Given the opportunity to flaunt his skills, Master Mirror would certainly not let it pass. After explaining for a moment, he looked up at Victor and said, "Are you a professor at this university too? What subjects do you teach?"
"I'm a cryogenics physicist, currently I mainly teach physics. Of course, my research areas are rather broad and also encompass chemistry, mechanical engineering, and a portion of natural sciences."
"Cryogenics?" Master Mirror, fiddling with his gun, remarked, "I also know a guy who seems to have mastered some kind of cryogenic technology, but I don't really get it."
"Oh?" Victor's interest piqued, and he said, "Nowadays, not many people are studying cryogenic physics. If he is well-known in the field, I should have heard of him. By the way, which city are you from?"
"Central City. The weather there is much better than here," Master Mirror protested. He now realised that he had been defeated by Shiller, and he didn't feel wronged— it was a trap specifically designed against him. But he chalked it up to bad luck which coincided with a typhoon.
"Central City?" Victor scratched his chin saying, "I haven't heard of any famous cryogenic laboratories there."
While the two of them were conversing, Shiller walked over to Master Mirror with the sign-up form. He shook it before handing it over and said: "Now, take this form to the Admissions Office to register and then honestly stay in school to learn. You cannot leave prior to graduation, or else…"
Shiller lifted up his umbrella once again. Master Mirror retreated a couple of steps back, swallowed harshly, and said, "You can rest assured, I have two undergraduate degrees, both are full scholarships, and I was even an outstanding graduate. I have plenty of internship experience, and I am skilled in various chemical reagent formulations, I…"
"Alright, if your academic performance is quite good, we will also give you a full scholarship. After all, right now we can't even find someone we can award a scholarship to," Shiller retorted sarcastically.
After Master Mirror had left, Victor leaned against Shiller's desk and smilingly said, "Do you still remember the topic we were discussing? We are both travelers in a snowy night, setting up a campfire in the vast snowfield…"
Shiller, while reading his papers, said, "Of course I remember. Everyone who comes here will add firewood, so the campfire never goes out."
"What you really seem to be doing, is more like staying by the campfire, aggressively peddling a box of matches," Victor laughed, "Even though it's clear that others are not cold and don't need matches, you still insist on selling them."
Shiller paused for a moment, then said, "How do you know he isn't cold?"
Victor was taken aback by what was said, he responded, "He's not even from Gotham, he's already graduated from a good university and has a stable job."
"If he had graduated from university and had a stable job, why would he break into the Wayne Building to steal?" Shiller countered.
At a loss for words, Victor listened as Shiller continued, "And what do you mean by him not needing matches? Are you a psychologist or am I one?"
"Moreover, what do you mean by 'aggressively peddling'? I am just assuming some of society's obligations to reform criminals, free of charge. I ought to invoice the Central City government, have them pay Sam's tuition."
Victor shook his head, Anna sat at her desk, and without lifting her head, said, "I really don't understand why you are determined to argue with a psychologist, it's his expertise."
"Yeah, just like how counting that currently in this office only the three of us can speak, and after taking you out of the equation, there're only two people left, that's the extent of your mathematical abilities," Shiller retorted.
Victor didn't respond. Pulling on his coat and picking up his keys, he asked, "Are you staying in the dormitory tonight? If you are, I'll leave the keys with you."
Shiller, without lifting his head, said, "Yes, I'm not going back today, I still have to monitor the students of the Technical Institute early tomorrow morning."
Glancing at Shiller's focused expression, Victor shook his head and turned to leave.
Master Mirror, who was now out of sight of Shiller, found a nearby public telephone booth. After dialing, he started, "So this is what happened..."
He briefly explained his current predicament. The person on the other side of the line spoke in low tones, but did not chastise him. Instead, they said, "I will have someone investigate at Gotham University and aid you. Once you have resolved the curse issue, you must immediately return to a safe location."
Master Mirror looked around then lowered his voice, "That professor is not easy to deal with, are you sure the guy you're sending can…"
"Rest assured, he is a familiar face for you and he'll be there tonight. As long as you two don't stir up too much trouble, nobody can stop you," he responded.
After hanging up the phone, Master Mirror let out a sigh of relief. His previous attitude was simply a tactic for delay. He did not believe he would be stuck at a university, nor was he interested in going to a vocational and technical school to learn.
Later that night, with the wind and rain now just a drizzle, Victor was reading some neuroscience literature in his room. He was working towards a PhD in neuroscience.
His wife's health was no longer a big issue, the only unresolved matter was the neurodegenerative disease.
The difficulty of this disease was that once defrosted, it would continue to worsen. So even though his wife's physical health was now on par with a normal person, even healthier than one, Victor still refrained from defrosting her.
Unless there was a one hundred percent success rate, he was not willing to gamble. Although Shiller had brought a lot of resources, to resolve his wife's neurodegenerative disease, it was necessary to have a consultation with specialists.
Any doctor, no matter how skillful, couldn't guarantee an accurate diagnosis without seeing the patient. Even the highly skilled Doctor Strange would need to see the patient and carry out comprehensive tests before proceeding with the surgery.
In a situation where both parties couldn't meet, the best approach was conservative therapy which, albeit a slow process, posed high safety.
Through combined efforts from two worlds, the development of cryogenic technology has already reached its peak. The physical functions of the frozen persons would not encounter any problems. As long as the neurodegenerative disease and genetic problem could be slowly resolved, there was a possibility for complete recovery.
In the midst of these contemplations, Victor glanced out the window in the midst of reading and spotted a sneaky figure at the base of the faculty dormitory building.
Narrowing his eyes, Victor examined the figure from his window, then throwing on his coat and grabbing the freeze gun off his table, headed towards the door.
In the hallway, he glanced towards Shiller's room. Shiller was still wearing his coat, sleeping soundly on his bed, his eyebrows furrowed with fatigue.
Victor knew that even though the students were busy, the teachers tasked with watching them would be even busier.
And Shiller, not only had to watch the Technical Institute, but he also had to teach undergraduate courses, supervise graduate students' theses, and help Bruce by resolving a bunch of problems so that he could study in peace.
Victor thought, Shiller, a match-seller? This isn't a fairy tale that should be told, because it is filled with too much real-world desperation.
It's more suited to be a new dark nursery rhyme of this city. If you're not willing to draw close to the campfire in the snowy night, or find yourself unable to pick up a torch to look for a way out during a cold night,
Then, you might at the end of a dark alleyway, find a professor holding matches. On your way home, he'll light up a cigar and before the fog disperses, he will give you a match.
As for the cigar, you'd need to find it yourself.