“For this class assignment, I want to give special praise to Mr. Robert. His argument on emotional deconstruction analysis aligns perfectly with the theories I discussed in class. Of course, Miss Hoff wrote the most words this time, but I must say, word count does not equate to quality. I would be happier if you could articulate your point clearly within 3,000 words.”
“And as expected, there is still one person who hasn't submitted their assignment. Mr. Wayne, please come to my office after class. If you still don't intend to complete your assignments, then I don't think you need to take the final exam. After all, if you don't have any assignment grades, even if you take the exam, you will definitely not get the credits for this semester.”
Schiller closed the textbook in front of him and said, “Class dismissed.”
Gotham University is located on the East Coast of the United States. As everyone knows, almost all famous universities in the United States are located on the East Coast, including Harvard, MIT, Princeton, and so on.
Gotham University is not a competitor to these schools. Although it is a nationally recognized public university, it is not an Ivy League school. Moreover, Gotham City is notoriously unsafe, and very few U.S. students apply to this university. Even locals in Gotham who can attend university can apply to better universities nearby.
This resulted in students who remained at Gotham University being either those who couldn't get into other schools or international students.
You can hardly expect these people to have good grades. Most of them only complete their assignments on time because of Schiller's formidable reputation.
But this is not the main reason for Gotham University's low ranking. After all, Gotham University has the extremely powerful backing of the Wayne Family. Even by throwing money at it, they could hire many top Professors. With top Professors and top laboratory equipment, there would be no shortage of high-end talent. As for the public safety issue, as long as you don't leave Gotham University, it is actually very safe here.
The problem is that the president of Gotham University has always been unwilling for the Wayne Family to control the school too much. Don't think he's so high-minded; Gotham University is his leverage for moving up in politics, and he's unwilling to hand this fruit over to the Wayne Family.
Therefore, Gotham University has been in a semi-comatose state, and Schiller is very dissatisfied with this. He doesn't want a teaching experience at a bottom-ranked school to appear on his perfect resume.
So no matter how chaotic Gotham is, Schiller just wants to cultivate Gotham University. He set a small goal for himself, which is to first make Gotham University an Ivy League member.
All are Northeast universities, and Gotham University's football team also has good results. It's not too much to join the Ivy League, right?
And before that, even if Batman and other criminals fought to the death, he didn't want to get involved.
In the afternoon, after Bruce arrived at Schiller's office, he explained, “Professor, I actually did write the paper. I'll have my butler send the USB drive over in a moment…”
“If you didn't bring it, you didn't write it,” Schiller said fiercely.
He knocked on the table and said, “If I can't do anything about Bruce not doing his homework, then others won't be affected. That's what you're thinking, right? After all, it's normal for people from the Wayne Family to have some privileges.”
“But the several hundred million U.S. dollars you've donated to the school haven't ended up in my pocket, so if you don't do your homework again, I'll still deduct all your credits and prevent you from getting your diploma.”
Bruce whispered, “Actually, I've already received my diploma. The factory that prints diplomas is also owned by my family.”
Schiller rubbed his forehead and said, “Why am I wasting my breath on you, you damn rich second-generation… How's your investigation coming along?”
“Miss Christine indeed never left Gotham University. She disappeared within the school, but it really has nothing to do with Jonathan, because she disappeared after Jonathan was arrested.”
“Do you have a suspect?” Schiller asked.
“In fact, the president of Gotham University is a major suspect.”
Before Schiller could question him, Bruce said, “I don't have any evidence to prove that he kidnapped Christine, but the three jury members who actively worked to exonerate Jonathan, and Jonathan's defense lawyer, are all from a very famous gang in eastern Gotham, the Red Crow Gang.”
“And the president of Gotham University and the leader of this gang are friends. They once attended the mayor's dinner together, and most importantly, his daughter is married to the head of the Red Crow Gang's smuggling logistics.”
“But what role does Christine play in this story? As far as I know, she's just an ordinary girl, just very beautiful.”
“I suspect Miss Christine might have overheard some of the president's plotting regarding Jonathan.”
Bruce rested his arms on the table, frowning as he said, “You know, the football league is about to start, and the cheerleading squad has a lot to deal with. Their new season's dance costumes hadn't been approved yet, and Christine was very anxious about it. She chose to go see the president, and perhaps that's when she heard something she shouldn't have.”
“Do you have any evidence?” Schiller asked.
“I think I'm no longer fixated on evidence. Of course, I won't just arbitrarily go after the president, because that might tip him off.”
Schiller said, “I suspect Miss Christine is not dead yet. You know, if the person who did this is really the president, then it's unlikely he would directly kill Christine, because the cheerleading squad wouldn't be able to replace a captain in such a short time. And if the cheerleading squad has problems, it will definitely affect the football team's performance, which is the only thing Gotham University has to show for itself, and it's part of the president's personal resume.”
Bruce sighed and said, “Regardless, Miss Christine is innocent.”
“Have you seen Gordon recently? How's his progress?”
“Not very smoothly. I think if I can find Miss Christine and have her testify as a witness to accuse this group of people of deliberate exoneration, then perhaps Jonathan can go to jail.”
“Actually, have you ever thought? Jonathan going to jail doesn't necessarily have to be Gotham Prison.”
“You want me to build a private prison?”
Schiller didn't speak. He just stood up and said, “Are you planning to go through this whole process for every criminal you catch from now on?”
“Or do you find it interesting to get entangled with them in these unfair judicial trial procedures?”
“With that time, not just the Mossen Street District, but the gangs in two or three surrounding blocks, you could handle them all.”
“You know better than I do, Bruce, what Batman should be doing.”
Bruce left again, full of worries.
Schiller still had a problem to solve: if Jonathan went to prison, no matter which prison he was in, the source of the Fear Toxin would become unstable. The supply he had would eventually run out, and he himself didn't have the formula, nor could he prepare it. It would be a great pity for such a useful weapon to disappear.
Schiller was much more cunning than the current headstrong Batman. He knew that the best approach now was not to force Jonathan to reveal the Fear Toxin formula, nor to break him out of prison and control him to work for himself, which would be troublesome and dangerous.
What he needed to do was find a new buyer for Jonathan, let those people extract the formula, control Jonathan to work, and then Schiller would continue to enjoy the benefits of stealing the ready-made Fear Toxin.
Those people wouldn't use Fear Toxin for anything good, so as long as they don't get it, isn't that enough?
The answer is always Zero-Cost Shopping. You produce there, I steal here. Produce as much as you want, I'll steal as much. With the Gray Mist as a tool, can you even catch me?
Jonathan is still too green. Schiller estimated that he had probably already handed over the Fear Toxin formula. After those people got the formula, they had plenty of ways to manufacture it.
Schiller knew that since these people wanted to do something big, the quantity of Fear Toxin wouldn't be the small-scale amount Jonathan produced. And to produce this toxin on a large scale, a factory production line would definitely be needed.
There are many chemical factories in Gotham, but most are not very specialized. For a high-end chemical reagent production line, there is only one place: Wayne Chemical Factory.
No matter how these people try to conceal and operate, to achieve their goal, they absolutely cannot bypass the Wayne Chemical Factory's production line.
With the Gray Mist ability, Schiller could go further at night.
As he expected, on another rainy night, outside the fence of the Wayne Chemical Factory, Schiller saw a car with a license plate ending in 676 drive into the chemical factory.
In the following days, trucks constantly shuttled between the Wayne Chemical Factory, seemingly transporting some large equipment. Schiller didn't intend to stop them, but instead tracked the trucks and found their destination for smuggling the chemical factory production line.
Very naturally, it was in the eastern part of Gotham City, in the territory of the Red Crow Gang. There was also a chemical factory there, just not as large as the Wayne Chemical Factory. The production line equipment stolen from the Wayne Chemical Factory was all transported to this small chemical factory.
However, things didn't go as planned. This production line encountered problems as soon as it started. First, they were missing several machines. After all, the Wayne Chemical Factory's production line wasn't prepared for manufacturing Fear Toxin, so some machines still needed to be purchased.
Second, the chemists they found didn't seem to be as skilled as Jonathan. The experiments before putting the toxin on the production line did not go smoothly. The replicated Fear Toxin was not as potent as Jonathan's, nor was it as concentrated.
So all the problems came back to the issue of getting Jonathan out. Although Jonathan, the Scarecrow criminal, was just starting out, his professional level was very strong. The Red Crow Gang simply couldn't discard him and still had to find a way to help him escape justice.
Schiller didn't expect these gangsters to be so foolish. They had the formula, but they still couldn't produce it. He had already planned to block the factory's output, open his mouth wide, and swallow as much as they produced.
Schiller's Zero-Cost Shopping plan failed, but he didn't intend to give up. Since the Red Crow Gang couldn't do it, he had to find a more capable buyer for Jonathan, such as Sal Maroni.