Starting from scratch, Batman crushed my dream of getting rich

Chapter 40: Feeling relieved

"Ma Zhaodi, where's the pumpkin you carved yesterday? Is it at home?"

"I remember that pumpkin was quite unique. Didn't you bring it today?"

Faced with Santos and Castro's seemingly curious questions, Ma Zhaodi showed an awkward but polite smile on his face.

He shouldn't have been carving a pumpkin in the restaurant yesterday, and now he's being grilled by his colleagues—can he admit that the pumpkin is his? He can't admit it to the Falcone family. The deceased is Falcone's nephew. It's said that he threw a lavish banquet for his nephew to celebrate his wedding a few months ago.

Judging from the style of this Gotham City boss, the Falcone gang might reason with him, but it is unlikely that the Falcone gang would reason with him.

Sweating profusely, he immediately saved his game at this point, then with a wry smile, he pulled out his magic pumpkin lantern. "No, no, when I was setting up my stall yesterday, I realized no one wanted to buy such an ugly pumpkin. Look, it's still in my hand."

"Oh?"

After a careful look, they found that the pumpkin in Ma Zhaodi's hand was indeed different from the one on TV, but it was somewhat similar to the one he carved yesterday - yes, they were both equally ugly.

"But I always feel that these two pumpkins look a bit like your work," Rick stroked his chin. "Their styles are too similar. They both exude an abstract ugliness."

"Please, don't discriminate against me. There are so many people in this world, and there are always some who can't carve pumpkins like me." Seeing that they were a little hesitant, Ma Zhaodi suddenly became confident and shouted at them: "It seems like I'm the only bad person in the world, but in fact I am a law-abiding person."

"According to information provided by the Gotham Police Department, approximately 20 million US dollars stored in a large factory caught fire and spontaneously combusted yesterday, reducing it to ashes on Halloween night. Testing of several samples that floated out of the warehouse revealed that all US dollars in the warehouse were legal tender, not counterfeit. However, the amount of funds was exceptionally large, and their origin remains a mystery. Police speculate that this money may have been illegally obtained by a criminal group, who used the warehouse as a cover."

"This also means that this criminal group has been unable to complete the money laundering process for quite some time. This demonstrates the efficiency and reliability of the Gotham Police Department, as well as its ability to deter criminal forces," said Chief Gordon.

Listening to the news broadcast on TV, Ma Zhaodi's originally shouting voice suddenly became softer until it disappeared completely.

Real money? Twenty million?

"Fxxk!"

Just as he was trying to think about the meaning of this news, Santos next to him slammed his fist on the table.

"These bastards are going too far! If it weren't for that bank manager, the family company would have been..."

"Santos."

A voice stopped Santos' hysterics, and the supervisor slowly walked into the restaurant and turned off the TV.

"Don't be so rude. We still have guests to entertain today. Don't let this kind of thing affect your work."

Santos gritted his teeth and nodded vigorously.

"What's the rush? Everyone knows that no one can touch the Godfather's money casually. No matter who it is, as long as they dare to challenge Falcone's majesty, they will pay the price sooner or later."

"Mr. Ma Zhaodi, today's events were just casual chats. I believe you are not one to gossip, right?"

"Hahaha, of course, haha, of course." Ma Zhaodi responded to the supervisor stiffly, and the smile on his face was uglier than crying. Everyone thought he was nervous because he heard some family news.

But in reality, no one could understand his nervousness.

"Twenty million? Real money? Falcone's?"

These three words are more important than each other, and when put together, they bring Ma Zhaodi endless surprises.

If his previous level of nervousness was equivalent to facing a backpack full of blank homework on the last day of summer vacation, then his current level of nervousness was equivalent to the teacher suddenly announcing that students had to arrive at school a day early.

"System! You're plotting against me!"

"Ma Zhaodi, are you okay?"

The supervisor suddenly patted him on the shoulder and asked, "Are you sick? Do you need a day off?"

"Oh, no, no."

Ma Zhaodi forced a smile as he sent his supervisor away, then flipped through the newspaper carefully, hoping that it was a slip of the tongue by the Gotham News reporter, or that he was hard of hearing and had misheard the news.

Finally, after repeated confirmation, he finally smiled with relief and put down the newspaper in his hand.

The hanging heart finally seemed to be at peace.

Serenity.jpg
Well, according to the timeline, the cooperation between Falcone Company and the bank has dragged on for more than half a year. During this period, the Falcone family's gang money laundering plan was stuck at this last step. In other words, the 20 million US dollars are all the Falcone family's current black money, and through Falcone Company, this money is about to be laundered.

Not only that, the Falcone family is likely to cooperate with gangs from other regions. Judging from the business scope of the Falcone Company, they may be families from New York, the metropolis, Chicago and other regions.

By burning the money at this critical juncture, Ma Zhaodi was not fighting crime, but was slapping Falcone in the face.

Well, well, one day Falcone finds out that a scoundrel named Ma Zhaodi left marks at the scene of his nephew's death, and then discovers that this guy burned the family's 20 million US dollars. Then the residents of Gotham City can watch the fireworks show in the East District - the kind that blows people and houses into the sky together.

Damn it, I can’t expose it even if I die, because if I expose it, I will really die.
-
"I want that little jerk dead! I want that cowardly rat, that mysterious murderer, and that lawless arsonist dead! I'm going to cut off their heads and hang them on the roofs of Gotham Towers, and dump their bodies on the streets, to show everyone in Gotham what happens if you mess with the Falcone family!"

In the penthouse apartment of Gotham City, Falcone, the gangster with three scars on his face, was furious. There was no doubt that this was not a common emotion for him as the godfather of the gang. Rather, as a gangster with excellent qi-cultivation skills and etiquette, he rarely got angry to this extent, and ordinary people were not worthy of making him so angry.

It was not until today, when his spies all over the city carefully collected all the clues about the warehouse that night and finally found nothing, that he released this thundering rage, because it meant that he would not find anyone to take revenge on.

When encountering such a thing, he had no place to vent his anger. This was a feeling he hadn't experienced in a long time. He had only felt so aggrieved when facing masked vigilantes like Batman.

Because he could neither find the other person nor the other person's family.

(End of this chapter)