"For this assignment, I want to give special praise to Mr. Robert. His argument about analyzing emotions by breaking them down aligns very well with the theories I covered in class. Of course, Miss Hoff wrote the most this time, but I must say that word count does not equal quality. If you can explain your argument clearly in fewer than 3,000 words, I would be much happier."
"And, unsurprisingly, one person still failed to turn in their assignment. Mr. Wayne, come to my office after class. If you still do not intend to complete your work, then I do not think you need to take the final exam either. After all, if you have no assignment grade at all, you definitely will not receive credits for this term even if you take the exam."
Schiller closed the textbook in front of him and said, "Class dismissed."
Gotham University was located on the American East Coast. Everyone knew that nearly all famous universities in the United States were located on the East Coast, including Harvard, MIT, Princeton, and so on.
Gotham University was not a competitor to those schools. Although it was a nationally recognized public university, it was not an Ivy League institution. Besides, Gotham City was notorious for its terrible public safety. Hardly any local American students applied to the university, and even Gotham locals who could attend college could easily apply to better nearby schools.
This meant that the students who remained at Gotham University either could not get into schools elsewhere or were international students.
It was difficult to expect these people to achieve particularly good grades. More than half of them only completed assignments on time because of Schiller's fearsome reputation.
But that was not actually the main reason Gotham University ranked so low. After all, Gotham University had the Wayne Family as an extremely powerful backer. Even if they simply threw money at the problem, they could hire many top professors. With top professors and top laboratory equipment, they would not need to worry about attracting elite talent. As for the crime problem, so long as one did not leave Gotham University, it was actually quite safe here.
The problem was that Gotham University's president had always been unwilling to let the Wayne Family control the school too much. But do not mistake that for integrity. Gotham University was a Chip for him to climb higher in politics, and he had no intention of handing that prize over to the Wayne Family.
As a result, Gotham University had always remained in a half-dead state. Schiller was deeply dissatisfied with this. He did not want his perfect résumé to include a teaching position at a bottom-ranked university.
So no matter how chaotic Gotham became, Schiller only wanted to cultivate Gotham University. He had set himself a small goal: first, make Gotham University a member of the Ivy League.
They were both northeastern universities, and Gotham University's Football Team had decent results. Joining the Ivy League was not too much to ask, was it?
Before that, Batman and the other criminals could beat each other's brains out for all he cared.
That afternoon, after Bruce arrived at Schiller's office, he explained, "Professor, it is not that I did not write the paper. I will have my butler bring the flash drive over later..."
"If you did not bring it, then you did not write it," Schiller said viciously.
He tapped the desk and said, "You think that if I cannot do anything about Bruce not completing his assignments, then everyone else will be affected too, right? After all, it is normal for someone from the Wayne Family to have certain privileges."
"But the hundreds of millions you donated to the school did not end up in my pocket. So if you still do not do your assignments, I will deduct all your credits just the same and make sure you do not get a diploma."
Bruce said quietly, "Actually, I already have my diploma. The factory that prints diplomas belongs to my family too."
Schiller rubbed his forehead and said, "Why am I wasting words on a damn rich second-generation heir... How is your investigation going?"
"Miss Christine really never left Gotham University. She disappeared on campus. But this truly 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 highly suspicious."
Before Schiller could question him, Bruce said, "I do not have any evidence proving that he kidnapped Christine, but the three jurors who actively worked to clear Jonathan, as well as Jonathan's defense lawyer, all came from a notorious gang in eastern Gotham, the Red Crow Gang."
"And the president of Gotham University is friends with that gang's leader. They attended the mayor's banquet together, and more importantly, his daughter married the head of the Red Crow Gang's smuggling logistics operation."
"But what role did Christine play in this story? As far as I know, she was just an ordinary girl who happened to be very beautiful."
"I suspect that Miss Christine may have overheard some conspiracy involving the president and Jonathan."
Bruce rested both arms on the desk. Frowning, he said, "You know, the football league is about to begin, and the cheerleading squad has a lot to deal with. Their dance uniforms for the new season had not been approved, and Christine was very worried about it. She chose to go to the president, and perhaps that was when she heard something she should not have."
"Do you have any evidence?" Schiller asked.
"I do not think I should keep fixating on evidence. Of course, I will not rashly confront the president either, because that could alert him."
Schiller said, "I suspect Miss Christine is still alive. You see, if the president truly was behind this, then he would be unlikely to kill Christine directly. The cheerleading squad could not replace its captain in such a short time, and if something went wrong with the squad, it would definitely affect the Football Team's performance. That is the only thing Gotham University can show off, and it is part of the president's personal résumé."
Bruce sighed. "No matter what, Miss Christine is innocent."
"Have you seen Gordon recently? How is his side progressing?"
"Not very smoothly. I think that if I can find Miss Christine and have her testify that these people deliberately tried to clear Jonathan, then perhaps Jonathan can finally be thrown in prison."
"Have you ever considered that Jonathan could go to prison without it necessarily being Gotham Prison?"
"You want me to build a private prison?"
Schiller said nothing. He merely stood up and asked, "Do you plan to go through a process like this for every criminal you catch in the future?"
"Or do you find it interesting to keep circling around them in these unjust judicial proceedings?"
"With that time, you could deal with not only the Morsen District, but also the gangs in two or three surrounding districts."
"You know better than I do what Batman should be doing, Bruce."
Bruce left again, burdened with thoughts.
Schiller still had another problem to solve. If Jonathan went to prison, no matter which prison he went to, the source of Fear Gas would become unstable. The supply Schiller had would eventually run out, and he did not have the formula himself, much less know how to make it. It would be a terrible waste for such a useful weapon to disappear.
Schiller was far more cunning than the Batman who was currently charging around recklessly. He knew that the best course was not to seek out Jonathan and force him to reveal the Fear Gas formula, nor was it to bail him out of prison and control him into working for him. That would be both troublesome and dangerous.
What he needed to do was find Jonathan a new buyer, let those people force the formula out of him and control Jonathan's work, then continue sitting back and stealing the finished Fear Gas for himself.
Those people would not use Fear Gas for anything good, but did that matter so long as they never got to use it?
The answer was simple: steal it all for free. They produced it over there, and he stole it over here. However much they made, he stole. With Gray Mist as such a powerful tool, could they possibly catch him?
Jonathan was still too inexperienced. Schiller estimated that he had most likely handed over the Fear Gas formula long ago. Once those people had the formula, they had plenty of ways to manufacture it.
Schiller knew that since these people were planning something big, the quantity of Fear Gas would not be on Jonathan's small-scale level. To mass-produce this gas, they would definitely need a factory production line.
Gotham had many chemical plants, but most were not particularly professional. There was only one place with a production line for high-end chemical agents: Wayne Chemical Plant.
No matter how hard this group tried to conceal and arrange things, they could not avoid the production lines at Wayne Chemical Plant if they wanted to achieve their goal.
After gaining the Gray Mist ability, Schiller could travel farther at night.
Just as he had expected, on another rainy night, Schiller saw a car with a license plate ending in 676 drive into Wayne Chemical Plant.
Over the next few days, trucks constantly moved back and forth around Wayne Chemical Plant, seemingly transporting large equipment. Schiller had no intention of stopping them. Instead, he tracked the trucks and found the destination where they were smuggling the factory production line.
Naturally, it was in eastern Gotham City, the territory of the Red Crow Gang. There was another chemical plant there, though it was much smaller than Wayne Chemical Plant. The production line equipment stolen from Wayne Chemical Plant was all transported into that smaller plant.
But things did not go their way. The moment the production line started operating, problems emerged. First, they were missing several machines. Wayne Chemical Plant's production line had not been designed to manufacture Fear Gas, so some machines still needed to be purchased.
Second, the chemists they had found did not seem to be as capable as Jonathan. Even the experiments before putting the process onto the production line went poorly. The replicated Fear Gas was not as potent as Jonathan's, much less as effective as his concentrated version.
Thus, everything came back to the problem of getting Jonathan out. Though Jonathan, the Scarecrow criminal, was only just getting started, his professional skills were formidable. The Red Crow Gang could not simply discard him once he had outlived his usefulness. They still had to find a way to clear his name.
Schiller had not expected this gang to be so stupid. They already had the formula, yet they still could not produce it. He had already planned to wait at the production line's outlet with his mouth wide open, swallowing however much they produced.
Schiller's zero-cost shopping plan had failed, but he did not intend to give up. Since a gang like the Red Crow Gang could not pull it off, he needed to find Jonathan a more capable buyer, such as Sal Maroney.
Before you continue