The Bat in the Jar

February 23, 1987, Chicago, night.

At the Chicago Grand Theatre, Miss Thena, having just finished a glamorous and lively ball, gently stroked her fur shawl. She took the chauffeur's hand and got into a luxury car. When she returned to her luxurious apartment, a handsome man with blue eyes put his arm around her waist. Thena said, "Our ball has only just begun, hasn't it, Mr. Bruce?"

Moonlight streamed in through the window, casting shadows on his beautiful blue eyes beneath his brows. His handsome profile captivated Thena. The man turned around; it was Bruce Wayne.

On an ordinary afternoon on February 20, 1987, Schiller woke up in his bed at Falcone Estate. He hadn't forgotten that before he traveled to Marvel, he had been resting in a guest room at The Godfather Estate.

Gotham mornings are never sunny, but the early morning always brings Schiller special inspiration. While having breakfast with the Falcone father and son, the professor once again got some inspiration and quickly perfected it in his mind.

"What are your thoughts on the future of Gotham?" Schiller asked Falcone.

Falcone shook his head and said, "If you had asked me this question 40 years ago, I would have told you that this city was beyond saving. But now I would say that this city doesn't need anyone to save it. It is what it is, and it will always be like this..."

Do you think Gotham needs a new order?

"Many people have asked me this question, but all I can say is that any effort to make this city better will ultimately come to nothing, no matter how inspiring it may be at the beginning."

"Why is that?"

"You've hit the nail on the head, but I don't know the answer."

The Godfather lit a cigar, and as the smoke slowly drifted away, he said, "In these 40 years, I have seen not only staunch revolutionaries, but also saviors with saintly moral character. There are so many people in this world, and there are certainly one or two good people or heroes who are determined to save this city."

"They came to Gotham with this mindset, and you have to admit, even if you know they won't succeed, you're still deeply impressed by their determination."

"You might find it ridiculous, but I was indeed changed by these people. Many people might think, if that's true, how did I become the Godfather of Gotham? How did I become the biggest gangster in this gangster city?"

"But it is precisely because I have seen these things and experienced that era firsthand that I know that good people cannot save Gotham, and neither can heroes."

"So where have these people gone now?"

"Most of them died, but some were lucky enough to escape. Those who don't belong to Gotham will eventually leave Gotham. If anyone stays, then he must have originally belonged to Gotham."

Does such a person exist? Where is he?

The godfather seemed lost in thought. After a while, he made the sign of the cross on his chest and said, "I swore to the Lord that I would keep this secret for Him."

He didn't give Schiller a clear answer, but Schiller already knew who he was referring to.

The next day, Bruce was called to Schiller's office. Schiller almost never called him over on his own initiative, so Bruce was Schiller about what Schiller wanted.

They sat down on either side of the desk, just as they had when they first met, Schiller asked him:

"Have you ever, for even a second, thought about completely saving this city?"

"Of course..."

"I mean, after you have a very clear understanding of what the essence of this city is."

Bruce opened his mouth, Schiller took off his glasses, looking directly at Bruce and saying, "I think you should have already seen the essence of this city—that it doesn't need to be saved, and is fundamentally beyond saving."

"So, you're trying to persuade me to stop doing this? To stop being Batman?"

"Of course not. I don't care whether you're Batman or not. I just want to know if you really want to save Gotham?"

Is there any difference between the two?

Are you sure you became Batman to save Gotham?

Bruce remained silent.

"Let me ask you a different question. If there were a possibility of bringing a new order to Gotham right now, would you be willing to put in some effort for it?"

"Although I have this suspicion now, I still can't be sure what the true nature of this city is, why it became like this, or if it is truly beyond saving."

"Falcone once told me that many people had tried to save the city, but they had all failed. Most of them were buried here, but some stayed, integrated into the city, and became a part of Gotham."

"Who is he?"

"I think you can go see the One priest at Gotham Cathedral and then come back to give me your answer."

Bruce shook his head; he found Schiller somewhat inexplicable.

However, he was also very interested in Gotham's past; the city had so many mysteries for him to explore.

Initially, his goal was simple: to take revenge on all the criminals. But as he learned a part of Gotham, he felt he should also save the city. However, as he learned more about Gotham, he felt the city didn't need to be saved.

Now, having relearned Gotham, he discovers that the city seems beyond saving.

As Schiller said, Gotham is like a book that can never be finished. It has endless mysteries, and you will gain new insights every time you read it.

When Bruce arrived at Gotham Cathedral, the priest warmly greeted him. The Old Priest looked to be over seventy years old. To be honest, there are very few ordinary people in Gotham who can live to such an old age.

In Gotham, no one teaches children to help elderly people cross the street, because there are neither children nor elderly people to teach that.

Before the pulpit, the priest smiled and took Bruce's arm, saying, "I've heard of Mr. Wayne's great name for a long time. Of course, I'm sorry I don't have anything better to offer you, after all, this church is too old, as old as I am."

"Look, these tables and chairs are almost falling apart. I wonder if any kind-hearted person will be able to replace them with a pulpit that doesn't need bricks to support the legs..."

Bruce was all too familiar with this kind of talk. He made the sign of the cross and said, "I will not receive any favors from the Lord. The Wayne Construction Team will give the church a complete renovation, making His Kingdom as clean as new. Everything belongs to the Lord..."

The Old Priest seemed very satisfied with this, and when Bruce talked to him about the past, he did not try to hide anything, but spoke frankly about his experiences.

"I come from an ordinary family in England. I worked in the church when youth. I came here so that more people could hear the Lord's gospel."

"Originally, I was just settling down in a small town on the East Coast, but I heard that Gotham was pretty good, so I came here."

"You might find it hard to believe, but actually, Gotham was quite good back then. Because of the docks, it was a relatively prosperous place with a large population and good living conditions. By the way, the gangs were in their early stages back then, and there weren't many people in total."

"Back then, there were still some ordinary people here with dreams. They wanted to establish order here and grow together with this city. Of course, I thought so too back then."

Then, the priest's voice grew lower and lower, echoing in the empty church. The colorful light shining through the stained glass windows at the top of the church windows was like a Spacetime tunnel, and the priest's voice seemed to travel back to that era through these tunnels.

"There were many people like that back then. They were ambitious and thought this was a gold coast, a new gold mine. Although there was some chaos at that time, everyone felt that it was just a normal pain in the process of urban development."

"A young missionary, with a Bible in his arms, set foot on this land with the fleet. The story of his long journey was not as dramatic as others imagined, but there were still quite a few people here who were interested in me."

"Of course, I spread my faith here, help everyone as much as possible, and mediate some of the more intense conflicts and disputes between gangs. Almost everyone is willing to give me face."

Upon hearing this, Bruce began to look at the priest with new respect. This old man, a contemporary of Falcone, seemed to have once held a place in Gotham.

In this gang-ruled city, you can eat whatever you want, but you can't say whatever you want.

No one would dare to fabricate such a story, claiming that all gangs would give him face. As far as Bruce knew, the only one who truly had this ability was Falcone. If anyone else dared to make such a boast, their body would be thrown into the sea the next day.

But the Old Priest seemed to be talking about something trivial. Bruce sensed the humility in his tone and thought that perhaps this old man, who was a contemporary of Falcone, had once enjoyed the same prestige as His Holiness the Father.

But now things are very different. Falcone has become the revered Godfather of Gotham, but the Old Priest is now guarding a dilapidated church where no believers may come to pray for days.

Bruce has always been quite curious about that era, which is somewhat faded and yellowed like a faded photograph, just as people always imagine the glory of their parents' generation.

The story about the docks that Falcone had once told him depicted the rise of gangs during that turbulent era.

But now, in this empty cathedral, what the elderly priest seems to be revealing to him is another side of the city in that era.

"When I arrived in Gotham, the war was far from over. Isolationism was rampant here, but most ordinary people were afraid of the war. They couldn't understand how things had suddenly turned into a mess on the other side of the world."

"I started spreading my teachings here. I believed that faith could bring peace to people's hearts. At first, I did quite well. You know, there were still many British people who hadn't left back then. They would invite me to their estates to listen to my sermons. I spent almost every afternoon like that."

"Initially, some small gangs only roamed around the docks, and very few could even get into the inner streets. That's when I met Falcone. But back then, there was no Falcone or the Twelve Families. You probably couldn't find twelve decent gangs in the whole of Gotham."

"Back then, this place was basically a colonial economy. Due to an accident, I started dealing with gangs. They wanted me to act as the Intermediary to help them expand their power."

"I don't want to get involved in these whirlpools, but I have no choice. If I have to, I will choose the most promising one, which is Falcone."

"Later, many people began to realize that Gotham was not as good as they had imagined. The wealthy people from Britain began to gradually withdraw from the place and move to other more prosperous and promising places."

"The main legacy they left to this city is that manor area and this cathedral. After my persuasion, they collectively funded the construction of this place, and I became the One priest in this cathedral."

"So what happened next? What happened after that?"

"When the upper echelons that maintain a stable order suddenly leave, those who fill the gaps in these upper structures are the ones with the most bullets in their guns. Falcone and his Twelve Families are such people. They caused trouble for a while, and then they took over here."

"I used to be a good partner with Falcone because I knew he was different from other gangsters. He wanted to create a new order here, even if it was a violent one, but it was still better than no order at all."

"I did everything I could to help him. I thought the gangs were just a temporary replacement for the hollowed-out upper blocks, and that one day Gotham would get back on track."

"But I didn't expect that everything would get out of control. After Falcone and his Mafia families took control of the city, it began to become a real crime capital. From twelve gangs, there were 120 gangs, 1200 gangs, and finally, it became a city where everyone was a gangster and a criminal."

"Evil is spreading here, and I am powerless to stop it. I know that Falcone Gotham's corruption, but I know very well that this is not the Truth."

Finally, the priest looked up and looked around the church. He said, "There aren't many buildings left from that era. I'm grateful that they left me a place like this, a place where I can have a home."

"Then why don't you leave? Even if you can't go back to your hometown, you can at least go to the cathedral in the Metropolis. There are quite a few clergy there, and they live a good life."

The priest said, "You don't understand. I not only witnessed how evil gradually infected this city, but I was also deeply involved in it long ago."

He made the sign of the cross on his chest, whispered a few prayers, and then said, "The biggest lesson I've learned in this process is that this city will only accept those who truly belong here. Those heroes who really want to save this place will eventually leave because they don't belong here."

"So why is all this happening?"

"I don't know, but I always firmly believe that I made the right choice back then. Falcone and I are both guardians of this city, not Ravagers."

"In your eyes, the Godfather may be a success, ruling Gotham's underworld for 40 years, but I know, and Falcone and I both know, that we are both losers, only able to weave a fragile order in the Abyss of sin to protect ourselves."

The priest shook his head and said, "But unfortunately, I am just an ordinary person who has lived a little longer than others. What I know is even less than what Falcone. Or perhaps, Falcone doesn't know the real answer either."

As the sun gradually set, the Shade of the tables and chairs inside the church grew longer and longer, and the light emanating from the stained glass windows began to flow onto Bruce.

Finally, the Old Priest said, "I can only stay here and guard a piece of His kingdom, and after I die, this pure land will also disappear, just like countless hopes that have disappeared in Gotham."

"Of that group from back then, only Falcone and I remain. We're both old now, and perhaps when we both go to meet our Lord, the last vestiges of order in this city will cease to exist."

Do you think it's possible to establish a new order?

"Countless people have tried to do this, but they have all failed. Falcone succeeded in a small part, but only temporarily. Perhaps no one can delay it any longer."

As the Old Priest sighed, Bruce fell into deep thought again.

Whenever Bruce hears these historical stories about his hometown, he can't help but feel the same longing and nostalgia that a returning traveler would feel.

Because the story of Gotham is full of absurdity and despair from beginning to end, everything that happens here has no cause and no result, and even people who personally experienced that era cannot explain it.

In this mysterious journey to explore Gotham's history, the time machine's parts are always stuck by some foggy fragments. Whenever Bruce tries to fix the old, broken projector and uncover the Truth, various forces always stop him.

As Bruce walked out of the church, he began to ponder the question Schiller had asked him. The priest's answer was that the city probably wouldn't have much of a chance to establish a new order, and that it would fall into complete darkness after the older generation had all died.

He suddenly came up with a strange analogy, but also felt it was very apt.

All the evil that exists in Gotham City, and all the criminals who live here, are like grains of salt sprinkled from a salt shaker.

This is a salt shaker that will never be empty. The person holding it slowly pours out some glistening salt grains, just like a patient angler preparing his bait.

Bruce, who had just come of age, learned a fact earlier from his professors, from Falcone, and from the Old Priest.

Gotham's current state is not a simple matter of natural evolution. Its original goal of punishing criminals may never be achieved, and it may never be able to completely save Gotham, because the salt pan above Gotham will never be empty. The crystal-clear salt, full of sin, arrives with the wind, just like the fine rain that never stops falling in the Gotham City.

But this did not frustrate Batman; instead, it fueled his ambition even earlier.

Batman had no desire to fly around these salt grains that were being given away like charity, like a stupid fish circling around bait, hoping the water would wash away some scraps to fill its belly.

What he wanted to do was to crush the salt shaker, or rather, to do what he had done to Louis —to appear behind him like a bat, casting a shadow over the smug man holding the salt shaker, making him tremble with fear at the sight of a bat.

Then, you get this salt container, and all the salt grains inside.

If there is to be a salt shaker in this world that holds all criminals, then it would be best if that salt shaker belonged to Batman.

It must also belong to Batman.