From Professor Shearer, Batman, having gathered the crucial information, hastily left.
Compared to the possibility of Dick suddenly becoming uncommunicative due to his likely rebellious phase, the likelihood that he might have been influenced by hypnosis was significantly higher.
After all, less than a month ago, Dick was clinging to him, learning his detective investigation techniques. Now, after just over 20 days, he had become like an enemy. This change was too sudden.
After Batman's departure, Shearer did not head straight to bed. He realized he was short of fresh clothes.
His previous set dirtied from surgery was still drying after being washed. The set he was wearing was also stained. Once he changed into something clean, he would have no spare clothes left.
Shearer initially considered calling Roge Rodriguez Manor and having Merkel send some clothes. However, when he moved to the hospital, he had taken the only car he had. Whether it would be tonight or tomorrow morning, for Merkel to come, he would have to take a taxi, which wasn't as straightforward in Gotham.
Even though his butler Wude's vitality was quite robust, Shearer didn't fancy retrieving him from the police station. Therefore, he decided to drive back himself and fetch a few sets of clothes.
Though driving at night in Gotham was hazardous, if he avoided the risky neighborhoods, he generally wouldn't run into much trouble. Shearer took his usual route and, as expected, reached safely without any incidents.
However, right when Shearer stepped through the mansion's front gate, he heard noises from the rear garden. He went there and found Merkel burning the fertilizers.
Upon seeing Shearer return, Merkel, informed already over the phone, greeted him with a smile and casually mentioned the corpse on the ground, "Sir, you're pretty fast. I thought you would take at least ten minutes... Your luggage is at your bedroom door. Do you really not need my help?"
"That's alright." Shearer replied while stepping closer to the burning object on the ground. At first, he thought it was the body of a thief, but he soon noticed some parts seemed entirely resistant to burning.
Shearer took a gardening shovel and poked at the fire pit, uncovering several burnt metal parts. Merkel explained, "For the past few days, these puppet-like monsters keep trying to scale the wall from the back. But Alfred gave me a moving plant that catches them with its tendrils."
"A moving plant?" Shearer looked at Merkel with confusion but quickly spotted a trembling tentacle in his periphery.
Shearer turned around, finding it to be the Little Devil Hexagon he had brought from Hell, now potted in a large plant container.
"How did Alfred give this to you?" Shearer asked, astonished, "I thought he would really like this exotic potted plant."
Merkel sighed, "Mr. Alfred indeed loves this demonic plant…
"But remember? Aisha loves anything that moves, this poor demon plant, on its first day at Wayne Manor, fell victim to Aisha, losing half its tendrils to her nibbling. If she continued, the plant would have died, so Mr. Alfred had to give it to me."
The Little Devil Hexagon timely dropped all its tendrils, mimicking a sorrowful gesture. Shearer bent forward to examine and noticed that the plant was, in fact, a cluster of Shadow Ore, the hexagon's body was wrapped around it.
Merkel and Shearer looked back at the fire again. Merkel, patting his chest anxiously, said, "It scared me when I first saw the monster. It was simply too ugly, roughly like a compiled monster."
"One came two days ago, and I managed to take care of it. But to my surprise, another arrived after dusk today. Knowing you were returning to pick up clothes, I wanted to hide it by burying it. However, fearful of nightmares in a long night, I decided to burn it instead."
Shearer nodded, agreeing with Merkel's approach. But suddenly a gust of wind blew, causing him to cough a little. Only then did he realize he was standing downwind of the fire. The billowing smoke from the fire was coming his way.
Shearer swiftly changed his position. He told Merkel, "I'm not worried about your combat abilities. And now, with this demon plant on guard duty, the manor should be secure. But you better not casually step out of here, the outside world is not at peace."
After giving more instructions, Shearer went upstairs to fetch his luggage. Just as he was about to step out of the mansion with his suitcase, he noticed the flag on the mailbox outside had been raised.
In the mansion district, each house has a mailbox with a small flag on its side. When the newspapers boy delivers newspapers or letters, he raises the flag. The butler spots the raised flag in the mailbox from a window, indicating the arrival of newspapers and letters, eliminating any need for direct communication and preventing disturbances to the owner's sleep.
The flag is made of wood, not cloth or other soft material, and it won't raise on its own unless someone deliberately lifts it.
Finding it odd, Shearer went forward to check. The moment he reached the mailbox, he was hit by the stench of decay. Feeling nauseous, he took two steps back and called Merkel over.
Merkel came closer and opened the mailbox. He found a decomposed ear inside, more like a pig's. Most of the ear was rotten, but there was a patch of good skin at the tip, branded with a capital letter V.
Using tongs, Merkel pulled out the ear and discarded it onto the ground. Next, he found a letter deep inside the mailbox. He threw that onto the ground too, keeping his foot on the envelope while using the tong to open it.
However, it wasn't an easy task. After struggling for a while, Shearer approached and picked up the letter, then, ignoring Merkel's shocked look, he opened the envelope manually.
No words were written on the paper. Only a doodle of a pig's head was there, missing one ear.
Shearer paused for a moment, then handed the paper to Merkel, saying, "Burn it."
Merkel glanced at the drawing and asked Shiller, "Uh, sorry, sir, can I ask? What does he mean?"
"I don't know, I don't understand," Shiller shook his head.
"Alright, seems like it's something I'm not supposed to know about." After mumbling to himself, Merkel took the pig ear and envelope to the backyard and burned them.
Shiller was driving away with his luggage. On the way back, he took the same route as before. But as his car turned a narrow street, another vehicle came head-on.
This was a one-way street, and there was hardly any room for two cars going in opposite directions. Had it been two regular drivers in Gotham, half of their clips would have been fired by this point.
Yet, Shiller didn't hesitate. He backed the car up at top speed and exited the street.
The oncoming car was startled. It had already slowed down and prepared to stop, but seeing that Shiller had made way, stopping at this point seemed rather foolish.
So it continued to advance, planning to stop at Shiller's former position. Yet, Shiller executed a smooth right reverse turn, and proceeded forward on the perpendicular road, leaving no room for the oncoming car to pause.
Shiller drove forward without glancing back. The other car followed closely behind, like it didn't want to give up. By the time they reached the main road, Shiller noticed from the rear-view mirror that another car had joined the pursuit.
Shiller's speedy exit had instigated a chase. Shiller entered the ring road, and the pair followed. He drove and drove, circling endlessly, and they followed in hot pursuit.
This chase lasted a solid seven hours. Till dawn broke, Shiller had no intention of exiting the highway.
Eventually, the pursuing cars could no longer keep up. The front car swung over to another lane, closely followed by the one behind it.
At this point, Shiller, who'd been dozing contentedly in the driver's seat, opened his eyes and said, "Thank you, Gray Mist, nice driving."
You
After stretching and yawning, he added, "It might not be as comfortable as sleeping in the hospital."
A car slowly pulled into the parking lot of Arkham Mental Hospital. As Shiller stepped out and walked towards his office, he noticed a figure waiting there.
"Oh, Professor Shiller, it's me, Rhomann. Do you remember me?" a young man approached.
Shiller didn't bother shaking hands. He briskly walked into the washroom next to him to wash his hands. After all, he had just handled an envelope that had been in contact with a decayed pig ear. To shake hands in such a situation would be rather impolite.
Rhomann's expression stiffened momentarily as he withdrew his outstretched hand. But, he quickly composed himself and said with a smile, "Professor, about what we discussed last time, do you think…"
"I know what's up with Dick, the problem is actually with his school… Rhomann, you're here too?" Entering the room, Bruce paused and then shrugged, smiling, "Seems like we're kindred spirits, always bumping into each other."
Rhomann's smile became strained once more, and as Bruce entered the room, he caught a faint whiff of a smoky, charred scent.
Upon following the scent, Bruce turned his glance towards Shiller, who was drying his damp hands; the scent of smoke and char was emanating from him.
In fact, before coming here Bruce had called Mrs. Miller, the secretary, who informed him that Shiller had just gone to his office.
Usually, Shiller wasn't an early riser, so if he was in his office now, it meant he had been up all night.
Shiller had been up all night, was he disposing of a body? Or was he disposing of a body? Or, was he disposing of a body?
With that thought, Bruce decided that the first thing he had to do was to get Rhomann away from there, afraid that Shiller might consider him a key witness, and well, plan for another body's disposal tonight.
"I'm sorry Rhomann, though I came after you, there's something urgent I need to discuss with Professor Shiller. Could you please leave us?"
Rhomann, standing aside, was stunned. He was about to speak when Bruce bluntly continued, "I'll send a strong recommendation letter to your father's office. Please refrain from coming here in the mean time."
Unexpectedly, upon hearing these words, Rhomann's complexion darkened. His cheerful demeanour gradually gave way to a surly, edgy look.
"Damn it, you two are playing me!!"