I'm doing bidirectional science popularization in American comics

Chapter 30 Bruce Wayne: Busy Yet Melancholy

Bruce has been very busy lately.

During the day, he is busy with charitable work and infrastructure projects that benefit the people of Gotham.

In the evenings, he's busy dating all sorts of different types of girls so that when he transforms into Batman and goes on a mission at night, he has a clear alibi.

During this period, he focused most of his nightly raids on finding evidence of Falcone's crimes and bribery.

It was another fruitless night, and Bruce lay in bed reflecting on his actions over the past few days.

He suddenly realized that both the daytime charity work and the nighttime investigation of Falcone seemed to be being conducted under Depp's guidance.

Bruce felt that this unscrupulous businessman seemed to possess some kind of magical power; he seemed to know everything, yet he always made Bruce do the work.

Bruce was somewhat annoyed by this feeling of being controlled without his knowledge, but Depp's advice to him was all well-founded.

Furthermore, these suggestions seem to reflect her true inner thoughts, only that Depp pointed them out a step earlier.

"This feeling of being seen through at every turn is really annoying."

Bruce took a box of sleeping pills from the bedside table drawer, took one, and then slowly fell asleep.

He's been under a lot of pressure and is exhausted lately.

His days were packed with activities, and he also had to deal with girls and criminals at night, which left him severely sleep-deprived and exhausted.

The constant stream of supervillains has also made Bruce mentally agitated and caused him some insomnia. Lately, he has needed to take sleeping pills every day to fall asleep quickly.

The next morning, Bruce got up with a yawn, had breakfast, and began to carefully dress up.

Bruce has a very important charity conference to attend today, and he is the speaker at the conference.

He felt that a very important factor in this charity event was that Selena Kyle would also be attending.

Bruce became the center of attention as soon as he entered the conference hall. People came one after another to shake hands and exchange pleasantries with the son of Gotham, as if the two were very familiar with each other.

Bruce responded to each question with a forced smile, then found a spot to observe the guests alone.

The venue was already mostly filled with guests, these wealthy and influential Gotham figures, dressed in luxurious formal wear, adorned with expensive jewelry and designer watches, chatting in small groups.

As for the content of their conversations, it was mostly gossip and news.

For example, who exactly is Batman? Which criminals did he arrest yesterday? And which psychopathic killers have been on the loose recently, and how many people they killed in such horrific ways?

These people had a lot of diverse topics to discuss, but none of them talked about anything related to charity.

They come here only to gain a good reputation for their businesses or families; they don't care about the lives of the common people.

Instead of wasting your energy on this "garbage," you should be thinking about what to have your servants make for your pet dog tonight.

Interestingly, the ladies among them most liked to talk about Batman and Bruce Wayne, saying they found it hard to choose which one they would rather sleep with, and perhaps... they could sleep with both.

"You guys are dreaming!" Bruce thought to himself.

He has a miniature receiver in his ear, which, under Afu's remote control, allows him to selectively listen to conversations of anyone in the venue.

After all, such occasions filled with dignitaries often provide opportunities to overhear useful information.

As for the topics the men discussed, aside from business, they were similar to the women's, and perhaps even more explicit.

For example, Catwoman, Poison Ivy, Dr. Harley Quinn from Gotham Central Hospital, and Selena Kyle who hasn't arrived yet.

A short while later, a beautiful figure walked into the venue.

Selena Kyle wore a long red dress today, her hair was tied up, and she looked incredibly dashing.

She walked in gracefully, like a queen arriving, and immediately became another focus of attention.

"Hi, Selena," Bruce said, walking over to strike up a conversation.

Selena smiled and said, "Hi, Bruce. Your dark circles are really bad. I think you should get some more sleep."

“You know I’m very busy, I have a lot to do every day. But I’ll be careful, thank you for your concern,” Bruce said.

"You just need to reduce the time you spend exercising with the girls in the evenings, and you'll get enough sleep..." Selena said. "You're welcome, and I wish you good health."

Watching Selena's departing figure, Bruce felt a sense of loss and frustration once again.

Women in Gotham were scrambling to get a word in with him and spend the night with him.

But Selena was the only one who never showed any interest in him.

Was it a calculated move or was it her true nature? In any case, this only fueled Bruce's growing interest in Selena, a somewhat arrogant young man overflowing with testosterone.

Unfortunately, all of this was ultimately in vain.

Initially, Selena did develop a strong interest in Bruce.

However, after that night at the antique shop, Depp's appearance made Selena change her mind.

Although she couldn't pinpoint the exact reason, neither Batman nor Bruce Wayne had interested her anymore; Depp was now her prey.

Fortunately, Bruce has never lacked women. Whether they are ordinary people, superheroes, or even supervillains, this son of Gotham has had his share of flirting with them.

"Alfred, help me eavesdrop on Miss Selena Kyle," Bruce whispered to Alfred on the other end of the communicator after seeing Selena seemingly making a phone call to someone in a corner.

“Yes, Master Bruce.” Alfred said somewhat helplessly, feeling that his young master was paying too much attention to that woman.

A moment later, Selena's real-time voice was transmitted to Bruce's ears.

"Depp, are you up yet?"

"Depp, I ran into Bruce at the charity gala today, and his dark circles are getting worse. Do you think he'll develop kidney problems if he keeps indulging like this?"

"Depp, I'm wearing a red evening gown today. I'll save the black one for when you come next time. I know you like black."

"Depp..."

"Depp..."

"Depp..."

Bruce, on the verge of collapse, shouted, "Enough! Alfred, stop eavesdropping!"

To be honest, Bruce felt very upset. Selena, who was cold to him, was being so intimate with another man he knew well, which greatly hurt his young heart. A sense of sadness gradually spread through his mind.

The most devastating thing is that he seems to have been brainwashed. Even after the wiretapping was cut off, the name Depp kept echoing in his mind.

However, after Alfred cut off the wiretapping, he didn't hear Selena's next words.

“Depp, I think I should make my move tonight. The first private meeting between Chief Law and Catwoman is sure to be interesting.”

Chapter 31 Cat Ears, Leather Jacket, Female Knight

In Depp's Antique Shop, the diligent Wellen is sitting idly at the front desk.

No longer needing to scrape off his scales every day to hide his abnormality, Wellen is now almost entirely covered in green scales.

In the past few days, he has memorized the purchase price, listed price, and reserve price of all kinds of goods.

Wei-Lun said that although the boss was a very good person and very capable, he was indeed a complete shrewd businessman.

Despite the unreasonable prices of the goods in the store, there are still a few gullible customers who occasionally come to patronize it, and this trend is growing.

However, what Wellen didn't know was that many of the suckers were people who had heard about the strange man in the shop who always wore a lizard costume, and who came to visit under the pretext of buying something.

Fortunately, most of these guys are wealthy people from the main city. After visiting the Lizard Monster, they always buy some not-too-expensive trinkets to take home to their partners or children.

In the inner room, Depp, screwdriver in hand, adjusted the steel helmet on the table and said incredulously, "Are you sure you want to go see Rob tonight?"

“That’s right. Although Batman has distracted Falcone from most of his attention, I still don’t want to just sit here and wait to die,” Selena said.

“Perhaps you could try to cause trouble for Falcone, or even kill him outright,” Depp suggested tentatively.

Selena was silent for a moment after hearing this, then said, "Given Batman's recent frequent visits, the security at Falcone's mansion must be even tighter, so I don't think this is a good choice."

Depp continued tentatively, "I can help you."

“No! I refuse,” Selena said firmly.

As expected, his previous guess was correct; Selena was most likely Falcone's illegitimate daughter.

Although she harbored deep resentment towards her father's actions, she still couldn't bring herself to kill him.

Having confirmed his suspicions, Depp agreed, "Okay then, if you need any help tonight, feel free to contact me."

"Depp, you really are worried about me! Don't worry, I'll contact you in advance."

After turning off the phone, Depp refocused his attention on the helmet.

After modification, the helmet that Depp made based on the technology of the Mark 5 armor is somewhat similar to the Mark 4.5 in appearance and color scheme.

In the Marvel universe, people would probably mistake this for a cosplay prop made by an Iron Man fanatic.

However, in terms of functionality, Depp incorporated the virtual reality technology he obtained from Quentin Baker into the miniature camera on the side.

Once activated, the miniature camera next to the helmet can project incredibly realistic illusions within a three-meter radius around the user.

Although its scope of influence is relatively small, if used properly, it can be enough to change the course of a situation.

Depp put on the helmet and activated the illusion function using his mind.

He walked behind Wellen and used illusions to create six or seven cats that looked exactly like Gou Dan'er, which then jumped onto the front desk and Wellen.

However, instead of trembling like he would when he encountered a real dog, Wellen was pleasantly surprised that he was no longer afraid of his boss's cat and even wanted to pet the kitten next to him.

The claws covered in green scales missed their target, much to Weren's surprise.

Depp then canceled the illusion and returned to the inner room.

"Strange, am I hallucinating because I'm so afraid of Doug Egger?" Wellen attributed everything that had just happened to his own fear.

"No, how can someone as cowardly as me deserve to work under the boss? I must overcome my fear!"

Wellen went upstairs to the dog, Egg, who was curled up in its bed and sleeping.

With difficulty, he reached out to try and stroke her, but Gou Dan'er, still half asleep, looked up and immediately withdrew his hand. Covered in cold sweat, he ran back to the front desk.

"That's terrifying...absolutely terrifying! Let's talk about it another time." Wellen's first attempt to conquer his fear ended in failure.

Depp was very satisfied with the illusion effect of the helmet, especially since Wellen had actually overcome his fear and dared to touch the illusion of the dog.

This further increased Depp's opinion of the kid.