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Chapter 146: The Mysterious Case on a Rainy Night (1)

In the tranquil Manor, the crackling sound of the fireplace echoed, and the drizzle tapped on the glass, its faint sound muffled by the dim light inside.

Schiller sat on the sofa by the fireplace, flipping through a book. In this slow-paced era, the time from sunset to bedtime always seemed very long. With the book in hand, the world in front of him swayed in the words, gradually becoming blurred. Just as he was getting drowsy, a sudden urgent ringtone from the phone startled him awake.

Schiller sat still for a moment, closed his eyes, took off his glasses, rubbed his eyes, and then slowly got up, walking to the staircase and picking up the receiver of the phone on the cabinet, putting it to his ear.

"Fish Mooney is dead."

On the other end of the phone, Gordon's voice boomed like thunder.

Schiller covered his forehead and leaned against the cabinet, saying, "Who is that?"

"The boss of Mooney, the ruler of Living Hell."

"So what?"

"...I need your help, Professor."

Schiller looked at the sky that had already darkened completely. He was about to refuse when Gordon said, "Batman discovered the crime scene, and when we arrived, Fish was already dead. After recording the scene, we brought Fish's body back for an autopsy. We also brought back a witness, whose mental state is not very good, perhaps suffering from some mental illness. We really need your help."

Schiller hung up the phone, sighed, put on his coat, took an umbrella, and left the warm and quiet Manor, walking into the dark rainy night of Gotham.

When they arrived at the police station, in front of the old police station, there was only a small light bulb hanging on the entrance porch, through which the drifting rain could be seen.

Schiller walked up the steps, which had accumulated a lot of water, and looked up. Gordon was struggling to open the wooden door with the iron chain.

Schiller folded his umbrella and Gordon walked over and said, "Thank God you came just in time."

"Next time there's an emergency like this..." Schiller shook the umbrella hard, as if exhaling, and said, "Don't call me. Let's talk about it tomorrow morning."

Following his movements, Gordon's gaze fell on the umbrella, he turned his head to look carefully at the umbrella, then said, "How did your umbrella break? Didn't you say it was of good quality before?"

"Yes, but even good things can break, and there's nowhere to fix it once it's broken."

Schiller put away the umbrella and walked straight into the police station. Gordon followed him and said, "That man in the tight suit ran to Living Hell in the middle of the night and stumbled upon a murder."

Gordon took a few quick steps, walked in front of Schiller to lead the way, and spoke rapidly, "Fish Mooney was the original gang leader of Living Hell. From the renovation of Living Hell, many other gang leaders from the East District gradually entered there and divided up Mooney's territory."

"Fish has a bad temper and seems to be a sadist."

"Now that she's dead, you don't have to describe her symptoms to me. What about the witness?"

"I was about to take you there..." Gordon led Schiller through a whole corridor and stopped at the end, where a young officer had just come out. He said to Gordon, "That boy seems to have some mental problems. I swear I didn't hit him, but he..."

"Okay, okay." Gordon patted the young officer on the shoulder and said, "I trust you. You're not a violent person. Let's go in and take a look."

After opening the door, Gordon walked in first. As soon as Schiller entered, he saw a familiar figure sitting behind the interrogation table. It was Oswald Copperpot.

He looked terrible now, with a pale face, black hair wet from the rain, sticking tightly to his forehead, dull eyes sunken in his eye sockets, body twitching, and muttering something in his mouth.

He wasn't sitting in a chair, but crouching in the corner of the room. The young police officer also came in and introduced himself to Gordon: "We asked him to sit in the chair, but he refused. We didn't handcuff him, and we didn't use any violent methods on him. He's been like this since he came in..."

Gordon understood why the young officer repeatedly emphasized that no violence had been used. In a place like the Gotham Police Station, most police officers were not friendly to prisoners, and it was normal to beat them up after they were arrested.

Gordon had previously instructed not to use violent methods on Copperpot, and the young officer was afraid that Gordon would misunderstand when he saw Copperpot's condition.

Gordon opened the iron door behind the interrogation table with a key. When he walked in, Copperpot seemed very scared. Schiller stopped Gordon from getting closer and said, "It looks like he has a stress disorder. You'd better not get too close to him..."

Schiller and Gordon stood two meters away from Copperpot. Schiller turned his head and looked at Copperpot from the backlight angle. He found that Copperpot should be in the stage of illness.

Gordon, on the other hand, observed him from a different angle. He asked the young officer, "Are you sure you didn't hit him? I seem to see a wound on his neck?"

The officer raised his hand and said, "I swear we didn't even touch him! As for the wound, he probably had it before he got here."

Gordon frowned at what the officer said. Schiller turned to Gordon and said, "Let him go out first. Too many people will not help him calm down."

After the young officer went out, Schiller said to Gordon, "This should be acute stress disorder."

Schiller took a half step forward, and Copperpot immediately recoiled like crazy, screaming incomprehensibly. Schiller stepped back and said to Gordon, "He is experiencing symptoms such as terror, vigilance, and..."

Schiller rubbed his chin and said, "Not only that, but there seems to be some other mental disorder accompanying the excitement state..."

"Well, it seems unlikely that we can get anything out of him."

"Not necessarily, but his symptoms require hospitalization and after treatment, he should be able to recover his normal mental state."

"How long will that take?"

"Are you in a hurry?" Schiller asked Gordon, "Fish Mooney may be a gang leader, but he is not a big deal in Gotham. Who is putting so much pressure on you?"

Gordon sighed and said, "This matter is complicated, let Batman explain."

As soon as he finished speaking, there was a noise behind him, and Batman appeared in the shadow of the interrogation room.

"I want to make it clear that I know you suspect me of beating him, but I didn't do it," Batman said.

"Wasn't it you who left the injuries on his body when you subdued him?" Schiller turned to ask him.

Batman shook his head and said, "When I encountered him at the crime scene, he was already unconscious and covered in injuries, obviously just beaten."

Batman also walked into the iron gate and stood further away, looking at Copperpot and said, "When I arrived at the scene, Fish was already dead, and he was lying unconscious nearby, covered in bruises. There was no third party on the scene, so I could only call Gordon to investigate, and then bring Fish's body and him here."

"I think you should start from the beginning and tell me about this matter," Schiller said as he and the two walked out. Gordon walked and turned his head back. He looked a little sympathetic to Copperpot and said, "Are we just going to leave him here like this? This is not right. Shouldn't we send him to the hospital first?"

"For now, it's best not to let anyone get close to him, otherwise it's more likely to stimulate him," Schiller said without looking back. But Gordon still worried, "This kid looks underage, he should have family, right? If he doesn't go home so late, his relatives should be very worried about him."

"Speaking of which, he called out twice and called back the young officer who was smoking a cigarette at the Staircase, saying to him, 'Go and find out where this kid lives, if there are anyone at home, report to his family that he's safe. Oh, don't say he's having a seizure, just say he got injured while speeding on the street and now he's in the hospital...'"

"Don't use the excuse of speeding," Schiller reminded Gordon, saying to him, "I know him, he's a student at the Living Hell Vocational School, there should be his mother at home, and he doesn't speed."

"Then what should we use? Well, let's just say he got drunk or high."

"He has no bad habits, doesn't drink, doesn't do drugs, doesn't speed, doesn't fight, doesn't even smoke cigarettes."

Gordon widened his eyes, he looked back at Copperpot, then at Schiller, and said in surprise, "He doesn't smoke cigarettes, doesn't drink, doesn't do drugs, doesn't speed, doesn't fight? No bad habits at all? Are you sure he's from Gotham? That's strange..." Gordon folded his arms across his chest, very puzzled, and said, "So there are really people like that in Gotham? It's the first time I've seen one in the few years I've been here."

After finishing speaking, he felt even more sympathetic towards Copperpot, standing at the door looking at him repeatedly. Schiller said to Gordon, "I remember seeing a cleaning lady last time I was at the police station, let her come over, a woman of similar age to his mother, it might lower his guard a bit."

"You're talking about Mrs. Mona, right? Alright, she probably hasn't left yet, I'll arrange for her to come over, at least to change this kid's clothes."

After the three of them left, they went to Gordon's office, Gordon and Schiller sat face to face, while Batman stood in the shadow of the window.

Schiller poured himself a cup of hot water and said, "I think you should start from the beginning, what's the deal with this? Why did you go to Living Hell?"

Then he turned to look at Batman and said, "Why did you really go to Living Hell?"

Then he turned back to Gordon and said, "And what's the deal with Fish's death? Why are you so anxious to investigate this case?"

Gordon spoke first, sighing, "Let me start with what I know. It all began with the transformation of the Living Hell area..."

"We all know that a well-reconstructed Living Hell is like a delicious pie that everyone wants a piece of. Though the Mooney gang used to dominate Living Hell, there were still plenty of troublemakers in the East District. Just on Elizabeth Street alone, there were several powerful figures who were not far from Living Hell. They wanted to get closer to the water to catch more fish."

"As the original owner of Living Hell, the Mooney gang wanted to keep control of the area. However, they knew that they couldn't do it alone."

"So Fish gave some of the profits to the outside gang leaders, allowing them to occupy some of the territory in the north. However, these gang leaders were greedy alligators who could never be satisfied. They slowly pressured Fish, and as a result, the entire north and half of the south were occupied by outsiders. Fish was furious."