"Now!"
Schiller's suddenly raised voice jolted everyone out of their fantasies. For a moment, they did not react. Even Ellie, standing there, flinched.
"Tell me, miss, what kind of mind did the killer possess?"
Ellie took a deep breath and said,
"He was a... very cruel person."
Before she could say another word, Schiller continued for her. "Yes, but you are crueler than he is, because you are so coldly trying to fob me off with such empty, talentless platitudes. Do you dislike me that much, miss?"
Ellie's face immediately flushed red.
At that moment, a boy beside her stood up and said, "Professor, you cannot make personal attacks against students."
"'Talentless' is not a personal attack." Schiller shook his head, then said very seriously, "It is merely my evaluation. You may choose not to accept it... But then again, have you really not accepted it? Have you not realized that I am right?"
"All right, Mr... Holder, what brilliant insight do you have?"
"He is a pervert. He desires women, but he also humiliates them. That is why he cut open their bodies, removed their reproductive organs, skinned them, and stuffed them with straw. It was a form of humiliation."
"I take back what I said before. If Miss Ellie is merely talentless, then I will use my finest prose to write you a recommendation letter for transferring departments. If anyone objects, I will go persuade them."
The boy called Holder clenched his fists tightly.
"You want to ask me what you said wrong. You think you merely stated what was presented in the course materials. In your view, that was his motive. Perhaps in all of your views as well."
Schiller shifted his gaze from Holder's face and looked at the others. "But do you think you could