Starting from scratch, Batman crushed my dream of getting rich

Chapter 87 St. Patrick

"Major incident! The 'holiday killer' struck again yesterday. Maroni's restaurant was attacked!"

"A car exploded, killing four people and injuring many others in the restaurant. Financial losses are still being calculated. An unserialized .22 caliber pistol, a broken baby pacifier, several metal bullet casings, and Valentine's Day chocolates were left at the scene."

"Currently, the Gotham Police Department has opened an investigation into the case."

The supervisor put down the Gotham Daily in his hand and stared blankly at Ma Zhaodi, who looked innocent.

He lifted up the daily newspaper again, looked at the news report, and confirmed today's date.

He put down the newspaper and looked at Ma Zhaodi.

"You mean," he said, trying to organize his words with his brain, which was a little confused by the news, "you went to Maroni's and served him dishes for a day."

"Just one day—I just dropped you off yesterday, and then Maroni's restaurant blew up?"

"Strictly speaking, this isn't my fault," Ma Zhaodi said, still wanting to maintain his image. "Yesterday was Valentine's Day, and the holiday killer had been planning to strike that day. So I was just the unlucky one who got caught up in it."

"There are many festivals in February, Ma Zhaodi." The supervisor closed the newspaper. "I've heard of several that have already passed. There are also many possible locations for the Festival Killer to commit crimes. Even if we narrow it down to 'gangster restaurants', there are hundreds of them in Gotham City."

"So you must never underestimate yourself and never compare yourself with ordinary people."

"You are a real disaster."

Ma Zhaodi's face darkened.

"Alright, my friend," the supervisor shook his head. "In any case, your work efficiency far exceeded my expectations. Maroni's Restaurant, along with its people and belongings, was completely torn to pieces. I originally thought it would take two weeks or even a month to complete, but you only took one day."

"Here's sixty thousand dollars—don't ever think you don't deserve it. This is what you deserve. Take it well."

"The restaurant has been rebuilt. Go home now. Don't come to work here anymore. Your job from now on is to go home and wait for orders - we will find you a new job."

"Don't come here for dinner. Try going to Maroni's restaurant. We have confidence in you."

Ma Zhaodi's face became even darker. It was really hard for him to tell whether the supervisor was sincerely praising him or mocking him, but he could hear that the supervisor was now keeping a distance from him.

The only thing that comforted him was that with the supervisor's active approval, the $60,000 in assets, along with the stacks of bills handed to him by the supervisor, were immediately credited to his account.

"Whatever. The supervisor is a complete jerk. I'm better off getting some fries."

"Ma Zhaodi, are you completely free this month?"

"Strictly speaking, you can say that." Ma Zhaodi shrugged.

"Then can you make some Laba porridge for us?"

"You've been drinking all winter, and you still haven't had enough?"

Jason nodded and stuffed a French fry into his mouth. "You haven't made porridge in a long time. We all feel that fast food is not as delicious as the porridge you make."

"Correct!"

"The porridge is delicious, the porridge is delicious."

"Please, if there is no porridge."

A group of children eating French fries nearby immediately chirped in agreement.

"The fried meat patties are not tasty?" Ma Zhaodi scratched his head: "Maybe the fast food restaurant's cooking skills are not good enough. Next time I will buy meat for you to cook." He glanced at the system prompt bar and found that the opening time of the system task had passed.

Winter in Gotham City

Status: Completed (100%)

Reward activated

The "Festival" attribute effect is activated. Cooking festival food is "Laba Congee", which gains the attributes of "Harmonious Nourishing" and "Warming the Body and Eliminating Cold".

Harmonious and nourishing: mixed grains and porridge, harmonizing and nourishing, Laba porridge has enhanced nutritional supplementation effect on the eaters.

Warm the stomach and dispel cold: The ingredients are warm in nature, warming the body and dispelling cold. Laba porridge enhances the consumer's resistance to cold.

The current festival food "Laba Congee" has been permanently enhanced by 50%
Note: This bowl of porridge is not a reason for you to run naked in winter.

"Okay, let's not talk about this anymore."

Ma Zhaodi stretched out his hands and clapped them gently, using the applause to attract the children's attention: "Let's review our last lesson - Jason, come on, you go first. After you finish your explanation of car repair, I'll go over cooking."

"No--"

The children who were originally cheering happily suddenly burst into painful noises. This is easy to understand. Learning is always resistant to people, whether adults or children.

However, Ma Zhaodi also truly wanted to rely on teaching to help them master a skill. Given Gotham City's current situation, raising children on welfare or in foster care is inherently problematic—like being recruited by gangs or encountering scumbag parents. The refusal of homeless children to join foster care is likely related to these circumstances.

Being a chef or a mechanic, at least you don't have to get chopped.

Perhaps, Ma Zhaodi was the first person to open a technical school for street children in Gotham? —
Although Gotham's winter has passed, after the ice and snow melted, the citizens of Gotham still cannot see the sun, and the city is still cloudy and rainy.

“Awesome.”

Harvey stared at the photos on the table, his tone somewhat teasing, even a bit gloating.

The photos showed corpses, pools of bright red blood, and gang members killed in shootouts. It had only been a month since the Festival Killer's last crime, but the deaths and injuries from the fight between the Falcone and Maroni gangs had far exceeded the total number of cases committed by the Festival Killer.

"We've got a real pile of dead bodies in the city now."

Sheriff Gordon stood in front of the window, watching the light shining in from outside the glass. The gray sky shone into the room through the tinted window glass, turning into patches of dark green light.

"Maroni felt that Falcone was behind the 'festival killer', so he took his anger out on the Romans' men."

"The best part about dealing with these guys, Jim, is that they all want to do our job for us."

"Our job?"

Gordon shook his head. "Murder isn't part of our job, Harvey. I do want to stop Falcone and the other gangsters, but not in this way."

"You absolutely cannot use this method."

Harvey turned his head to look at Gordon and shrugged.

"Of course, of course."

"Don't take that seriously, Gordon."

(End of this chapter)