Chapter 1194: Cry of the Lamb (Part 6)_2

Gordon was taken aback, momentarily dumbfounded, but Batman quickly spoke up: "Yesterday, Jonathan Crane, a fellow serial killer, sought me out, inquiring about Shiller's whereabouts."

"When I informed him that Shiller had been jailed, he became immensely excited and then told me, once the serial killers believe that the master of the club is no longer going to emerge, they would spontaneously initiate competition."

"When the flock loses the shepherd, every sheep seeks to be the leader." Batman's expression became somber, his voice deeply grave as he spoke: "Just yesterday, I discovered something Shiller has been doing all along."

"What is it?" Gordon asked.

"Shiller is saving the world."

"What????"

Gordon stared wide-eyed at Batman as if he did not recognize him. He thought he misheard, but just as he was about to ask again, Batman began to explain.

"Last night, after Jonathan Crane left, I began an investigation concerning this Mysterious Club…"

Accompanied by Batman's narration, the lights of Wayne Manor were slowly turning on. Looking through the brightly lit window, Bruce was lost in contemplation at the desk in his study.

In front of him was a stack of newspapers dating back as far as two years. He laid out each newspaper on the desk, recording all the contents in his brain after each thorough read.

After about three hours of comparison and organization, Bruce discovered that the so-called newspaper clues Jonathan Crane provided him could potentially be a ruse; there were no usable leads in these newspapers.

The investigation reaching this stage, even if Bruce hesitated to use it, he had to employ the Exhaustion Method.

Bruce mentally retraced all the keywords like Shiller, newspaper, serial killer, along with every generated word from these words—this process consumed another two hours.

Amid his hunt concerning words related to newspapers, Bruce had an epiphany—he thought of the keyword "thesis".

As it happened, when Angela previously was reading Bruce's thesis at Wayne Manor, she had printed a copy. Bruce retrieved the printed copy of his psychology departmental thesis and started recalling the time he spent writing it.

Of course, during the period he was writing his thesis, the most enduring memory was his continuous torment with Shiller, continuously revising minute mistakes in the thesis.

To Bruce, the most bothersome aspect was symbols.

English text uses semi-punctuation, but many separators require a trailing space, improper use of commas, separators, and connectors can alter meanings, however, long-difficult sentences without separators are prone to errors so the use of symbols is also vital in English grammar.

Bruce had a strong command over syntax, but anyone who had written a thesis knew too well that it would be a success merely remembering to separate sentences while fried from writing; forgetting a space here or missing a separator there were pretty common pitfalls.

Just over the issue of symbols, Shiller and Bruce must have wrested at least a few hundred rounds; sometimes completing the symbols only to have to rework them after significantly revising the content, or even having to rework the symbols again due to improper sentence expression after fixing the content.

During this process, Bruce came to thoroughly understand Shiller's symbol usage patterns, so if viewed according to Shiller's patterns, some of the symbols utilized in newspaper or magazine articles were obviouly incorrect.

Regional newspapers or some less formal magazines might not necessarily have rigorous demands for symbols in submissions, the requirements were completely different from those of academic papers, so it was normal for symbol errors to occur. After all, not everyone had a Shiller behind them, requiring them to get each symbol right.

But pairing these symbol errors with Shiller's club and the potential existence of a serial killer, these symbols were likely to be pivotal clues.

After repeatedly comparing all the newspapers and magazines, Bruce found that a pattern indeed existed in many articles' erroneous symbol uses.

These reports aren't just about criminal cases, they also include a jumble of content, like paid advertisements, tabloid news, citizens' complaints, nutrition science popularization, and so on.

Bruce hypothesized that the serial killers were publishing articles with symbolic errors in newspapers or magazines. Through the pattern of these symbolic errors, they would convey certain information to other serial killers who were privy to this method.

And Shiller may be altering the pattern of these symbolic errors, releasing different new codes, to avoid scrutiny by anyone who may be onto them.

"By deciphering the pattern of symbolic errors, I discovered their means of communication, and uncovered a fact that shocked me." In Gordon's office, Batman's voice trembles slightly as he continues:

"Shiller isn't encouraging these serial killers, he's controlling them, even preventing them from killing. He's saving ordinary people."

Gordon, who was listening to him, widened his eyes slowly. In a tone of utmost incredulity, he said to Batman: "Do you even understand what you are saying? A club of serial killers, preventing them from killing??!"

"Sounds absurd, doesn't it?" Batman shook his head gently.

"But the fact is, Shiller has established a series of criteria for serial killers. Only those who meet these criteria can be considered talented, sophisticated serial killers."

"These standards include, but are not limited to, every series of serial killings must have its own theme. Mindless carnage is rejected, creativity isn't something that can be made up in quantity. Cruelty and bloodshed without a purpose are soulless."

With a slight downturn of his mouth, Batman pursed his lips and continued: "He has created an academic circle for serial killers, setting extremely strict standards for this group."

"He uses his horrific yet consistent theory to demand that serial killers carefully, meticulously approach every case. He expects them to prove their academic standing with a perfect murder case."

"In order to execute the 'perfect murder case' he speaks of, these killers would need to spend years concocting the perfect theme, then several more years finding the perfect victim."

"Then they spend a few more years planning the perfect crime, and finally, several more years implementing this plan, savoring the perfect murder case for the rest of their lives."

"To be seen as the perfect serial killer in Shiller's eyes became their life's pursuit. He crafted a new society and set of rules for these born psychopaths with no sense of morality or shame, causing them to feel shame for their indiscriminate killing."

Batman slowly closed his eyes, tilting his head up slightly, his voice trembling imperceptibly. The pallor of his face betrayed his realization that the trap he had imagined to be deep enough, held an abyss even deeper.

"He took the killers' desire for recognition and awareness, and forged it into chains that bound them, guiding their actions."

"He allowed the maniacs to cry out in a silence hidden from ordinary people, manipulating them while also making them love him, calling his name, singing his praises."

"And his actions, in effect, saved countless victims who would have otherwise been lost to unrestrained carnage..."

Batman lowered his head once more, in front of him still lay the hazy, dreamlike moonlight, and Shiller's resonating voice. His voice and Shiller's voice becoming overlapped.

"He knew that upon his departure, these uncontrolled maniacs would make me understand everything he had done."

"Make me understand that he isn't destroying, but saving. He did it better than me, saved more than me, walked further than me on this path."

"Show me, he's not a criminal, but a true educator."

"With this, he wants me to love him, admire him, follow the path he wants to guide me onto, willingly become his docile lamb."