The days of being a spiritual mentor in Meiman.

Chapter 3503 Research on Cats and Dogs (Fifty-one)

That evening, Schiller drove to Gotham Airport. This place was renovated three years ago. Although the overall layout has not changed, it doesn't look so shabby anymore.

He came to the airport reception channel, where he saw a little boy led by two flight attendants: he had short black hair, slightly reddish skin, freckles around his nose, and sunburn marks of varying depths on his neck. He was wearing a red sweater with a fake shirt collar, and was much sturdier than other children of his age.

"Hello, is this Billy Batson?"

Schiller took out his driver's license and handed it to the flight attendant. After repeated verification, the flight attendant handed Billy to Schiller.

During the whole process, the little boy kept his head up and stared at Schiller, but did not speak. He looked a little timid, but could not help but look around.

After the flight attendant left, Schiller touched his head, held his shoulders and asked him to come closer, then squatted down in front of him and said, "Are you Batson? From Wisconsin?"

Billy nodded, opened his mouth and quickly closed it.

"what happened?"

"Nothing. Are you the professor Dick and the others were talking about?"

"Yes, Schiller Rodriguez, nice to meet you." Schiller extended a hand to him.

Billy looked at the hand, licked his lips, then reached out and gave it a gentle shake.

"What's wrong?" Schiller asked. "Dick told me that you were a very lively child. Why do I feel like you are a little scared?"

"It's my first time on a plane." Billy pinched his trouser line with both hands, looked away, and then said, "It's also my first time in a big city."

Schiller sighed and said, "The flight attendant told me that you were a bit rowdy. Did you ever think about just flying out during the flight?"

Billy looked at Schiller innocently. Schiller could tell from his clear eyes that he had definitely thought about it and might even have put it into practice.

“You can’t open the windows on an airplane,” Billy said. “I tried, but I couldn’t.”

"Do you know what happens when you open the window of an airplane?"

"Hmm... maybe I can stick my head out. Maybe some wind will blow in."

Schiller did not refute him. He lowered his head, took Billy's hand, gently touched his knuckles, then looked up at him and said, "How old are you, Billy?"

“I’m almost 8.”

Schiller opened his eyes slightly, and then looked him up and down again. Billy didn't look like a child of seven or eight years old. His bones were much stronger than those of children of this age. No one would disbelieve that he had graduated from elementary school.

"Do you work a lot at home?"

Billy shook his head and said, "My foster family runs a store in the town, and I occasionally help move goods. But my mother doesn't let me do that, probably because she's afraid that I might damage the goods."

Schiller thought of the worst possibility: the magic power given to him by old Shazam, although it could allow him to become an adult for a short period of time and then change back, the process of maintaining an adult body shape had an irreversible impact on his growth and development, causing his bone age to far exceed his age.

But this must be scientifically examined before a conclusion can be drawn, and there is no point in telling Billy. Although an 8-year-old child has a certain understanding ability, once old Shazam is involved, the problem becomes very complicated. Even if he knows, he may not understand the trick.

"Okay, Billy. Dick should have told you that you'll be joining a new foster family in Gotham. They haven't found one yet. Do you have any suggestions yourself?"

Schiller stood up and walked out with Billy. Billy scratched his head and said, "I don't know. I will live with whoever the social worker tells me to live with. Are you a social worker?"

"I'm not. But I know a social worker, and I'll talk to them and pick a suitable one for you."

"Okay. But I have to tell you, even though my biological parents died in a car accident, there was no compensation. Even if they adopted me, they wouldn't get any money."

Schiller slowed down his pace, turned his head to look at Billy and said, "Did your previous foster family take this issue seriously?"

"I can't really explain it." Billy thought for a moment and said, "Even though they said it doesn't matter, I don't think it does."

“How many children were there in your previous foster home?”

"Six."

“How many of them are their biological children?”

"Two, the two youngest."

From just a few words, Schiller roughly understood what was going on.

In the United States, there is such a group, that is, professional foster families. As the name suggests, they make money by being foster families.

The death rate from car accidents in the United States is not low every year, and many tragic accidents have created many orphans. Many orphans are very young and have received a large amount of accident compensation from their parents. There will be people who specifically adopt these orphans and raise them until they reach adulthood.

On the day they become adults, they will ask the orphans to leave home, but they must leave a portion of compensation. Most of the orphans will agree. This is how they make money.

In fact, this is a business. Since it is a business, it is natural to reduce costs as much as possible. Many foster families directly find a boarding school and put their children there.

Although this is a hassle-free way, it still costs tuition fees, and some remote areas do not have boarding schools. Most of them are raised at home, provided with food, and help with housework, and then pay the money to leave when they reach adulthood.

Billy was obviously one of them. He wasn't starved, but he was probably just fed. Not to mention education, he wasn't even taught common sense. The Young Avengers paid for the plane tickets.

Moreover, it was probably because they knew that Billy had no compensation and their attitude towards him became worse and worse, that Dick and the others tried to find a way to bring him to Gotham.

After all, no matter what, the superhero Shazam he played really saved people. Although he also messed up a lot of things, you can't expect an 8-year-old small town boy to do better.

To liven up the atmosphere, Schiller talked about a topic that Billy was interested in, which was the Internet. At that time, Shazam was very popular on the Internet, not only had a personal homepage, but also a large number of fans.

But when talking about this, Billy seemed particularly frustrated. He shook his head and said: "A woman came to see me before, and after finding out that I was a child, she didn't say anything more. My website was also blocked."

"A woman? A black one? Amanda Waller?"

Billy nodded and said, "Yes, he seemed to have said her name was Waller. He wanted me to join some bureau..."

"Federation shield?"

Billy nodded again.

Schiller sighed softly. Amanda's nose was still as sharp as ever, but unfortunately she lacked luck. Fortunately, she still had a bit of humanity and did not force child labor.

It’s not that Schiller had a good impression of Amanda, but he felt that Amanda was feeling sympathy for her and blocked Shazam’s website because she was afraid that someone would find out that Shazam was actually a child.

Although Billy can transform into Shazam, his ability is not omnipotent. Last time when Mount Olympus was in trouble, his ability could not be used. Once he is targeted by someone with ulterior motives, he will probably be doomed.

Schiller took Billy into the car. Billy excitedly touched and looked around, peeping out of the car window and screaming as he looked.

Schiller thought that if it were his old self, he would have felt annoyed a long time ago. But now that he had a lot of experience taking care of children, he just told Billy not to stick his head out and then concentrated on driving.

Billy looked at it for a while, then started asking a million questions, and Schiller answered him as briefly as possible.

Billy probably fell asleep soon after the flight, probably because he was tired. He was still asleep when the car pulled into the garage.

Schiller had no choice but to open the back door and shake him. Billy followed him sleepily. As soon as he entered the house, Billy exclaimed: "Wow——"

"I've never seen a house like this!" Billy shook his head like a rattle. Schiller had no choice but to throw the slippers in front of him. He kept looking left and right while changing his shoes.

As he walked around the entrance, he let out another scream, then rushed to the kitchen and let out another scream, then pushed open the door to the backyard and let out another scream.

All I can say is that it’s a good thing that the houses in the villa area are relatively far apart, otherwise his neighbors would probably think that another murder had occurred here.

"Am I going to live here from now on?!" Billy jumped and shouted excitedly, "Really? Such a nice house?!"

Schiller had to put his hands on his shoulders to calm him down, and he said, "No, this is my home. And I can't adopt you."

"Why not?" Billy immediately looked a little frustrated.

Schiller could see that all his emotions were not fake, but came from the heart. Billy Batson was just a very simple small town boy at this time, perhaps even simpler than Clark was when he was a child. Considering his wandering childhood, this was quite rare.

"Because it's against the law," Schiller said, "I don't meet the requirements to adopt any child. Thank you for liking my house, but you may not live here in the future."

To Schiller's surprise, Billy just sighed and seemed calm as he accepted the fact.

He turned and walked to the kitchen, pointed at the refrigerator and said, "Can I open this and take a look? I've never seen such a wide refrigerator..."

Schiller went over and opened it for him, then he looked down at Billy and said, "Don't you feel bad?"

"A little bit. But it's not the first time." Billy shook his head and said, "I've visited many foster families before. Their houses are not as good as yours, but they are also pretty good."

"They were very nice to me at first and asked me a lot of questions. But obviously I didn't satisfy them, so they just told us to go back and wait for news, and then there was no news."

Schiller opened his mouth, not knowing whether to say lucky or unlucky. There is another group of people in the United States who mainly engage in human and organ trafficking.

"I'm not dissatisfied with you, and I can honestly tell you that if I think of a way, I should be able to adopt you, or even if I don't maintain a legal adoption relationship, at least I can raise you."

Billy turned around and stared at Schiller with some confusion.

"But I still can't adopt you." Schiller squatted down and looked at him, "My mental state is not stable enough. Although I look fine now, I might turn into a terrifying murderer one day. It won't be good for your growth at all."

Billy thought he was joking and smiled, revealing his jagged teeth.

"It's okay if you don't believe it. One day you will understand it." Schiller shook his head.

He meant what he said. He couldn't enter into a relationship, start a family, and raise children like most ordinary people, mainly because his mental state was a little too advanced compared to humans.

Many times, it seems that there is no big problem, but it is because there is no long-term contact and not close enough. Even for Jason, Schiller only gave him a few words of advice occasionally, rather than living together for a long time.

Of course, there are also examples of long-term contact, see Bruce for details. Although the bond between Batman and the Joker played a certain role, Schiller's own mental state also contributed. In this case, there is no need to cause trouble to an ordinary person.

Schiller patted Billy on the head and said, "Although I can't adopt you, I will try my best to find a good foster family for you."

He muttered: "She needs to have a higher education, understand education, own a house, a car, and a stable source of income, and preferably not have other children..."

Schiller suddenly had an idea. He picked up his phone, dialed a number, and said, "Hello? Victor, I have a birthday present for you..."

Guanyin