Chapter 1157: Professor (20)_1

Shiller walked into the classroom and closed the door behind him. Seeing his figure, Dick struggled hard, his mouth sealed with tape making muffled sounds. He seemed to want to say something to Shiller, but Shiller couldn't understand.

"This imposter disguised as me, trying to fetch Dick after school," said the Batman on the left.

"It was you who kidnapped Dick and tried to disguise yourself as me to confuse everyone," the Batman on the right said seriously, looking at the other Batman.

Both Batmen not only had identical appearances, physiques, and equipment, but their tones and expressions when speaking were also the same.

When both Batmen turned their gaze towards Shiller, he felt his head begin to ache. He truly feared they would simultaneously state, "I have to go back to write my thesis".

By common sense, the real Batman, upon meeting an impersonator, wouldn't be wasting words. He would have gone straight to action, because he simply didn't believe that there could be another man, who, while pretending to be him, could surpass him.

But the problem was that Dick was in the room. The fake Batman presumed this would deter the real Batman from immediate action. The real Batman would definitely worry that if he took action directly, the other party might desperately resort to hurting Dick.

Dick was now tied up, unable to hide, and because of his young age, was physically vulnerable. If he were to sustain serious injuries, Batman might regret his actions.

Simply put, this was a trap set by the fake Batman using Dick to pressure the real Batman into a game of true or false, making him abide by the rules and not resort to violence, relying solely on other people's judgement.

However, the fake Batman did not anticipate that Shiller would be the one to turn up.

In his plan, his teammate, Black Mask, would stall Gordon while he completed the kidnapping of Dick. However, afterwards, Black Mask would pretend to be defeated and flee again, leaving clues that would lead Gordon here to discern the truth.

The fake Batman was confident that Gordon would make the wrong call.

At that time, he would kill Dick in front of Batman and simultaneously proclaim that even his most trusted friends and companions didn't truly understand him. Dick's death would be the price he paid for his everyday arrogance.

At the same time, whilst Gordon conducted his evaluation, he would certainly ask many questions. But if he ultimately chose the imposter, wouldn't it prove that there were people better suited to be Batman than Batman himself? Wouldn't it also signify that Batman was underperforming and should be replaced?

The final aim of every criminal targeting Batman in the world was to mentally collapse him.

But at this moment, the situation had changed – Shiller had arrived, making the fake Batman nervous.

The imposter knew that this professor wouldn't be easily fooled. He went over in his mind again all the potential questions that the other party might ask and the answers he had obtained through long-term tracking and observation of Batman.

Unexpectedly, Shiller didn't say anything, he stood where he was and heaved a deep sigh, then looked around the room.

As he turned to face the blackboard, he found what he had been looking for. Shiller quickly moved towards the desk next to the podium, where there was a telephone.

He picked up the phone and dialed a number, then said into the receiver, "Hello? Are you free right now? Batman wants to invite you to play a game, could you come by?"

Shiller switched the phone to his other hand and said, "Wait! Don't rush off! I think you should make a grand entrance! Yes, you should give Batman a big surprise, just the way you like it."

After hanging up the phone, Shiller went face to face with the two Batmen, stretched out a hand, opened all five fingers, then slowly closed his little and thumb, leaving only three fingers out, and said, "Three..."

Both Batmen looked confused.

"Are you saying that there is a third Batman?"

"You mean, of the four of us here, three are real?"

"Two, one…"

"Bang! Crash!"

"Batman!! Your good friend Joker has arrived!! Well?! Isn't it a surprise?!! Hahahaha!!!"

Joker Jack, who came through the broken window, immediately knocked Batman to the ground and straddled him, his hands clenched tightly around Batman's neck.

"Bang!"

The gunshot was sudden. Batman, who hadn't been knocked down by the Joker, lowered his head to look at his shot chest, then raised his head again in disbelief to look at Shiller, who had fired the shot.

Shiller realized that the ordinary pistol bullet hadn't caused significant damage to the fake Batman. His faux Batman suit, though not as protective as the real Batman's suit, did have some bulletproof capabilities.

However, Shiller didn't continue shooting but let the fake Batman escape through the window. In fact, when the imposter Batman retreated two steps, Shiller realized that one of his legs might be a prosthetic.

That is to say, the imposter Batman was the one who got hit by Harley that day.

As for his identity, Shiller had some speculation. In the comics, there was indeed a villain who was so obsessed with Batman that he wanted to have plastic surgery to look like him. That person was Hush.

What made Shiller more certain of this was the shape of the imposter Batman, as it was not Shiller's first time seeing him.

Hush's real name is Thomas Elliot, yes, the same Thomas who committed a murder in Bruce's dormitory when Lex Luthor first came to Gotham University.

After the incident came to light, Thomas was almost immobilized because his whole body was doused by Victor's freeze solution. Fortunately, Gordon managed to save him, intending to put him on trial.

Later, Thomas was charged with murder and was imprisoned in Gotham Prison, which later became Blackgate Prison. He must have escaped from prison to reappear this time.

Interestingly, the settings of Hush and Black Mask are very similar, whether it's their backgrounds, experiences, or goals. They are all as if they were carved out of the same mould.

Both of them come from wealthy families of Gotham, one from the Sionis family and one from the Elliott family.

Both of them staged accidents to murder their own parents. Black Mask started a fire, while Hush caused a car accident.

Both were driven to crime out of jealousy for Bruce Wayne. What's more interesting is that both of them didn't discover until many years later that Batman is actually Bruce Wayne.

However, perhaps because the serial killers had frequent exchanges and Shiller had published a specific discourse on Batman, the two villains, both of whom had very similar backgrounds and experiences, joined forces to speculate Batman's true identity earlier. They plotted together to break Batman's defense.

Obviously, the death of Dr. Richard from Wayne Hospital was a beginning.

The two teamed up to commit the murder and almost simultaneously hid inside the hospital. Because they committed the crime in Wayne Hospital, they assumed that Bruce Wayne, the owner of the hospital, would definitely show up. Hence, they decided to stay and watch Bruce's reaction.

Among the two, Thomas was likely in charge of the pre-crime investigation. His actions were not careful enough and were discovered by Harley, a nurse at Wayne Hospital. Harley, who had planned her actions in advance, hit him with a shovel, causing him severe leg injuries.

Luckily for him, he had an accomplice. Rhomann saved Thomas and took him to their base. After emergency treatment, they moved hastily that night.

At the same time, in order to make Batman believe that they were not targeting him, they deliberately left behind Shiller's photo to mislead Batman into thinking that this was a serial murder case with doctors as the main theme.

Both of them knew that Shiller was Batman's mentor and very important to Batman. They believed that once Batman knew that his mentor was targeted by a serial killer, he would undoubtedly put all his effort into protecting him. As a result, they would get the chance to strike.

However, just this was not enough. They had to create a dilemma, where if Batman saved one, he wouldn't be able to save the other.

On one hand, Rhomann, also known as the Black Mask, pretended to expose himself due to the indifference of Batman and Shiller, and was then taken away by Gordon. As a criminal, he could bypass the terrific firepower at the entrance of the Gotham Police Department and break through from within.

On the other hand, Thomas, who had successfully undergone plastic surgery and looked exactly like Bruce Wayne, brought out his prepared Batman disguise, went to Dick's school to find Dick, and kidnapped him.

When the real Batman arrived, Thomas threatened him with Dick, preventing Batman from subduing him by force. This was to misguide Batman's friends into making a wrong judgement, thus making Batman vulnerable.

Shiller was right. These serial killers liked to hatch such intricate conspiracies, where a single action would twist and turn several times, involve multiple people, and require several rounds of drama, as if it proved their intelligence.

Of course, Shiller's response was also very simple. He didn't need to know which Batman was real, as long as the Joker knew.

Actually, the Joker didn't need to know which Batman was real either. When he made his grand entrance, the one he hit was undoubtedly the real Batman.

He looked out the window and saw that the imposter Batman fell from the third-floor height due to hasty retreat and loose grappling hook. His prosthetic limb had broken from the fall.

What's worse, the bone at the connecting point of the prosthetic limb also had a problem. If all went as it appeared, he might lose his leg completely.

Shiller didn't care about the scramble between the Joker and Batman. He walked to Dick, but didn't help untie him. Instead, he checked his consciousness by flipping his eyelid. He hadn't forgotten that Dick was not in a normal state of mind and may have been hypnotized.

Shiller didn't think either Black Mask or Hush had the ability to hypnotize Dick. There must be someone else who had acted on him.

After some thought, Shiller still didn't treat Dick directly. After all, since Bruce had planned to train Dick and considered him as his adopted son, their relationship needed to go through such a stage. It would be better to let Bruce resolve this himself.

Shiller first had Gray Mist knock Dick out and fed him some sedatives. Then, he drove him back to Wayne Manor and handed him over to Alfred.

When Batman and the Joker were done fighting and Batman returned to Wayne Manor limping, he found a bottle of alcohol and a note under it on the bedside table in Dick's room.

"This is Mad Liquor, you can use it to communicate with Dick, go into his heart and talk to him properly - Shiller."