Shiller shifted his gaze away from Lex.
But Lex felt the air in the room suddenly become heavy.
This was a very bad sign, Lex suddenly realized what he had just been trying to do, he had attempted to project a wounded demeanor to Shiller's rejection, in hopes of causing Shiller to feel guilty, and thus wavering.
God, what was he doing? Trying to manipulate a psychologist?
Then he came to his senses. This shouldn't be a stupid decision made from eating too much salmon that caused parasites to invade his brain, so he looked at Shiller with a sense of panic.
"I have been contemplating a question, Mr. Luthor," Shiller didn't look at him, but stared at the plate in front of him, "It is a question that I have been considering since you requested from me, why 'Godfather'?"
"My father was a devout Catholic..."
"You want me to atone for killing him?"
Lex felt his hair stand on end.
He didn't know how to describe the feeling at this moment, anyway, if he didn't finish his sentence completely, or if Shiller didn't want to listen to him finish, the main course for the next meal would not be salmon anymore.
"My meaning is, he once told me when he was still alive that I could not have a godfather, otherwise someone would notice my abnormality. For this reason, he killed two priests."
The air loosened a bit.
When Lex's shoulders fell, the whole person appeared as though he had just been fished out of the water.
No, he's not a professor, Lex realized as his rational mind gradually recovered. The situation had completely changed. He now stood between the jaws of a lion, still holding it open with some strength, because the lion wasn't hungry yet.
But he should not thereby ignore the elephant in the room.
"Professor, please believe that I didn't mean any harm. I have no feelings for my father, and not many memories of him either, the few that occasionally flash by are very vague because of his excessive medication on me."
"My memory almost starts from seeing you." Lex paused for a moment. The immense pressure forced him to show more of his cards, he didn't have many left.
"The moment I woke up, I anchored myself - my life is now divided into two parts, when I was born, I accepted my biological father's baptism and became Lionel Luther, and when you appeared, I accepted a whole new level of wisdom and epiphany, and became myself."
"Did you find the religious implications in this?"
"Yes, new education, new thoughts will lead a life to become a new person, the one who gives all these to me will inevitably have a more complicated relationship with me than blood, my worship of him will inevitably have theological features."
"That's an interesting view." Shiller commented. "As the salvaged person, you have magnified the divinity of the person who saved you."
"I praise his nobility."
"You only extol your luck."
Lex suddenly looked up at Shiller.
"In fact, you don't respect anyone, all your views originate from yourself." Shiller casually tucked his napkin, saying, "You only regard me as the miracle of divine favor that befell you."
"I don't believe in religious."
"You don't believe in God either." Shiller slowly said, "You believe you are God, so when you want to move, everything paves the way for you."
"If that's the case, I don't need anything to prove it." Lex immediately found the loophole.
"You're not trying to prove yourself, you just want to bless me." Shiller very slowly picked up a piece of fish and said, "You want to establish a connection with me, to accept me."
"Even if I temporarily rise above you, guiding you, protecting you, I am like the guide who met Jesus when he came to the world, and one day, watching you rise high, receiving blessings from my feats."
"You need me to watch and record this process all the way, record every divine segment."
"Birth, suffering, breaking free, walking, accepting, ascending... In the script you've written, I'm the first and the last, the father and the son, the beginning and the end, birth and death."
"What you want is not just to become God, but to become a God with a complete ceremony, in accordance with worldly laws, recognized by all, the most perfect God."
Lex got to his feet. Shiller raised his eyes to him.
After being stared at by those barren gray eyes, all of Lex's anger dissipated, and he weakly sat down again.
"You could read minds."
"Bruce said the same thing too." Shiller picked up the cutlery and leisurely fiddled with the food on his plate, his laid-back manner made one grit their teeth.
But it successfully stopped Lex's words. He didn't want to hold the same opinion as Bruce Wayne, but this time he had to admit, Wayne was right.
No one, whether sane or insane, could figure out how Shiller came to know these things. There was no basis for it, and the chances of guessing so accurately were zero. This shouldn't have happened at all.
Even if Shiller could read minds, he shouldn't read them so accurately and in such detail. Luthor was certain all his plans were stored separately as memory fragments, and even he would need a few days to collate them.
Then in the mouth of this man, the grand scheme became the shortest, most concise and accurate summary. He himself might not be able to summarize it so accurately, Lex even wanted to say thanks.
"So..." Shiller let out a syllable.
Lex took a deep breath, straightened the collar of his shirt, sat up as straight as possible, then waited for another refusal, afterwards, expulsion, or...
Lex was very clear that the existence of such speculation posed a serious challenge to Shiller's dignity. If he could still manage to leave here alive today, he knew he'd be in for a rough storm to come.
This was not a case of one chess move falling short, Lex thought. Give him another ten years, and he still wouldn't be able to figure out how Shiller could conjure up conjectures about his plans. This was a qualitative gap.
At the start, he didn't see the full picture, blindly making moves and provocations. Now, he was left with no choice but to face the consequences.
Shiller seemed to have lost interest in the food. He left the dining table; Lex did not look back.
After a while, he felt Shiller standing behind him. Alarm bells rang in his head, every cell in his body screaming for him to run, but he was frozen stiff.
A hand passed over him, and as his heart rate peaked, an empty wine glass was placed in front of Lex.
Shiller stood beside Lex's chair, twisting the cork off the wine bottle. He looked down at Lex, saying, "If I remember correctly, Mr. Luthor, previously you only made subtle hints, or restrained assumptions."
As the red liquor flowed into the glass, Lex saw that the hand holding the wine bottle was steady. Its way of exerting force did not resemble that of a scholar who held a pen all day. It was brimming with indescribable power, prompting all sorts of violent imaginings.
Lex pressed his body tight against the back of the chair, instinctively wanting to distance himself from that hand. He didn't have any special empathic abilities, but his superior intellect was telling him that the hand could be both a limb and a weapon.
"Yes," Lex decided to answer the question, "Out of courtesy, I didn't want anyone to be put in an awkward position because of this."
"So, if you were to formally make a request of me, how would you pose the question?"
A dead-end question. Lex's breathing became slightly hurried. After both of them had recognized the implications behind such a request, if he were to ask, it would be tantamount to dancing in the minefield of Shiller's dignity.
But if he didn't ask, he wouldn't be able to divert the topic towards unrelated matters. This tactic only worked when the other party was patient, lacking patience would only make one easier prey.
"I would not be so rude, Professor. No matter how it's phrased, this would sound more like a demand than a request."
"I'm prepared."
Lex closed his eyes.
He felt the wine glass being handed to him. He had no choice but to take it. When he did, he opened his eyes for a moment and saw Shiller pouring wine into another glass.
Lex decided to rip off the band-aid quickly, but, to avoid further adding to the impression of self-centeredness, he carefully worded his request with the focus on Shiller.
"Professor Rodriguez, may I have the honor of asking you to be my godfather?"
Having asked, he felt relieved. Ready to pack up and leave, Lex had had enough. He warned himself not to be curious about how Shiller could possibly guess at his plans, otherwise, he'd end up as the next Bruce Wayne.
He wasn't interested in it, didn't consider it. He might as well assume that Shiller had the Mind Reading Technique. He would skirt around this place from now on. Anyway, he should leave quickly.
And then he felt a light tap on the wine glass in his hand. He looked up and saw Shiller's smile.
"My pleasure, dear godson,"
Lex was struck fiercely.
He was completely taken aback.
But it wasn't the kind of surprise at a pie falling from the sky. If anything, he felt more like the pie falling from the sky, dizzied from excessive weightlessness, and almost shattered from the impact.
What had he done?
He'd asked Shiller if he would be his godfather.
God, what was he doing?!
This was a trap even a three-year-old wouldn't fall for, akin to making you repeat the first five words of the question "Which do you prefer, Dad or Mom?", and then getting a satisfactory answer. How was this different from tricking a child?
Lex didn't know why he, at 20-something years old, could fall for such a trick.
But wait, Shiller had agreed.
Why would he agree?
Lex couldn't help but glance at Shiller's plate. He would rather believe that Shiller had eaten too much salmon and parasites had infiltrated his brain than believe that Shiller was genuinely willing to play such a role.
"You must be wondering why I agreed,"
Before Shiller returned to his seat, he didn't sit down. He just stood next to the cutlery and straightened the knife and fork. He then spoke with his head bowed.
"But if you eliminate all the impossible answers, what you're left thinking is the truth - I admire your design, its theological allusions, the sense of art. You will eventually achieve your plan because you are talented enough."
"Lex, the idea is beautiful. Thank you for the invitation. It's an honor for me to play an important role in it."