Starting from scratch, Batman crushed my dream of getting rich

Chapter 279 Giving Metropolis a Small Numerical Shock

After reading the first two paragraphs of the letter, Ma Zhaodi already knew who had written it to him.

He unconsciously smiled; receiving a letter from an old friend after so long was always a pleasant surprise. In truth, he occasionally thought of this friend; being away for so long without a word had indeed worried him.

When he saw the line "Metropolis is now more insane than Gotham," his eyes widened immediately.

"Holy crap, is something wrong with Metropolis and Superman in this universe?"

Countless images flashed through his mind: the god-like figure rampaging through Injustice, the deranged and mad Superman after his dreams were shattered, the cyborg Hank Henshaw, and the pale-skinned clone zombie Superman Bizarro.
There are many versions of the insane Superman, but their only commonality is pure power and stats, along with a terrifying record of slaughtering everyone in his path. In other words, there's no room for negotiation, and you have to fight to the death, and even then, you might not win.

"Don't mess with me."

Ma Zhaodi's heart rate and blood pressure spiked rapidly. His vision blurred, and after a few seconds of clutching his head, he continued reading the letter.

“Back in Gotham, we’d heard news reports about an alien appearing in Metropolis. He sounded like a hero, so Camilla and I didn’t dislike him. We felt that having a powerful superhero protecting us after moving back to Metropolis would be a very reassuring thing.”

"But we were wrong. After Superman appeared, Metropolis became very strange. We saw some inexplicable superhumans flying around the city with him all day long, fighting and destroying houses at the same time."

"There's also this rich lunatic named Lex Luthor who keeps spouting the Superman threat theory, but this bald guy looks exactly like those rich bastards in Gotham. I don't believe him at all."

"Until three days ago, Superman went completely mad and demolished almost all the skyscrapers in the city. Can you imagine someone shooting lasers with their eyes? A whole area of ​​buildings slid down from the top like butter being sliced ​​by a hot knife, and the sound of them hitting the ground made us think there had been an earthquake."

We couldn't take it anymore, so we moved to another city with a relatively safe rating, the city center.

“We don’t know if you’re still in Gotham City or in that little rental apartment, so we wrote this letter and sent it to the landlord, hoping it will eventually reach you.”

"Friend, if you're going to visit us, don't come to the Metropolis, don't come to the Metropolis, don't come to the Metropolis! We're heading to Central City right now!"

"Missing your old friends—Drake Lane, and Camilla."

Ma Zhaodi, his expression blank, clutched the letter and walked back into the small house. He examined the words on the paper repeatedly to make sure he hadn't misread them.

"It's over, it's all over." He muttered blankly, "Superman has really gone mad—which timeline is the Superman in my world from?"

"It's been three days, and Metropolis still hasn't been destroyed? Why hasn't Batman gone out to take charge? Where's Luthor? Luthor, please save us! If Superman turns bad, shouldn't you turn good too?"

After a brief moment of despair, Ma Zhaodi's eyes refocused as he suddenly realized a logical flaw.

"This is a letter that Drake sent me, and it was even forwarded by someone else. In other words, Batman must have been the first to read it."

"Since Batman hasn't made a move today, it means that in his opinion, this matter has been resolved, or rather, there's nothing to worry about at all."

Having figured this out, Ma Zhaodi's hope was rekindled. He immediately sat down at the table, turned on the computer, and searched for news from the Metropolitan area over the past three days—sure enough, two news items popped up on the search page.

Metropolis Undergoes Shocking Changes! Superman Reveals His True Colors?

The City Amidst Numerous Disasters: A Mysterious and Terrifying Storm

The first news item was published three days ago, while the second was published yesterday. Drake's letter was also written yesterday.

“Two disasters in three days,” Ma Zhaodi’s lips twitched slightly. “Life in the metropolis is indeed fast-paced.”

He clicked on the first news item, which even included a video that looked like a news report from that day. "Dear viewers, autumn has arrived in the metropolis."

A blonde female host, holding a microphone, spoke to the camera with a smile: "I am Carol Semis, a news reporter. In today's program, I will take you through the beautiful sights of this great city."

“A world-renowned city, you may have heard songs about the Metropolis, or you may have heard stories about the Metropolis. In any case, I once thought that the Metropolis was more vibrant than ten cities combined—therefore, I am very honored to introduce it to you, my hometown, the Metropolis.”

“Look at these bustling streets, look at the people here,” she introduced with a touch of pride. “The residents of the metropolis are the friendliest people in the world; they will lend a helping hand to any visitor from out of town. They live here with ideals in their hearts and their feet on the ground, possessing the unique composure of a metropolis resident—”

"Holy crap! What is that thing?!"

A gasp came from beside her, and then the camera lens immediately turned sharply, panning across the blonde female reporter's astonished face before pointing at the sky.

"Look, in the sky!"

Is that a bird?

"No, it's an airplane!"

"No," the female reporter murmured, her voice trembling with fear, "That's—Superman!"

Boom!

The camera suddenly began to shake violently, and as the red and blue figures flew over the city, skyscrapers collapsed one after another.

"Oh my god!" Camilla exclaimed in front of the TV, "Drake! Come quick! Superman has gone mad!"

"what?!"

Drake jogged into the living room: "Has he finally gone mad? My God, he's already incredibly destructive when he's fighting crime; he's demolished almost every house in half the metropolis. If he goes all out now..."

Boom!

Before he could finish speaking, the ground began to tremble slightly, causing his body to sway slightly. Then, a huge sound rang out from outside the window.

"God, I should never have lived so close to the city center."

Camilla watched the images on television with trepidation, listened to the loud noises outside the window, and once again felt the changes in the city.

She stared at the god on television, his face ashen, whose divine power seemed to have spiraled out of control.

On television, the screams of the citizens mingled together.

"What on earth is he doing?!"

"He smashed through all the buildings!"

"He's gone mad! Superman's gone mad!"

P.S.: I've been having writer's block lately, struggling to choose which story to write, so I can only update once tonight. I need to spend some time catching up on my next project, so I'll be taking a break tomorrow, friends. Sorry.

(End of this chapter)