In his office at Gotham University, Shiller watched as Victor, standing on a stool, stretched up to twist the light bulb overhead.
He unscrewed the old and malfunctioning bulb, looked at it, and said, "If Gotham were to build a museum, I would donate this bulb to it. It could even be displayed in the main showcase in the entrance hall, because it contains at least 20 generations of insect corpses..."
Anna, holding a flashlight from below, made a face of disgust. "Can we not talk about something so revolting? I haven't had breakfast yet."
Shiller, who was standing to one side and also looking up, said: "Did you hear the siren? Since just now, three police cars have passed by. In Gotham, this may not be unusual, but the frequency is rather high, isn't it?"
"A murder occurred at Gotham University. Although death is not uncommon in Gotham, it's different when someone dares to commit such a crime in a student dormitory."
"The Godfather believes the Elliot Family is challenging his authority. Recently, there's been a standoff between the Falcone Family and the Elliot Family, making things a bit tense," said Anna, frowning.
Victor, who was in the process of changing the light bulb, sighed, "Actually, I had a good impression of Thomas. He's a very decent and polite guy, more focused on studying than others. How could he just..."
"By the way." Shiller suddenly said, "Doris, the girl who died... was she in your chemistry class?"
"She's a senior this year and rarely attends class, so I don't know her personally. However, a few girls in my class are in her group. They've talked about her."
Victor paused in his work, recalling, "They gossiped about Doris's boyfriend during breaks. They said he's promising, very handsome, and thus popular. No wonder Doris was so infatuated with him."
"I heard Doris's boyfriend works at the Central Research Institute in Metropolis?" Shiller asked.
"Yes, and he's already working on research with a well-known mentor at a young age. It was said that once this year's research is completed, he can become an official assistant. That's not easy."
Anna widened her eyes in surprise. "How old is Doris's boyfriend? It's indeed remarkable that he could become an official assistant at the Central Research Institute at such a young age."
"Yes." Victor said, looking back fondly. "I once had a colleague who also came from the Central Institute. It's filled with talented people there. You need real ability to have a place."
"I heard from Lex, the new student from Metropolis. He called the Central Research Institute and found David, Doris's boyfriend. But David was very cold and even refused to come and see Doris one last time," Shiller sighed.
"That is strange. Those girls told me that they had a great relationship, especially David. Every time he came to visit Doris in Gotham, he always brought a large bouquet of flowers. Those girls spoke with total envy." Victor shook his head.
"Life is unpredictable, hence, I often tell my students not to focus too much on dating." Anna moved to one side and threw the books in her hand onto the table, saying, "Youthful love is always impulsive and unstable. If Doris hadn't died, she would probably be devastated by her boyfriend's indifference by now."
Shiller looked up at Victor's movements, asking, "Are you done yet? Aren't you the most famous cryogenic scientist in the world? How can changing a bulb be so complicated?"
"What does a cryogenic scientist have to do with changing bulbs?" Victor coughed a few times, smothered by the dust from the lampshade. He waved his hand in front of his face to disperse the dust and continued focus on manipulating the light bulb.
"This interface is not sensitive, I'm cleaning it. If I don't get it clean, it would still have issues after screwing it in... Oh, okay, I've screwed it in. Anna, you switch on the breaker and see if it lights up..."
Anna walked outside the room, opened the door to the electrical box, and lifted the circuit breaker. Immediately, the room was illuminated. Victor and Shiller both sighed in relief. Shiller extended his hand to help Victor off the stool.
But just then, with a "pop," the bulb went off again. Victor stumbled on the chair, almost falling over, but fortunately, he was caught by Shiller. Anna walked back in with her flashlight, prompting Victor to once again climb onto the chair to inspect the bulb.
After unscrewing and examining the bulb once more, he said, "No, it's not the bulb's problem. It looks like the power went out."
It was now early morning, and without the light, the room was pitch black. Anna went to the door and took a peek down the hallway, saying, "Alright, looks like our building has a power cut."
"What the hell is going on lately?" Shiller, frowning, stepped out of the office and moved to a window in the hallway, "Seven power outages in three days, every time it affects this building. Even during a snowstorm, it wasn't this bad. What is the power board doing?"
"You can't blame the power board. All other buildings except Gotham University are fine. The last time I stopped an electrician who had come for repairs, he said it was due to aging circuits. It's an unsolvable excuse, nothing anyone can do." Anna shrugged.
"We can't continue like this, it's already affecting teaching." Victor also stepped out, "Let's go to the electricity room and see. If it's really circuit aging, I should have a solution."
"Aren't you from the Chemistry Department? You also understand electricity? ...Oh, you designed all the equipment for freezing your wife by yourself. You don't also happen to have degrees in Physics and Mechanical Engineering, do you?" asked Anna, raising an eyebrow.
Victor smiled, leading the way. As he neared the stairwell, he turned around, resting his elbow on the railing, and said with a grin, "You're right. On top of that, I also hold degrees in materials science and engineering…"
Anna shook her head, shrugged her shoulders, and quickly followed Victor up the stairs. Shiller paused slightly by the window because he noticed a police car parked on the east side of Gotham University, or rather, outside the west gate of the gymnasium.
The power distribution room wasn't far from the teaching building, and the three of them quickly entered. It was evident that there had been recent maintenance work, but it seemed ineffective as none of the three electrical boxes were working normally.
Victor began to check each one. Even Anna offered a hand, but all Shiller could do was watch. Once the electrical boxes were opened, there were hundreds of tangled wires inside.
"This electrical box should be donated to a museum. I can see at least five generations of technology iterations inside. Could it have been the work of Europeans?" Shiller said incredulously.
"Not that exaggerated." Victor said, while organizing the wires, "Actually, it only looks chaotic. Sort it out and it'll be fine. If you think it's too dusty here, you can wait outside…"
"Alright then, I...," Shiller was about to turn around to leave when the power distribution room's door was flung open. Several policemen charged in, guns pointed at them. Shiller frowned, but soon spotted the familiar figure of Gordon among the crowd.
Seeing that it was Shiller and Victor, Gordon looked surprised and quickly pushed through the crowd. He guided the front officer's gun down and asked, "What are you guys doing here?"
"That's my question to you, detective Gordon. What are you doing here?"
"This is the situation," Gordon explained calmly and logically, "About half an hour ago, we received a report that another murder had occurred at Gotham University. The crime scene was the gymnasium's locker room."
"The victim, Carolina, was a sophomore student at Gotham University and a member of the cheerleading squad. Someone had strangled her with a belt about half an hour ago."
"During the incident, all other cheerleading members were practicing in the next room. Within a short span of five minutes, Carolina lost her breath. There were no witnesses because during the moment of the crime…"
"There was a power outage," Shiller added. It happened about half an hour ago; their office had also lost power. That was why they had come to check the power distribution room, and obviously, the group of police had the same idea.
Gordon crossed his arms, sighed, and said, "The technicians checked the gymnasium locker room lights. The bulbs were new and there were no problems. The switches were working normally. The only possible issue could be here."
"Hey! Could somebody give me a hand?" Victor suddenly called. Shiller was about to go over, but Gordon signaled a junior officer who walked over to Victor and took the flashlight.
Half of Victor's body was inside the huge electric box seemingly checking something deeper inside. After a while, he straightened up, tussled his messy hair, and said, "The recent power outages weren't accidents or due to circuit aging. They were intentional."
Upon hearing this, both Gordon and Shiller squinted their eyes. Seemingly, they were thinking about the same thing - the murder case. If the power outage benefited anyone, it would be the murderer.
Perhaps in other places, students might hope for power outages at school so they wouldn't have to attend class. However, at Gotham University, even if they didn't have to attend class, they had nowhere to go because it was too dangerous outside.
Being in a school without power was pure torture, so there wouldn't be any student willing to sabotage the power distribution room just to skip class.
Victor leaned into the electric box again and said while pointing inside, "Pipes may age, but a controller won't appear out of thin air here. Someone installed a remote control switch. If I'm not mistaken, all the power facilities here have been fitted with this thing."
"What's the use of this?" Gordon honestly hadn't seen what Victor was pointing to and was certain he wouldn't understand even if he did. So he asked straightaway.
"It's quite clear. It could turn off the school's power. I suspect it could even control the power to specific buildings or even individual rooms."
Victor stroked his chin and said, "Actually, to cut off power to the school building and rooms, we don't need to use something this complicated. Someone can come here directly, find the electrical box, do a little operation, and it can be accomplished."
"If someone needs such a device, that means they can't come here frequently, and can only control it remotely," Shiller added.
"Then he's probably not a student or teacher from Gotham University, it could be an outsider," Gordon speculated. He seemed to have developed some ideas and then looked at Victor, "Professor Victor, could you please check this device to see if we could trace the signal back to the person using the remote control? I'll retrieve the surveillance footage from the security guard to see if there are any suspicious individuals."
After finishing his sentence, Gordon exhaled. He had all the other officers leave, leaving just him and a few professors in the room. He then said, "The godfather is very displeased with the murders happening in Gotham University. He believes someone is challenging him, so I'm under a lot of pressure."
"If you have any clues, you must let me know. The students are all innocent, and I don't want there to be another tragedy."
Just as he finished speaking, a police officer rushed in, shouting, "Third floor! There's another attack on the third floor!!!"