Ch.54 Dooming Storm

"Alright, next, let's focus on the key points for the final exam. Please open your textbook to page 1 and let's go through it starting from the catalogue. From the first subsection of Chapter 1 to the last subsection of Chapter 10, they are all important..."

"Scroll down, you need to memorize everything in the first 50 pages of this book, except for the pictures. All conceptual statements appear as fill-in-the-blank questions on the exam. After the third subsection of Chapter 2 on page 60, there are essay questions and short-answer questions..."

"In addition, for the content after Chapter 7, I'll select some important parts for your final research paper. The research paper still needs to be 3000 words long. The grading ratio for the exam and the research paper is 7:3. The grading ratio for the exam and the regular scores is 6:4."

"In other words, if you cannot achieve a good grade on the exam, you will definitely fail the course."

"Furthermore, following the tradition of Gotham University, starting from the next academic year, I'll prepare and organize additional psychology courses. If you want to participate in this course, you must score 85 or above on the final exam. Related clubs and societies are also in the planning stage. If any one is interested in being the organizer or club president, you can come to my office after class."

"That's all, class dismissed."

Professor Schiller closes the book and leaves the classroom. The students below finally relax and a wave of lamentations begins.

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

"Do you think if I fail the exam, he will shoot me?"

"I've never seen him with any gun or pistol. I guess he might use cold weapons, like a bayonet or a knife."

"Who remembers what the third chapter is about? Where do the essay questions start?"

"Help! Evans! Evans! Are you here? Do you have notes? Let me see them,please. Damn it, I only come to class after getting high, don't learn anything!"

"If my dad knew how hard I study in college, he would cry!"

Bruce also sits among the crowd, but he isn't as anxious as the others. For him memorizing a book isn't a challenge.

He has something to discuss with Schiller regarding the construction of a private prison. However, he can feel Schiller's bad mood. So Bruce hesitates for a moment and decides not to leave with Schiller.

After a while, Evans approaches him and asks, "Do you hear what the professor just says about clubs? I really want to be the organizer. You know, I am responsible for the classroom discipline and assignments in this course. But I want to ask your opinion about it. Are you planning to participate?"

Bruce understands what Evans means. In Gotham University, there aren't only interest-based clubs but also study-based ones. Some popular courses establish their own study-based clubs, which are essentially extra lessons provided by the professors. Of course, any club involves funding issues. Many want Bruce to join because he is rich.

But Bruce has never joined in any formal club. He has little patient with the work involved and doesn't want to be chased for money.

But not the psychology club. He thinks he can get some additional help there. So he tells Evans, "I will go to the professor and ask if he can give me the position of a president. As for the club, I'm not interested. You can handle both the classroom and the club."

Bruce is aware that Evans is Falcone's son. But such backgrounds are quite common in Gotham. There are at least six or seven sons of mob bosses in this class alone, with Evans's father being stronger than the rest.

The group of people who usually hang out with Bruce are mostly younger generation of major mob families. In some way, Batman's other identity is like going behind the enemy lines.

To understand why Schiller is in such a bad mood, let's go back to this morning.

In Marvel world, although Obadiah is rescued, he remains extremely weak. His heart is functioning not bad, but as Strange says, he is old and his physical condition is poor who is still in the ICU and Stark keeps him company. Obadiah is his only relative, and even Pepper can't interrupt their deep family affection.

Rhodes temporarily is on leave from the military. He says he hasn't had a vacation in years. So just before Schiller leaves, he and Dr. Yinsen participate in an Antarctic research project and leave New York.

Although there are still many mysteries surrounding Iron Man's incident, everything quiets down for the moment.

So Schiller returns to Gotham.

When he wakes up this morning, he finds that the weather in Gotham is surprisingly good. Although there is still a thin mist, he can faintly see the sunlight shining on the ground. This is so rare.

So he decides to take advantage of this opportunity for a random chat. After the Iron Man incident, he has another chance to chat. He still has one chat remaining from the previous incident, so now he has two.

However, Gotham is a cursed place as expected. Schiller opens the chat panel and starts a random chat.

The avatar that appears is a person with black hair wearing a green eye mask.

Schiller almost panics and closes the system.

Green Lantern!

Yes, it is the Green Lantern played by the same actor as Deadpool!

Although Deadpool hasn't appeared, he is everywhere. Schiller hasn't seen Deadpool yet, but he is already surrounded by him.

"Hey, have you seen any strange flying objects? I mean, like traditional UFOs..."

Soon, Green Lantern sends a message.

From the text, Schiller can infer that Hal, the Green Lantern, might have encountered a crashed alien spacecraft, and it is through this incident that he obtains the Green Lantern ring.

Schiller clicks on the avatar. Sure enough, Hal's abilities can't be replicated now because he hasn't become the Green Lantern yet.

So Schiller replies, "I vaguely remember seeing a few. What happened? Have you seen UFO? I can recommend a website. It has a collection of such sightings. You can take a look."

"I've checked them all, including websites that record UFO sightings worldwide. But all they see are things flying in the sky."

"What did you see ? If an UFO doesn't fly in the sky, why would it be called an UFO?"

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

It seems that Hal also realizes that he shouldn't reveal this much information to a stranger he just met on a forum. If the other finds out that he has discovered a crashed UFO, he might be contacted by the military.

Schiller sighs.Disregarding what abilities the Green Lantern ring can give him,just the fact that Green Lantern is another Deadpool makes it somewhat unacceptable to him. He wishes, Green Lantern will resemble the comic book character and not be so talkative.

In the afternoon, Schiller's mood improves slightly. Gordon comes to him and asks, "Have you seen Falcone recently?"

"Yes, what's up?"

In Gotham, it isn't embarrassing to deal with the mob, or rather, no one can avoid dealing with the underworld.

In Gotham, it is something to brag out if you can have a few words with the godfather.

Gordon says, "Our new police commissioner seems to be associated with Falcone. Of course, nothing strange. I just want to know how he plans to handle this mess."

"While I know that Falcone was a radical hawk in past years, he seems to have been leaning towards the conservative side in recent. I just want to know in advance of which direction Gotham Police Department should go."

It might sound absurd that the police commissioner is godfather's pawn, but in Gotham, it is as normal as it can be. While Gordon is a righteous cop, he understands Gotham's ecosystem better than anyone else, so he isn't the type to recklessly overthrow all the orders by himself.

On the contrary, he wants to find a unique path within the complex game, so he has to maintain good relations with all the different powers.

"I became a tutor for the godfather, responsible for educating his son. What you said is true. In recent years, the godfather has become increasingly conservative, probably because of his old age."

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

Schiller sits down and pours a cup of coffee for Gordon too, continuing, "When I went to his house last time, the heads of several families were having a meeting. I heard that there's been some unrest at the eastern docks..."

Gordon sighs and says, "I just heard as well. The Edward, who controls the five eastern docks, has had internal conflicts. Edward Junior killed his father and had a falling out with his uncle."

"You know how important those docks are. 60% of Gotham's contraband goods come ashore there."

"I heard that the Edward family is quite ancient, a true indigenous family of Gotham, even older than Falcone."

"It's hard for me to say. I just dealt with a fight there yesterday, and the new commissioner has been invited by Edward Junior. I came to ask you today to find out if Falcone plans to intervene in this matter. If he does, will he stand with Edward Junior?"

"If it really is Edward Junior taking over the family..." Gordon sighs, "He is an outright extremist and won't embargo many dangerous goods like his father did. Gotham will be thrown into chaos again."

"Gotham is always like this. Don't worry. This is not a police matter now. Worst comes to worst, you guys will have to make a few more trips to clean up the mess."

"As for Don Falcone..." Schiller shakes his head, "All I can say is that, compared to being enemies, Falcone now resembles more of a friend and ally to you guys."

"He's even less eager to see Gotham in chaos than you are."