Chapter 1149

In the spring of 1992, the ice and snow had just melted, and the wounds of the previous disaster were healing. The streets and alleys of Cat Getan finally recovered some vitality, and the most bustling and prosperous commercial street began to have pedestrians and cars coming and going constantly.

And people who walked onto the streets again were surprised to find that at the end of the alley of the most bustling and prosperous commercial street, a new shop had opened. And what made them feel even more shocked was that this was a bookstore.

Opening a bookstore in Cat Getan? This was like a joke that wasn't very funny, revealing absurdity everywhere.

But unexpectedly, this bookstore just happened to open in such a prime location, and even though the door was deserted, no promotional measures were seen.

Shops that reopened often held many welcoming activities. At the entrance of a bakery on the left side of the bookstore, a chubby lady held a tray and gave passersby bread to taste. A hair salon on the right side hired several children to distribute flyers.

But the entrance of this bookstore was cold and clear, with nothing at all, which couldn't help but make people guess, what kind of business genius dared to have such confidence, hoping that a bookstore could afford such high rent in the city center?

But very quickly, people in the streets and alleys who were curiously sizing up this bookstore discovered that it wasn't that the bookstore had no guests, it was just that the guests appeared very mysterious.

They were often wearing dark trench coats, scarves wrapped around half their faces, and lowered hat brims. They neither took cars nor rode bikes, but walked out from some alley and walked toward the bookstore.

However, from some details, it could still be judged that the guests coming and going were rich or noble, because their clothes were taken care of very neatly, some holding umbrellas, some holding walking sticks.

Guests rarely traveled alone, always followed by a burly, expressionless person behind them. When the person in front walked in, the person following would guard the entrance.

Quite a few old hands who were familiar with the streets and alleys were warning their children not to have any ideas about that bookstore. They could all see where the bookstore's guests came from.

"I really didn't expect you to come so early." Schiller stepped forward, hugged Evans enthusiastically, and then hugged Evans's wife gently. Evans had been married for a few months, and it looked like the two had a good relationship and were also a good match.

Evans revealed a brilliant smile and said: "Professor, the shop you opened, of course I have to come to show support at the first moment. Isha and I got up very early. We should be the first, right?"

"Of course, the only ones earlier than you are the newsboys who deliver breakfast to me." Schiller pointed to the bread on his table that hadn't been finished yet. The current Mrs. Godfather, the blonde girl called Isha by Evans, smiled and said: "Sorry, Professor, I disturbed your breakfast. I told Evans not to be so anxious, but he wouldn't listen."

"It doesn't matter." Schiller shook his head and looked at her gently, saying: "I heard you are from Metropolis? You two met while rehearsing a play?"

Isha nodded somewhat shyly and said: "Yes, I'm a small-town girl. My family runs a dairy farm. I got into the Metropolis Academy of the Arts and just graduated this year."

Evans also began to speak excitedly: "The Cat Getan University cheerleading troupe wanted to perform a traditional drama repertoire during the school anniversary, so they invited teachers and students from the Metropolis Academy of the Arts to lead their rehearsals. Isha and I met at that time."

"That's really a special fate." Schiller commented: "There aren't many girls brave enough to come to Cat Getan."

Isha revealed a smile and said: "Actually, it's alright. My classmates are all very curious about this city. The rap culture here is simply amazing, and it's also the place with the strongest street culture on the East Coast. If it weren't for the high prices, they would definitely all want to come here for tourism."

Schiller raised his eyebrows in surprise and asked: "Aren't they worried about it being unsafe?"

"Don't you know? An intern reporter from the Metropolis Daily published a Cat Getan travel guide, specially pointing out a relatively safe travel route. Someone has already tested it. As long as you follow his guide, not only is it very safe, but you can also experience the characteristics of this city."

Evans seemed as if he couldn't hold it back anymore, let out a "chuckle," then coughed twice, looked at Schiller and said: "Professor, can you imagine? These characteristic tourist attractions actually include staying up late at night without sleeping, standing in front of the hotel window, specially waiting for Batman to appear!"

Schiller was stunned for a moment, then laughed together with Evans. He covered his mouth while laughing and said: "You mean, Batman has also become one of Cat Getan's characteristic tourist attractions?"

"Of course! He is very attractive!" Isha raised her tone and said: "In any city in the world, you couldn't possibly see a male with such a perfect figure, wearing equipment worth hundreds of millions of dollars, standing on top of a building worth over a billion, looking into the distance!"

"My little sisters from the art academy before have been asking me which room in the hotel to book to see him. They are almost fascinated by his chin!"

"But I heard that before, his reputation was a bit bad..." Schiller asked with some doubt. Isha paused and said: "Reputation bad? Where was his reputation bad? And, reputation being bad has nothing to do with tourists, right? Those people want to see him just because he's handsome."

Schiller nodded and said: "That's true."

Isha raised her head and sized up the interior of the bookstore, saying: "I feel that your bookstore should also be very popular with them. College students all like to pretend to be profound European literature, especially hardcover editions. Even if they buy them back and don't read them, they can take them to collect."

Schiller's eyes lit up. He looked at Isha and said: "I'm just worried that my bookstore will have no business. After all, you also know that Gothamites don't like reading much, and very few people will like buying hardcover editions, let alone those collector-level big volumes. If I could expand some business channels, I would be very happy to chat with that group of students..."

Evans gave Isha a look. But Isha revealed a difficult expression. She looked at Schiller and said: "Evans said you took care of him a lot, and I'm also very happy to promote for you. But, I'm just a student at an art academy, and my family has no background. My words carry no weight, and no one listens to what I say..."

Isha thought for a moment, let Evans tear off a sticky note from the entrance, then picked up the pen on Schiller's table, wrote a string of phone numbers, handed it to Schiller, and said:

"This is an editor at the Metropolis Daily I know. You can call him and ask who the intern reporter who wrote the travel guide was at the beginning. As long as you can get him to add your bookstore to the travel guide, then people who come here for tourism will definitely be very happy to come and take a look."

Schiller took the note, looked at it carefully, and then pressed it into the book next to him. After the Evans couple left, Schiller walked to the phone at the entrance, dialed according to the phone number on the note.

At the same time, in Wayne Manor, Bruce sat on the sofa with a face full of exhaustion, and the Crazy Wine placed on the table in front of him now only had half a bottle left.

Clearly, the journey to Dick's inner heart didn't go smoothly. Bruce did find Dick in Dick's dream world, but that Dick ran away when he saw him, and ran extremely fast. Bruce couldn't catch him at all.

More importantly, that Dick clearly showed abnormalities. His face and figure didn't change much, but his ears had turned into pig ears. Bruce saw that on the tip of one of the pig ears, there was also a capital letter V carved.

This indicated that Dick was indeed influenced, and the one who took action was exactly this mysterious V.

If it were in someone else's world, Bruce would have already taken military action. But in Dick's inner heart, Bruce couldn't do that, because once harm was caused, it might be irreversible mental trauma.

In these few days, Bruce tried many times repeatedly, but couldn't catch him without harming Dick, to lift the influence brought to him by this mysterious V.

Just when Bruce was at his wit's end, Alfred walked in and reported to him: "Sir, Mr. Kent is here. Do you want to see him?"

"Kent? Clark Kent?" Bruce reacted. He hesitated for a moment, but still said to Alfred: "Please let him in."

The Clark who walked in was still the same, wearing a white shirt, carrying a single-shoulder briefcase, wearing black-framed glasses, shook hands with Bruce enthusiastically, and then said: "I heard you've already started graduate school? What a remarkable decision. I originally also wanted to study for a master's, but because I wanted to earn money earlier, I still chose to work..."

Bruce chatted with him absent-mindedly for a few sentences. Clark keenly sensed that Bruce's state wasn't right. He glanced at the wine with only half a bottle left on the table and slowly frowned.

"Bruce, I really have to advise you. No matter what trouble you encounter, drowning your sorrows in alcohol is the most negative method! Being drunk will only make your genius brain unable to exert its original function. You have to pull yourself together!"

"Are you stupid? Didn't you notice that that's not ordinary wine?" Another slightly low voice sounded. A small black head poked out from the gap in Clark's briefcase. The Bat-Cat's blue eyes looked at Clark and said: "Very clearly, this guy encountered some trouble he couldn't solve."

Clark pulled open the zipper of the briefcase and hugged the Bat-Cat out. When Bruce saw the Bat-Cat again, he instinctively said his first impression: "... Why are you as fat as a ball?"

The Bat-Cat bared two small sharp teeth at him. Clark hugged the Bat-Cat, looked down and said: "Is he fat? No, right? For a cat, isn't this just right?"

The Bat-Cat looked down at the meat on its belly. It wasn't very fat, but it had changed from a wild cat with smooth muscle lines and a lean, capable body into a cute and naive pet cat.

Clark scratched the Bat-Cat's chin, making the Bat-Cat squint its eyes. Following that, he said: "After I graduated, I brought him back to my family's farm. My dad and mom both like him especially, so maybe they fed him a bit too much... But it doesn't matter, as long as he exercises more, he will soon lose weight."

Looking at the Bat-Cat, Bruce's eyes slowly brightened up. But he didn't say it directly, instead looking at Clark and asking: "Did you come to find me for something?"

Clark didn't expect him to change the topic so quickly, but following that, he revealed a somewhat awkward expression, changed his sitting posture, rubbed his hands, looked at Bruce and asked:

"Recently, have you not been out on patrol?"