"'Brainiac Supporters'? What kind of damned organization is that?" Victor looked at the poster on the campus bulletin board with a disdainful expression.
Shiller stood next to him and naturally saw the poster as well. In the center of the poster was Brainiac's big green bald head, with two lines of text beside it: one said, "Follow Brainiac, create a beautiful New Earth," and the other said, "Join the Brainiac Supporters now, and we will help you solve all your life's troubles."
"Sounds like a housekeeping ad." Shiller commented truthfully.
"A bit. Does our school allow proselytizing?"
"I've never heard of any related rules." Shiller shook his head. The two of them walked into the activity building together.
Shiller didn't find it too surprising. Around the world and throughout history, there have always been traitors and collaborators. Brainiac's theory is just barely coherent enough, so naturally, there would be people willing to follow him.
However, the fact that these posters have been put up at Gotham University indicates that there are quite a few teachers and students who support him. It's unclear if they genuinely want the super artificial intelligence to descend upon Earth or if they simply think supporting this big green bald head is trendy and fun.
Judging from the daily performance of Gotham University's teachers and students, it's more likely the latter. Not just Gotham University, the entire city of Gotham exudes a sense of being eager for chaos.
Walking to the window, undoing his suit button as he sat down, Shiller casually picked up the newspaper beside him. And there it was again, that big green bald head on the front page headline.
"What's it about?" Victor asked, picking up the cigar box.
"Seems like some of his supporters are starting to take to the streets." Shiller glanced briefly, turning to the next page, and indeed saw scenes of protests and demonstrations.
"Isn't it on Diamond Street?"
"Where else could it be?" Shiller snorted, saying, "Because of the stock market crash, some penniless paupers are just waiting for an extraterrestrial visitor to balance their debts."
"I told you this wouldn't work." Victor said, "There are indeed many poor people in this world who are forced into it, but there's also a large group of self-inflicted financial speculators. Why should others' wealth be evenly distributed to wipe their asses?"
"These are the people making the loudest noise." Shiller glanced at the newspaper again and said, "They're marching to get the Justice League to show up and negotiate with Brainiac on their behalf, hoping that after Brainiac arrives, he'll help them pay off their debts and maybe even give them a big sum of money to continue throwing into the stock market to watch it sink."
Victor shook his head and sighed.
At this moment, Shiller suddenly thought of something. He said, "Where are Barry's parents?"
"Their house is at the junction of the East District and the South District, not far from your place. What's up?"
"We need to head over." Shiller stood up and said, "I'm afraid someone will find their home."
Victor frowned too, stood up with Shiller, and said while heading out, "It shouldn't be that serious, right? Although The Flash doesn't wear a uniform, he always wears a mask. It's not that easy to recognize him, and he has never publicly disclosed his real identity."
"If it were just ordinary people trying to find him, it really wouldn't be that easy. Even for the government and law enforcement agencies, there's no guaranteed way to deal with Gothamites. But those hyenas on Diamond Street are capable of anything."
Shiller walked faster and faster, quickly getting into the car and driving towards the junction of the East District and the South District.
Gotham's Diamond Street is defined and regarded much like Wall Street in New York. Basically, whenever the words "finance" are mentioned, Diamond Street comes to people's minds first.
The skyscrapers of Diamond Street have built countless dreams of speculators, but they have also become their burial grounds. Since the Great Depression, it's no longer news for failures to commit suicide. During the time when stocks were falling most sharply, hundreds jumping in a day was normal.
In the DC world, if anyone is more crazy and terrifying than super villains, it's probably gamblers who have lost their minds.
Before Brainiac came, if they lost a bet, their only outcome was to become aerial acrobats. Even if they didn't jump themselves, their creditors would help them jump.
But now, Brainiac has arrived, and he's claiming to distribute global wealth evenly, allowing everyone to lead a prosperous life.
For ordinary poor people, poverty is bearable, because they were born poor and have always lived tightly, so living like this for a few more days is nothing. They are not in such a hurry.
But for these speculators who have once lived in glory, poverty is unbearable. Because they have seen the views from the pinnacle, enjoyed a luxurious life, staying a second longer in the pit of poverty drives them mad. They are the most desperate.
These people are capable of anything to get Brainiac to fulfill his promise.
Since Brainiac has specifically requested the Justice League to negotiate, they would dig up every inch of land to find the members of the Justice League.
The congressmen in Congress still have different factions and positions, and there's still debate about whether to resist Brainiac. Most politicians want to protect their reputations and don't want their political opponents to catch them slipping up, so even if they use some dirty tricks, they will be relatively restrained.
But the speculators on Diamond Street won't. As long as it gets them back to the top, they're willing to do anything.
If they can't find members of the Justice League, they'll go after their families; if they can't find their families, they'll threaten friends and classmates. Riots, defamation, kidnapping, even murder, there's nothing these gamblers won't do.
They're not even afraid of death, so what else would they fear?
Among the Justice League, there aren't many who have both parents. There are even fewer who have both parents living in Gotham, and who are just ordinary citizens. Barry's parents are one of them.
Although The Flash is an anonymous hero, Barry rarely wears a uniform, mostly just regular clothes with a mask or disguise. Anyway, he has his iconic golden lightning, so as soon as he appears, people can tell who he is, making the outfit irrelevant.
With this level of disguise, the average person wouldn't notice. However, those who can get into Diamond Street usually have some connections. Back in their heyday, these people had quite a few channels at their disposal, and although they can't use many now, opening a few boxes isn't difficult.
Once Barry's identity is uncovered, investigating his social relations and kinship becomes even simpler. The best way to threaten him to show up is to stage a kidnapping incident that's exposed to the public.
As long as he hears from the media that his parents have been kidnapped, he'll naturally show up. They can even use his parents to threaten him to negotiate for some people's interests.
While driving, Shiller called Gordon and got Barry's specific home address but did not ask the Gotham Police Department to send a car over.
If the other party has made a move, the police might not be able to do anything; if they haven't, Shiller and Victor can certainly handle it.
The car stopped in front of a two-story building. This was part of the last batch of constructions in the East District, belonging to the villa area.
Although it's called a villa area, it's merely differentiated from the contiguous high-rise city; it's actually just an ordinary two-story building, mostly inhabited by the middle class of the East District.
As Shiller got out of the car, he noticed the gate of the yard was open. Victor directly pulled out the Freeze Gun. The two rushed to the door at top speed.
The door pushed open without resistance, clearly not locked. The living room was empty, with vases and bookshelves scattered across the floor, indicating someone had been here.
Victor rushed upstairs in a few quick strides, stood at the top of the stairs, and shook his head at Shiller, signaling no one was up there.
"Garage." Shiller mouthed.
He and Victor approached the garage, one entering through the main door, the other from the side.
As soon as the side door opened, Victor raised the Freeze Gun and saw the Allen couple tied up in the car.
Shiller hurried over, opened the car door, and ripped off the tape from Barry's father's mouth.
"Thank heaven!" He stumbled out of the car. Shiller untied the ropes on his hands, and he quickly went back to embrace his wife.
"Hurry and call the police, call the police now!" Mr. Allen was visibly shaken and said with a trembling voice, "They went to get something, they'll be back soon. Call the police quickly!"
"Clink!" A sound came from the front door. The Allen couple showed terror in their eyes.
But Shiller didn't take out his phone. He walked to the other side of the car, began to loosen his tie, and gave Victor a look.
Victor understood, moving to the garage door, standing behind it with his gun ready. The Allen couple huddled behind the car.
The door was pushed open.
"Bang! Bang! Bang!"
Three shots, two hits, two men fell to the ground. The last one cursed, turned to run, but was choked by Shiller coming from the other side of the car.
Shiller didn't hold back, the crisp sound of a spine snapping made one's scalp tingle.
The Allen couple tried to come out from behind the car. Shiller turned to them and said, "Don't move, get back in the car."
They reluctantly opened the back door and got inside, watching in horror as Shiller and Victor dragged the three men into the living room of their own home.
"What now?" Victor asked.
Shiller didn't reply. He simply turned and went to the kitchen to grab a sharp fruit knife, aligned the corpse he was dragging in the same direction as himself, one hand choking the neck, the other with the knife, stabbing forcefully into the chest and abdomen multiple times.
Blood splattered across the entire living room.
Shiller tossed aside the corpse and said to Victor, "Unfreeze this one."
He was looking at one of the ice sculptures Victor had frozen. Although trapped in ice, the person remained conscious, showing an extreme look of terror upon seeing Shiller's actions.
Shiller didn't waste words, picked up a table lamp from the side, and as the ice began to thaw, smashed it onto the back of the person's head with a "bang."
The person tried to get up after being hit but slipped due to the blood on the floor. Shiller continued with full force, smashing out brain matter with the second hit.
The third person had their throat slit by Shiller and was used as a sprinkler, spraying blood all over the house. Most of the living room floor, ceiling, and furniture were coated with a thick layer of blood.
The two stood outside the spray range, leaving no footprints, sneaking out through the backyard, returning to the garage, and sat in the driver's and passenger's seats, respectively.
"Let's go, I'll take you to a safe place," Shiller said.
While driving, Shiller took out his phone, dialed a number, and said, "Hello? Ron? Could you come over, my address is..."