In the dimly lit corridor, Shiller looked at Brand, who appeared unphased and as if he was still waiting for the rest of Shiller's statement.
Then Shiller averted his gaze, not asking anything, because it was meaningless. Anyone could be the one, or perhaps not be the one. They might not even know it themselves, or perhaps they weren't the one a second ago but became so the next—it made no sense to inquire who was.
Besides, compared to an unconfirmed threat, Shiller had more important matters to attend to.
The condition of Edward Nigma caught his attention; it was clear that he was nearing recovery, but the mental trauma he had sustained was still lurking deep within him. What kind of butterfly this pupa about to break free would become was known to no one.
Shiller did not wish for Riddler to become a criminal. If he had to sympathize with one of Gotham's many criminals, it might be this true mentally ill individual. Having been a psychiatrist himself, he understood the profound suffering of those truly afflicted with mental illness.
Unlike antisocial individuals, the variety of oddities they exhibit isn't by their own wish to stand out; they simply cannot control themselves. The most desperate thing in the world is to be trapped in an illusionary cage, gradually losing the ability to discern the world and oneself.
Just now, Shiller had guided Edward to unveil a secret within him, but this was merely the first step. The method used to resolve this secret might determine which path Edward would ultimately take.
The problem was that Edward was a mentally ill patient, lacking complete capacity for action. Even if given the opportunity for revenge, he might not be able to do it—he needed the care and guidance of others.
After returning to his office, Shiller called for Cobblepot, who was now almost always by his mother's side, only occasionally handling some work remotely. However, Shiller still said, "I know you've been busy lately, but it won't take up much of your time."
"No trouble at all, Professor. Actually, I've been wanting to talk with you too, but I was afraid you were too busy," Cobblepot said with a smile.
Now, Shiller could only see the once timid boy in Cobblepot's smile, which still carried some of the younger Cobblepot's shyness, perhaps only in front of elders like Shiller and Gordon.
"Are you asking about your mother's condition? Brand showed me Madam Cobblepot's medical records. I don't see many issues with her mental state, but physically I'm not a specialist..."
"No, Professor, you and Gordon have already helped us a lot. Although it's difficult to accept the natural course of life and death, I've faced much worse challenges; this won't knock me down," Cobblepot said after a slight pause.
Then he continued, "What I wanted to discuss with you was Gotham's environmental issue. You must have some thoughts on that, right?"
"We're short on money right now."
"Victor told me he could develop a technology for mass cooling, but it would take at least ten million US dollars to go from research to implementation. Honestly, it's less than I expected, but our city government still can't afford it."
The Millennium was approaching, and ten million US dollars seemed like a lot at that time. However, in reality, the investments in Gotham's architectural renovation projects were thousands, if not millions, of times greater. In comparison, it wasn't that much.
The previous Mayor Roy promoted wealth among people. The Gotham Music Festival brought in substantial revenue, but it mostly benefitted the small citizens of Gotham. In fact, Roy's vision proved to be insightful; having money in hand, one does not panic. This allowed the city to maintain order even during the Great Depression, and contrary to the gradually unbalancing Metropolis, it was actually making headway.
However, the downside was that the city government had no money. Shiller did some quick calculations in his mind and estimated that the most the city government could offer right now was a little over two million—merely a drop in the bucket.
Due to the poor global economy, ten million US dollars was a considerable amount for any single entity. Wayne Enterprises might be able to allocate that much in liquid assets, but it would unquestionably damage the corporation itself. Wayne Enterprises was a lifeline for countless people's livelihoods; even asking Roy for it might not be agreeable to him.
To put it bluntly, the previous Gotham architectural renovation project was a necessity; otherwise, the millions of residents in the East District would have faced disaster. But the current cooling proposal, while beneficial if executed, wouldn't be the end of the world if ignored—how many would die from the heat after enduring one summer?
This was more like a welfare project, something optional, and persuading those powerful figures to resolve was going to be a challenge at that time.
Cobblepot rested his hands on his knees, fingertips stroking the fabric as he said, "I was just thinking, although right now the consequences of the extreme heat are just some people suffering heatstroke, if this continues, it will inevitably lead to more serious problems."
"You mean..."
"Many of Gotham's factories have problematic fire safety and firefighting regulations. High temperatures increase the risk of fires, and on the northwest side of Gotham, there's a large range of mountains. If a wildfire starts there..."
Shiller massaged his forehead. Although Gotham had escaped the curse that made everything inevitably turn for the worse, Cobblepot's concerns were not without merit. Fires in just one or two factories would be damaging enough, and a wildfire in the forests would utterly destroy the scarce greenery in Gotham.
Shiller closed his eyes and sighed in his chair, having to admit that he had become somewhat complacent over the years, focusing only on his immediate surroundings and neglecting too many issues.
"Let's do this," Shiller said, "I'll take care of the money. You go find Tim, get in touch with Roy, and prioritize factory fire safety and forest fire prevention on the agenda."
"No, no, no, Professor, I wasn't saying it's your obligation to solve all this, I just..."
Shiller shook his head gently and said, "Since we've started this city on a path to change, we must be responsible for any problems that arise during the process of change. You still need to take care of your mother; don't worry about it too much."
"Professor..." Cobblepot said, looking at Shiller, "Gordon said the same thing. Sometimes I feel like I haven't grown up yet."
Shiller chuckled but didn't say much more. Cobblepot seemed to remember something and said, "You called me here, was there something you wanted to ask?"
"Do you know Edward Nigma?"
"Yes, he lived in the ward next to my mother's." Cobblepot sighed as he said, "He seemed to have been triggered by something, always having to read riddle books, sometimes my mother and I would read to him, he was very smart, almost had a photographic memory."
"Yesterday when I was at the activity building, I chatted with him and through him, Dr. Brand and I learned that he might have witnessed a crime committed by a certain school principal and almost got killed, which is why he has psychological trauma, I want to investigate this."
Cobblepot's eyebrows clenched tightly together, his expression growing as dark as if it could drip water as he said, "A certain school principal, meaning, someone is going around killing Gotham's students?"
"I think so, Edward's situation is special, Dr. Brand and I believe we shouldn't let him be questioned by the police, for fear that they might not get anything out of it, so we have to rely on ourselves to look into this."
"I understand, Professor, by tonight at the latest, I will contact you."
Without any hesitation, Cobblepot stood up and left, and as Shiller watched his retreating figure, he realized that he had indeed grown up.
Shiller himself wasn't idle either, he carefully reviewed Edward's psychiatric records and discovered mentions of his past during his lucid moments.
Edward Nigma was a local from Gotham, but he was lucky, born into a middle-class family, both of his parents owned shops that did fairly well, so he had always attended elite schools since he was young.
He was slightly younger than Cobblepot, just a child when Shiller first came to Gotham, but his life was much better than Cobblepot's, back when his parents were still alive; he had studied under their protection until junior high school.
From a young age, he had shown extraordinary talent, often mentioning winning many awards in primary school, always beloved by his teachers, and stood out among the students, continuing to shine in junior high as well.
But unfortunately, just before he was about to graduate from junior high, his parents died, and his uncle didn't allow him to attend the high school he was supposed to go to, instead, he was sent to a more remote boarding school.
Shiller suspected that the problem lay with this boarding school, he called Gordon to get information on the school, the current principal was a woman in her sixties, and at least in Shiller's opinion, there didn't seem to be a problem with her.
But looking further back was troublesome, because during that era, Gotham was a chaotic place, having gone through multiple upheavals, a lot of the records were lost, or it might be that someone with a guilty conscience had deliberately erased them.
With the trail going cold here, Shiller wasn't in a hurry. He found a moment to give Pamela a call.
"How much did Greed pay you?" Shiller asked outright.
"5 million." Pamela didn't hide it from him, continuing, "I used it to pay off my mortgage, still have about 4.8 million left."
"Cobblepot said that the wooded area in the northwest corner of Gotham might catch fire."
"What?!" Pamela's tone rose immediately; she said, "If a wildfire happens right under my nose, wouldn't I lose face?!"
"You've got a lot more than face to lose." Shiller sneered, "Having been the spokesperson for All Things Green for several years, what have you done? Has Gotham's greening improved in the slightest?!"
After a moment of silence, Pamela said, "Sorry, Professor, it is indeed my fault, I'll figure something out right away!"
After hanging up the phone, Pamela sprang up from the bed, hurriedly getting dressed while muttering, "This is bad, this is bad, this is bad, this is bad, this is bad..."
After hanging up, Shiller then called Tim, saying, "Pamela might be making some moves soon, if she comes to you, then cooperate with her."
"Understood, Professor." Tim was clearly still in the Wayne Enterprises office as he spoke, "I got a set of Mercury Energy Equipment from that cosmos, when do you think would be a good time to launch it?"
"Now is not the time," Shiller said, "Gotham already has the Ark Reactor, it's not short on energy at the moment. You want to sell energy at low prices, but you also have to consider if you're prepared to start a world war."
Tim's tone was clearly a bit stiff, "I didn't plan to do that."
"Whether you've thought about it or not, only you know. I don't have mind-reading abilities, nor do I need to prove anything to you. Right now, there are already too many problems surrounding me, you best not become an additional one."
Listening to the dial tone from the hung-up call, Tim hastily dialed back to Wayne Manor, saying, "Dick, have Jason and the others keep a close watch, don't cause any trouble lately, the Professor is running out of patience."
Dick hung up and conveyed Tim's message accurately to Jason. Helen also listened in, looking a bit puzzled and presented her own questions to the two brothers.
Jason shook his head and said, "This Professor might be different from the doctors you know, he has a kind of inertia; he tends to maintain stability, up until he can no longer bear it."
"What happens when he can no longer bear it?" Helen asked.
"He becomes very dangerous," Jason said, "He won't channel his sadness and anger into solving the problem; he'll only make himself the biggest problem."