Chapter 243 Hollywood Black and White Movies (Part 1) (Patreon)

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In the early morning, in the office of Arkham Sanatorium, Schiller put down the book in his hand. Peter, who was carrying a backpack, stood at the door and knocked. Schiller looked up and said, "Come in."

"Doctor, I'm back." Peter seemed very excited. After he came in, he took off his backpack and began to search inside. After searching for a while, he exclaimed, "Ah, here it is!"

With that, he took out a transparent box from his backpack. Inside was an old-fashioned video tape, the kind that was used on a hand-cranked projector.

Peter handed the video tape to Schiller and scratched his head, saying a little embarrassedly, "I think you will like this."

Schiller smiled and took the video tape, saying, "Instead of a gift, I'm more curious about how your Hollywood trip was this time?"

Peter made a strange expression. His eyebrows were raised one high and one low, and his eyes were big and small, which made Schiller see the funny expression that Spider-Man in the comics often made.

Peter sighed and said, "This is a long story."

Schiller unpacked the old video tape while saying, "No rush. We can watch the old movie and talk at the same time."

Looking at the old video tape that had been unpacked, Peter said, "This thing is an antique. Modern projectors probably can't use this kind of video tape anymore, right?"

"You should know who would have a projector that can play this thing..."

The morning light began to get brighter and brighter, crossing the morning and noon, and arriving at the drowsy afternoon.

With a "click," Steve bent down and turned the support of the old projector over, then pointed to the window.

Stark cursed and walked to the window, pulling the curtains. Schiller sat on one side of the sofa and clinked glasses with Connors on the single-person sofa next to him. Natasha lowered her head and fiddled with a small golden statue-shaped souvenir.

"I mean, besides this antique, who would like to use this rotten machine to play these antique films?"

After Stark said this, everyone in the room looked up at him, and Stark paused before saying, "Am I the only one who doesn't want to watch?"

"Come on, if we have this time, why don't we create some new achievements for human civilization?"

Stark muttered in his mouth while sitting on the sofa. Steve, who was standing behind the sofa, turned on the projector's button. With the light jazz music from the last century's movies, the items in the room began to fade in Schiller's vision. The surface of the cloth sofa became smoother, and the shine of the leather sofa spread from one corner until it covered the entire sofa.

The support of the desk lamp rose, and the vintage pattern on the glass lampshade climbed like a vine. The antique woodgrain spread on the alloy window frame, and the sunlight shining in from outside went from dazzling to dim. At the moment the sun fell below the horizon, there was a knocking sound.

Standing outside the door was Bruce. Schiller put down the pen in his hand and stood up, looking at him, "Is your Hollywood trip over?"

Bruce pursed his lips. His expression looked a bit strange. Schiller said, "What's wrong? Is Selina not adjusting well?"

"She's adjusting well." Bruce's tone was a bit low but revealed a hint of complexity.

"Then it seems like you're the one who isn't adjusting?"

Bruce didn't say anything, but took out a beautifully packaged wooden box from his bag and handed it to Schiller, saying, "...a souvenir, Professor."

Schiller took the box and saw the old video tape inside. He said, "How did you know there's an old projector in my manor?... Oh, forget it, that's a stupid question."

With a "click," Harvey straightened the projector support and aimed the machine head at the wall. Victor put down his glass and leaned on the soft leather sofa back. Gordon was lighting Schiller's cigar, and then picked up one for himself, exhaling a puff of smoke.

Bruce was dozing off on the single sofa next to him, looking a little tired, like a bat napping in a cave.

As the projector button was turned on, the movie was projected onto the wall. The cheerful orchestral melody began to become low, and after the percussion and drum beats joined in, the sound of the car engine roared and the wind whistled.

"Wow!" Selina crawled out of her seat belt and leaned out of the car door, and Bruce, who was driving, quickly pulled her back and sighed.

This was the thirtieth time he had sighed on this on the road journey. Selina put her arm on the car door and looked up at Bruce, chewing gum, and blew a bubble. "To be honest, when you took off your mask, you really scared me. You're actually Wayne."

"I thought you had already figured it out."

"I knew you were rich, but I didn't expect you to be so rich." Selina put her finger on her temple, chewing gum and said, "But, isn't it a little absurd for you to take me to Hollywood and let me make movies?"

Selina pretended to be relaxed and said, "I've been to the movies before, and I think I look a lot like the actresses in those scenes, but..."

Her tone became a bit hesitant, "Okay, I admit, I'm just a girl born in the slums, I haven't seen any big scenes since birth. If there are so many cameras pointing at me, I might be scared and trembling."

"I just want to find you something legitimate to do." Bruce turned the steering wheel, turned a bend, and said, "As long as you don't steal anything, no one will question your position on set, because the whole movie is invested by me..."

Selina first looked at the fast-retreating scenery outside the car window, then blinked her big eyes and looked at Bruce, saying, "You're really good to me."

Bruce's hand holding the steering wheel stiffened for a moment, and Selina noticed his reaction and deliberately leaned towards him, saying, "Do you get nervous too? That's really rare."

"Even though I haven't experienced your rich person's life, I know you should have many female companions. Do you react like this when facing them?"

Bruce turned his head away from Selina, slowed down the car, and said, "We're in Hollywood... look over there."

Following Bruce's gaze, Selina saw a row of white giant letters appear on the green hill in the distance - "HOLLYWOOD".

At this time, behind the letters, the sun slowly sank below the horizon, the clouds in the sky accelerated their changes, sinking into the night, and back to dawn. When the morning light shone through from behind the letters, Peter next to the car draped a blanket over Gwen and pointed to the row of letters, saying, "Look, we're here."

Gwen's smiling face was particularly bright in the morning light, and Peter was almost stunned. Seeing Peter's stunned expression, Gwen burst out laughing and said, "Do you know how red your face is?"

Peter turned his head unnaturally, then rubbed his face with his hand, and then lifted the hair on his forehead with both hands, looking directly at the morning light and looking at the white letters on the hill.

"I heard that this was originally an advertising billboard created by a real estate developer to promote his homes."

"But now, the copyright of this thing should belong to the City Hall in Los Angeles." Gwen straightened the long hair on her temples and said, "The reason why I wanted to come to Hollywood for a tour was because I saw this billboard in a movie when I was a kid, and I even fantasized about changing it to my own name."

"Do you want to make your name so big and put it on the hill?" Peter stared at Gwen with wide eyes, as if he didn't know her.

Gwen laughed out of breath, patting Peter's shoulder with one hand and saying, "That's how I was when I was a kid. My dad even supported me specially, he made several cardboard boxes with the same white letters and put them on my windowsill. I was so happy. To be honest, don't you want to?"

Gwen put one hand on Peter's shoulder and spread out her five fingers, pointing to the billboard and said, "People can see your name as soon as they drive down this road. Many people will even stop and take pictures like us..."

"Wait a minute!" Peter turned around and said, "Speaking of parking... aren't we not allowed to park here??"

As soon as he finished speaking, he saw several uniformed traffic police officers walking over and driving away tourists who were parked here. Gwen grabbed Peter and said, "Get in the car quickly! I don't want to pay a fine!"

The two of them hurriedly opened the car door and got in. Peter started the car, stepped on the gas pedal, and heard the screams of the slow runners behind him who were fined. The two looked at each other and burst into laughter.

The car looked very small on the long public road, with the light at the end of the sky covered by clouds and getting darker. With a "snap", a ticket was posted on the side of the convertible.

Bruce put one hand on the car door, holding a stack of dollars in one hand and a cigarette in the other. Selina took her cigarette out of her mouth and leaned over to light Bruce's cigarette.

The traffic police officer pinched the extra stack of dollars in his hand and smiled at Bruce, saying, "You can watch as long as you want, sir. Have a pleasant journey."

Bruce didn't even look at him, just holding the cigarette, looking straight at the cigarette smoke blending with the sunset on the horizon, he said, "Now you can watch as long as you want."

Selina pushed open the car door, walked to the side of the road, stretched lazily, and yawned. Facing the twilight light, she squinted and said, "I really didn't expect to be in the same place as the protagonists in those movies."

A coat was thrown out of the car and fell on Selina's body. She turned around and looked at Bruce, who was still sitting in the driver's seat, and said, "You're good anywhere, especially when you're rich..."

Selina turned around, propped up the car door with her arm, leaned her upper body back into the car, and said, "But I always feel that the Bruce Wayne I saw in the newspaper is not like this. They said you have a bunch of friends and like to mess around. You're a playboy, and all women are enamored with you..."

"But why do I feel like you can't let go, always nervous, and..." Selina opened the car door and sat back in, then leaned against Bruce, blowing air into his ear with a smile, "And a little shy?"

Looking at Bruce's stiff neck, Selina blinked and said, "You are really a mystery, my Mr. Wayne, more like a ball of yarn than a bat."

"Isn't that just right?" Bruce looked back at her, and his deep blue eyes, like the West Coast sky, were even clearer when looking at Selina.

"You're just a cat, my lady."

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Next Chapter>>Chapter 244 Hollywood Black and White Movies (Part 2)