Chapter 3065: Mercury Chronicles (15)

Shiller was writing lesson plans at his office desk.

The room was so bright it was almost uncomfortable for him, so he had the smart butler dim the lights. Just as the lights were dimmed, the door opened and Oliver gently closed it behind him, turning around and saying in surprise, "Oh, you're awake. I thought you were asleep with the lights so dim."

"Can't you see? You can make it a bit brighter if you want."

"No need, but doesn't reading in such dim light bother your eyes?"

"I now have the vision of a snake, which means I have no vision at all." Shiller pushed his glasses up and said, "The glasses Brand made for me are too small, and I can't be bothered to go back to him."

"So you can't see anything clearly? How do you teach then?"

"This kind of basic course doesn't necessarily require the use of eyes." Shiller sighed softly and said, "But I still haven't given them any written homework, so as to minimize the time spent grading as much as possible."

"But that's not really a solution, is it?" Oliver leaned in with concern and said, "Wasn't there something about a flower that can alleviate these symptoms? Are you taking it regularly?"

"No, I'm trying to strengthen my connection with the witch, and the best method is to let the curse recover continuously."

"That's definitely not a good method," Oliver said. "You better list the advantages of being in a cursed state for me, or I'm going to find someone else right now."

Shiller gave a laugh and said, "What if I told you I can now 'smell' emotions, would you believe me?"

"Smell emotions?" Oliver asked with a hint of confusion. "Do emotions have a scent?"

"I just found out myself." Shiller tapped the desk with his pen and said, "Snakes have an extremely sensitive sense of smell; they almost rely entirely on it to live. Placed in my context, it seems to have combined with my Mental Analysis Talent."

"You mean you can smell what people are thinking?"

"Not that powerful, but I really can smell intense emotional scents. Like you, you feel excited, full of confidence, but there's also a pungent scent of anxiety, which seems to have been around for a while."

"You don't need a sense of smell to notice that, right? You can't fool me."

"You're in love," Shiller stated confidently. "At least you're genuinely fond of someone of the opposite sex; you spoke with them two hours ago, and you were very happy."

Oliver stood up awkwardly, his face tinged with red, thankfully dimmed by the current light.

"Don't tell anyone about this." Oliver sat at his own desk and said, "The age gap between Dinah and me is somewhat significant, but she has been ardently pursuing me, and I can hardly resist..."

"Age isn't the problem. What you're struggling with is that you have something akin to a teacher-student relationship with her, which makes you feel morally conflicted."

Oliver sighed deeply and said, "I'm worried that some of her pursuing behaviors might make others think she's frivolous, but I know she isn't that type of person, and I don't want her to be misunderstood."

"Then go after her. That way, you'll be the one misunderstood."

Oliver was speechless but, after a moment, he stealthily asked, "You smelled that I like her? Really? The kind of liking that's between a man and a woman?"

"All I can say is that your hormonal levels are somewhat abnormal. If teaching could make hormones secrete, then I'd suggest you see a doctor," Shiller said in a tone that was anything but joking.

"You started with teacher jokes again," Oliver said, supporting his head with one hand while tapping the table with the other. "Earlier, I felt the situation I was facing was too dangerous. I didn't have time to think about these things, but now that I'm free, I somewhat miss that kind of life."

"Maybe adventuring with your loved one isn't such a bad choice." Shiller finished the thought for him and said, "There's nothing about you that needs healing; you just want to live life in a different way."

"Do you think I'm suited for that kind of life?"

"What, a life of tandem adventure?"

"Rather, a life like regular people—getting married, having children, a life that's calm and peaceful."

"You excel at creating that sort of life for others, but you're fundamentally an adventurer. I don't think you'd mesh well with someone who seeks a mundane life."

"So I still need to find an adventurer, right?"

"Miss Black Canary certainly has an adventurous spirit," Shiller remarked.

"Oh, how so?"

"She sent me an email asking if I knew your suit size because she wanted to have a suit made for you."

Oliver slapped his forehead and said, "You didn't tell her, did you?"

"No, and I told her you're not the pauper she imagined, but rather a rich young master, and she was quite surprised," Shiller added.

"Wait, when did she send you that email?"

"Three days ago."

"Her pursuit started to become much more proactive three days ago," Oliver stated, puzzled. "But I don't think she's the type to love money. Why would she act like that?"

"A penniless pauper stranded in Mexico, organizing a revolutionary army out of sheer necessity to survive, versus a carefree young gentleman who voluntarily gives up everything he owns to join the revolutionary cause—which do you think is more appealing?"

"Uh, I think the former also doesn't sound that bad."

"But in her eyes, it wasn't like that. Clearly, she was deeply impressed by your spirit of internationalism," he said.

Oliver groaned, "You must have done it on purpose. You shouldn't have told her about this, our company had already been in decline."

"Whose company isn't in decline now?"

Oliver had no reply. The Quin Group was indeed failing, but in the face of an economic crisis, which group wasn't struggling? The Quin Group was at least an established player, and even the leanest camel is bigger than a horse. It was hard to say who was having an even harder time.

"Do you think I should try to accept her pursuit?"

Shiller thought seriously for a moment, then said, "I think you should take this opportunity to let her join the team of young apprentices."

"No, no, no," Oliver said. "That absolutely won't work, then she'd really become my student... "

After he said that, Oliver found himself at a loss for words.

If he really didn't like her, why wouldn't he want her to actually become his student?

"How are the military classes going?" Shiller asked next.

"Not bad, these kids are very talented," Oliver cheered up again, saying, "Yesterday we did a simple military chess exercise, and many performed well. Tomorrow I plan to organize something bigger."

"They all really like your class," Shiller said. "It's interesting and fulfilling, much better than sticking to the textbook."

Oliver opened his mouth, having heard some students complain that the psychology class was somewhat dull, but eventually, he opened his mouth and said, "If you're not feeling well, you should take a rest. After all, the basic classes are just rote learning, not worth all this strain. "

"I can't rest," Shiller said, pushing up his glasses. "If I fall asleep, I'll miss all the fun."

Hearing the tease in Shiller's tone, Oliver grew interested and leaned forward toward the partition, asking, "What fun? Tell me about it."

"You must have come across quite a few Batmans in the Battleworld, right? Do you know what their common attribute is?"

"What? Don't smile? Very smart?"

"Neither, they particularly love adopting clever kids."

Oliver thought about it and then realized saying, "Are you saying Bruce wants to adopt a child again? But it makes sense, those boys he raised have all grown up. The other day, I barely recognized Jason, I thought I had walked into a wall."

"Exactly, mainly because he came across a particularly clever young girl."

"Who is she?"

"Jenna. Do you remember her?"

"Oh, I know her, the sister from that sibling pair, right? Her brother has great leadership skills; he organized more than twenty people in the military chess without any chaos. The sister has lots of tricks, a surprise move from behind left their opponents in total disarray."

"She's talented in everything, even Clark and Diana gave her high praise. Do you think Bruce would let someone like that slip by?"

"But, she's an alien," Oliver seemed a bit concerned about that fact, he said, "Even if I think she's indeed not bad, Bruce seems like a human supremacist."

"It's not that extreme, otherwise, he wouldn't get along well with Clark."

"Clark is different, he grew up on Earth from a young age, more human than humans. But these siblings came to Earth halfway through; would Bruce really trust them living in Wayne Manor?"

"But he really is short on people; if he doesn't train a good assistant for Gordon, Gordon would probably take a rocket to Mercury to drag him back."

"Well, it looks like Gotham still has a lot of problems to solve; do you think there will be any fun in this?"

Shiller burst out laughing, "Jenna is very smart, but unfortunately, she's not smart where it counts. What she excels at is exactly what Bruce is worst at."

"What do you mean?"

"Psychoanalysis Method. The girl is a Mental Analysis Talent, her accuracy at her peak could even rival my morbid levels; but as for behavior analysis..."

Oliver shook his head after listening for a while, saying, "I really can't judge you two masters and disciples. You excel in psychoanalysis, he excels in behavior analysis, and the apprentice he's interested in excels in psychoanalysis... Can't you just challenge Bruce directly?"

"Then where's the fun in that?" Shiller snorted, "Anyway, I'm currently cursed, normal teaching is tough enough, no one can shove a student at me, he wants a genius detective, he's going to have to work for it himself."

Oliver seemed to foresee Bruce's miserable state and sighed sympathetically, but clearly, he was more interested in the fun itself and quickly said, "From what you've said, Jenna should also be able to learn behavior analysis. For these geniuses, it shouldn't be too difficult, right?"

"Difficult or not is one thing, whether they will do it is another," Shiller paused his actions and said. "Behavior analysis is like solving problems step by step while psychoanalysis is more like flipping to the last page to peek at the answers. If you were to choose, which one would you pick?"

"Hmm... Although I feel I should answer the former, if it's not for studying but just to get an answer to uphold justice, then anyone would choose the latter, right? Not many can resist not peeking."

Thinking about this, Oliver laughed a couple of times and said, "Now Bruce is really in trouble. For a genius who can peek at the answers anytime, keeping them focused on the questions themselves is going to be very difficult."

"Exactly," Shiller found a fellow appreciator of the fun and finally perked up. He stood up to pour himself a drink, placed Oliver's glass in front of him, and then said,

"He can finally understand what playing the lute to a cow means."