บท 2122: Chapter 1429: New Arkham (Part 1)_2
"This is my first conversation with him, am I right? How was his attitude?" Shiller asked as he adjusted his tie.
"He said he was your student, very eager to meet you, and he wants to know the whereabouts of Bruce Wayne. But we didn't have a conversation with him."
"That's correct," Shiller replied as he walked out. "Sionis likely has a serious violent inclination, keep your distance from him."
They entered the elevator again, this time the nurse followed him and asked, "Do you have any other instructions?"
Shiller glanced back at her and retorted, "What do you mean? If he's my student, should you treat him preferentially? He accused me of psychological abuse of students sometime back which nearly got me fired."
"Since we were aware, we thought to ask you if we should accord him any special 'privileges'?" the nurse asked emotionlessly and calmly. Shiller stared into her eyes.
She shook her head and pointed out, "That's the unwritten law of the insane asylum. If a patient is hard to deal with, we administer adequate medication to spare others from being troubled."
"Was it Mrs. Miller who sent you?" Shiller turned back and said, "I will give you a list later on. The people on the list should not be given too many sedatives, limit tranquilizers too in order to avoid adverse effects on their brains."
As the elevator doors opened, Shiller adjusted his glasses and declared, "After all, Lord Wayne, who funded the construction of this hospital, is not philanthropic. They have academic targets to meet as well."
The nurse nodded and led Shiller to a patient room on the second floor, a ward that required caretaking, similar to a semi-prison.
Several mental health facilities house criminals who, despite their guilt, are mentally deranged. Their living conditions are not like those of other patients; instead, they reside in guarded rooms with barred partitions, where they are regularly engaged in conversation and exams.
After Shiller entered, the room was divided into two halves, separated by metal bars on the upper half and a waist-high wall. At the end of the room was a locked half-height door for patients to come and go.
A guard standing inside the room acknowledged Shiller's entrance, "Doctor, the registration forms are there. You need to sign on both the first and second pages. The conversation should not exceed two hours, I will knock when it's time. Call me loudly if anything unexpected happens."
Shiller nodded, took a seat outside the bars. After the guard exited the room, Shiller stood up, gently tapped on the bars and called out, "Rhomann?"
Rhomann, lying at the end of the single bed in the room, rolled over. The sight of Shiller led him to immediately sit up and rush to the bars, shaking them furiously.
"You're doing fine! Did Bruce Wayne help get you off the hook?! You keep a watch on him because he's wealthy! That he can help solve all kinds of problems! You're all the same!!"
Shiller placidly looked at Rhomann, one leg hanging from the other, with his unimpressive shoes reflecting the light from the ceiling. "The nurse told me that you were looking forward to meeting me. I was under the impression you had something more valuable to discuss."
It was as if Rhomann was suddenly choked, his smoldering anger extinguished instantly by Shiller's icy tones. Shiller stood up, began signing the registration forms and muttered.
"I don't care much for your accusations. Any improper behavior from a mental patient can be traced but for me, I still find it hard to forgive you for inciting my students. It seems you also refuse to accept the fact that I'm not on trial because of your baseless accusations."
"In this case, let us not complicate things for each other. I will transfer your case to Dr. Brand, and after a basic forty-minute conversation, you need not see me again."
"Hold on," Rhomann cried. "You can't, you can't... You've been ignoring me because I don't hold as much value as Bruce Wayne! This is not just, wasn't I your student too? Wayne wasn't outstanding academically!"
"Indeed," Shiller didn't deny it. Still on his seat, he stated: "But being outstanding isn't the only criterion to evaluate a person. You focus too much on Bruce Wayne, and forget that the most pressing matter is to cure your mental illness."
"I'm not sick!"
"Your defense lawyer wouldn't take kindly to that remark." Firmly straightening, Shiller leaned forward, elbows on knees, "Mr. Sionis, I hope you understand this: I'm not a Savior. I don't believe it's my responsibility to heal you from your personality disorder stemming from domestic violence."
"Aren't you a doctor?!"
"Indeed, and that's why I understand I can't save everyone in this world." Shiller stood up, looking disinterested, adjusted the edges of his suit and looked at Rhomann.
"I will treat my other patients seriously, because they possess real competence and value. Mr. Sionis, if you fail to prove your worth, I fear, your time here might be short-lived."
Shiller's final statement was delivered in a grave tone, as if trying to hint at something, it was the maximum he could do.
Previously, Rhomann Sionis, the Black Mask, and the Silent Thomas Elliot had jointly accused Shiller of manipulating and mistreating students mentally. Apart from this, neither of them is particularly talented, at least not for the current Gotham.
Bruce Wayne had already taken over the secret communication channels of the serial killer. Several lunatics and killers were exchanging frequent information about the research resources being abundantly provided by Arkham Mental Hospital, specifically for the mentally deranged. The impoverished saw it as a chance to splurge, while the wealthy viewed it as a chance to challenge others.
With more personal space, individual patient rooms were extremely coveted. If Rhomann didn't act swiftly, someone would soon free up this wasted room.
Shiller had done his part. He opened the door of the ward in advance and exited amidst Rhomann's screams, nodded at the security guard, and then his gaze fell on the newspaper in the guard's hands.
"Doctor, do you want to read the newspaper?" The security guard smiled and handed Shiller the newspaper. When Shiller tried to refuse it, the guard waved his hand, "We're not allowed to read newspapers during work hours. You'll have to cover for me with Mrs. Miller. I'm going in."
After saying this, he handed the newspaper to Shiller who did not refuse any further. Instead, he spread it out to see the headline written in bold on the first page.
"Bandage murderer Thomas Elliot has been arrested at 2 p.m. today, and is now being held in Florence ADX Supermax. He awaits legal ruling."
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