Chapter 78: Cat Getan 1987 (Part II)

By the afternoon, just as the weather forecast in the newspaper said, it started to drizzle in Cat Getan.

Shiler sat in the study of the manor, and the sound of rain outside the window was like the best sleeping pill.

On the somewhat messy desk, the stack of books left undulating shadows under the illumination of the wall lamp. The ink bottle and the reflection of Shiler's lenses looked particularly bright in the somewhat dim room. He was holding a fountain pen, writing invitations in complex and gorgeous flowery English.

The customs of the whole world are almost the same. When you move, you always have to notify friends and relatives to come as guests. Shiler planned to invite a few of his few friends in Cat Getan to come over for dinner this weekend.

Tomato

The rain outside the window became heavier and heavier. Some moist air entered the room through the cracks in the window. In the light, one could see tiny water vapor slowly drifting onto the desktop. Soon, the part of the desk near the windowsill condensed many tiny water droplets, reflecting the firelight of the fireplace behind, like rubies.

The sky gradually darkened, and the colder fog than during the day made the glass condense a layer of frost. Shiler put down his pen, rubbed his wrists, and looked up.

Looking at the whole Cat Getan from this angle, there was no difference, except that Cat Getan in the rain was not only more gloomy but also quieter, even making people feel a rare leisure.

In any case, the city in the 1980s was always much slower than the information society later. Shiler wrote letters all afternoon until the manservant came to remind him that it was dinner time, and then he left the study.

After finishing dinner, Shiler put on his clothes, took his umbrella, and left home. At this time, the rain that had been falling all afternoon in Cat Getan had stopped, leaving only the cold and damp air inhaled into the lungs, still permeating the city.

The puddles on the ground were like mercury mirrors in the dark, reflecting the street lamp light into golden fragments, like fallen leaves that were not taken away last autumn. After Shiler's heel stepped on them, this light disappeared in the slight ripples and splashed water droplets.

Just like the customs of the whole world, when you move, you always have to visit your neighbors.

The public security here was not bad, because anyone who could afford to live in and maintain such a manor was either rich or expensive. Although it was no longer as prosperous as the southern rich area, the declining old city area also had a slow-paced old-fashioned style.

One street away from the manor where Shiler lived, there was an opera house, but there were few troupes coming to perform here, so it became a club for the residents of this area.

Shiler walked to the entrance of the theater. The waiter here was obviously not that professional. It wasn't until Shiler walked to the steps of the main entrance that they walked up to open the door. Shiler took off the hat on his head and walked in.

Although it was a cold rainy night outside, it was very warm inside the theater. Shiler's glasses were covered with a layer of fog. He took off his glasses, walked to the front desk, and tapped the desktop lightly.

The foreman who was dozing off was dazed for a moment. Lifting his eyelids, he saw someone. He sat up straight and asked: "Do you have an appointment?"

"I am the new resident who bought the Viscount's manor. All the drinks and consumption here today are on my account. God bless everyone."

The foreman immediately became enthusiastic and said: "So it's you. I just received the news yesterday that the largest Viscount manor has a new owner. Your vision is really too unique. Only such a luxurious manor is worthy of a generous gentleman like you."

"Don't worry, when everyone comes out later, they will all know that you are a gentleman who is easy to get along with."

Listening to the compliments constantly coming out of the foreman's mouth, Shiler calmly put a roll of dollars under the bell. The foreman immediately said: "You don't have to care about the appearance of this building. After all, this is the oldest theater in Cat Getan. It's normal to be a bit dilapidated, but our service must be the best..."

When Shiler walked down the steps of the theater, he looked back at this theater, which might be the oldest in Cat Getan. It was covered with traces of vicissitudes. Many years ago, it had also welcomed one famous troupe after another, and countless actors had performed on stage here, you sing and I appear.

But now, it was completely desolate. The old facade was like a stone tablet recording Cat Getan's history, carving traces after wind, frost, rain, and snow. It might have been more exciting than those fabricated dramas, but not many people were willing to watch it anymore.

When Shiler returned to the manor, it was already very late, but he still had some things he hadn't finished writing last night.

Thanks to this era with a relatively slow pace, Shiler didn't have to guard against any bombardment of text messages or phone calls. He had plenty of time to read books slowly, find the knowledge he needed from paper materials, and then write them on paper with a fountain pen.

Suddenly, there was a light sound behind him. Shiler didn't even look back and said: "Gordon came to visit and at least brought a gift. Then what about you? Uninvited bat?"

Batman's shadow was cast into multiple shadows by the wall lamp on the wall. He said: "Wait until daytime to send it."

"Gordon is about to get married. Don't you plan to give him a gift as this weirdo in tights? After all, he is your partner."

"I have no gifts to give." Batman's tone was always very low and very flat. In this room in the middle of the night, it made people a bit drowsy.

"Then what are you here for?"

"To congratulate you on your move to a new home."

"I think you have turned through all the rooms of this manor earlier than me. If there is no accident, you should have also obtained the architectural design drawings through some means."

Batman didn't answer. He seemed to have acquiesced. He never avoided showing his character of being overly prepared for a rainy day and doubting the whole world in front of Shiler.

"Did you read today's newspaper? Did you see the news about the Iron Curtain?"

"That has nothing to do with me."

"This is a big event in the world."

"Cat Getan won't become better because of this, nor will it become worse."

Then both of them were silent, leaving only the rustling sound of Shiler's fountain pen on the paper echoing in the quiet room in the middle of the night. After a while, Batman said: "The group of people who came from Metropolis should be here to hunt you down."

"Then let them come. Or do you think people in Cat Getan would be afraid of people from Metropolis?"

Batman was silent again.

"I guess you had a fight with your butler, right?"

Batman didn't answer, but Shiler said to himself: "There was once such a person who went out racing in the middle of the night because he had a fight with his dear 'butler'."

"Why did they fight?"

"Because that person hadn't decided whether to marry his butler."

Batman was silent again.

"I guess your butler should feel very distressed about you getting hurt, but he doesn't want to stop you from continuing the career you like, so he can only digest this emotion himself."

"But you discovered that he seemed to be sad. You neither want to stop your career nor want him to be sad."

"Your extraordinary wisdom and meticulous logic don't work at this time, so you can only run out to race in the middle of the night."

"Let me guess, the new Batmobile you built should be parked at the gate of my house, and until now, that overheated engine shouldn't have cooled down yet."

"Is there really mind-reading in this world?"

"Don't ask such stupid questions again."

"If there is, can you tell me what Alfred is thinking?"

"You are much more straightforward than that person, but that's right, what troubles him besides family affection is love."

"Love... the most difficult thing to figure out. I took the initiative to offer to tell him the answer, but he refused."

Batman's gaze fell on the ring on Shiler's ring finger. He asked: "Are you married? Didn't your wife come to Cat Getan with you?"

"It seems you don't want that answer very much either."

Shiler said: "Then go. You might as well go to Gordon to take you in. If you continue to stay here, you will only get the answer you don't want to hear."

Batman said: "This manor is indeed very good. There are 36 rooms in total. You sleep in the master bedroom on the east side upstairs. There are 35 rooms left."

"I won't give you the key."

"I don't need a key."

Shiler pressed his eyebrows with his fingers and said: "But you don't return home at night. What should I do if your butler comes to me?"

"Why do you seem to be more afraid of him than me?"

"It's hard to explain to you, but I am indeed very worried that your butler will come to the door."

Seeing that Batman still didn't give up, Shiler could only helplessly say: "Okay, if you want to stay here, I need the consent of your guardian. Go and call him now. I must hear his nod before I can let you stay here."

Batman: "..."

"The phone is downstairs. Either go and dial, or get out."

In the end, Batman compromised. When facing problems related to his butler, he always acted like a child, just like Stark when facing Pepper.

Shiler didn't mind Batman staying here. In fact, he didn't mind Batman checking his new home from top to bottom. Anyway, there would be this day sooner or later. If the 18-year-old Batman didn't check, when he was 28 or 38, he would check eventually. Nothing in Cat Getan could escape the eyes of the bat. Shiler was not the Joker; he didn't have the time to play hide-and-seek with Batman every day.

After a while, Shiler finished his paper. It was already late at night. Outside the window, it was pitch black, and only the puddles gathered by the rain reflected the lights in the distance.

Soon, the manservant reminded him that the phone rang. Shiler picked up the receiver, and Batman stood in the darkest corner of the living room, listening to him talk on the phone.

"Yes, that's right... No trouble, yes, I know, they are always like this, I have seen quite a few before..."

"Is that so? That's quite serious... I have a professional first-aid kit here... Oh, really? You are really a responsible butler..."

"I don't think it matters..." Shiler looked up at Batman. For some reason, Batman felt his heart suddenly beating up and down, like a student who, after being called to the teacher for a parent, was trembling and trying to infer the level of the parent's anger from the teacher's words.

"Okay, please rest assured... No problem, then that's it... Tomorrow morning, right?... I think so, okay... Goodbye."

Shiler saw Batman open his mouth, seemingly wanting to ask something, but in the end, he didn't ask anything.

Shiler said: "Your butler said you were injured, but he should have already treated you."

After speaking, he looked at the grandfather clock next to him and said: "It's too late now. Your butler said you should go to bed before nine o'clock. It's already more than three hours late. Now take the key and go upstairs quickly."

"I don't need a key."

Leaving the last sentence, Batman disappeared. Shiler shook his head, and then went upstairs.

Shiler already knew Batman's true identity, so Batman didn't do the thing of sleeping in that bat suit. When Shiler knocked on his door, Bruce was wearing pajamas.

Usually, Batman in a serious state could only see a chin, but now, Bruce's temperament was completely different from his usual self. This was a Batman with his whole face exposed.

But it was useless. When he heard Shiler warn him that Alfred hoped he could rush back to eat breakfast tomorrow morning, he still showed a quite tangled and complex expression.

"I advise you to go back. If he comes to the door, I will definitely not help you. You have to know that teachers will always stand on the same front as parents."

Seeing that Bruce still seemed unhappy, Shiler had to further threaten him: "If I really see Alfred tomorrow, I will have to talk to him about your academic situation. This final exam, although you barely passed, your ranking is in the middle to lower part. More importantly, you missed submitting your homework 6 times in one semester, and more than half of them didn't write enough words."

"I kept all the homework you handed in. If you don't want your butler to see your dog-shit articles and academic garbage that is useless except for polluting other people's brains, you'd better go to sleep quickly, and then get up early tomorrow morning and go back to your Wei En Manor."

Then, before Bruce could say anything, Shiler "bang" closed the door of his room.

At night, Bruce lay on the bed, recalling the things that had happened recently.

Thanks to Shiler's quite genius and creative industrial chain, there were many gang skirmishes recently, and Batman's work also began to become difficult.

During the day, he was busy conducting various investigations in the hospital to crack the intricate relationships between gangs, and at night he had to watch the scenes of various skirmishes to prevent them from being too high and causing too much collateral damage.

The police were much stronger after having heavy weapons, but this didn't mean that the gangs had no means of counterattack. The police used heavy firepower to suppress, so the gangs naturally thought of using more fierce firepower to resist. Back and forth, the scale of the war continued to escalate, which also led to Batman being involved in some more fierce firepower conflicts before he had time to upgrade his various equipment.

This also led to the bat armor, which was originally prepared for some pistol bullets and cold weapons, being unable to defend against the damage caused by machine gun grenades in the skirmish.

A few nights ago, Batman was hit by a machine gun bullet. This kind of damage was not comparable to pistol bullets. Each machine gun bullet was as long as a palm. Fortunately, Batman was only grazed on the shoulder. If this shot really hit his body solidly, I'm afraid half of his lungs would be completely scrapped.

But this also caused him very serious damage, which could be said to be the heaviest injury he had suffered since he started his Batman career.

When he rushed back to Wei En Manor, he was already delirious. The fact that he could still have the consciousness to return to Wei En Manor was already his extraordinary willpower saving his life.

Bruce had long known that he was not sensitive to some painkillers and anesthetics, and often woke up in the middle of anesthesia. This time was the same. In the middle of the operation, he saw Alfred sitting on the edge of the operating table in a half-dream, half-awake state.

It was hard for him to describe the expression of Alfred he saw at that time, which made his heart, which had almost never beaten violently for many years, be fiercely tugged.

He suddenly discovered that Alfred had become different from his memory. He was much older. Compared with when his parents were still alive, he seemed to be much more depressed.

He then realized a problem: in fact, the death of the Waynes did not only cause harm to him alone.

And perhaps, when Alfred discovered that he almost had to bear the same harm again, he became much older again.

Bruce lay on the bed, tossing and turning, his mind full of the appearance of Alfred he saw in a blur.

And what made him even sadder was that after he woke up from the operation, Alfred didn't say anything. He didn't stop Bruce from doing anything. He just prepared breakfast as usual, just like countless mornings when Bruce woke up from nightmares.

When sitting at the dining table, Bruce could almost not eat. He was Batman, but he was still a person. Few people could maintain a calm state of mind to eat when facing such intense emotional impact.

So he just ate two bites and left Wei En Manor like running away.

In fact, the first place he went to was Gordon's, but he just happened to catch up with Gordon driving to Shiler's house.

He followed Gordon all the way, and even the whole process of their conversation in the restaurant, Batman saw it outside the window.

He also saw Shiler sitting on a chair alone and finishing a whole cigar.

That professor made him feel strange. He had never seen this appearance of Shiler. He looked very relaxed, but also very cold and sharp. Although Shiler often appeared very serious at school, it was completely different.

It was like another person, a stranger.

He thought, perhaps the professor he knew before was just a disguise, just like him.

Two madmen in this crazy city played their respective roles, appearing on the stage with the most ordinary social identities, playing the teacher and student troubled by trivial daily life every day.

This might not be "Pride and Prejudice," but "An Actor Prepares."

In this broken and decaying theater corroded by time in Cat Getan, on this stage of Cat Getan University, the first act of this absurd drama seemed strange and ridiculous.

The first teacher Batman met on his first day of school, a teacher who looked strict and rigid and looked like he didn't want to cause trouble for himself, gave him the answer he wanted most in a psychological consultation without any motivation.

And after this drama after drama ended, the two actors themselves finally met under the stage.

Putting aside their social identities, the composition of these absurd dramas was not a coincidence. Madmen always attract madmen, and weirdos often meet weirdos. This was just another way of presenting birds of a feather flock together.

Bruce lay on the bed, and drowsiness struck. In a half-dream and half-awake state, he heard the dull sound of the pendulum downstairs in the manor, which was pervasive in his dreams.

And besides that, in this cold night of Cat Getan 1987, what could be heard was only the almost inaudible sound of the wind and the sound of the fireplace burning all night. ===== CHAPTER 79 =====