Chapter 765: The Consequences of Faking a Paper (Part 1) (Patreon)

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Around five or six in the evening, the weather in Gotham was at its best, and occasionally, one could catch a glimpse of the sunset over the sea.

The lingering light of the setting sun pierced through layers of rain clouds, casting its glow upon the City of Darkness. Calling it the City of Night was inaccurate; it was more like a City of Dusk.

During the sunset, a magical moment, the light of the sun would cloak everything it touched in a mysterious, dreamlike veil. White sheets of paper turned into beautiful golden hues under the sunlight, even the black text on them sparkled.

Although the appearance of the text became beautiful, it couldn't disguise the headache-inducing content. Schiller held a stack of papers in his hands, his brow furrowed as he read.

Victor, passing by with a pile of documents, paused and turned his head to look at the papers. Seeing the signature as Bruce Wayne, Victor curiously leaned in.

"Is this Bruce's paper? It's not bad, right? The introduction is quite organized, but... is there an issue with these symbols? And it seems like there's a formatting problem in this citation..."

Schiller shook his head. "It's not just these issues. You've only seen his introduction. The most serious part he wrote is the introduction. Look here; at first glance, it seems fine, but it deviates from the topic he submitted in the opening report I received. It's clear that his thoughts wandered off."

"And here, the logical relationships are all messed up. He shouldn't have cited Jung's theory in this section; it conflicts with a previous conclusion. And here... it's evident this paper was rushed overnight."

Victor patted Schiller's shoulder. "Don't be too demanding. After all, he barely studied for the first three years. It's already good that he can produce this. These are just minor issues. As long as the overall research direction is correct, he can still graduate."

Schiller snorted. "If undergraduate papers look like this, what about postgraduate?"

"He's going for postgraduate?" Victor asked in surprise. "I thought he disliked classes. And does he really have time to dedicate to research?"

"He may not want to research, but he has to. In the entire Gotham University, there are only a few postgraduates, and they're all from other schools with mediocre academic levels. I've been working here for years and still haven't mentored a postgraduate. That would be a stain on my resume."

Schiller sighed as he looked at the stack of papers. Victor thought for a moment and said, "I don't think people reviewing your resume would care much about whether you mentored a postgraduate or not."

Schiller rubbed his forehead, put the papers down, and picked up the telephone. "Hello? This is Rodriguez, yes, that's correct. I'm looking for Wayne. What? He's not there? At this time, he's not in the library; where else could he be?"

Schiller glanced at his watch; it was nearly 7 p.m. Wayne Manor's dinner time usually ranged from 5 to 6 p.m. Bruce was known for his disciplined lifestyle, unlikely to deviate from his meal schedule.

If he had already finished dinner and wasn't in the library, it meant he wasn't studying. Schiller stood up, put on his coat, grabbed an umbrella, and first went to the library. Confirming Bruce wasn't there, he checked the dormitory and canteen. However, there was no sign of Bruce in the entire Gotham University.

Recalling Bruce mentioning Alfred's illness earlier, Schiller guessed he might have returned to Wayne Manor to check on his butler. After all, he had been staying at school these past few days and was likely concerned about Alfred's condition.

Schiller also wanted to visit Alfred. So, he drove to Wayne Manor. Alfred was there, but Bruce was not.

"Oh, Professor Schiller, why are you here at this time?" Alfred hurriedly approached, wanting to help Schiller with his coat, but Schiller showed no intention of stopping. He said, "Nothing much. Bruce's paper has some formatting issues, and I wanted to discuss it with him. Is he not here?"

Alfred hesitated, saying, "I was just thinking of calling him to come back this weekend. Aisha is at the age to start kindergarten, and we need to decide whether to hire a home tutor or send her to the community kindergarten."

Schiller thought for a moment and then said, "If he's not at school or at the manor, there's a good chance he's at Wayne Tower or his base."

Alfred nodded in agreement and said to Schiller, "You've been taking a lot of trouble during this time, Professor. I hope Bruce can graduate with excellent results."

Looking at the elderly man in front of him, Schiller smiled and said, "He will."

After leaving Wayne Manor, Schiller rushed to Wayne Tower. This was where most of Wayne Group's office employees worked. Since he hadn't made an appointment, he inquired at the front desk. However, they said they hadn't seen Wayne.

Just as Schiller was planning to go to the Batcave to find Bruce, in a small alley near Wayne Tower, he spotted a familiar dark figure. Schiller glanced at his watch; it was not even 8 p.m., just after dark. Why was Batman out so early?

Schiller reached the entrance of the alley just as Batman descended from a wall. Upon seeing Schiller blocking the way, Batman froze.

Before Schiller could speak, Batman spoke first, saying, "Professor, if you want me to finish the paper quickly, you can just call the library to find me. There's no need to enter Wayne Tower; that might scare the employees."

Schiller also froze. He asked, "When did I enter Wayne Tower? The front desk employees at Wayne Tower don't even know me. I just called the library to find you, and the librarian told me you weren't there, so I came here."

Both remained silent for a moment, realizing there might be a misunderstanding. Schiller broke the silence, saying, "Batman, I'm not necessarily trying to stop your hero career, but shouldn't you look at the current situation?"

Schiller produced a stack of papers from somewhere, waving it in his hand. The papers made a faint rustling sound. Looking at Batman, Schiller said, "Your current paper has fundamental format issues. Many symbols are used incorrectly, and there are problems with the citation format."

"If you want to continue fighting crime in Gotham, shouldn't you at least deal with these basic problems? Is that request really too much?"

"Well..." Batman began to answer but hesitated. Finally, he said, "But I have an urgent issue to deal with right now."

"What issue?" Schiller asked, looking at him.

Perhaps even Batman himself found it absurd. He hesitated but eventually said, "Wayne Tower has been broken into."

"Broken into?!" Schiller raised his voice. He said, "Batman, do you have to test my limits again and again? If you really don't want to write the paper, just delay graduation for a few years. No need to tell such obvious lies to escape studying."

Then, Schiller lowered his head, took a deep breath, and said, "Fine, I can pretend that your mental issues haven't been promptly treated, resulting in a series of consequences, making it difficult for you to fully integrate into normal life. My request isn't too high, is it? Fix the symbol problem tonight. Is that difficult?"

Schiller felt he had shown the utmost patience, but Batman showed no intention of leaving. He repeated, "I'm not joking. Someone broke into Wayne Tower and took a lot of important materials. I thought..."

"You thought it was..." Schiller took two steps forward, looking at Batman. He raised the papers in his hand and said, "I have no interest in any materials from Wayne Group. Right now, I just want you to hurry back to school and fix those punctuation symbols!"

Batman sighed. "I'm not worried about the materials being stolen. There are no secrets in Wayne Tower. But the problem is, many employees were scared. They claim that, when leaving the office, a figure suddenly appeared in the office..."

"Many say it's undead, but some people's reactions were excessive. In these past few days, Wayne Tower's windows have been shattered by bullets more than ten times, but that guy still keeps appearing."

Schiller sighed. "I don't have time to play detective games with you. You're responsible for your group's problems. But tomorrow morning, I hope to see that you've fixed the punctuation symbols. Okay?"

After saying this, he turned and left. Behind him, Batman took a deep breath, touched his forehead with a finger, and felt a spreading sense of anxiety. In these two weeks, he had deeply understood what academic pressure meant.

The next morning, Schiller sat in his office, holding a stack of papers, frowning, and sighing.

Anna and Victor were leaning close together, whispering to each other. Victor stared at Schiller and said, "Honestly, I really understand his feelings. Whenever a student can't get certain points in their paper right no matter how much they revise, I feel like grabbing an ice gun and giving them a shot."

Anna snorted and said, "You haven't seen a genius who can calculate multiple different results from the same set of data, or a genius who puts the same result in a paper with decimal points in the wrong place!"

The two sighed in unison. Having stayed at Gotham University for a long time, when they encountered students whose format and punctuation were correct, and whose logic and argumentation were rigorous, they felt like rushing to the church to thank God immediately.

Schiller didn't hear their hushed conversation, just focused on the stack of papers in his hands.

The punctuation symbols in the paper had indeed been corrected, but only the punctuation symbols. Schiller didn't believe Bruce would be the type to just fix punctuation symbols. Apart from an improper attitude, there was no other explanation for this.

After all, the break-in at Wayne Tower was not as simple as it seemed. Today, when Schiller called the library, the librarian said Bruce Wayne was not there and hadn't been there all day.

Calling the dorm, roommates said they hadn't seen him, and calling Wayne Manor, Alfred still said Bruce wasn't there.

For three whole days, Schiller couldn't reach Bruce by phone, and the paper didn't arrive. It could be said that, at this point, Schiller could barely contain his anger, all thanks to Batman being an orphan.

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Next Chapter>>Chapter 766: Consequences of Faking Research Papers (Part 1)