Days as a Spiritual Mentor in American Comics

Chapter 5920: Chapter 4941: There’s No Batman Here (28)

Jonathan Crane is currently serving time in Blackgate Prison, but it’s not because he polluted Gotham’s water source with corrosives and wrecked Brainiac’s server room; it’s because he hasn’t finished serving his sentence from last time. Adding this incident means he’s probably going to be there forever.

However, it’s not pure imprisonment. Blackgate Prison has a dedicated chemistry lab, tailor-made just for him. It’s more like a closed-door experiment retreat than imprisonment.

Considering he is still a professor in the Chemistry Department at Gotham University, the prison stay seems quite enviable. Because he’s incarcerated, he can blatantly disregard his students. No grading assignments, no reviewing theses, no supervising experiments—it’s almost like bliss.

As for his students, let’s just say chemistry itself deals with life and death, wealth, and fate. Studying chemistry in Gotham is especially so. Graduation isn’t about academic achievement; surviving is considered a victory.

Of course, with Brainiac’s selection, there are now fewer untalented individuals forcing their way in. So even without much guidance from Jonathan, their grades aren’t too bad. If all else fails, they can come to prison for a bit of tutoring.

When Shiller arrived at Blackgate Prison, the guard symbolically stopped him. Given that this is a maximum-security prison, visits are usually restricted primarily to prevent dangers to visitors. But if Shiller is visiting, there’s no need to stop him. Even if there’s a massive brawl inside, it won’t be him who ends up dead.

The specifications of Jonathan’s chemistry lab are high, occupying the entire second level underground. Shiller took the elevator down and walked into the lab. In an instant, Jonathan almost jumped up and hit the ceiling.

"Why are you here!" he shouted, "You must have told Brainiac the location where I hid the fear gas, didn’t you?"

"It wasn’t me." Shiller casually picked up a piece of paper nearby and started writing something. Jonathan squinted at him, looking skeptical. After writing, Shiller handed the paper to Jonathan.

"Which class is this content for?" Shiller asked.

Jonathan took it and looked, revealing a puzzled expression. He opened his mouth as if wanting to say something but seemed uncertain. Shiller had to say, "Where’s your lesson plan? Show it to me."

"The lesson plans are at Gotham University," Jonathan said, "Besides, my lesson plans usually only have outlines. What do you need those for?"

"Do you remember the content of the class?"

Jonathan looked at the paper again, touching his chin in thought, and said, "It should be from ’Analysis and Preparation of 12 Common Industrial Dyeing Chemical Reagents,’ but I don’t remember which class covered it."

He then continued, "This is the foundational part of chemical applications, not to teach students how to mix these things, but to make them understand the basic processes of industrial preparation. There should have been two more lab classes after this one, for making product samples..."

"Could you go over it?" Shiller asked.

"What?" Jonathan stared at him, "Even though I’m still a professor at Gotham University, it’s not like you need to chase me to prison for a teaching inspection, right?"

"It’s not a teaching inspection," Shiller said, "It’s mainly to teach me."

"Cough, cough, cough..." Jonathan almost choked himself. He coughed intensely, took a few steps back while clutching the lab table, as if he had inhaled fear gas. "Teach you?! Are you insane???"

Shiller looked at him without speaking. Jonathan stared back and said, "Why would a theoretical psychologist who has written papers all his life want to learn chemistry? Especially applied chemistry???"

"It’s a long story." Shiller briefly explained the situation to Jonathan in the simplest terms, but Jonathan clearly didn’t understand. He hadn’t left here in a long time and didn’t know what was going on outside.

But looking at Shiller’s persistent gaze, Jonathan smacked his lips and said, "Actually, it’s not impossible. This part is very simple; it’s about undergraduate teaching content from the Chemistry Department. I’ll write down the process and chemical formulas for you; you just need to memorize them..."

"The key is the experiments," Shiller said, "If it were just theory, you wouldn’t need to write it down. I could check the lesson plans and memorize them myself."

"You need experiments?!!!" Jonathan nearly jumped again, "No way, I can’t teach experiments. You’d better find someone else."

"I haven’t even confronted you about using corrosives to damage the Brainiac server room near my house..." Shiller began to threaten.

Jonathan’s eyes darted around apprehensively, saying, "That was just a coincidence, that room just happened to be close to your house..."

"Alright then." Jonathan paused, one hand on his hip and the other leaning on the lab table. "I never thought I’d see the day you’d ask me for help. Turns out, I’m the greatest psychologist in Gotham. Hahaha!"

Jonathan was, of course, thrilled. His rivalry with Shiller wasn’t something new, and he rarely came out on top. Corroding the machine room with chemicals was one of his few near-successful attempts. No matter why Shiller wanted to learn to experiment from him, at least this time he had the upper hand.

But Jonathan Crane had celebrated too soon.

He was right about one thing: Shiller was a theoretical psychologist his entire life. Unlike Greed, Arrogance was all theory. He didn’t even have a medical practice license, just a counseling certificate, and no prescribing rights. Most of the time, he was either writing papers or books.

Even the most experienced in applied psychology had never set foot in a lab. Psychology is entirely different from those science or engineering subjects that require lab work. When people hear about chemistry or physics experiments, they think it’s normal. But when they hear about psychology experiments, they often associate it with some sinister human experiments.

And indeed, that is the case. Experiments in psychology often involve people, and the biggest challenge in such cases is the ethics involved. To get through the ethical part, experiments involving people must be as brief and straightforward as possible. Apart from certain illegal human experimentation organizations, one cannot detain individuals indefinitely for observation. It’s all about collecting the most data in the shortest time, which is entirely different from other science experiments.

This was exactly why Shiller had no sense of lab safety. It’s a critical point. For any subject requiring lab work, safety rules are emphasized repeatedly right from the start. By the time one actually enters a lab, some rules are ingrained in their bones.

Even non-professionals with some degree of education would integrate certain lab safety rules into common sense. For example, waving chemicals to catch a whiff or sterilizing before entering a medical lab.

Had Shiller any sense of safety, Mad Liquor would never have been conceived. When Jonathan Crane learned of its existence, he was shocked. No amount of thinking led him to understand how Shiller dared mix those things, let alone used them. It made him, the Super Villain Scarecrow, seem cautious.

Greed often frequented Stark’s lab, also nicknamed "The Destroyer of Lab Safety Rules." However, Stark’s lab was a mechanical engineering lab. Moreover, its production and assembly labs were separate. The assembly lab where Stark and Greed often met was not dangerous, not even holding power sources. So even if Shiller ignored safety rules, the consequences wouldn’t be severe.

But everyone knows that a chemist’s academic reputation is determined not by talent, but by lifespan. Renowned mathematicians and physicists can be gathered for a group photo, but not chemists. Those with solo portraits are usually world-famous masters. Too many reached their professional peak at life’s end, so they left no photo behind.

Jonathan knew many novices make mistakes, and he was ready to mock Shiller. But when he saw Shiller even wearing gloves incorrectly, he realized things were more serious than he imagined.

Lab gloves aren’t just about levels; they have an inside and an outside. Switching them for left and right is absolutely wrong. Watching Shiller grab them, ready to put them on without looking, Jonathan quickly stopped him, "Wait, you’ve got them reversed."

Shiller glanced at the wall, thinking Jonathan meant he took the wrong hands. He reached for the orange ones nearby, but Jonathan quickly said, "No, these can’t be paired, you need the blue ones!"

Jonathan helped him remove the gloves and sorted them left and right. Once Shiller had them on, Jonathan went to get the arm bands, necessary for sealing the gloves. But by the time Jonathan returned, Shiller was already examining chemicals on the shelves.

"Shiller!!!" Jonathan roared, "Don’t touch those!!"

Shiller glanced at him, then put the test tube back on the rack. Jonathan stormed over furiously, "You haven’t even put the gloves on right, back to the prep room!!"

Shiller glanced at his hands, weren’t the gloves on correctly? Jonathan read the meaning in his eyes, sighed, and resolutely sent Shiller back to the prep room.

If he were still working on fear gas, it wouldn’t be so dangerous, but recently he was working with corrosives. The entire lab was filled with hazardous materials. Many could kill everyone with a tiny whiff. If the gloves weren’t secured, both of them could die.

"I really want to know," Jonathan grumbled as he strapped Shiller’s gloves, "How could you wear a protective suit if you can’t wear gloves correctly?"

"You don’t want to know," Shiller said, "There’s nothing to know."

With the gloves secured, Shiller tried heading out again. Jonathan quickly blocked him, "Gas mask, respirator, goggles! God, do you want to die here and have Brainiac sentence me for hundreds of years?!"

"He hasn’t sentenced you for hundreds of years yet?" Shiller raised an eyebrow in surprise.

"Ah, wait," Jonathan seemed to remember something, "Can you turn into a gray mist? You better transform quickly, I don’t see you leaving the lab alive in human form."

"He’s not here," Shiller said, "That’s enough, I suppose."

"You think that’s enough?!" Jonathan was exasperated, "God would think you’ve lived enough. Come quickly, for a seal test..."