Party and Umbrella (I)

Victor stood by the window of the old Cobblepot house, tugged at it hard, and then looked up to find that there was still a lock on the window of this dilapidated old house. Schiller took out a pistol and handed it to Victor. Victor glanced at him and said, "You actually have a gun?"

Schiller looked at him and said, "Why are you surprised I have a gun? This is Gotham."

Victor was also surprised and said, "But why did you give me a gun if you brought one? Don't you know how to shoot?"

"My marksmanship is poor, so you'll have to do it."

Victor took the gun and muttered, "We're both from out of town, so why do you act like you were born and raised here?"

He raised his gun, aimed at the old lock, and fired a shot. The lock sparked and was knocked off. Victor pushed open the window and climbed inside, with Schiller following behind him.

Once inside, Victor pointed to the ground and said, "Master of Reconnaissance, it's time for you to shine."

Schiller shook his head and said, "Isn't it obvious? Mrs. Cobblepot has been kidnapped."

As soon as he finished speaking, his gaze fell on a corner of the living room, where a very old shoe cabinet stood. Next to the door, there was a pair of rain boots and several other pairs of ordinary leather shoes. However, next to the shoe cabinet was an umbrella.

Schiller walked over to the umbrella, picked up the handle and examined it, then gradually narrowed his eyes. Victor also walked over, looked at the umbrella, and asked with some doubt, "What's wrong? Is there something wrong with this umbrella?"

Schiller pursed his lips and didn't answer. He simply turned the umbrella upside down and looked at the tip. There was a small circle on the tip, a very inconspicuous pattern that looked a bit like someone's signature. Schiller held the tip of the umbrella and then tapped the ground with the handle.

Victor looked around and asked, "What are you doing?"

"No...it's nothing." Schiller picked up the umbrella and went back to the center of the living room. He first went to the sofa and said, "It looks like Mrs. Cobblepot was dragged away from here."

Then he went to the left side of the coffee table. The Cobblepot family's coffee table was made of glass and looked very exquisite, which showed that their family had once been quite wealthy.

A tea set sat on the glass coffee table. Schiller it up and smelled it. Victor walked over, put his hands on his hips, leaned over and looked at the tea set, and said, "Although I don't have much detective experience, I can guess that someone has probably drugged this."

"If I'm not mistaken, it should be." Schiller grabbed a stack of newspapers from the side, wrapped the teacup in them, and handed it to Victor to take back for testing. Then he squatted down and looked under the sofa.

A scratch about 20 centimeters long was left on the floor by the wooden leg on the left side of the sofa, indicating that the sofa had been dragged.

He squatted down again and looked into the living room. The living room floor was littered with scattered items, as if a cabinet had been bumped and its contents had fallen off.

The table next to it was also knocked aside, and a chair was overturned on the ground with one of its legs broken. It looked like someone had been fighting there.

Schiller sighed and said, "I think we don't need to watch any longer. Let's go back and see whoever kidnapped Mrs. Cobblepot. We'll have to let the police find out."

Meanwhile, Batman, who was investigating the foreign gang leaders in the Living Hell, also made a discovery. A gang member in a suit collapsed to the ground, looking at Batman in fear, and then said in a trembling voice, "Don't kill me, don't... I'll tell you everything I know!"

"About... about a few weeks ago, oh no! About a week or two ago! One of the seven bosses here died. We all called him Black Hand Kevin. He was also the boss of the North District, the one with the biggest territory..."

"Is this Black Hand Kevin connected to Fish?"

The man hesitated for a moment before saying, "Yes, actually Kevin is a negotiator. Before coming to Living Hell, his gang lost a lot of men in a shootout, and he doesn't want to lose any more. So he's willing to sit down and talk with the Muni Gang leader..."

"But he died before they could negotiate."

"How did he die?" Batman then asked.

"This... I don't know. I just heard that he died outside the Living Hell. You might have to ask the police for details..."

Then Batman asked, "What happened to that guy named Kevin after he died?"

"How did it go?" The foreman was taken aback by the question, and instinctively replied, "What else could it be? He's dead, and someone else has taken his place..."

Batman frowned and asked, "Who will take his place?"

The foreman racked his brains and said, "I can't remember his name. Anyway, that guy seemed pretty smart. Apparently, he used to be a foreman in charge of the water supply. I heard from someone that he said he could make money with everyone, so he took over Kevin's position..."

Batman frowned even deeper. He asked a few more questions, but the underling wasn't part of Black Hand 'Johnny gang and didn't know the specifics. Finding he couldn't get anything out of him, Batman knocked him unconscious.

Speaking of running water systems, Batman is reminded of Fish's crazy antics.

Somehow, Fish found the core system of the Living Hell water purifier. However, because Batman patrolled the area frequently, Fish was discovered by Batman just as she had the idea to have someone investigate the area furtively. Batman knocked the investigator unconscious and then installed a security system on the water purifier to stop her.

At the time, Batman didn't think much of it, but now that I think about it, it doesn't seem like a plan that an uneducated mob boss could come up with. Most of the inhabitants of the Living Hell didn't even know that the Purifier existed.

Even if she could figure it out, how would Fish put it into practice? How did she know where the core of the water purifier was located?

Batman had seen Fish's file with Gordon before, and he had also monitored Fish for a period of time. He was quite certain that this woman was semi-illiterate, the kind of person who would misspell long words. He didn't think that such a person had the ability to follow those complicated pipes and find the core location of the most important purification equipment.

In fact, there aren't many people in the entire Living Hell with this ability, Batman deduces that there must be someone who has been advising Fish all along.

The death of Black Hand Kevin, Fish's plan to sabotage the water purifier, the junior boss who took over after Kevin's death...

Several things quickly connected in Batman's mind.

The most crucial coincidence is that Fish came up with a plan to sabotage the water purifier that couldn't possibly have been her own idea, and the low-level leader who took over after Kevin's death happened to be the former head of the North District's water management system. This doesn't seem like a simple coincidence, since there are very few people in the entire Living Hell who understand the water system. The possibility of these two identities overlapping is very high.

In Batman's deduction, this underling was either originally Fish's man, or he betrayed his boss and sided with Fish.

He helped Fish devise strategies, and Fish helped him eliminate his superior, giving him a chance to rise in the ranks. Perhaps they will then work together from within and without, using this low-level boss's knowledge to strike at other gang leaders.

Were they ever partners? Could Fish's death be related to this person? Batman fell into thought again, but he always felt that there seemed to be other hidden stories behind these events, far more complicated than they appeared.

On the fourth floor of Arkham Asylum, Gordon and Victor stood outside a ward. Gordon said with some pity, "This kid is really unlucky. He survived a murder, developed a difficult mental illness, and then his family was kidnapped. Even in Gotham, you don't see many people this unlucky."

Victor sighed and said, "Actually, he's a very smart kid, he learns things very quickly, but I've found that's just how Gotham is..." He shrugged and said, "A talented person always encounters all sorts of troubles and then goes astray."

"I think Professor Rodriguez can cure him, just like he always says, he's not a quack."

Victor turned his gaze toward the window in the door, and following his line of sight, Schiller walked around the bed from one side to the other, while Cobblepot lay on the bed, not struggling, looking numb, his eyes staring blankly at the ceiling.

"How did you sleep last night, Mr. Cobblepot? Do you still feel any muscle discomfort?" Schiller, wearing a white coat, stood by the bed, holding a medical record, writing as he asked.

Cobblepot didn't answer at all, lying on the bed in a strange position like a stiff and pale puppet, unresponsive to any sounds from the outside world.

"It seems you're not doing well." Schiller said, standing still. "Most patients experience some sluggishness after taking an overdose of tranquilizers, but I don't think you are one of them. You should be quite lucid now; the acute phase has passed."

Why are you unwilling to answer me? Is it because some of your plans are not going well?

Cobblepot suddenly turned his head and stared at Schiller with his deep-set eyes. His gaze was somewhat frightening, numb and cold, but Schiller remained unmoved.

"Unfortunately, I can't use any magical hypnosis to make you tell everything, like in the movies. In both psychology and psychiatry, hypnosis will not be effective if the patient is unwilling to cooperate."

"Similarly, if you don't cooperate with the treatment, no amount of medication will help. I am Doctor, not God. If you refuse to answer any questions, even God cannot cure you."

Cobblepot's head moved again, and a hoarse voice, like sawing wood, escaped from his throat as he said, "Cure... can it be cured?"

Schiller put down the medical record, gave him a strange look, and said, "If you couldn't be cured, you'd be in the crematorium by now."

Cobblepot's mouth slowly opened, as if he wanted to say something, but he didn't. Schiller seemed to remember something and said, "Oh, I forgot, you're not even a college student."

He covered his forehead and said with a hint of helplessness, "I know that many people with insufficient education call mental illness madness, or an incurable disease, but that's not actually the case."

"Many people don't understand mental illness, so they are terrified of it, especially hereditary mental disorders, which can cause extreme agitation and aggression when they flare up, and are often regarded as a terrible form of madness."

"But actually, this is just a symptom of schizophrenia. According to the previous diagnosis, you should have catatonic schizophrenia, which often occurs intermittently. During an attack, there are stupor symptoms, and sometimes you will suddenly enter a state of agitation, where your behavior becomes violent, but it will subside on its own after about a few hours..."

Schiller patiently explained to Cobblepot, "This type of schizophrenia has a relatively good prognosis. Not only can it resolve on its own, but treatment is also very effective. The difficulty usually lies in alleviating the manic behavior, but as you've seen, tranquilizers have been quite effective..."

Cobblepot kept his eyes fixed on Schiller, Schiller expression remained unchanged; he was telling the truth.

This wasn't actually a rare or difficult case; even within the broader category of schizophrenia, it was relatively common. His tone remained calm, but this seemed to rouse Cobblepot somewhat. He straightened his tilted neck, adjusted his position on the bed, and asked, "... It can be cured... right?"

Schiller nodded and said, "While a full recovery cannot be guaranteed, most of the time you should be able to live a normal life without any problems."