Compared to Schiller, Jonathan appears to be more innocent. He has a thin and slender build, messy curly hair, and wears a pair of black frame glasses. He always has dark circles under his eyes, giving him a frail appearance, like a typical nerd.
His personality in school also resembles a nice guy. All the students at Gotham University know that Jonathan's classes are lenient, and exams are easy to pass. Even if students skip or arrive late, he will simply raise his glasses and let them sit down without criticism.
He looks like a complete bookworm, and in contrast, the new psychology professor Schiller looks like a psychotic of Arkham Asylum.
Schiller has a somewhat mixed appearance, with black hair and gray eyes. The original Schiller also appears to be a typical straight ; apart from black , all his clothes are gray.
He mostly wears coats, scarves, and three piece suits while working. Schiller never goes out to buy new clothes, so he has maintained the original host's style. And with Gotham's constant rain these days, Schiller always carries a black umbrella.
This image, well, if it appears in a TV drama, the viewers' complaints why he isn't the antagonist will definitely pile up the mailbox .
And it doesn't take long for Schiller's students to discover that he is actually a very strict professor. His teaching level is indeed high, but he shows no mercy to students who are late or leave early. He also gives pop quizzes every few classes. In his first class, he outright claims that at least thirty percent of the students will fail, making everyone nervous.
Although the students at Gotham University come from affluent backgrounds, there are rebellious individuals among them. No university student would like such a professor. At first, Schiller's class has several troublemakers. But soon, someone who loves gossip spreads Schiller's credentials, which makes the students instantly quiet in his class, like obedient sheep.
After all, no normal person can be involved in so many serial killings. Soon, Schiller becomes the you-know-who on campus.
Some says their professor is actually the culprit behind these serial killings. Others argues he carries some kind of unfortunate curse, as wherever he goes, terrible incidents will occur. There are imaginative individuals who concocts a tragic background for Schiller, suggesting that his involvement in these investigations is for revenge.
Various versions of the story always cater to the students' expectations. Among the students, these bizarre and somewhat frightening stories spread quickly. In just a few days, the majority of students know about Schiller's past.
Schiller comes to buy breakfast, and the window he stands at is always empty as students watch him from afar. In class, his assignments are always the most complete in the entire school. No professor ever achieves this.
After the confrontation that night, Schiller can often feel Bruce following him, even during the day on campus. Luckily, he has a Spider-Sense, and Bruce's attempts to install cameras in his dorm room, counseling office, and classroom podium has all failed.
But this offers Schiller an idea.
It seems that young Batman still hasn't figured it out. But he notices that Bruce seems to have reached some kind of agreement with Gordon. Schiller goes to the Morrison Street area a few times after that and affirms that they are truly working together.
Finally, one day, as it approaches bedtime, Gotham's sky turns as dark as ink.
Schiller has no intention of going out tonight; he wants to get a good night's sleep. Teaching at university isn't as easy as he has thought, and providing psychological counseling to students who genuinely needed it can be exhausting. Whether it is relieving anxiety, alleviating depression, or offering actual advice, these are all fatiguesome tasks. So he plans to get a good night's sleep.
But fate has its own plans. Jonathan, who only used to operate in the later half of the night, suddenly leaves campus early that night. Schiller knows that he probably want to capture a new batch of experimental subjects.
Indeed, Gordon and Bruce have been active in the Morrison Street area recently. Jonathan recognizes that he can't escape; once caught, he will be put into jail.
He has even less physical ability than Schiller and even sprays the fear toxin at high failure rate. After Batman clears out the Ditch Gang and a few other small gangs in the Morrison Street area, he gradually gains some notoriety. People hear that there is a freak vigilante here, fighting against these gangs, and Jonathan dares not show his face for several nights.
But his fear toxin is on the verge of a breakthrough, and no mad scientist can accept experimental failure at such a critical juncture. He has already run out of experimental subjects and needs to capture new ones.
Although he lacks physical prowess, capturing experimental subjects is simple for him. He only needs to find a house with an open window, extend a pipe inside, and spray a large amount of anesthetics. Then he will pry open their door and drag the person out.
Schiller watches as he leaves campus, and also has to put on his coat, grab an umbrella, and follow him. Although he doesn't have a kindly heart like Virgin May and has no plan to become a superhero, he will stop it when faces with tragedy happening right in front of him.
Moreover, if Jonathan keeps mischievous, there will be hardly anyone left in the Morrison Street area. Batman's debut will be a failure. After all, Scarecrow will be captured by Batman one day, maybe even today.
Schiller uses a small trick; he plans on teaching Batman a lesson to wake him up from his pride mindset.
Batman still has room for error at this point, as the Joker is still just a circus performer. Schiller couldn't help but wonder how much the Joker will torment the young Batman if he appears before him now.
Batman is still young, he has many shortcomings. But one has to admit that the skills he acquired from traveling the world are not futile.
Jonathan is not a meticulous criminal now either. He has not undergone special training, nor does he have any anti-investigation awareness. Many of his clues have been discovered by Batman and Gordon.
The two of them team up and grope the underground of the chapel, where they discover Jonathan's laboratory. It is not a clever laboratory, and it could even be said to be very much like an unlicensed family workshop.
Dim, narrow, and with an unpleasant smell. Batman looks at the basement drain pipe and speaks, "I'm afraid I know where those people went."
Gordon walks over with a gun, and he says, "Although I don't want to know, the truth must be written in my report."
"Aqua regia. It can not only melt metals, but also the most difficult parts of the human body to handle."
"Okay, I know, you don't need to say more, I don't want to hear the details," Gordon interrupts.
They investigate in this small laboratory for a while. Suddenly, Gordon finds some traces under an old plank box. They are broken leaves.
"Red pine from North AmElektra," Batman voices, "I see its seedlings."
"What the hell, where are there any pine trees in Gotham? Otherwise, the weather here wouldn't be like this," Gordon groans.
"I think there is a place where this kind of plant exists..." Batman states.
"Gotham University, where is the best green area in the whole city, and on both sides of the widest pedestrian path there, there are these plants."
Gordon squats down, carefully looking at the traces, and says, "The murderer stepped on these fallen leaves with his boots, and they are still covered in mud. Obviously, the heavy rain these days has caused him a lot of trouble. After he arrived here, the stains fell off inadvertently, and he didn't bother to clean them up."
Gordon looks up and infers, "Is the murderer a student at Gotham University?"
"Maybe it could also be a teacher," Batman adds.
"Is it the person you threatened that day?" Gordon asks.
"I wasn't threatening him," Batman denies.
"But you cut his throat with a dart and made him bleed a lot. With such a long wound, it would definitely leave a scar," Gordon says.
"Are you sympathizing with a criminal?" Batman asks.
"He is not a criminal, at least not before trial."
"Trial..." Batman sneers.
Gordon notices Batman's distrust of the justice system, but he does not strongly refute him. He has been a cop in Gotham for a while. The justice system here is indeed not trustworthy, or the entire order system here is not trustworthy.
"But in my opinion, when you hold dangerous weapons and hurt an unarmed ordinary person wantonly, you are threatening," Gordon insists.
"Unarmed..." Batman whispers.
He suddenly realizes that he couldn't refute Gordon. Based on his knowledge, Schiller seems to have no professional combat training, and Batman is sure he could knock him down with one punch.
However, he has been troubled by this person for many days, but he has no way to deal with him. Suddenly, he remembers a sentence he has heard on his journey of learning - word speaks louder than violence.
But it ends here, Batman thinks.
The killer is someone from Gotham University, there is almost no second answer, isn't this evidence enough? Maybe it's time to send that mad professor to prison.
He looks at the stained drainage pipe on the ground, where the souls of more than forty people disappeared, and there must be someone's parents among them.
A long time ago, his parents' lives disappeared in the alley on that night, but no one paid the price they should have paid.
But now, things are different. With him here, these criminals will eventually go where they should go, and no one can escape.