was indeed Harley Quinn, wouldn't that make her part of Robin's generation?

But this made sense. In the more mainstream comics, characters like Batman, the Joker, and Luther were older, Superman was younger, and The Flash was even younger.

Harley Quinn's age wasn't specifically mentioned in the comics. But by inferring details about her personal life, it was clear that she was not the same generation as Batman and was significantly younger, perhaps with a 15 to 20-year gap.

Batman was already 23 this year. As for Harley, it was hard to judge her exact age but by appearance alone, she seemed to be about the same age as Dick, perhaps ten years younger than Batman.

By now, the head nurse had brought a basin of clean water and two towels. Two adult female nurses were clumsily helping Harley wipe the blood off her face while Gordon stood beside them, guilt evident in his voice.

"She said she wanted to work in the hospital and I shouldn't have allowed it. But in the Children's Gang's vaccination training, she was the most skilled. I thought Wayne Hospital was the safest place and nothing significant would happen, so I let her come here..."

"Miss Quinzel's performance has been excellent." The head nurse commented while wiping off Harley's hair, "She can mix medication, administer IV fluid, and she can even review prescriptions. Among all the kids you sent here, she's the best."

Shiller, who was standing to the side, took a moment to inspect the room. It wasn't very large; just five or six people would fill it completely. The cabinets and the clutter stored by the side indicated that this was a storage room.

Shiller turned his gaze to a mark on the wall. There used to be a large shovel hanging there. Because it hadn't been moved for a long time, the wooden handle had left a black mark on the white wall.

Facing the towel that was being used to wipe off her face, Harley shook her head fiercely, freeing herself from the grip of the nurse and let go of the shovel.

Then, with just one hand, she brushed away the blood-soaked hair from her face. "Believe me," she hissed, "I gave that bastard a hefty blow. He'll definitely lose a leg! Might even bleed to death!"

Her voice was crisp, with a hint of a natural raspy tone. But the cold indifference and vicious grin in her tone sent chills down one's spine.

Gordon covered his eyes, his expression creased in pain. He bent down and placed both hands on Harley's shoulders, "Miss Quinzel, I've told you before, you can't be this violent..."

"Even towards a murderer?" Harley retorted calmly, looking into Gordon's eyes, "If cops don't use violence against murderers, how are you planning on preventing crime?"

Gordon opened his mouth to speak, seemingly unable to counter her arguments. But then, as if he'd remembered something, he looked at Harley and said, "A murderer? You saw a murderer?…Wait, how do you know that he's a murderer?"

Harley was getting slightly irritated by the nurse's attempts to clean her face. She threw down the heavy shovel, snatched the towel from the nurse's hand, and roughly wiped her face, her delicate features smeared with blood like a kitten.

She exhaled sharply to blow away the hair strands in front of her face, crossed her arms, and said, "That idiot visited the hospital three times in two weeks all on the same route. Did he think I wouldn't notice?"

"And his facial expressions and movements might as well read 'I'm going to do something bad here...' "

"Let me guess, he was probably planning on climbing onto the sunshade on the third floor, knock on the window to call someone over, before stabbing them." Harley sarcastically stretched out her arms and said, "How ridiculously boring!"

Gordon's eyes widened in shock, but Harley shrugged and said, "Don't look at me like that. I knew what he was up to the second time he showed up, so I waited here on purpose and gave him a beating."

"If you knew what he was going to do, why…why didn't you tell the police or the nurse?"

"You all would have thought I was crazy," Harley shrugged unconcernedly. "Before my parents were murdered, I warned them that my uncle was after their estate, planned to run them over in his car and then pick me up from school to murder me."

"I even told them exactly where he planned to do it, but they didn't believe me, and it cost them their lives."

"Regrettably my fool of an uncle didn't even notice the knife I placed behind his driver's seat in advance. His blood splattered the windshield so much that he couldn't see clearly."

The atmosphere in the room instantly froze.

In Gotham, murder and being murdered are very common occurrences. However, they typically involve grudge matches between grown-ups. It was rare for adults to kill children. It was even more shocking for a small, frail girl like Harley to narrate her tale of self-defence in front of so many people.

Gordon deeply sighed and actually, he had heard this story before. In fact, Harley was one of the "kind-hearted girls" he had saved.

Perhaps some might recall, on a stormy night in Gotham, several old buildings collapsed on the street of the broken fish basket. That was not an isolated incident. Many old residential areas were destroyed that night due to the storm, including Harley's house.

The disaster struck her neighbourhood significantly. When Gordon led the police to rescue the victims, he first noticed a little girl sitting atop debris and eating a loaf of bread, next to her lay two corpses who hadn't died from the building collapse, but from having their skulls smashed in with a long, spiked baseball bat.

According to local mobsters, the two men were drifters, meaning they didn't belong to any gang and disrespected any rules, making a living by petty stealing and looting, and seized every opportunity to cause trouble. They were the lowliest street rats.

Upon seeing Gordon, the little girl stood up and, without waiting to be asked, started barraging him with a multitude of information. Her story was that she had predicted the storm and had left the house beforehand. As a result, she killed two rats that had tried to kidnap her during the chaos.

Then, the little girl, who knew the town like the back of her hand, began to direct the police, who were shocked at her knowledge: how many people were buried in each house, which rooms they were likely in when the disaster struck, who was worth saving, and who was likely already dead.

Even in bizarre Gotham, such extraordinary understanding and intuition were very rare. Gordon marvelled at the sight.

Later, he learnt about the deaths of her parents and her uncle who was planning to inherit the estate, and how the other relatives and various jackals looking to seize the inheritance were systematically exterminated by the girl using all kinds of methods.

Despite not yet being of age and being a small, frail girl, she single-handedly defended a large inheritance amidst Gotham's chaos. It was nothing short of a miracle.

With the mind to nurture her talent and not wanting Harley to walk a crooked path, Gordon decided to send her to school. But, a regular school could not hold this kind of student, so he began by sending Harley to Gotham University's technical training school.

Latter, when the mad virus broke out, and with the cure being developed by Batman in scarce supply, the city needed to vaccinate the citizens one by one. Medical resources were scarce and there were not enough nurses. So, all the eligible females Gordon knew were asked to help. Those who couldn't escape his inquiry all became kind-hearted nurses, including Harley.

Harley seemed to sway with the wind. She mastered the art of administering intravenous treatments in less than two days. Then, growing impatient with the training course and the company of children, she had Gordon send her to Wayne Hospital.

Harley claimed that she was already 16, but Gordon suspected she might have just turned 14 or even be 13 years old. In any case, she was younger than all the intern nurses at Wayne Hospital yet performed her duties better than anyone.

The head nurse liked this little girl very much. Harley's hot temper was well-suited for her position. Now, with Harley covered in blood, the head nurse was livid.

The blood-soaked towel was collected by the head nurse, thrown into a basin with a splash, bringing an icy silence to the room. The short nurse started to speak, her voice ice-cold:

"This is a hospital meant for treating patients. Everyone who comes here should seek treatment, not use it as a site to commit murder! This murderer has been here several times; is it not enough that our already overcrowded hospital is not packed enough?"

"He didn't even bother to cover the bodies, leaving blood all over the floor?! His hygiene consciousness is comparable only to that of those surgeons!"

"Um, sorry, ma'am…" Gordon interrupted the head nurse who was venting her anger, he meekly said, "Should we start by asking about the murderer's situation? Harley! Harley! Did you see the murderer's face? What did he look like?"

"I saw it, but I don't know him." Harley shook her head slightly and said: "Blond hair, brown eyes, wore a somewhat silly mask, burly figure, but clumsy movements."

"A mask, what kind of mask?" A voice sounded from the crowd.

Harley instinctively turned her head towards the voice. When she saw Shiller, she hesitated for a couple of seconds.

The slim figure swiftly darted behind Gordon, she bared her teeth at Shiller, looking like a startled cat.