Jonathan shifted his gaze from the test tube, looked up at the stream of data on the screen and said, "No luck, this stuff is a toxin that accelerates cell aging. The onset of poisoning will not result in whole-body swelling, and once poisoned, the damage is irreversible, beyond the reach of common medical treatments."
"But this isn't any known chemical formula, I need to perform further tests. Give me five minutes."
Shiller and Pamela were standing behind Jonathan. Pamela asked quietly, "Professor, when did you get this toxin sample?"
"When Talya flashy put her hand next to my head." Shiller stared at the reaction in the test tube and said, "I guessed that her nails were poisonous, so the gray mist conveniently preserved a portion of the coating sample on her nails."
"So you just let her go like that?"
"I've said before, I don't care about her private affairs with Bruce. But I'm investigating a case entrusted to me by Cobblepot, which involves some kind of toxin. She is one of the suspects."
Pamela nodded, sounding somewhat admiring, "Honestly, Professor, you have quite a reputation at Gotham University, I thought you would be easily angered."
"I rarely become genuinely angry about anything," Shiller replied in a chatty manner, "Most of the time, I express anger because it can be intimidating which makes teaching work easier."
Having said this, Shiller looked back at Pamela and said, "If you're indifferent to everything, they'll think you don't care and take liberties. So you might want to learn how to act out anger to express your concerns."
Pamela pursed her lips, clearly considering doing something. She had long been dissatisfied with some students in the botany department who were spreading gossip about her. But she was not emotional enough to have a big argument with them to stop this behaviour.
However, this rumor has caused her trouble. If all the women interested in Bruce followed the gossip to seek her out, she would no longer have any peace. It seemed that it was time to show those gossip-mongers their place.
"But don't actually murder them," Shiller said, as if he could read minds, interjecting at just the right moment, "You can storm into the infirmary, vent your anger on your classmates, and have a big fight with everyone, but don't murder anyone over such things, it will only bring trouble for you."
"That's too hard." Pamela frowned in agony and said, "I can calmly think of dozens of traceless ways to poison them on average per person, but I really don't know how to yell at them like an enraged gorilla."
"You can watch TV dramas." Shiller moved to another table to flip through Jonathan's newspaper, and said, "Novels and comics are fine too. Start by imitating the emotional expressions of fictional characters, create a behavior pattern for each of your emotions, then gradually break it down to the movement corresponding to each minor emotion, and finally, combine them flexibly and use them reasonably in every scene of life."
Pamela sighed deeply, pushing back her red hair and looked at Shiller, "Have you also practiced this way before? Professor?"
"Yes, once." Shiller nodded and replied.
At this point, Jonathan turned around, tapped the test tube with his gloved finger, and said, "All the equipment and chemical reactions tested resulted in solid alcohol; clearly there are some components that modern scientific methods cannot detect in this."
"But there's no doubt that this is not a toxin that specifically targets one organ. The expression of accelerated cell aging will not cause body swelling, I'm afraid this is not the answer you're looking for."
Shiller nodded and looked at Jonathan, "Is it useful for your recent research?"
"This is interesting," Jonathan glanced back at the test tube rack and said, "I'm not interested in cell toxins, but it seems a bit wasteful for them to use these mysterious components to kill people. Would it be more exciting to dilute and process it into a lifespan remover?"
"I got this poison sample from a woman, she might have more."
Jonathan immediately rubbed his hands together and laughed, "Then tell me her name, I think I need to pay her a visit."
"Talya Ogu, but you'd better be careful, she's backed by an entire organization called the Assassin's League."
"And what does this organization do?"
"Who knows, probably some kind of mad organization with utopian visions of a new world order."
"Those folks truly are mad."
Leaving the chemistry laboratory at the Arkham Asylum Patient Activity Center where Jonathan was, Shiller went to another building on this island.
As mentioned before, Arkham Asylum had moved to an isolated island, which besides the psychiatric hospital, was also home to several special criminal organizations, including the increasingly burgeoning Mercenaries Hall.
This is not surprising, the well-dubbed city of Gotham only recently opened operations for mercenaries and assassins worldwide. This was solely due to the fact that earlier, even assassins would give Gotham a wide berth.
After Gotham gained a bit of order, it naturally became a paradise for mercenaries and assassins. After all, it is a major city on the East Coast, full of lavish places to blow money.