Chapter 430: The Mystery of the Metropolis (16) _2

Bruce rose from in front of Benjamin, stepped over Benjamin's body, came to Lex, looked into his eyes and said, "The professor taught me a lot, but the most important thing that I learned is..."

Bruce purposely drew out his words; just when Lex concentrated to hear more, with a loud bang, Lex was punched to the ground by Bruce. Looking down at him Bruce said, "Words indeed are powerful, but sometimes, a fist can also serve as a solution."

Lex lay on the ground, made no effort to move. His red hair fell over his eyes, concealing the mockery within them. Looking at his face, Bruce abruptly asked, "What's the tenth digit after the decimal point in the square root of 39?"

"3." Lex answered instantly, without even considering.

"What about the square root of 235?"

"7."

Lex rose from the ground, wiped the blood from under his nose, gritted his teeth, and looked at Bruce, he asked, "What's the fifteenth digit after the decimal point in the square root of 659?"

"1." Bruce answered immediately.

The back and forth between the two men did not pause. Selina, bystander to this scene, had yet to react to what was happening when a string of mathematical formulae rolled off their tongues.

Although Selina didn't understand their interaction, it didn't prevent her from noting that these two men seemed to have gotten their backs up.

She glanced at the gun in her hand, helplessly curled her lip, turned and walked to the couch, mumbling to herself, "Ah, the competitive nature of men."

Then she took another glance in their direction and muttered, "How long will they keep at it? Half an hour should be their limit, right?"

Two hours later, Selina clumsily got up from the table, shaking her numbed arm caused by the pressure, looked out the window at the endless snowstorm, and the pitch-black sky.

She squinted at the wall clock next to her, it was now 6 a.m.

Selina held her forehead, then turned her head to see, predictably, Bruce and Lex still standing in the center of the room.

Oh, not standing, now they had brought over a chair and a table, the table piled high with various draft papers.

Selina reached out her hand, massaging her temples, she resembled a walking corpse as she got off the sofa, stretching and yawning.

She glanced at the two men, turned her head back, expressionless she walked towards the entrance of the reception room. Neither Bruce nor Lex noticed her, they didn't even care about the gun she left on the table.

Selina made her way to the corridor, where it was quiet.

For some reason, although Benjamin had disappeared for a night, no agents came looking for him, or perhaps they had, but were dealt with by Bruce and Lex. Selina didn't see any agents in the corridor, so she began to descend down the stairs.

Upon reaching the banquet hall, she walked past it, and after turning a corner, she reached the warehouse area at the back of the stately home. Selina found the monitoring room here, but she was actually looking for a phone, not the monitoring room.

Thankfully, the monitoring room also had a phone that could contact the guest rooms. Selina picked up the phone, dialed a number, Shiller's sleepy voice came through the receiver.

"Professor?... Ah, no! Don't be angry!... Oh, okay, I know. I get angry too when I can't sleep, but there's a problem here that may need solving..."

"But... it could be a serious issue. Don't you want to hear it before..."

Just as she said that, Selina looked at the phone in her hand, hearing the dial tone signaling the call had been cut off. She pursed her lips, conceding in a low voice, "Never mind, it shouldn't be any big deal."

Saying this, she headed upstairs, intending to return to her room for some sleep.

Selina was a classic case of being born in the lower rungs of Gotham society, she didn't receive any formal education, schooling, and studying were privileges she never had. Her ability to read the newspaper already set her apart from many in Gotham's lower classes, you couldn't expect someone who's never been educated to understand complex mathematics and physics.

Moreover, Selina was a born talent, her intelligence wasn't necessarily high, she relied more on her intuition. Hence, it was beyond her comprehension; when two matched super geniuses clash, what kind of sparks would ensue.

At this time, Shiller was asleep in the guest room, with the service phone beside him. From his furrowed brows, it was evident that he hadn't been asleep for long since being woken up by Selina's call.

In the Thought Palace, Shiller was painting a new room at the top of the High Tower. "No, not orange, it's too ugly!" Ye Meng Jia De's voice echoed while Shiller was painting the walls.

"My beautiful scales are made up of dark green and silver, at most I can take blue and purple, warm colors in here are way too conspicuous."

"Don't you understand the principle of complementary colors?", said Shiller, while painting the walls, "Besides, your dark green totally conflicts with the overall décor style of my Thought Palace."

"No! stop painting! This shade of orange is too bright! I hate bright colors!"

"The combination of dark green and silver is too outdated... but then again, you are an old serpent, aren't you? How old are you? 3000 years? 5000 years? I shouldn't have questioned your taste, your aesthetics could very well be in vogue in your era..."

"I'm not old!!! When Odin banished me to Earth, I was just a little snake, I was in hibernation all this while, that cannot be counted into my age!!"

Ye Meng Jia De began to roar, Shiller tapped the wall with his paintbrush saying, "You can talk, just don't move around. This room is almost done, I..."

Mid-sentence, Shiller felt the floor beneath him shake slightly, he raised his voice anxiously, "Ye Meng Jia De...?"

At that moment, an enormous snake head appeared. The vertical pupils of Ye Meng Jia De were glowing softly in the dim light, and a vague white mist shrouded his cheeks, he said, "It's not me, you're about to awake from your dream..."

Shiller tossed the brush onto the floor, he said, "Whoever dared to disturb my sleep had better watch out..."

"Bang! Bang! Boom!" The floor started shaking violently, Shiller jolted awake. He then realized it was not an illusion in his dream but the floor in reality had actually shaken.

He sat up in bed, grabbed his umbrella, and walked out of the room, and then heard screams in the hallway:

"The reception room has exploded!! Fire! Fire!"