Chapter 121: Everyone Has a Bright Future

"Age?"

"24, I'm unemployed."

"Gender?"

"Male."

"Name?"

"Ma Zhaodi."

Looking at the still-blinding white light, Ma Zhaodi lowered his head, pulled a Pocky stick from a box, and melancholically held it in his mouth.

"Sigh."

Commissioner Gordon sat across the table, lit a cigarette, and smoked it gloomily; with the two of them sitting opposite each other, smoke swirled around, and all that was missing were a few bottles of beer on the table.

"Sizzle—Bang! Bang! Bang!"

Outside the Gotham Police Department, brilliant holiday fireworks boomed, and the parade on the street was filled with laughter and cheers; the two of them tacitly turned their heads to glance out the window, then turned their gazes back, feeling even more depressed.

Seeing Commissioner Gordon smoking so intensely, Ma Zhaodi wanted to tell a joke to liven up the atmosphere.

"Uh, it's so lively outside the police station, haha, it's like a holiday."

Commissioner Gordon smoked even more intensely.

"That was a great story," he said. "Don't tell it again next time."

Ma Zhaodi lowered his head and silently ate his Pocky.

After about three to five minutes, Commissioner Gordon finally adjusted his mood, looked up, and asked a question.

"How many times have you been in here now?"

"... Third time."

"Do you know what kind of people in Gotham City end up in the station at this frequency?"

"... Criminals?"

"Repeat offenders, the kind of hardened thugs in gangs who are used to jail time," Gordon replied. "You are the first ordinary citizen to have given a statement at the police station three times."

"That's nice."

"I really don't understand why you are always at the scene whenever a major incident occurs. I originally thought you were just unlucky for a moment, but now... are you really not going near the bank on purpose?"

"I have money deposited there, sir."

"That doesn't mean you have to go there every day; the bank isn't going to grow legs and run away."

"But if it weren't for Batman, the money in the vault might have actually grown legs and run away."

"Don't give me that." Commissioner Gordon asked, "Why on earth are you running over there?"

"..." Ma Zhaodi sighed. Going to the bank to scout it out every day was bound to leave problems. After last Christmas, Commissioner Gordon had developed some rapport with him and Jason. Refusing to admit it would certainly allow him to leave the station, but it would also make him angry.

In all fairness, Ma Zhaodi and Jason both liked this righteous commissioner.

"Sigh, Commissioner Gordon, you should also know that I used to be a waiter at the Red Dragon Restaurant—and later, I even worked as a banquet server for the Falcone family for a while."

"That's right."

"Then do you know why I didn't keep working there?"

"Because they made you participate in gang warfare?"

"No, because they didn't dare let me keep working—the Red Dragon fired me, and then had me go help in the kitchen at the Maroni restaurant on Valentine's Day."

Hearing him mention this, Gordon's attention immediately sharpened, and he casually asked, "Valentine's Day?"

"Yeah, they said I was a jinx. The Red Dragon got hit by Batman once, and Falcone's son got hit by the Holiday Killer once. After I went back to the Red Dragon, some thugs came and burned the restaurant down—since that's the case, they might as well send me out to plague Maroni."

"... On Valentine's Day, the moment you arrived at the restaurant, Alberto blew it up."

"Yeah." Ma Zhaodi sighed: "After that incident, they were even more afraid to let me go to work, so they just gave me money to stay at home."

Commissioner Gordon listened to these things, dumbfounded. He had thought Ma Zhaodi was going to talk about some gang struggle, but it turned out he was talking about a gang-level curse.

Are you guys inviting spirits here?

"In summary," Ma Zhaodi shrugged: "After being fired, I became an unemployed drifter. A few days ago, I deposited a sum of money at Gotham Bank, but to be honest, I wasn't very at ease."

"Because if I really am that unlucky, then the money I put in Gotham Bank might not be very safe—out of worry, I wander around there every day. There's no conspiracy; I mainly just want to make sure the bank isn't having bad luck."

Commissioner Gordon lit another cigarette and took a deep drag.

Damn it, was Gotham City this weird in the past?

"Old Ma, in the future..." He weighed his words, trying his best not to sound too hurtful: "You can go to Harvey's house less often. His house was just bombed, it can't handle a second round of destruction—wait, when his house was bombed, did you know him?"

"?"

"Old Ma, don't get me wrong, I've never believed in these weird things, and besides, you're my friend—anyway, your statement is done, hurry up and go."

"?? But I haven't said anything yet—"

"No need, the culprit has already been caught. And they're still setting off fireworks outside. Go watch the fireworks; you don't need to keep wasting time at the police station. I approve."

"Holy crap, Jim Gordon, you—"

"Sigh, cursing shows a lack of class. Hurry up and go—Duke, Duke! What are you standing there for? Hurry up and send this innocent passerby out! Make it quick!"

A few minutes later, Ma Zhaodi stood at the entrance of the Gotham Police Department and held up his middle finger high.

"Jim Gordon, I hope you have to work overtime all night tonight!"

On the other side, Batman had also finished his interrogation of the Mad Hatter and Scarecrow.

He was very glad that Scarecrow's will to resist was strong enough today, which allowed him to use a little bit of interrogation to force a confession—he had been caught off guard by Scarecrow's trap on Mother's Day last time, and that day hadn't been easy for him.

Although he tried his best not to mix personal emotions into the interrogation, Scarecrow's screams did indeed offset most of the anger in his heart.

Moreover, he had to fake the scene to look like he had done it himself to provide evidence for Ma Zhaodi's statement—a vigilante whose identity is known is very dangerous.

Fortunately, Ma Zhaodi wore a Santa suit when facing the Joker, complete with fake eyebrows and a beard covering half his face; he wore a pumpkin head when facing the Scarecrow duo; and he wore a black robe during those days he was the perverted wheelchair hero. So, in the current Gotham City, only Batman knew his true colors.

Commissioner Gordon didn't ask many questions when he received the people. In fact, he was already used to Batman's violent methods; it would be a strange thing if the criminals he brought back didn't have a few broken bones.

Everything settled down. Ma Zhaodi collected his odd-job reward and went home to continue being unemployed; Commissioner Gordon got the Scarecrow and the Mad Hatter, as well as Independence Day overtime; Batman got more information on Ma Zhaodi and wrote it down in his little notebook—everyone had a bright future.

In fact, the last person of the Golden Triangle, Harvey Dent, also had some special gains that night.

"Knock, knock, knock—Mr. Maroni, someone wants to see you."

"Hmm?"

Hearing the conversation coming from the phone, Harvey's eyes shone with brilliance.

"A fish on the hook?"

(End of chapter)