amaotonovel Chapter 3846 The Nameless Bat (6)
Chapter 3846 The Nameless Bat (6)
Chapter 3846 The Nameless Bat (Sixteen)
“Yeah, the United States of America, belonging to Batman,” Luthor scoffed. “He really made the United States the only one.”
Luther's tone was complex, a mixture of anger and hatred, along with an unspoken admiration and jealousy. His gaze shifted from Schiller's face to the window beside him. Although there was little to see on Gotham's gloomy, rainy day, he still stared blankly at the distant clouds. A kind of obsession, rooted in his personality and only manifested after defeat, was laid bare at this moment.
“We’re not going to discuss that,” Schiller said. “If you’re willing to cooperate, I can introduce you to a top-notch psychologist after all this is over. But now, tell me, what’s the story behind the affair between the president and Mrs. Romanov?”
The muscles at the corners of Luther's brow immediately tensed. He squinted at Schiller and said, "Why not talk about this? Because you think I'm completely incomparable to him right now? You think I'm a complete failure?"
“Okay, I’ll try another way.” Schiller adjusted his posture and said, “If you don’t explain the scandal to me, I’ll let Superman see you in this state and let him know that you’ve completely lost to Batman in politics, economics, and force. He’ll definitely feel sorry for you, what do you think?”
“It was definitely me,” Luther answered readily. “Now, go find him some work on the southwest coast of Australia.”
"And the purpose?" Schiller then asked.
“I dislike Wayne’s new economic policies very much, and that’s one of the ways I interfere with the policy-making process.”
"What about the murder case?"
"What murder case?"
"Head of security at Wayne Group"
“That has nothing to do with me,” Luther said. “Do you think I killed them and then framed Wayne? If that were the case, I would have chosen to kill someone more important than that piece of trash, Arbidonis.”
“The Abedonians once argued with you about the Transatlantic Fund you established.”
"That's their private matter, it has nothing to do with me."
What exactly is a fund?
“That was my legitimate economic activity.”
What are you doing in Gotham?
"Strive for investment from the Stagg Group."
"Is there anything else you'd like to say?"
“I will have my legal team fight for my best interests, including your charges of speeding and causing injury, attempting to frame me, and illegally collecting evidence.”
“Very good, I like your attitude, especially now that you’re lying in a bed in our medical center.” Schiller turned to the nurse at the door and said, “Turn his pain pump to the safest setting, the safest one.”
The nurse came over and twisted the pain pump. Less than ten seconds later, Luther let out a low groan of pain, his fingers gripping the bed rails tightly, his face turning pale with agony.
"Now, is there anything else you want to say?"
"You damned... bastard... blue-skinned dog... Wayne government's lackey... I... I will kill you!!!"
Schiller, looking down at the message on his phone without looking up, said, "You should know I'll be wearing a body camera, right?... You mean you can explain to the judge that this is just a symptom of speech confusion caused by hitting your head in the car accident? What about Superman? What does he think of you insulting law enforcement officers?"
Luther slammed his fist on the bed railing.
"He thinks you're wicked, cunning, and always inexplicably hostile towards him, but he can't deny that you're a cultured person, with a temperament and manners far superior to his, a country bumpkin. But if he heard you cursing like an old Kansas farmer, he probably wouldn't even have a shred of appreciation left, would he?"
“Oh, I misspoke,” Schiller said, shaking his head. “Kansas farmers aren’t as afraid of pain as you. They can endure the pain of acute appendicitis for three days and still manage to harvest the last crop of spring wheat while driving their tractors. If Superman saw you like this, he would understand that the sense of superiority you and he both take for granted should never exist. The things beneath the moral high ground you stand on are so fragile that they crumble at the slightest touch.”
Schiller leaned forward, looking Luther into his eyes, and said, "Do you think this is a good thing, Mr. Luther? Should I help him realize this?"
Luther swung his fist at Schiller, who dodged it by tilting his head. He reached out and turned the button on the pain pump. After a few dozen seconds, Luther stopped gripping the armrest tightly, but he began to tremble all over.
“Turn it down… turn that damn stuff down!” Luther’s pupils dilated slightly as he said, “I’m not an addict, you have to follow the safe dosage…”
"As safe as before?"
Luther was speechless. His well-maintained, strong body, which he almost never used painkillers for, reacted extremely strongly to painkillers. A wave of euphoria surged through his brain, and within seconds, countless hallucinations flashed before his eyes.
“Tell me, what other secrets are behind this?” Schiller asked. “Mr. Luther, you’re smart. You should understand that from the moment you fell into my hands, trying to hide anything will only make you suffer more. I won’t step on the gas if I’m not confident I can get everything out of you.”
"I'll sue you! You damn... damn madman! I'll rip this skin off you..."
"What reason? Police brutality?" Schiller remained calm. "A knife is sheathed only because its owner doesn't need it for the time being, not because the enemy deems it too sharp. You understand that, don't you?"
Schiller adjusted the pain pump back to normal. Luther lay on the hospital bed for a while, the cracks in the ceiling flickering in his vision. After a long pause, he spoke, "Not long ago, someone sent me an email..."
Twenty minutes later, Schiller walked out of the ward and closed the door. Natasha, who was already waiting outside, said, "How was it? This guy's tough, isn't he?"
Schiller glanced at her, his eyes conveying, "Why do you say that?"
“Superman just dragged me through all the bad things Lex Luthor has done,” Natasha said, frowning slightly. “Even from just a few words, you can tell he’s very careful and meticulous. It’s going to be very difficult to interrogate someone like that.”
"Yes, ordinary interrogation methods won't work."
"So what method did you use?"
“Civilized law enforcement,” Schiller said.
"what?"
"Make good use of medical law enforcement methods in modern human civilization."
"speak English."
"morphine."
The two went to the office and sat down facing each other at a table. Schiller took off his body camera and placed it aside, then turned on his phone to show Natasha the pictures he had taken.
"what is this?"
“Luther showed me his private email inbox,” Schiller said, taking the phone back and looking at the picture. “Not long ago, he received an anonymous email that inspired him to establish the Transatlantic Economic Policy Reserve Fund.”
Natasha frowned and said, "I remember that the people who attacked me also received the email."
“Yes, and none of the emails can be traced back to their source.” Schiller waved his phone and said, “The same goes for Luther’s email. This proves that the other party is not only unafraid of the technical means of law enforcement agencies, but also unafraid of the technical means of the Luther Group. This is very strange.”
“The other party must be a skilled hacker,” Natasha said. “Unfortunately, in this universe, we don’t have an electronic butler like Jarvis to monitor every move on the network, otherwise we could definitely find him.”
“That’s exactly what we need to think about,” Schiller said. “The fact that the mastermind is targeting you proves that he knows something about you. If he knows you, he probably also knows about your origin universe, and maybe even Jarvis. If Batman could bring you here, he could probably bring Jarvis here too. In that case, why would he be so confident that he wouldn’t be discovered?”
Natasha hadn't considered this line of thinking. She said, "Most people underestimate Jarvis's abilities. Many people only know that he's a cybernetic life form, the former electronic butler of Stark Industries, but they have no idea how powerful he really is. Maybe the mastermind is the same way."
"So, based on this, what is the biggest difference between you and Jarvis?"
Schiller's train of thought jumped around a bit, and Natasha didn't react for a moment. But she quickly realized: "I'm not much different from the Black Widows in other universes, whether in appearance or ability. I can't say that I'm fundamentally different from them. But Jarvis is different. There are no Jarvises in other universes—I mean, there are no Jarvises like that."
"Yes, Jarvis in other universes has become Vision, and in most universes, Vision doesn't have as much control over the network, and the electronic life form within him has almost completely disappeared. You are very similar to Black Widow in other universes, but Jarvis is very different from Jarvis in other universes. That's the difference between you."
"The mastermind is targeting you because he knows Black Widow is very powerful; he resorts to this method of electronic intrusion because he doesn't know how powerful Jarvis is. From this, we can deduce that he can't be from your universe, otherwise he would have thought you might go to Jarvis. In that case, he wouldn't use online methods like sending emails to manipulate others. It's more likely that he has contacted Black Widows from other universes through the Battle Realm, recognized you, and then tried to target you."
“It’s good that he’s not from my universe,” Natasha said with a sigh of relief. “But how did he recognize me? I mean, I haven’t done any public missions since I came here, so how did he see me?”
“This is also a key issue,” Schiller said. “Luther told me that the mastermind had warned him in an email that if Luther rallied the powerful figures in the East Coast financial industry to oppose the new policies, President Wayne might take extreme measures. He warned Luther to be wary of the people around Wayne.”
"So Luther bribed the cybersecurity chief to take a picture of my face using camera number 14?"
"No, it wasn't that he bribed the information security director, but rather that he asked the person who emailed him to provide a vulnerability related to Wayne. So the person sent him that photo and revealed your name."
“Not surprising,” Natasha said, leaning back in her chair. “If Luther is indeed a very cunning person, he couldn’t possibly be completely controlled by the person in the email. It’s more like a deal between them: Luther set up the fund as he instructed, and in return, the other party had to help him.”
"That's right, they have a cooperative relationship."
"So, the death of the head of the information security department was caused by the mastermind behind the email?"
“That’s possible. And he’s trying to pin the blame on Luther by using the argument between the Abidonis and his wife before their deaths, since it was the foundation Luther established that caused their argument. It won’t be long before the little girl reveals this information to the police, and even if it can’t be used as evidence, it could still raise public suspicion about the Luther Group.”
“How ingenious,” Natasha couldn’t help but exclaim. “First, they partnered with Luther to establish a fund, then Luther made demands of him, using me to damage the reputation of Wayne Enterprises and the President. Then they silenced the department head who provided the photos and framed Luther Enterprises, damaging their reputation as well. If no one discovers all of this, both Wayne Enterprises and Luther Enterprises will assume that the other side did it, and the two sides will definitely fight to the death.”
"Yes, Batman didn't take action against Luthor Corporation; he was just waiting for an opportunity. Now that this has happened, it's difficult for the two sides to drag things out any longer. Either Batman steps down, or Luthor gets out."
"Is the mastermind's goal to incite conflict between the two sides?"
"Yes, Lex Luthor Corporation is a tough nut to crack. If we try to take it down now, Batman will likely suffer serious damage. Superman wouldn't want to risk affecting the lives of people in Metropolis if we're not careful. Everything the mastermind is doing is aimed at weakening Batman's side."
"Wait a minute, could there be something fishy about Wonder Woman's story as well?"