"What are you doing?" Natasha asked.
"Getting some air on the rooftop of the Wayne building." Schiller's tone remained neutral. Natasha indeed heard some wind in the background, indicating he was at a height.
"Even if you can't find clues, there's no need to be so down. Should I report it for you?"
"That won't be necessary. Any progress on your end?"
"A complete mess," Natasha said honestly, "The Eden Killer, the murderer manipulated by Eden Killer, and the copycat. Frankly, I prefer to call this city 'The City of Murder'."
"You're overestimating Gotham a bit. It's not just murder here. Alright, I really don't have time to chat. Goodbye."
The communication was cut off. Natasha frowned because before the communication ended, she vaguely heard a very subtle "click," like adjusting some equipment connections, which sounded familiar.
Natasha pondered for a long time, then suddenly sat up straight. "A sniper rifle?!"
On the rooftop of the Wayne building, Schiller removed the goggles he had been adjusting for a while, tilted his head to get closer to the sniper scope, searching for a target.
Under the magnified view of the sniper scope, people came and went at the entrance of the Wayne building, most in suits, occasionally passing by particularly flamboyant ones: the man in a suit under the streetlamp, the urban beauty by the flower bed, the customer under the coffee shop's awning... Lex Luthor, who just stepped out of a Jaguar.
Schiller held his breath slightly. At the moment of locking onto the target and pulling the trigger, his entire body jolted. The bullet from the large-caliber sniper rifle tore through the calm air, heading straight for Lex Luthor's head.
Just as it was about to hit Luther's head, the already empty car suddenly emitted a piercing alarm. Luther was startled and took a step back. With a "bang," the side glass shattered completely, shards grazing Luther's face and arm, causing him to let out a scream and fall.
"Brother!" Selina Luthor, who got off the car with him, shouted. The bodyguards quickly surrounded them, and Luther, realizing what had happened, endured the pain and stood up, looking toward where the bullet came from, but there was no one there anymore.
The bodyguards hurriedly got Luther onto the ambulance, and Selina Luthor left with him. No one paid attention to the poor Jaguar with shattered glass - except for Schiller.
He dressed in a suit identical to those on the street, carrying an ordinary briefcase, casually walked up to the car, as if he were its owner, opened the driver's door, sat inside, quickly hot-wired the ignition, then drove the car directly to the FBI base garage.
Schiller took out his phone, put it to his ear, and said, "Have someone check the car in parking spot B02 and find out what triggered the car alarm half an hour ago."
A pair of FBI agents rushed out of the elevator at maximum speed, arriving at the car to start inspecting it. Technicians took out toolboxes and various interfaces and data cables. Soon, a young man with a wrench and wearing goggles walked over and said, "It's indeed unusual, boss. The sudden alarm should be due to a short circuit in the wiring, now preliminarily suspected to be caused by a large current passing through the wiring at some moment."
Schiller stood still, holding a cigarette but not lighting it. He said, "Can you pinpoint the exact cause?"
Another female technician walked over, saying, "This method is often used for assassinations, but hackers usually short-circuit the cigarette lighter, causing nearby items to ignite, which sets the vehicle on fire. Using it for an alarm is a first..."
"Are there any signs of external hacking?"
"No, boss. Luther Group's vehicle safety engineers have made very tight protections against such assassination methods. The firewall of the electronic control system shows no signs of intrusion; it can't be external hacking."
"Could there be a physical breach?"
"Impossible. The vehicle's control system is completely enclosed with no interface available for electronic intrusion."
"Record all evidence thoroughly and send it to me." Schiller put away the cigarette and turned towards the elevator.
"We meet again, Mr. Luther." Schiller walked into the hospital room. With a wave of his hand, his subordinates cleared out all non-essential personnel, including Selina Luthor.
"You need to see this." Schiller handed a file to Luther. Luther instinctively opened it, still puzzled until he saw the words "Vehicle Analysis Report." But when reading the part about the "alarm," he was shocked and opened his eyes wide.
He closed the file and stared at Schiller with the same expression, saying, "Was that shot fired by you?!!"
"I never said that," Schiller said, "But you know that alarm saved you. This wasn't a coincidence. Your car was tampered with. Who controlled your car to sound the alarm at the exact moment?"
"You're insane!" Luther shouted at him, "If I hadn't been startled by the alarm, my head would've been blown off!"
"Yes, but that's not important; what's important is the alarm." Schiller with both hands in his pants pockets said, "There's something in your car that not only can see your condition but react to save you with superhuman reflexes. Let's temporarily name this thing 'Electronic Superman'..."
"Don't name it that!" Luther yelled.
"Alright." Schiller shrugged and said, "Whatever. Anyway, our technicians can only confirm there is such an object, but exactly what it is, we can't figure out. You'd better contact your vehicle safety engineers and the top-notch technicians at Luther Group to find out what that thing is."
"You fired a shot at me in the street, nearly blowing my head off, and then you want me to find out who controlled the car horn that saved my life?! You're not planning to ask me for his information too, are you?!"
"Let's not beat around the bush, Mr. Luthor. My threat to you was temporary; if it weren't for the investigation, there would be no need for me to shoot you. Killing you does me no good. But the thing hidden in your car is different. If I hadn't forced it out today, it would never have surfaced until one day, it throws you and your car into the Atlantic."
Luthor's face was as dark as a pot, but at least he wasn't yelling anymore. After a while, he said in a low voice, "How do you know this thing exists? If he hadn't saved me, I'd be dead today, right?"
"The Federation appreciates your great sacrifice, Mr. Luthor. I'm short on time; you can ask one more question."
"I've already asked you! How do you know this thing exists?!"
"Through a photo. The one you and your sister released. You better ask about the process of taking that photo and how Natasha left that day."
Just as Schiller finished speaking, Selina Luthor rushed in. She seemed to want to say something but stopped when she saw Schiller's entirely indifferent gray eyes.
"Wish you a speedy recovery, Mr. Luthor." Schiller left the hospital room.
After getting into the car, Schiller said, "To Gotham Police Department."
The car stopped at the entrance of Gotham Police Department. After entering, he was taken to the chief's office. James Gordon looked utterly fatigued, and after seeing Schiller, a glint of light flashed in his eyes, but when Schiller shook his head at him, that light extinguished.
"Sorry, Mr. Gordon. We still haven't found Miss Gordon. If there's any news, we'll notify you first. But last time, some questions about Miss Gordon were missed; could we go over them again?"
"I've already told you everything I know. But if it helps bring back my daughter, I'll be entirely candid."
"Okay, thank you so much. Actually, it's mainly about your daughter's hacking skills. You know, her kidnapper most likely has an eye on her skills. We want to investigate this aspect."
"Barbara is indeed a hacker genius." Gordon sat down and reminisced, "She started off self-taught, you know, playing hack games on the computer, downloading some hacker codes, then learning to write her own. Later, she met Batman, who taught her a lot, and she also communicated with peers online..."
"Oh, just a quick interruption. Regarding this part, did she tell you which peers she interacted with? Or do you know her friends online?"
Gordon shook his head, "I don't know. I really don't understand much about this. They didn't seem to use regular social apps to connect; probably on the dark web or something."
"Do you have a computer or something she used before?"
Gordon frowned and thought, "I do have an old laptop at home. It was provided by the precinct when I was promoted. Barbara loved playing games on it as a kid. I'm not sure if it's helpful..."
"Bring it here," Schiller said. "I'll have the tech team check for clues."
Gordon nodded, then took Schiller home, pulled out a dust-covered laptop from a box under the bed, and said, "This is a very old model. I used it until it was completely unusable; I'm not sure if it can still boot."
"The tech team will manage," Schiller said, smiling at him.
20 minutes later, Schiller walked into an interrogation room holding the laptop. Facing the red-haired woman inside, he said, "You should recognize this, right, Miss Barbara Gordon?"
The red-haired woman raised her head, revealing Barbara Gordon's face. Surprised, she looked at the item in Schiller's hand and angrily shouted, "Where did you get this?! What did you do to my dad?! You damn bastard!!!"
"He's the police chief; what could I do to him? I asked this from him, and coincidentally found some illegal websites you accessed inside. These browsing records could get you two years in prison. Do you think your dad would want to see this?"
"You're a vile scoundrel! Damn agent!!!"
"Alright, Miss Gordon. I rescued you from the kidnappers. You don't appreciate me, fine, but I only ask you to truthfully explain your kidnapping process, and you're still unwilling to cooperate, so I can only take special measures."
"You shouldn't have saved me!" Barbara shouted at Schiller, "I told you long ago, I don't know who kidnapped me; I was unconscious the entire time and woke up at your medical center. Investigating the surroundings and finding the culprit is your agents' job! Why ask me?!"
"Because we strongly suspect you orchestrated it yourself," Schiller said. "Or you collaborated with Selina Luthor in a play. If you have nothing to tell us, we'll just submit the evidence to the court."
"Wait!" Barbara called out. She took a deep breath, clenched her fists hard, and said, "I might... I might have a lead..."
"Speak."
"I really don't know who kidnapped me or what they're planning, but... before I was kidnapped, I received an email. To trace the email's origin, I engaged in some 'cyber activities'..."
Schiller sat back down, leaned forward, squinting at Barbara, "You found something, didn't you?"
"I did." Barbara said, pursing her lips, "I suspect it's because I caught their slip-up that they rushed to kidnap me."