Chapter 54: The Storm is Brewing (Patreon)

In DC World With Marvel Chat Group : Table of Content/Chapter List

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"Alright, moving on, I will now outline the key points for our upcoming final exam. Please open your textbooks to page 1, and let's start from the table of contents. We'll cover everything from the first section of Chapter 1 to the final section of Chapter 10."

"Keep flipping through the book. You must memorize everything on the first 50 pages except for the pictures. All conceptual statements will appear as fill-in-the-blank questions on the exam. After we finish Chapter 2 on page 60, there will be essay questions and short-answer questions."

"Furthermore, after Chapter 7, I will select some important content for your final papers. The final paper remains at 3000 words, and the grading ratio for the exam and the paper is 7:3, while the exam and your overall grade ratio is 6:4."

"In other words, if you don't perform well on the exam, you will definitely fail."

"Additionally, following Gotham University's tradition, starting from the next academic year, I will prepare and offer extra psychology courses. If you wish to participate, you must score 85 or higher on this final exam. Relevant clubs and societies are also in the works. Those interested in becoming club leaders and society heads can come to my office after class."

"That's it for today. Class dismissed."

Schiller closed the book and left the classroom. The students below finally relaxed and began to express their concerns.

"Oh my God! This book is thicker than my fist. I can't believe I have to memorize it all!"

"Do you think he'll shoot me if I fail?"

"I haven't seen him with any handguns or revolvers. I guess he might use cold weapons like bayonets and knives."

"Who remembers what was mentioned in Chapter 3 just now? Where do the essay questions start?"

"Help! Evans! Evans! Are you there? Do you have notes? Let me borrow them. Damn it, I only came to class after getting high this semester, and I didn't absorb anything!"

"If my dad knew how hard I'm studying in college, he'd be so touched!"

Bruce sat among the crowd, but he didn't seem as flustered as the others. Memorizing a thick book wasn't a challenge for him.

He had something to discuss with Schiller regarding the construction of a private prison. However, he could tell that Schiller's mood was currently quite bad, so Bruce hesitated and didn't leave with him.

After a while, Evans approached him and asked, "Did you hear what Professor just said about clubs and societies? I really want to become the club leader. You know, I've been in charge of class discipline and assignments for this course, but I wanted to ask for your opinion on the societies. Are you planning to join?"

Bruce understood Evans' meaning. At Gotham University, there were not only interest-based clubs but also study-based societies. Some popular courses established their own study societies, essentially offering additional lessons. Of course, any society involved funding, and many wanted Bruce to join because he was a billionaire.

However, Bruce hadn't participated in any serious societies. He was impatient with the administrative work of such groups and didn't want people constantly asking him for money.

But the psychology society was different. He felt he could get some extra help there. So, he said to Evans, "I'll go ask the professor if he can appoint me as the society head. As for the clubs, I'm not interested. You can handle both class and club responsibilities."

Bruce knew that Evans was Falcone's son, but in Gotham, backgrounds like Evans' were common. There were at least six or seven sons of gang bosses in this class alone, and Evans' father was just more powerful.

Most of the people Bruce hung out with on a daily basis were either the nephews or sons of major mob bosses. In a way, Batman's other identity was deep behind enemy lines.

As for why Schiller was in such a bad mood, it all began this morning.

On the Marvel side, even though Obadiah had been saved, he was still very weak. His heart was functioning fairly well, but as Strange had mentioned, he was just too old, and his physical condition was poor. He was still in intensive care, and Stark had been at his side the whole time. Stark had only one family member left, and even Pepper couldn't come between their father-son bond.

Rhodes had temporarily left the military. He mentioned that he hadn't taken a vacation in several years, so on the eve of Schiller's departure, he and Dr. Yinsen had participated in an Antarctic research project. They temporarily left New York.

Although there were many unsolved mysteries surrounding the Iron Man events, everything had temporarily calmed down.

So Schiller returned to Gotham.

When he woke up this morning, he was surprised to find that the weather in Gotham was unusually good. There was still a thin mist, but he could faintly see sunlight touching the ground, which was a rare sight.

Seizing this opportunity, he decided to engage in random chat once more. After the Iron Man incident, he had gained another chance to chat, as he had one left from the previous incident. So, he now had two chances.

However, Gotham was truly a place of remarkable individuals, and when Schiller opened the chat panel and used random chat, the avatar that appeared had black hair and wore a green eye mask.

Schiller almost panicked and hastily closed the system.

Green Lantern!

Correct, it was Green Lantern, played by the same actor as Deadpool!

Although Deadpool hadn't appeared, he seemed to be everywhere, and Schiller, even though he hadn't met Deadpool yet, felt surrounded by him.

"I must ask you, have you ever seen any strange flying objects? I mean, the kind of traditional flying saucers..."

Soon, Green Lantern sent a message.

From this message, Schiller deduced that Green Lantern Hal might be encountering a fallen alien spaceship, and it was through this event that he had obtained the alien's Green Lantern ring.

Schiller clicked on the profile picture, and unsurprisingly, Hal's abilities could not be replicated yet because he hadn't become Green Lantern yet.

So, Schiller replied, "I vaguely remember seeing a few. Why? Have you seen unidentified flying objects? I can recommend a website with extensive records of such sightings for you to browse."

"I've searched them all, including websites that document unidentified flying objects worldwide, but what they saw were all things flying in the sky."

"Then, what did you see? If an unidentified flying object isn't flying in the sky, why call it that?"

"Oh, it... of course! It used to fly in the sky, but no, nothing... forget it..."

It seemed that Hal also realized he shouldn't disclose too much information to a stranger he had just met on a forum. After all, if the other side found out that he had discovered a fallen unidentified flying object, he might very well be contacted by the military.

Schiller, on the other hand, sighed. Regardless of what abilities the Green Lantern ring could bring him, just being Green Lantern was another Deadpool, and that was something he found hard to accept. He hoped that Green Lantern was just a character in the comics and not a chatterbox in real life.

In the afternoon, Schiller's mood improved somewhat, and that's when Gordon came to find him. He asked Schiller, "Have you seen Falcone recently?"

"Correct, what's going on?"

In Gotham, dealing with the underworld was not something to be ashamed of, or rather, it was impossible to avoid dealing with underworld figures.

In Gotham, if you could have a conversation with The Godfather, it was actually something to be proud of.

Gordon said, "Our new police station chief seems to be affiliated with The Godfather. Of course, that's not surprising, but I'm curious about how he plans to handle this Rotten mess."

"While I understand that Falcone was a radical hawk in the earlier years, it seems that in recent years, he's been leaning towards the conservative side. I just want to understand in advance which direction the Gotham Police Department is heading."

The fact that the police station chief was connected to The Godfather's gang might sound absurd, but in Gotham, it was as normal as it could be. Gordon, despite being a righteous cop, understood Gotham's ecosystem better than anyone else, so he wouldn't act recklessly and try to overthrow all the orders single-handedly.

On the contrary, he wanted to find a unique way out of the complex game, so he had to deal with various factions.

"I've become The Godfather's family tutor, responsible for teaching his son. You're correct; in recent years, The Godfather has become increasingly conservative, possibly due to his age."

"I don't think you need to worry about him taking drastic measures. On the contrary, in a sense, he might help you deal with those troublemakers."

Schiller sat down and poured a cup of coffee for Gordon, saying, "The last time I was at his house, the leaders of several families were having a meeting. I heard that there's been unrest in the Eastern Piers recently..."

Gordon sighed and said, "I just found out myself. The Edwardo family, which has been controlling all five Piers in the East, has had internal turmoil. Young Edwardo killed his father and had a falling out with his uncle."

"You know how important those Piers are; 60% of the contraband in Gotham comes through there."

"I heard the Edwardo family is quite ancient, native to Gotham, even older than Falcone."

"It's hard for me to say. I just dealt with a shootout incident there yesterday. The new chief has already received an invitation from young Edwardo. I came to ask you today because I want to know if Falcone intends to get involved in this matter and if he will stand with young Edwardo."

"If it's really young Edwardo taking over the Edwardo family..." Gordon sighed and said, "He's a complete extremist. He won't embargo many dangerous goods like the old Edwardo did, and Gotham might descend into chaos again."

"Gotham is always in a mess. Don't worry; the police can't handle this right now. Worst case scenario, you guys will have to clean up a bit more."

"As for The Godfather, I can only say that, compared to being your enemy, Falcone now seems more like your friend and ally."

"He, too, would prefer to keep Gotham from descending into chaos."

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Next Chapter >>Chapter 55: Rainy Night Murder