Starting from scratch, Batman crushed my dream of getting rich

Chapter 138 Breaking the Old and Building the New

What does it mean to be reborn? The feeling of being released from a prison for serious criminals is called being reborn.

Three days, just three days in that place, and everyone already felt like dying. In fact, from the moment they heard the word "insect powder", they had already wanted to die.

After explaining breakfast, the broadcast added a special sentence.

"I hope you can concentrate on eating, because if you remember the elves running around in your cell while you slept last night, it might affect your consumption of the insect meal bread."

Maroni thought he must be out of his mind to want to try the supposedly wholesome and nutritious things the voice on the radio called "meals."

Rice? Ten!
For the three meals on the first day, even though the food was nutritious and sufficient in quantity, everyone in the prison, including Maroni, remained hungry almost the entire time. Even though they would be fined by weight for leftover food, and even though not eating for a long time would lead to malnutrition and physical weakness, they were unwilling to eat the food on the plates, because no matter what the food was, it would only become a dark dish in the hands of the chef.

In addition to eating, they also have to complete the work assigned to them by the prison every day. For three whole days, they were pulled to the production line to perform production work. In the absence of physical strength and malnutrition, they need to complete the production work at a fixed time every day. As a result, on the first day, many people were tired and hungry, and almost wanted to fall asleep on the assembly line.

However, the sound of the loudspeaker rang out again at this time.

"Gentlemen, as we said before, only by completing the day's schedule can you truly spend the day here. If you collapse on the production line, then today's day will be wasted."

Those who were about to fall asleep immediately forced themselves to stand up and continue working on the production line.

"Let me tell you another rule that applies to both prisons. If you perform labor without error within a week, you will have one week's sentence reduced. If you perform labor with outstanding results within a week, you will have two weeks' sentence reduced."

This time it was Maroni's turn to sneer. He looked around and saw that most people were subconsciously rolling their eyes, obviously quite disdainful of this reward mechanism.

"Of course, I know you may not be impressed by this method of sentence reduction, and you are all planning to have the higher-ups pull you out of this hellhole after the war is over. However, I also want you to think carefully about what you will do if the side you are on loses."

"So, instead of hoping for this protracted war to end, it's better to make plans now and consider the future. Let me just say one thing: all your deductions will be based on the length of your sentence. In other words, the better your labor, the faster your sentence will be reduced, and the less money will be deducted from your service purchases and fines."

"These are all real US dollars. The more you work, the more you save. It all depends on your decision whether you want to pick up these fallen bills."

You? Maroni cursed fiercely in his heart, and his hands moved faster involuntarily.

There's no way around it. Loving money is the nature of everyone here, and no one wants the prison to make money from them.

Are you kidding? I went to jail for making money, and now you have taken all my money back. Didn’t I go to jail for nothing?

That is why, starting from the second day, the first person took the lead in eating the insect powder bread on the plate, then the second, and then everyone ate it.

They suppressed their nausea and forced themselves to eat the only edible-looking food on their plates. They got up, made their quilts, had roll call, ate, worked, went out for some exercise, and slept.

Everyone went through the motions like zombies, spending those three days like a nightmare. Even more nightmarish was the fact that by the time they were finally upgraded to a regular prison, they had already racked up nearly $10 million in deductions for Wayne Prison over those three days, including but not limited to nighttime conversations, leftovers, violence, and the cost of the upgrade.

There are simply too many of them, hundreds of them in total. The city of Gotham has a developed economy and gangs, and when combined, there are an outrageous number of wealthy criminals.

The group of prisoners who had returned from hell almost thought of ordinary prisons as paradise. The other prisoners were generally puzzled when they saw them shedding tears over the white bread on their plates and the milk in their cups; when they saw them rolling around in their ordinary quilts; when they saw them buying snacks in piles in the canteen; when they saw them holding vengeful late-night talks after lights out.

“What on earth did they go through?”

So the two sides began to exchange information, and all the news about the prison for serious criminals spread among the crowd immediately. There were originally many troublemakers like Harik in the prison who were ready to make trouble. When they heard the news from the prison for serious criminals, and remembered what Ma Zhaodi said, "Put those who are unwilling to accept reform in there for a week", they immediately became smooth-talking at a speed visible to the naked eye.

Stop joking. We all grew up eating. Who the hell can stay in that kind of Akaashi environment for a week?

Seeing that the initial transformation of the prisoners was basically completed, Ma Zhaodi was very pleased. He picked up the phone and called Bruce.

That evening, in a specially built quiet room in the prison, four figures were sitting around a table and talking.

"Old Ma, didn't Bruce already have your cabin certified as a prison in the court? Why do you insist on holding the meeting here?"

Ma Zhaodi shook his head. "Harvey, that's not my cabin. Strictly speaking, it's been Bruce's cabin since he bought it. In fact, I never thought he would buy it for me."

"You must apply for certification as the owner of the room. You need a way to get out; you can't stay in prison forever." Bruce replied, "Since you don't want to hold the meeting in the cabin, let's do it here. From what you said on the phone, the time has come?"

"That's right. The vast majority of prisoners in the prison now have no intention of escaping. Most of them are willing to work hard. Those powerful and famous people have also temporarily settled down, and the first batch of money has been scraped out."

Harvey smiled at the side. "The funds are in place, the personnel are in place, and the plan is in place. We can move directly to the next step."

"This is the first time I've seen such a strange plan," Commissioner Gordon sighed. "But this is Gotham, so maybe it's not so strange—let's get started. What's the name of the plan?"

"The Gotham Rehabilitation Project," Bruce continued, following up on Commissioner Gordon. "We'll use their time in prison to break down the underworld system they've implicitly accepted. We'll help them adjust to a new, more normal social system while they're incarcerated. By allowing prisoners to directly participate in Gotham's reconstruction, we can reduce the project's manpower costs. The remaining funds will be drawn from the serious criminals currently incarcerated."

"You get what you spit out. Whoever destroys will rebuild." Ma Zhaodi shrugged.

"That's fair, isn't it?"

(End of this chapter)