Since it was still raining outside, Victor picked up an umbrella before he left the dormitory building. At the same time, he also put on a raincoat, fastening the built-in hood to shield his face from the falling raindrops.
This was a rule he had learned since coming to Gotham; in the rainy nights of Gotham, an umbrella couldn't entirely fend off the rainwater. At least, other than Shiller's umbrella, none could.
Victor stepped outside, intending to check who was lingering near the teacher's dormitory building at such a late hour.
He suspected it might be a student who had drunk too much at a party. This type of situation frequently occurred at Gotham University, and if not for his intervention, the student was likely to freeze to death in the typhoon's rain night.
Victor circled around the dormitory building and took a shortcut from the side to the direction of the dormitory window, but there was no sight of anyone anymore.
Victor examined the ground and found no obvious footprints. However, there were some faint traces of movement by the puddle with it.
Following these traces west, Victor found himself near the experiment building of Gotham University. He furrowed his brows, his face void of worry as he was evidently prepared for such an encounter.
Suddenly, there was a loud "bang" from the second floor of the experiment building. Victor quickly walked into the building with his umbrella, went up to the second floor, and saw a stranger frozen like an ice sculpture in the hallway.
The man didn't appear to be a student. His age and clothing didn't align.
He was wearing a blue uniform with a white hood hat lined with fluffy fur, reminiscent of the clothing of the Inuits. He also wore blue goggles, with two black stripes on the lenses.
This attire left Victor stunned. Even in Gotham, this could be classified as bizarre dressing.
Victor glanced once again at the outside weather, quite assured that it was not cold enough to wear such clothes. So, why was this man dressed this way? Was he preemptively defending against his Freeze Gun?
However, he believed when his freeze device froze a person, the individual didn't feel cold.
The biggest advantage of the freeze device was that everything inside could be maintained exactly as it was, excellent at preserving things. Someone placed within would not feel cold, only immobile.
Victor stood in front of the man, hand on his hip and the Freeze Gun in his other hand, expressing a very puzzled expression as he asked, "Who are you? What are you doing here?"
The person trapped in the ice sculpture seemed rather helpless. He had never seen such ice-making technology before, even though he was also famous for creating low temperatures.
Captain Cold, a villain also from Central City, with a Freeze Gun, capable of creating absolute zero degrees. In some comic universe, he teamed up with Mr. Freeze to fight Superman.
But in this universe, whether in terms of technological level or social status, Captain Cold could only be described as a lesser version of Mr. Freeze.
After all, Mr. Freeze was no longer Mr. Freeze, but Professor Victor, a favored guest among the Gotham Gang.
It could be said that Victor · Fries was absolutely safe walking the streets of Gotham City at night, as all mobs would provide him with protection. If anything happened to him, there would be no one left to maintain the highly invested cold storage.
Ever since the Cryogenic Lab was on the brink of a power outage, Victor had added various protective devices to his lab, including freeze-ray guns placed in two corridors.
Not many people visited the lab, the majority of them were on the whitelist. Even if the occasional student blundered into it and got frozen, it wouldn't cause any harm. He just needed to adjust the Freeze Gun to a different setting to defrost it smoothly.
However, the person captured this time was clearly not a misguided student. It seemed more like an ill-intentioned intruder.
"How did you do it?" Captain Cold inquired from inside the ice block, "This is impossible, how could this possibly be ice? How can ice not be cold?"
Victor observed him closely and noticed that he also had a gun in his hand, and at that moment, a little white mist was coming out of the muzzle.
Victor squatted down to carefully examine the gun and recognized from some components that it should also be a cold-producing gun.
"So, you are also a cryogenic scientist?" Victor scrutinized Captain Cold from head to toe. At this, Captain Cold humphed and said: "Of course, no other scientist in this world has the abilities I have. I can create absolute zero degrees instantly…"
Victor opened his mouth wide. He rubbed his chin, and then said, "Haven't you kept up with recent periodicals? Or followed recent developments in cryophysics?"
"Absolute zero isn't the challenge for humanity in cryophysics anymore. Of the six cutting-edge papers recently published, only one concerns this topic. The hottest topic is dense ice, which might be the direction for future material development…"
"Dense... dense ice?" Captain Cold repeated the term, then asked, "What's that? Is it a type of ice? As long as it's ice..."
Victor covered his forehead and said, "Are you really a physicist? Do you really not read any papers nor keep up with industry news?"
"Currently, ice is divided into narrow and broad categories. The so-called narrow ice just refers to the common everyday ice, whereas broad ice includes dense ice or anything similar that meets certain material requirements. Right now, cryophysics is tackling material science, and you…"
Victor hesitated, then asked, "You wouldn't be wearing that outfit because... you can't withstand the cold you generate yourself, could you?"
Captain Cold quickly revealed a gritted teeth expression. He tightened his muscles and loudly asked, "So, how did you do it? How can ice not be cold, and is it still ice if it's not cold?!"
"Do you believe that ice is inherently cold?" Another voice echoed down the corridor. Victor turned his head to see Shiller standing at the end of the corridor. Then, he heard Shiller say,
"In this world, nothing is bound to remain the same as it was at birth, be it ice or a human. Ice can change, and so can humans, through education. I believe you lack proper education."
As Shiller's voice became colder, Victor instinctively retreated a step. He watched Shiller approach the ice sculpture of Captain Cold, pull out a sheet of paper from his pocket and a pen, and ask, "Name?"
"Why should I answer you?" Captain Cold retorted.
"I assume you are here to take your friend? That guy called Sam?" Shiller nonchalantly replied. "I'm not sure if he's told you, but currently, he bears a curse I have placed on him. If I don't lift it, he will die tomorrow."
"You…" Captain Cold clenched his teeth. "You despicable man! Murder is a crime!"
"Oh, I forgot. Your kind doesn't kill." Shiller, raising his head to look at Captain Cold, said, "I'm sorry, but I do."
Captain Cold and Master Mirror both belong to the Rogues of Central City. Despite the Rogues' sinister name, they are quite principled.
Their code of conduct is even stricter than elementary school rules. In addition to not killing, they even forbid public defecation. They represent some of the highest moral standards among DC's villains.
Such a high moral compass is advantageous but can also bring about disadvantages, especially when they find themselves in captivity.
"Leonard Snart." Captain Cold reluctantly replied.
"Age? … Never mind. It's undoubtedly past enrolment age." Shiller made a line through this field on the form. "But it doesn't matter. Here, we don't look at age, but talent. Your education background is…"
"High school graduate." Captain Cold answered.
Victor's eyes widened in shock. "You never attended college?? How did you develop this gun? This weapon's liquid storage technology and launch mechanism are advanced. It's similar to the one I'm using. If you didn't attend college, where did you learn this?"
Captain Cold blinked, seemingly not wanting to answer. Yet, finding Shiller and Victor intently waiting for his response, he finally divulged, "My parents didn't care for me. I studied on my own while in prison."
Victor bugged out his eyes, giving Captain Cold a fresh appraisal. "Self-taught? Is this something you can learn on your own? This…"
Suddenly, Victor drew in a deep breath and asked Shiller, "Is the registration form filled out? I'll take him to the admissions office. He'll start at the College of Technology for a few days and if he passes with the first batch of students, he can then apply for research qualifications... "
Shiller handed him the registration form, smiling as he asked, "So, who's selling matchsticks now?"
Victor grinned, swinging the filled-out form in front of Captain Cold's face, "Now I can defrost you. However, you'll have to enrol with me... "
"Enrolment? For what?"
"To go to college." Shiller answered, "Regardless of your reasons for not completing college, this professor here, Victor Fries, the world's most renowned cryogenic scientist, believes you have the potential to become a cryogenic physicist and has extended an olive branch to you."
Before Captain Cold could say anything, Shiller continued, "I should forewarn you, this opportunity only comes once. If you miss it, you will likely lose your prospects in academia forever."
"What I wanted to say is that I do indeed want to learn this kind of technology." Captain Cold replied, "It's truly amazing! It can freeze people in ice, but they don't feel cold at all. I've never come across such technology!"
"Seems like you don't need to coerce him into it." Shiller rolled his eyes, looking at Victor. "Your luck is always better than mine."
Victor chuckled, "Well, of course."
After Victor defrosted Captain Cold with the Freeze Gun, he didn't run off but instead stared intently at the shards of ice on the ground, wondering, "What happens to this stuff? Does it melt?"
"No, it sublimates directly, but it doesn't absorb heat. I can't explain the specific laws to you right now, but you'll learn them eventually."
When they reached Victor and Shiller's office, Master Mirror and Captain Cold stood in bafflement. Shiller, standing between them, snapped his fingers, "I don't want to worry about who invited whom. Since you've enrolled, you are now classmates. Go to sleep now. Classes start tomorrow at 7 a.m... "
Master Mirror and Captain Cold exchanged glances. Eventually, they both left the office. On their way to the dormitory, Master Mirror asked, "What happened? How did you get caught?"
"He's mastered a new cryogenic technology that I've never seen before. But that's not the point…" Captain Cold cautiously glanced around before speaking, "Sam, you're still young and don't understand many things. You don't actually believe that following that Savage would lead to anything good, do you?"
"He is a 'Long-life'! He knows a lot of things we don't know. He might really be able to rule the world!" Master Mirror countered.
"You believe he knows a lot of things we don't know simply because you know too little," Captain Cold said calmly, "Remember what I told you before?"
"Even if we were to become world-dominating villains, we should rely on our own strengths. You can never rely on others."