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Chapter 581: We Are Alike (3)

In the laboratories of Gotham University, the standoff continued, with Lex gaining the upper hand. His advantage was overwhelming.

Joker focused on Batman's susceptibility to mental attacks, while the task of delivering physical blows was left to Freeze's technology. Lex's intelligence seamlessly coordinated both, resulting in a flawless tactical collaboration. At this moment, Batman found himself in dire straits.

With a wave of Lex's hand, the pervasive icy mist slowed Batman's movements. His attempts at evasion were only slightly delayed, and in a moment, an ice shard grazed his waist, slicing through his Bat-armor and leaving a gaping wound.

The maniacal laughter filled Batman's head, and the extremely low temperatures slowed his thoughts.

To dodge the ice shard, Batman shifted his body to the side but lost his balance due to the slippery ground. He stumbled, colliding with a desk and emitting a low groan of pain.

"Batman! Hahaha! Batman! Is this really you? Who's defenseless now? Who's suffering defeat after defeat? Do you think you can save Gotham like this? What a colossal joke! Hahaha!"

Lex launched verbal attacks alongside physical ones. While he may not have been as mad as the Joker, his physical prowess far exceeded Jack's, making Batman's situation even more desperate.

Batman's tactics against the Joker were primarily tailored to deal with a Joker like Jack, one who excelled in mental attacks but lacked physical strength. This led to a lack of adequate defenses against opponents with physical armor-piercing attacks, leaving him with no option but to dodge.

What went unnoticed was a small figure that had been in the laboratory but had now vanished. Copperpot had slipped away quietly, though not for his own survival.

As Batman expended more energy trying to evade the frigid mist, he reached a point where he could no longer continue. He revealed a vulnerability, slipping and falling to the ground with a thud, while Lex, in a frenzy, raised the ice shard.

Suddenly, the laboratory door swung open with a pair of loud bangs. Both combatants were caught off guard and were frozen in place.

Victor, with a dark expression on his face, appeared at the door, glaring at the chaotic state of the laboratory. He was furious from the core.

No researcher could allow their laboratory to descend into such chaos. To Victor, the presence of Batman, the Joker, or even Lex was inconsequential.

At that moment, his focus was solely on the two troublesome students who had turned their teacher's experimental space into a disaster zone. They not only lacked discipline but also failed to respect their instructor.

Victor took a deep breath, trying to calm his desire to harm someone, and then walked over to the two frozen figures at the center.

First, he glanced to his left, where Batman remained sprawled on the ground, resembling a campus bullying victim. Then, he turned his gaze to the right, where Lex, though slim, held the ice shard menacingly.

With his arms crossed, Victor stood between them and said, "Could someone please explain to me what, exactly, is happening here?"

"You! What's your name? Lex, right? On your very first day in my laboratory, you dare to wreak havoc to this extent. And you have another four years to spend here!"

"My goodness, I should really look up your parents' phone numbers in the directory and have them withdraw you from the university immediately!"

"And you, Bruce..."

As Victor began to address Batman, the Dark Knight's mouth moved slightly, indicating that he wanted to be called "Batman."

"All right, Batman, if that's what you prefer to be called." Victor understood Batman's intent and continued, "But let me remind you that no matter what you call yourself, you are a student of Gotham University. You are expected to abide by the rules, and fighting or causing disturbances on campus is a fundamental lack of respect!"

With that said, he turned his head to Lex and inquired, "What exactly were you planning by wielding that thing? Do you think bullying is acceptable here? You're just a freshman, and you're already involved in such behavior. If Copperpot hadn't come to fetch me, what else did you intend to do? Endanger lives in here?"

Meanwhile, Copperpot, who had gone to inform Victor, sat in a nearby chair, gleefully observing the two students receiving their reprimand. He wore an unusually happy smile.

"Listen carefully, both of you. Tomorrow... no, right now! I am going to call the academic affairs office and have them register disciplinary actions against you. Don't even think about talking back to me!"

"Oh, there's one more person here. Isn't this Thomas? Previously, you orchestrated a murder case, leading to your own imprisonment. What's this? Are you here to extend your sentence?"

As Victor spoke, a knock came at the door. He turned to see Copperpot standing up to answer it. Schiller stood outside the door.

Schiller nodded at Copperpot and then entered the laboratory. Upon seeing the two frozen figures within, he appeared perplexed and asked, "What's going on here? Why is it so chaotic?"

"Schiller, you've come at just the right time!" Victor approached Schiller and pointed at the two frozen students. "Look at the two outstanding students you've taught!"

"He!" Victor said, gesturing towards Lex. "He just arrived in my laboratory today and has already damaged the most expensive and important equipment. And he's involved in campus bullying!"

"And look at his expression, he's even laughing. He shows no remorse whatsoever; it's truly despicable!" Victor's eyebrows were raised in anger.

"And him!" Victor turned his attention to Batman encased in ice. "Our Mr. Bruce Wayne..." At this point, Batman's mouth moved slightly again. Victor took a deep breath and continued, "Alright, Batman, our Batman, then! He came into my laboratory in the middle of the night and got into a fight with Lex! I knew he wasn't a good student, but I never expected him to stoop this low!"

Schiller patted Victor's shoulder, initially soothing his emotions. Then, he emanated a faint gray mist that enveloped the entire room. Turning his head to Victor, Schiller said, "Let's release their ice confinement, and I'll hear what they have to say..."

"You still want to play judge here?!" Victor raised his voice. "In my opinion, we should report them directly to the academic affairs office for a major disciplinary infraction, or better yet, have them expelled. These unruly troublemakers!"

"Calm down, Victor. You need to remember they're not even 20 yet. Weren't we just as mischievous at their age?"

"When I was their age, I was an exemplary student!" Victor retorted without much patience, casting a sidelong glance at the two.

"Alright, alright, Victor, but you have to allow for some mischief-makers in this world. Relax, release the ice, and I promise they won't escape..."

Schiller approached the two frozen figures, glanced at each of them, and then said, "You both must assure me that, after we release the ice, you won't act recklessly. Otherwise, you may face expulsion."

Batman blinked first, and when Lex saw Schiller, he suppressed his laughter, also blinking.

Victor snorted and raised his freezing gun once again. After two beams of energy struck the ice, it shattered, leaving both of them frozen in place.

"You see, I told you they'd show signs of remorse." Schiller turned back to pat Victor's shoulder.

At that moment, JokerLex instinctively wanted to burst into laughter, but Batman quickly stepped forward and covered his mouth.

"Shut up! I don't want to get expelled!" Batman whispered, lowering his voice.

Now, Lex seemed to regain some sanity. Previously, he had used a significant amount of the freezing mist to combat Batman, and this mist's raw material was the blue liquid stored within his body. As this liquid diminished, the Dionysian factor responsible for his madness no longer worked so intensely. Consequently, the manic aspect that belonged to the Joker began to recede, allowing Lex to gradually regain his composure. It was then that he realized he might have caused a huge disaster.

Surveying the laboratory's scene, he understood that if he didn't quickly admit his wrongdoing, his academic career might come to an end. Despite this being the grand stage of Gotham, the confrontation between Batman and the Joker might be entertaining, but fighting and damaging research equipment within a laboratory would result in expulsion.

"Alright, spill the beans. What's really going on here? Why were the two of you fighting?" Schiller asked them. He genuinely had no prior knowledge of the situation. He had come to the laboratory to find Victor.

Schiller had called Victor's dorm room but received no answer. He assumed that Victor was working late in the laboratory, which was why he decided to come here. Unexpectedly, he had stumbled upon Batman and the Joker fighting as an added bonus.

As they explained the situation and attempted to shift blame onto each other, Batman and Lex turned their heads and gazed at Thomas, who was lying amidst the wreckage of the liquid storage equipment.

Through their exchange and combining the information Schiller had separately obtained from Hugo and Taichi earlier, the truth behind these several murder cases was becoming increasingly evident.

Hugo had targeted the Elliott family as a means to secure essential resources to establish himself in Gotham. Since the family had only one heir, Thomas, Hugo manipulated certain emotions within Thomas to make him want to kill his own parents.

However, Thomas didn't want to go to prison for murder. So, Hugo presented him with a plan to establish an alibi by framing Doris for the murder, providing himself with an airtight alibi. Then, Hugo orchestrated another murder, connecting the two cases into a serial killing pattern.

As Thomas was already in prison, these murders continued to occur, giving Thomas an alibi for the first case. To achieve this goal, Hugo killed a second victim in the gym's lounge. Hugo didn't commit the murder himself; instead, he used the same hypnotic technique to manipulate other students into doing it.

These students were well-acquainted with the premises and could easily blend back into the crowd after committing the act, making it difficult for the police to identify them.

Before these events, Hugo had also contacted the Mad Hatter, Taichi, with the intention of involving him in this plan or establishing some other form of collaboration. However, Thomas's murder of Doris, driven by his delusional disorder, infuriated Taichi. Taichi saw his assistant's girlfriend as his own lover. In Taichi's eyes, Thomas had killed his beloved, so seeking revenge against Thomas meant taking the life of Thomas's loved one.

So, Taichi employed the Brainwaves Controller to hypnotize Angel, tapping into her jealousy and driving her to kill Thomas's fiancée, Belenna.

However, Taichi's overreliance on his hypnotic controller and disregard for Angel's unique personality traits led Angel to notice something amiss.

During her struggle to resist Taichi's control, Angel experienced numerous hallucinations. In her efforts not to harm her friends, she ended up injuring herself while en route to committing murder.

And so, three cases that closely resembled serial murders unfolded.

Lex wanted to borrow Victor's laboratory for his experiments due to a project assigned by Schiller. However, Thomas, fearing for Belenna's safety after learning of threats against her, escaped custody in haste and rushed to the experimental building where Belenna often worked, coincidentally running into Lex.

Batman, who had been chasing Thomas, unintentionally ruptured the storage container for the freezing material, turning Lex into a three-in-one adversary. The two engaged in a fierce fight, causing extensive damage to the entire laboratory.

Copperpot, who had come here with the intention of killing Lex, couldn't simply stand by and watch. He opted for the most efficient solution: informing the teachers.

He located Victor, who was sleeping in his dorm room, and summoned him to the scene. Victor, a seasoned Freeze, quickly froze both Lex and Batman.

Schiller, having just finished digging pits for Hugo and Taichi, hoped to enlist Victor's help or, more accurately, save a front-row seat for his good friend Victor. He planned to enjoy the show together.

However, when Schiller tried to call Victor's dorm room, he found out that Victor had been summoned by Copperpot, and the call couldn't get through.

Knowing Victor's schedule well, Schiller figured he must be in the laboratory and decided to join them.

In this manner, they all gathered together.

After recounting these events, everyone fell into a speechless silence. Schiller sighed and, in a disappointed tone, addressed Batman, "Bruce, how many times have I told you, does daily combat training lead anywhere? Did you win against him?"

Batman stood silently in place, adopting a stern posture, and said, "Call me Batman."

Schiller turned his head to look at Lex and said, "And you, do you intend to train yourself to Superman's level just to throw punches at him?"

"Are your two supposedly brilliant minds no longer functioning?" Schiller surveyed the wreckage-filled laboratory.

Batman glanced up at the ceiling's patterns, while Lex looked down to admire the cracks in the floor.

"Neither of you passed this assignment!" Schiller's final words finally broke through their psychological defenses. "Your final grades reflect it as well!"

Both Lex and Batman turned to Schiller. Schiller continued, "Disregarding school rules, causing such a big mess, and having such poor grades – you're just one step away from expulsion, do you understand?"

Hearing this, Batman and Lex unexpectedly breathed a sigh of relief. Lex looked at Schiller and said, "Professor, I'm truly sorry, but I'm more than willing to make amends. I'll donate an entire laboratory building... Oh no, two state-of-the-art laboratory buildings, complete with all the equipment and necessary research materials for ten years..."

Batman interjected, "Energy systems and lighting systems, permanently."

"Do you think this can sway me?" Schiller's expression remained unchanged as he said, "Even if this sorts out your mess, what about your grades?"

After a brief pause, Schiller continued, "Your fists have had enough exercise. Now it's time to test your brilliant minds to ensure they haven't rusted."

"Batman, later on, one of the culprits behind this mess will come to you in your dream. I assume I don't need to instruct you on what to do, right?"

"Additionally..." Schiller looked into Batman's eyes and said, "Another person participating in this exam is named Clark. I believe you wouldn't want to lose to him."

Batman immediately narrowed his eyes, his mouth turning downward, displaying that classic expression.

After Batman departed, Lex looked at Schiller and inquired, "Professor, what about me? What am I being tested on? I believe I can handle being Clark's opponent..."

Schiller, who was walking forward, halted in his tracks, turned around, looked into Lex's eyes, and said, "Lex Luthor, we are alike..."

"So, your opponent is me."

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