Selina, with a big box in her arms, strode along a narrow corridor. Her good friend, Maggie, was waiting for her at the door. As Selina approached, Maggie hurried over to help her carry the box into the room.
After setting down the box, Selina sighed in relief and brushed off the dust on her hands, looking around at the environment inside.
This was a studio apartment in the Living Hell neighbourhood. After the first phase of renovations, it wasn't uncommon for residents to convert extra spaces in their homes into small apartments for renting to people from different parts of East District.
Living Hell used to be the worst residential area in East District, but now, things were completely different. Despite the rooms still being cramped and lacking natural light, the sanitary conditions had improved drastically. Although the renovations were not luxurious, they were definitely better than living in run-down hovels.
Due to the disparity between the rich and poor, many residents in the East District still lived in dilapidated houses. For example, Selina's friend Maggie used to live on the outskirts of a shanty town. Though it was better than the makeshift houses made from iron sheets and shipping containers, whenever it rained, water would trickle down the corners of the walls and render a large part of the floor damp and mouldy.
The house where Maggie had previously lived had tiny windows with poor orientation, making it unbearably cold in winter and hot in summer. During winter, Selina could hardly stay in the house for two hours without freezing.
Maggie walked towards the door and beheld the tiny room. "I never thought I could ever live in such a house," she sighed.
The room was small, just about four or five square meters with just enough space for a bed. However, on one side, there was a window and a bay window, providing extra space. Two flower pots sat on the bay window, flourishing at the moment.
Maggie sank onto the bed, her face glowing with contentment. Selina sat next to her, hugging her, and said with a smile, "Now that you've found a new job at a restaurant in East District, you should be able to afford a better house with your salary. Maybe if you save a little, you could even buy your own house."
"Stop it," Maggie shook her head, "Even buying a house in the East District needs a lot of money. With my salary, even if I worked for another ten years, there's no hope."
"Don't say that," Selina interjected. "Have you heard? Gotham University's Technical College has opened. Although they've admitted only a few students in the first batch, they may admit more in the second."
Shaking her head, Selina continued, "I'm not cut out for academics, but you are. You are patient, you knit well, and can sing. If you learn some technical skills, your salary will certainly increase, and buying a house will no longer be a problem."
Maggie leaned in, gazing at Selina's beautiful face. "And what about you?" she asked, "What will you do? Are you going to continue loafing around with Wayne?"
"I'm not loafing around with him."
"Yes, you are," Maggie said with certainty, "Will he marry you? Will you become his wife? Will you two have children? I'm not talking about adoption, but your own biological child…"
"He's not going to take you into a church or make any vows with you. You both aren't going to grow old together, Selina. It hurts me to say this, but I don't want to see you get hurt…" Maggie looked at Selina with sorrowful eyes.
"Your beauty is an incomparable wealth, but it can also be a deadly trap. It might make you believe in the dreams others see for you in the first half of your life, but once you lose your beauty, you might end up more miserable than others..." Maggie watched her friend earnestly.
Selina put her hand over Maggie's. "I never expected him to make any commitments to me. It's okay if he doesn't take responsibility for me, I don't want to take responsibility for him either. I don't want to take life so seriously."
"Maggie, I know you long for the church vows with your true love, then walking hand in hand into the grave, but I'm different, I find that boring."
"I know I don't have much to enjoy in love because I'm just a poor girl from a slum. My favourable condition won't last a lifetime, but I don't care. If I'm destined to return to the slums, that's fine too. I like the feeling of freedom."
Selina went to the window and touched the leaves of the flower on the windowsill, "Maggie, you're like this flower. You should wake up in a warm bedroom on an ordinary morning. The craziest thing you did the previous night might have been to give your loved one a kiss."
"But at the same time, I might have just fallen asleep under the morning light after spending the whole night roaming the rooftops of buildings, or sitting on top of a building gazing at the sparkling lights of a jewelry shop across the street. I love this carefree life and love this kind of lover."
Maggie sighed deeply and said, "Only Wayne can handle you."
"Speaking of which," Maggie suddenly remembered something, "How did you find the time to help me move recently? Weren't you always attached to Wayne?"
Selina showed a complicated look and said, "He's been busy lately and hasn't had much time."
Maggie suddenly pricked up her ears and squinted her eyes, "Busy? When a man says he's busy, don't you get cautious?"
Maggie pulled Selina back onto the bed, turned her head towards herself, held her face in both hands and said, "Look at you, such a gorgeous beauty. Which man would look at your face and say he's busy?"
Selina puffed out her cheeks, pushed Maggie's hands away, and said, "Bruce Wayne can. Not only does he say he's busy, but he even had me help him with his research and writing a whole night of his thesis on the first night we reunited!"
"Oh my God!" Maggie exclaimed, "And you still think he hasn't cheated on you?? Bruce Wayne writing a thesis? If you put this in a newspaper, it would become Gotham's most popular joke for the next decade!!!"
"I don't know what's wrong with him, he seems to have changed, but I can't pinpoint how." Selina laid her head on Maggie's shoulder, but the alarm bells were ringing loud and clear in Maggie's heart. "You need to trust your instincts. When you feel a man has changed, it's probably just as you imagine."
"Are you saying he really cheated? No way, I talked to him before. If he is bored with me, he should tell me. We can break up. He promised me he wouldn't go looking for other women until he breaks up with me." Selina's eyes widened with confusion as she spoke.
"You believe in a playboy's promise?!" Maggie glanced at her and said, "You'd better keep a close eye on him. Even if you don't need his wealth and status, he's still your boyfriend. If he cheats, doesn't that mean you lack charm?"
Selina immediately sprung from the bed, gritting her teeth, "If he dares to cheat, I will surely kill him!"
But after a while, she deflated and sat back down dejectedly, "Recently, Bruce has been hiding in Gotham University, a place I can't enter."
"You can't enter? Is there a place in Gotham that you can't trespass?" Maggie looked at Selina, puzzled.
"No, if I wanted to climb over the wall, no security guard could stop me. However, there's a very terrifying professor there, and I don't dare provoke him, or else I would be in hot water," Selina shivered as she spoke.
"Professor? Aren't university professors generally quite mild? They're knowledgeable and cultured men, right?" Maggie held her face in both hands, "I quite like that type, at least they're not like those mob enforcers, whose minds are filled with violence."
"No, no." Selina waved her hand in front of her, continuing, "Do you still remember the adventure I told you about when I went to Metropolis?"
Maggie nodded and said, "Of course, I remember. You told me that due to a snowstorm, you were trapped in a mansion, and you encountered a group of agents and a flying helicopter engine. Honestly, Selina, I thought you might have been feverish and hallucinating."
"I wasn't feverish," Selina emphasized, "I didn't tell you before, but when I was trapped in the mansion, I had a dream. To be precise, Professor Shearer took me into his dream."
"Everything was fine initially; I was frolicking in a huge amusement park where every ride was free, even the balloon and fishing toy shops weren't charging. I was ecstatic and wished I could try every single facility!"
"But when I was enjoying myself, there was suddenly an earthquake. No, perhaps it wasn't an earthquake; it sounded more like something exploded. Within an instant, the entire amusement park changed."
"Everything began to crack open, various fragments combined together to form odd and bizarre creatures, all the park facilities exploded. I had to run wildly while dodging the flying debris…"
Selina held her chest, "At that moment, I was on the Ferris wheel. When I fell from the sky, I was nearly scared to death!"
"To escape from there, I ran a full kilometer, but then I bumped into a monster that had escaped from another dream…"
"In short, Professor Shearer's mind is filled with terrifying things…" Shivering, Selina continued, "If I dare to sneak into Gotham University, he'll definitely kill me!"
Maggie sighed, "Even if these things aren't just your hallucinations, Gotham University is so huge, isn't it unlikely that he would chance upon you if you only skirt around the edge?"
"Also, don't you usually operate at night? By then, these professors should be fast asleep. And even if you're caught, you're just visiting your boyfriend, not up to any mischief. Isn't that the most common thing? What reason could he have to kill you?"
After some hesitation, Selina thought that what Maggie said made sense. Gotham University was huge; she wouldn't be that ill-fated to bump into Shearer the moment she enters, would she?
Moreover, she wasn't sneaking in to steal anything, just to find Bruce. If caught, she would only be rebuked at most; there wouldn't be any major incident.
Thinking this, Selina stood up, patting off the dust on her clothes, and told Maggie, "It'll be dark soon; I'm going to take a look around Gotham University to see if there's a way to sneak in."
After warming up her body, Selina jumped out of the window of Maggie's room.
Before long, she arrived near Gotham University. Even though she didn't think she would be spotted, she still found the most secluded spot, and skillfully climbed over the railing.
Selina landed behind a bush in a landscaped flower bed. As soon as she stuck her head out from the bush, she felt a shadow cover her head.
Selina instinctively jumped up and climbed the nearby street lamp post, reaching the top. Shearer, pointing his umbrella at her, said, "Come down."
Selina shook her head vehemently, "I'm not coming down."
"Come down."
"I'm not coming down."
"Why won't you come down?"
"Why won't you come up?"