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Chapter 297: Three Detectives (1)

On a stormy night with lightning and thunder, rain fell on the roof of the Manor, creating a rustling sound that blended with the crackling of the partially extinguished fireplace.

It was a highly hypnotic sound, and as a result, Schiller, lying in bed, slept deeply. However, at that moment, an urgent phone call rang, causing Schiller to open his eyes.

He glanced outside the window, where a bolt of lightning streaked across the sky, imprinting the window's grid onto the floor and bed. One shadow passed directly over Schiller's eyes.

He took a deep breath and got out of bed, moving through the dark halls of Manor in his slippers. Reaching the ground floor, he picked up the receiver to answer the phone. As expected, it was Gordon's anxious voice on the other end, saying, "Harry Cooper is dead, Professor Schiller. You need to come."

"Is it related to a serial killer? If so, go find Batman."

"Batman is already here, Professor Schiller. I know it's late, and I shouldn't be disturbing you, but the situation this time is quite dire. It's best if you come over."

Schiller glanced at the grandfather clock in the room, its hands pointing precisely at 2 a.m. He remembered the last time Gordon called him on a rainy night, it was when Fish Mooney died.

He went upstairs, dressed himself, and grabbed an umbrella. As he stepped out of the Manor's gates, the night in Gotham remained eerily dark. The damp air filled his lungs, dispelling any drowsiness.

A black car entered through the Manor gates. Dressed in a black suit and carrying a black umbrella and black sunglasses, the person who opened the car door didn't utter a word, and Schiller didn't ask anything either.

Cooper's Manor was located on the west side of the North District, quite far from Falcone Manor. When the car carrying Schiller stopped at the entrance of Cooper Manor, Gordon hurriedly approached. Schiller got out of the car, and together with Gordon, they made their way inside.

"What's going on? It's unusual to see you in such a panic. Even if it's a serial killer, it shouldn't make you this anxious, right?"

Gordon's expression appeared grim. He didn't provide much explanation, simply saying, "You'll know when you see the crime scene."

They climbed up to the third floor. Several police officers were present at the staircase entrance. After Gordon approached, he nodded to one of them, a person dressed in a distinctive uniform. It was a dignified old police officer. He examined Schiller for a moment, then walked up to shake hands, saying, "Hello, I'm Commissioner Smith from Gotham Police Station. I've heard about you for a long time."

Schiller shook hands with him and briefly introduced himself. The commissioner didn't seem to appreciate pleasantries. He gestured to Gordon, saying, "Take this professor in, but be cautious."

Gordon nodded, leading Schiller through the crowd and reaching the door of a room at the end of the third-floor corridor. He took out a key, opened the door, and revealed an incredibly gruesome scene before Schiller's eyes.

Surprisingly, there were no intact corpses present—only scattered remains.

The room had a crimson hue, although the floor, ceiling, and furniture should not have been that color. All the red came from blood and fragments of internal organs.

The reason there were no bodies visible was because they had been uniformly spread throughout the room.

Batman stood in a corner, his gaze fixed on the center of the room. There, an attention-grabbing object lay—an intricate pattern resembling a black ink drawing of a mystical sigil, surrounded by a pile of black ash.

Schiller entered the room but stopped at the doorway. Gordon squeezed past him and closed the door. Schiller tapped the ground with the tip of his umbrella, then raised it to examine the bloodstains above.

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Then he looked up and surveyed the entire room. This room is not big, about twenty-something square meters. It appears to be a reception room with floor-to-ceiling windows. Three sofas are placed on the wall to the right of the door and the wall on the side of the door. In the middle, there is a round table, and on the other side, there is a desk and a bookshelf. This is a common layout for a reception room in English Manor, and it's the same in Schiller's Manor.

The black magic circle is located in the center of the room, while the red spreads from the magic circle to the lower half of the entire room, including the entire floor, most of the walls, and the ceiling in the center of the room.

"The reason why I didn't explain it in detail over the phone is that I don't know if this situation can be called dismemberment. It's a bit...too fragmented," Gordon said, covering his mouth.

Schiller turned to Gordon and asked, "Are there shoe covers?"

Gordon took out shoe covers and gloves, essential auxiliary items for the investigation, from his pocket. He then took out a mask and a face shield for himself. He wanted to hand them to Schiller, but Schiller shook his head and refused.

After putting on the shoe covers, Schiller walked into the room. He circled around the entire room. During his observation, Batman said, "Cooper's body has been pulverized and evenly spread throughout the room. This method is completely different from the previous three cases..."

Schiller squatted not far from the magic circle and examined the ground. He said, "The body hasn't been pulverized? No, that statement isn't quite accurate."

"Doesn't this count as pulverization?" Gordon asked. "We can hardly find a complete body fragment. Blood, skin, and bones, everything has been crushed and spread throughout the room."

"Indeed, but not everything."

Schiller stood up, looked up at the ceiling, and said, "The body mass here is insufficient."

"What do you mean?"

"What you see now, the red part in the room, which includes fragments with blood, internal organs, skin, and bone tissue, after being collected and pieced together, accounts for only about two-thirds of a person's mass."

"One-third of the body mass has disappeared."

Gordon opened his mouth, seemingly wanting to ask Schiller how he knew, but the question lingered and eventually didn't come out. After all, this realistic scene was already terrifying enough, and there was no need to add a few more horror stories to set the mood.

Batman walked over, stood next to the magic circle, and said, "This pattern is not any recorded magic circle, but I can confirm that the six-pointed star in the center of the pattern should be related to demons."

"It's becoming more and more mysterious, isn't it?" Gordon also managed to suppress his disgust and walked over, saying, "At first, there were the serial killings of the twelve disciples, then there was a man sawed in half. Today, they've started pulverizing the corpses and smearing them on the walls. What will they do next? Evaporate people?"

"Obviously, this is not something an ordinary person can do." Schiller spoke slowly and in a steady tone, but it always gave people a chilling feeling. He said, "In this case, the killer's power level has been raised to another level."

"Weren't you patrolling around here lately? Have you found anything?" Schiller asked Batman.

"I was the first to discover that Cooper was dead, and the reason I came here was because I heard an explosion. But when I arrived, I didn't find any suspicious figures."

Schiller walked over to the nearby sofa and lightly rubbed the tip of his umbrella, which had no bloodstains, against the sofa. He said, "Although what I'm about to say may make you question my professionalism, I still have to say... this case may be related to supernatural powers."

"What do you mean by supernatural powers?"

"Isn't it already obvious from this magic circle? Someone summoned a demon here, and that demon killed Cooper."

Gordon pursed his lips and tilted his head. He said, "I expected you to present an exceptionally intricate process of reasoning and reveal an astonishing conclusion. I also considered the possibility that you might present various evidence to support your reasoning, but I never expected..."

"Gordon detective, don't view the events happening in this city with the perspective of an ordinary person."

Batman, however, asked, "Why did you come to this conclusion?"

Schiller walked over once again, looked down at the ground, and said, "Pay attention to the direction of the blood and muscle tissue splatters. They radiate outward from the center, which means that Cooper wasn't killed by an external bomb. His explosion originated from within."

"Could it be that someone forced him to swallow a bomb?"

"Good deduction, Gordon detective. Indeed, that's something a criminal in Gotham would do. However, we should ask our weapons expert, Batman..."

"Is there a type of bomb in the world that, upon detonation, could evenly pulverize a person from their skin to their muscles and internal organs and spread them across the room?"

"While it's possible for the person to be blown apart, it's challenging to achieve such uniform distribution of the blasted tissues on the floor and walls of the room."

"Could it be that someone blew up Cooper into pieces, then manually spread these things around?" Gordon raised another question.

Schiller made an approving gesture and said, "Gordon detective, your thinking is well-suited for being a detective. Honestly, you are very talented."

"If the perpetrator is indeed a deranged killer, then it's possible for them to do this. They have committed even more heinous acts. However, based on the details, it's unlikely that it was manually spread out."

"Take a look here..." Schiller walked over, his shoes making a sticky, dull sensation on the floor. Nevertheless, it still captured the attention of the two of them.

Schiller pointed at one of the sofa legs, where some tissue had accumulated. "Here, when the explosion occurred, human tissue splattered and poured onto the floor, but it was stopped," he explained.

"You can see that the part closest to this sofa leg is skin tissue. Even the epidermis and dermis are visible. On top of them, there are layers of fat, and above that are fragments of internal organs."

"This indicates that it's unlikely for the murderer to have blown up and dismembered the victim, intentionally spreading them evenly. If that were the case, the order in which the accumulated tissues are presented here would not be so regular; instead, it would be jumbled together."

"Imagine Cooper, who was blown apart by some unknown force, first completely melted, then turned into a flattened mass on the floor, and subsequently crushed even further, resembling the pouring of waves spreading towards the floor."

"The sofa leg is like a pier standing on the surface of the sea. However, in this case, the crushed human tissue is denser. Consequently, this pier intercepted a portion of it and preserved its initial state."

"I also think this is something that an ordinary person cannot accomplish. It's difficult for a bomb to achieve this level of effect, and if someone were to crush a human body like this, they would need the assistance of some mechanical tools."

"From the moment I heard the explosion to the time I entered this room, there wasn't enough time for a person to move such large machinery."

Gordon surveyed the room up and down and asked, "Could there be any mechanisms or traps?"

"Before I called you here, I thoroughly searched every corner of this room. There are no traps, secret doors, hidden compartments, or secret passages. It's just a very ordinary reception room in the manor."

"So both of you believe that this could be the work of some supernatural force?"

"That's right, and it shouldn't be related to the murders committed by the Twelve Apostles. I've never heard of anyone in the Bible exploding and being crushed."

"With all due respect..." Gordon hesitated, then said, "If it involves this kind of situation, the Gotham Police Station might not be able to help. We don't have anyone skilled in this area."

"Furthermore, if I were to announce the results of your investigation right now, they would definitely consider us crazy and kick us out."

Schiller shook his head and remarked, "That's not necessarily true. They might be even more superstitious than you are..."

Just then, there was a knock on the door, and a police officer rushed in and said to Gordon, "Boss! Something terrible has happened. Mrs. Sanchez, the principal of the boarding school near the Gotham River, has been found dead!"

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