Chapter 3074: Mercury Chronicles (24)

"Now!"

Shiller's suddenly raised pitch jolted everyone out of their reverie; they couldn't react in time, even Allie, who was standing there, started visibly.

"Tell me, Miss, what kind of mind does the murderer possess?"

Allie took a deep breath and said,

"He's a very cruel person."

Before she could say her next sentence, Shiller continued her thought, "Yes, but you are crueler than he is, for you try to fob me off with such empty, talentless clichés. Do you dislike me that much, Miss?"

Allie's face immediately flushed red.

At this time, a male student beside her stood up and said, "Professor, you cannot make personal attacks against students."

"'Lack of talent' is not a personal attack," Shiller shook his head, then said earnestly, "It's merely my assessment, which you can choose not to accept... but then again, have you not accepted it? Have you not realized that what I say is correct?"

"Well then, this one... Mr. Holder, do you have any brilliant insights?"

"He's a pervert; he lusts after women but despises them, so he sliced open their bodies, removed their reproductive organs, and skinned them to stuff them with straw. It's a form of humiliation."

"I take back what I said earlier. If Miss Allie only lacks talent, I will write you a letter of recommendation to transfer majors with my finest penmanship, and if anyone disagrees, I'll persuade them."

The young man known as Holder clenched his fists tightly.

"You want to ask me where you are wrong, you think you're merely reciting the content shown in the lecture notes, in your view, that is his motive, perhaps the same in your eyes as well."

Shiller shifted his gaze from Holder's face, looked at the others, and said, "But do you really think you can catch the murderer with this? A pervert who humiliates women?"

The atmosphere again fell silent; everyone obviously knew that this was impossible. To take a step back, who would display the word 'pervert' on their face?

"This is unreasonable, Professor," another male student stood up and said, "We cannot discern enough psychological traits of the other party through these case files, and even if we do, we can't confirm the perpetrator's identity if they don't confess, even if the reasoning is sound, without evidence, we can't issue an arrest warrant."

"Why can't it be issued?"

"Because there isn't sufficient evidence."

"Do you want to convince others with evidence?"

The student was momentarily speechless but still nodded and said, "We have to rely on solid evidence, we can't just randomly arrest people based on our own imaginings, right?"

"Police arrest criminals based on evidence, courts judge criminals based on evidence, what a perfect system," Shiller said looking at them. "So why should you interfere in any capacity beyond that of officers and judges?"

"Because you think you are special, far superior to ordinary police and judges, deserving a status above them, yet unwilling to bear the responsibility that comes with it."

"You know that the Justice League is destined to wield greater power than police and judges in ordinary human society, and if you can join them, it implies you transcend the lives of the vast majority on this planet, a testament to your talents and abilities."

"Yet you are not willing to take on more responsibility for this power, preferring instead to adhere to the methods of ordinary human society because if things go wrong with this method, it's the fault of the method, a loophole in the law, a sign of society's helplessness, not your fault."

"If the methods developed over so many years are wrong, then you need not be too hard on yourselves. After all, isn't it just that human society is not perfect enough, and what does that have to do with you?"

"You long for a status above ordinary human society, yet dare not make choices that transcend the law, not daring to be accountable for them, hence you constantly harp on about the law's reliance on evidence."

"If you are fond of the chained evidence system, then leave here, return to Earth, and join the profession that has this system, become a police or a judge, not a third party shamelessly meddling."

Shiller stopped in his tracks, standing at the lectern, and looked at them, "Superman with his super hearing detects the process of a crime being plotted and captures the criminals in one fell swoop, do you see a problem with that?"

The students were silent for a long time before someone slowly shook their head.

"But this is actually illegal evidence gathering, because recordings must be made with the consent of the parties involved to count as evidence; recordings made through eavesdropping are not accepted in court, and eavesdropping without a recording is even less likely to lead to an arrest warrant."

"But what he heard is still evidence," someone said, "It can concretely prove that someone is committing a crime, if I heard it, I would also go and fight crime."

"So, do you have super hearing?"

The student shook his head.

"Let's assume the bunch is plotting right next door to you, without super hearing, you have no idea what they are saying, and the next day your neighbor is murdered, do you think you should be held responsible for this?"

The student hesitated for a moment, but still nodded, saying, "There should be some abnormal behavior before they act, if I could see that, I should be able to stop them."

"And if not?"

"There should be... something, right?"

"If there were, the ordinary police would have caught them, what do they need you for?"

The student had no response.

"That's the issue, children," Shiller tapped the lectern lightly, "What you have to learn here are things ordinary police cannot do; because it is obvious that the majority of the opponents you will face in the future are the ones ordinary police cannot catch."

"If you set your highest goal to be an excellent detective, then you can surely become the most excellent detective in the ordinary human society, but even such a detective cannot capture a criminal who can fly."

"Footprints disappear in front of the window, you exhaust every method and find no trace of his escape, and the fact is the criminal flew away."

"In a sealed room that was utterly impossible for anyone to break into, a person died. Everyone checked all the clues they could find, confirming that it was impossible for a second person to have entered the room, and yet, the reality is that the criminal killed the person with magic from miles away."

"Tell me, when facing such a criminal, how would you rely on solid evidence and rigorous reasoning to make them pay the price they deserve?"

"But if we know these things, know that some can fly, know that some have magic, then after eliminating all impossible answers, the remaining one must be the answer," someone said.

"You are very confident in your own reasoning, which is good, but how would you use your reasoning to convince a jury?"

The student who had spoken sat down.

"The fact is, it won't work," Shiller shook his head and said, "The evidence we can find on super villains, like the reasoning Miss Jenna has done, it won't convince a jury."

"Even the nonsense she retold by working backwards from the outcome is more convincing to a jury than the conclusion you reached after ruling out all possibilities, that the criminal can fly."

Everyone's gaze turned to Jenna.

Jenna continued to feign utter despair, mainly because she realized that Shiller had already noticed her, and she did not want to make eye contact with this monster, so she kept covering her face with her hands.

The students were very quiet, but this time it wasn't a silent refusal but contemplation of what Shiller had said.

Most of them thought Shiller made sense.

The problem was that the atmosphere of this school was too ordinary, like the typical schools in human society, with teachers and students, and aside from the huge fireball hanging outside the window, it seemed no different from Earth.

It hadn't led them to a profound and complete realization that they had actually completely left the society of ordinary people.

It hadn't made them realize that their purpose in studying here was to deal with super villains who were far beyond the abilities of ordinary people.

And for super villains, even the most rigorous evidence collection seemed like nonsense to a jury; even if you captured high-definition footage of the criminal flying, for societal stability, they would say you fabricated it out of thin air.

As Shiller said, the kind of nonsense Jenna had made up that touched on all aspects of religion and theology might be more easily accepted as valid evidence.

So in fact, all the evidence was really for the accuracy of the reasoning result, not to prove to anyone, but to catch the true murderer.

So conversely, as long as you can pinpoint the real murderer, any method is the same.

Even if you really engaged in theology and God told you the murderer's name, as long as the result is accurate, that's fine too.

"You must be thinking," Shiller spoke again, "if any method of reasoning is acceptable, how can I be sure my own method is effective?"

The students began to concentrate, and the atmosphere in the classroom gradually calmed down rather than the dead silence.

"Of course, it's through the study and testing during this period," Shiller said, "If you achieve an accuracy rate of 90% or above, then naturally it proves your reasoning method is effective. You can continue to use this method to deduce the murderer without any problem."

Suddenly, a student raised their hand and said, "What if someone has increased their accuracy rate by looking at the answers?"

"Looking at answers from where?"

"Uh, from the teacher's office?"

"Then why didn't you see them?"

"It's not right to do that! It's... it's unethical..."

"Are you saying that as an agent, you want to be a paragon of virtue at the same time?"

"Uh..."

That student again could not answer, because obviously, the word 'agent' from its inception has nothing to do with morality.

"The very existence of agents is to cheat; otherwise, we already have police, why would we need agents?" Shiller said lightly, "Her ability to enter the teacher's office and successfully see the answers is her own skill. What you should be doing is reflecting on why you can't, instead of accusing her of cheating."

Another student wanted to speak, but Shiller interrupted him before he could and said, "If you think she used her beauty, then I can only tell you that using one's charm is actually one of the most successful strategies in agent work for stealing information. Anyone who can will use it. If you can't, then first reflect on whether you're just not beautiful enough."

That student sat down again, his face red with embarrassment.

"Think carefully, has anyone ever sternly warned you against doing something?" Shiller said, "Even the most righteous Superman, did he instill moral concepts during lectures?"

"I believe they didn't do that because they understand very well where your future lies. You dare not proceed, simply because you've been ruled by societal rules and moral standards for too long."

"The ones who are truly pedantic, stiff, and lack the courage to break free from constraints are you, this is not justice, it is just folly."

"And the truly intelligent people…" Shiller drew out his words, turning to look at Jenna. Jenna instinctively slowly lowered her hands and, in the instant their eyes met, she blurted out the rest of what she wanted to say.

"… live like monkeys."

Upon saying this, Jenna gasped and cursed in her heart with the foulest curse in her mother tongue.

Done for, no way out, she thought. Shiller really was a monster, and this time she was truly done for.

Indeed, all the looks that came her way were now filled with more hostility—the hostility was no longer contempt thinking she would slip up at any moment but a burning will to battle.

Jenna could already see a future where she was constantly challenged by everyone, never to have a moment of peace. Just a moment ago, she was being ostracized, and in a blink, I became the boss.

"Give us your thoughts please, miss," Shiller said to her with a slightly indifferent smile.

Jenna had no choice but to stiffen her resolve and clench her teeth as she replied.

"It's my honor, Professor."