In Shiller's office at the New Arkham Mental Hospital, Shiller fetched a bottle of sherry and two glasses from the liquor cabinet. He placed a glass in front of Victor and poured the wine, asking, "Has Nora recovered? How is she doing?"
"Didn't you already...oh, that wasn't you yesterday, was it? Your alternative persona?" Victor lifted his wine glass and blinked, then said, "No wonder, back at the Gotham University laboratory, you addressed my wife as 'Nora,' but yesterday, your first reaction was to call her 'Mrs. Friss.'"
"I apologize, the other me isn't familiar with you. He might have forgotten that Nora dislikes being referred to as Mrs. Friss."
Victor chuckled and shook his head. "It's alright. Nora just dislikes being identified as a mere extension of someone else. Indeed, she is not just Mrs. Friss, she is also an outstanding cryogenic scientist and a good teacher."
"As a matter of fact, I visited a friend yesterday." Shiller raised his wine glass, leaned on the arm of the nearby sofa and said, "You know, through the Dreamworld."
"The other me got hold of a valuable research sample. My friend is diligently studying it. He has some research results. Would you like to see them?"
After saying that, Shiller stood up, walked to his desk, and took a piece of paper out, which he then handed to Victor. Victor took the paper and glanced at it, then furrowed his brow.
The paper didn't contain complicated data. Eighty-percent of the paper was blank, with only a few lines written in the center. The lines didn't contain any numbers or even any symbols, just a host of peculiar references and notes.
"Is this a code?" Victor stared at the written lines. "They could be decoded into something else. No, that's not right. Since it was your friend who gave this to you, there's no need for a code."
"However, if you look at its presentation, it doesn't seem like any research data. Whether it's math, physics or chemistry, experimental data is very precise and rigorous. It couldn't be this short. What could be this short is... a formula?"
Victor's tone had a hint of uncertainty, and as he was holding the paper, he stroked his chin and said, "This looks somewhat like an equation, but it's incomplete. Plus, I don't understand any of the symbols it references. They aren't any of the mathematical symbols currently in use."
Victor thought this over briefly, put the paper on the desk, and then looking into Shiller's eyes, said: "I wonder if you've ever heard of the argument that all unsolvable mysteries, including impossible chemical reactions, mathematical rules, and physical laws, actually have formulas? However, humans just haven't been able to sum it all up yet."
"Moreover, an even more extreme argument is that all formulas that humans currently can't sum up can actually be reduced to a single formula, described as the 'universal truth.'"
"I absolutely do not agree with that idea." Victor shook his head and emphasized, "I would recommend those people to believe in God instead because that completely undermines the potential for scientific exploration."
"If humans from the beginning were seeking the one universal truth, we could not possibly have achieved the diverse scientific field we now have. It is because we are unsure of how many paths exist ahead, and even unsure if there are any paths at all, that humans have been able to open new possibilities for science at those wonderfully coincidental crossroads."
Shiller nodded and said, "Yes, from a psychological perspective, if an intelligent species knew from birth that the answer to any problem in the world had a single standard, then they probably couldn't develop a diverse civilization. Uncertainty is the greatest allure of humans, and exploration is an essential part of science."
"And, what I want to say is," Victor continued, "your friend might be trying to explore an unknown human formula. There are quite a few scholars working on this, but forgive me for saying, it's not something that can be achieved overnight, and it might not even be accomplished in a lifetime."
"What if that person were Batman?"
Victor's hand holding the glass of wine became stiff. He quickly extended his hand to snatch the paper back, squinted his eyes, and carefully examined that equation. After a while, he said, "If these are Batman's results, then I'm willing to believe this formula has a certain degree of credibility, but I need time to discern its significance."
Victor slowly put down the paper again, frowning as he said, "This contradicts the entire body of knowledge that I'm familiar with. To prove this could take decades."
"But you have another Batman," Shiller reminded him.
Victor's eyes lit up suddenly, and he waved his other hand, saying, "That's right, I have another Batman! Wait, this formula doesn't actually come from the Batman in our world, does it?"
Shiller nodded, and Victor put down his wine glass, stood up from the sofa, and said, "You're absolutely right. Only Batman can understand Batman, and he happens to be my graduate student now. I'll go find him immediately. The group meeting will start three days early!"
Finished speaking, Victor, holding the paper, hastily rushed out. After he left, Shiller made a phone call to summon a nurse and asked, "Which ward is Rhomann Sionis in? His trail should have ended by now, shouldn't it?"