Batman's Romantic Crisis

"...That's how it was. Ever since that night, she kept going back to that district every night. It's far too dangerous. I didn't know how to stop her, because she didn't like Bruce at all. She even canceled our date, but I clearly..."

Schiller poured himself some champagne and said, "She's been going to the Gotham Slums for several nights in a row without running into any danger. Are you sure she's just an ordinary person?"

Bruce wiped his face and said, "That's exactly what worries me most. If she were just an ordinary girl, that would be one thing. But if she isn't ordinary, and she keeps following me around every day, what am I supposed to do?"

And this all went back to the previous case.

After Jonathan's case was resolved, Bruce had not completely extricated himself from it. Or rather, Batman had run into another problem.

Last time, Batman had rescued Christine from the thugs who kidnapped her. He had thought Christine was unconscious at the time, but who knew she had been aware the whole time? From that day on, the beautiful girl fell in love with Batman.

Yes, Batman, not Bruce.

She had even directly canceled her date with Bruce a few days later, and every night, she went to the district where she had been kidnapped to see whether Batman would appear again.

"In a sense, you ought to be happy. Batman's charm made her dump even the richest man in the world."

Bruce opened his mouth, his expression extremely complicated.

Being liked by a beautiful girl was certainly something to be happy about, but this was simply too bizarre and strange. A girl had fallen in love with him, yet because she had fallen in love with him, she dumped another him. If this were written into a romance novel, it would take at least a hundred thousand words to explain clearly.

"As for your private love life, I don't have much advice for you, aside from protecting your kidneys." That was Schiller's final remark.

Bruce had not expected Schiller's prediction to come true so quickly.

That night, Batman was once again patrolling Gotham. He had become rather famous in Gotham lately, because he had thoroughly swept clean the Slums around the Morsen District.

This time, he was not patrolling those filthy, chaotic Slums, but a luxury goods district where robberies frequently occurred.

In fact, the chances of serious crimes happening here were no lower than in the Slums. Fights in the Slums were often just drunken brawls, gang extortion, or group clashes. But when a robbery occurred in a luxury goods district, once the guns went off, at least two or three people would end up in pools of blood. Store clerks could easily be killed as well. The severity of such crimes was no less than gang brawls in the Slums.

Moreover, the people bold enough to commit such crimes were usually seasoned veterans. They divided up the work, planned meticulously, and fled as soon as the job was done. They were not easy to handle.

Batman had already taken down two robbery rings. They had simply been unlucky. When Batman had just upgraded his patrol route from the Slums to this area, he had stumbled upon a robbery-murder case. They had killed two female clerks and stolen the store's jewelry. Even more conveniently, a pearl necklace had happened to be scattered on the floor.

So that robbery ring was now behind bars.

The other group had not fared much better. They were a bunch of inexperienced idiots who ran straight into Batman, and now they were enjoying prison food too.

That day, Batman stood on the rooftop of a building across from a jewelry store. He watched a shadow slip in through the rear window. The figure was petite but agile. Before the female clerk inside could react, she was choked unconscious.

It looked like she was a female thief. Yes, a thief, not a robber. She had not smashed the jewelry case open. Instead, she searched the clerk for the key and opened the glass door of the jewelry display.

Just as she held up a gemstone to admire its gleam, a shadow appeared behind her. He said, "Miss, no matter how long you look at it, that gem still doesn't belong to you."

The moment she turned around, everything went black, and she was knocked unconscious.

The female thief was clearly luckier, though. Just as Batman was about to drag her off and hand her over to the police, a gang of robbers burst into the antique shop across the street. Those were real robbers, wearing hoods, carrying Submachine Guns and sacks, and forcing the clerks into a corner at gunpoint.

Batman had no choice but to leave the female thief behind and deal with them first. By the time he returned, she was gone.

But that was not the end of it. Over the next few days, Batman kept feeling that someone was following him. Yet the other party seemed highly agile, and Batman failed to catch their trail several times.

Until one day, Batman set a small trap. He pretended to toss a bag of gemstones freshly stolen by a robber into a trash can on a street corner. Sure enough, that petite figure sneaked into the trash can to pick it up. Batman grabbed her cape, only for the female thief to slash back with her claws. Batman nearly got his face ruined.

When she saw that it was Batman, the female thief actually relaxed. Batman folded his arms and asked, "The gems, hmm?"

"Don't you think our ears go well together?" Her voice was sweet. As she spoke, she flicked the ears on top of her mask with a finger. Yes, her mask had two ears as well. They were not as pointed as Batman's, but they were in roughly the same place, both on top of the head.

Batman inexplicably said, "Are you another bat?"

"A bat?" The female thief spoke in an incredulous tone. "Who's a bat? I'm Catwoman. Aren't cats the only ones with ears like these? Do you think you're a bat? What kind of weirdo would think of himself as that sort of animal?"

"Catwoman..." Batman turned the name over in his mind. Then he fished the bag of gems out of the trash can and tossed it to her. "No cat likes gems either. Stop making things difficult for jewelry store clerks. Since you haven't killed anyone, I'll let you off this time."

With that, he turned to leave, but Catwoman grabbed his cape. She cheerfully shook the bag in her hand and said, "Rich boy, you must have more of this, right?"

Batman frowned. He did not know why everyone could tell that he was rich.

He had clearly altered the Batsuit to be extremely low-key. He no longer used expensive medicine, and he had even trimmed his beard slightly crooked.

Batman did not turn around. He merely looked back and said, "I don't have any. You can't expect a bat to have something like that."

Just as he was about to leave, a whip wrapped around his waist. Batman did not feel any force holding him back, but a soft body pressed against his back. He heard Catwoman whisper by his ear, "If you're a bat, then you're the most interesting bat I've ever seen. We'll meet again..."

With that, she leaped onto the wall of a nearby alley and vanished in an instant. Batman touched his ear and thought, A cat that likes gems? What a strange person.

Just like me.

Unexpectedly, he ran into Christine again on his way back into the city. The beautiful cheerleading captain wore a thick down jacket and a hat, hiding her sexy figure and pretty face. The moment Batman saw her, he wanted to avoid her, but after thinking it over, he still walked over. He had to persuade her to go home. It was far too dangerous for a girl like her to be out on Gotham's streets in the dead of night.

Christine saw Batman and ran over happily. But as soon as she reached him, she frowned and asked, "Do you have a girlfriend? Did you go on a date with her?"

Batman had no idea what she meant. He only said, "Don't stay here. Do you know how dangerous this is?"

"But I just want to be your girlfriend." Christine shrugged. It was clear she was not used to saying such things, because normally, she was the one other people confessed to.

Batman said, "I don't need a girlfriend. Go home."

"Then what's with the Louis Vuitton perfume on you? Don't tell me you like women's fragrances."

Batman felt an immense headache coming on.

Having spent years among women, how could he possibly know nothing about such things? He knew Catwoman had hugged him earlier, but he had not expected that female thief to wear such strong perfume while going out to steal in the middle of the night.

Batman said nothing. He flicked his cape and left.

Batman did not want anything to do with Christine, but someone else was very interested in her: the new principal, Sheldon.

Do not forget, it had been Christine who testified that the former principal had kidnapped her. That was the strongest evidence used to convict the former principal.

Sheldon knew that the former principal and Victor had been brought down through Jonathan's case. There had to be someone behind the scenes connecting the entire affair, because too many mysteries remained unsolved. Who had subdued Jonathan? And who had rescued Christine? Gordon alone could not have pulled it off.

Sheldon believed that even if Christine was not familiar with the person behind it all, she definitely knew who he was. Sheldon wanted to get to the bottom of it too. Only by sorting out the chain of relationships exposed by Jonathan's case could he sit securely in his position. Gotham's connections were far too tangled. To gain a firm foothold here, a good starting point was essential. Sheldon believed Jonathan's case was the best subject to investigate.

Meanwhile, Batman and Catwoman's relationship progressed quickly. Perhaps there really was such a thing as fate in this world. Catwoman's liveliness and romance had nothing in common with Batman's seriousness and suspicion, yet he was completely captivated by her.

The two often wandered Gotham together at night. Catwoman could not help Batman fight, but she was unmatched at infiltration and keeping watch. Catwoman liked all kinds of gemstones and jewelry, while Batman had money to spare.

But they could never agree when it came to theft. Batman thought Catwoman had kleptomania, while Catwoman believed she simply liked those jewels. Since they were sitting in display cases without anyone buying them, what was wrong with taking them home to admire for a few days?

Finally, one day, Batman followed Catwoman and stopped her from stealing once again. Catwoman was thoroughly enraged by him. During their argument, Batman held back because he could not bring himself to hurt a woman, but Catwoman was mercurial. She slapped Batman, then stabbed a short dagger into his side.

Thus, Batman's romantic crisis became a real kidney crisis.

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