The rain tonight.
Go down and get bigger.
The wind tonight.
The wind picked up and blew harder and harder.
A luxurious limousine pulled up outside an unremarkable apartment building. Inside
the sparsely populated building, the person inside the limousine was staring intently from
one of the lit windows.
The busy figures inside the window clearly didn't notice this.
"Finally done!"
Scientist Leonard looked as if he had just finished a three‑hundred‑round battle with a
beautiful woman, sweating profusely. In reality, he had simply tidied up his room and put
away his previously messed‑up comic book collection.
This might not be a high‑intensity workout for most people, but he is Leonard, a fragile
scientist, who almost lost half his life in this tidying up.
"Sheldon can't find fault with me now." The reason Leonard spent so much time
tidying up was naturally because he had an extremely obsessive‑compulsive roommate.
Walked out of the room.
He was just about to show off to Sheldon when he saw a girl sitting cross‑legged on the
carpet eating potato chips, while Sheldon on the sofa was weighing the takeout on an
electronic scale.
Hi, Penny.
Leonard's arrogant, cocky demeanor immediately subsided somewhat.
"Hi, Leonard."
The girl was watching TV and eating potato chips without turning around, which gave
Leonard the opportunity to run to the bathroom, tidy himself up a bit, and then come out
again.
"The person you were talking to just now was that genius cartoonist, right? And you
even ransacked your room because of it," Sheldon said confidently while recording his
food intake.
"I've already tidied up the room."
Leonard immediately tried to salvage his image.
Slightly proud.
The girl didn't seem to pay attention to him; instead, she was quite surprised by
Sheldon's hearing.
"You were clearly playing games in front of the TV just now, how did you manage to
eavesdrop on Leonard's phone call? You didn't install monitoring software on his phone,
did you?" The girl named Penny was quite pretty; she was the neighbor of the two
eccentric scientists and Leonard's dream girl.
"Ok?"
Sheldon straightened his head like a groundhog.
"Great idea! Penny, I never thought you'd have such a flash of inspiration. Maybe you
really won't have to be a waitress for the rest of your life." Sheldon's tone was full of
emotion—he didn't look down on his friend; he just liked to discriminate against
everyone's intelligence equally, and theoretical physicists all had a bit of a sense of
superiority.
Hear the words.
Penny put down the potato chips in her hand without expression.
"If you're really that smart, don't you know you shouldn't offend the girl who served
you the food?" She turned to Sheldon, her tone laced with threat.
"..."
Sheldon didn't dare to refute. He seemed to turn his head and stare at Leonard, then
began to change the subject, "What does the genius cartoonist want with you? Let me
guess, don't tell me yet... Hmm! He must have seen the 1000 pages of suggestions I hacked
into his computer and implanted, so he called you specifically to have you thank me on his
behalf!"
A theoretical physicist in his thirties, with beautiful blue eyes that held a childlike
expectation. However, Leonard's shake of the head shattered the man's beautiful fantasy.
"No, he didn't mention you or your thousand‑page comic book suggestion. Actually,
the kid just consulted me about superhero comics."
Leonard displayed an arrogant attitude, as if he were the ultimate comic book expert.
However, it didn't attract any girls.
He was somewhat disheartened, but he still continued, "I think our genius cartoonist is
probably looking for inspiration... Also, perhaps because I initially questioned his abilities,
he later told me that he has someone very close to Mr. Bruce Wayne as his angel investor."
"He received a full ten million US dollars in free investment." Leonard couldn't help
but marvel at this, as such a sum of money was an unimaginable amount for him.
You believe that?
The girl, Penny, rolled her eyes.
She always thought her neighbor had just run into a bragging high school student.
"He said he doesn't like to lie⋯I think that's pretty credible." Leonard held his
phone, feeling a little guilty. He just wanted to exude masculine charm by being valued.
"Then you're definitely beyond saving."
Penny's honest evaluation.
"What do you think?"
She also looked at Sheldon.
However, the eccentric nerd Sheldon didn't care about that.
"He didn't mention me at all! Not even a little bit?" Sheldon's voice rose eight octaves.
"Not even that annoying tall physicist?"
The young man was very unwilling to accept this.
"Yes, not at all."
Leonard reluctantly gave an answer. He couldn't lie, because if he did, Sheldon would
seize on it. No one knew better than him how annoying his roommate was.
"Okay, I get it. Looks like he's not as genius as we thought!" Sheldon tormented
the food in the lunchbox with his fork, as if those innocent pieces of meat were some
cartoonist who had disappointed him.
He shoved a piece of meat into his mouth.
Sheldon puffed out his cheeks and chewed hard.
"Listen to me, you have to believe me⋯" Penny was about to say something more,
but she was interrupted when Sheldon suddenly jumped up like a cat whose tail had been
stepped on.
"Cherry pit! Cherry pit!"
His face turned bright red, and he was clutching his own neck with his fingers.
"Damn it, you only ate cherry meat! The Chinese restaurant didn't put real cherries in
it!" Leonard complained, but still rushed over to rescue his roommate.
Penny quickly joined in to help.
After a series of incredibly skillful efforts, Sheldon was finally rescued.
"I swear, the fact that this guy is still alive is the best proof that I should believe in
God," Penny said to Leonard while patting Sheldon on the back to help him catch his
breath.
"It's not my fault. It's all cherry pits. I'm not good at dealing with them. For me,
it's like Superman facing Kryptonite," Sheldon protested weakly as he regained his
breathing.
However, all he got in return were two perfectly synchronized eye rolls.
"You're trying to link this to superheroes? They won't get a cherry pit stuck in their
throats!" Penny tried to wake her friend from her slumber with harsh reality.
"Penny is right, and besides, it wasn't a cherry pit, it was just a pea." Leonard, who
had just washed his hands, had water stains on them that made Sheldon avoid him.
"I ordered cherry meat, which doesn't have peas in it," Sheldon corrected
earnestly. However, neither Penny nor Leonard believed his sophistry.
"But it was just a pea!"
Leonard reiterated this point.
So Sheldon thought for a moment.
"No, that's not a pea, I ordered cherry meat." Sheldon persisted, even after
Leonard had pulled out the pea he had spat out, he only glanced at it.
"It just looks like a pea, but I'll never admit it's a pea." Sheldon lowered his head again
and started fiddling with the lunchbox, but hesitated to put the food in his mouth.
"That's called self‑deception!"
Leonard gritted his teeth.
"Who would collect food their roommate vomited up? You two are really weirdos."
Penny couldn't help but exclaim as she stood up and straightened the wrinkles in her
clothes.
She moved her mouth a couple of times as if she had ulcers, "You know what? I used to
think you guys were crazy enough for being obsessed with superheroes in comics but not
daring to follow real‑life superheroes."
Penny hadn't finished speaking.
"now what?"
Sheldon responded reflexively.
"Now?" Penny grabbed her coat and scooped it up from the table. "Either I'm
crazy, or you guys are crazy, but it can't be the world that's crazy."
"To be honest, let's not talk about what just happened."
"Just the idea that a fourteen or fifteen‑year‑old could have ten million and know that
billionaire Bruce Wayne... If I were a conman, I could swindle you out of all your money."
"I'd rather believe that Bruce Wayne will flirt with me right now than believe that I can
just walk out and he'll be there to flirt with me."
Penny was genuinely trying to persuade her two friends not to fall for the scam of a
billionaire coming to their door, but she found that both of them remained silent and did
not respond.
"Sigh, you'll be sleeping on the streets sooner or later, but I'll definitely adopt
you⋯who doesn't like having a pet?" Penny said, opening the apartment door to go
back to her own apartment.
"Crack~"
The door is closed.
The two nerdy guys looked at each other in bewilderment.
After a while.
"It's incredible that Penny can even recognize that she's crazy," Sheldon remarked
sincerely, turning his gaze away from the doorway.
"Who says otherwise? Actually, she doesn't need to lie to me; I could take off my
underwear for her." Leonard withdrew his infatuated gaze and lowered his head to enjoy
his late‑night snack.
however.
His expression froze instantly when he saw the empty table.
Where is my takeout?
Leonard remembered Penny's casual scoop earlier.
His tone was one of astonishment.
"Leonard, Leonard, I told you before that you needed to buy three takeouts. You may
not believe in math or me, but you really should believe that our neighbor will continue to
perform consistently well." Sheldon kept poking at the takeout box with his fork, not
eating a single bite for a long time, his tone full of pity.
Leonard was extremely frustrated.
However, he remained somewhat stubborn, saying, "This is all part of my plan. Sooner
or later, Penny will become dependent on my takeout, unable to live without me, and
eventually marry me."
It's truly a fantasy for otaku.
Leonard was completely excited.
"Look, this is the opportunity she left for me." He noticed Penny's cell phone on
the table, and he proudly grabbed it and rushed toward the apartment door.
I just got into the hallway.
Leonard then saw Penny, who was still standing at the door for some reason.
Is she waiting for me?
With this in mind, Leonard quickly stepped forward.
"Bububu..."
Penny froze on the spot as if being stared at by Medusa, her lips trembling as she
repeated the same syllable over and over again.
"Cloth what?"
Leonard walked up to Penny, puzzled.
then.
"Bububu..."
He also became a broken record.
The two of them stuttered in perfect unison.
And at this time.
"Leonard!"
Sheldon also rushed out in a panic.
"Oh no! My computer is ruined! That cartoonist's computer is full of viruses! He might
really be a genius! He predicted my prediction, which caused my computer to completely
break down!"
Sheldon sounded dejected.
He found his two friends standing stiffly in the hallway.
Before Sheldon could even ask a question.
"What cartoonist are you talking about?" Bruce Wayne, dressed in a suit and exuding
the air of a successful man and an extremely elegant demeanor, moved away from the two
men and moved to the side.
Sheldon's eyes widened immediately.
"Bruce Wayne!"
He did express a full‑blown astonishment.
only.
This may have exhausted all his strength.
"Oh my God!"
Sheldon, an atheist, rolled his eyes and fell straight backward. As is often the case with
friendship boats, Leonard and Penny, regaining their senses, hurriedly caught the
theoretical physicist. The three of them then capsized together, sitting in bizarre positions
in the corridor.
"Feel sorry."
Leonard didn't know why he had to apologize to Bruce.
"Well, sorry."
Penny didn't know why she apologized too. Mainly, both of them were still in a daze,
unable to believe they'd seen a global billionaire in such a cheap apartment.
"Don't you want me to come in and sit down?"
Bruce was speechless inside, but he still smiled on the surface. Upon hearing this,
Leonard and Penny nodded hurriedly and stood up in a flurry, carrying Sheldon towards
the apartment door like a patient.
"Please come in!" Penny said to Bruce, sticking her head out of her skin.
In the living room, Bruce gracefully avoided the Star Wars figurines scattered on the
floor, his gaze lingering on the comic book posters covering the walls, while Leonard was
as nervous as a student facing the principal.
His hands were shaking as he held the coffee.
"So, Ian Kent, my nephew, is he planning to hire the two of you?" Bruce politely
accepted the coffee, placed it on the table, and got straight to the point.
His gaze shifted from Leonard to Sheldon, who was lying unconscious on the sofa.
"Am I not in this group?"
Penny couldn't help but interject. It was her first time meeting a top tycoon in person,
so she looked uneasy and tried to lighten the tense atmosphere with some humor.
"No."
Bruce looked at the girl and responded earnestly.
"Forehead⋯⋯"
Penny felt pressured and took a few steps back. "Really... Actually, I'm very good at
cleaning. No matter how high‑end a company is, it should need excellent cleaners, right?"
She gave an awkward laugh and then spoke.
"unnecessary."
Bruce's response was concise and to the point.
He didn't know why he thought of the sterilized female cleaner in Ian's other novel; he
felt that he might have been really driven a bit crazy by that kind of thing lately.
"Ok."
Penny scratched her unbearably itchy scalp and awkwardly retreated to a corner. She
felt somewhat humiliated and had mixed feelings, feeling like a clown in this extra room.
Thinking like this.
Penny, who noticed Bruce glancing at her a few more times, didn't think it was her
charm at work; she just felt that the world was so crazy it was almost unreal.
Who would have thought?
The bragging boy that his neighbor encountered actually wasn't bragging; billionaire
Bruce Wayne really did come to his door for help. The odds of that are comparable to being
hit on the head by a meteorite while walking down the street.
The more Penny thought about it, the more dreamy it seemed.
And Leonard is the same.
"Yes⋯ sir, Mr. Kent did say he was willing to offer Sheldon and me a new job, but⋯"
Leonard, still in a daze, hadn't finished speaking.
"very good."
Bruce nodded to interrupt him.
"Promise me, my nephew."
The old‑money tycoon spoke with utmost seriousness.
"So, this is a formal employment with Wayne Corporation?" Leonard probed
cautiously. Like Penny, he felt it was a dream, and even couldn't help but secretly pinch his
thigh.
"You can think of this as an additional personal hire," Bruce corrected the other
person's statement. He needed someone to keep an eye on whether the alien technology
Ian might be hiding was safe enough.
"Additional hiring?"
Leonard's mind immediately conjured up a complete Mission: Impossible plot. "We're
corporate spies? That's probably not the same kind of work we do at university, is it?"
He was having second thoughts. In any case, Leonard really didn't want to give up his
university job; after all, scientific research wasn't just about future prospects, but also
about benefiting all of humanity.
Just as Leonard felt a sense of pride rising within him.
"The average annual salary of a university professor in the United States is $200,000,
while I will give you an annual salary of $500,000, not including the salary that Ian Kent will
offer you."
Bruce unleashed his most unstoppable money power on the planet.
It was just a slight intervention.
They had already smashed the poor Leonard until he was dumbfounded.
"Half a million!?"
The scientist with scientific aspirations was hit by the financial shock – his and
Sheldon's salaries were not low, but their student loan repayments were by no means
small.
In America.
The higher the degree, the more money you have to pay for it. That's the reality of the
capital market in the free United States. Most high‑paid professionals spend most of their
first twenty years' income paying off student loans.
"This this⋯⋯"
Leonard's resolve began to waver.
Penny, upon hearing this salary promise, also offered her support.
"My God! Leonard, you guys are going to be rich! You'll be the richest...nerds I know!"
Penny's timely exclamation was like a shot in the arm.
"The richest nerd?"
Leonard seemed to feel his own masculine competitiveness. Scientific ideals, the
future of humanity—all that nonsense! The most fundamental mission of humankind is to
reproduce!
"Don't worry, Mr. Wayne, Sheldon and I are experts at corporate espionage!" Leonard took
off his glasses and made a firm assurance to Bruce.
And right now.
"Leonard! Leonard!" Sheldon suddenly jumped up from the sofa like a frog that had
been electrocuted. "I had a dream! I dreamt that I saw Bruce Wayne!"
"Then I fainted because I was too excited!" He first looked at his roommate, and then
followed his roommate's gaze to Bruce, who was sitting in his blind spot to the side.
"So it wasn't a dream after all, my Groundhog Day~" With that, Sheldon fainted again,
his nonsensical behavior making Leonard quite embarrassed.
"Perhaps I'm the only one who's good at it..."
Leonard coughed twice guiltily, touching his slightly embarrassed face. Bruce couldn't
help but think to himself, "The abnormal Ian always seems to be looking for abnormal
scientists."
"Not a corporate spy."
Of course, Bruce maintained his composure on the surface, pretending to ignore the
farce. He carefully chose his words, saying, "I'm more like I'm looking for two caregivers for
my nephew."
This is the truth.
After all, Batman can't keep an eye on a big boy in Metropolis all the time. That's why
Bruce needs these two scientists, who are being targeted by Ian, to keep an eye on Ian and
prevent situations that neither he nor Clark might want to see.
Bruce will certainly also begin preparing to place other, more reliable scientists in Ian's
lap.
but.
Two more people wouldn't matter.
"Caregiver?"
Leonard was a little taken aback.
"That is, a nanny."
Penny whispered an explanation from the side. She thought the world was truly
absurd; who would spend a million dollars a year just to hire a babysitter for a child to play
house?
"But Mr. Wayne, Sheldon and I are both people with scientific aspirations⋯" Leonard,
realizing what was happening, began to struggle, his last bit of stubbornness still lingering.
In this regard.
Bruce calmly took two checks from his suit pocket and casually placed them on the
coffee table piled with comic books.
"This is a resettlement allowance."
Bruce stood up and straightened his suit; the sound of the fabric rubbing together
exuded the quality of money. "Besides," he said, "who says you can't continue to conduct
cutting‑edge scientific research?"
He gave Leonard a mysterious smile.
If technology that can blow up the Earth isn't cutting‑edge enough, then what truly
qualifies as cutting‑edge!
"There really is research on this?"
Leonard's eyes widened.
"Oh! Oh my God, Leonard, you guys can move into a big mansion... That's the life I'
ve only ever dreamed of." The number on the check made Penny gasp.
She was simply moved by the profound shock she felt.
However, Leonard, whose heart was already fluttering with romantic feelings, felt that
he had discovered the key element.
"I'll do it! I'll be a nanny!"
He became determined again.
"Your assist was good."
Bruce pulled out a few bills and stuffed them into Penny's hand as a thank you. He
turned back and smiled, glancing at Sheldon, who was still unconscious on the sofa.
"Someone will come and persuade him."
Leave this sentence.
Bruce put down his coffee, which he hadn't even touched, and got up to leave.
"Are you leaving?"
Leonard and Penny quickly saw them off.
Very enthusiastic.
The Einstein statue on the living room wall is silently witnessing this scene.
Another scientist corrupted by capitalism.
as same as him.
⋯⋯
The rain in Gotham always smells of rusty iron.
The rain in the metropolis smells like diluted lemon detergent.
Alfred stood downstairs at the apartment building, holding a black umbrella.
The umbrella's angled curve was just right to allow rainwater to flow down the folds of
Gotham's richest man's custom‑made suit without wetting the impeccably styled hair of
this image‑conscious tycoon.
"Back to Gotham, sir?"
The old butler asked as he opened the car door, his voice carrying a calmness that
seemed to have seen through everything.
Although he was very old, and Bruce was middle‑aged and had become a father, his
way of addressing Bruce remained unchanged.
"Not tonight." Bruce loosened his tie and casually took himself up to the apartment
building, tossing aside the remaining two pounds of the ten‑pound listening device.
"Ian Kent is still a student. He can't fly and has only just begun to awaken his
abilities. Therefore, his secret base must be in Metropolis."
Bruce was conducting a logical analysis. Yes, his sudden realization at Ian's house
stemmed from his belief that he had grasped a crucial clue.
What kind of omnipotent god of the universe is that? Isn't it just artificial intelligence?
That was exactly the same situation that Superman experienced when he was a child!
prior to.
Bruce felt he had figured everything out.
It was because it reminded me of information about Clark.
They look so alike.
This is also why he suddenly returned everything to Ian, because he realized that Ian
might be like Clark, with a lonely fortress that doesn't belong to Earth!
"It's clear that you care a lot about Mr. Kent."
Alfred saw the gleam in his young master's eyes in the rearview mirror—that familiar
excitement of discovering a new mystery.
"So, will Mr. Kent go to Arkham?" Butler was also curious about this, after all, he had
seen Batman's mental evaluation report on Ian.
"Why do you think I would reward him? Arkham doesn't need a second king."
Bruce didn't look up; his fingers swiped rapidly across the car's computer.
The neon lights outside the car window cast flowing colors on Bruce's face.
"Perhaps Mr. Kent is also from Krypton?" Alfred drove the car steadily, always chatting
with Bruce whenever he had the chance.
As Bruce's close associate.
No one knew better than him that his young master was Gotham's biggest psychopath.
"If it were just that kind of situation, I would be very happy to see it. However, the
situation may be more unbelievable and complicated." Bruce looked down and kept
scrolling on his tablet.
"What exactly is the ability he awakened...? We might find out soon enough." Bruce
displayed the Sentinel comics he had secretly photographed on the tablet on his lap, and
even Homelander comics.
The Sentinel's tattered gold suit, Homelander's twisted smile—Bruce felt that Ian's
passion for creating such works was definitely more than just a love of money or creative
endeavors.
He believed he had grasped the crux of the problem.
and.
They are getting closer to the hidden truth about Ian Kent.
"Drawing power from fantasy, is that really possible⋯" Bruce felt he had grasped
the key information, but even he found the guess too absurd.
of course.
Absurdity is not impossible.
That's why we need to wait for time to verify it.
And before that.
"Start by searching for his secret base near his school."
The car drove over the puddle.
Bruce devised a nighttime "operation" plan.
Very cautious.
But no one can say for sure.
Is he making excuses for himself, temporarily escaping the nightmare he'll continue to
experience once he returns to Gotham?