The afternoons in Gotham always seed sowhat dull. The already not so bright sunshine passed through thin veiled curtains and beca even weaker. As it fell on the floor, it resembled the shimring waves of a sunset.
Shiller was standing behind the desk, fiddling with a telescope from the ti of the great marine voyages. This was a treasure of the mansion's original owner who had travelled across the sea with his ancestors from the far-off lands of Europe to this place.
More than half of the ornants on Shiller's desk had been left behind by the mansion's original owner, therefore they all carried a bit of a British classical charm, such as the slightly old yellowed globe, the gramophone sitting in the corner of the desk, and the cane hanging on the side of the bookshelf.
Shiller was looking through the telescope when suddenly, a black shadow flew across his field of vision. Shiller put down the telescope and turned to look at the uninvited Batman.
Batman naturally picked up the globe at the corner of the desk. In his line of sight, the globe obstructed Shiller's head, as if everything had returned to the dream again.
Batman twirled the globe with his hand, and it quickly ca to a rest. Batman then said to Shiller, "You know, why I am here..."
Shiller was turning to get sothing from the bookshelf, as he continued to search he said, "You're not here to arrest , are you, detective Batman?"
"Gordon told that whenever sothing strange happened in Gotham that couldn't be understood, coming to you was never a mistake."
"Oh, how co I didn't know anything strange has been going on in Gotham recently? You're not talking about those diocre murder cases, are you?"
Batman rolled the words "diocre" around in his mouth for a while, suddenly feeling that his forthcoming introduction and explanation were a little hard to start.
Shiller turned around, holding a bottle of wine and two glasses in his hands. Then he asked Batman to sit opposite him at the table, and he said, "Speech is always a bit dry and tasteless, far less interesting than being in the situation, don't you think?"
Perhaps not wanting his forthcoming topic to also receive a "diocre and dry" appraisal, Batman downed his glass of wine as if taking dicine. Shiller also took a sip and then rested back in the chair, drunk.
As the afternoon sun danced and floated in the air, Batman suddenly woke up. He saw the globe on the table begin to slowly spin. Shiller's head on the opposite side was normal. After he opened his eyes, he paused for a mont and then said, "Oh, I forgot."
Then he leaned forward and reached out to take the globe from the table, hiding his face behind it. In Batman's field of vision, the globe overlapped with Shiller's head, and then Shiller's head beca the globe.
Batman now knew how Shiller with the globe head ca to be in his dream.
After Shiller stood up, Batman also got up. The two walked to the center of the room, and Shiller made a gesture of invitation to Batman. Batman began to concentrate, recalling the details of Richie's room from his mory.
This was his first ti constructing such a large scale scene in a dream, even with the mory of the actual object as a basis, Batman spent a majority of his energy in an instant.
As he slowly raised his arms, the scene in the room began to change. The books on the shelves lted and rged one by one into the wall behind, partition boards were drawn back and dissolved one by one into the side walls. The desk withdrew backward, sinking into the floor, and one after another tilting floorboard turned from deep brown to light brown.
Richie's body appeared on the floor, blood spread on the light-colored floor, and then gradually seeped into the cracks.
Shiller clucked his tongue and said, "It's really quite grueso, isn't it?"
"Three days ago, the head of the Lawrence Family from the Twelve Families of Gotham, was found dead in his bedroom. There were a total of seven wounds on his body, one of which was a fatal wound to the heart. Anesthetics were detected in his body..."
"Two days ago, a mber of the Hawk family, also from the Twelve Families, was found dead in his study. After being tied to a chair in the study, he died of decapitation. He was killed in one stroke."
"Yesterday, the head of the Richie family from the Twelve Families was found dead in the living room. He was sawn in half and bled to death."
"The common point of these three cases is that their manners of death are the sa as the martyrdom thods of the Twelve Disciples of Jesus. Gordon and I both believe this is a series of serial killings, but not until Richie's death today did I find that the killer's thod of committing the cri differs from the previous two cases."
Shiller reached out into the air, a cane appearing in his hand. Tapping lightly on the floor with the cane, he said, "Why did you judge this to be a series of serial killings? Just because their manner of death conforms with a religious story?"
"Doesn't this fit the characteristics of serial killings?" Batman asked, "I rember hearing in class, this is often the case. Most serial killers like to use a narrative with a nurical basis for their cris. This can be seen in the most common ones like the seven deadly sins, Black Friday, Sabbath and so on..."
"So, did I talk about why this is in class?"
"Because of 'ritual feeling', the murderers in serial killing cases, especially those psychopaths who randomly select their victims, don't kill in revenge. They purely enjoy the pleasure of killing the sa kind. Therefore, for them, what's important is the ritual feeling."
"Even if they kill seven people in seven days, which greatly increases the chance of them being caught by the police and the possibility of leaving more clues, they would still do it. If they can't enjoy the joy brought by this ritualistic elent, murder becos aningless for them."
"That's right, that's why for an excellent detective, the murderer in a serial killing case sotis may be easier to deal with than the murderer in a normal murder case, as they always intentionally leave various clues."
"So, this should be a very typical serial killing..."
Shiller shook his head and said, "Perhaps it appears that way on the surface, but in reality, I can only call him a poorly skilled imitator."
"Imitator? What does that an?"
"It ans the perpetrator isn't the psychopathic serial killer I've told you about before; in other words, he's not a real serial killer, he's just a sowhat clumsy impersonator."
Batman looked into Shiller's eyes and asked, "Why?"
"Firstly, I bear no legal responsibility for what I'm about to say, because this is just a dream. And because this is just a dream, I'll only tell you these things within it. You also don't have to think about activating any recording devices in reality to use my dreams as evidence..."
Shiller, holding his walking stick, began to pace around Richie's body lying in the middle of the room, saying, "Do you know what I would do if I were to undertake this case?"
Batman did not expect this to be his line of questioning, but he couldn't co up with an answer either. Finally, he could only respond, "I don't think you'd handle such a case, because there's no reason to."
"I'm pleased that you still know sowhat. However, let's say hypothetically, for so reason, I decided to plan a serial murder case..."
"Firstly, starting with the topic selection, since you said the killer's subject is Jesus and his Twelve Disciples, I'd also use this topic."
"I assu you've thoroughly read the story of Jesus and His Twelve Disciples, right?"
Batman nodded, and Shiller looked up, revealing an expression of recollection, he asked, "Do you rember who was the first to die among the Twelve Disciples?"
"...Was it Saint Jas?"
"Indeed, according to the Bible, he was the first disciple to be martyred for Jesus. Do you know what kind of person he was?"
"Jas and his brother John were the sons of Zebedee, and their mother was also a disciple of Jesus. Jas was beheaded by King Herod, and both he and John were known for their fiery temperants..."
"This is why I say the perpetrator is a crude imitator. Who is Lawrence? What does he have in common with Jas? What makes him the first martyr?"
Batman didn't quite understand what Shiller ant, to which Shiller continued, "If it were , my first target must be soone who has a brother, like Jas. And Old Lawrence should be an only child."
"Secondly, Lawrence doesn't have a strong enough temperant. Both his appearance and inner nature are far from Jas."
"Plus, as you said, the first martyr in history was beheaded, not crucified."
"Therefore, if I were to commit this act, my first victim would be an extrely fiery man who has a living brother and mother. His manner of death will be beheading."
"What if Lawrence corresponds to Saint Peter?"
"Oh, correct. Saint Peter is known as the disciple closest to Jesus and was appointed the first Pope. If he was the first to die, it would make sense. But what do Old Lawrence and Saint Peter have in common?"
Batman fell silent, and Shiller, tilting his head towards the body on the ground, said, "Moreover, the fact that the killer crucified Old Lawrence upside down is a clear indication that he is a sham."
"If you've read history, you'd know that crucifixion victims aren't supposed to die due to crucial organs being pierced. They should have died from bleeding or heart failure due to extre exhaustion after exposed to the outdoors with their arms and legs nailed."
"Piercing the heart is a part of the vampire legend, not the stories recorded in the Bible nor does it have anything to do with the Twelve Disciples. Those who were crucified upside down should have died from cerebral congestion, not from their heart being pierced."
"Clearly, the perpetrator either didn't read the story carefully or didn't have the patience to wait for a slow death."
"If it were , I'd have plenty of patience. I'd take a year to prepare a scene, let him hang in his bedroom for ten days unnoticed. Now that would be a death fitting for this story."
"And let's not forget, the killer used a long nail to pierce his skull. My god, the thought of him hamring a long nail into soone's head makes my flesh crawl..."
"Your word choices always surprise ." Batman comnted.
"Moreover, his biggest blunder is that he actually used an anaesthetic? My God, if he is really a serial killer, he should be crucified. This damned heretic has absolutely no sense of ceremony..."
Batman looked at Shiller's rather dissatisfied expression and found himself at a loss for what to say.
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