When the call connected, Oliver Queen sounded slightly out of breath.
"Uh-oh, did I call at a bad time? Were you and your... friend busy..."
"Nothing like that!" Oliver flatly denied it. "I just finished a round on the punching bag."
"Oh, sure, sure." Li Jie made a vaguely knowing noise. "How's the investigation going?"
"It's complicated." Oliver's voice gradually steadied. "What Felicity dug up on Caulder... how should I put this? The man's like a chaotic diary written in different languages, different handwriting, and even different moral codes."
"Complicated?"
Li Jie leaned against the window, watching the traffic below. "Good or bad, there has to be an answer."
"That's the problem. He's hard to put in either category," Oliver replied, sounding conflicted. "Niles Caulder, code name 'The Chief,' is a little..."
He paused, seemingly struggling to describe him.
"Schizophrenic?" Li Jie asked.
"Not exactly... When he was young, Caulder was an absolute genius. He earned his first doctorate at twenty-five and was an expert in four fields by thirty. He also received funding from an unknown source and supposedly developed a drug that could make people immortal. But shortly afterward, he was shot. He survived, but his lower body was paralyzed, and his equipment and formula were destroyed."
Oliver took a breath, then continued, "Afterward, he gradually began promoting ideas like 'overcoming tragedy is the only way to achieve greatness' and 'a better future can only be realized through tragedy and hardship.' He does seem to have had a hand in quite a few accidents, but there's no clear evidence."
"Evidence?" Li Jie laughed at that. "Once he's in the station, the police can always find evidence, can't they?"
"No, you'd better not try treating him like some street punk," Oliver replied. "He's taken in... or possibly created quite