Days as a Spiritual Mentor in American Comics

In Batman's eyes, everything suddenly seemed to hit the fast-forward button.

No one, as usual, was waiting for him to carefully investigate, preparing countless contingency plans, and then strategically implement them together, keeping everything firmly under his control.

Clark's article was written exceptionally quickly, taking shape in just one evening. However, he didn't publish it through the editor-in-chief of The Daily Planet because he didn't want to involve innocent people.

The reports from earlier had made him famous, so he had his own personal webpage. Although there weren't many fans, his fans were veterans at spreading news across various platforms, having even greater influence than some smaller newspapers.

Once the article was published, it shocked the world.

Some might think, everyone already knows Gotham is corrupt, so what unrealistic expectations could they have? Why be surprised by such malfeasance?

In fact, the ones truly shocked by this from the bottom of their hearts are not the common folk, but rather the entire world's upper class.

Ordinary people treat it as if watching a spectacle, greatly enjoying discussing it. But they talk, they laugh, and that's it. They come for the thrill of blood and violence, and leave once their curiosity is satisfied.

But the upper class was genuinely shocked.

This involves a question: if the upper class dares to do any vile deed, why would they fear exposure?

Or rather, if they are so powerful already, why should they bow to societal moral standards?

Can't they just admit: I am evil, I am cruel, I do inhumane things?

Historically, there's a fascinating phenomenon. No matter the country or region, tyrants try hard to avoid being called a tyrant, even to the extent of killing more people because of it.

Why can't he just admit he is a tyrant?

Theoretically, he's already at the top of the human pyramid, so what does it matter if he admits it?

They not only refuse to admit it, but they also constantly speak of benevolence and morals. Whether it's indiscriminate killing or valuing no human lives, they always claim to have a righteous reason. If they can't find a reason, they'll concoct an excuse.

Why is that?

In reality, it's not that they are foolish or engaging in pointless acts, but rather because they are too clever.

They understand that maintaining morals is actually protecting their own rule. If societal morals collapse, it means the days of their rule collapsing are not far off.

The upper echelons don't really believe in the Chosen One Theory. They understand better than anyone how powerful the ordinary people, whom they seemingly trample underfoot, can be.

What restricts ordinary people are not only the laws they create but also societal morals. The law upholds the maximum, and morals uphold the minimum.

The destructive power of a tyrant ignoring morals might be 100, whereas for an ordinary person, it might be 1. The differential appears huge, but what's even greater is the difference in numbers.

A tyrant doing one evil deed a day causes 100 units of harm. But out of ten thousand ordinary people, even if only ten percent commit evil acts, the harm they produce is a hundred times greater.

While various methods can be used to guide most of the damage to also fall upon ordinary people, with the vast base numbers, even a harm impact of one in a thousand falling upon the rulers is catastrophic.

Therefore, rulers must uphold societal morals. Even if everything they do goes against moral standards, they still have to find ways to cover it, desperately making excuses, showing some attitude even if they can't find an excuse.

Otherwise, once people start thinking "if the emperor can do it, I can too," your end will be beyond what you can imagine.

Clark's article caused such shock among the upper class because they believed Gotham's elite must be insane. How could they so openly and blatantly commit evil acts? Isn't that courting disaster?

Even if you want to run a gambling operation, why not just keep it within your own circles? Even if you're betting on the lives of ordinary people, why tell them? Even if it wasn't intentional, this is too careless.

Moreover, it's one thing for the news to leak out, but to compile those evil and twisted thoughts into publications, as if fearing others wouldn't know how cruel you are – isn't that insane?

There are only a few in the upper class, but how many people are in Gotham City? If those ordinary people knew you wanted to use those cruel traps on them, they would teach you what real cruelty is.

The upper class also has an unwritten rule, which is not to associate with fools.

You can be evil, but you cannot be foolish. If you are foolish, you better hide well. Once exposed, no one will have the kindness to remind or help you. They just wait for you to breathe your last and then come to carve up the spoils.

This is true at the personal level and also at the level of cities and regions.

There is just so much resource; if people in one place take it all, then people in another place have none. And if individuals in one area take less, others elsewhere naturally can take more.

Gotham is considered the richest city on the East Coast. If Gotham's conglomerates face problems, the first to benefit would be Metropolis, followed by other cities on the East Coast, then other states, possibly even other countries.

It would be one thing if Gotham's wealthy didn't commit follies, but having made such a big joke, if not to kick them while they're down, then when?

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So, an article written by a somewhat famous reporter was quickly picked up by major newspapers in Metropolis, then by other cities on the East Coast, followed by Federation news, and international news…

How to describe how sensational this news was? It could only be said that it was already a bit late for Clark to start preparing his attire for the Pulitzer Prize ceremony.

At the same time the news was catching fire, the GTO led by Gordon took action.

His arrangements were meticulous, and his efficiency was good, but they were seriously understaffed. The pale knight's estimates were conservative; they were not just going after a few hundred people. There were hundreds of ringleaders alone, at least a few thousand significant accomplices, and when including ordinary accomplices, their numbers exceeded all law enforcement personnel in Gotham. How could it be possible to capture them all?

Nobody ever thought that such a huge commotion would be caused by just one or two people. Mainly because no one had ever imagined someone being bold enough to casually talk and make up an epic-level piece of international news.

With the atmosphere built up to this point, no one believed that this betting game was just a spur-of-the-moment idea. Most people felt that this gambling ring had existed for many years, only to be exposed recently.

Some even linked the gambling case with the death or disappearance of certain celebrities, believing that they were forced to participate in this deadly gambling game, and then died miserably within it.

Eventually, it turned into everyone in the world's wealthy class being involved. Those unexplained celebrity suicides might all have gambled away their lives.

This explanation gained wide traction and spread extensively because people love watching this sort of thing.

Gordon's rapid arrest operation could be declared a complete failure just one hour after it began.

The biggest problem was the lack of manpower, but also, the enemy was extremely cunning. Besides the villas being equipped with early-constructed secret chambers and tunnels, they had helicopters, sports cars, decoys, even professional makeup artists and escape masters, and a cadre of professional consultants.

This night's arrests truly made Gordon realize how determined and well-prepared the wealthy were to spend money, just to stay alive.

Very few of the real masterminds were captured, and even the trusted underlings they valued managed to escape completely. The core team was barely scratched.

By dawn, looking at the report results brought by his subordinates, Gordon felt his legs weaken.

He had never felt this way even when fighting the fiercest and most cunning criminals.

Gordon asked himself, he had been tired, in pain, but never scared. But watching the dim light on the Gotham horizon, he found himself unable to stop shaking.

As a policeman who had always fought on the front lines, he understood better than anyone what terrible consequences tonight's failed operation would bring.

It's an old saying, in political gaming, it's either the west wind overcomes the east wind, or the east wind overcomes the west wind. Once a war starts, it doesn't easily stop until one side is completely annihilated.

To put it simply, in the midst of a brawl, once one side pulls out a knife, they must incapacitate the other side as quickly as possible, else they'll be the ones to die.

This is because if everyone is using fists, then they all know they won't die, and blowing off some steam is enough.

But once blood is seen and they know the other party intends to kill, if they don't fight back fiercely, aren't they just handing over their life?

When it's a critical moment of life and death, the strength that humans can unleash is extremely terrifying. So either don't draw a knife, but once it's drawn, one must fight swiftly and eradicate completely.

But among these two options, Gordon accomplished neither. Not only did he fail to defeat the foe in one move, but he also nearly failed completely.

Next, he and the ordinary people of Gotham will face the furious and tempest-like revenge from the other side. It's a fight to the death, relentlessness.

Gordon could no longer ponder why throughout the entire process Batman was as silent as the dead. Just calming the fear inside him took all his strength.

He was not afraid of dying himself, nor of his police dying. But he knew the cruelest methods of revenge would not be used on him. The upper class's goal was to ensure no one would ever dare to entertain such thoughts again.

What they wanted was to exterminate the hope of ordinary people.

Gordon's hand was trembling as he picked up the phone, but he didn't even know whom to call. After hesitating for a long time, he dialed an unexpected number.

"Hello? Director Rodrigues?"

"It's me." Shiller's tone was as calm as usual. For some reason, Gordon's racing heartbeat seemed to settle with it.

"There's been some trouble in our city. Those who have invested in crime may be planning moves soon," Gordon tried to hide his unsettled emotions and said in a feigned calm, "I hope you can stand your ground and do your duty."

"I'm not quite sure what you mean, Commissioner. Is there something I haven't done well?"

"No, it's not that. It's just that your predecessor Tuck gave some people the illusion that they could just release criminals to incite riots. I hope you won't continue with this misconception, right?"

"Of course not, Commissioner." Shiller's tone implied a smile. Gordon's heart tightened again.

After hanging up the phone, Shiller added in his mind: "Yes, of course not. A super villain couldn't achieve the effect I want."

Then he walked over to the panel which had emergency restraint buttons – and pressed every one of them.

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