Days as a Spiritual Mentor in American Comics

In the bottom right corner of the map, Shiller drew the insignia of the Order Sect and wrote down its name. Now, he marked the bottom left corner with the name "East India Company."

These two organizations both originated from England, but their influences are like night and day. Compared to the East India Company, the Order Sect is practically invisible; hardly anyone has heard of it.

Yet, Shiller understood that things might not be as simple as they appeared.

This had to start with the storyline from the original comic. Skipping over a large section of the investigative plotline, the end result was that Priest Bakar from the Order Sect overcame the corrupted Edmund Wayne and killed him, restoring tranquility to Gotham.

"The corrupted Edmund Wayne" is an interesting phrase. Based on some hints in the original comic, it seems that there might indeed be some kind of curse in Gotham; whoever takes over the city becomes corrupted and cruel.

But supposing there actually were no magical influences at play and no real curse existed, what then is the so-called corruption of Edmund?

Shiller speculated that it might refer to Edmund's collaboration with the East India Company.

The practices of this company could hardly be described as mere heresy. The most notorious cults in the world are elementary compared to it. Even NAZI's highest records of carnage cannot match a fraction of its deeds; even Hydra would have to call it master.

If collaborating with such a company isn't considered corruption, then nothing is.

If it was Bakar who discovered Edmund's collaboration with the East India Company, deemed him corrupt, and killed him, another perplexing question arises: how did Bakar win?

In that era, the East India Company might not have been at its peak, but it certainly dominated half the world. Coming from the Order Sect, Bakar fought against Edmund, who had the support of the East India Company, and yet Bakar was the victor; this in itself was highly abnormal.

Moreover, there was another issue; why did the East India Company not seek collaboration with Gotham's original ruler, General Arkham, and instead insist on partnering with Edmund Wayne? What was the reason?

Logically speaking, such a large company wouldn't care who their agent was, as long as they could get the job done. General Arkham was indeed steeped in luxury and decadence, but in their eyes, this wasn't a flaw but a merit.

The core of colonialism is the exploitation and oppression of the indigenous people, so the more extravagantly one lives, doesn't it just show they know how to exploit? Why ignore someone ready at hand and support another?

Shiller felt that these two questions might actually have the same answer. Edmund Wayne's victory over General Arkham, and Bakar's victory over Edmund Wayne, might have been due to the same reason.

And the root of the problem lay back in the original Gotham Village. What exactly was buried there?

Although Shiller was pondering, he didn't stop his operations. His first target to deal with now was the Audine Company, which appeared to be a puppet of the Order Sect.

This company recently moved to the original site of the city hall, but they had an office in Gotham before, albeit in a more remote location. Shiller drove for about an hour to reach their original office building.

Then he discovered that there was a church not far from the company. Driving there, he found it to be San Marino Church, which was precisely where Brad worked.

What a coincidence. The company's original location was close to where Brad worked, and their current address was close to Brad's home. It was hard for anyone to believe the company had no connection to Brad.

The old office building of the company had been emptied. Shiller took a look around but didn't find anything. As night fell, luckily with many communities nearby, Shiller casually selected a restaurant and sat down.

Judging from the prices on the menu and the quality of the food, this area seemed to be a poorer district. Passersby didn't seem to have high living standards. If the reason for the Audine Company placing its headquarters here was real estate prices, it would be understandable.

After dinner, Shiller sat in the restaurant listening to the activity around. As he surveyed the eatery, he noticed a paper pinned next to the menu on the notice board, looking like an advertisement poster.

He took a closer look and discovered to his surprise that it was a flyer posted by the Audine Company, recruiting volunteers for medical experiments.

In America, it's not uncommon for the impoverished to volunteer for human experiments. Many homeless earn money by participating in drug trials, and pharmaceutical companies often come to such areas to recruit volunteers.

But the Audine Company doesn't produce pharmaceuticals; they manufacture medical equipment. It made sense for them to need volunteers, but were they asking for too many?

Medical equipment does not update and replace that quickly, and developing a new device could take a decade. After development, there wouldn't be immediate work on similar machines. So, the number of volunteers needed for one machine surely wouldn't be up to 2,000, would it?

But the flyer clearly stated they were recruiting 2,000 volunteers, offering wages far above the average for drug trials.

This completely negated the possibility that Audine Company had established its headquarters here because of low property prices. Audine Company must not be short of money.

Shiller glanced at the date on the poster; the recruitment ended two days prior. But then Shiller noticed that there seemed to be another poster underneath this one.

Shiller pried at the edge of the poster and saw that there were several layers of posters beneath this one. Probably the restaurant owner was too lazy to remove the old posters when putting up new ones.

Judging by the thickness of the layers, dozens of posters must have been posted here. Recruitment periods last three months, so they must have been recruiting people here for at least a few years.

After dinner, Shiller went to the old office building. He carefully searched with the Gray Mist but didn't discover any evil laboratory. This proved that the other party wasn't using recruitment as a cover for some vile human experiments.

That means there must be something seriously wrong with the machinery they developed.

Because normal medical equipment would not require so many volunteers, let alone continuous recruitment over several years. It is a considerable expense and without generating profit, they wouldn't bother doing it.

After some thought, Shiller visited a nearby community hospital. The hospital was closed at that time, but a locked door couldn't stop Shiller. He quickly made his way to the doctor's office and began rummaging through everything.

Here were all the recent medical records. Shiller was taken aback by the sheer number of medical records – the daily patient volume was nearly equivalent to an ordinary hospital's weekly volume.

Shiller flipped through these records, examining them one by one, and then he discovered a shocking fact – the probability of symptoms suggestive of cancer was as high as 40%.

This wasn't a specialized hospital, nor did it have sophisticated cancer detection facilities. It was improbable that cancer patients specifically came here for tests.

Then how could the incidence rate be so high?

Shiller couldn't help but think of the abundant number of test subjects. Plentiful vacancies, high salaries, seemingly harmless trial procedures - it's likely that everyone from the nearby communities had been there over the years, right?

Was Audine Company mass-producing cancer patients?

But if the incidence of cancer in a community were so high, someone would surely notice something wrong. Didn't they ever wonder why?

But Shiller soon realized something. The medical records he held only detailed the doctors' examinations, not the diagnoses given. It was only because of his professional knowledge that he could spot so many symptoms suggestive of cancer.

Without such knowledge, the average person would simply take the doctor's word. What if the doctors didn't tell them?

People might feel unwell yet unable to diagnose the issue; surely, they would switch hospitals until they got an answer.

But America wasn't like that. Poor people living in such chaotic communities didn't have good insurance; struggling just to maintain basic living was hard enough, let alone spending considerable time and money repeatedly checking for a disease, which could starve them.

Furthermore, community hospitals would prescribe them vast amounts of painkillers. Feeling unwell, just pop a few pills. Most cancers are incurable; conservative treatments ultimately rely on painkillers for management. This makes it even less likely for them to realise the issue.

It's a perfect cycle. Community hospitals conceal the truth and provide painkillers, while stringent insurance policies limit patients from pursuing the truth, leaving them uncomfortable without explanation.

To receive better diagnostics, one would need insurance covering medical equipment tests. If more people want to buy it, medical equipment companies can raise prices with insurance, making money easily.

Looking at the medical records in his hand, Shiller really wanted to say to them, "Act like human beings." But then again, since the other side wasn't behaving like humans, wasn't it the perfect time to fight back with a heavy hand?

Shiller calculated the dates and figured Audine Company must be recruiting volunteers again. However, since they had moved, the recruitment area was likely to change as well, probably near the original location of the city hall.

Shiller drove back to Bourbon Street, found the drug peddler from before, gave him a bunch of capsules and a sum of money, and then told him, "Take these capsules to those junkies, tell them somebody is offering to let them try a new drug for free."

Seeing the peddler's skeptical look, Shiller shook his head and said, "Don't worry, if it was poison, would I show up in front of you so easily? If you're still concerned, just find a few who are nearly dead to try it, the effects will definitely exceed your expectations."

After leaving his phone number, the peddler quickly left. Not long after, Shiller received a call. The peddler spoke with an excited tone, "It's incredible, sir, where did you get this good stuff? Those guys have been snorting coke for years; normal stuff just couldn't get them excited anymore. The effect of your drug is too amazing. Do you have more? Can I stock up?"

Shiller smiled and replied, "Of course, only thing is, this is a new drug, the effects are still not very stable. You can sell it for cheap to start spreading it around..."

After hanging up, Shiller looked at the capsules in his hand and a cold smile appeared on his face. How could the effects not be good? The Gray Mist could directly stimulate their brain, no chemical drug can compare to a direct physical stimulation.

The next day, before Audine Company could finish moving, posters for recruiting test subjects were plastered. The office building entrance was swarmed; the dazed addicts, willing to sell their souls for more money to get their fix, would of course sell their bodies as well.