Chapter 1152 Professor (Twenty-four) (Patreon)

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"The thing is, after graduation, I found a job, you know, as an intern journalist at the Daily Planet."

"This is a great job, everyone in town is particularly envious of me, after all, the Daily Planet is a famous newspaper, the benefits are especially good, it's the best choice for fresh graduates."

As he said this, Clark also showed a hint of pride on his face, his various emotions were always written on his face, so that one could see his current mood at a glance.

But soon, Clark showed a very embarrassed expression again, and he looked at Bruce and said, "But you also know that it's not easy to make a name for yourself in such a big newspaper."

"That day, my editor asked me to write a report on the Broccoli disaster that broke out in Gotham, but when the disaster broke out, I was not in the country at all, and I really had no material to write, so I could only write about my previous experiences in Gotham."

"But unexpectedly, this report suddenly became a hit, and that's when I realized that there are so many people interested in this city of Gotham."

Clark sighed and said, "But it's true, my parents are also very interested in this magical city, they are very curious about how you all survive here, and why it's so chaotic here, yet the economy is still so good, and there are mysterious gangster rappers, street graffiti groups, ghostly lights youth groups and so on..."

"But for ordinary people, fear outweighs curiosity, almost no one dares to come and see it with their own eyes, and even if someone dares to come, they don't know how to come, they say you have to find a gang to book a hotel here, most people don't have that kind of courage."

Clark shook his head and then continued, "But I've been here several times, and I feel that Gotham isn't as terrible as they say. Even though the security in most areas is not very good, there are still some safe places."

"For example, the downtown commercial street, Gotham University in the West District and the Manor district, the lakeside park and the zoo in the north, the Living Hell and the Graffiti Street in the East District, the scenery and culture in these places are quite good."

"So I wrote down what I saw and heard and turned it into a travel guide, which was serialized in the newspaper. At first it was just a small section used to fill the layout, but unexpectedly the report got a good response, so they moved it to the main section, and now they even say they want to publish it as a special issue."

As he said this, Clark's face not only didn't have a happy emotion, but a worried expression crept up, and he looked at Bruce with a very apologetic gaze and said:

"In the travel guide, I emphasized you, that is, Batman, I called you the great Gotham vigilante, and highlighted your heroic deeds and the idea of fighting for the common people."

"At the time, to add authenticity to the report, I attached a photo of you standing on top of Wayne Tower." Clark shrugged and said, "Do you remember? It's the one I pestered you to take last time."

Bruce recalled it a bit and remembered that at the time, Superman had flown around him for hundreds of circles just to get him to pose in a cool way for the photo, and Batman had been so annoyed by him that he finally cooperated and took a photo.

The photo was roughly of Batman standing on top of Wayne Tower on a rainy night in Gotham, with the background of various neon lights glowing, his cape billowing in the wind and storm, his figure upright and his gaze resolute.

Clark rubbed the area under his nose and then said, "Not many people read the content of this report, but the photo was snatched up like crazy."

"Your fans cut the photo out of the newspaper and made collages, causing that issue of the newspaper to be reprinted twice and still not enough, and a lot of people wrote letters to the Daily Planet asking for more photos."

"After that travel guide came out, a lot of people tried to come to Gotham to explore, and one of them, who was a little more daring and luckier, followed the guide I gave him and toured Gotham, and not only didn't have any problems, but also got a photo with the hottest East Coast rapper, coming and going with great enthusiasm, making his classmates extremely envious."

"Then the Gotham travel route became a hit among the students, if you can come to Gotham for a tour, it means you're the coolest and most fashionable trendsetter, the most gangster rapper, the most street-style punk..."

Clark had a troubled expression on his face and then said, "You know, all the students are like that, desperately trying to prove that they're rebellious enough, punk enough..."

"Soon, a lot of people came to Gotham in groups, and the other attractions were fine, some of the more daring ones even got photos with those gangster rapper members, but there was one problem, and that was... you."

Bruce suddenly had a bad feeling, and then Clark looked at him with an expectant gaze and said, "A lot of your fans have written to the newspaper expressing their dissatisfaction, saying that they booked hotels according to my guide, but didn't see your appearance, and were really disappointed."

"Well, I know you're busy, but it shouldn't be too hard to go to the rooftop and stand there for ten minutes a day, right?"

Looking at Clark's clear gaze, Bruce felt his head buzzing.

He took a deep breath, stared into Clark's eyes, and said, "You put me in your travel guide without my consent, and now you're blaming me for not showing up at the places your guide pointed out?"

"I'm not blaming you!" Clark emphasized, then pulled an envelope out of his bag and handed it to Bruce, saying, "Look, this is a letter from your mayor, since he doesn't know who Batman is, he specially asked me to bring it to Batman."

Bruce opened the letter and sure enough, it was Mayor Roy's handwriting. The general content was thanking Batman for his contribution to Gotham's tourism industry and asking Batman to make more contributions to Gotham's tourism industry.

Although the wording was quite polite, if translated into the Gotham dialect, it would be "Stop worrying about your vigilante business and go stand at the attractions!"

If it had been in the past, Bruce might have been raging by now, but now he only felt a wry smile, and even felt that the accidental development of the tourism industry was not a bad way out for the Batman identity.

"You have no idea how popular you are!" Clark said sincerely as he looked at Bruce, "The people of Metropolis love this kind of dark hero, even more than they love me!"

Bruce thought about it for a while and felt that it was not impossible. Psychology had once mentioned a kind of compensation effect, which was that the more comfortable people's lives were, the more they liked to consume products with violent and stimulating elements.

Theoretically speaking, this might be the innate instinct of human beings to survive in the wilderness, making them want to constantly actively stimulate the violent factors within them to prevent being eliminated by nature.

For the people living in Gotham, not many people like the violent culture here. On the contrary, the popular dramas in the upper circles are those that depict beautiful love or the luxurious lives of the nobility, as if they were still living in the medieval era.

But in the eyes of the people of Metropolis, the chaos, violence, and bizarre aesthetics of Gotham have a unique charm, which perfectly caters to the decadent punk trend of the younger generation. This land of evil has become a pilgrimage site for the punk generation.

Realizing this, Bruce felt that if he could develop the tourism industry because of this, it would be a good thing. So he looked at Clark and said, "I've run into a bit of trouble, and I might need your help, or rather, the help of the cat you're holding."

"As a condition, I can go to the rooftop of Wayne Tower every night, but I can't guarantee that everyone will be able to see me, and I absolutely won't strike a stupid pose like last time to let them take pictures."

"Just go and stand there for a while! They'll definitely take some cool photos of you!" Clark immediately became happy and showed a bright smile, then said, "Don't try to cater to them, those people just love your cool and aloof style!"

Bruce rolled his eyes and shook his head, while Bat Cat, who had been listening nearby, looked at Bruce and said, "Tell me, what kind of trouble have you run into? I guess it's related to a dream, right?"

Bruce nodded and briefly introduced the situation he was facing. Bat Cat licked his paw and then said, "This is a very common dream invasion, which you humans call hypnosis."

"Based on what you've said, the perpetrator has infiltrated your adopted son's dream and used deception to make him believe he has a pair of pig ears, and the image of the pig ears represents some kind of command that controls him to act in various extreme ways."

"The fact that he ran away when he saw you should be a safety command implanted by the perpetrator, which you can understand as a firewall of this hypnosis system to prevent others from breaking the hypnosis."

"To break the hypnosis, you just need to make this child no longer believe he has a pair of pig ears."

"Can you do it?" Bruce asked.

A cold light flashed in Bat Cat's eyes as he said, "Don't forget, I'm part of the Dream of Thousand Cats, the dream realm is my domain... Where is he?"

Bruce sent Bat Cat to Dick's room, while he and Clark waited outside. Clark kept comforting the worried-looking Bruce, but as time passed, Bruce became more and more anxious.

About half an hour later, Bat Cat pushed open the door with his paws and said to Bruce, "Good news, the hypnosis has been broken."

Bruce stared at him, and Bat Cat jumped onto Clark's shoulder, letting out a soft sigh, "The bad news is that your adopted son is relatively young, and his personality is not very stable. The perpetrator used some violent means when he struck, inevitably causing some psychological trauma..."

"The problem is not too serious, but he needs to rest and recover. In the near future, he may have nightmares or panic attacks and will need someone by his side to accompany him."

"What exactly happened?" Bruce asked in a cold voice.

Bat Cat sighed deeply again and said, "In simple terms, the perpetrator cut off Dick's ears in the dream and then sewed a pair of pig ears onto him. You should know that in the dream realm, one can also feel pain."

Clark clearly saw the boundless rage rising in Bruce's eyes, and he quickly grabbed Bruce's shoulder, comforting him, "Calm down, Bruce, don't lose your composure! We'll definitely bring this damn perpetrator to justice!"

But the Bruce standing there felt that the phrase "bring to justice" sounded a bit grating to his ears.

He took a deep breath and forced himself to calm down, but at this moment, Alfred came over and said, "Commissioner Gordon is on the phone, his tone sounds anxious. Please go answer the phone immediately."

Bruce hurried to the phone and picked it up. Gordon's slightly anxious voice came from the other end: "Bruce! A murder has occurred within the Gotham Police Department, you need to come over right away!"

When Bruce and Clark arrived at the Gotham Police Department, Gordon came to greet them and led them inside, saying:

"The victim is our Deputy Director Freeman, and the reason I asked you to come is because... his death is a bit... unusual." Gordon shook his head without continuing.

When they arrived in front of an office door, he waved his hand, asking the nearby officers to leave. As the door opened, Bruce was stunned.

Sitting behind the desk was a figure, or rather, a corpse. What made Bruce momentarily unable to react was that the middle-aged man's ears had been cut off, and two handguns were inserted into the ear holes.

The more Bruce looked at this scene, the more familiar it seemed, but then his gaze became increasingly bright, even with a hint of excitement that made Gordon and the Clark behind him shudder.

Gordon swallowed hard and cautiously took a step to the side, carefully asking, "Bruce... are you alright?"

Bruce stared intently at the corpse, taking a step back, and without turning his head, asked Gordon, "...Is there a phone?"

Gordon pointed to the public phone in the hallway, and Bruce walked towards it, glancing back three times.

Picking up the receiver, Bruce dialed a number with great familiarity, and when the other party answered, he shouted, "Hello? Professor! Someone has plagiarized your academic achievements!"

[Read at www.patreon.com/shanefreak, and thanks for the invaluable support!]

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