Chapter 650 - Cosplay and Real-Life RPG
Just like that, a robbery turned into a misdemeanor that wouldn’t trigger subsequent events since most people were too distracted to cause a riot at the moment.
Whoever wasn’t talking about the super amazing Batman today would be considered out-of-date.
That was something that most ordinary people, including hoodlums, couldn’t accept.
The TV stations also contributed to the trend by airing Batman’s life-saving actions as well as interviews with survivors continuously.
Riots? Los Angeles was a city with a tradition of riots. It wasn’t anything unfamiliar.
A real-life superhero, on the other hand, deserved public attention!
Just like that, a strange, relatively peaceful atmosphere permeated Los Angeles.
While the city had suffered a bit from the disaster, nobody seemed interested in causing trouble. Even the protesters at city hall were few and far between.
Luke and Selina spoke to Elsa for a bit before they left her office.
The Major Crimes Division had dropped all their cases to work in tandem with the patrol officer and help maintain law and order. They wanted to toss the most restless hoodlums into jail first as soon as possible before everybody turned their attention back to making trouble. Luke called Professor Lawrence Hayes of Caltech again, then had Jenny wire the professor some money.
Naturally, the money was directed to Lawrence’s research on predicting earthquakes.
Professor Lawrence was the stereotypical researcher, who accepted the funding off-handedly. He just said that the earthquakes hadn’t reached the highest level yet, and he had to keep monitoring the situation.
After hearing that, Luke simply asked the professor to notify him once he discovered something, before he hung up.
Selina’s face was dark after Luke told her about it. “Then how many more stupid bigshots do we have to save?”
Luke chuckled. “If it happens again, just say that your comms broke down. You’re too naive; if you had played deaf and dumb back then, nobody could’ve dragged you into it!”
Selina slapped her forehead. “I just wanted to save more people. How would I know that I would be saving those pigs?”
They spent the afternoon teaching the petty thieves, burglars and robbers in their precinct a lesson before they returned home at sunset.
Claire had just returned home as well.
She had taken a tour of USC in the secondhand Ford with Dollar by her side. Luke wasn’t worried about her safety at all.
She really was a naughty monkey who would go crazy if she sat still for too long.
The three people and one dog had a simple yet sumptuous dinner, and Claire talked about what she had been up to.
But the conversation soon turned to the hottest topic on the streets at the moment – Batman.
Given how Batman had appeared, Claire was naturally a big fan and had been paying attention to the news.
From what she said, while it wasn’t very safe outside, it wasn’t that bad either.
Everywhere she went, she heard people talking about Batman. Some guys in USC were even starting to wear fake Batman suits. Luke was surprised. “It’s late June in L.A.. Aren’t they afraid of heatstroke?”
Claire burst out laughing. “You can never understand how cosplayers think.”
Luke shook his head. “No, I do. As long as their cosplay demands it, they can wear thick pants in summer and go half-naked in winter, right?”
Claire was astonished. “Someone as outdated as you actually knows that?”
Luke smiled mysteriously.
He had never been involved in cosplay in either of his two lives, but he could still tell when the cosplayers on his laptop screen were real girls or crossdressers.
Of course, Batman couldn’t be considered cosplay at all. That was because this place didn’t have DC or the Batman comics. Bruce Wayne and his Wayne Corporation didn’t exist either.
Also, Luke’s suit was only similar to Batman’s; it wasn’t identical.
Bruce Wayne didn’t have Luke’s extraordinary physique, so their suits were designed with different starting points.
Claire grew suspicious when she looked at his smile. “Have you secretly cosplayed before? And never told me because you’re afraid I’ll laugh at you?”
Luke chuckled. “I don’t have time for that.”
If I had that sort of time, I would totally go out as Batman and play a real-life RPG. Wouldn’t that be even better? he mumbled to himself.
Done with chatting, everybody took a break and then trained after dinner as usual.
But Blake’s father, Ray, made a call and got right to the point. “Luke, forgive me, but I have to ask you a question.”
Luke: “It’s fine. What is it?”
Ray couldn’t help but lower his voice. “Are you sure that there’s the possibility of an even stronger earthquake happening?” Pondering for a moment, Luke said, “This information is from Professor Lawrence Hayes of Caltech, but it was a private consult. I can’t offer any proof or make it public.”
After a brief silence, Ray said, “But he predicted the earthquake yesterday? And he said that the earthquake belt extends to San Francisco?”
Luke thought for a moment before he said, “Professor Lawrence is a researcher, feel free to talk to him. I’ll give you his number. You can call him and let him know I was the one who referred you.”
Ray: “Thank you, Luke.”
Luke said with a smile, “You’re welcome. Take care.”
He had a rough guess as to why Ray was asking this.
He had clearly found out from his daughter Blake, and as a core member of L.A.’s Air Rescue, disaster management was his greatest responsibility. The man was very diligent and had a strong heroic sense of dedication; he couldn’t have become the captain of the Air Rescue force otherwise.
It was a far more dangerous job than what regular police officers did.
Ray wanted to be prepared before another earthquake happened.
After hanging up, Luke trained with Claire and Selina for an hour and then worked overtime in his workshop.
Late that night, Luke slipped out again.
This time, Gold Nugget simply pricked its ears but didn’t even bother to wake up Selina.
Turn a blind eye, turn a deaf ear… That was a teaching which Selina had just imparted to it.
The fiend didn’t like people who were too curious.
Well, Gold Nugget wasn’t human, but it still wanted the fiend to be nicer to it.
In a warehouse on the east side of Los Angeles, thirty criminals were rolling up their sleeves and eager to get going They had been burning with impatience for two days.
They had initially planned to carry out the prison break during the chaos after the earthquake, but that had been disrupted by the mysterious Batman.
While Los Angeles was currently in some chaos, the police system was still functioning normally. The criminals were caught in a dilemma.
In the end, they decided to take action today.
A big group like theirs would be exposed sooner or later if they continued hiding in this warehouse.
They would become the joke of the year among all robbers if they were caught before they took any action.
Nothing but the sound of guns being assembled and equipment being sorted out could be heard. Few people were talking.
Whether we have a feast or eat sh*t will depend on our attempt tonight, a slim, middle-aged Latino man mumbled to himself.
