However, by the sound of it, Shiller recognized who it was and called out, "Pamela? What are you doing here?"
"Wasn't it you who asked me to come, Professor?" Pamela's tone revealed confusion as she said, "You mentioned that the largest forest around Gotham was at risk of fire, so I hurried over..."
"Even leaving behind the grain dealings with the Luther Group." Pamela added in her mind.
It was only then that Shiller remembered the boarding school's location was indeed not far from that forest; he just hadn't realized that the school was actually built next to the forest.
Soon Pamela arrived, still in her pajamas, clearly having rushed over as soon as she got the message. She gathered her red hair and said, "The weather's been incredibly hot lately. A fire actually started in the northeast corner of the forest. Fortunately, it was discovered early and the local residents extinguished it promptly. If it had really spread, several nearby towns would be in trouble."
"Let's talk about that later," Shiller said. "Could you help me check if there were ever any buildings on this hillside?"
Pamela didn't actually know why Shiller was asking this, but she still carefully felt around and then said, "It seems like someone had laid the foundation here, leaving some concrete structures underground... Wait, there are demolition traces. It looks like the original buildings were torn down."
"Torn down?"
"Yes, there are clear signs of the structure being damaged."
"Can you tell when it was demolished?"
"It's hard to give a precise time, but it must have been some years ago, not recently," Pamela said as she circled nearby, then added, "Ah, there's a name... hold on, let me flip it over."
Shiller watched as the soil on the ground churned, and soon roots of an unknown plant flipped a fragment of cloth up from below.
Shiller walked over, used the tip of his umbrella to pick up the piece of cloth, and after flipping it over, he found that a small part of it was made from luminous material. Combined with the color of the cloth, it was likely part of a safety vest.
These vests worn by construction teams usually have the team's name on them. At the end of this cloth, Shiller found a line of small print—"Wardled Construction Team."
Pamela seemed to be still focused on digging underground when suddenly her expression changed, and Shiller, as if sensing something, lifted his gaze towards her.
A vine slowly stretched out from the ground and stopped in front of Shiller. The tip of the vine opened, revealing a green shoot on which a phalanx bone lay quietly.
"Really bad luck, the humans are climbing higher on my annoyance scale," sighed Rocket Raccoon, wiping his half-dry fur with a towel, clearly dissatisfied at having their fun interrupted by Williams' team.
"Alright, they've learned their lesson; no need to squabble with such fools," Star Lord said, flipping the skewers. "Let's not forget what we came for."
"Honestly, I don't think there will be any changes in this cosmos. The stupidity level of the other races should be about the same," Gamora said, packing up her fishing rod and stomping her foot.
As they were preparing to enjoy the barbecue, a noisy disturbance suddenly transmitted from the nearby road, and Star Lord turned to see a large truck charging through with the vigor of a race car.
Rocket Raccoon also covered his ears, his hearing much more sensitive than a human's, and he watched as the truck drove into the adjacent construction site. Rocket Raccoon sighed and said, "I don't think Doctor Schiller could stand this; it was right for him not to come back."
"This noise is definitely excessive," Star Lord said. "I'll report them to the city hall tomorrow. If they don't take care of it, we'll have to."
"Wait." Nebula suddenly looked up. She swept her gaze around, drawing everyone's attention, then said, "There's a scent of blood."
The others stood up swiftly, preparing for a possible confrontation, and Nebula sniffed again and said, "No doubt, it's the smell of human blood, I remember it well."
Star Lord looked at Rocket Raccoon, who squinted and said, "What are you looking at me for? I'm a raccoon, not a dog!"
"You used to deny being a raccoon altogether."
"That's because I had no idea I looked exactly like the raccoons on Earth. I'm sure it's no coincidence. Better not let me find out which mad scientist is from Earth..."
"Is this really the time to discuss that?" Gamora said, drawing her weapon. "If Nebula can smell it, it's definitely not a minor bleed. This is not a battlefield. If someone's bleeding this much, there must have been an accident."
"Over there." Nebula lifted her chin in a direction, and everyone looked where she was pointing—right at Williams' construction site.
"Damn it, someone didn't really get crushed by a tractor, did they?" cursed Rocket Raccoon, but he still ran quickly towards the site, with the others following behind him.
Yet, when they got close to the construction site, no noise was to be heard. Logically, if someone was injured, there would be commotion inside, but even with Rocket Raccoon's hearing, no such sound was detected.
"Something's off," said Star Lord, taking a deep breath. "This guy's secrets are probably even more than we imagined."
"What now, rush in?"
"No," Star Lord, no longer the brash man he had once been, said, "If we rush in, that's trespassing. Without catching them red-handed, we'd be the ones ending up in jail."
"Then let's break out of a police station," suggested Drax.
"You'd better be able to rush out," Rocket Raccoon said rather rudely. "Don't you know Batman?"
"Exactly, the Guardians of the Galaxy are so cautious because they've been burned by Batman in the last Battleworld. Gotham and Batman are synonymous; if they cause trouble here, those pointy ears would show up any minute and toss them straight into the sun."
Drax had nothing to say. Batman might be human but he's ridiculously strong. The combined intellect of the Guardians doesn't even match a single neuron of his. Even if they could dominate the early rounds with brute force, they would ultimately be tightly gripped in his control.
But the Guardians' advantage is their flexibility and ability to read the situation, not causing trouble on others' turf is just basic manners. In Batman's domain, they are paragons of civility.
"Someone's coming this way." Helen suddenly said, "The regular workers here shouldn't have seen me; I'll trick them to go the other way while you sneak in."
Star Lord nodded and everyone drew their weapons.
Helen rushed out, then started to wail loudly. Sure enough, the gate-keeping workers didn't recognize this little girl and thought she was a nearby resident's child who couldn't find her home, so they quickly went to ask her.
Drax was left behind outside due to his large size, while Star Lord, Gamora, and Nebula, all skilled infiltrators, swiftly slipped into the construction site.
The group quietly moved along the wall, but their path was soon blocked. The wall that Star Lord had created was now getting in their way.
Williams was clever; in a matter of hours, he dug a tunnel. The wall was solid, but of course, it didn't reach all the way to the earth's core; it extended only a meter or two underground. With so much construction equipment, it didn't take long to bypass the wall from below.
However, there was only one exit now, blocked by people. Star Lord and his team couldn't get past, but scaling over the wall would be too conspicuous and blow their cover completely.
Nebula could phase through the wall, but Star Lord and Gamora couldn't, so the two of them stayed at the base of the wall while Nebula went alone.
Soon, Gamora's communicator received a message from Nebula, who instructed the two outside to cause a distraction. Star Lord picked up a random stone and with a whoosh, managed to hit someone wearing a white cap right on the backside.
Accompanied by a scream, the crowd started to scatter, and with the commotion outside, Star Lord led the crowd around the edge of the wall and seized another opportunity to run out.
It was about fifteen minutes before Nebula emerged, bringing a series of photographs with her.
The group huddled around Nebula's communicator, which showed several workers in safety gear moving large boxes; in the background of the photos, a big hole was visible behind them.
"Are they burying treasure or something?" Star Lord couldn't comprehend.
Nebula pointed to a spot in the photo. Star Lord's eyes widened immediately. "Those boxes are leaking blood."
"Could it be a mistake?!" Rocket Raccoon, with his fuzzy face, leaned in closer to say, "They wouldn't be dumping bodies, would they?!"
I'm afraid so," Gamora said, glancing at Nebula. "They might have hidden the bodies in that truck just now and secretly transported them to the center of the construction site to bury them."
"It makes no sense," Star Lord shook his head. "They want to build houses here but they're burying bodies underground. Aren't they afraid of being discovered?"
"Maybe it's less likely to be discovered this way," Gamora pondered. "Bodies buried in a typical forest might be dug up, but if they're buried here under the foundation, then they'll never be unearthed."
Everyone fell silent for a moment, then Helen spoke up. "This might be a serial murder case. I think we're better off not getting involved."
Star Lord looked at her in surprise. Helen had deep ties with the Avengers, and strongly influenced by superheroes, she'd usually suggest they help people whenever the Guardians were active. Why was she backing down now?
Helen, as if reading his mind, said, "Things in Gotham are never that simple. One body could lead to multiple high-profile cases. I don't mind fighting for justice, but I just don't think you have the brains for investigating."
"That's a bit too harsh," Rocket Raccoon said, flicking his ears unhappily. "We might not be Batman, but we're not that dumb, right?"
"Far below the average intelligence level in Gotham," Helen stated bluntly.
"Impossible, we've made a lot of progress," Star Lord countered. "We're not the same brute squad we used to be."
"Before you improved, you were the bottom feeders of Gotham. After improvement, you're the fools of Gotham," Helen remained unapologetically candid.
"I think we can't just stand by and do nothing," Gamora argued. "This case is happening around Doctor Schiller's neighborhood. If we don't act, they might get even more outrageous, potentially endangering the professor and triggering a chain reaction."
"I think Helen is right," Nebula surprisingly spoke up. "Their transportation process is very tight. No one is alone; this matter isn't simple."
Nebula rarely spoke, but when she did, her words carried weight. However, Helen suddenly suggested another possibility.
"Let's ask some other idlers," she said, glancing toward Doctor Schiller's house. "Dick and Jason might not be great detectives, but they're definitely better than you guys. More importantly, Aisha is Batman's daughter. She must be a good detective."
About an hour later, everyone gathered in Doctor Schiller's living room. Dick and Jason huddled together, looking at the photos taken by Nebula, clearly much better at reading them than the rest.
Dick, with sharp eyes, noticed that the moving workers in the photo, disguised as laborers, wore safety gear with the construction team's name below— "Wardled Construction Team."