"What's wrong?" Bruce still wondered inwardly, and then he added, "I just think what he explained was quite simple to understand."
"Of course, it's simple for you," Shiller said almost word by word, "because the agent is the best among us at using the Behavioral Analysis thod."
"Uh..."
Great, he had once again perfectly avoided the field his ntor studied, Bruce thought, but he was used to it.
The Primary Universe Batman apparently also found the agent's mode of reasoning a bit surprising.
What's the deal? Is the Mind Reading Technique not allowed now? How does this seem to make sense?
The Primary Universe Batman had known Shiller for quite so ti, too. They often exchanged letters, and occasionally Batman would ntion so cases he recently encountered in his letters seeking Shiller's advice.
Shiller's responses always struck ho, but the problem was, while they struck ho, the way he did it was not very clear.
On several occasions, Batman had also pressed Shiller on how he could co up with such accurate conclusions from just a few words in a letter, given that he had never t the people involved in the cases and had not inspected the cri scenes.
Initially, Shiller would say sothing plausible, leaving Batman puzzled to the point of even suspecting he was an imposter of the Riddler.
But later on, Shiller seed to grow impatient; he directly stated it was the Mind Reading Technique. However, it wasn't as though the Primary Universe Batman didn't know other mind readers, but their conclusions were different from Shiller's and did not hit the mark so precisely.
For Batman, it had always been a mystery.
Later, Batman t so individuals with a strong capacity for Empathy, and he started to roughly grasp the thresholds of such abilities, getting a general idea of how Shiller reached such conclusions.
Unfortunately, it wasn't an ability one could learn. It wasn't that Batman lacked Empathy; on the contrary, if he didn't empathize with Gothamites, he wouldn't beco a Superhero.
But for most people, this is a passive ability, an uncontrollable one that could even be a hindrance at critical monts.
Like seeing soone cry and wanting to cry oneself, always overly empathizing with strangers, leading to becoming too soft-hearted and trouble-prone.
Batman wasn't to that extent, but he was also far from being able to turn this capacity into a weapon of his own. The process from beginning to empathize to reaching a conclusion was too long and abstract, and after trying a few tis, Batman gave up.
In fact, if he had worked towards it, it wouldn't have been entirely impossible, but there was no need. By the ti he would have taken to develop that skill, he could have already caught the criminal, so he later paid less attention to it.
His discussions with Shiller about psychology often missed the mark completely.
So, when he thought about sending the Robins to Shiller, he also handed him a copy of "Collection of Flying Birds," mainly because he believed Shiller's implausible words were closer to poetry, likely sharing more common ground with Tagore.
Batman also realized Shiller wasn't ignorant of behavioral science; for him, the Psychoanalysis thod was simpler, not requiring any factual basis - it was as if he could do it effortlessly. He was more accustod to this approach.
And it was not just Arrogance; almost all iterations of Shiller were like this, as if uttering a dream, yet startlingly accurate.
But what's with this particular Shiller today? Is there still a Batman persona in the High Tower? Why does it sound like these words ca from his own mouth?
Just the thought of using the words "well-founded" to describe Shiller made Batman's scalp tingle.
Batman felt he was to so extent betraying the greats of behavioral science.
"Batman? Batman?! What's wrong??"
Shiller's voice pulled Batman back to reality. After a mont of hesitation, Batman nodded and said, "Yes, what you said... makes sense."
Batman touched his conscience and felt a bit of pain, even more than the first ti he tricked Dick into going to the dentist.
Usually, when faced with Shiller's conclusions, he would only say, "You're right," aning that although the result was correct, the process shouldn't be scrutinized too closely.
Shiller seed encouraged and continued, "To achieve the goal of annihilating your hope, he must be trying to reveal the ugly side of humanity in front of you, so his backstory must be established on this. What do you think, as a hero like you, what kind of fact could make you collapse?"
"Hold on," Batman reached out One Hand.
"What's wrong? Why do I feel sothing is off with you?"
"Do you... do you not think your question is a bit too specific?"
"What?"
"I an, shouldn't you be asking sothing like 'What is the thing most resembling the last gleam of sunset on the horizon for you?' or sothing of the sort?"
"I don't make it a habit to flirt in an interrogation room."
"Cough, cough, cough!" Batman swore he wasn't usually so easily choked up, but this ti he really couldn't help it.
Shiller, however, spread his hands and said, "Anybody with a cursory knowledge of criminal investigation shouldn't be asking this, but what the hell is the 'sunset of the horizon'? A coffee brand?"
Batman waved his hand and said, "If we look at it in the context of the ga's story, then I think it might be... the strange truth?"
Shiller nodded and said, "Exactly. The Joker was crafting his own background story and he might not have known you would co, but he certainly expected so heroes, and he surely would want to craft a heroic background for himself."
"And what would make heroes despair the most is that the world they sacrificed so much to save actually doesn't need their salvation at all. Their seemingly noble actions are, in fact, destroying the world."
"Do you think he altered the story's truth?"
"The Joker and Greed are on par in terms of how they manipulate the story editing feature. If Greed targets the monsters themselves, the Joker definitely targets the narrative itself."
"What do you think he would do?"
"I'm more inclined to think he'd turn it into a scam."
"A scam?"
"Exactly." Shiller leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees, and said, "If the anomalies truly attacked anyone indiscriminately, with the possibility of striking anywhere in the world, from a statistical standpoint, would that kind of real-world system even be sustainable?"
"Are you referring to the national system?"
"Exactly. It might be a small village suffering now, but anomalies could just as well strike at the Presidential Palace, significant military bases, nuclear missile silos, densely populated city centers. An attack on any of these could result in a major disaster."
"Not to ntion that the monsters are sentient, with the explicit goal of causing extre harm. Even if they possessed one person and killed another, they would, sooner or later, land on the person in charge of launching the nuclear missiles, wouldn't they?"
Shiller didn't care for Batman's reaction and continued, "But even from so of the data observed on the computer, the outside world seems relatively peaceful. There's a band poster still hanging on the first floor of the Lighthouse, and the event it's promoting is no more than a year away. That suggests there has been no apocalyptic threat in the recent years."
"You an the disaster can actually be controlled by humans."
"That's right," Shiller nodded and said, "Certain people can make anomalies happen wherever they want them to."
"There are several obvious benefits to doing this." Shiller raised a finger and said, "First of all, as ntioned in Madeline's background story, her family bought insurance related to the anomalies."
"Her family is well-off but not excessively wealthy, which ans such insurance policies are now widespread among the common folk. With the constant threat of natural disasters, how many would choose to buy so form of protection? The number certainly wouldn't be small; that's a significant inco right there."
"Then there's the military and security departnts. Dealing with anomalies is different from dealing with the human race. To stop such incidents swiftly, one would inevitably have to deploy a large number of troops and weaponry. The defense budget can't be small."
"Moreover, in the event of diseases that aren't too serious, many people are defrauded of their money by quack treatnts. If anomalies are real and their appearance could an instant death, then surely people will pin their hopes on superstitious beliefs."
"The Church has grown to its current scale partly because of the existence of anomalies. If, as Hoff ntioned, the Church eradicates everything within the vicinity of anomalies, including any survivors, that's not just ordinary control. That's having the power of life and death within national borders, an extraordinary organization that allows how many people to stand at the apex of the Pyramid?"
"And what if a hero who desperately wants to eliminate all these anomalies eventually finds out that his actual enemies aren't the monsters but his fellow citizens? What would he think then?"
"Even if he risks all he owns, saves the world from chaos, survives countless dangers to pull humanity out of Hell, only to be t not with blankets and food, but with the dark barrels of guns, what would he feel?"
Batman listened to all of this quietly, and then he spoke up, "This is indeed the despair that the Joker wants, but he's really underestimating a bit too much."
Shiller looked at him.
"Do you think I haven't experienced all of this?" Batman said nonchalantly, "In fact, on my journey to save Gotham, on average, I am backstabbed by people of my own class 2.8 tis a day, argue with my teammates 1.7 tis, get cursed by the citizens I protect 357 tis, and slandered by people who benefit from my actions 63 tis."
"If I were afraid of these things, I would have quit a long ti ago."
After thinking it over, Batman said, "Although I don't think I will exhaust all my resources to save this village, let's assu I indeed use up everything I've prepared and have no contingency plans left, I'm still confident that I could persuade the person pointing a gun at and even secure a chance to talk to his boss."
"Many people call it a miraculous coback, but to , this is far from a desperate situation. At least the people behind and in front of understand human speech."
"Even if I must die, I would make sure my last words are as effective as possible. When it cos down to it, who can be certain that death isn't my last strategy?"
Batman spoke calmly, finishing his thoughts. He subconsciously glanced at Shiller's expression, then choked up again.
Why did it seem like he saw a look of admiration in Shiller's eyes?
You're Shiller, not Clark! Are you serious???
Unable to bear it, Batman turned away, feeling an urgent impulse for the Wandering to whisk him away.
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