Chapter 107 Daylight and Nightfire in the Fool's Village
After winter in Gotham City has passed, the temperature has begun to warm up. This is a rare season in Gotham that does not rain much. Although the weather is still very cloudy, there are no sunny days at all, and the city is always shrouded in a layer of mist.
But the weather is still much better than in winter.
Mayor Roy's first reform measure after taking office was naturally to manage Gotham's traffic.
Of course, this is not because the last mayor died in a car accident, but because with the cooperation with other coastal cities, Gotham City has ushered in a new round of development, with various warehouses and supporting facilities rising from the ground, and a large number of
Cargo ships are moored at the port, waiting in line to deliver goods.
But Gotham's traffic situation can only be described in one sentence - if it has some traffic rules, it doesn't mean there are no traffic rules at all.
This has led to a very troublesome situation. The cargo ship's transportation capacity is sufficient. Although the warehouse under construction is still somewhat imperfect, it can actually accommodate the goods. However, the problem lies in the transportation from the dock to the warehouse.
on this stretch of road.
The warehouses belong to different gang families, and everyone has to transport goods, and they basically transport goods 24 hours a day. But there are no traffic rules in Gotham, and no one says who should go first. How can this kind of thing be solved in Gotham?
The method is naturally that whoever has more guns and more bullets in the gun will go first.
But there is another problem. Although the driver is also a gang member, he is not a combatant. When two cars are blocked together, the gang members escorting the goods start to fight, and the driver and other technicians in the car will also be injured.
Originally, there was a serious shortage of such professionals in Gotham right now. When everyone started fighting, they ignored everything. The end result was that both parties stopped eating at the same time and went to the hospital to lie down together.
It didn't matter that they entered the hospital, the truck they were transporting goods was still lying on the road. As a result, the people who came after them were even more blocked and couldn't move.
Under such a vicious cycle, Gotham's traffic is almost completely paralyzed. Although waiting for most goods for a few days is not a problem, if it continues like this, it will completely burn money, including labor costs, warehouse costs, and cargo ships.
Maintenance costs and liquidated damages for delayed delivery made the heads of the twelve families lose their hair.
There are actually some top students who graduated from universities among them, but everyone has lived in Gotham for so many years, and no one realizes what the most important problem is in this city. Everyone thinks about how to coordinate the relationships here.
, all he wants to think about is how to deal with other gangsters and make them make way for him.
But everyone wants others to give way to them, so no one gives way, and everyone is blocked on the road together.
After all, Gotham is a disorderly and chaotic city. The evil order here built by gangs is still essentially disordered.
Fortunately, the new mayor Roy is a sensible person. He did not instruct the gangs on what to do when they were at their most angry. He just allowed them to fight into chaos, and finally blocked the entire central street, leaving no one behind.
Want to leave.
Until Gotham's most important center roundabout and four second-ring intersections were reduced to rubble, the gangsters had completely lost their temper. The money was right in front of them, but they couldn't get it, and no one could.
I can't let the things in the cargo ship have wings and fly to the warehouse by myself. There is no one, no cars, and now there is no road.
In the end, I had no choice but to ask the old godfather to come out. When the biggest family leaders sat at the negotiating table, they were all silent. Those who were blocking the road also had goods from the Falcone family. The old godfather's power was still as strong as before.
, the leaders also know that they are in the wrong, and they are basically in a mute state of bowing their heads and being scolded.
The problem is obvious now. If we continue to fight, it will only make the situation worse. By then, not to mention the road, the entire city will be gone. How can they make money? Will they starve to death?
The situation has developed to this point, and this situation indeed requires a proper solution to improve traffic.
So, on the second Sunday when the weather warmed up in Gotham, Mayor Roy Brown held a televised speech on Gotham TV.
Roy on the screen no longer wears a windbreaker and felt hat like he did in Chicago, but looks like a gangster in Gotham, wearing a suit and tie with flowers on his chest. He is sitting in his mayor's office with a calm tone.
said:
"Dear citizens and friends of Gotham City, I am your new mayor Roy Brown. I believe everyone should already know me."
"The main purpose of my speech today is to advocate for everyone to abide by traffic rules and to explain the new municipal administration I will implement in Gotham."
"As we all know, in this ancient city with a long history, we have worked together until today, and now, Gotham City will usher in another renaissance, and a good development opportunity is before everyone.
"
"Therefore, as mayor, I am once again proposing a new municipal administration to serve the citizens of Gotham."
"The name of this new policy is the Gotham Civilized City Construction Plan. The main contents of the plan are: starting from tomorrow, Gotham's 6 major transportation hubs, 17 main roads and 22 secondary main roads will be
Commencement of Operation Gotham Traffic Civility Day."
"During this period, there will be professional traffic guides to divert traffic. Drivers are requested to abide by traffic rules, otherwise they will be responsible for the consequences."
The TV speech ended here. Bruce turned off the TV and suddenly had a bad premonition.
Facts have proved that Batman's intuition has always been accurate, or Gotham's first law is: in Gotham, no matter how correct your starting point is, how brilliant your method is, how perfect your plan is, in the end they can give you the answer.
What you did was a piece of shit.
The next day, on the central roundabout in downtown Gotham, a flashy sports car with spray paint slowly slowed down. The person inside rolled down the window, stuck his head out, and slapped a beautiful woman standing on the street.
Whistling, a hippie young man covered in tattoos shouted: "Hey! That pretty girl! Look here, look at Gotham's racing boy..."
Before he could finish his words, the girl turned around, threw the cigarette butt at her feet, picked up the rifle placed behind the lamppost, and shot the tire of the sports car.
The "bang" explosion startled the two people in the car. Just as they were about to get angry, the girl came over with a gun. She looked young, no more than 20 years old, with a good figure and good skin.
Wild dark color.
She lit another cigarette and held it in her mouth. Then she took out a small book from the pocket of her jeans. She rolled her eyelids and looked at the two people standing in the car up and down. She said, "Race boy, right? Bipolar disorder."
, Nervous headache plus schizophrenia precursor, the recommended treatment period is three months.”
As she talked, she wrote and drew in the notebook. After she finished writing, she tore up the piece of paper and threw it directly into the car. The young man covered with tattoos picked up the piece of paper and looked at it. The title said "Arkham"
Psychiatric Hospital Diagnosis Sheet”.
He immediately showed a flattering smile and said: "Sorry, madam, I didn't know you were an intern at Arkham Asylum. How about giving us another one like this?"
"By the way, what they said is true, right? We can use this diagnosis sheet to prescribe... I mean effective drugs for treating headaches."
The girl looked him up and down again and said, "Yes, go to the hospital's attending doctor's office for an interview within three days and wait for the ward assignment."
"Can I have another one? I think I'm mentally ill too," another young man shouted.
The girl ignored him, took off the walkie-talkie from her waist and said: "Fourth Avenue! Fourth Avenue! A modified supercar with a flat left front tire and two passengers. They are...who do you belong to?"
people?"
"A chain smoker from the East District, our boss is a chain smoker!"
"He's a chain smoker from the East Side. Damn it, why are he a poor guy from the East Side? Don't those rich and oily guys from the West Side stop driving on the streets?"
Not long after she finished speaking, two people came over on a police motorcycle. One of them, wearing a police uniform, gave a perfunctory salute, and then said in a very impatient tone: "Speed, illegal change of direction, running a red light,
Fine 300.”
After looking at the rocket launcher hanging on their motorcycle, the young man reluctantly paid the fine. Then another person who came with the motorcycle also walked over and said: "Hello, Doyle Towing Company, may I ask?
Need towing service?”
"Doyle, why is it you? You damn bastard! Why are you still wearing a suit? And since when did your family have a towing company?"
The young man named Doyle adjusted his suit and tie. It could be seen that his suit must have just been bought yesterday, and it did not fit well.
He leaned on the sports car and lit a cigarette and said: "Don't talk nonsense. This is an ancestral business. Our family has been in this business for eight generations. For the sake of being acquaintances, I will give you a 30% discount and 150 yuan to help you drag it."
Go to the nearest highway, you know, now only I know which highway is not blocked, you should be rushing to the east warehouse to see the factory, right?"
The young man in the car curled his lips and said: "Well, it seems that your boss really thinks highly of you. I will leave this kind of work to you. You can help me drag the car over, and the two of us will walk to Arkham to drive."
medicine."
While they were chatting, the girl turned around and saw a black Mercedes-Benz about to make a U-turn. She picked up the horn on her waist and shouted: "Stop!!! You are violating traffic rules!!!"
Within a few seconds, another shot rang out. The police and the people from the towing company didn't need to move, and they just concluded another business deal.
Continuing along this street, there are two intern doctors at each intersection, responsible for stopping cars and issuing diagnostic certificates. They all hold walkie-talkies. Once a traffic accident is discovered, the police and people from the tow truck company will quickly ride to the road.
The motorcycle arrived at the scene, the car was fined and the towing agreement was signed in one go. The car was taken away from the scene in less than ten minutes.
Of course, this is only on ordinary main roads and intersections far away from the central city. On the six major battlefields close to the central city, the fighting situation is much more intense.
Bruce said to a bodyguard behind him: "Go and stop the red Lamborghini, tell him that he turned wrong just now, go back and drive again, and come to me later to get the diagnosis certificate."
"Also, where is that foul-mouthed guy just now? Take him out and beat him up. Let's just say Wayne beat him up."
As soon as he finished speaking, he heard a "whoosh" sound. Bruce took two steps back. Not far in front of him, a car exploded. The driver rolled out and ran out, facing the high platform in the middle of the intersection.
The man holding a rocket launcher shouted: "Are you blind?! I was obviously going straight!! He was changing lanes! He took my seat, why did you hit my car?!"
Before he could finish speaking, the aftermath of the explosion seemed to have hit the car that changed lanes. The hood of the car also made an explosion, and then burst into flames.
The driver who changed lanes also crawled out of the car. The two were about to fight, but they saw that the man on the high platform had reloaded the rockets and was aiming here.
The people left cursing, and soon they met a guy who claimed to be from a towing company. The wreckage of the two cars was quickly taken away from the battlefield.
"Listen!! Get to those sons of bitches on the other side! Are you deaf? It's our turn to go when the light turns green!! Do you hear that?! It's our turn to go!!"
"Haven't you seen the TV show?! Look in my hand! What is this?! Gotham Driver's Manual! See it? You've already gone two rounds! It's our turn next time!!"
From a row of trucks across from the carousel, a tall, thick-set, tattooed man got down. He also held a rifle in his hand. He pointed his middle finger at the yelling man and said, "Your head is full of shit.
?! If you want to go, take the east road first! Then it’s us, you have to wait a while!”
Bruce listened to them exchanging dirty words. He thought hard and found that his genius brain could not find any evidence of the so-called traffic rules that these two people so confidently said.
He asked a bodyguard behind him: "Gotham Driver's Manual? Do you still have this thing? Go get me a copy."
The bodyguard said: "Yes, there is, but it was just printed yesterday, and it is still a handwritten copy. Our mayor seemed to be a little drunk when he wrote this manual..."
But after saying that, he still went to find a car and got a book. Bruce opened it and saw that the bodyguard was indeed right. A pound of vodka would not be so outrageous if he drank less than a sip.
Driver's Manual.
It was written in Roy's extremely sloppy handwriting. The mayor also came from a grassroots background and never went to college. Many words were spelled wrong, not to mention the garbled grammar. After making a mistake, he would just scratch it out with a pen.
Some rows are crowded together, while others are far apart.
Bruce turned off his brain and tried his best to read the driver's manual from the perspective of these mentally retarded people. He found that although the writing was sloppy, the content was confusing, and there were more swear words than the text, it made a lot of sense.
The central idea of the entire driver's manual is just one sentence: There are no traffic rules in this terrible place of ours. Anyone holding the steering wheel you can see here does not have a legal driver's license. If you want to drive here, you only need to know how to drive.
One thing is to grab the steering wheel, step on the accelerator, and pray to God.
After a while, Bruce's cell phone rang, and he picked up the phone and said: "Hello? Professor... yes, the internship went well. I am now at the intersection east of the central roundabout. The road conditions here are pretty good.
The west side is more chaotic because there are too many sports cars..."
"Yes, I also think this internship method is very good. I heard them say that they have memorized at least dozens of proper nouns for mental illnesses. This is already a miracle. I believe they can get at least 5 more points on the final exam..."
"Evans? No...no, he is not diverting traffic. He has more important things to do."
Bruce looked up as he spoke. Not far away, he saw a man wearing a black suit who looked like the head of the Twelve Families. He was nodding and bowing to Evans. He moved the car that was occupying the road out of the way in a few seconds.
The traffic jam quickly became smoother.
Although Bruce said so, in fact, this so-called Gotham Transportation Civilization Day was basically a mess.
Roy built a small observation tower in the center of the intersection of each major transportation hub. The traffic controllers on it were basically carrying machine guns and holding rocket launchers to shoot wherever there was anything wrong.
Under this kind of deterrence, the vast majority of cars are still willing to abide by traffic rules, but the problem is that Gotham does not have unified traffic rules at all, and people here have never learned the traffic avoidance code, so Roy came again
A person who has driven normally in other cities was added to the watchtower to provide guidance.
However, in the United States, almost every state has different traffic rules, and the contents of the driver's manual also vary, which results in the traffic rules used at each intersection being different.
Although this situation is much better than the original situation of being unable to move at all, it still cannot meet the needs of logistics operations.
In the teachers' office of Gotham University, Anna, a professor of advanced mathematics, covered her forehead and said helplessly: "The error in the calculation of the capacity is really too big. Do you have any clues over there? Victor..."
Victor looked even worse, with two big dark circles almost covering half of his face. If he hadn't listened to what he said, just looking at his current state, one would have thought Mr. Freeze had awakened.
He said: "Don't forget, we also have to consider the preservation time. The cargo ships at the second pier are goods that are urgently needed for storage. They must have an emergency passage, otherwise the goods may be damaged. The cargo on the third pier is
There are also fragile items that cannot be driven too fast. When these cars are added to the central turntable, it will affect the overall speed..."
At this time, the door was pushed open with a bang, and Roy rushed in with a gun and said: "How is the logistics system being formulated? There are a dozen big bosses over there waiting for my news.
Well, their goods are all backlogged at the dock, and I can’t bear it anymore!”
"We are doing manual calculations now. Have you ever seen anyone doing manual calculations faster?"
"They can add money, no matter how much it is! 100,000? 200,000? As long as you can produce results as soon as possible, business waits for no one! Friends!"
Victor put down the information in his hand and said: "I called some of my old classmates last night. They are all professors of mathematics, physics and biology. You have to offer a price that satisfies them before they will come.
Here, you know, this city doesn’t have a very good reputation..."
"Give me their phone numbers and I'll make sure you're satisfied!"
On the other side, as Roy said, most of the heads of the Twelve Families gathered in a conference room, anxiously waiting for the results of the process. Sitting in the main seat was the head of the Spencer family.
Holding a phone and saying:
"The goods in warehouse No. 3 are damaged? Why? Aren't they frozen well?"
"The temperature detection device is not working as usual? Then why didn't anyone check it?...Can't read the gauge? Damn it! You illiterate people! That's tens of thousands of yuan worth of goods to me!!!"
"The quality of the cryogenic warehouse is not good either? So what should we do? We kidnapped... No, where is the expert we hired with a high salary? Tell him that we doubled the salary we promised him before! Let him find a way quickly! Forget it, you let
He answers the phone!"
"Who? Professor Freese? Who is that? Gotham University? No...I can't enter that place. It's the godfather's territory, contract system? Is he very powerful?"
"...What? A living person? His wife? No...it's not important!"
"You mean, he froze a living person in a freezer and still kept her alive?!"
"Ha...oh, no...no...I mean, it's such a shame, such a sad love story, God bless the poor lady, I'd like to donate to this, I'll ask for it tomorrow
If he comes, you know, I am also a person who believes in love..."
At this time, Schiller was sitting in his office at Arkham Psychiatric Hospital. There was a long queue in front of him. Schiller shouted without raising his head: "Next!"
A black man with a sinewy face walked up and held the medical certificate in his hand. It was no bigger than one of his fingers. He carefully held the medical certificate and handed it to Schiller. Schiller scanned it.
He glanced at it and said: "Congenital polio?? This was written by some guy who didn't pay attention in class?? Didn't I tell you to look for nouns in the textbook and memorize them?"
He glanced at the black man and said, "Ward No. 3 on the second floor." Then he picked up a pen and quickly scratched the medical certificate twice, signed it, wrote a prescription, handed it to the man, and continued to shout:
"Next!"
At this time Brand, wearing a white coat, rushed in and said: "We can't accept any more patients! We really can't accept any more patients! We have no more wards!"
"Let them squeeze in. There are more than 100 people here."
"But no matter how crowded it is, it's impossible for 30 people to live in one ward!"
Schiller raised his head and thought for a while and said: "Let them be released on parole. There is always room in Gotham Prison, right?"
Brand was dumbfounded. He said, "On bail, just...what?"
"But most of them were originally here for medical parole!"
"Then set up a medical station in the prison and let... let Bruce go there. The intern is also a doctor. He has experience. Let him apply the model here. If there is no room in the hospital, go to the prison. If there is no room in the prison, go to the hospital.
that's all."
After Schiller quickly arranged the remaining patients, he returned to the Gotham University office. The place was basically in a state of chaos, and everyone with a college degree or above had been arrested and counted.
In this era without supercomputers, the amount of calculations required to calculate the most perfect logistics route manually is terrifying, and the leaders Victor and Anna are going crazy.
Schiller also participated because he had a symbiote. In order to avoid traffic jams when commuting to get off work in the future, he was happy to work overtime here.
But soon, Roy came again, still holding a gun and a phone in his hand, and rushed into the office in a hurry, and then said: "Two of the three financial officers of the city government have run away, and there are
One of them was buried by the sand leaked by the sand truck, and they are still trying to save it. Which one of you will come with me? The financial statements are almost piled up!"
One of the local professors in Gotham said: "Not everyone can do this job. Although the mayor's life is short in Gotham, his financial life is not long. Everyone knows what they do..."
As soon as he heard this, Schiller was no longer sleepy. He rolled up his sleeves and said, "Let's go, I'll go with you!"
Roy said hesitantly: "Excuse me for being offended, professor, but aren't you a professor of psychology? Is there a financial aspect in psychology?"
"Of course, you have to know that psychology is all-encompassing, and I happen to have very rich experience in it..."
Roy had no choice but to agree with hesitation.
The next morning, Roy stood in front of all the gang family leaders and said, "Now I have good news and bad news."
"The good news first, I've heard enough bad news." One of them said: "I still have three trucks blocked on Fifth Avenue."
"The good news is that if nothing unexpected happens, the city's GDP may be expected to surpass the metropolitan area this year and become the first in the United States."
There was an uproar below, and the gang bosses were whispering. They said: "Why did you get the first place so quickly? My goods haven't been sold yet!"
"Wasn't it fifth or sixth before? How long has it been? Are you sure the statistics are correct?"
Roy waved his hand to signal them to calm down, and then said: "The bad news is that this is not because our city has developed, but actually because there is a problem with the report."
"So now it's up to everyone to decide whether we want to be the number one."
The rest of the people were even more confused as to how big of a problem the report had to be for them to leapfrog Metropolis directly into first place.
To be honest, Roy didn't understand this question either. Anyway, he just watched Shiller sort out a pile of financial reports all night and came up with a statistics that was extremely reasonable but extremely outrageous.
Then tell him that he is about to become the mayor who has led the city's economic development the fastest, made the most improvements, and improved the fastest in the history of urban development in the United States.
Roy said: "According to a financial officer who did not want to be named, if we are number one, we will become more famous and increase more investment opportunities. If we are not number one..."
Roy stuttered for a moment, then took out a piece of paper and read on it: "Certain errors that are allowed in the understanding of macroeconomics will give more room for control of the actual data, including...
The stabilizing means of falsely high growth, the redundant space left by the impact of the crisis, and..."
After reciting it, Roy himself couldn't read it anymore. He said: "I'm sorry, there are too many words in the following paragraph that I don't recognize. In short, if you don't have this reputation, everyone will have more
…”
Roy made a gesture common to gangsters, and all the bosses understood, and they unanimously chose the latter.
Of course, this is definitely not for the convenience of official money laundering. The main reason is that the citizens of Gotham are not vain and are humble and low-key.
At this time, in the Gotham Police Department, in Gordon's office, Bruce couldn't hold himself any longer. He said, "You mean, you want to borrow my Bat-Light? What are you going to use it for?"
Gordon was also a little embarrassed. He said: "There is nothing we can do about it. Yesterday, some bastard had a bad idea and actually transformed the only dilapidated old-fashioned traffic light at the central intersection, which caused a lot of trouble.
"
That's right, just after the traffic improved a little, trouble broke out again.
There are no traffic lights at most intersections in Gotham because they were useless in the past. Only the big roundabout in the center of the city still retains an old-fashioned traffic light pole.
Although it was useless in the past, under the threat of force, Gordon found that this thing was indeed much more convenient than shouting.
Therefore, most of the traffic flow in the central city is directed by traffic lights, and the man on the watchtower is only responsible for force deterrence.
But as expected of Gotham City, a city with simple folk customs, this absurd city never lacks absurd geniuses.
I don’t know which little genius in physics or engineering went to work in the dark in the middle of the night to renovate this antique traffic light that was already I don’t know how many years ago.
Under the command of the wrong traffic light, the situation on the central roundabout yesterday was that after walking on the left, go on the right, after walking on the front, go on the right, after walking on the back, go on the right...
At the end of the day, the entire intersection on the right was smooth, while the other three intersections could only stare blankly.
Originally, all the drivers in Gotham City were in the advanced stages of road rage. If everyone couldn't move, then forget it. But while others were walking one after another, and I had to be stuck here, then
They will definitely not be happy.
So the central turntable, which had just been slightly repaired, was almost reduced to rubble again.
Later, the traffic light was repaired again, but after so many twists and turns, this old-fashioned traffic light basically stopped working. And ordinary traffic lights will probably end up similar to this traffic light. During the evening rush hour, they will basically not survive.
three hours.
For the citizens of Gotham, it was difficult for their slightly crazy brains to distinguish such a completely inconspicuous thing, so Gordon thought of a way. He planned to use a high-power one.
So the question is, where is the most powerful light in Gotham?
Bruce looked at Gordon speechlessly. Gordon rubbed his hands and said, "Actually, this can be regarded as fighting crime. After all, if everyone is transporting goods at night, then most people will not go out to look for trouble."
Gordon dragged Bruce to the map of Gotham hanging on the wall. He said: "This is the statistics I made recently. You see, in several neighborhoods with relatively good traffic conditions, the crime rate has dropped significantly, because generally gangsters find drivers.
We will always find local drivers who are familiar with the routes.”
"These drivers are basically members of local gangs, which are the main force of local crime. Because the transportation capacity is currently insufficient, the gangs are willing to pay high prices to hire these people to help them deliver goods overnight. It doesn't matter if they don't have a driver's license. Most people don't have a driver's license anyway."
.”
"They drive trucks all night to deliver goods, so of course they don't have time to go out and commit crimes. Moreover, the money earned from two trips can be equal to the gains from two months of robberies. Nowadays, most gangsters who can drive basically
I found a similar job, and I heard that there is also a small gang that collectively changed jobs and became trucking drivers, and they are still recruiting people like crazy."
In fact, this is not beyond Bruce's expectation. Batman often patrols at night recently, but there is really nothing to patrol recently, because the streets are full of people working.
If truck drivers don’t take a break, they also have to eat and drink. After working the night shift, they can just go for a late-night snack. Restaurants, pubs, and roadside stalls don’t take a break either. If the restaurants sell out their food during the day, they still have to sell it at night.
If they need more food, they will need more raw material reserves, more drivers will need to be hired to deliver the goods, and more cooks and waiters will need to be hired.
But after all, regular restaurants have rent, and the prices of the food they sell will be relatively expensive, and the food cooked by the chef may not be in line with the taste of the gangsters, who have been accustomed to roadside stalls since they were young.
So many people who know how to cook have also set up roadside stalls. There is no urban management in Gotham, so of course they can set up stalls wherever they want.
When there are more roadside stalls, the originally small alley becomes narrower. Most people have to demolish the illegal buildings in front of the buildings and widen the road to facilitate the formation of the night market.
When these night shift drivers suddenly make a lot of money, they will of course be keen on spending money. Casinos and dance halls will not rest at all. Even bartenders, dancers, and dealers have to work all night. These people eat, drink, and have sex, and they also need more food.
Service industry facilities.
In short, the streets near every transportation hub have been brightly lit in the past few days, and they are even busier than during the day. Once the citizens of Gotham gather together, they will find ways to find excitement and engage in confrontational movements. There are no electronics in this era.
Games, looking for ways to get excited, are nothing more than playing basketball, football or gathering together to brag.
Who is Batman? He is the Dark Knight of Gotham, with an emphasis on darkness.
Which alley near the main road are you walking into now? At the beginning is a group of folk football masters shouting there, and at the end is a group of truck drivers sitting around the table eating and blowing wildly.
The streets were covered with wires, various light strings were hung between street lamps and lamp poles, and high-power spotlights were hung in mid-air to shine on the ground. As soon as Batman landed from the dark rooftop, he was
Shaking was stunned.
Because the streets near these transportation hubs were too busy, Batman had little room to show off, so he walked to the more remote streets with fewer people.
But what commercial agglomeration brings is not only the prosperity of the market, but also the flow of the population. Even the most vulnerable groups in Gotham, such as single mothers with children, can still find a job serving plates in restaurants that are open all night.
Or the job of washing dishes.
The strong labor force will generally do more profitable work. Restaurants are short of manpower and wish there were more people to do this kind of work. The people of Gotham City do not exist in isolation. Basically, there are connections between groups.
Many disadvantaged groups living in more remote and distant places will find a nearby busy night market and do odd jobs there. Even if they just pick up garbage, they can earn one or two dollars, which is enough for them to eat for a day.
It’s time for a meal.
However, since they live far away from where they work, it will delay their working time, so most of them will move closer.
The rent for a house close to a place like this will be more expensive, but the landlord is not stupid. Originally, he could charge $100 for renting a room to one person, but now he has divided the room into three and accommodated three people respectively.
If someone charges $50, he can earn an additional $50, and those people will be grateful.
As a result, a large number of landlords on night market streets began to make their houses smaller. Those disadvantaged groups did not care how small or shabby their rooms were, since they would not be worse than the place where they originally lived.
Then the gangsters who managed and ruled this street discovered that if they could create more such rooms, they could attract more outsiders, improve the efficiency of the entire street, and collect more protection.
fee.
So they began to take the initiative to convert the lofts or some vacant rooms in their properties into smaller apartments, which were specially prepared for the outsiders who were attracted by the property.
Some poor people really don't have a penny, and gangsters allow them to live in it first and then pay off their debts every month. Some gangsters who are in urgent need of employment don't even ask for interest. The rent is free for the first time they move in, as long as you stay
Work for me on this street, and not only will I not charge you interest, but I will also give you subsidies. Anyway, the income I earn is not as much as your rent.
Then Batman discovered that Gotham had become strangely quiet recently. With the transportation hub as the center and various night markets radiating outward, a new business district began to gradually develop.
In these new business districts, few people will cause trouble, because if you killed two people in a dark alley in the past, the police might not find out for a long time. Even if you know some special skills, it might be possible.
It became an unsolved case.
But in such a lively night market, it is almost impossible for this kind of thing to happen. Even when playing football, whoever kicks someone bad can spread throughout the neighborhood the next day. If you rob someone on the spot, then you
It's best to hope that the police will come quickly, otherwise the local gangsters will definitely shove you into the sewer.
Because if you kill people on the street, it will take time to wash the floor, right? When the police come to investigate, they have to cooperate with the investigation, and the surrounding witnesses have to be summoned in turn. How much time will this be delayed? How much business will be lost? How much less will be collected?
Protection fees?
It doesn't matter if you are far away, the gangs may not bother to take care of you, but at such a close distance, there are more than a dozen gang thugs patrolling a street. Here you have just pulled out the gun and haven't uttered the word robbery, and you may have something on your body.
There are already more than a dozen holes.
Business is business, Gotham's tradition of shooting first and asking questions later cannot be lost.
In this way, one dark night after another, Batman stood alone on the roof of the building, watching the dimly lit dark nights slowly begin to light up. Now, he stood on the roof of the Wayne Tower, the most beautiful place in Gotham.
In the center and at the highest point, thousands of lights are at his feet.
He thought that maybe he had witnessed a miracle so close. This city that could not be saved, was chaotic and terrible, began to sprout in the chaos, grew in the chaos, and then bloomed a strange and strange flower.
It bloomed wantonly in the dark night, making no secret of its chaos and malice. Batman thought, this black flower would still open to the sun, but it would just be a black sun.
And he, and Batman, Batman didn't feel defeated. A brand new power surged in his heart. A new idea, an idea broader than night and revenge, appeared in him for the first time.
's heart.
He had a strange premonition that this world, this universe, just like Gotham, was changing for something.
And next time, he thought, in this miraculous change, he would no longer be a bystander, but must be a participant.
He watched as another dark night came, and the lights gradually lit up one by one. Then, in addition to the cold wind and darkness high in the sky, flickering light spots began to spread rapidly along the streets until the entire city was lit up.
Right here, right now, this lonely bat standing above the city feels that he has finally learned how to light a lamp.
Ten thousand words today!
Because the plot is more coherent and the storyboards are more compact, one chapter is over.
