Starting from scratch, Batman crushed my dream of getting rich

Chapter 12 Odisburg District

The tattered bus swayed along the road, through the traffic and the condensed mist of East Gotham, all the way from the east side of the upper city to the west.

"Thank God, at least there wasn't a second shootout, and Old Jack wasn't injured."

Drake and Ma Zhaodi were sitting in a leaky bus, traveling through the streets of Audisburg. Ma Zhaodi heard him mumbling to himself and couldn't help but turn her head to look at him.

"There's a second round?"

"It depends. Generally speaking, no. But this is the East District after all—you know, sometimes a second group of people will get on the bus halfway. After all, this place always gets overloaded sometimes, so it's normal for a car to not be able to fit everything."

This isn't normal at all, Ma Zhaodi complained silently.

“What about the bodies and blood left in the streets?”

"It will be gone in fifteen minutes. The Gotham gang's corpse collectors are professionals."

"What happens to the bus if the driver dies?"

"The drivers usually don't die. They're there to provide the atmosphere, you know? It's like playing badminton or tennis; someone has to serve the first ball. As for the reason—there are plenty of people who can shoot, but not many drivers are willing to drive this kind of bus. So now the drivers' gunfights are just a show. Only when they're unlucky will they be hit by a stray bullet or a ricochet."

Ma Zhaodi's eyes lit up, and he was immediately tempted: "How's the salary for a bus driver? Are you still hiring?"

Drake chuckled at him. "The Old Jack has had three drivers in the last year. One was pierced through the neck by grenade shrapnel, another was blinded by a ricochet, and the last one was trying to raise the price when selling his gun, and a bullet blew out the basket. This guy's been changing drivers quite frequently, so if you want to come, there's always a chance."

Ma Zhaodi's eyes suddenly became extremely clear, without a trace of distracting thoughts.

"Old Jack is actually the name of the car. The driver is really just a tool. Wait, wait, someone even brought grenades?"

"No one usually brings it, nor would they use it in a place like this, because it's too expensive and not cost-effective—but you also know, this is the East District, there are more crazy people here than normal people."

After Drake said this, he sighed subconsciously, wondering if it was because he was thinking about some of his past life in the East District.

While the two were talking, the bus had already entered the Audisburg area. Seeing this, Drake hurriedly pulled Ma Zhaodi off the bus.

"Come with me. Work isn't far from the bus station." Derek glanced at his watch. "We're lucky it's only 8:20. At least you won't be late for your first day."

"You're right." Ma Zhaodi silently browsed the system mall, trying to see if there was anything edible. "But I almost got shot in the head on my first day of work, so I might have a slight problem with the adjective 'lucky'."

Compared to the chaotic, dirty, and dilapidated East District, the Audisburg area looks much better.

In front of them was an area dotted with numerous buildings and gleaming corporate structures; in the distance there were some tall factories with billowing black smoke rising from long chimneys; and even the residential areas that looked a bit old were at least clean and bright, giving people the feeling of being a little messy rather than dirty and poor.

"Don't look at it, there's nothing good over there." Drake's tone was a little sarcastic. "What was once a top-tier pharmaceutical company has become a second-rate, weak company because of an accident. I wonder how much longer this building can stand in Gotham."

Ma Zhaodi immediately understood his implication: "Is that company Wayne Pharmaceuticals?" "Wayne? No, of course not. Why do you ask?" Derek looked at him with some confusion: "Although Wayne Jr. is a playboy and a dandy, he at least has some conscience."

"This company is the pharmaceutical company that cooperated with Dr. Victor. We are friends now, and I am not afraid to tell you."

"I've found out something during this time. Mr. Victor's disappearance wasn't simply an experimental accident. It was because this company proactively cut off his experimental project, which was his wife's life support device, that the accident occurred."

Ma Zhaodi nodded to show that he understood. He didn't know much about the origin of Victor, also known as Mr. Freeze. In his impression, it should be Wayne Pharmaceuticals that provided help to Mr. Freeze. However, it was possible that he remembered it wrong, or that this world itself was in a multiverse that he didn't know about.

Anyway, DC's multiverse setting and the reboot universe setting have been changing over and over again. Not to mention myself, even the editors don't know what is in the undrawn universe. It is not impossible that there is a Mr. Freeze with a somewhat strange origin.

"As a human being, you can do as much as you can," he consoled himself. "What's the point of worrying about these things? You can't even use a gun now. If you run into a small thug, you'll be stabbed like a knife."

He followed Drake walking on the streets of Audisburg. It was already bright outside, but the sunlight could not penetrate the thick dark clouds over Gotham. The sky was gray and there was not much warmth on his body. Living in Gotham City, one always felt that it might rain at the next moment.

Ma Zhaodi took a quick look at the buildings he saw: Stagg Industries, the Ace Chemical Plant in the distance, the King Poker Arena, and some colorful clubs.

In other words, he did not remember the value of these places, otherwise he would have sighed on the spot that there are so many immortals.

Of course, when he saw a towering Ferris wheel behind the building, his memories were somewhat awakened.

"Oh the killing joke."

"what?"

"Nothing. Is that an amusement park over there?"

Drake, who was hurrying on his way, followed his gaze and saw the Ferris wheel, and couldn't help but sigh.

"Yes. But it's been abandoned. According to them, the theater here was abandoned because of the murder of the Waynes. After that, the security became worse and worse. No one dared to bring their children here to play anymore, so the amusement park was abandoned."

Ma Zhaodi thought it was good to abandon it. When the amusement park was reopened in the future, there was a high probability that someone would be in trouble.

Poor Commissioner Gordon worked so hard for Gotham, but his son turned into a villain, his daughter was abducted by a psychopath and turned into a leather-clad monster, and then a madman shot her in the spine and took nude photos of her.

If possible, Ma Zhaodi really didn't want him to be tied to a Ferris wheel and look at Barbara's photos.

While Ma Zhaodi was still thinking, Drake stopped.

"Don't look, we're here."

(End of this chapter)