OBS Chapter 2976: The Green Trees Are Thick and the Summer Is Long ()
Chapter 2976: The Green Trees Are Thick and the Summer Is Long ()
Chapter 2976: The Green Trees Are Thick and the Summer Is Long (Ten)
In the slightly dim corridor, Schiller looked at Brand. Brand looked normal, as if he was still waiting for the second half of his sentence.
Then Schiller withdrew his gaze and asked nothing, because it was meaningless. Anyone could be it, and anyone could not be it. They might not even know that they were, and they might not even be it one second ago, and become it the next. Therefore, it was meaningless to find out who was it.
Besides, Schiller has more important things to deal with than threats that have yet to be confirmed to be real.
Edward Nygma's situation caught his attention. It could be seen that he was about to recover, but the stimulation he had received from something was still hidden deep in his heart. No one knew what kind of butterfly this larva that was about to break out of its cocoon would turn into.
Schiller does not want the Riddler to become a criminal. If he were to say who he sympathizes with the most among the many criminals in Gotham, it would probably be this real mental patient. It is because he has been a psychiatrist that he understands how painful it is for people who truly suffer from mental illness.
Unlike antisocial elements, the various abnormalities they exhibit are not because they want to be different, but because they simply cannot control themselves. The most desperate thing in the world is to be trapped in the cage of hallucinations and gradually lose the ability to distinguish between the world and themselves.
Schiller just revealed the secret in Edward's heart, but this is only the first step. The means of solving this secret may determine what path Edward will take.
The problem is that Edward is a mental patient. He does not have full behavioral capacity. Even if he is given the opportunity to take revenge, he may not be able to do it. He needs the care and guidance of others.
After returning to the office, Schiller called Copperhead, who now accompanies his mother almost all day and only occasionally handles some work remotely, but Schiller still said: "I know you are very busy recently, and it won't take up too much of your time."
"You're welcome, professor. Actually, I also want to talk to you, but I'm afraid you're too busy..." Cobert smiled.
Now Schiller could only see the timid boy from Cobblepot's smile. When he smiled, there was still a bit of the shyness of little Cobblepot. Perhaps he was like this only in front of elders like Schiller and Gordon.
"Do you want to ask about your mother's condition? Brand showed me Mrs. Cobblepot's medical records. I don't see many problems with her mental health, and I'm not an expert on her physical health..."
"No, Professor, both you and Gordon have helped us enough. Although it is difficult to accept birth, aging, sickness and death, I have experienced much more difficulties than this. This will not defeat me."
After a brief pause, Cobblepot said, "What I want to discuss with you is the environmental problems in Gotham. You should have some ideas, right?"
“Yes, we are short of money now.”
"Victor told me that he could develop large-scale cooling technology, but it would cost at least tens of millions of dollars to develop the technology and put it into use. To be honest, this price is less than I thought, but our city government still can't afford it."
It was almost the millennium at this time, and tens of millions of dollars sounded like a lot in that era, but in fact, the investment in Gotham’s building renovation project was thousands of times more than that. In comparison, it was not a lot.
The previous mayor Roy believed in sharing wealth with the people. The Gotham Music Festival earned a lot of income, but more of it benefited the ordinary citizens of Gotham. Facts have proved that Roy has a long-term vision, has money in his hands, and is not panicked. This allowed the city to barely maintain order even in the Great Depression, and it actually went against the current compared to the gradually unbalanced metropolis.
But the disadvantage of doing so is that the city government has no money. Schiller did some calculations in his mind and estimated that the most money the city government could come up with now was just over 200 million, which was just a drop in the bucket.
Due to the bad world economy, tens of millions of dollars is a huge sum of money for any single force. The Wayne Group may be able to withdraw so much working capital, but this will definitely cause damage to the group itself. The Wayne Group is the livelihood of tens of millions of workers, and Roy may not be willing to take it.
To put it bluntly, the Gotham building renovation project had to be carried out, otherwise the entire East District with a population of several million would be in trouble. However, if the current cooling plan is implemented, it would have some benefits. But if it is not done, it will just be a waste of time to endure the summer. How many people will be killed by the heat?
This is more like a welfare plan, which can be implemented or not. It is difficult to get the bigwigs to make up their minds at this time.
Cobert rested his hands on his knees, stroking the fabric at his knees with his fingertips and said, "I was just thinking that although the consequences of the extremely high temperature now are just a few people suffering from heat stroke, if it continues like this, it will definitely lead to more problems."
"what do you mean……"
"Many factories in Gotham have problems with fire prevention and fire regulations. Fires are prone to occur when the temperature is too high. There is also a large mountain range in the northwest of Gotham. Once a mountain fire is caused..."
Schiller rubbed his forehead. Although Gotham had gotten rid of the curse that everything would develop in the worst direction, Cobblepot's worries could not be said to be unreasonable. The loss of one or two of so many factories catching fire would be serious enough. If the forest caught fire, the few green areas in Gotham would be completely destroyed.
Schiller closed his eyes, leaned back in his chair and sighed. He had to admit that he had been too leisurely in recent years, only caring about his own little piece of land and leaving too many problems unresolved.
"Let me take care of the money issue. You go find Tim and contact Roy to put factory fire safety and forest fire prevention on the agenda."
"No, no, no, Professor, I'm not saying you have an obligation to fix this, I just..."
Schiller shook his head slightly and said, "Since we have made the city take the first step towards change, we must be responsible for any problems that arise during the subsequent change process. You still need to take care of your mother, so don't think too much about it."
"Professor..." Cobblepot looked at Schiller and said, "Gordon said the same thing. Sometimes I always feel like I haven't grown up yet."
Schiller laughed but didn't say much. Cobert seemed to have remembered something and said, "What did you want to ask me?"
"You know Edward Nygma, right?"
"Yes, he lives in the ward next to my mother." Cobert sighed and said, "He seems to have been stimulated by something. He reads riddle books every day. Sometimes my mother and I read to him. He is very smart and has almost photographic memory."
"I talked to him when I went to the activity building yesterday. From him, Dr. Brand and I learned that he might have witnessed a murder committed by a principal and was almost killed, so he had a psychological trauma. I want to investigate this matter."
Cobblepot's eyebrows were tightly knitted together, his face was so dark that it seemed like water could drip out. He said, "A certain principal, in other words, someone is wantonly killing students in Gotham?"
"I think so. Edward's situation is special. Dr. Brand and I both think that we cannot let him face the police's questioning. I'm afraid the police won't be able to find out anything, so we can only rely on ourselves to investigate this matter."
"I understand, Professor. I will contact you tonight at the latest."
Without any hesitation, Cobert stood up and left. Schiller looked at his back and found that he had really grown up.
Schiller himself was not idle either. He carefully read Edward's medical records and found that he had mentioned some of his past when he was conscious.
Edward Nygma is a native of Gotham, but he is lucky to be born into a well-off family. His parents both own shops and their business is doing well, so he has been attending elite schools since he was a child.
He was a little younger than Cobblepot and was still a child when Schiller first came to Gotham, but he lived a much better life than Cobblepot. His parents were still alive at that time, and he continued to study in junior high school under his parents' protection.
He showed extraordinary talent since he was a child. Edward often mentioned that he had won many awards in elementary school, was always loved by teachers, and was a leader among students, even after entering junior high school.
But unfortunately, when he was about to graduate from junior high school, his parents passed away, and his uncle did not let him go to the high school he had originally planned to attend, but instead sent him to a more remote boarding school.
Schiller suspected that the problem lay with this boarding school. He called Gordon and obtained the school's information. The current principal was a lady in her 60s. At least in Schiller's opinion, there was nothing wrong with the principal.
But it would be troublesome to search further back, because in that era, Gotham was still in chaos and had experienced many upheavals. A lot of information was lost, or it might have been deliberately erased by someone with a guilty conscience.
Schiller was not in a hurry when the clues were cut off here. He took the opportunity to call Pamela.
"How much has greed paid you?" Shiller asked bluntly.
"Five million." Pamela did not hide it from him and continued, "After paying off my mortgage, there is still more than 500 million left."
"Cobert said that the woods in the northwest corner of Gotham might catch fire."
"What?!" Pamela's tone immediately became louder. She said, "If a wildfire happened under my nose, wouldn't I be very embarrassed?!"
"You've done a lot of embarrassing things." Schiller sneered and said, "You've been the spokesperson for Green for several years. What have you done? Has the greening situation in Gotham improved at all?!"
Pamela was silent for a while and then said, "I'm sorry, professor, it's really my fault. I'll find a solution right away!"
After hanging up the phone, Pamela jumped up from the bed and said as she put on her clothes: "It's over, it's over, it's over, it's over..."
After hanging up the phone, Schiller called Tim again and said, "Pamela may make some moves recently. If she comes to you, cooperate with her."
"Got it, Professor." Tim was obviously still in the Wayne Group's office. He said, "I got a set of Mercury Energy Equipment from that universe. When do you think it would be best to launch it?"
"Now is not the time." Schiller said, "Gotham already has an Ark Reactor, so there is no shortage of energy for the time being. If you want to sell energy at a low price, you have to see if you are ready for a world war."
Tim's tone was noticeably stiff, "I didn't mean to do that."
"Have you ever thought about this? Only you know clearly. I can't read your mind, and there's no need for me to prove anything to you. There are too many problems surrounding me now, and it's better if you are not the extra one."
Hearing the busy tone after the call was hung up, Tim quickly called Wayne Manor and said, "Dick, tell Jason and the others to keep a close eye on them and not to cause any trouble. The professor is almost losing his patience."
Dick put down the phone and told Jason exactly what Tim meant. Helen was listening nearby. She was a little confused and asked the two brothers her own questions.
Jason shook his head and said, "I'm afraid this professor is different from the doctors you know. He has a kind of inertia. He will try to remain stable until he can no longer endure it."
"What happens when he can't bear it anymore?" Helen asked.
"He's going to be very dangerous," Jason said. "Instead of using his anger and grief to solve problems, he's going to make himself the biggest problem."