Chapter 767

Around five or six in the afternoon, when dusk settled, Gotham's weather was at its best, and sometimes the setting sun could be seen glinting over the sea.

The afterglow of the sun pierced through layers of rain clouds, casting light into this dark city, so calling it a "night city" was inaccurate—it was more like a dusk city.

At sunset, the hour of demons, sunlight always draped everything it touched in a mysterious, dreamlike veil; white paper bathed in the glow turned golden, and even the black text upon it shimmered.

Though the appearance of the text had become beautiful, it did nothing to ease the headache of its content; Shi Le held a stack of papers, frowning deeply.

Victor, passing behind him with a pile of documents, paused, turned his head toward the papers, and saw Bruce Wayne's name listed as the author; curiously, he leaned in closer.

"Is this Bruce's thesis? It's not bad—the introduction is fairly well-structured, but… isn't this symbol wrong? And the citation here seems improperly formatted…"

Shi Le shook his head. "It's not just these issues. You've only seen his introduction—he put the most effort into the introduction alone. Look here: on the surface, this section seems fine, but it contradicts his original proposal entirely. Clearly, he got carried away and went off track."

"And here—the logic is a mess. This spot shouldn't cite Jung's theory; it conflicts with an earlier conclusion. And here… this thesis is clearly a last-minute rush job."

Victor patted Shi Le on the shoulder. "Don't be too harsh. He didn't study much in the past three years—just getting this written is already impressive. These are minor issues. As long as the overall research direction is sound, he can still graduate."

Shi Le snorted. "If his undergraduate thesis is this bad, what about his graduate thesis?"

"He's going to grad school?" Victor asked, surprised. "He hates attending classes. And does he even have time to focus on research?"

"He doesn't want to research, but he has to. There are barely any graduate students at Gotham University—all of them are transfers, and their academic standards are poor. I've worked here for years and still haven't mentored a single graduate. That would be a stain on my record."

Shi Le sighed, staring at the stack of papers. Victor thought for a moment. "I doubt anyone reviewing your CV would care whether you've ever mentored a graduate."

Shi Le rubbed his temples, set the papers down, and picked up the phone. "Hello? This is Rodriguez. Yes, I'm looking for Wayne. What? He's not there? At this hour, if he's not in the library, where else could he be?"

Shi Le glanced at his watch—it was nearly seven p. . He knew Wayne Manor's dinner time was usually between five and six, and Bruce was disciplined enough to never change his schedule.

So now, he should have finished dinner and returned to the library to study. If he wasn't there, then he wasn't studying.

Shi Le looked again at the papers in his hands and frowned once more.

If the thesis had various flaws, that might be normal—for an undergraduate. But when the paper is incomplete, its basic formatting is wrong, and yet he vanishes after dinner instead of catching up? That's a matter of attitude.

Shi Le stood, put on his coat, grabbed his umbrella, went to the library first—Bruce truly wasn't there—then checked the dorm and cafeteria. He found no trace of Bruce anywhere on campus. Bruce was not at school at all.

Recalling Bruce's earlier claim that Alfred was ill, Shi Le guessed: he might have returned to Wayne Manor to visit his butler. After all, he'd been cooped up at school for days—he was probably worried about Alfred's condition. Understandable.

Shi Le decided to visit Alfred himself, so he drove to Wayne Manor. He saw Alfred—but Bruce was not there.

"Oh, Professor Shi Le, what brings you here at this hour?" Alfred hurried forward, offering to take his coat, but Shi Le made no move to stay. "Nothing. Bruce's thesis has formatting issues—I wanted to discuss them with him. He's not here?"

Alfred paused. "I was just about to call the school and ask him to come home this weekend. Elsa is old enough for preschool now—we need to decide whether to hire a tutor or enroll her in the community kindergarten…"

Shi Le thought for a moment. "If he's not at school or at the manor, he's likely at Wayne Tower or his base."

Alfred nodded in agreement. "Thank you for your patience, Professor. I hope Bruce graduates with honors…"

Looking at the old man, Shi Le smiled. "He will."

After leaving Wayne Manor, Shi Le headed to Wayne Tower—the main office for most of Wayne Enterprises' administrative staff. He'd never been there before. Without an appointment, he asked the receptionist—but she said she hadn't seen Wayne.

Just as Shi Le was about to head to the Batcave, he spotted a familiar dark silhouette in a nearby alley. He checked his watch—it was barely eight p. ., and night had just fallen. Why was Batman out so early?

Shi Le reached the alley's mouth. Batman dropped from the wall, and upon seeing Shi Le blocking the entrance, he froze.

Before Shi Le could speak, Batman did. "Professor, if you want me to finish my thesis faster, just call the library. There's no need to come to Wayne Tower—it might frighten the staff…"

Shi Le was stunned. "When did I enter Wayne Tower? The receptionist there doesn't even know me. I called the library earlier—they told me you weren't there. That's why I came here."

Both fell silent for a moment, realizing something was amiss. Shi Le spoke first. "Batman, I'm not trying to stop your vigilante work—but don't you think you should look at your current situation?"

Shi Le pulled out the stack of papers from somewhere and waved them. The pages rustled softly. He stared at Batman. "Your thesis has basic formatting errors—wrong symbols, improper citations…"

"If you want to keep fighting crime in Gotham, shouldn't you fix these basic problems first? Is that too much to ask?"

"Uh… no…" Batman replied, then hesitated. "But I have an urgent matter to handle."

"What matter?" Shi Le asked.

Perhaps even Batman thought it absurd—he looked uncertain, but spoke anyway. "…Someone broke into Wayne Tower."

"Broke in?!" Shi Le raised his voice. "Batman, do you really have to keep testing my limits? If you truly don't want to write your thesis, just delay graduation—years if needed. Don't lie with nonsense even a three-year-old could see through just to avoid studying…"

Shi Le lowered his head, took a deep breath. "Fine. I'll assume your mental condition hasn't been treated properly, leading to this chain of consequences that prevent you from integrating into normal life. My demand isn't high: fix the symbol errors tonight. Is that too hard?"

Shi Le felt he'd shown maximum patience, but Batman made no move to leave. He repeated: "I'm not joking. Someone broke into Wayne Tower and stole important files. I thought it might be…"

"You thought it was me?" Shi Le stepped forward two paces, staring at Batman, holding up the papers. "I have zero interest in any Wayne Enterprises files. All I want is for you to get back to school and fix your damn punctuation!"

Batman sighed. "I'm not worried about the stolen files—Wayne Tower holds no secrets. But many employees were terrified—they claim a shadow suddenly appeared in their offices after hours…"

"Many say it's a ghost. But some reacted violently—over the past few days, Wayne Tower's windows have been shot out over a dozen times, yet the figure still appears…"

Shi Le sighed. "I don't have time for your detective games. Whatever problem your company has, deal with it yourself. But tomorrow morning, I expect to see your punctuation corrected. Understood?"

He turned and walked away. Behind him, Batman exhaled deeply, touched his forehead, and felt anxiety spreading through him. For the past two weeks, he'd finally understood what academic pressure truly meant.

The next morning, Shi Le sat again at his desk, holding the same stack of papers, frowning and sighing.

Anna and Victor leaned close, whispering. Victor stared at Shi Le. "Honestly, I totally get how he feels. When a student's paper keeps failing on the same point, I've seriously considered freezing them with an ice gun."

Anna snorted. "You haven't seen the genius who calculates ten different results from the same data—or the one who repeats the same result in the paper but gets the decimal point wrong!"

Both sighed in unison. After years at Gotham University, encountering a student whose formatting and punctuation were correct, and whose logic and arguments were even halfway rigorous—they'd want to rush to church and thank God.

Shi Le didn't hear their murmurs—he focused entirely on the papers in his hands.

The punctuation had been fixed—but only the punctuation. Shi Le didn't believe Bruce was the kind to move only when pushed. There was no other explanation but his attitude.

After all, the claim that someone broke into Wayne Tower—unless it was Catwoman, the thief of hearts—sounded like pure fantasy.

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But the situation was far from simple. Today, when Shi Le called the library, the librarian said Bruce Wayne hadn't come in at all—not today, not at all.

He called the dorm—his roommate hadn't seen him. He called Wayne Manor—Alfred still said Bruce wasn't there.

For three full days, Shi Le couldn't reach him, couldn't get the paper, couldn't find him.

In fact, the only reason Shi Le had managed to hold back his rage so far was that Batman had no parents.