Chapter 38 What Are Your Demands for Earth?

Perhaps guessing that Elijah wouldn’t believe him, the person on the other end added, "Clark just sent me your phone number."

Elijah subconsciously glanced at the time at the top of his screen: 11:00 PM.

He looked up Bruce Wayne’s birth date on Wikipedia, calculated his age, and felt a surge of genuine respect: other billionaires at Wayne’s age were already obsessing over health and wellness; even if they weren’t drinking goji berry tea from a thermos, they were at least sleeping early and waking up early. Only Mr. Wayne remained as reckless as a young man—staying up all night and sleeping all day. What a spirited soul; a role model for us all!

Elijah hadn't slept for two days and a night recently either, but he only dared to indulge like that after gaining superpowers. Wikipedia made no mention of Bruce Wayne having any special abilities beyond being incredibly wealthy, which made this disregard for his biological clock even more astonishing.

However, it wouldn’t be polite to praise him for having a body of iron right to his face. Elijah exchanged a few steady, formal pleasantries with Mr. Wayne, then opened a well-known AI text website and typed into the box:

"How do I politely decline Bruce Wayne’s help and say, 'It’s very late now, we should talk again in a couple of days'?"

The AI diligently generated a long, template-like paragraph for him.

Elijah checked it, made a few minor edits, and then copied and pasted:

[I had originally intended to ask Mr. Kent if he knew of any friends in similar circumstances to mine during his survey, but I did not expect him to introduce me to you, Mr. Wayne. I am very grateful for the help from both Mr. Kent and yourself. I also believe that your ability to balance your philanthropic work and family life is an outstanding achievement. I am eager to hear you share your secrets to success, but it is quite late today. Perhaps we can find another time to talk in detail later? What do you think?]

Mr. Wayne, who had cleared his entire evening specifically for Elijah: ...

He sat in the Batcave. On the left side of the screen were the night patrol movements of his "little birds," showing Red Robin, Tim Drake, coordinating a sting operation with Red Hood, Jason Todd. On the right was the chat window with Elijah. The interface flickered, casting his expression in shifting light and shadow. Half a minute later, Superman sent an inquiry: "How is the conversation going?"

Batman: "Haven't met Elijah Esposito in person yet."

Superman asked in surprise: "Don't tell me the person you're talking to is Phantom Stranger?"

Batman: "No, it’s ChatGPT."

"..."

How dismissive!

The world’s first person to delegate a conversation with Batman to an AI had appeared!

And this wasn't even the peak of the dismissal. Batman waited for a while longer, only to find that there was no movement from Elijah’s side. Clearly, if Bruce Wayne didn't speak up, the opportunity for tonight’s probe would be missed.

But one must understand that while Mr. Wayne was adept at socializing, he had almost never taken the initiative to make friends in his life. Given his status, position, and wealth—plus the fact that those with similar backgrounds who moved in the same circles never lacked for intelligence or emotional quotient—all "Brucey Baby" usually had to do was give a look, and countless people would rush to provide him with an out, smooth things over, or offer introductions.

The last time Mr. Wayne had been this passive was when he was playing the role of a naive fool to deceive a villain.

Elijah wasn't necessarily a villain.

Yet, at this moment, in order to keep the conversation going, Mr. Wayne had to become a naive fool.

He pondered for a moment, shed his formal tone, and tapped away on the Bat-keyboard:

[I don’t have any secrets to success. To be honest, my adopted son was yelling at me in front of everyone just yesterday.]

**

"Fuck Batman!" Nightwing had said to all the little birds the previous day. "He used his administrative override to delete the forum post Ophelia Esposito made, just because he didn't like it!"

"But it doesn't matter, I archived it."

**

Bruce Wayne’s three sentences were punctuated by a [teary-eyed] emoji.

Elijah, who had already put down his phone and planned to go to sleep, was left wondering: ?

He slowly sat back down on the park bench, staring in confusion at the emoji nestled in the sentence for a long time, feeling that something had become very strange. But it seemed plausible for a rich tycoon to be feeling down late at night and looking for someone to vent to; perhaps he couldn't sleep because he was kept awake by the anger of being scolded by his son?

Thinking of this, Elijah—who was also dealing with a "good son" drifting on the streets—closed ChatGPT and replied manually:

[It’s okay, my adopted son has done similar things.]

Bruce Wayne: [But your child surely hasn't run away from home.]

Elijah: [...Actually, he just returned from running away.]

Bruce Wayne: [How could this happen? I thought it was my fault that every child runs away when they grow up... Thank you, you’ve given me great comfort.]

Elijah: ...

He choked back a sound, seeing the tycoon—who didn't know if he was a good conversationalist or not—send another message:

[Actually, I also have a daughter, who appears to be more obedient than my adopted son.]

Elijah was speechless. He copied Mr. Wayne’s last sentence and added "too" at the end: [I have a daughter, too, who appears to be more obedient than my adopted son.]

A single word, "appears," captured so much bitterness. How had Mr. Wayne endured for so many years?

Elijah, for once, took the initiative: [If you’re busy with work, what do you do about your family?]

Bruce Wayne replied: [There’s no good way. I just have to let them get involved. Fortunately, I haven't encountered a situation where the children aren't interested in my work.]

Let’s interview the Robins: do any of you not want to be a superhero? None, right?

Elijah: [But my work isn't really suitable for minors, and one of my children always likes to go against me.]

Here we go!

Batman perked up, believing the person Elijah was talking about was the current leader of the International Gang, Cale Esposito.

However, Bruce Wayne’s tone remained bewildered: [Rebellious phase? Every boy I’ve raised has become terrifying around the age of eighteen. Truly "terrifying," I’m not joking.]

Elijah felt even more sympathetic, though his response was brief: [Perhaps.]

Bruce Wayne: [It’s not "perhaps." Guess why I’m not sleeping tonight? Because one of my children hasn't come home in the middle of the night; he was kidnapped by a crime lord in Gotham City, and I’m waiting for Batman and Robin to bring them back.]

**

In a corner of Gotham City, Tim, tied up like a dumpling by Red Hood, said: "Holy shit, why am I the one who had to take off my uniform and act as bait for the enemy?"

Red Hood spun his gun: "Wasn't it your plan? Whoever has the idea takes the responsibility. Stop talking nonsense, respected President Drake; I’m about to execute you. Would you prefer the bullet in your temple or your heart?"

**

...Huh??

Is that something that can be said?!

Elijah was both shocked and felt that this was absurd. For a moment, he didn't know whether to ask, "Your son is missing and you're chatting with me here?" or "Does Batman send you real-time location updates?"

On one hand, he couldn't help but feel a bit of empathy for Bruce Wayne; on the other, he felt that he himself must be somewhat absurd to empathize with such an outrageous family. After hesitating for a long time, he really didn't know what to reply, so he just "liked" Mr. Wayne’s last message.

Put yourself in his shoes: isn't this exactly like Elijah waiting for Superman and Phantom Stranger to bring Ophelia back after she was kidnapped by Cale?

There was no way to roast Bruce Wayne; roasting him would be roasting himself.

Mr. Wayne seemed to feel the same way, as if such a coincidence were rare in this world. He stopped monitoring the movements of the kidnappers and Robin, and sighed to Elijah:

[To be honest, whenever I mention my family situation to others, they find it hard to understand. Mr. Esposito, you are the first person who can resonate with me and share the same perspective. It’s late today, but perhaps we will have the chance to share our experiences like this in the future and find solutions for them together?]

Elijah didn't answer, just silently "liked" the message again.

A few seconds later, Bruce Wayne created a group chat on WhatsApp. The group name was the default, unchanged. There were three members: Elijah, Clark, and Bruce.

Bruce: [I think since everyone knows each other, this will be more convenient. [Smiling face] I have things to attend to; you two get some sleep.]

"..."

No one answered him. However, a few minutes later, that lonely message received exactly two "likes"!

On the other end, Clark, despite being in the Arctic, broke into a cold sweat after being suddenly pulled into the group. He sent a private message to Batman: "Is this a single-father support group? Why did I have to join?"

It was truly terrifying!

Watching Batman pretend to be a normal person was American horror; watching the seemingly normal but actually quite abnormal Elijah was Lovecraftian horror.

If this continued, Clark suspected he would lose his grasp on what a normal family was.

"With more people, Elijah Esposito might lower his guard." It was the same logic as why many people were willing to participate in group chats but disliked private messaging, Batman answered coldly. "He was too cautious when speaking with me one-on-one. Even when Bruce Wayne put the topic right in front of him, he didn't say an extra word."

Clark sighed, not wanting to comment on his friend. He decided to be a complete bystander in this bloodless confrontation; if Elijah spoke next time, he would be the first to rush in and "like" it.

Yet, neither of them expected that this chat group, which looked like it would be silent for a long time, would become lively as soon as dawn broke.

It started at 8:00 AM when Bruce forwarded a Gotham City headline: "Midnight Scare! Wayne’s Adopted Son, Timothy Drake, Kidnapped and Rescued Within Two Hours."

Clark was woken up by the notification sound, and with sleepy eyes, he "liked" it. When he refreshed again, Elijah had actually sent a picture:

[Garfield Middle School.jpg]

Elijah was taking his two children to handle the paperwork for enrollment and re-enrollment.

Ophelia had spent a long time preparing mentally for this outing. She was fully armed, wearing long sleeves and gloves in the middle of summer, terrified that her superpowers might suddenly erupt and cause chaos among her peers.

Elijah knew her worries were actually not without reason; not going out was out of consideration for the safety of the innocent. But relying solely on physical isolation was clearly not a solution, so he guaranteed to Ophelia that he would keep an eye on her at all times and that Elijah would take responsibility for any unforeseen circumstances.

Cale chimed in from the side, not sure if it was a compliment or a jab: "With his word, you don't need to overthink it, Philly. If Fate doesn't want something to happen, it definitely won't happen."