Days as a Spiritual Mentor in American Comics

Environmental activists claim that using chemical methods to decompose pollution is merely another form of pollution. The initiatives by Charabang Group to manage pollution are not eco-friendly. These materials must undergo scrutiny before they can be used within the Natural Forest, otherwise, it's illegal.

Charabang Group has just learned grappling techniques; how could they tolerate this humiliation? They directly dispatched GTO to surround the environmental activists.

But after all, the environmental activists hadn't broken the law. They were protesting, but they didn't touch anything or cause any major damage. Except for surrounding them, GTO couldn't really do much else.

Still, they had to be surrounded, otherwise handling these hot issues would be too much to bear.

Moreover, Gordon felt secretly relieved that if his new employer asked them to do something illegal, it would place him in a difficult position. Now this kind of procrastination under the guise of maintaining law and order was the best kind of work, proving their usefulness without danger or violating their own moral standards.

If only they could muddle through like this for the coming year, Gordon couldn't help but hope.

Batman then faced a new problem.

GTO was not purchased, so the money he had prepared could be used for another option, that is, to carry out the pollution control plan for the benefit of the residents that Mr. Shiller had previously devised.

Ironically, the chemical materials required for water purification and soil pollution neutralization in this plan were all surrounded by environmental activists in the Natural Forest.

It's not that Charabang Group was the only one producing these materials; crucially, these chemical agents were not only for pollution control, but also had other uses.

To save face, Charabang Group transported all the materials there for a photo op, but after being surrounded, they also lost their own production materials.

They had already drained their cash flow, and now that production was stopped, seeing that they couldn't fulfill orders, they could only hurriedly try to buy these materials from various places to resume production.

It did not matter that there wasn't much money left on the books; they had several real businesses; as long as they suppressed prices sufficiently, they could quickly dispose of them, and some of the organic materials could also be sold to recover funds.

Being willing to suffer loss can bring down even the Emperor — never challenge someone's livelihood with your hobbies.

Charabang needed the materials as it was a battle for survival. Wayne Enterprises, aiming to add icing to the cake should step aside for now.

Batman had considered competing with Charabang, but the opponent had clearly gone mad, raising prices to the extent that even Batman was startled.

If he were to purchase the chemical materials at such a price, the money he prepared wouldn't suffice even for area X15, let alone managing a small district.

To solve the problem of the soaring prices of chemical materials necessary for pollution control, the market needs to have an adequate supply, especially ensuring Charabang has stock, so they won't desperately grab these materials.

So how can Charabang be resupplied?

That would necessitate freeing up the batch of raw materials trapped in the Natural Forest, which would mean finding a way to disperse the environmental activists.

If Wayne Enterprises had money, Batman could also spend some to solve the problem, but he didn't have the funds at the moment. If he were to spend his money on dealing with the environmental activists, then he wouldn't be able to manage X15 district.

If this method couldn't resolve the environmental activists issue, then Batman would take some special measures, such as wearing the bat suit and causing disturbances late at night in the environmental activists' location to scare them away.

But isn't this just too coincidental? The place where environmentalists hang out, GTO is also there.

To show off his excellent working capabilities to his new employer, Gordon had the place surrounded layer by layer. Batman, taking advantage of the night, circled the area three times and still couldn't find a breakthrough.

To take down the environmentalists, one must first take down GTO. But because Batman hasn't, he is now stuck needing to deal with the environmentalists here; isn't this a vicious cycle?

The key point is that now Batman and the pale knight, these two smarties, suddenly realized there were no allies left on their side.

Having received the money, Gordon could maintain the normal operation of GTO. Even though they are working for Charabang now, they can't keep it surrounded forever.

After this incident, the anti-terrorism squad can still maintain Gotham's security like before, continuously reducing Gotham's crime rate. Gordon really doesn't need to rely on Batman anymore.

Nightwing has joined the GTO squad. Though he's reluctant to work for the wealthy, they pay too much to ignore. With those funds, GTO can be maintained for three years, he must act loyally against his will.

If he lets Batman slip by, and something happens to the spot they are securing, a bad start would really tarnish their reputation, and he'd have to sever all ties.

Batgirl does stand with Batman, but sadly, her sophisticated hacking skills are useless against the trees in the Natural Forest. Gordon employs full manpower surveillance which is impenetrable, making hacking into their terminals useless and Batman still couldn't get in.

As for Shiller, don't even mention him. Without the pale knight loosening his stance, Shiller has completely disappeared and cannot be contacted at all.

As for Bruce, he's just strolling around. During his days in this city, I barely saw him work; relying on him is less feasible than expecting raw materials to grow legs and walk out on their own.

Batman did consider taking some drastic measures, but the environmentalists weren't breaking the law. They were just sitting there quietly. Charging in and beating them up would just completely ruin the little bit of good reputation Batman had managed to build.

In the Natural Forest, the environmentalists had set up quite a few tents. The leader, Big Beard, stepped out of the tent and went to the small grove behind to take a call.

"Hello? Mr. Shiller, you were right. These menacing police actually didn't make a move. God, such cowards!"

"Okay, okay, received, thanks to the generosity of the Natural Forest Protection Fund. But how many more days do we need to stay here? What? Can't we stay a few more days? Good opportunities like this are hard to find these days..."

"Alright, I understand, goodbye."

Shiller hung up the phone, looked at Catwoman opposite him, and said, "By tonight at the latest, Batman should be coming to find you."

"Why are you so sure he will come to find me?"

"Batman's Stealth skills are good, but his bulky size is a disadvantage. He also fears being caught red-handed and thrown into prison, naturally, he can only turn to you."

Catwoman, eating a steak from a high-class restaurant, said while chewing, "That night, I had to stroll him around half the night. You just gave me ten thousand for the trouble, and I almost had to sacrifice my looks!"

"Stop it, it was Batman who had to sacrifice his looks."

Caught in the act, Catwoman made a silly face but quickly asked, "If he comes looking for me, what price should I quote? Isn't fifty thousand a bit too much? Although those police are a bit tough to deal with, the distance isn't far and it's not very difficult."

"Fifty thousand? Are you belittling Bruce Wayne?"

"Hmm, how about a little more, seventy thousand?"

"Don't forget what we agreed, sixty-forty split. Am I here just to make these few tens of thousands from you?"

"So, how much then? I'm afraid if it's too much, he won't do it."

Shiller snorted, "Two million, not a penny less."

Catwoman gasped, her eyes widened as she stared at Shiller, "Are you crazy? Just for a little stealth job, you want two million???"

"The place you need to stealth into is a place even Batman can't get into. Two million too much? Tell him that, and he needs to throw in a little charm, otherwise, it's five million non-negotiable."

Catwoman spat out her water.

She looked at Shiller weirdly, "Have Batman sacrifice his charm? You really think of everything."

"So, are you in or not?"

Catwoman recalled the sensation of the muscles she felt through the fabric that night, licked her somewhat dry lips, and then said, "Then he needs to sacrifice a bit more, otherwise, I'm not doing it!"

"That's right," Shiller raised his glass and clinked it with hers, then said, "If his sacrifice isn't good enough, you up the price."

Catwoman rolled her eyes, "I'm not that kind of lascivious person."

That evening, Catwoman flipped down from the upstairs, hugging Batman from behind.

Batman froze on the spot.

"Baby, looking for me?"

"Let go first."

"You're no fun." Catwoman released her hands, swaggering in front of him and said, "You seemed pretty pleased while swinging through skyscrapers with me before."

Batman pursed his lips, "I'm here on serious business."

"And what's that 'non-serious' business you're talking about?" Catwoman moved closer and blew in his ear then said, "Am I wrong, or do you actually have ears up there?"

Catwoman could tell Batman really wanted to dodge, but the urgency of his business made him stiffen.

"Alright, no more teasing, what's wrong?"

"I want you to go somewhere."

"Don't tell me your place, that's too cliché."

"No, it's the Natural Forest."

"You're kidding!" Catwoman exaggeratedly said, "The place is swarming with police right now, am I supposed to walk right into a trap?"

Batman seemed to realize he was asking a lot of her, sending a thief right into a swarm of police wasn't just fishing, it was electrified fishing.

"And why don't you go yourself, aren't you on good terms with the Gotham police?" Catwoman eyed him, "You wouldn't be trying to use this opportunity to get me locked up, would you?"

After saying that, Catwoman raised her hand to slap Batman, but he caught her wrist saying, "For certain reasons, I can't go myself. I want to hire you, name your price."

"No way." Catwoman flatly refused, "I think you just want to capture me. If you can't do it yourself, you let the police help you, how cowardly!"

Batman took a deep breath, "I'm serious, I can pay you upfront."

Catwoman hesitated slightly, but then said, "Just so you know, I'm not some kind of terrorist, just a petty thief. Even if I get caught, the sentence won't be long. If you really do this, once I get out, I will definitely scratch your face!"

"But even so, I'd still be risking jail. Once a thief like me goes to prison, my reputation is ruined, and no one will hire me for jobs anymore. You'd need to provide a sum that will keep me comfortable for the rest of my life, otherwise, I'm not doing it!"

"How much do you want?"

"Three million, not a penny less."

Batman paused for less than a second.

"Deal."

"That's too low!" Catwoman inwardly moaned, "This damn rich guy, wasn't he out of money? How does he still have so much?!"

Just as Shiller said, the two million was just because Batman threw in some charm; it should have been five million!

Thinking she might have lost out on two million infuriated Catwoman, no way could she just let it slide!

Then Batman suddenly realized Catwoman was eyeing him like a fish, and he wasn't quite sure if the flames in her eyes were due to hunger or something else.

But in the next second, he knew.

Catwoman reached out and grabbed the base of his cape, yanking fiercely and knocking him to the ground.

"Wait a second, what are you doing?"

"What do you think? Baby?"