Chapter 926: The Weight of Cat Getan

Batman's equipment has one major advantage, which is that its quality is exceptionally high, and his cape is no exception. If it were ordinary fabric, it should have torn into strips when pierced by the canopy while supporting the weight of an adult male, allowing Batman to come down.

However, very unfortunately, the quality of Batman's cape was simply too good. The canopy's frame could not possibly pierce through this fabric, but it did snag the fabric—and the Batman beneath it—at a strange angle.

Batman certainly had a way to get down, but among the tactical maneuvers appearing in his mind, the poses for disengaging and landing were somewhat undignified, and right in front of him was Schiller, wearing an expression of someone watching a spectacle.

Hanging in place, Batman sighed. The next second, he exerted force with his muscles, sinking downward, and using the momentum of the bounce, he flipped to the top of the frame and then jumped to the ground.

The next second, his foot sank into the plowed soil; half his boot stepped into the mud, while the other half was tripped by the exposed roots of a plant.

Batman couldn't help but suspect whether Aisha had complained about him to Schiller again, to the point where this professor, not sleeping in the middle of the night, had set up these traps and was waiting here for him.

After finally stumbling out of the chaotic garden, Batman had just intended to enter the door when he saw Schiller walking over, carrying a water gun. He had a bad premonition, and the next second, Schiller aimed the water gun at him.

"Whoosh!" A Batarang streaked past, striking the metal nozzle of the water gun exactly, preventing him from being attacked by the stream of water.

Schiller did not hold onto the water gun tightly but let go of it naturally. The water from the gun, which had fallen to the ground, washed the mud off Batman's boots.

Schiller turned and walked into the manor, with Batman following behind him. The next second, he stepped on a pebble that had been blown over. After he entered the reception room, he took a deep breath and looked at the chaotic garden outside the floor-to-ceiling window. He heard Schiller say:

"See? This is the consequence of not using the front door."

Batman had just wanted to speak when he saw Schiller's butler, Merkel, walk over and say, "The gardener manpower is truly too tight. Many people had already arranged for familiar gardeners to come and tend to their gardens as soon as it started raining tonight."

Merkel shook his head and said, "Big Daddy told me that given our situation, the gardeners might not be able to cope. The best method is to renovate the garden and then transplant plants from local gardening shops."

"What happened to your garden?" Batman looked at Schiller and asked.

"Must you hang on the canopy frame for a while longer before you can figure out what happened to it?" Schiller picked up his umbrella again, pushed open the door, walked under the eaves, and surveyed the entire large garden.

Merkel stood inside the floor-to-ceiling window, but Batman followed him out. Schiller looked at the mess in the garden and sighed.

The faint light emitted by the garden lamps became even weaker through the rain and mist. The light shone on the plants, which were blown into clawing, tooth-baring shapes by the typhoon, and the shadows cast on the ground looked like some kind of terrifying monster.

The pond surface was no longer calm. When the strong wind blew, water splashed out from the edge of the pond, and when it hit the stacked stone slabs, it sounded like giant waves crashing against the shore.

The only giant oak tree that appeared relatively stable had its leaf-fall period made less than dignified by the gale and rain. Many leaves were blown down before they could fall naturally, drifting into every corner of the garden, adding another heavy burden to the other plants.

No matter from which angle one looked, the problems with Schiller's garden were indeed not something that a few gardeners trimming shrubs could solve. The entire large garden needed to be renovated, and before the renovation, it needed to be redesigned.

After watching for a while, Schiller put away his umbrella and returned indoors. He turned his head and asked Batman, "Cat Getan University should have a Fine Arts Department, right? Do you know any students majoring in Environmental Art Design?"

"If you want to redesign the garden, I suggest you find Alfred. He knows several very capable British gardening designers," Batman said. "The garden at Wei En Manor was designed by them."

"I know the garden at Wei En Manor isn't broken; you don't need to emphasize that to me." Schiller sat on the sofa, picked up the book again, and said while reading, "We already have a gardening designer from England, but his methods aren't very effective."

Schiller glanced at Merkel and said, "Any plants transplanted from elsewhere have a very low survival rate in Cat Getan. The design drawings provided by those gardening designers wish they could use two hundred different European plants in a single flowerbed."

Schiller shook his head and said, "If you intend to keep using this method to enter my house, then you'd better not recommend foreign designers to me. Otherwise, it's very likely that when you land, I will hang you up with a gardening shovel in the gaps of guarding my flowerbeds all night."

"I came to find you precisely because of this matter." Batman came to the opposite sofa and sat down. He said, "After the last rainstorm, many gardening landscapes in Cat Getan were destroyed. During the gaps in the renovation project, I once wanted to increase Cat Getan's greening rate, and then I discovered that there were heavy difficulties in this."

"Cat Getan's own greening rate is not high, and excluding the private gardens in the manor area, it is even less. I hope to expand the area of public green space, but Mayor Luo Yi said that Gothamites don't care about greening at all."

"You don't need to make Cat Getan normal." Schiller put down the book, took a sip of water, and then said, "My opinion is the same as Harvey's. The standards of any other city are not applicable to Cat Getan. Cat Getan City and Cat Getan citizens are mutually adapted."

"You can increase the greening rate because green plants can improve the air or gardening landscapes can soothe the citizens' emotions, but there is no need to pursue reaching any standard."

Schiller put down the water cup and said, "If you intend to catch up with Metropolis, Gothamites might not only not be grateful to you, but they will also think you are a lunatic. Metropolis's greening area is second to none on the entire East Coast. If you really renovate according to this standard, you will only gain more than you lose."

Batman paused and said, "You all saw it?"

"You've almost written the words 'Metropolis' on your face; how could I not see it?" Schiller leaned on the sofa, shook his head, and said, "You want every aspect of Cat Getan to catch up with Metropolis and then talk about surpassing it, but being exactly the same as Metropolis doesn't mean it's good."

"However, the greening rate must be increased. Cat Getan's greening rate is at the bottom of the entire East Coast, and it is the same in the entire United States. This situation must be improved," Batman emphasized.

"I guess you think that increasing the greening rate can improve Cat Getan's rainwater problem, right?" Schiller looked at Batman and said, "You don't need to beat around the bush. You have always been very concerned about what I said: 'Cat Getan is unsalvageable'."

"You think Constantine and I are too arbitrary and never believe in those 'destined' claims in our mouths. You believe more in science, thinking that Cat Getan's rainwater curse might be a problem of the water cycle."

Batman shook his head and said, "No. After I witnessed the Court of Owls, I already knew that there really is the existence of mysterious power in this world."

"But what makes me feel puzzled is that the Court of Owls has been erased from history, so all the things related to them transforming Cat Getan's rainwater and cursing Cat Getan citizens should not have happened. Then why is there still a problem with Cat Getan's rainwater?"

Schiller sighed and said, "You still haven't grasped the essence of occultism. After the Court of Owls was erased, the influence they produced did not disappear. You think this might be a paradox, but in reality, this is precisely the means to maintain the causal relationship without producing a paradox."

"The Court of Owls does not exist, but many things that happened and memories left behind because it once existed will not be completely reversed. Then, the simplest way to solve this problem is not to change all the trivial details and memories, but to let all the results have other causes."

"Doesn't that amount to nothing changing?" Batman asked.

"It is indeed that nothing has changed." Schiller nodded and said, "You wouldn't think that Lucifer is a savior, would you?"

"Not to mention, he is already a fallen angel and has long since ceased to be the most shining and noble morning star in heaven. Even when he was still an angel, he never thought about saving anyone."

"He erased the existence of the Court of Owls just because he felt the mosquitoes flying around his ears were annoying, so he slapped this mosquito to death. But this does not mean he is going to heal all the wounds caused by this mosquito. He does not have such kindness, nor does he have such patience."

"In other words, I still have to find the cause of Cat Getan's rainwater curse again?" Batman asked.

Schiller shook his head and said, "Actually, there are some things that don't need to be known for their causes, and they can also be solved. Your previous line of thinking was very good. As long as everyone lives in buildings and all activities are carried out indoors with ceilings, the damage caused by being rained on will have been reduced to the minimum."

"But this can only solve part of the problem." Batman rested his elbows on his knees, placed his hands under his nose, and said, "The water cycle is a problem that must be solved. Domestic water, irrigation water, industrial water... water is the top priority of a city."

"Actually, you have ways to solve these things. Domestic water can completely build a large water purifier for front-end purification. Irrigation water is the same, or use seawater desalination technology. If you are worried about plants being rained on, then cultivate them directly indoors. Industrial water can use circulating filtration, and it won't be too wasteful."

Schiller exposed Batman's true thoughts and said, "It's just that you don't feel at ease without finding the real cause of this curse."

Batman was just about to speak when Schiller continued, "However, I can also understand this psychology of yours. You have spent so much energy and paid such a great price to renovate this city, but there is a mastermind hiding in the corner, peeping at all of this."

"Once he really destroys all of this, the consequences might be more severe than not starting the renovation at all, because once people see hope, they cannot return to the original dark life."

Schiller turned his head to look at the rainy night outside the window and said, "If you let that group of children return to the leaking cellar to scoop water out with buckets and basins all night and sleep on the wet ground and straw mats now, they would absolutely be unable to accept it."

"After obtaining the current life, if they fall into the abyss again and can never climb up, then even if the rainwater doesn't bring madness, you will also witness the truly crazy side of this city."

Batman also turned his head to look outside the window. He saw that as the night grew deeper, the wind and rain were both getting stronger, but because of the sturdy walls and airtight windows, the room was still very warm, and he couldn't feel a hint of cold.

The heavier the rain outside the window, the warmer the room seemed. Jason, wrapped in a blanket, leaned against the cabinet, listening to the sound of the rain in a daze.

At this time, Fatty Tire walked in, stuffed a thermos into Jason's arms, and said, "Here, hot milk my mom just boiled. She said to let me thank you for helping us move today."

"If it weren't for you, we might have had to be like that group of people on the back street; if we couldn't finish moving today, we would only have to make do in the old house for another night."

Tire sat down next to Jason and said, "You don't know how broken the old house over there is. Every typhoon night, I worry about the house collapsing."

"However, it's better now." Tire revealed a smile and said, "I moved into a house in the second phase of the project, not far from here, less than ten minutes to come over."

"That's why I could come to find you in the middle of the night; otherwise, who would dare to walk the night road on a typhoon night?"