Victor lifted the freeze from the room, and only then did Brainiac see Shiller frozen in the ice sculpture, with a helpless look on his face.
"I'm impressed with you," Brainiac said, "It seems my plan to re-establish natural reserves across the regions has potential to materialize..."
"No chance," Victor replied, "I didn't rely on dense ice to trap him."
With a loud "bang," the ice layer shattered. Shiller supported himself against one side wall, smiled, and said, "Looks like the other matters have been settled. Can we finally talk about the case now, Mr. Fries?"
"What case?"
"You wouldn't think I really risked myself without any preparation to go find Hugo, right?"
"I thought this time, you just wanted to deal with him conveniently."
"Originally, that was indeed the plan." Shiller exhaled deeply, walked over, and sat down. Victor poured him a cup of hot tea and sat opposite him.
"In these years detained at Arkham Asylum, Hugo has never been honest. He's constantly made little moves using his spirit manipulation abilities, persecuting and offending many people. I found some of his former victims."
"Are they capable of dealing with Hugo?"
"Under normal circumstances, no. But Hugo is clearly abnormal now — after our encounter, he's been blinded by anger. Just a small slip, and he will be devoured by those madmen."
"Very clever plan. So, what's the problem?"
"The problem is, he can't die just yet." Shiller took a sip of tea and said, "When I said he has some level of skill, I didn't mean he uncovered Bruce's past, but he brainwashed that little girl."
"As far as I know, these revived corpses aren't entirely powerless. Some of them can actively harness the Power of Death inside them, bursting forth with extraordinary strength."
"You mean..."
"The revived corpses are supposed to be under the control of the Behind-the-scenes Manipulator. If this is the case, that little girl should be as well. But evidently, both of them have gone rogue."
Shiller sighed and said, "Reviving Hugo was the Behind-the-scenes Manipulator's most foolish decision. You cannot induce a psychologist to make the choices you want by altering memories or deleting certain emotions. People like Hugo typically have a very sound self-check mechanism for their spirit. When he regained consciousness, he would immediately realize something was wrong and correct it. So, it's very likely that shortly after his revival, he freed himself from the Behind-the-scenes Manipulator's control."
"Why wouldn't the Behind-the-scenes Manipulator just turn him back into a corpse?"
"Because the Behind-the-scenes Manipulator's skill isn't as high as his. He can conceal his spiritual anomalies, not even letting the Behind-the-scenes Manipulator perceive that he's already corrected the errors in his spiritual system."
"Since he lost control, he also caused the little girl to lose control. But why couldn't it be that the two of them cooperated to set up a trap for you together?"
"Although that's also a possibility, the biggest problem is: if the little girl doesn't truly believe this is the case, then I might find a flaw in her lies. It's too risky."
Shiller placed his elbows on his knees, holding the teacup with both hands and said, "Hugo has always wanted to defeat me in a fair duel within the Spirit Domain, it's already become an obsession. Last time he lost, but this time there seems to be a fair chance, he'll definitely exert all his effort, leaving no openings."
"He doesn't understand the little girl, nor does he have any interest in understanding. He won't believe she can tell a lie that completely deceives me or Brainiac. He will only believe he can do it, so he did it. He must have found a way to deceive the Behind-the-scenes Manipulator and altered her memories."
"I completely understand," Victor said, "He knows Bruce feels guilty for what happened to the little girl, and you might want to make up for that regret. But if she carries false memories, that can never be achieved. You have to find a way to solve this issue."
"This is what he wants as a 'fair duel,'" Shiller said, "To see which of us can manipulate her."
"My God," Victor exclaimed, "So you accepted the challenge, hence you don't want Hugo to die at the hands of those madmen? You want to beat him head-on, then…"
Shiller shook his head, "I suspect that if he dies, his spiritual control over the little girl can never be undone."
"The key point lies with him, not the little girl?"
"Exactly. Because he wishes to defeat me head-on, he hopes for a duel between him and me, not involving others. The little girl is merely a catalyst."
"It's quite troublesome now," Victor was a bit frustrated, "The people you found want revenge, they might have already reached Hugo. But you wish to save Hugo, which means standing on opposite sides of them."
"No." Shiller shook his head again, "I've already warned them; it's not that simple, there's no way to defeat him directly from the physical aspect. If they face setbacks, they'll still come to me."
"So you think they can't kill Hugo?"
"Whether Hugo or them wins depends on whom I help. If I do nothing, even if Hugo escapes death, he'll take a significant loss. If I help him a bit, he should be able to escape smoothly."
"Do you want to help him?" Victor frowned.
"He thinks I'll help him." Shiller took another sip of tea and said, "And I actually will help him. It should be almost time now."
"God! That Brainiac Government clerk is everywhere," Victor exclaimed, "Looks like I'll have to risk plagiarism and include him in my work."
"Is he going to rescue Hugo?" Victor asked curiously, "Then what are we doing?"
Victor was puzzled that since someone else would be solving the issue, what was the point of their discussion here.
"We're obviously going to see the spectacle," Shiller said, "I have a feeling we'll witness a grand spectacle. In this regard, you've got to trust my intuition."
After saying this, he stood up and threw on his coat. Victor hadn't quite caught on. He initially thought this was a very serious topic, that they would need some intellectual dueling and maneuvering, at least a few rounds of reasoning back and forth to glimpse part of the evil scheme of the behind-the-scenes manipulator. Instead, Shiller introduced the background just to watch the spectacle.
"Come on, Mr. Fries. We've got to choose a good vantage point, maybe you'll even have to make a move." Shiller walked over and patted the still dazed Victor's shoulder. Victor had no choice but to stand up and grab his coat.
"What kind of spectacle is it exactly?" Victor asked in the car.
"You'll know soon enough. This is a great opportunity for you to exercise your imagination and writing skills. Whether the case can have a romantic and tragic ending depends on your writing prowess."
The car slowly entered the North District, the snow had diminished a little. But as most of the houses here were uninhabited, the atmosphere was more bleak, only a few houses in the distance had their lights on. The car zigzagged into a long street. The estate at the very end appeared quaint and old, the roof covered with a thick layer of snow, the gray-green climbing plants long unattended, sprawling across one side wall.
At this moment, a room on the second floor of this house glowed with light, though standing downstairs, the view was unclear. After getting out of the car, Shiller looked around and then said, "Let's go over there."
He pointed to another house at the side of the estate. The roof of the house was slightly higher than the estate's second floor. There was a platform there, and if you stood on it, you should be able to see what's happening in that room.
Going around to the front of the house, Shiller unlocked the door directly. It was also an abandoned villa, the doors inside unlocked. They quickly reached the second floor and then climbed up the terrace stairs to the rooftop.
"Alright, Mr. Fries, use your dense ice to create a room here, otherwise it'll be too cold."
Victor was a bit speechless, but still used dense ice to create a relatively enclosed space with an ice wall. Shiller took out a heater brought from the office and placed a teapot on it.
The small space quickly warmed up. Shiller somehow retrieved a telescope from somewhere. Victor took it, looking it over; it wasn't a very professional telescope and didn't see too far, but fortunately, they weren't too far away, so he placed the telescope to his eyes.
"It really is him." Victor said, looking at the figure standing in the middle of the room, "It really is Hugo Strange."
Though it had been speculated before, no one had really seen him until now. Seeing someone long thought dead standing right before them, Victor truly felt the magical reality of death and revival—something truly wondrous.
Hugo stood beside the sofa, seemingly waiting for someone. Before long, another black car circled to the other side of the estate, and a man in a long trench coat and hat walked into the estate gate.
He looked very similar to Shiller, or rather, he was identical to Shiller. Moreover, he wore the same long trench coat and black suit as Shiller, holding an umbrella in his hand.
"Is he mimicking you?" Victor asked with the telescope.
"Seems like it." Shiller also used the telescope.
"Why would he do that? What difference does it make whether you go or he goes?"
"There's no difference, but if he goes, I get to watch the spectacle," Shiller said, "and I can drag you along to watch too."
The figure walked into the estate and soon reached the second floor. Since people kept their backs to the window, the words weren't visible, so it's unclear what was said. But it seemed like some old stories, possibly about their first encounter.
Right at that moment, with a crash, the window in that room broke, and a flying knife came in. Hugo dodged it clumsily, shouting something at Shiller, but his lip movements were not visible either. Shiller stood still. Suddenly, several people burst into the room.
"Are those the victims?" Victor asked, "Hugo's in trouble."
"Not necessarily," Shiller replied, "that guy has plenty of tricks up his sleeve."
Just after he spoke, Hugo fled clumsily to the corner of the room but suddenly threw a nearby machine at the female assassin. The female assassin blocked it with her arm, but upon contact with the machine, she became momentarily dazed.
Taking this chance, Hugo lunged forward, directly choking the female assassin's neck. The others hesitated to take action, and both sides started shouting at each other.
Unsure what they were discussing, eventually, the tall man holding a shotgun backed out of the room. The figure that looked like a child was also somewhat unwilling. After they all retreated, Hugo directly knocked out the female assassin and threw her out the window.
"My God, if he hadn't controlled that assassin, we might have witnessed a murder with the highest number of participants," Victor smacked his lips, "Such a shame."
"The main event is yet to come," Shiller said, holding the telescope.