Days as a Spiritual Mentor in American Comics-Chapter 4431 - 3519: Research on Cats and Dogs (30)

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The poisoned individuals cannot be entirely cleared of suspicion, but those who weren't poisoned obviously raise greater doubts.

After leaving Jonathan's interrogation room, Batman sought out a police officer to inquire about the details. Following Gordon's instructions, the officer shared the currently available information with Batman.

There were four staff members who had not been poisoned. Two of them were university professors, Shiller and Victor. The other two were an externally-hired athletic coach for Gotham University, who was responsible for training the Cheerleading Squad, and the university's electrician.

According to the police, the coach ate as usual and possibly even more than other professors due to his participation in physical training, but he showed no symptoms whatsoever from beginning to end.

The electrician, on the other hand, arrived late because of an emergency circuit repair. By then, the main courses had already been cleared away, so he only ate some desserts and drank a bit of wine.

It was not hard to observe that three of them avoided the poisoning simply because they ate little. Only one indulged heartily and still remained unaffected. Batman had no choice but to pay him extra attention.

However, after conducting some investigation, Batman discovered that the coach, despite eating a lot, maintained a long-term fitness habit. He was currently in a fat-reduction phase and adhered to a clean diet, so he ate very selectively.

According to him, he only consumed egg whites, chicken breast, and vegetables without any salad dressing, avoiding all other meats, desserts, and alcohol.

Shiller and Victor's testimonies also mentioned that they ate vegetables and drank wine. Other professors confirmed that they too ate fresh vegetables. This suggested that the vegetables themselves were not the problem.

But when the food sample tests came back, trace amounts of toxin were found in the salad. The symptoms matched—vomiting, diarrhea, dizziness.

Batman immediately realized that the culprit must have laced the poison into the salad dressing.

However, the banquet was not self-served; guests had full discretion over which dressing to use. There were four or five types of dressings available at the scene. It would have been impossible to poison most of the attendees unless all the dressings were tainted.

When Batman arrived at Gordon's office, they were in the middle of discussing this issue. Upon seeing Batman enter, Gordon turned and said, "We've sent all the dressing bottles from the banquet for testing. It won't take long to identify which one contains the toxin."

Batman scanned the room: Victor and Shiller were seated on the sofa by the window, Xi Wana was sitting in a single-person armchair, and Gordon stood by the wall.

"Where are the other survivors?" Batman asked.

"They're helping out at the hospital. The central hospital is in utter chaos; there are too many patients to care for. Even the school has sent all available personnel to assist," said Principal Xi Wana.

Batman was about to say something when a police officer burst in hurriedly with a test report. "The results are in."

"Only one of the five dressing bottles contained poison."

"Which one?"

"The vinaigrette."

"Oh, my god," Victor suddenly exclaimed. Batman immediately turned to him.

"The staff cafeteria usually only serves vinaigrette as the sole salad dressing. It's what we're all used to eating," Victor said.

Batman instantly realized this validated his prior theory. The culprit had to be part of Gotham University's staff.

Only a staff member would know that the cafeteria typically served vinaigrette exclusively and that most people were accustomed to eating it. By taking advantage of this habit and poisoning only the vinaigrette, it was possible to incapacitate the majority of the attendees.

"You don't normally eat salad dressing?" Batman asked.

"I don't have a habit of eating vegetables," Victor replied. "I almost never eat salad, and I didn't have any at the banquet either."

"Professor Rodriguez, I recall you mentioned you ate vegetables. Did you not use any dressing?"

Shiller shook his head. "I never use salad dressing. Others who regularly dine at the cafeteria can vouch for this."

"Are there others at school who avoid using salad dressing, like you?"

"I'm not sure, but at least I haven't noticed anyone else," Shiller replied.

Now everyone seemed to have a plausible reason for not being poisoned, Batman thought. Victor avoided vegetables, Shiller didn't use salad dressing, the coach's fitness regimen exempted him from using dressing, and the electrician wasn't present for the main course.

Starting from here would yield no actionable leads. Batman pulled Gordon aside and said, "I need the records of these individuals."

"Do you suspect one of them is the culprit?"

"I can't rule out the possibility. Could you provide me with their files?"

Gordon nodded. Not long after, he returned with the printed documents and said, "Please keep this discreet. These professors are invaluable to Gotham University, and it doesn't take much to disrupt everything again."

Batman nodded, took the documents, and began reviewing them.

As he read, Batman essentially ruled Victor out as a suspect. Of the three, Victor was the only one with a background in advanced chemistry.

Although Victor was a physicist, low-temperature physics incorporates chemical knowledge; in fact, it's a fusion of physics and chemistry. Victor's proficiency in chemistry was undoubtedly high.

Moreover, due to his profession, he would have had easier access to toxic materials and the precision required for crafting an exact dose using lab equipment. Someone like him wouldn't have made such a mess with the poison's application.