The Storm Approaches

"Next, I’ll be outlining the key points for this final exam. Please open your textbooks to page one. We’ll start with the table of contents and work our way down. Everything from the first section of Chapter One to the final section of Chapter Ten is important…"

"Keep turning pages. For the first fifty pages of this book, you must memorize everything except the pictures. Every conceptual statement will appear on the exam as a fill-in-the-blank question. After the end of Section Three in Chapter Two, on page sixty, the remaining material will include essay questions and short-answer questions…"

"Additionally, from the material after Chapter Seven, I will select certain important topics for your final papers. The final paper will still be three thousand words. The exam and paper will be weighted at a seven-to-three ratio, while the exam and your regular grades will be weighted at a six-to-four ratio."

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

"Also, following Gotham University’s longstanding tradition, starting next academic year, I will prepare and establish supplementary psychology courses. If you wish to participate, your total score on this final exam must be above eighty-five. Related associations and clubs are also being prepared. Any students interested in serving as organizers or club presidents may come to my office after class."

"All right, class dismissed."

Schiller closed his book and walked out of the classroom. Only then did the students below relax, before a wave of wailing broke out.

"My God! This book is thicker than my fist, and I have to memorize all of it!"

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

"I’ve never seen him carry a pistol or revolver. I’m guessing he uses cold weapons, like combat daggers and knives."

"Who remembers what Chapter Three was about? Where do the essay questions start?"

"Help! Evans! Evans! Are you there? Do you have notes? Let me borrow them, quick! Damn it, for more than half the semester, I only came to class after getting high. I didn’t absorb a thing!"

"If my dad knew I was studying this hard in college, he’d be moved to tears!"

Bruce was sitting among the crowd as well, but he was not as panicked as the others. Memorizing a book was no difficult task for him.

He had something he wanted to discuss with Schiller, concerning the construction of a private prison. But he could tell that Schiller was in a very bad mood, so after hesitating for a moment, Bruce decided not to follow him out.

A little later, Evans came over and asked Bruce, "Did you hear what the professor said about the club and association? I really want to be the organizer. You know, I’ve always been responsible for this course’s classroom discipline and assignments. But I wanted to ask your opinion about the association. Are you planning to join?"

Bruce understood what Evans meant. Gotham University had not only hobby clubs but also academic associations. Some popular courses formed their own study associations, which amounted to professors giving students extra lessons. Naturally, any association involved funding. Many of them wanted Bruce to join because he was extremely wealthy.

But Bruce had never participated in any serious clubs. He found club work tedious and did not want people constantly chasing after him for money.

Psychology was different, though. He felt he could get some extra help there, so he told Evans, "I’ll ask the professor whether he can give me the position of association president. As for the club, I’m not interested. You can handle being the organizer for both the class and the club."

Of course, Bruce knew that Evans was Falcone’s son. But family backgrounds like Evans’s were far too common in Gotham. There were at least six or seven sons of mob bosses in this classroom alone; Evans’s father was simply more powerful.

The people Bruce usually hung around with were also mostly the nephews and sons of major gang leaders. In a sense, Batman’s other identity could be considered deep infiltration behind enemy lines.

As for why Schiller was in such a bad mood, that had to start with this morning.

Over in Marvel, although Obadiah had been rescued, he was still extremely weak. His heart was functioning well, but just as Strange had said, he was simply too old and his bodily functions were too poor. He still had to remain in intensive care. Stark had been staying by his side. Obadiah was his only family, and even Pepper could not interrupt the bond between father and son.

Rhodey had temporarily left the military. He said he had not gone out on vacation in years, so just before Schiller left, he and Dr. Ethan joined an Antarctic research expedition and temporarily left New York.

Although there were still many unresolved mysteries surrounding Iron Man, everything had calmed down for the time being.

So Schiller returned to Gotham.

When he woke up this morning, he discovered that Gotham’s weather was unusually good. There was still a thin layer of fog, but faint sunlight could actually be seen falling onto the ground. That was truly rare.

So he decided to take advantage of this excellent opportunity and use a random chat. After the Iron Man incident ended, he had gained another chance to chat. He had one left over from the previous incident, so he now had two.

But the result was that Gotham truly deserved its reputation as a cursed place full of talent. The moment Schiller opened the chat panel and selected random chat—

The avatar that appeared had black hair and wore a green eye mask.

Schiller almost shut down the system in a panic.

Green Lantern!

That was right, another Green Lantern played by the same actor as Deadpool!

Deadpool had not appeared, yet he was everywhere. Schiller had not even met Deadpool, but he was already surrounded by him.

"I have to ask you, have you ever seen any strange flying objects? I mean, the traditional kind of flying saucer…"

A message from Green Lantern arrived quickly.

From those words, Schiller deduced that Hal was probably encountering the crashed alien spaceship right now. It was through this incident that he would obtain the Green Lantern ring left to him by the alien.

Schiller clicked on the avatar, and sure enough, Hal’s ability could not yet be copied because he had not become Green Lantern.

So Schiller replied, "I vaguely remember seeing something like that a few times. Why? Did you spot an unidentified flying object? I can recommend a website. It has plenty of records like that, and you can look through them carefully."

"I’ve searched all of them, including websites around the world that document unidentified flying objects. But everything they saw was flying in the sky."

"Then what did you see? If an unidentified flying object isn’t flying in the sky, why would it be called an unidentified flying object?"

"Oh, it… Of course! It was flying in the sky before. No, no, no… It’s nothing. Forget it…"

It seemed Hal had realized that he should not reveal so much information to a stranger he had just met on a forum. After all, if the other person learned that he had found a crashed unidentified flying object, the military might come looking for him.

But Schiller sighed. Setting aside whatever abilities the Green Lantern ring could bring him, he was already having trouble accepting the fact that Green Lantern was another Deadpool. Hopefully, Green Lantern had the Character Design from the comics. He had better not be another chatterbox.

By afternoon, Schiller’s mood had improved somewhat. Gordon came to see him then and asked, "Have you seen Falcone recently?"

"Yes. What’s wrong?"

In Gotham, dealing with the mob was nothing shameful. Or rather, no one could avoid dealing with mob figures.

In Gotham, being able to exchange a word or two with the Godfather was instead something to be proud of.

Gordon said, "Our new Police Department Director seems to be the Godfather’s man. Of course, that’s nothing unusual. I just want to know how he intends to deal with this mess."

"Although I know Falcone was an aggressive hawk in his earlier years, he seems to have shifted toward conservatism in recent years. I only came to get some advance information on which way the Gotham Police Department intends to turn."

A Police Department Director being the mob Godfather’s man might sound absurd, but in Gotham, it was perfectly normal. Gordon was an upright and good police officer, but he understood Gotham’s ecosystem better than anyone. He would not be some reckless hothead who planned to overturn the entire order by himself.

On the contrary, he wanted to find a unique path through complicated power struggles, which meant he had to maintain good relations with every faction.

"I became the Godfather’s private tutor, responsible for teaching his son. You’re right. The Godfather has become increasingly conservative in recent years, perhaps because he’s getting older."

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

Schiller sat down and poured Gordon a cup of coffee as well. "The last time I went to his house, the heads of several families were holding a meeting. I heard the eastern docks have been unsettled lately…"

Gordon sighed. "I only just found out myself. The Edward family, which has controlled five eastern docks all this time, has suffered an internal upheaval. Young Edward killed his father, then fell out with his uncle."

"You know how important those docks are. Sixty percent of Gotham’s smuggled goods come through there."

"I heard the Edward family is very old, one of Gotham’s native families. It predates even Falcone by quite a lot."

"That’s difficult for me to say. I only just dealt with a gang shootout there yesterday. The new Director has already received an invitation from Young Edward. I came to ask you today because I want to know whether Falcone intends to intervene in this matter at all. If he does, will he side with Young Edward?"

"If Young Edward really takes over the Edward family…" Gordon sighed. "He’s a complete madman. He won’t ban many dangerous goods the way Old Edward did. Gotham is going to descend into chaos again."

"When has Gotham ever not looked like this? Don’t worry. The police can’t do anything about it yet. At worst, you’ll just have to make a few extra trips to clean up the mess."

"As for the Godfather…" Schiller shook his head. "All I can say is that compared to an enemy, Falcone is now more like your friend and ally."

"He wants Gotham to fall into chaos even less than you do."

Thank you for all the recent tips! I saved screenshots of every one of them. I’ll add extra chapters once the story goes premium! Thank you!

As for the title, I’ve already asked the editor about it!