amaotonovel Chapter 3741 The Perilous Situation of Dark City (4)
Chapter 3741 The Perilous Situation of Dark City (4)
Chapter 3741 The Crisis in Dark City (Part 4)
A light drizzle continued to fall in the dimly lit city, the air so damp it felt like being plunged into an abyss. Schiller stood by the window of his inn room, looking down as the torchlight grew brighter. Squads of cult members roared through the streets, their shouts of battle growing louder and more urgent.
Schiller simply stood by the window, watching quietly. As he gazed at the scenery, Batman watched him too. At that moment, Schiller exuded an unmistakable aura of violence—silent, cold, and filled with an arrogance that transcended social rules, as if he embodied all the qualities of law enforcement officers from all institutions of violence.
“I told you, he’s a formidable opponent.” Night Owl’s voice echoed in the dimly lit room. “Although both are law enforcers, he is completely different from Batman. Most Batmen stand on the side of justice and use violence to maintain rules and order, so they are the Dark Knight. But Schiller is not. He is a perfect blade without thought—cold, focused, and merciless.”
"Trying to hold Batman back with justice and kindness like you would Batman won't work. I advise you to change your ways as soon as possible, otherwise, when he comes here, I won't care about you."
"An agent who only focuses on completing missions?" the ethereal voice rang out. "Perhaps we can observe him further. If that's the case, there are other ways to keep him here."
“I’m just curious, how can that idiot change the situation now that he only has his head left? Is he going to cry his eyes out?” The Batman Who Laughs said, his fingers interlaced under his chin. “It seems our good agent has absolutely no intention of listening to him.”
“Paul and I are not enemies. On the contrary, I was his teacher for a long time. I guided him in many ways, but instead of using those abilities to bring a better life to the people of Gotham, he completely destroyed the city.”
“After he imprisoned me, he came to see me often. He showed me his masterpieces, thinking I would find his violence beautiful. He wanted my approval, but I only felt endless despair…”
Batman's hoarse voice echoed in the hotel room. Schiller remained silently by the window, observing the activity on the street below. Batman spoke for a long time, but Schiller didn't respond. So he finally said, "Hey, are you listening?"
“I’m not interested in your love story,” Schiller said, turning his head. “I saw what those knights were searching for here, and I guess it’s Lady Shiva looking for me. But that’s not the most important thing right now; I need to find the boy.”
Batman's lips tightened. Schiller suddenly picked up the head, still attached to the spine, and examined it from all sides. After setting it down, he pried two pieces of wood from the surface of the somewhat worn wardrobe and held them up to the bridge of Batman's nose.
"I need to stabilize your nose first to prevent further injury and choking, which could render you unable to speak. If I find that boy named Tone, you can persuade him, and I will send him out of town."
"Tone? Who's that?"
"The leader of the resistance. He must have been captured by the cult. I'll rescue him first, then you can persuade him to leave."
"Why do this?"
"Because I think he could also be Batman."
"How could he possibly..."
“It’s not because of your last name that you’re Batman, it’s because you do what Batman does that you’re Batman. Right now, Tone seems to be the most Batman-like one. I have to make sure he’s safe.”
After saying that, Schiller used a piece of wood to fix Batman's nose, tore a sheet into strips to make a simple bandage, grabbed his spine and lifted him by the head, saying, "I saw tubes on your body that were delivering nutrient fluid before. Now that the nutrient fluid is gone, how long can you live?"
"Are you threatening me?"
"Yes. You help me persuade that boy, and I'll try to find some nutrient solution. If you don't say anything, I'll take that as a yes."
“But he’s not Batman,” Batman said. “And if he were the leader of the resistance, he wouldn’t have left the city so easily; otherwise, he would have left when the unrest started.”
"Of course, otherwise I wouldn't need you to help me persuade him."
Batman was speechless and could only remain silent. Schiller, gun in one hand and head in the other, walked out of the hotel, looked around, and then quickly walked in one direction.
Just around the corner, a group of cult members in red cloaks were huddled around a wall, seemingly doing something. Through the gaps in their figures, one could vaguely make out a woman, dressed in tattered clothes but with a fairly strong build. She appeared to be injured, slumped on the ground, and the cult members seemed to be discussing how to deal with her.
Schiller peered out from behind the wall at the corner. He saw a tattoo on the woman's arm—the same one on the two corpses he'd seen earlier in the cathedral, dressed in cult uniforms. "A rebel tattoo? Those two unlucky guys must have been trying to sneak in disguise as cult members, but they got caught."
Schiller did not go in that direction. He turned back to the street he had been on, checked his bearings, and then headed towards another fork in the road.
“They seem to be trying to do something to her. Aren’t you going to help her?” Batman said.
“Everyone is primarily responsible for their own safety. She was the one who put her in that situation, not me, and I have no obligation to save her,” Schiller said as he walked. “Especially since this city has been in turmoil for 15 years, and she was out wandering around during the cult’s search. If she dies, it’s not a tragedy to mourn, but just the natural selection of the fittest. If I save her, humanity will one day pay the price for my interference with the laws of natural evolution.”
"But she is also a victim. It was the Angel of Death who turned this city into this; she shouldn't have had to go through all this."
“You’re right, the tyrannical rule of the Angel of Death is the culprit. But it’s not my responsibility to stop and punish him. You should go find the police and the Dark Knight, or the ordinary people who consider this place their home. I’m not any of them; I’m just an ordinary passerby.”
"But humans should have the most basic compassion. How can you just stand by and watch others suffer?"
"I can't, so I choose to leave."
Batman fell silent again. Schiller, listening to the woman's screams echoing from the alley behind him, continued forward, searching for his target. Until he found a fresh corpse at the street corner.
He turned the body over and breathed a sigh of relief when he saw that it was a middle-aged man. He then examined the wounds and found that the man's throat had been slit, a fatal wound caused by the knuckle dusters used by the cult. There were also rebel tattoos on his arms.
Schiller looked left and right and saw a very narrow alley on his left, barely wide enough for one person to pass through; an adult couldn't even fully stretch their arms out inside. He walked over and glanced inside, only to find it was a dead end. Schiller looked up.
At about an inch above his head, he saw some mud marks that shouldn't have been on the wall. These marks appeared about every half meter, extending all the way to the roof.
Schiller left the alley, turned left, and walked into the house on the left. It seemed to be an ordinary residential building. After walking all the way to the rooftop, the rooftop door was locked, but Schiller broke it open with just two ramming attempts.
He walked to the rooftop and came to the narrow alley. At the edge of the rooftop, he saw some bloodstains that looked relatively fresh, which was roughly consistent with the time the boy had run away.
Schiller took a few steps back, then sprinted and leaped to the opposite building, where he found the same bloodstains. The rooftop door on this side was open, indicating that someone had been walking through it.
"He climbed up the walls on both sides and then went in through here?" Batman said.
Schiller glanced down at him and said, "Your years in prison weren't wasted."
"what?"
"God always gives the most straightforward punishment to fools."
Schiller walked to the door and glanced inside, but didn't go in. He stood up again, looked around on the rooftop, and then jumped back to the building on the left and entered the rooftop door he had smashed open.
He walked down the steps as quietly as possible. The building had only three floors. Schiller entered the corridor on the third floor, hunched over, gripped his pistol, and slowly made his way forward, his fingers lightly groping the floor.
Finally, he felt a damp spot near a doorway. He turned to face the door, took a step back, pressed his body completely against the wall, and after confirming there was no gap between his back and the wall behind him, Schiller lifted one leg, bent his knee, and then straightened it. The distance between the wall and the door prevented him from fully straightening his leg.
He readjusted the way his back was pressed against the wall, then, with one foot supporting him on the ground, he kicked the door hard in the middle with the other.
"Bang!!!"
The door was kicked open. Schiller darted inside, aimed at the figure in the window, and then pointed his gun downwards.
"boom!"
"Ugh..." A cry of pain rang out.
When the other man clutched his leg and fell to the ground, Schiller holstered his pistol and looked over. In the extremely dim natural light, he could see that it was a young man wearing a jacket.
"Hello, I'm Schiller." Schiller introduced himself. "Don't be nervous, I'm not a member of the Order, I'm here to rescue you."
The young man instinctively glanced at the gunshot wound on his calf. Schiller noticed that his right arm was bandaged, and the congealed blood on the sleeve indicated that he had likely been injured in the arm before.
"I can't explain too much to you; you can understand it as a matter of mission secrecy. Anyway, I need you to leave this city now. Do you know which city nearby is safe?"
The young man was visibly taken aback: "Why should I leave?"
"Because I need to ensure your safety."
The young man glanced at the wound on his leg again.
“Life safety,” Schiller added. “You have to live, not die in the cult’s pursuit or some strange accident.”
“I can’t leave,” the young man said. “I am the leader of the resistance, and I need to save this city. I cannot abandon the people before that.”
Schiller wasn't surprised at all. He simply placed Batman's head in front of the young man. The moment the young man saw Batman's head with its spine attached, he let out a terrified scream and struggled to retreat to a corner of the room.
Schiller, who had been observing his reaction without moving, slightly raised his eyelids. He was certain that Tone's reaction was not normal.