Upon hearing the word "gentle", Batman rolled the term around in his mouth again, but this time, he refrained from voicing it out loud. From the depth of their conversation, he could tell that the professor wasn't in a particularly good mood.
However, if things were as he said then it was just an unfortunate situation. The timing of the teacher taking leave from the freshman registration office couldn't have been worse. But ultimately, Batman's timing was even more improper.
After foregoing the deep contemplation of the term, Batman began to recall how Shiller, as a teacher, used to instruct him.
Before pondering on this question, he first needed to figure out if Shiller was actually teaching him at all.
Upon reflection, Batman found the answer to be yes. But the term "instruction" also warranted further consideration.
In his freshman and sophomore years, Shiller never really tutored Batman in his studies. But somehow, Shiller's figure would always surface in all the significant criminal investigations Batman was involved in at the time.
The incident that made the strongest impression on Batman was when the female boss Fish in the Living Hell died. Batman carried out a string of investigations, which led him back to Shiller's umbrella.
Subsequently, Shiller and Jack unearthed the Laughing Egg from within him during the invasion of the Yellow Lantern. Batman and the others fought within a dream, which ultimately ended with Shiller bringing forth Aisha.
Later on, Shiller went to Metropolis, forcing Batman to track down murder clues within the Mayor's Manor. Then during the journey to Cat City Gotham, it was again due to Shiller stirring the dream of a thousand cats.
The first half of the slum journey had nothing to do with Shiller, but in the second half, he dealt a fatal blow to Bruce.
And this time, Batman would plummet into Hell because Shiller had fallen into it.
Upon careful reflection, it seemed that every event involving Shiller taught Batman something.
The wisdom of deciphering clues as a detective, the skill of exploring bizarre dreams, the courage to confront the madness of reality in the deepest abyss, the strategy of participating in major wars, and the insights gained from witnessing the course of a revolution...
In the initial events, Batman held firm to the idea of avenging criminals. But as he experienced a series of drastic ups and downs, of epic proportions, Batman realized he no longer had a definitive answer.
During his time in the cave, Batman had re-evaluated this question. What was he fighting for? What was his ideal? What were his beliefs?
Was it revenge? Was it to save Gotham?
When he pondered these two solutions, Batman instinctively felt unsatisfied. He couldn't clearly express where this dissatisfaction stemmed from. It was as if these solutions didn't correlate to his journey of hardship and unforgettable experiences.
Batman felt that anyone who had been through so much couldn't easily define their life with one word or one goal.
The less a person experiences, the smaller their world, the easier it is for them to label themselves narrowly, and then reinforce that mindset, seeking validation within a group that shares the same label. Then, they would cut off all opportunities to reconsider, and walk down the path unswervingly.
However, if a person's path is filled with thrilling and tumultuous experiences, and their hardships and wisdom attained are sufficient, it's tough to be satisfied with the achievements garnered from a tiny label; hence the saying, truthful paths are full of vicissitudes.
Batman had a similar feeling. If he poured everything he had learned and experienced into targeting criminals for revenge or saving Gotham, he always felt shortchanged.
He had seen the sunset in the Living Hell, the boundless dark tide in the Dreamworld. He had danced with mystery and cunning in Metropolis, struggled with poverty and weakness in the slums, heard the rock rumble in Cat City, and seen the blood-red sunset in Hell.
Having traveled such a long road, borne so many injuries, learned and absorbed so much, was it all for taking down criminals on the streets?
Seeing Batman lost in thought, Shiller cleared his throat gently, and said: "All of your current thoughts are answering my present state."
"The virus-infected me gave you an answer which you wanted to hear at that time, but both you and I know that isn't the correct answer. It's not every person's correct answer, and neither is it your correct answer." Shiller sighed, then continued.
"But for a long time afterward, you took it as the truth, or to be precise, that was how you've always thought. As a result, I had to take many actions to erase this incorrect answer, make your conclusions waver, and then only could you truly start looking for the correct one."
Shiller looked down at himself, slowly fading his somewhat fanatical smile. He said, "And, right after you finished your slum journey, something I've been attempting without success has made breakthrough progress."
"Fatalism is often incomprehensibly profound, but I have another method to examine your state. That is, as long as I attempt to merge with Joker Shiller -- the other virus-infected fragment -- the smoothness of this process can help me determine whether you've made any new progress."
"After you returned from the slums, I tried as part of my routine process and found out that, astonishingly, we could merge for a short period of time."
"However, at this point, other problems arose." Shiller shook his head, somewhat helplessly saying, "We got the software's permission, but the hardware isn't so easily combined."
"When I first came to Gotham, the Superego realized that it was a very dangerous city, and needed some strong personalities to support my actions, to protect me from danger."
"However, many strong personalities are too aggressive, and once they are released, I am not in danger, but Gotham University could be. So, the Superego selected the Arrogant, a negative trait but without such strong aggression."
"But for some specific reasons, the complete Arrogant couldn't directly surface to the conscious mind, hence, the Superego split him in two."
"The Superego isn't a personality fragment, but the collective consciousness of all fragments, like an administrator of my soul, equipped with strong powers and privileges."
"Therefore, when splitting the personality fragment, it was very thorough. Simultaneously, he used a mysterious power to rapidly heal the split wound without leaving any scar."
"So, when I wanted to merge with the other half of the fragments, I found that we had actually become two complete fragments. Merging back into one was extremely difficult."
"I think you should know that during plant grafting, both sides must be wounded to be possibly merged. This means in our prime state, we were unable to merge."
"After Constantine created a city full of broccoli, you saw me weakened, but my other half, Joker Schiller, also fell into weakness."
"At this moment, I sensed an opportunity. We were both in an extremely weak state. Creating artificial wounds would be an opportunity to merge again."
"So, I allowed the Federal Bureau of Investigation's agent to take me. I thought they would successfully get me to Washington and interrogate me under torture. This might stimulate my spirit, creating a wound for merging..."
Shiller shook his head helplessly and said, "But I really didn't expect that the people they sent couldn't even get out of Gotham."
"Since the torture to extract confession plan failed, I had to find another way. I thought if restrained by the physical body, we had to seek spiritual stimulation, for psychological trauma. But without the body, we could directly harm the soul, creating a wound."
Batman and Shiller locked eyes. Shiller spoke, "So, I killed myself, and fell into Hell."
"The instability you observed earlier was because we were trying to merge." Shiller glanced at the Rotting Heart General and said, "After coming to the mine, I realized the opportunity was here. This brutal mine owner could create a wound that would satisfy me."
Shiller looked at the metal buckle on his collarbone. He said, "He did a good job, but what surprised me was that just having a wound wasn't enough to merge smoothly. During the merging process, I needed to replenish a large amount of energy."
Shiller stripped off the fat from a half-burnt piece of roast meat and put it into his mouth with a fork. He said, "So, I asked him to provide me with some extra help."
"Perhaps you have already heard that powerful demons can devour weak ones. But actually, the soul of a human can also do this. We can devour demons."
"Of course, the strength of a human soul can't compete with that of a demon." Shiller glanced at the Rotting Heart General and said with a smile, "But, humans are best at using tools."
"Even if I could swallow a whole demon, I wouldn't adopt such a barbaric method. Humans dine with utensils, chewing their food slowly. It's been too long since our days of gnawing crude meat."
Finishing his words, Shiller accepted a plate from a strange demon, added the just roasted belly meat to his own plate, cut it into small pieces, and put it into his mouth.
Batman was still in a daze of thoughts. After listening to Shiller's explanation, he finally understood why the professor seemed to bear a grudge against him. It wasn't just an appearance, Shiller did bear a grudge against him.
Batman was sure that when Shiller was instructing him to find the answer to this problem, he must have been trying to get his revenge. But he had no proof and he suspected there was no instruction within the revenge.
At first, he thought Shiller was a criminal, targeting him everywhere because he didn't like the vigilante. Later, he thought Shiller was mentally ill, targeting him everywhere because he didn't like normal people. However, it seems now that Shiller's actions have very clear motives and goals.
All seemingly abnormal attacks came from what had happened the first time they met. It was cause and effect, logically reasonable.
In other words, though Shiller was sick, his actions against Batman weren't because of his illness.
So if Shiller's behavior was normal, who was abnormal?