Shiller was holding a stack of files in his arms, looking down to see which ones were needed. At his feet were many boxes, along with several bundles of files and a large pile of books.
All around, the office was in complete disarray. Victor was busy pulling out wires from underneath the desk, while Anna was picking out sculptures she had previously placed in the cabinet.
"Have you finished packing up your own office yet?" Victor looked up and said, "We can only make two more trips this afternoon, and there won't be any tomorrow, so if you're not done, you'd better hurry up."
"I moved everything yesterday," Shiller said. "That shredder can't be put with these files. Yesterday, I asked a truck driver friend to help move a load, thankfully I called him. I might not have been able to handle that shredder on my own."
Victor laughed, continuing his work, and said, "So you've finally passed Bruce's PhD application. What did he get you as a gift?"
Shiller cleared his throat and said, "What he got is secondary. The key is that he finally found a Batman worse than him."
"Oh, really? There's actually one?" Victor put on an exaggerated expression and said, "I thought he would never find one."
"He's pretty lucky," Shiller said as he threw the unnecessary files aside. "I even happened to witness how that only Batman worse than him managed to direct a pile of crap and was smug about it. This severely lowered the average level of a Batman, consequently lowering the PhD application threshold that uses this average as a reference."
"I knew it would be sothing like this." Victor coiled the wires around his arm and said, "I've been waiting for Pala's PhD application, but my inbox has been empty. Do you think I should ask her about it?"
"I think it's better not to," Anna interrupted. "It's not that you necessarily have to maintain a professor's pride, but it might just add to her pressure."
"Pressure? What's been going on with her lately?" Victor asked curiously.
"Rember when she was an intern and helped rich people refurbish their gardens to earn money?" Shiller said. "That's all fallen through now. She's having so financial problems and is adjusting, so it's best not to ask her about her studies for now."
After so thought, Victor sighed and said, "My financial situation isn't good either, or I would have been able to help her, you know. We just bought a new house, and the car loan isn't paid off yet. After completing my teaching duties, I also need to go work in the labs in the new district."
"What about your patent technology?" Shiller stopped what he was doing and looked at Victor. "The Dense Ice Technology patent should bring in a good amount of royalties, shouldn't it?"
"If it weren't for the economic crisis, probably yes. But think about it, Dense Ice Technology is currently used to enhance the capacity of cold chain transportation or to manufacture superconductivity at low temperatures. But now, the companies that need this technology are not facing technological breakthroughs; they need to prevent themselves from going bankrupt first."
"Most high-tech projects in companies have been shut down," Anna sighed. "The nuclear power computation lab where I previously worked is also laying off people; I'm prepared for a pay cut."
After saying this, they both looked at Shiller, who shook his head and said, "I'm not a technician, I don't even have the opportunity to work in the labs. How much money do you think I can have?"
"But you are a psychologist, a famous one at that, and you charge by the hour," Victor said with so disbelief. "You must be wealthy."
"Don't try to fool us. Let guess, the custom suits in your closet could buy a house."
Shiller sighed and picked up a box from the ground, saying, "That's exactly why I'm broke. You know I only do very limited psychological consultations, and most of those are pro bono."
"And because of my teaching job and my other peculiar hobbies, I have to spend a lot on those expensive custom suits. I've already listed my manor for sale, but I don't think there's much hope. I don't know if I can move into the South District this year."
"God, you're really planning to buy a house in the South District? The place is ridiculously expensive, the property tax is also high, and more importantly, you'd have to spend at least four hours a day dealing with that damned lawn!" Anna said dramatically.
"I'll rember to call Pala. I might even offer her $10 an hour," Shiller said with a smile.
"Seriously though, your professional abilities are actually the best way to earn money," Victor said, squatting on the ground and pondering. "With the economy so bad right now, everyone has psychological issues to so extent. Even if ordinary people can't afford the charges, those wealthy folks should be willing to shell out a bit more for their ntal health."
"You an I should beco a real psychologist?"
"It's better than the dead salary of a professor," Victor sighed. "Nora and I together don't even make enough to pay the mortgage. We originally provided technical guidance in the labs during our spare ti from teaching. Now, we both have to consider working three jobs."
"Have you thought about applying to Wayne Enterprises?" Shiller said after so thought. "They are always short of technical staff there."
"Again, what the society lacks now are electricians, wiren, or even painters. We scientists are seen as monsters who are never satisfied with funding. Even if Bruce agrees, the board would have many objections."
Seeing Victor looking a bit down, Shiller had no choice but to say, "Look on the bright side. At least you're in my phonebook, and if you feel depressed, I can give you free counseling."
"Thanks a lot!" Victor said sarcastically as he rolled his eyes.
"How much savings do you actually have?" Anna asked Shiller curiously. "Is it enough to buy a house in the South District?"
"The down paynt should definitely be enough, and I have good credit, so getting a loan isn't difficult. I also have enough for a while's mortgage paynts, but it's not sustainable," Shiller shook his head, clearly troubled, saying, "Victor is right, a professor's fixed salary isn't enough to maintain my kind of lifestyle. The fees from journals are diminishing again and again, to the point where even I don't feel like writing anymore."
"They're having a tough ti too." Anna, holding a box of sculptures, turned and said, "It's already good that they can still accept submissions."
"This is a devastating blow indeed." Victor simply sat on the floor to tidy the wires and said, "By the way, how is Evans doing?"
"He's gone back to help the old Godfather. You should know that they are preparing for the European Union's business, right?" Shiller said.
Victor and Anna both laughed, though it was a bitter laugh. Victor said, "The Soviet Union is almost gone, and now the European Union is coming. The folks in Congress are really going to have a heart attack this ti."
"Let's just take care of ourselves first." Anna was about to say sothing, but then her phone rang. She responded a few tis to the person on the other end, then put down the phone and said, "Mrs. Delia, the head of the Administrative Office, will be coming over in a bit. We might have to wait for her here."
"What's going on? Why would the Administrative Office co now..."
"I think this call was probably just a polite notification." Shiller turned his head toward the door, and no sooner had his words dropped than the sound of high heels ca from the end of the hallway.
Mrs. Delia quickly appeared at the door, rubbing her hands together. She took a deep breath and then let out a sigh, saying, "I'm sorry, professors, so bad news. To maintain the normal operation of the school, all academic staff salaries will be cut by 30%."
"God!!!" Victor cried out in agony: "Our salaries are already so low, and they haven't been raised in 50 years, and now they're being reduced?!"
Anna leaned against the windowsill, not knowing what to say. Mrs. Delia was clearly even more apologetic as she said, "No one could have anticipated this economic crisis to co so suddenly, but the new campus is already built, and we have to move."
"But the new campus still has many imperfections needing funds for repairs. The school's finances have actually been an issue for a while. Besides raising student tuition for the next ten years, the last resort was to cut professors' salaries."
Yet Shiller looked toward Mrs. Delia and said, "What about you? How much did you cut your salary by?"
Mrs. Delia showed a sorrowful expression and said, "I'm sorry, professors, this is also the main reason for my visit here today. I've enjoyed collaborating with you during my tenure, but I'll soon be moving to Brude Haven."
Victor looked up, sowhat surprised, and said, "What's happening? Mrs., are you going back to your hotown?"
Mrs. Delia shook her head and said, "My husband and I are not locals. Although we've worked here for many years, we didn't buy a house, and now we definitely can't afford one."
"Luckily, we didn't buy a house but ticulously maintained our old family ho. Now that we're nearing retirent age and have so savings, it doesn't make sense to keep paying rent and getting such ager salaries. It's better to just go back ho and retire."
For a mont, everyone fell silent. Shiller had to speak up, "You and your husband have toughed it out through two Great Depressions, which is already quite remarkable."
Mrs. Delia laughed and shook her head, "The first ti it happened, I wasn't even born yet, and my husband was just a child. But his father used to ntion it when he was alive—that he too was part of the unemploynt masses then."
"Fortunately, if we leave now, we'll still get a small compensation, which should be enough to fix my husband's boat without a problem. I know that the professors working here are rare talents, and I enjoyed working with you, but I still have to eat, don't I?"
The three of them said nothing and, after sending Mrs. Delia off, Anna, holding her head, said, "This is really terrible. Mrs. Delia's husband has a very reliable relative here. The rent for the house they've been renting is already very low. If even he can't afford it, what about others?"
"Students' tuition fees have also been raised." Shiller tapped the box in his hands and said, "No wonder Pala was so anxious to borrow money from before. The house she's renting is too expensive. She probably can't afford the tuition after losing so many projects."
"She asked you for a loan? How much?"
"Not much, just 500 US Dollars. But that's also like an advance on her salary for fixing up the garden since if I want to sell my estate, the garden still needs to be tended," Shiller said.
"When will these dark days finally be over?" Anna said plaintively, "Does anyone have any ideas now?"
Shiller and Victor both shook their heads. Clearly, large-scale societal and even global economic issues can't be alleviated by one or two people, not even Bruce Wayne.
It's the law of how this economic system operates; it's not a coincidence but an inevitability, and the power of an individual is too insignificant under the transformation of social rules.
Shiller actually knew that Bruce had a plan, but even if it were effective, the dark days before dawn still had to be endured by ordinary people on their own.
And as one of those ordinary people, after considering the balance in his account, Shiller eventually placed the box on the table and looked at the two, saying, "What do you think about psychological counseling... I an, if I started a ntal health clinic, do you think that would help ease my financial situation?"
"Of course!" both of them said in unison.
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