Luring the Tiger to Devour the Wolf (Part 1)

The soft clinking of cutlery against the tableware, accompanied by the sound of wine dissipating, Gordon to raise his glass first and say, "Congratulations on your new home!"

Bruce, Harvey, Schiller, and Victor all raised their glasses and clinked them together. Schiller took a sip of his drink; the slightly spicy liquid sent a warm feeling through his chest as he swallowed it. The firelight from the fireplace shone on his glass like a burning flame.

"You should buy a house," Harvey said. "I told you, no one should live in a faculty apartment for so long. There's not even a coffee machine there. I only stayed there for two nights and my back was aching from the bed frame."

"I think it's pretty good," Victor said. "Gotham University's facilities are quite good, though of course they can't compare to a manor like this. I hope you can reserve a room for me here."

"You're welcome anytime." Schiller raised his glass to him, Bruce, while cutting his steak with a knife, said, "You should reserve a room for both of us, after all, I've already reserved rooms for you at the Wayne Manor."

"That's enough," Schiller said.

"God bless me so I can buy a large estate in my lifetime; I'd be happy to reserve a room for each of you," Gordon said, eating a sausage.

"How have you been lately? You should be almost done saving up, right?" Harvey asked him.

"Recent income has declined a bit, but it's still not bad." Gordon picked up a napkin to wipe his mouth, then continued, "The Godfather hasn't made any moves yet, but the other gangs are eager to try. This is probably just the calm before the storm."

"You must let me know when you've saved enough money," Schiller said, tapping his knife lightly with his fork.

"What's wrong?"

"It's nothing, I just thought I could help you with your apartment selection. After all, I looked at a lot of information before I bought my own house."

"That's perfect. I was just wondering which building to buy. What do you think of Pelican Community? Actually, I prefer Molly End, but considering we might have a child in the future, it's a bit small and doesn't have a nursery."

"Have you thought about Ninth Avenue? How about coming to be my neighbor?" Harvey asked him with a smile.

"Good heavens, that's so far away, and most of the people living there are probably bachelors like you, right?"

Schiller, who was picking up his glass to drink, let out a "tsk" sound. Gordon looked at him with some confusion, and Schiller laughed and said, "You've been too busy lately to know about something this big."

"What's wrong?" Gordon glanced at Harvey and said, "What did I miss? Isn't he a bachelor now?"

Victor asked, "You and Christine are officially dating? Then you'd better be discreet at school. You know, there are almost as many girls who are interested in you as there are boys who are interested in her."

"Okay, it happened last week," Harvey said with a shrug.

Bruce looked at him in surprise and said, "Really? My God! You've already won over the sexiest and prettiest girl in all of Gotham University so quickly. I thought you were just an old academic."

Schiller tapped the edge of his plate lightly with his fork again, and then said, "I hope you're not implying anything. Are you sitting here with me at this table because you only got 69 on your final exam?"

Everyone laughed. The fireplace roared, and the reflections of the metal cutlery on the table mirrored each other, emitting soft halos of light. When the light overlapped, the whole room seemed to be illuminated.

After dinner, the group sat on the sofa in front of the fireplace. Harvey, slightly drunk, said, "What is this? Our bachelor night? Gordon's getting married too, and we can still have this kind of commotion before he does..."

"I'm leaving now." Victor had already put on his coat and hat. Schiller turned to look at him and said, "Take that bag by the door. There are two bottles of wine and a pack of cigars in there."

"Oh! Thank you, how could you bear to give me all these good Cuba goods?" Victor asked with a smile as he opened the bag.

"I remember you mentioned that a couple of days ago was your wedding anniversary with your wife..."

"Oh, I'm sorry, we didn't know!" Bruce said. "Professor Freeze, I'll send the gift to your office tomorrow."

"No, no need, no need to be so polite." Victor smiled and said, "In fact, I'm already very happy that you understand me."

Victor was speaking from the heart. After all, freezing his wife in a cryogenic chamber was a truly terrifying idea. He didn't expect anyone to understand his crazy actions. The best people who had heard about it before could offer was advice that everyone experiences birth, aging, sickness, and death, and to take it easy.

However, most of the new friends he made in Gotham were very tolerant of this, and they did not shy away from bringing it up. In fact, Victor did not like other people looking at him with pity and avoiding him whenever his marriage and family situation were mentioned, as it made him feel like a jinx.

But his friends were different. It was as if his wife was just a minor illness and in the hospital. They would always remember her, which comforted Victor. It was as if his wife was really just hospitalized for a common illness and would recover soon.

After Victor left, Gordon left quickly as well. Bruce leaned back on the sofa and said, "See? These are all busy people. Only us, only a few of us idle guys, can stay here and get drunk all night..."

"Actually, it's just you, Richest Gentleman. I still have to revise my thesis later, and Harvey has a lawsuit to write. It's just you, this idle, empty-headed tycoon..."

Bruce leaned back on the sofa with his eyes closed. He waved his hand and stopped talking, clearly a little drunk. Harvey put on his coat and said, "I'll take him home. I don't want him to get really drunk here."

"He has a cell phone in his pocket. Find it and call his butler. Ask him to send a helicopter to pick you up. Don't drive."

"In Gotham, what's drunk driving? I can even drive at 120 mph..." Bruce mumbled.

"Yes, yes, our genius race car driver..."

After Harvey helped Bruce away, Schiller walked to the other side of the living room, picked up the phone receiver, and started dialing.

Soon, the lights in the manor gradually went out, and Gotham's night fell into deep darkness once again.

The next day, Gotham University's president Sheldon, stood in his office with his arms crossed and said in a puzzled tone, "You mean, Professor Rodriguez is injured and hospitalized?... Well then, send a colleague to visit him."

In the afternoon, Schiller, lying in his hospital bed, accepted the flowers from Anna and said, "Oh, Thank you, I'm so grateful..."

He was about to continue speaking when Gordon rushed in. Seeing that there were outsiders present, he hesitated for a moment. After Anna left, Gordon looked around the room. This was a VIP ward in Gotham City Central Hospital, a private room with luxurious furnishings. Schiller was lying on the bed, covered with a blanket, and there was nothing unusual about his appearance.

Gordon walked over, hands on his hips, and said, "I heard you were attacked last night. Damn, I should have stayed out later..."

Schiller chuckled, seemingly unconcerned. Gordon said, "You can still laugh? You knew beforehand that those guys from Metropolis were likely after you, yet you weren't on guard and let them succeed. Where are you injured? An organ or a bone?"

Then, quite annoyed, he said, "I wonder where that Batman went. If he had stayed with you, this wouldn't have happened!"

"You really have a lot of faith in him, but I don't want him to stay here overnight. If his butler comes knocking, he'll be more terrifying than anyone else."

"Honestly..." Gordon looked Schiller up and down, "You're really injured? I can't tell at all?"

He glanced at his watch and said, "Besides, we left in the middle of the night, and it's only a little past 7 a. m. now. Your wound healed so quickly? Even if it was just a knife wound, it would take at least ten hours to heal, right? Or is it that the medical technology at the Central Hospital has become so advanced?"

Schiller waved to him, signaling him to calm down, then threw off the covers and sat up, standing directly off the bed. He walked to the window and stretched, while Gordon stared wide-eyed at his fluid and effortless movements as if nothing had happened.

"Damn it! You're not hurt at all!" Gordon shouted. "I rushed over here as soon as I got the news!"

"I'm very touched," Schiller said. "Your old pickup truck was able to drive from the Police Department to the hospital in just 20 minutes. Did you put a propeller or something on it?"

"I told you, I got first place in my driving course at the police academy!"

Then Gordon shook his head and said, "Is that the point? The point isn't why you faked being sick? You've finally had enough of those students at Gotham University?"

"Of course not... Ah, okay, a little, but that's not the point..."

"Do you know how I got this news? This morning, the Police Department was filled with wailing and screaming because they heard that Arkham Asylum was going to temporarily close due to a lack of attending physicians. I've never seen them so sad..."

"Yes, the closure of Arkham Asylum is a tragedy that affects more than just the police."

Gordon frowned. He wasn't stupid. After thinking for a moment, he said, "The gangsters won't give up so easily. They've tasted the sweetness of this industry."

"That's right. They're probably more anxious than you are right now. After all, you've almost saved enough money, and your goal is just to buy an apartment. But it's different for them."

Why are you doing this? What's the benefit of keeping them hanging?

"I'm injured, and the mental hospital won't open. They're about to lose what they've got their hands on. So, why was I injured?"

"Why... why do you want to frame those people in Metropolis?" Gordon finally understood. "You want to use these gangs to eliminate them. Once they find out that you were attacked by those people in Metropolis, and that they are the culprits behind the mental hospital's closure, they will definitely try to find out who they are and then kill them."

Gordon paced around the room, saying as he walked, "After running for so long, many people have spent time and effort putting their businesses into mental hospitals, and they're not going to give up now. It's like the last step in baking a pizza; they're not going to stop."

"Now that you're sick, they'll definitely find all sorts of ways to find out what happened. The police already know who did it, so there's no reason why those gang leaders wouldn't know."

"But how can you be so sure they'll go after those people from Metropolis? And not try to replace you with someone else like before?"

"You're injured, but that doesn't mean the mental hospital has to close down. They don't know this business is part of your plan. They might just think, 'Since the attending physician is sick, why not just replace him?'"

"They don't know, but Falcone does, and that's enough."