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Chapter 11: Pride and Prejudice (Two)

After leaving the underground of Little Church, Gordon and Batman fell into a contemplative silence. After all, the place they had just left had become a burial ground for dozens of lives in just one short month.

Gotham was a dark city, and when that darkness was laid bare for everyone to see, only those with strong wills could withstand the impact of such profound darkness.

Both Batman and Gordon's hearts were now a tumultuous sea of emotions. This was Batman's first case since his arrival, and the seemingly boundless evil and the absence of light had confronted him. Suddenly, he realized, as Schiller had said, that he might not have been fully prepared.

Powerful force was only a means of survival here, but it was far from enough to save this city.

Lost in his thoughts, Batman turned a corner and saw Schiller standing on the second floor, holding an umbrella. Beneath the balcony was where the beggar had once stayed.

Batman felt a sense of absurdity. This damned criminal, who had killed dozens of innocent lives, how could he still dare to stand here? Why were there people in this world who could remain indifferent to the value of human life? How could they be so merciless as to kill without hesitation?

Batman's inner turmoil turned into anger. Under Gordon's gaze, he leaped onto the balcony over two meters high.

"Your judgment is about to come, you damned murderer," Batman declared.

"Have you found the evidence you were looking for?" Schiller asked.

Suddenly, Schiller laughed, speaking in an extremely cheerful tone. "How amusing, you're still thinking about judging me. The Gotham City police station should give you a Citizen's Medal; you're a great policeman."

"If there had been a great policeman like you when your parents died, someone who found the evidence left by the culprits and brought them to justice, wouldn't that have been wonderful? Isn't that what you're thinking?" Schiller continued.

"You distrust the police, you distrust the courts, yet you still search for evidence and attempt to use the correctness of the law to judge me. Don't you find that contradictory?"

"You want to prove that I've broken the law, Batman, but your actions are just as unlawful. If I'm to be judged, so should you. You're using criminal acts to prove that a criminal is a criminal, aren't you?"

Schiller raised his voice, his tone fluctuating. "You think you have the ability to seek revenge on criminals your way. But in the end, you're still an ordinary person tamed by this orderly society. You're still talking about evidence, demanding justice."

"If you can't let go of these things, if you can't break free from the shackles society has placed on you, if you can't erase the concepts of law and judicial procedures from your mind, you'll never achieve the justice you seek."

"Batman," Schiller looked into his eyes, "the law is not justice; you are."

"Gotham's law didn't save your parents, just as it didn't save those dozens of missing people. If you still have any futile fantasies about it, you'll never become the real Batman."

Schiller could clearly see Batman's arm trembling. His hand holding the Batarang was tense, and even his entire body was shaking. Clearly, he was consumed by extreme anger.

Schiller's words struck a deep chord. They exposed a major contradiction in the young Batman.

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Gotham's law couldn't save his parents, yet despite his vows of vengeance, Batman was still bound by the rules of justice.

"Do you want me to enforce my own justice?" Batman asked. Then, he raised a gun, aiming it at Schiller's forehead.

Batman did have a gun, of course. In Gotham City, without such firearms, one could hardly survive, let alone seek justice.

Schiller remained calm. "You haven't answered my previous question. Have you found the evidence you were looking for? What is it?"

"Next to the planks in the underground of Little Church, there were stains left by you. Inside, there was soil and leaves from the North American red pine, a tree only found in Gotham University," Batman replied.

Schiller said, "And what does that represent?"

"It represents that you are the murderer," Batman declared.

"Is that so? I, a person who appeared out of nowhere on the streets of Morrison District, dressed suspiciously and acting suspiciously. Meanwhile, you found leaves from Gotham University at the crime scene, suggesting that the culprit might be affiliated with the university. Therefore, I am the murderer. What a rigorous deduction," Schiller retorted.

Batman looked at him, his expression unrepentant and guiltless. His anger had truly reached its peak. Just as he was about to pull the trigger, Gordon, who had rushed over, shouted, "Stop! Put down the gun!"

Batman was interrupted for a moment, and Schiller tossed a USB drive onto the ground between them, saying, "Is the evidence conclusive enough? The murderer visited Gotham University, and I'm a university professor. It's quite compelling."

"Yes, how much you must have wished that when your parents died, there was someone like you right now, ready to deliver a swift shot to the culprit because of conclusive evidence," Schiller taunted.

"Don't mention my parents..." Batman's voice quivered. "You criminal."

"You've thought of many similarities," Schiller said. "But your anger has blinded you to more, to the differences."

"For example, I've never had any education in chemistry or biology. I've never been involved in countless serial murder investigations. My counter-surveillance skills aren't so poor that I wouldn't even clean up my tracks. And most importantly..."

Schiller glanced at the USB drive. "My evidence is far more conclusive than yours."

Due to Gordon's interruption, Batman's anger subsided somewhat. As reason returned, he realized that even in this damp and cold weather, sweat had soaked through the shirt on his back.

Cautiously, Batman picked up the USB drive and plugged it into the mini-computer on his arm, projecting an image.

At this moment, Gordon also made his way onto the balcony. He saw in the video a person in plaid clothing standing surreptitiously on an air conditioner unit outside a house, inserting a hose into the window. The figures inside the house, who were standing or sitting, all collapsed, and after jumping off the air conditioner unit, the person entered the hallway. In no time, he dragged two large boxes and loaded them onto a cart before pushing it away, leaving the figures inside the house nowhere to be seen.

This was the inspiration Batman gave to Schiller. Jonathan was sorely lacking in counter-surveillance awareness. Schiller had stood in the hallway opposite him, filming with a camera, and he hadn't even noticed.

But then again, in Gotham City, nobody would come out for a late-night stroll, especially in such a slum area. One could easily lose their life by accident.

Suddenly, Gordon exclaimed, "That's it!"

"I remember when we were registering the addresses of missing persons, it was indeed the residents on the lower floors who were affected the most. Almost all the victims lived in apartments with balconies," Gordon said.

Then he looked at Batman and Schiller, anger evident in his voice. "I must have misjudged you. Were you about to shoot just now? Do you realize you almost killed someone?!"

Batman remained silent, gazing at the projection on his arm. Anyone with eyes could see that the perpetrator in the video had a vastly different physique from Schiller.

Although Schiller wasn't trained in combat or physical fitness, he still had a tall and somewhat slender figure, just slightly shorter and leaner than Batman, but still around six feet tall. In contrast, the person in the video was at most five foot seven and couldn't have weighed more than sixty kilograms.

"Jonathan Professor is seen as a kind-hearted individual, isn't that what you think? Because he doesn't check assignments, has a good attitude towards you, and would never fail anyone. But I am different; I am a troublesome professor. I always nitpick assignments, hold regular exams for no reason, and threaten all students with the possibility of failing."

"So, of course, I must be the culprit, and he is not. After all, how could someone so timid, quiet, and skinny be a serial killer?"

"Please stop," Batman said, his voice trembling.

He recalled the scene when he faced the beggar that day. He could still see the stain left by the beggar on the wall out of the corner of his eye. A strong sense of guilt and shame surrounded him once again.

Gordon's words only fueled the fire. He said, "I don't care where you came from, roaming around the city in a tight suit causing trouble, but you nearly killed a good person. What feud do you two have? If you have a personal grudge, deal with it on your own, don't interfere with the police investigation."

"Aren't the Gotham City police busy enough? Do you want me to send you straight to jail for attempted murder in front of me?" Gordon added, his impatience evident.

Days of overtime had left him feeling irritable, and he continued, "Strange costume guy, hand over that flash drive. I need it for the records. And sir, please come with me; you seem to know who the killer is, and we need your clues."

After a moment of silence, Batman wordlessly extended his arm and handed the flash drive to Gordon.

He realized that his triumphant debut had only caused chaos. He had thought that Criminals Schiller was the key, providing the most critical evidence.

Schiller remained silent, and Batman stood in place. Outside, the rain had started pouring endlessly once more.

Just as he was about to leave with Gordon, Batman heard Batman behind him say, "I'm sorry, Professor."

Schiller's steps halted, and he felt somewhat incredulous. What had Batman just said???

He had just apologized???

Schiller couldn't believe it and turned around. Batman stood in the shadow cast by the building, the only beam of light shining on his mask. He tightly pursed his lips, and Schiller found it utterly absurd.

After all, he was Batman.

Because he was Batman.

And Batman was always right.

Batman wouldn't apologize to anyone.

In the face of everyone's doubts, he would only say one thing: "Because I'm Batman."

Schiller had seen too many dark aspects of Batman in the comics, such as preparing Kryptonite to counter Superman, or having plans to deal with every member of the Justice League. He seemed to distrust everyone, even himself.

Admittedly, when the editors created this character for the comics, these dark facets made him more intriguing. They left a deeper impression on readers.

But this had also led to Schiller having a bias against Batman. He believed Batman should be like he was in the comics. Batman never apologized because he didn't think he was wrong. He believed those measures against his fellow heroes were necessary.

This had created a prejudice in Schiller's mind. Batman shouldn't apologize, because, in his mind, Batman was the way he was in the comics. Batman never apologized when he shouldn't, because he didn't think he was wrong.

Schiller had tried to teach the young Batman some lessons, such as not harboring biases, not judging people by appearances, not letting anger cloud his judgment, and maintaining independent thinking.

But Schiller suddenly realized he wasn't really qualified to teach Batman not to be biased, because he himself had a deeply ingrained stereotype about this character. He hoped Bruce could become the Batman from the comics in his mind, and the sooner, the better.

But now it seemed that this story wasn't about a wise and erudite professor and his young, reckless students. Instead, it was a classic tale of "Pride and Prejudice."

Batman, filled with absolute arrogance about his deductive skills, believed that Schiller must be the culprit. He almost fired his gun at Schiller, fueled by his preconceived bias and a bit of evidence that seemed to align with it.

However, Schiller also had a bias against Batman. He believed Batman should be the mature, cautious, and suspicious dark hero from the comics.

The two of them were not so different after all.

Now Batman seemed to have learned this lesson. He understood that he wasn't all-knowing and all-powerful. His biases could lead to grave errors in reasoning, and his impulsiveness, when driven by arrogance, became even more deadly.

He looked at the scar on Schiller's neck, caused by a Batarang he had thrown earlier. At that time, he had assumed Schiller was a Criminal and had threatened him accordingly. Though he hadn't fired his gun today, the wound was deep, likely leaving a permanent scar.

Batman felt guilty and deeply remorseful. He thought that the law didn't correctly judge every Criminal, but that wasn't a reason for him to arrogantly pass judgment on others.

In a situation where he couldn't guarantee he was 100% correct, any impulsive act of violence could leave an innocent person, or even a good person, with scars that could never be erased.

He was just relieved that the innocent person hadn't paid with their life.

Batman stood in the shadows, contemplating. He vowed to forever eliminate the possibility of such an occurrence. He decided that, from now on, no matter how evil the Criminals he faced were, he would never kill them.

If an innocent person were to die at his hands, he would become a more despicable Criminal than the one who killed his parents. The Criminals who killed his parents might have done so for money or revenge, causing the loss of two lives.

But if Batman were to unjustly kill innocent people, then there would be no hope left for this city.

In the comics, the "Batman doesn't kill" rule seemed to have been there from the beginning. Schiller never delved into why this was the case; he found it rather infuriating. Why couldn't Batman kill those annoying Criminals, the madmen who repeatedly escaped from prison, for instance? He had pondered this countless times while reading the comics.

But what he didn't realize was that in this world, the young Batman was solidifying his resolve not to kill Criminals precisely because of him, because of Schiller. Batman had the belief that he was the city's only hope, and if he were to be consumed by guilt over killing innocent people, then this city would truly be beyond salvation.

By a stroke of coincidence, though Schiller had not succeeded in instilling in the young Batman his own set of principles and values, he had successfully reinforced Batman's one rule: not to kill.

Schiller could never have imagined that in the days to come, he would regret his meddling countless times. When Batman grew into a fully matured hero, Schiller would often silently rage, asking why Batman couldn't just use his finger to take out those damned Criminals and prevent them from repeatedly disrupting his peaceful life.

And all of this, all the trials Batman faced, stemmed from today's incident, from his own interference and self-inflicted troubles.