Starting from scratch, Batman crushed my dream of getting rich

Chapter 460: The picture shows the dagger
After gaining a general understanding of the world, Clark hesitated a bit about whether or not to join the Seven Heroes.

It wasn't because he was moved by Queen Maeve's words, but simply because the heroes of this world seemed to have become highly commercialized. According to Ma Zhaodi, the Vought Corporation intentionally cultivated their minds to this extent, believing that only heroes who were focused on fame or fortune were qualified heroes.

"Do those superheroes brainwashed by Vought International need my help?"

Clark thought about it all night.

The next day, the two went out for breakfast together.

"Clark, are you feeling better?" Ma Zhaodi asked. "How's your health?"

Clark shook his head.

"I don't feel anything special. Maybe there's been some improvement, but it's still so faint that I can't even feel it."

"This recovery period is really long."

Just then, a man in a suit and tie suddenly strode towards the two of them.

"Excuse me, are you Mr. Ma Zhaodi? And..."

The man's gaze lingered on Clark's bespectacled face for a moment, a puzzled expression on his face.

"Is this Mr. Clark Joseph Kent?"

"it's me."

"Superman?"

Clark immediately sensed that something was wrong.

"It's me. What can I do for you?"

"Can"

The man looked at Clark's face, still appearing quite bewildered. The hotel registration information did indeed list Clark Joseph Kent as the person, and according to Robin and Hughie, Clark and Superman were indeed the same person.

But the person in front of me is not the same person as the superpowered person reported on TV yesterday.

"Are you sure you're Superman? The one who saved the armored truck yesterday?"

Clark thought for a moment, since the heroes of this universe didn't need to hide their identities anyway, so he simply removed the biofield.

"Oh, I'm so sorry, sir, I didn't recognize you!"

The man in the suit immediately became respectful and extended his hand to Clark: "Welcome to our hotel under the Water Company. The company will waive your and Mr. Ma's room fees and other expenses for seven days. My name is Douglas, and I am a member of the public relations department of Water Company."

Ma Zhaodi and Clark exchanged a glance, both feeling somewhat helpless. When they chose the hotel, they were just looking for a place to stay overnight and hadn't expected that the Water Company would also have a hotel business.

“We’ve already paid for the hotel, there’s no need for Walter to come and pay us,” Ma Zhaodi replied. “First, make it clear what you want to do.”

"Can I take a step to talk?"

"No."

The man in the suit was speechless.

"What I need to say to you two is rather private and not suitable for such a crowded place—I am just following orders, please don't make things difficult for an ordinary person like me."

"Ordinary people?"

Ma Zhaodi glanced at his expensive suit, his neatly groomed teeth and hair, and the watch worth tens of thousands of dollars on his wrist—even if this man was just a lackey, he was at least a high-ranking lackey of the Walter Corporation.

He looked at Clark, who thought for a moment before finally speaking, "If you have something to say, please finish quickly." Douglas breathed a sigh of relief.

Three minutes later, Douglas, Clark, and Ma Zhaodi returned to their hotel room.

Ma Zhaodi patted the butt of the silly cat lying on his head without making a sound, and the silly cat immediately understood and meowed twice.

"Three-wheeled vehicle, Lao Da said to turn off the signal jamming first, meow."

As a result, the spy camera and recorder on Douglas's briefcase started working normally again.

“The hero of the Vought Company, ‘Locomotive,’ should have met with both of you yesterday.” He said bluntly, “He was on a mission to hunt down bank robbers in Queens. Because of the tight schedule, there was a minor accident on the way, but fortunately no one was injured.”

"You call that a minor accident?" Ma Zhaodi asked. "Luo Bin was almost smashed to pieces, wasn't he?"

"But she didn't, did she? Superman stopped him."

Not right.

Ma Zhaodi astutely grasped the problem in Douglas's statement, because from the perspective of the Wot Company, they would definitely try to shift the blame in any way possible, so how could they possibly admit that the locomotive almost hit someone?

They should usually say at this point: everything is under the locomotive's control, and even without Superman, he wouldn't have hit Robin.

After all, Robin didn't die, and the locomotive was always going so fast, so this argument can't be disproven.

But Douglas acknowledged the role Superman played in this matter.

"The entire Water Company is very impressed with what you've done. Yesterday alone, you saved three lives—no, six. You also saved the robbers."

"But as a large company, Water Corporation still needs to consider its image. We have brought you an agreement, and we hope you can take a look."

"The content is a confidentiality agreement."

Clark glanced at Douglas's briefcase: "In exchange for me and Old Ma never mentioning/revealing this to anyone again, give each of us $100,000 as hush money."

"There is a third document. Vought International invited me to be one of the Seven Heroes, but this document does not restrict our right to disclose this information."

For the first time, Douglas's face showed surprise and panic. This was the first time he had lost his composure. He hadn't watched yesterday's news footage carefully, and Homelander wouldn't stoop to communicating with a lackey like him. Therefore, he didn't know that Clark had X-ray vision.

"One hundred thousand US dollars?" Ma Zhaodi laughed. "Is this something worth such a price? Or is it that Vought International has already checked the balance on our cards and knows that two or three thousand won't be enough to settle us?"

"No matter what you think, our proposal is made in good faith."

Douglas stammered out a sentence, slightly flustered, but quickly regained his composure: "We've already gone to see Miss Robin and Mr. Hughie, and they both—"

“They all got even lower prices than that, I guess around 20,000 or 30,000. You know how to tailor your offer to different people. For an ordinary family, this is a huge sum of money.”

Ma Zhaodi continued, "But it's obvious that Luo Bin won't agree to your demands. We saw her temper yesterday, and I guess she's planning to take further action against the locomotive, isn't she?"

At this moment, the fake smile on Douglas's face disappeared, and his expression became blank, his tone turning cold and hard.

“That’s right, Mr. Ma Zhaodi. You should know that even with your testimony, there is no chance that she will win the case, because she is not facing the locomotive, but the entire Vought Corporation.”

“You certainly don’t want to see her become a scapegoat in everyone’s eyes after losing the case, or a villain who insults heroes; Walter also doesn’t want to cause too much of a public opinion storm over this matter, and heroes should not have any stains on their reputation.”

“If I were you, I could sign the agreement and get the money right away, making a fortune; or if you want to be heroes, then the Water Corporation will give you that opportunity too.”

“If Superman joins the Seven Heroes, we will no longer restrict your and Mr. Ma’s right to speak.”

(End of this chapter)