Chapter 1803: Summer in Fool Village (XVII)

When Merkel placed the wine glass and the plate of cheese on the coffee table, Talia's arm shook obviously, and then she looked away unnaturally, concealing her embarrassment without leaving any trace.

In fact, Talia didn't know what she was doing now. She had gone through so many storms and waves. She could think calmly in the face of life-and-death crises, and she could seize a ray of hope in a dead end, and even turn defeat into victory. So why did she look so startled when facing a man alone?

Talia looked around at the surrounding environment. This was a room with a dark brown tone. The smooth herringbone floor reflected the refracted light of the gorgeous chandelier crystal. The huge floor-to-ceiling windows were divided into small and medium-sized squares by cherry wood window frames, and thick curtains were neatly hung beside the window.

The wine cabinet on the wall opposite the window contained a variety of famous wines and some peculiar sculptures. On the desk was a thin bone china vase with a camellia in it.

There are of course many traces of life left by the owner of the manor, such as the almost undetectable footprints on the carpet, which show that Schiller once paced back and forth in front of the desk. One footprint is particularly heavy, and it seems that Schiller has been standing there for a long time.

There are also hidden fingerprints on the metal picture frame hanging on the door, which looks like the picture frame is crooked, and Schiller reached out to help. The black ash on the edge of the fireplace is still fresh. The flame was lit last night and was extinguished this morning.

Talia is very good at observing these details. She can always find enough clues to outline a person's life trajectory in various details, and can piece together a person's personality and habits through the scattered life trajectories.

But what confuses Talia is that all the life trajectories presented in the room piece together a completely chaotic picture. Some of them contradict each other, and some can be pieced together for a short time, but soon there is evidence that they should be separated.

This makes Talia more and more confused. How can someone live such a fragmented life all the time? Or is this just a trap left by Schiller on purpose?

Why go to so much trouble to set up a maze to confuse her judgment? What's the point?

The first sentence Schiller said to her made Talia hear the sound of her own broken mind.

"I called your father and told him the truth about your behavior in Gotham."

"...What?!"

Schiller seemed to have not heard the shock and confusion in Talia's tone at all. He just poured wine into two red wine glasses and said, "Your father, Lei Xiaogu, the leader of the Assassin's League, once left his contact information to a mercenary I knew. I contacted him by phone. Just before you came, I called him to talk."

Talia took almost a minute to digest this fact, but soon more questions came to her mind. She stared at Schiller and asked, "Why did you call him?"

"Why can't I call him?"

Talia's eyes flashed with a trace of Confused, she took the wine glass stiffly and said, "But there is no contact between you two, how did you think of calling him?"

"Your father is a public figure." Schiller said naturally after taking a sip of red wine, "At least in a certain circle, his identity is public, and his promise to recruit a certain type of people is valid for a long time, so what's wrong with me calling him for consultation because of interest?"

"You are interested in his recruitment? But you are not..."

Talia immediately realized her slip of the tongue. Before she left, Lei Xiaogu reminded her that Schiller was in the light and they were in the dark, and Schiller must not be aware that the Assassin's League had set its sights on him, otherwise all plans against the professor might be in vain.

Talia almost revealed the Assassin's League's understanding of Schiller, which would inevitably arouse Schiller's suspicion. Talia's fear was even greater because she was not sure whether Schiller was deliberately trying to trick her.

If Talia had some knowledge of the theory of psychology, she should know that she was not such an imprudent person. Years of killer training made her more tight-lipped than anyone else, and the situation just now was called "forced error" in psychology theory.

"I talked to him about you."

Schiller pulled Talia out of the river of thinking with just one sentence, and his action was quite rough. He did not carefully bait or wait patiently. It was as if he took a huge scoop net to catch all the fish in the river, and she was just one of them.

The information revealed in Schiller's words forced Talia to focus back on reality. She asked, "What did you tell him?"

"About what you did in Gotham." Schiller repeated the facts he had already said, but gave some additional information: "But your father's attitude makes me feel a little strange."

Talia had to start weighing again. Schiller brought the topic to Lei Xiaogu. Was he trying to get her to reveal more information? She didn't know to what extent she should answer in order to get more information from Schiller without exposing herself.

Just as Talia was constantly considering the wording of her answer, Schiller interrupted her thinking again and said, "I'm surprised that your father doesn't seem to understand what you are doing."

Talia's heart was instantly tightened.

Although she did come here on Lei Xiaogu's orders this time, she has never been obedient, and Lei Xiaogu is also very clear about this. If Schiller and Lei Xiaogu reveal that she has her own plans during the call, what will Lei Xiaogu think now and what will he do?

What a misstep, Talia gritted her teeth and thought in her heart, why would Schiller call his father directly? No matter how you look at it, this call makes no sense, right?

But another doubt arose in Talia's heart. When she was in the basement of Gotham Cathedral before, Talia was sure that she had appeased Schiller. Talia was very confident in her judgment. She took the next step only after she was sure that Schiller accepted her conditions and would not come to her for trouble for a while.

Otherwise, Talia would not have rashly accepted Bruce's invitation to go to the Wayne Hotel for a date. She certainly knew that it would be difficult to deal with enemies from both sides, so she must have thought that she had dealt with one first before dealing with the other.

If Schiller did not accept her conditions at all, it would actually be a better choice not to let her go at that time. Pamela's magical ability to control plants, the home advantage of the priest of Gotham Cathedral, and Schiller's unpredictable fighting style, Talia would not have any chance of winning.

If Schiller still intended to deal with Talia, then he should have made a decisive decision and captured Talia directly in the basement of Gotham Cathedral.

This is also one of the reasons why Talia judged that Schiller still did not know the Assassin's League's plan. If Schiller had known that the Assassin's League wanted to deal with him, he should have caught Talia when he blocked her and negotiated with the Assassin's League.

But he did not do so, which proved two points. Schiller did not intend to deal with Talia, and did not know that the Assassin's League had already targeted him.

But regardless of whether Schiller intended to deal with Talia or not, and whether he knew that the Assassin's League had already targeted him, it made no sense to call Lei Xiaogu.

If Schiller had no hostility towards the Assassin's League, he should have just let it go. Calling was unnecessary. If he wanted to deal with the Assassin's League, wouldn't it be a warning to call the boss instead of arresting the important figures of the other party?

Talia was puzzled. The only answer she could think of was that Schiller did not call, but was just scaring her, so she asked: "What did my father say?"

But at this moment, Schiller shook his head and said: "I talked to him about you unilaterally, but he didn't respond at all. Regarding the part about your deeds that I said, he only replied with a slightly puzzled 'hmm?', and then began to discuss with me the philosophy and way of doing things of the Assassin's League."

Talia's fingers holding her arm tightened for a moment. This description was too much like her father. Lei Xiaogu only valued his ideals the most. Apart from that, no one and nothing was the top priority.

Talia had already accepted this fact and had no feelings about it, but at this moment, she felt humiliated by Schiller's doubts, because she could see that Schiller's doubts were sincere.

It was as if Schiller tacitly agreed that a father should care for his daughter and treat his blood descendants as the apple of his eye, and Lei Xiaogu's complete indifference to Talia greatly exceeded his expectations.

Talia was not humiliated by Lei Xiaogu's lack of concern for her, but was ashamed that it was not her but her father who had exceeded Schiller's expectations so far.

She broke into the laboratory of Gotham University and affected the normal teaching of the school, but was let off lightly with just a verbal promise. She jumped off the roof inexplicably and appeared in the garden of this man, but the other party let her into the house as if he didn't care about her intentions, and even invited her to drink.

The only way for the other party to deal with these things was to call his father and only respond to some of her father's attitudes.

How could this be so much like a young child getting into trouble in kindergarten, and the teacher understood that he was ignorant so he didn't scold him, but only chose to communicate with the parents?

Talia was so angry that she trembled.

But at this moment, Schiller showed a trace of doubt again, and Talia clearly felt that this trace of doubt was directed at her, as if he had chosen the most normal approach, and Talia's anger was completely unfounded.

This angered Talia even more, and even made her temporarily forget the intuition that continued to alarm her heart. She put the red wine glass heavily on the table, making a "pop" sound, and the wine in the glass splashed on the table, and even a few drops splashed on the cheese on the plate.

Merkel, who had already left, poked his head in from the door and asked with concern: "What's wrong, sir? Did something fall on the ground? Do you need me to come in and deal with it?"

But at this time, Schiller stood up, took out a neatly folded handkerchief from the pocket of his suit, leaned forward slightly, and handed the handkerchief to Talia.

Talia shuddered, followed Schiller's line of sight to look at her hand, and found that the red wine that had just spilled had got on the back of her hand.

The inexplicable anger drove Talia to go crazy regardless of everything, because she knew that all this was obviously Schiller's fault. She was angry because of his ignoring her. Why was he pretending to be a gentleman now?

Furious, Talia opened Schiller's hand with her other hand, and the handkerchief fell on the edge of the table. After a pause, Schiller bent down very calmly to pick up his handkerchief, then stood up straight, folded the handkerchief neatly again and said:

"If my words just now are offensive, please forgive me, Miss, you came too suddenly, and I didn't think of the corresponding topic for this meeting, please forgive me."