"Before that, I want to ask you a question first, Batman, do you think you are special?" Schiller looked at Batman with a smile and asked.
"Everyone feels that he is special." Batman replied in a deep voice: "Because people can only perceive themselves. For everyone, the only thing in this world that can be felt is themselves and other people who appear in their lives.
Someone who plays a supporting role."
"A very interesting point of view." Schiller commented. He said: "It seems that you are very interested in the cognitive school, but what I said is not from the perspective of cognition, but from reality."
"Maybe." Batman took a deep breath. The fatigue that had just exhausted his energy allowed his tense thinking to relax. This would make the language center in his brain more active, so he would be more active than usual.
Talkative.
"The richest man in the world is special wherever he goes, and it's the same in Gotham." Batman looked at the reflection of the tableware on the table and said in a daze, but Schiller raised his eyebrows and said: "I didn't expect that your first
A proposed identity would be the richest man in the world."
"Because the plans to transform Gotham that are swirling around in my mind all revolve around one word, and that is - money." Batman let out the breath he was holding, and it sounded like a gentle sigh.
"Four years ago, you would never have imagined that one day you would be sitting in the final villain's room after a life-or-death battle, discussing money issues with your psychology professor, and...
You are still short of money."
Batman covered his eyes with his hand armor, and then asked: "Why do you say you are Batman's victim? What did I do?"
Schiller picked up the cutlery again and started cutting the food on the plate. He said: "If you are curious about this question, let's talk about the broccoli first. How did you and those two idiots break into the high school?"
In the middle of the tower? Why are you rummaging through my room?"
"We all have our own purposes." Batman told the truth. He looked up, as if thinking about it, and then said, "Zatanna does want to save the world, but her method... is quite special."
"Why did you come to me to save the world?" Schiller asked.
"Zatanna came to us. She said that there is a very evil curse that has been hidden in Gotham City. Gotham is what it is now, and it is inseparable from this curse."
"Constantine thinks that what she said is not unreasonable, and you once said that Gotham is what it is now, and it is also influenced by the occult."
Batman looked up at Schiller and said, "So, is the stronger curse you mentioned a very evil curse?"
"I think you misunderstood." Schiller understood the causal relationship he was talking about, and he said: "The curse on my hand comes exactly from Constantine, who once killed his mother in her belly.
The ghost of his biological brother, Constantine once said that his name was Thomas, but I don’t like this name very much, and you don’t either, right?”
What is very rare is that Batman's expression has not changed much. Unlike in the past, once he heard his parents' names, he would show a very classic serious expression. He put one hand on the armrest of the chair and said
: "We thought that the curse in your umbrella was the so-called extremely evil curse."
"So, you are trying to get my umbrella?" Schiller paused for a moment, then looked at Batman from the top of his glasses, and said: "This is how I used to do things, and I haven't treated you greedy uninvited guests.
, give a strong warning?”
Batman paused while tapping his fingers on the armrest, and then said, "No need to be stronger."
Schiller turned away his eyes and showed a slightly disgusted expression. He said: "I can tolerate Zatanna because she is just like you when you were 18 years old, and she is exactly the same."
"Competent people are always particularly confident in their own abilities. Once the situation is beyond their control, they will not reflect on the way they use this ability, or if there are any errors in their concepts, but will definitely
You have to find a flaw in the opponent, right? Batman?"
Batman coughed twice. He and Schiller did not talk about four years ago, but they talked about four years ago.
"You should be lucky, Batman. At the same time, I can only tolerate one such idiot. If you are still like that, someone will be in danger." Schiller put a piece of subcutaneous tissue into his mouth and played with it carefully.
Holding the food on the plate, he whispered:
"But the fact that you were able to run into my room so easily must have something to do with the group of people who neglected their duties. Perhaps, they deliberately allowed you to enter because they should also be curious about my current situation."
Batman's fingers paused again, and he looked at Schiller's face. I wonder if it was his misunderstanding. Occasionally, a crazy smile flashed across Schiller's face, but it was no longer as frequent as it was at the beginning, and not as much.
Crazy, seems to be changing.
"Merkel mentioned to me that you have changed a lot in the past four years. Does this have anything to do with the lunatic personality in you?" Batman asked.
"This brings us back to the original question." Schiller asked without raising his head: "Do you know that you are special?"
But he did not wait for Batman's answer, but said to himself: "Whether you know it now or not, you definitely didn't know it when we first met."
"Otherwise, you wouldn't have asked me that question, and I wouldn't have become a victim of Batman."
"Question?" Batman repeated the word in a questioning tone, and then recalled that when he first met Schiller, he seemed to have asked him a question, so he repeated the question:
"...What is the meaning of life?"
"Revenge, the meaning of life is revenge. I answered you like this at the beginning, but in fact, I shouldn't have answered you at all." Schiller put down the tableware again, sighed slightly and said, "Maybe, you
I ask this question just to clarify my professional level, but in fact, the impact of this question is much greater than you think."
"Gotham is a special city. Everyone who is trapped in it has the opportunity to become crazy. When I first came here, I was just an ordinary citizen, but it all ended when you appeared.
That day.”
"You have to know that the Joker didn't choose Batman, but Batman chose the Joker." Schiller looked at Batman and said, "That crazy virus was caused by your attention. In your opinion,
The moment I became curious about my identity, my personality was already tainted."
Batman frowned deeply. He never believed in these fatalistic things, but when all this came out of his professor's mouth, he felt that Schiller would not be aimless, because he knew,
Schiller didn't believe in fate either.
"Maybe you find it difficult to understand, but you must remember that you are special. The attention you pay to anyone may greatly change their destiny, including me."
"For some reason, I knew you would come sooner or later. Before I saw you for the first time, my mind was on how to avoid meeting you, because I really hate being forced into the vortex."
"If I want to participate in something, I should take a more proactive stance. I think you should have discovered this."
Schiller looked at Batman, who nodded. He was quite sure that the professor didn't like surprises. He preferred to have everything under control. In other words, he preferred to cause troubles rather than participate in them.
"But when you appeared, I was unprepared, and at that moment, infected by a special crazy virus, my thoughts were reversed. Just like every clown, I used a very simple psychological suggestion to cause
Got your attention."
"And in order to verify my professionalism, you asked that question, and this question is the root cause of these changes in me."
"Perhaps, you should already know that the fragment of personality that was infected by the virus is also part of arrogance. It is half of the arrogance trait, and I am the other half."
"After he was infected by the crazy virus, in order to ensure that I could carry out activities with clear mind, the 'superego' forcibly locked him up, and then sent the arrogant other half, that is, me, to take his place."
"But, this matter is far from that simple, Batman..." Schiller squeezed the knife with a slight force. He looked at Batman with an unkind look and said:
"The question you asked back then became a curse, a task that I must complete."
"If you haven't gotten the answer and haven't found the meaning of life, then there is no way for the other half of the traits and me that have been contaminated by the crazy virus to be restored to integrity."
"You seem to be talking in your sleep." Batman commented, and he continued: "I don't mean that it is impossible for this to happen, but that neither you nor I can explain how the situation you mentioned happened.
of."
"What is so special about my attention? Why is a special virus produced? Why does that problem become a curse?" Batman asked a series of questions, but did not expect Schiller to give an explanation.
He took the initiative to speak for the first time and said: "In everything we experience together, you always have extra judgments that neither the authorities nor bystanders are aware of. I once thought that you could predict the future, but then
, you don’t act like you have such ability.”
"If you can avoid asking this question, then there is no need to ask the principle of so many questions." Schiller said: "I want to explain all this more than you do, but the answer to this question is that it cannot be explained.
"
Batman narrowed his eyes, but before he could speak, Schiller continued: "Putting aside the facts, you know? Every clown has his destiny, a destiny related to Batman."
"He will definitely answer one of your questions, make you aware of some real-life situations, make you have some emotions, or learn something from them."
"If he is your friend, he will stay with you until you are no longer Batman. If he is your classmate, he will study and improve with you, and if he is your teacher...
"
When Batman heard that, Schiller sighed deeply, as if lamenting his unfortunate fate. He said: "I am the Joker, and the Joker is me. We are both the same person and the same fragment of personality, so we
have the same fate."
"If I were not so special, without that tower of thinking, and a calm and decisive manager, then a psychology professor who turned into a clown would answer your question in a more powerful way.
this problem."
Before Batman could ask, Schiller said: "...You don't want to know the method he wanted to use."
Seeing Schiller's expression, Batman knew that the answer swirling in Schiller's mind might be more shocking than the food on his plate and the body behind him.
"Thanks to the calm and decisive superego, he locked up the madman, but the price is..." Schiller paused, then stared into Batman's eyes and said: "I have to complete his mission for the Joker.
"
"I must use another, gentler method to teach you how to find the answer to this question - what is the meaning of life?"