Chapter 11 Pride and Prejudice (Part 2)

After Gordon and Batman left the underground of the chapel, both of them seemed a little silent. After all, the place they just went to had buried dozens of lives in just one month.

Gotham is a dark city, but when this darkness is nakedly placed in front of people, only people with strong willpower can digest the impact of this deep darkness.

Batman and Gordon now have countless emotions surging in their hearts. This is the first case that Batman, who has just arrived, has handled. This seemingly boundless evil and darkness without light are placed in front of him. He suddenly realized that, as Schiller said, he may not be fully prepared.

Strong force is only a means to survive here, but if you want to save this city, force alone is far from enough.

Just thinking about this, Batman turned a corner and saw Schiller standing on the second floor again, holding an umbrella. Under the balcony is where the beggar used to stay.

Batman felt absurd again. How dare this damned criminal who killed dozens of innocent lives stand here? Why are there some people in this world who are indifferent to living beings? They can even be so cruel as to kill them without hesitation.

Batman's inner depression turned into anger. Under Gordon's gaze, he jumped along the street and directly jumped onto the balcony more than two meters high.

"Your trial is coming, damn murderer." Batman said.

"Have you found the evidence you want?" Schiller asked

"Of course, and the evidence is enough to try you."

Schiller suddenly laughed, and he said in an extremely brisk tone: "How ridiculous, you are still thinking about trying me, the Gotham City Police Department should really give you a good citizen medal, you are such a great policeman."

"If there were such a great policeman when your parents died, who found the evidence left by the murderers and tried them, how great would that be? That's what you think, right?"

"You don't trust the police, you don't trust the court, but you still go to find evidence, trying to use the correctness of justice to try me, don't you think you are contradictory?"

"You want to prove that I broke the law, Batman, and your actions also broke the law. If I will be tried, you will too. You are using criminal behavior to prove that a criminal is a criminal, aren't you?"

Schiller raised his voice and said in a rhythmic manner :"You think you have the ability to take revenge on the criminals by your own means. But in the end, you are still an ordinary person domesticated by this orderly society. You are still talking about evidence and demanding a trial."

"If you can't put aside these, can't put aside the shackles imposed on you by these orderly societies, can't erase the concepts of law and judicial procedures in your mind, you will never be able to uphold the justice you want."

"Bruce..." Schiller looked into his eyes and said:

"The law is not justice, you are."

"Gotham's law did not save your parents, just as it did not save the dozens of missing people. If you have any unnecessary fantasies about it, you will never become a real Batman."

Schiller could clearly see that Batman's arms were shaking. His hands holding the bat dart were full of blue veins, and even his whole body was shaking. Obviously, he became extremely angry.

Schiller's words were too heartbreaking. He revealed one of the biggest contradictions of the young Batman.

Gotham's laws could not save his parents. Batman, who always claimed to want revenge, was still kidnapped by the order. In the end, he still followed judicial justice.

"You want me to uphold my own justice?" Batman asked. Then he raised a gun and pointed it at Schiller's forehead.

Batman certainly has a gun. In Gotham City, you can hardly survive without such hot weapons. Not to mention justice.

Schiller still seemed very calm. He said: "You haven't answered my previous question yet. Have you found the evidence you want? What is it?"

"There is a stain you left next to the crate in the basement of the chapel. There are dirt and leaves in it. They are the leaves of the North American red pine that only exist in Gotham University."

Schiller said: "What does that mean?"

"It means that you are the murderer." Batman said.

"Really? I appeared on the streets of Mossen Street alone for no reason, and my dress and actions were very suspicious. And you found leaves belonging to Gotham University at the scene of the crime, which means that the murderer may be someone from Gotham University, so I am the murderer. What a rigorous reasoning." Schiller said.

Batman looked at his expression without remorse and guilt, his understated tone, and his anger really reached its peak. Just when he wanted to pull the trigger, Gordon ran over and shouted: "Stop! Put down the gun!"

Batman was interrupted for a moment, and Schiller threw a USB flash drive on the ground between them and said:

"The evidence is conclusive? The murderer has been to Gotham University, and I am a university teacher. It is really very conclusive."

"Yes, how you wish that when your parents died, there would be someone who would shoot the murderer just like you do now, because the evidence is conclusive."

"Don't mention my parents..." Batman said with a trembling voice, "You criminal."

"You think of a lot of similarities." Schiller said.

"But your anger makes you ignore more, more differences."

"For example, I have never had any educational background in chemistry and biology. For example, I have participated in the investigation of countless serial murders. My anti-detection awareness is not so bad that I can't even clean up the footprints. More importantly..."

Schiller looked at the USB drive and said: "My evidence is much more conclusive than yours."

Batman's anger subsided a little because of Gordon's interruption. After his reasoning returned, he felt that even in such cold and wet weather, sweat soaked his shirt on the back.

Batman picked up the USB drive vigilantly. He plugged the USB drive into the microcomputer on his arm, and a projection popped up.

At this time, Gordon also ran to the balcony. He saw in the video that a man in a plaid shirt was standing on the air conditioner of a family, and a hose was inserted into the window. The figures standing and sitting in the house fell down one after another. After the man jumped off the air conditioner, he walked into the corridor. After a while, he dragged two large boxes, put them on the trailer, and pushed them away. The figures in the house had disappeared.

This was the inspiration Batman gave Schiller. Jonathan really lacked anti-detection awareness. Schiller stood in the corridor of the building opposite him and took a camera to shoot, but he didn't notice it.

But it's true. No one in Gotham City would come out to hang out in the middle of the night, especially in such a slum. If you are not careful, you will lose your life.

Gordon suddenly shouted: "No wonder!"

"I remember that when registering the address of missing persons, it was indeed the residents on the lower floors who suffered more. Almost all the victims' houses had balconies..." Gordon said.

Then he looked at Batman and Schiller, and said to Batman angrily: "I really misjudged you. Did you want to shoot just now? Do you know that you almost killed someone just now?!"

Batman looked at the projection on his arm silently. Anyone who is not blind can see that the size of the murderer is very different from Schiller.

Although Schiller can't fight or exercise, he is still very tall. He is only a little shorter than Batman and a little thinner, but at least he is close to 1.9 meters tall, while the person in the video is only 1.7 meters tall at most and weighs no more than 60 kilograms.

"Professor Jonathan is a good guy, you think so, right? Because he doesn't check homework, treats you very well, and will never fail you. But I am different. I am a very troublesome professor. I always find faults in homework, take exams when there is nothing to do, and threaten all students that they may fail the course."

"So of course I am the murderer, and he is not. After all, how can such a cowardly, taciturn, thin and small person be a serial killer?"

"Don't say it anymore." Batman said in a trembling voice.

He recalled the scene when he faced the beggar that day. He could still see the stain left by the beggar against the wall from the corner of his eye. The strong sense of guilt and shame surrounded him again.

Gordon's words added fuel to the fire. He said: "I don't care where you come from, a weirdo wearing a tights and causing trouble in the city, but you almost killed a good man. What is the grudge between the two of you? If you have a personal grudge, go and solve it yourself, don't interfere with the police's investigation."

"Aren't the police in Gotham City busy enough? You want to kill someone in front of me, do you want me to send you to jail immediately?" Gordon said.

Overtime for several days has made him irritable, and he said impatiently: "Weirdo in tights, give me the USB drive quickly, I want to take it back for filing... Sir, please come back with me, you seem to know who the murderer is, we need clues..."

After a moment of silence, Batman silently stretched out his arm and handed the USB drive to Gordon.

He found that his ambitious debut journey was completely causing trouble, and the criminal Schiller he thought was a big help and provided the most critical evidence.

Schiller didn't say anything else, Batman also stood there, and the endless rain began to fall on the street outside.

Just as he was about to leave with Gordon, he heard Batman behind him say: "...I'm sorry, professor."

Schiller's footsteps paused, he felt a little incredible, what did Batman just say? ? ?

He just apologized? ? ?

Schiller looked back in disbelief, Batman stood in the shadow cast by the building, the only beam of light shone on his mask, he pursed his lips tightly, Schiller felt very ridiculous.

He is Batman.

Because he is Batman.

And Batman is always right.

Batman will not apologize to anyone.

In the face of everyone's doubts, he will only say one sentence: "Because I am Batman."

Schiller saw too many dark sides of Batman in Batman comics, such as preparing kryptonite to guard against Superman, and preparing a set of plans to deal with everyone in the Justice League. He seemed to distrust anyone, not even himself.

It must be said that when the comic editor created this character, these dark sides made him more charming. It can also leave a deeper impression on readers.

But this also caused Schiller to have a prejudice against Batman.

He thought Batman should be like that, like in the comics. Batman never apologizes because he doesn't think he is wrong. He thinks those measures to guard against his companions are necessary.

This created a prejudice for Schiller. Batman is not not apologizing. When he really finds out that he is wrong, he will still feel regret and guilt.

Schiller really wants to teach the young Batman some truths, such as not to be prejudiced, not to judge people by appearance, not to be overwhelmed by anger, and to maintain independent thinking.

But Schiller suddenly found that he was not qualified to teach Batman not to be prejudiced, because he himself had an indelible stereotype about this character. He hoped that Bruce could become the Batman in the comics in his mind, and the sooner the better.

But now it seems that this story is not about a wise and knowledgeable professor and his young and reckless student, but a very classic "Pride and Prejudice".

Batman was absolutely arrogant about his reasoning and thought that Schiller must be the murderer. When he had a preconceived prejudice and some evidence that just matched his prejudice, he almost shot Schiller.

But Schiller also had a prejudice against Batman, thinking that he should be the dark hero who was mature, cautious and suspicious in the comics.

The two people are not to say that they are the same.

Now Batman seems to have learned this lesson. He clearly realizes that he is not omniscient and omnipotent.

His reasoning will also be confined to prejudice and produce great fallacies, and his impulse is even more deadly under this arrogance.

He saw the scar on Schiller's neck, which was left by his bat dart. At that time, he assumed that Schiller was a criminal and threatened him in the same way as a criminal. Although he did not shoot today, as Gordon said, the wound was very deep and would probably leave a scar.

Batman felt guilty and scared.

He thought that the law could not correctly judge every criminal, but it was not a reason for him to judge others arbitrarily with his arrogance.

And when he could not guarantee that he was 100% right, any impulsive violent behavior might leave an innocent person, or even a good person, with an indelible scar.

He was just glad that the price paid by the innocent person was not his life.

Batman stood in the shadows and thought that he would never let this happen, so he decided that no matter how vicious the criminals were, he would never kill anyone in the future.

If any innocent person died unjustly in his hands, he would become a more hateful criminal than killing his parents.

Because the criminals who killed his parents may have just been seeking money or revenge, and the damage they caused was two lives.

If Batman kills innocent people indiscriminately, then there will be no hope for this city.

In the comics, the setting that Batman does not kill people seems to have existed from the beginning.

Schiller did not explore why this was the case. He felt that this setting was inappropriate and very annoying. For example, facing that group of annoying criminals, those crazy people who escaped from prison again and again to make trouble, why couldn't Batman kill them? He had thought about this countless times when reading comics.

But what he didn't expect was that in this world, it was because of him, it was because of Schiller, that the young Batman was determined not to kill criminals.

Because he is Batman, he is the only hope of this city. If he is defeated by the guilt of killing innocent people, then this city will be completely hopeless.

By chance, although Schiller still failed to let the young Batman establish his own spiritual pillar, he successfully completed one of Batman's settings, that is, not to kill people.

Schiller would never have thought that he would regret his meddling countless times in the days to come.

When Batman fully matured, Schiller had roared in his heart countless times, why couldn't Batman just move his fingers to strangle those damned criminals, so that they would not appear in front of him again and again and disrupt his peaceful life! !

And all of this was caused by what happened today, and it was all his own fault.