The moment Pamela set foot outside, her expression turned serious. She walked to where the porch met the garden's stone path, turned around, and looked up.
Above was Shiller's bedroom.
Lex said nothing, standing on the porch and staring at her, the intent in his eyes could not have been clearer.
Pamela averted her gaze, shook her head lightly and whispered a word, "Blood."
Lex's throat bobbed slightly. He had not tried to smell it, knowing that those extraordinary senses that could detect the smell of blood from hundreds of meters away were abilities of Batman and Superman, which he did not possess, and even if he did smell it, it would not be reliable.
The garden was rich with smells, the fishy scent of damp earth, the botanical scent of leaves, and the aroma of garden walls and rocks, all combined to mask any person's sense of smell.
Pamela had not obtained this clue by smelling it, Lex saw a glimmer of emerald light in her eyes.
"What did you see?" Lex asked quietly.
"It's hard to explain." Pamela responded, gazing at Lex with her glowing eyes.
"A woman?"
"You know?"
"I only know that a lady appeared in Shiller's bedroom without an appointment, a surprise visit."
"Inconceivable." Pamela exclaimed, "Has she gone mad?"
"Either she's gone mad, or she has an unusual relationship with Professor Shearer." Lex thought aloud with a furrowed brow, "I lean towards the latter, a madwoman would hardly be able to pinpoint the master bedroom of the Rodrix Manor and appear there without knowing how."
"I dare not look." Pamela rushed back under the porch, looked up through the porch ceiling and said, "Shiller could return at any moment. He needs to handle the scene."
"What's at the scene?"
"Blood."
Pamela swallowed, seemingly trying to calm her nerves. She looked at the ceiling and said, "It's not ordinary blood, it oozes a strange power, it's very... cold."
"Cold?"
"Yes, it's indescribable because I have never seen this kind of power before. Its structure greatly differs from the power I use and recognize. It's very mysterious."
"Did they have an argument?"
"I fear it was more than just an argument." Pamela was weighing how much she should reveal. Just because she and Lex were experiencing this together, it didn't necessarily mean they were on the same side.
Lex might choose to side with Shiller and she might as well, depending on what each of them believed the truth was.
Pamela couldn't deny Lex's wisdom. She believed he could give useful advice, so she decided to speak.
"Through the vines, I saw Professor Shiller holding a woman. His hand was constantly bleeding from what appeared to be her abdomen, and in the end, she fell into a pool of blood," recounted Pamela.
Pamela described the scene she had seen but added no conjectures. Then she added another detail. "Before the woman fell, her body emitted a faint glow."
"The glow we saw..."
"Was nearly identical."
This made matters much more complicated. Lex sat down on the chair under the porch, rubbed his forehead, and said, "On the eve of the banquet, a woman found Shiller. They stayed in the room for about 15 minutes. Did Shiller attack her?"
"It's clear that the woman made the first move." Pamela emphasised from the edge of the porch, "The glow appeared first, then the blood."
"This is stranger still," Lex said, stroking his chin, "There aren't many in this world who would dare to attack Professor Shiller without provocation, you're one of them."
Pamela rolled her eyes and replied, "Can we not bring me up right now? Besides, I was out of control at that time."
"How do you know that the woman was in control?"
"If she wasn't, there would be no need for Shiller to attack her." Pamela analysed, "If it was just a situation where someone went out of control like I did, with Shiller imposing his usual methods of language manipulation, the outcome would have been predictable. If he were prepared, Shiller wouldn't be need to shed blood to subdue anyone."
"I didn't see the weapon in Shiller's hand, but I guess it might have been a knife." Pamela recalled, "Small enough to hide in his sleeve. He first held her, then he stabbed her."
"This is clearly not in need of restraint, more like a punitive injury, aimed to make an incision and let her bleed. As far as Professor Shiller is concerned, this is unusual."
"He doesn't particularly care for blood." Lex said, "Despite various religious and symbolic significance, for a doctor, the complex constituents of blood are still far from clean. Splattered blood is disastrous for unprotected oral and ocular mucosa."
"On the other hand, Shiller's take is different." Pamela licked her lips, she remembered the lustrous shine on the reindeer meat in her memory, "Blood is a good cooking ingredient, its properties of being a fluid yet able to solidify means it can be moulded into many delicacies."
"Can you cook too?"
"Have you never seen Shiller cook?"
Lex shook his head, but Pamela did not feel triumphant, she said: "Perhaps he did not want you to see."
"What do you mean?" Lex detected an implication in Pamela's words.
However, Pamela had a sudden inspiration and said: "Do you remember? The person hosting this banquet is not Professor Shearer, and I have seen another grand feast organized by Shearer."
"The main course was prepared a month before the banquet started. He captured many animals, dissected their body parts, observed their organs, tasted them, and then looked for a perfect cooking method."
"You're saying this banquet is also…"
Pamela shook her head and said, "No, many people in the mystic world should attend this banquet, even guests from other parts of cosmos we don't understand. The distinct flavor of the dishes made of special ingredients cannot be hidden from them, and Shearer does not need to treat them particularly this way."
"What I'm telling you is that Shearer doesn't mind using some special ingredients, especially if those ingredients are served up to him…"
"The other party is not human?" Lex asked.
Pamela nodded and said, "The blood of humans can't possibly hold such immense power, and no matter how you practice magic, it is beyond human's innate conditions."
Lex breathed a sigh of relief, his expression immediately becoming nonchalant, he said: "Well, let him be then. As you said, she served herself up, what does it have to do with us?"
"You think I care about her safety?" Pamela said with some contempt, "I don't care about the fate of human beings, nor any race other than plants, but don't you think this is very strange?"
She hurriedly walked down the steps, sat on the chair next to Lex, and said, "Do you think Professor Shearer was unpopular when he was young?"
"If he did not have such a strong personal demeanor, he would be very popular now," Lex said.
"In fact, I asked him this question."
Lex took a fresh look at her, he glanced at Pamela with some surprise, Pamela disdainfully said, "The question I asked is beyond your imagination."
"Courage sometimes amounts to recklessness."
"But at least I'm still sitting here, not on a plate."
"Maybe because Shearer isn't a vegetarian."
Pamela steered the conversation back to the matter at hand, saying: "Shearer once admitted that there were many beautiful and passionate women in his life that left a deep impression on him. What do you think happened between them?"
"There might have been something, but I think it's probably different from what we imagine," Lex, who obviously understood these madmen better, said, "From your perspective, what is it about Shearer that attracts you most?"
"'All attractions in this world are sexual attractions,'" Pamela first quoted a phrase, then expressed her own opinion, "I think this is not entirely correct, it sounds a bit too extreme, but if you are referring to this aspect, I think it comes from 'forbidden'."
"Exactly." Lex said nodding: "People like to overstep, that provides a different kind of thrill beyond simple physical pleasure, which is addictive."
"When you look at someone and think 'oh, this is impossible', something urges you to see if it is, curiosity, adventurous spirit, and desire to win can all be motivators."
"That's far more refined than simple hormonal attraction." Lex's fingers lightly tapped the table and said: "Women are particularly sensitive to this, you appreciate the raw power and are more fascinated by the shackles that bind the beast."
Pamela licked her lips and lowered her eyelids, saying: "Alright, don't tell anyone. If I can convince Bruce, he must come in his bat suit, Superman too."
Lex ignored her and continued to say: "I suppose that Shearer frequently took advantage of this when he was young, the truth about his interactions with those so-called beautiful and passionate women is probably more cruel and bloody than you imagine."
"Why do you say that?"
"This was a weapon he had carefully crafted. Even if he doesn't need to use it now, traces of the carving will remain on him. The potency of this charm, you and I both have a deep understanding."
"Everyone in Gotham University knows how terrifying Shearer is, but many still risk their lives to send things unrelated to academia, even the opposite, to his mailbox. You can imagine how terrifying that is."
"I would rather understand it as, humans are like this, lustful, their hearts filled with desire, revealing their wickedness…" Pamela commented.
"On the other hand, if this charm still has such power now, how could Shearer be unremarkable among women when he was young?"
Pamela's eyes widened slightly, saying: "You mean, that was a scandal Shearer stirred up when he was young?"
"The act of stabbing itself is odd." Lex analyzed, "If you want to subdue, knocking out is simpler than stabbing, if you want to kill, stabbing the eyes and the heart are more effective, but you said he stabbed the abdomen."
"As long as the knife isn't poisoned, the wound would definitely not be fatal." Pamela said with absolute certainty, "But it would hurt a lot."
"Shearer, who attacked, besides having even less moral compass than a professor, probably doesn't understand mercy, let alone sentimentality. Breaking into the master bedroom itself is rude, and the other party even attacked first. Shearer had no reason to show mercy."
"Unless the other party is not ordinary," Pamela showed an interested smile and said: "Either she is useful to the banquet, or she is useful to Shearer."
"What are you planning to do?" Lex narrowed his eyes, looking at Pamela's excited expression.
"Find her."
"Have you lost your mind?"
But Pamela looked at Lex with bright eyes and said, "If things are as we speculate, as long as I find her, maybe I can indeed pull Shearer in."