Chapter seven hundred and eighty sixth deadly joke thirteen
As Gotham gradually enters summer, the temperature rises and the wind and rain subside. Except for some light rain in the first half of the night, the weather has improved a lot. This kind of weather is more friendly to people with no fixed homes. At least they don't have to worry anymore.
Frozen to death at night.
Ironically, Bruce did not throw away the money of his nemesis, Jack the Clown, which is unbelievable to Batman. Everything related to criminals is a virus in his view, especially money.
But now, he is not Batman, but he is not Bruce Wayne either. Neither of these two people would do such a crazy thing and fight in the slums with these civilians whom he has never paid attention to.
Batman will feel that this is a waste of time, because he actually did nothing during this time.
He spent all his energy and strength, and the only thing he did was to live. If he were the Batman of the past, he would definitely denounce this as a waste of life.
But Bruce lives here in panic, unable to take a step for a long time. He is already so poor that he accepts financial aid from Jack the Clown, but he still doesn't have enough money to rent a better apartment.
Bruce's initial goal was the Living Hell, which had been transformed by him, and he wanted to see with his own eyes what it had become.
Then he discovered that he couldn't afford to rent a house there.
The weekly rent for a one-bedroom, one-living house in Living Hell is US$15, which is an unimaginably high price in the East District. The apartment where Selena lives also has one bedroom, one living room, a bathroom and a balcony.
It’s only $6 a week.
Bruce, who cannot afford to rent a one-bedroom apartment, has lowered his standards. There are some floor-to-ceiling rooms in Living Hell. They are inside Living Hell. They are just single rooms that others cannot use. They have only one bedroom, no living room and kitchen, and there are windows.
The price is 3 US dollars a week, and the one without windows can even be 2 US dollars.
But this house is very small, so small that it can only accommodate one bed. Moreover, since it is a room rented out by others, it means that it must live with the landlord. Bruce asked several houses, but no one was willing to live with him.
Such strong adult males live together because it is dangerous.
Those who can rent such a good house at a low price are basically relatively weak women, such as Maggie. This will not threaten the safety of the landlord, and it must be introduced by an acquaintance, otherwise Gotham people will not
You can let others live in your home at will.
Finding that he couldn't afford to rent a house in Living Hell, Bruce started looking around Living Hell again, but as long as the houses were within the range of the water purifier, the rents were very expensive.
The water purifier that Batman once spent a lot of money to install here has now become the main reason why he cannot afford to rent a house.
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But Bruce had to rent a house with a water purifier, and his stomach couldn't bear any more.
After struggling, they finally asked a well-connected person who was a member of the kid gang nearby. The cigarette vendor said to Bruce: "The basement near the Living Hell is for rent. Not only does it have a water purifier, but every floor has a
There are public restrooms, which were built together with the Living Hell.”
"However, there also needs to be a gang to help you as a guarantee, but I know a gang that does this business. As long as you can come up with money, they are willing to help you find a house."
Bruce thought for a while and felt that he had no better choice, so under the guidance of the cigarette vendor, he found the gang intermediary.
They lived in a shabby room on the edge of the living hell. As soon as he saw the environment here, Bruce's heart dropped. If they really had a way to get a good house near the living hell, why would they still live here?
Woolen cloth?
The boss of the agency was a woman covered in tattoos. She patted Bruce on the shoulder and said to him: "You are from out of town, right? We have been in this business for a year, and all our customers are very satisfied. As long as you pay, we guarantee
Find the right house for you.”
"Can I ask the price?" Bruce asked.
"The hiring fee is US$10. We can help you negotiate the rent, and you can view the house in advance, but after renting, you can't change your mind."
The woman took a puff of cigarette and said: "We can also help you find a job. We have connections in the kitchen and front desk. Of course, if you are willing to go to a striptease bar, I can also introduce you to it. You will be very popular."
of."
Hearing his sworn assurance, Bruce was already a little confused. He was a very suspicious person and almost didn't trust anyone. Therefore, he finally rejected the agency and planned to find it on his own.
Then he discovered that all the people renting houses here were agents.
Each of these agents made sure to find a suitable house. Bruce had no choice but to choose the agent he felt was the most reliable.
It turns out that he has a good eye. This is not a shady agency. It did find him a house, but the price is also very expensive. The employment fee is 15 US dollars, and the rent is 5 US dollars per week, starting from one month.
Bruce's newly rented house is still in the basement. Fortunately, it is relatively close to the living hell, so it has a water purification system. You can drink water directly from a faucet in the house, but if you want to use the toilet, you must leave here and go to the public house in the living hell.
bathroom.
But it turns out that finding an agent can only lead to two outcomes: being cheated or being severely cheated. Just one day after moving in, the house began to leak. The water pipe upstairs was not tightly sealed. The leak was right next to Bruce's bedside. The next day he
Got a cold again.
After staying for another two days, Bruce discovered that his neighbor was doing illegal business, with all kinds of customers coming and going. In the middle of the night, he could hear some noises that he didn't want to hear but had to listen to.
Just after living there for a week, another gangster came to ask for protection money. Bruce thought it was blackmail, but the neighbors had already paid, so he had no choice but to pay it. After chatting with the neighbors, he found out that the reason why the rent is cheap is because it does not include protection money.
, protection fee is $5 per week.
Bruce's patience has really reached its limit. He can accept that he is hungry and he can accept that he is stuck on the road, but he cannot accept that he is cheated.
Batman is a very tolerant person, the most tolerant person besides Schiller.
Bruce wants to deal with these shady intermediaries, but he knows that he can only outsmart them. He cannot accept the consequences of being injured. If he wants to outsmart them, he must use their strength to fight against them.
At this time, he heard that the big boss in the area was conducting a thorough investigation into illegal renting. He paid a bribe to a child, and the child pointed him to the person to investigate.
Therefore, Bruce met the informant by chance one night and successfully became a witness, identifying the black agent who rented his house and the gangster who collected protection fees twice a week.
It's easy to identify a black intermediary, but it's a bit difficult to prove that a gangster doesn't follow the rules.
The investigators said that their leader wanted to see him, so Bruce went without thinking much. Then, he saw a familiar person, Cobot who was waiting in the restaurant.
When Cobblet saw Bruce, he felt that he was hallucinating. He opened the medicine bottle again, threw a pill into his mouth, and made Bruce wait in the reception room for half an hour before he went back in.
Then he discovered that his mental condition was getting worse and worse, and even taking medicine could not solve the problem of hallucinations.
The person in front of me has the face of Bruce Wayne, probably Bruce Wayne's face.
But at this time, he was very thin and his cheeks were somewhat sunken. More importantly, his beard was not trimmed, his sideburns were not shaved, he did not wear a watch on his hands, and even his boots were covered in mud.
After staring at Bruce for a full minute, Cobot was sure that there was nothing wrong with his memory, but the problem was with the man in front of him.
"What's wrong with you???" Cobot asked, looking at Bruce.
"You don't have to worry about that much." Bruce sat on the sofa, patted the dust on his sleeves and said, "I can tell you how many black agencies there are around the living hell, how many gangs are illegally collecting protection fees, how many children
I paid the intermediary to solicit customers for them, and I can even tell you how many pimps there are around here and where they do business."
Cobot felt that the current situation was very interesting. In front of him was Bruce Wayne, the famous Batman, but that was not the interesting thing. What was interesting was that Batman just said that he wanted to tell him information.
"Are you okay? Wayne?" Copot glanced at the weather outside and said, "If you're crazy, go take medicine quickly. Aren't there enough lunatics in this city? You can't cure them.
Opt in?"
"I'm not crazy." Bruce's eyes were sunken in their sockets, deeper than usual, but his eyes were bright.
And he seemed to have completely given up on the original Riddler style. He said: "I can help you increase the efficiency of reorganizing the order around the Living Hell by more than 50%. The question is, how much are you going to pay for this?"
"You are really crazy." Cobot sat across from Bruce, looked into his eyes and said, "I am now willing to help you call Professor Schiller and ask him to take you to Arkham Asylum for treatment. You
How much are you willing to pay for this?”
"I told you, I'm not crazy. If you want to call that professor, just call him, because I am already sure to write an excellent thesis and graduate from him as an outstanding graduate."
Bruce said.
Cobot covered his forehead with his hands and said to his men: "Go to my office and get the second bottle of medicine from my right hand on my desk."
After a while, his men brought the bottle of medicine over. Cobot waved to the big and thick bodyguards beside him. They immediately went up and held Bruce down. This was very simple, because Bruce had lost a lot of weight, so it didn't matter.
The strength is almost impossible to resist.
Cobot poured a pill from the medicine bottle and said to Bruce: "This is a tranquilizer. You weigh a lot more than me, so taking one pill should be just right."
Then, he asked his men to feed the medicine into Bruce's mouth. Bruce struggled hard, but it was of no use. He had lost at least 30 pounds in more than a month.
Originally, he had a relatively lean body shape. After more than a month of living in extreme poverty, his water content and fat have basically bottomed out, and his muscles have begun to lose. So far, it is a bit exaggerated to say that he is evenly matched with Cobot.
, but he definitely can’t defeat a gangster bodyguard weighing over 80 kilograms.
Fortunately, Copot didn't intend to embarrass him. He was not a lunatic like the Joker. He knew the weight of Bruce Wayne, and he did this not to make Batman look stupid, but because he was really afraid that he would do something crazy.
His actions hurt himself.
People can die, but they must not die in my restaurant, Copot thought. If Wayne really died here, this restaurant would no longer be able to do any celebrity business.
After chatting with Bruce for a long time, Cobot was sure that he was really crazy. He was not even afraid of Schiller anymore. He was not afraid of anything now.