Firstly, Bruce looked at Shiller and said to him: "There's a rule to this ga, no use of any special abilities is allowed."
Shiller followed his gaze to the umbrella in his hand, saying: "This is just an umbrella, I won't use it for anything else."
Bruce stared at him for 30 seconds, and in the end, Shiller made the umbrella disappear into thin air. He remarked, "Alright, the world is truly cruel where even an umbrella has to be bought. So, where's your place?"
"Are you planning to stay at my place? Aren't you going to find a ho of your own?" Bruce asked again.
Shiller took a deep breath and said, "Bruce Wayne, I hope you can show so basic respect to a teacher who has been chasing after you for more than two months for papers, grading your howork for over two months, and urging you for over two months."
"You insist on living in the slums to experience life, not only disallowing money and abilities but also not allowing an umbrella. Now, you're actually planning to have find a house on the very first night?!"
"So, haven't these two months of your failure in slum life made you realize that respecting your teacher is the way to retain so of your humanity while you've physically and psychologically beco a stray dog?"
Hearing Shiller's words, Bruce breathed a sigh of relief. Shiller's recent behavior was really strange, Bruce even thought Shiller had gone soft.
Thankfully, his professor returned to normal within a few minutes, restoring his consistent style of equal hatred towards everyone.
So, Bruce simply nodded and said: "My ho is a bit far, it might take a while if you intend to co."
"Why don't we take a car then?" Shiller counter-questioned.
"There are no taxis here," Bruce replied, he asked, "If you want to hitch a ride, how do you judge which car to take?"
"Why would you need to judge?" Shiller gave Bruce an up and down look, as if thinking there was sothing wrong with his brain. Bruce simply gestured for him to proceed.
Shiller shrugged lightly, but his gaze did not fall on the road. He looked left and right and found a nightclub among a few shops in the quiet vicinity.
In Bruce's view, he saw Shiller walk straight towards the nightclub. Bruce thought he was asking for directions, the urge to laugh due to excited anticipation took over once again.
But soon, he couldn't laugh anymore.
As Shiller walked into the nightclub and dragged a man out. From his appearance, he seed to be the nightclub's security guard.
The unconscious man laid on the ground, his life hanging in the balance. Shiller pulled out the gun from his hand, opened the magazine, checked the bullets, replaced the magazine, and cocked the gun.
He held the shotgun in the middle of the road. After a loud brake sound, the complaining truck driver hadn't even opened his mouth when a gun pointed at his head.
Standing by the window, Shiller tilted his head at Bruce, indicating for him to call out the destination. Bruce opened his mouth, saying, "No, we can't..."
"Don't kill ! Don't kill !" the driver called out, "Where do you guys co from? The Viper Gang's goods are untouchable?!"
"We don't want goods." Shiller said calmly, "We give you a location, you drive there."
The previously shouting driver suddenly had a hint of sobbing in his voice, he said, "The goods... The goods are yours, please spare , I've never crossed you ..."
"Get in the car." Shiller tilted his head again, looked at Bruce still standing there, and said, "What are you waiting for? Go and open the cargo door."
After saying that, he went straight onto the car, sitting in the passenger seat but put away the gun. The driver didn't dare to move, even though there was another gun beside him.
Shiller glanced at his wristwatch and adjusting his glasses, asked, "Can we reach before 9?"
"Yes... should be, as long as there's no traffic jam... Alright, definite." The driver swallowed and sneaked a look at Shiller. Then he didn't say anything, stepped on the gas, and sped away.
The original half-hour journey was covered in 15 minutes. Stepping down from the car, Bruce felt like vomitting. After getting off the car, Shiller, holding the gun, pointed forward and said, "Where's your house? Lead the way."
Speechless, Bruce watched the truck disappearing into Gotham's night at a run-for-your-life speed, so fast that they couldn't even see the exhaust fus.
He could only lead the way as currently, Shiller had a gun while he didn't have one.
"Did you kill that security guard?" Bruce asked.
"Of course not. Why would I kill him?" Shiller, while examining his surroundings asked, "What did you use to knock him out? Did you cheat?"
Shiller shook his head and said: "Very simple, create a little noise in the grocery room next door, lure the guy out, then take a vase from the grocery room and hit the back of his head. It's not just , anyone over 1.6 ters tall can do it."
Bruce remained silent, then he walked to the shallow beach in front and pointed to a can, saying to Shiller, "This is my ho, but it seems like you wouldn't fit."
Shiller scanned the surrounding environnt. Bruce's house wasn't the only one, with the various buildings in the canning district mostly sharing a battle-worn style, sowhat of an insult to even Syria.
"You live here?" Shiller's voice was distorted by the sea breeze, but Bruce had no intention of beating around the bush. He pointed at the unburnt fire pile nearby and said, "We need to start a fire before it rains, otherwise we won't be able to."
Shiller looked up at the sky; dense clouds indicated impending rain. He pointed at Bruce with his gun and said, "Looks like we need to hurry up and find a house for tonight."
Having said that, Shiller walked out, followed by Bruce. Shiller turned back to take a glance at the tent Bruce was living in and comnted, "This architectural style is a little premature for the human race."
Before leaving the shoal, Shiller tossed his gun onto the ground. Bruce opened his eyes wide, apparently not understanding why he did so.
Looking at the gun, Shiller said, "If it weren't for wanting to get here quickly, I wouldn't have resorted to such violent thods. I hate violence. Pointing a gun at soone lacks any aesthetic value. Let's go."
Having said that, he stepped onto the steps leading away from the shoal. Bruce had to admit, upon seeing the gun Shiller relinquished, he was sowhat tempted. No one understood the importance of a gun better. He felt that Shiller had made a poor decision.
Having a gun doesn't necessarily make things better, but not having one only makes things worse. This was the lesson Bruce had learned over the past two months. He had owned weapons several tis but many problems couldn't be resolved with weaponry.
Shiller did not hitch a ride, but walked ahead. Luckily, his destination wasn't too far away, and the structure of Living Hell was extrely conspicuous - it could be seen from afar.
Upon observing the structure of Living Hell and the direction Shiller was heading, Bruce knew his destination was Living Hell.
After Shiller entered the building of Living Hell, it finally started to rain. Bruce said, "I know who to look for to rent a house. I can go negotiate, but you have to pay your own way. Do you have money?"
"I don't. But you can go find the landlord. I will walk around here." Shiller looked up at the light above and said, "I will wait for you in this corridor."
Bruce didn't think too much, turned around and went downstairs to find the landlord within Living Hell. Security had improved significantly here. He only needed to ask the security at the entrance about the hoowners in order to knock on their doors directly.
When Bruce found the landlord, asked about the rent, and returned to find Shiller, he realized that Shiller was not in the corridor. All the doors that were originally closed in the corridor had one opened.
He walked to that door, noticing Shiller standing in the living room, preoccupied with a packet of cigarettes as if inspecting the brand.
Seeing Bruce appear, he turned his head and said, "Oh, you're here? Please sit."
His tone was as if he were at his own ho, behaving naturally as though he had just done nothing. Bruce scanned him from head to toe; from hair to feet, there was no sign of guilt, only relaxation and comfort.
Shiller lit the cigarette and took a puff, blew out smoke and said, "This is a two-bedroom house. If you rent one, you only need to pay five dollars a week."
"What about the original owner of this house?" Bruce stood outside the door and asked, "Every tenant here is registered. You will be driven out."
Right when he was speaking, the landlord Bruce had been contacting ca up. Seeing Bruce standing outside, the landlord walked over in confusion. He then noticed Shiller standing inside the room and asked doubtfully, "Who are you? Where's Joe?"
"Hello, I am Rodriguez, the hoowner. So the intruder just now was called Joe? I scared him away. Thank you for your concern for my safety." Shiller approached and shook hands with the landlord.
The landlord was stunned. Shiller's claim was too presumptuous. It made him doubt his own mory. Then he said, "No, what nonsense are you talking about, are you drunk? I clearly rented it to Joe, where did you co from..."
"Regardless, today is a day worth celebrating." Shiller tiptoed a little, seed a bit excited, and said, "Housewarming should be congratulated by soone. Bruce, co in. And sir, we can throw a small party..."
Having said that, he walked towards the fridge. After opening the fridge door, he said, "Oh, not bad. There is a pizza here. I rember, it must have been ordered by yesterday..."
Through the gap when the fridge door was opened, Bruce saw a blood-stuck chair leg, then glanced at the three chairs by the square table. He hesitated to step into the room.
"Gulp" ca a sound from behind him. He turned around and saw the landlord's expression that seed to have swallowed saliva.
At that mont, Shiller got up from the side of the fridge. He waved at the two and said, "Why are you two still not coming in? There are three chairs here, just enough for us to sit...
"No, no, Mr. Rodriguez... I ca up just to remind you that the rent is ten dollars a week, due next Wednesday." The landlord quickly left after he finished speaking.
Bruce rubbed his chest, feeling a twinge of guilt. So he asked, "What about the tenant nad Joe?"
"I threw that intruder downstairs. Unfortunately, this is the third floor. I hope he learned enough of a lesson."
Shiller turned his gaze to Bruce and said, "The iron law of Gotham, don't break into soone else's house unless you are invited by the hoowner. Bruce, would you like to co to a housewarming party?"
Seeing Shiller walking towards him, Bruce instinctively shook his head. Then he heard Shiller say, "The second iron law of Gotham, if the hoowner invites you, you better co in quickly."
Bruce watched with wide eyes as Shiller dragged a chair from behind the door, broke off a leg, yanked most of the woodspikes off it and turned it into a sharp stick.
In the instant of eye contact with Shiller, Bruce stepped on the doormat and said stiffly, "Congratulations on the housewarming."
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