The new campus is relatively far from the old campus; to be precise, it is farther away from the main urban area. It takes roughly over an hour to drive there. In order not to add to the already stretched finances of the school, most of the trips are made with only trucks coming over, with people sitting in the back of the truck together with the furniture they were transporting.
Fortunately, they had brought some office chairs this time, which, once secured, provided something to sit on without being jostled until dizzy.
Among those in the truck with them were quite a few professors and students. Shiller, Victor, and Anna squeezed into a corner together.
"It's hard to imagine that one day we'd be traveling like this," Victor said with a laugh, sitting on a cushion. "Especially you, Professor Shearer, I'd warned you to wear sportswear today."
Out of the three of them, only Shiller was still wearing his suit, but he retorted confidently, "I didn't even wear a vest today, and I didn't put on the suspenders for my suit. I think my shirt is as wrinkled as the surface of Earth."
The other two burst into laughter, then they started discussing the economic situation of the people around them. Not surprisingly, everyone's situation wasn't very good, and 'everyone' even included those who were previously thought to be wealthy.
"Wayne Enterprises is having cash flow problems," Anna sighed. "When I was working as a data consultant for them, I noticed that their cash flow was already precarious and they had poor resistance to financial risks. The early investment in Gotham's building renovation project was too much, leading them to still not having fully recovered."
"Has their cash flow been cut off?"
"If they don't inject new capital soon, I'm afraid that might be the case," Anna shook her head. "But it's not surprising. Although he is still much wealthier than us, such a large group is bound to be more impacted by the economic crisis than the average person."
"I guess he has measures in place, Batman always has measures," Victor mused. "But I can't think of any measures that are both legal and effective. Surely he won't have to resort to operating in the gray market again?"
"Of course, he's no longer content with the gray market," Shiller said. "Even the black market isn't an option. No matter what industry it is, it has to be legitimate business because that way, the money comes in too slowly."
"So what does he plan to do then? Surely he's not going to rob, is he?"
"It's not much different from robbing," Shiller shook his head without saying more. When he saw their curious looks, he couldn't resist adding, "You'll know in a few days."
After a long and bumpy ride, they finally reached their destination. Although many things at the new campus were still incomplete, and a heap of construction materials was yet to be cleared away, people were bustling about tidying up, and the scene was nevertheless bustling with vibrance.
Victor was the first to get off the truck, standing at the entrance with his hand on the railing, looking pleased as he said, "It's truly befitting of a campus constructed by Wayne Enterprises and designed by Gotham University's School of Architecture and built by the Falcone Family; it looks so imposing."
Shiller also alighted from the truck, and in fact, it was his first time seeing the completed version of the new campus. Although it wasn't far from his home, it was always under construction whenever he passed by.
He had always been curious about why the central building was always covered up. Now it was clear; it wasn't a traditional building but looked more like a horizontally lying Hive. It had elegantly streamlined curves, and its appearance didn't much resemble a university, but rather something of an alien architecture.
The buildings scattered around it were also hexagonal and connected to the central building by slender corridors. At the rear, there were several tall hexagonal buildings, similarly interconnected.
"It looks like the style of the East District," Shiller commented as he walked inside. "Just not as dense, and the decorative style is a bit more sci-fi."
"I really like this style," Victor said excitedly. "Where's my Cryogenic Lab? They said it's America's most advanced Cryogenic Lab, and it cost a third of the lab construction funds! That's going to be my home turf from now on!"
"It seems to be over there. Do you see that? There's a huge snowflake pattern," Anna pointed towards a hexagonal building in the distance. "I guess that symbolizes the Cryogenic Lab."
Victor immediately wanted to go over, but Shiller stopped him, saying, "Did you forget? Right now, only the administrative building and classrooms are open. That will be your home turf in the future, but you can't enter it now."
With a sigh, Victor lowered his arms and said, "Alright then, let's go see the offices first. We do have our own independent offices now, right?"
Because the old Gotham University was too outdated and too small, most professors had to share an office, even if they were renowned in the academic world, they didn't have their own private offices.
Shiller had his own office mainly because the shredder he used was too autonomous; if it wasn't kept in a separate room, it would pose a danger to the other professors' scholarly work and the professors themselves.
But actually, Shiller's so-called private office wasn't very big either, and not long after moving in, mold started to appear in the corners due to questionable building quality.
Now, in the new administrative building, they each had their own independent office, and for the sake of collaboration, they chose three adjacent ones.
The tall buildings behind them were the administrative buildings. Their offices were on the 16th floor. When they went up by elevator, they found that such a large building had an astonishingly low density of only three units per floor. Each office was ridiculously spacious.
Moreover, the offices were not ordinary flats but duplex suites, with the work area downstairs and the rest area upstairs. Unlike a typical loft that could only fit a bed, these were genuinely two-story suites.
Anna and Victor's offices were on either side of the elevator shaft, with Shiller's opposite them. When he pushed the door and entered, he was met with a massive floor-to-ceiling window that nearly overlooked all of the new district of Gotham.
The sun was quite pleasant today, as if testing the cloud filtering system, bright but not scorching, the modern furniture in the room shone resplendently, with black leather sofas, a modern electronic fireplace, built-in televisions, and gray cabinets.
Continuing to the left was the office area, still featuring bookshelves on three walls plus a massive desk and various types of cabinets, but this time, each desk had two computers, clearly signaling a shift into the digital office era.
Next to it was a small door, which opened to a stairway. Following the stairs up, the corridor led to a guest area on the second floor, with the whole floor carpeted. The guest area also had a floor-to-ceiling window, in front of which stood a coffee table surrounded by two chairs, backed by a small kitchen for making tea and coffee.
Pushing open a door revealed a luxurious bedroom, furnished with a comfortable large bed, custom wardrobes, and a bay window that had been transformed into a bookshelf, adorned with grey-brown curtains.
When Shiller headed back downstairs, Victor and Anna had already arrived, sparing no praise for the place. Shiller could plainly see they were a bit too excited.
Indeed, the office had improved a lot compared to before, but to tell the truth, it wasn't even a tenth as luxurious as Greed's office at Marvel's Arkham Sanatorium.
Arrogant seemed to hear Greed murmuring in his ear again, "So just let me take over, and you'd have an office far more luxurious than mine. I'd make all the money and could even buy the entirety of Gotham..."
"It's precisely because you'd do just that, why I won't let you out," Arrogant replied. "I'm a grown adult with the ability to take care of myself; I can earn my own money."
It could have been that he was thinking too loudly, or perhaps he let his thoughts slip out unintentionally, but Victor and Anna looked at him as if he were an alien creature, promptly scurrying out of Shiller's office.
Shiller followed them out, yelling, "Don't just stand around chatting, we must have everything tidied up today. We're starting work here tomorrow, and we can't delay the students' classes for too long, or I'll fall behind schedule!"
From outside came their perfunctory responses. Shiller returned to his office. Although it was a turnkey delivery, dust had settled due to renovations elsewhere, warranting a thorough cleaning.
Shiller picked up the phone and called his Butler, asking him to bring over some cleaning supplies. While there were some basic brooms around, they certainly couldn't match the efficiency of a vacuum cleaner.
Merkel arrived quickly, bringing with him a vacuum cleaner and various attachments, brooms, cloths, buckets, and the like. Shiller grabbed the vacuum cleaner, ready to do the cleaning himself, but Merkel stopped him.
"My goodness, sir, you certainly can't work in that outfit," Merkel said. "Your suit jacket will get dirty in less than a minute."
"What if I just wore the shirt?"
"What I mean is the area isn't large; I can clean it myself, or you could go back to the Manor to rest, and tomorrow you'll find this place spotless."
Normally, Shiller would have left by now, but today he looked at Merkel for a while before saying, "Do you have something you want to tell me?"
Merkel hesitated, touching his face, "You can't hide anything from me, sir, it's just that..."
"If you have something to say, say it quickly. We still have cleaning to do."
"Moscow says I have done a good job, and they want to transfer me back to headquarters."
Shiller was a bit stunned, and Merkel said, "But I'm still going to be a field Agent; it's possible I'll be sent back here any day. It's just that..."
"I'm surprised they think you're doing a good job. What have you been doing?"
"Well, as a Butler, I'm quite decent, aren't I?"
"But you're not just a Butler, so have you given them any useful intelligence? Or did you take out some difficult target?"
Merkel's lips twitched, and Shiller clearly sensed he wanted to say, "Aren't you the most difficult one?"
"But you obviously haven't taken me down."
"Because you don't need me to," Merkel replied with his hands outstretched and a confident expression. "Frankly, sir, by keeping Bruce Wayne and Wayne Enterprises too busy to give a moment's thought to the Soviet Union for ten years, I think Moscow owes you a medal..."
"Enough," Shiller cut in, exasperated. "When are you leaving? Have you packed everything?"
"I don't need to bring anything, so I can leave now. But first, I should finish cleaning this place up, and then..."
"I'll clean up myself; you can book your flight ticket," Shiller interjected, then took out his wallet, giving Merkel his salary for the month, and added, "After you leave, the Manor will be even less habitable. I hope I can sell it off soon."