American Comics: Opening Guidance Batman

The cold morning wind rustled the branches outside the window, and the orange morning light illuminated the dark room through the layers of heavy curtains.

There was a knock on the bedroom door, Schiller turned over, and the valet outside said, "Sir, ten minutes ago, a gentleman named Gordon called you, and I told him that you should call when you wake up. He called back."

Schiller said slowly with a hoarse voice: "...Understood."

He sat up from the bed, woke up from his still drowsy sleep, then walked to the window and opened the curtain on one side with one hand. He saw the milkman on a bicycle ringing the bell at the door. , and soon someone went out and took the milk jug from him.

This is Gotham is an estate in the West End and Schiller's new home in Gotham.

While Gotham's faculty apartment was fine, it was time for him to buy a house of his own.

This is the old town of Gotham City, which is different from the wealthy area in the south. It was a town built by a group of British aristocrats when European immigrants arrived in the Americas. Therefore, most of them are traditional English-style manors. Later, because of the Due to the inclination of urban planning and the superior geographical location of the south, the wealthy area has moved from the west to the south.

Most of the old manors left here have a classical English style, but because the descendants of those nobles rarely stay here, most of these manors are uninhabited, and Schiller offers a very good price. , bought one of the most well-maintained and decorated buildings that he liked the most.

He didn't go to the affluent South to buy a house, not because he couldn't afford it, but for a very real reason—the estate in the west, closer to Gotham University, where he worked.

And to get to work from the wealthy southern districts, he had to drive thousands of miles across most of Gotham City.

The most terrible thing is that you have to pass through the most congested central city during peak hours.

Therefore, no matter how luxurious the villa in the rich southern area is, it is definitely not within the scope of Schiller's choice. He is not Bruce Wayne. If there is a traffic jam, he will take the helicopter directly. He doesn't want to spend most of the day in on the way.

There is another advantage of choosing the old-fashioned manor in the west area. There are fewer people here, it is relatively quiet, and there are no cars coming and going in the morning. Schiller can sleep peacefully on the rest day.

The most important thing is that it is very far from Wayne Manor, and it is also very far from the mountain where Bruce wants to build the Batcave in the future. If Batman is hit by the Joker in the future, the range blow will not reach him.

After a while the valet came in, opened and fastened the curtains, and said, "Breakfast is ready, sir."

Schiller nodded, took the glasses case he handed over, put the glasses on, looked down at his watch and said, "When did Gordon call?"

"About 25 minutes ago."

Schiller glanced back out the window again, then went downstairs for breakfast.

Go down the wooden stairs, through a somewhat dark corridor, the dining room is at the westernmost end of the manor building, walk in down the corridor, it is a semi-circular dining room with tall arched windows, hanging on both sides of the window. The dark green silk curtains and the silver tableware on the mahogany table shone with a mysterious luster in the dim light of the morning.

The morning light from the arched window fell on the dining table. The squares and round tableware projected by the window formed a picture of light and shadow. Schiller picked up the ironed newspaper from his right hand.

The ink of the printed newspaper was slightly blurred, and the top line read: "January 25, 1987, the weather was cloudy, and it rained in the afternoon, Gotham Daily."

While eating breakfast, Schiller looked for the information he needed from the newspapers. The fonts of this Times newspaper were often printed in small sizes, and the ink was easy to smear. He had to use a magnifying glass.

After a while, the valet came in and said, "Mr. Gordon is here."

Schiller put down the magnifying glass in his hand and looked up. Gordon was wearing a brown trench coat and a beret. When he walked into the restaurant, he was still chilled and saw Schiller was reading a newspaper. Gordon Said, "Have you seen the news today? The Godfather is furious and he won't allow the Met's ship to dock at the eastern dock any more."

"I'm seeing this part," Schiller said, pushing his glasses. "I stayed up late last night writing my paper and just missed your call this morning."

Gordon took off his trench coat and said, "I don't have anything to do, you know, I'm not busy with work recently, I just wanted to call to congratulate you on your new house, oh, yes, my gift is still in the car how about..."

"No hurry, have you had breakfast yet? Why don't you sit down and have something together?"

Gordon handed the coat he took off to the footman, and said, "I went to the bureau earlier this morning, and I already ate it. I brought you the information you asked me to find."

With that, he put a black briefcase on the table and started rummaging, then took a document from it and handed it to Schiller.

Schiller said: "It's hard work, even if you've eaten, let's have a cup of hot milk."

Gordon didn't refuse. He sat down at the table and said, "I was a little surprised when you said you were going to take over Viscount Bernard's manor. After all, there are not many people who like this old-fashioned manor."

"Rich people in Gotham still prefer the stand-up villas. It's better to have a large garage where they can park their luxury cars."

Gordon looked around. The decoration here is the most typical English style, with silk curtains, knitted rugs, wooden furniture, and a stone fireplace. The fire inside is crackling, even if you are not close, you can feel it. to a warmth.

The restaurant in the old manor is not too big, the corridor is relatively narrow, and you can even see extremely retro metal wall candlesticks on the walls. The atmosphere in the entire building seems to have traveled back to the Victorian period.

Gordon looked back and said, "But now it looks like this is a good match for you."

"It's not that I have a soft spot for English Manor, it's just that if I buy a house in the south, it's too far from where I work, and Gotham's bad traffic conditions may make me miss all the morning classes. "

Gordon took a sip of milk and said, "Who isn't? Every time I go to work at the police station, I get blocked by the damned crowd at the center carousel. You know, I took the first driving class in the police training school. one!"

"This **** place, everyone is a desperado, they never think that in a turntable with hundreds of cars moving at the same time, pressing the accelerator all the way, they may be suffocated by the airbags that pop up. !" Gordon said angrily.

"It can be seen that you should have been blocked for a while just now." Schiller said with a smile.

"I came along and saw at least ten talented racing drivers who can win the F1 championship." Gordon said a little depressed.

"Speaking of which, it's also our new chief's fault. The police department is understaffed, so we can't transfer all the traffic policemen, right? Several new people have been transferred to my team in the past few days. They don't understand anything and are armed with guns. I just want to go up."

Gordon shook his head and said, "Might as well go back and direct their traffic!"

"The life of the police is better, and it is inseparable from this chief. Just bear with it."

Gordon put down the cup and rubbed his hands, and said excitedly, "But I'll be able to buy an apartment next to the police station soon."

"Have you saved enough money?"

"It's almost there, can you imagine? I made $80,000 last week, and even if I don't make that much the next week, if I save a little more, I'll be able to buy an apartment with the full amount."

"How come there are so many? There shouldn't be too many cases last week, at most $50,000, right?" Schiller turned to him while eating.

Gordon raised his eyebrows and said, "Oh, I forgot, you're not a local, Gotham has to pay protection fees wherever you go, and the same goes for the police. I'm now the head of the field team, under the All cops give me 15% of their income."

"So you took it? Like a mob boss?" Schiller joked.

"You don't understand this. If you don't accept it, they will be afraid, because in Gotham, if you accept their money, it means you are willing to take them to continue to work. If you don't accept it, they will worry about the business. Not tomorrow."

"I heard you're getting married to your fiancée? Is she in Gotham now? When are you planning to have your wedding?"

Gordon coughed and said, "She is going through the formalities of job transfer. It is very troublesome to hand over the company in the Metropolis. It will take at least a week, but it's okay, I can have some time to give the apartment that I like to. If you buy it, you can give her a surprise."

Schiller shook the newspaper in his hand, then said while reading, "Have you thought about what you want for your wedding? I'm rich now."

"Really? Richer than Wayne?"

Schiller rolled his eyes and said, "If I had more money than him, you wouldn't see me here."

"Actually, if I hadn't made so much money, I wouldn't want to get engaged so soon, maybe I'd be on vacation in Hawaii by now."

"I thought you were all year round."

"Come on, then I'll go crazy. I have to have a good body and a good mood to survive in this **** city for a long time."

Schiller took a cigar from the humidor on the table, cut it with scissors, and handed it to Gordon. Gordon took it. .

Then he took one himself, and he let out a puff of smoke and said, "The godfather is in a bad mood recently, and some daring people want to come and spread wildness on his territory."

Gordon stretched out his hand holding the cigar, changed his posture, leaned on the armrest of the chair, sighed somewhat comfortably, and said, "Why did you ask me to check information on the floating population in Gotham? What's the problem? I heard that the people who irritate the godfather are from the Metropolis."

"Would you be surprised if I said it was trouble following me?"

"Of course not." Gordon denied it almost without thinking.

"When I first saw you, I had a feeling that you must be someone who can cause big trouble."

"why?"

"You can see it as a detective's instinct."

"Interesting, can you elaborate?"

"I've seen a lot of criminals, and they're different..." Gordon straightened up, resting his wrists on the table, and said, "...completely different, stupid thieves and real felons."

"I've never heard a serial murderer yell at a judge, be rude, they have a different temperament..."

"I always feel like you're looking in a mirror when you're facing Batman."

"You think I'm very similar to him? Are you serious?"

"Some places are completely different, but others are surprisingly consistent."

Schiller looked at Gordon and said, "Keep this sharp, and you'll be Gotham's savior."

Gordon knocked the ash on the silver dinner plate, and then said: "Godfather has a hard time this time. The group of people who got in seems to have some way to go. They killed the two bartenders of the Falcone family. If the godfather doesn't catch them in a short time and lose face in Gotham, it's more serious than anything."

"The gangsters shouldn't dare to provoke the godfather in a short time, right?" Schiller put down the newspaper and leaned back in the chair.

"It's hard to say, don't underestimate those people. Don't forget, Maroney isn't dead, he made a lot of money in the conflict in the East Side, and he may be planning to challenge the godfather."

"He's courting death." The smoke fell with the voice, Schiller stretched out his hand, flicked the cigar with his fingertips, and the fine dust slowly fell.

"Not necessarily, the godfather somehow passed him and let the old chief Victor be killed. I heard he wanted to get a kick in the Arkham hospital too, but was kicked out by the godfather again, Maroney. I can't stand it."

"The Eastern District is not peaceful. Maroney is eager to subdue the forces that he has incorporated. He needs to win the battle to stand up and completely gather the fresh blood he has just absorbed."

"He dares to use his godfather to stand up, and Falcone will let him learn." Schiller leaned on the back of the chair, and pulled the collar of his sweater, looking very relaxed.

Gordon coughed again, and through the smoke from the top of the cigar, squinting at the reflection on the silver dinner plate, he said, "Maroney is a great man, and the godfather is old."

"Are you more optimistic about him?"

"No, I instead hope the old godfather can win. As long as Falcone is still around, Gotham won't be in a mess, and without him, it's hard to say."

Soon, Gordon left. After all, he still has work to do. It is his peak season recently. If he works hard for another month, it will not be a problem to buy a villa.

After Gordon left, Schiller leaned back in his chair and smoked the entire cigar, the smoke lingering at his fingertips. He hadn't thought so relaxed in a long time.

In this crisis-ridden city, he doesn't even have a cigarette break if safety is not assured.

Before that, Schiller never thought about buying a house and didn't need a home, because he was not a Gotham, he came from a country with the safest order in the world.

Accompanied by the burning of the cigar, the smoke that is several times thicker than the cigarette wafts into various elusive abstract shapes, which reminds people of countless associations. In the psychedelic and sweet smell, Schiller began to recall.

He couldn't remember whether he was shocked or excited when he first encountered a shooting in Chicago after leaving his hometown.

He only remembered that when the plane crashed, in the memories of his life accompanied by weightlessness and lack of oxygen, the treacherous waves he had participated in for half his life blurred into a fog, just as they wished, when these memories dissipated with death, countless secrets be buried forever.

If there really is a **** in this world, Schiller thought, then this great being who can give people another life really knows him well.

Gotham is the sewer of evil in the world, and good people will not be flushed down the sewer.

Schiller looked at the top of the cigar at his fingertips, where the fire gradually went out, the smoke began to thin, and the illusionary pattern began to slowly dissipate.

He knew that when he regained consciousness and learned from the original owner's memory that this was Gotham City, the excitement that filled his brain for the first time would eventually destroy all his ambitions for a peaceful life.

Or rather, the mundane enjoyment of the dull and mundane, from beginning to end, is just the self-deception of a lunatic who is well versed in self-hypnosis, until he sees the emergence of Batman.

As the smoke drifted away, Schiller recalled how he felt when he first used his weak mind-reading ability to touch Batman's heart.

Like Gordon said, he felt like he was looking in a mirror.

So, he gave Batman the answer he wanted to hear the most, and then almost impatiently, put an end to the boring, dull life that made him hopeless.

And now, he's finally become a Gotham citizen, in the winter of Gotham 1987, on the first birthday of his second life.