Chapter 247: Is British Food Really That Weird?

【Please recall what you said to others before you departed.】

"What do you mean? What did I say to others before I left?"

As he spoke, Ma Ma Zhaodi suddenly realized the truth.

"Harvey, I need to take a long trip. I might need your help. Do you have time?"

"Fris, I have to take a long trip. Can you help me and come along?"

"Chief Gordon, I'd like to borrow your keys. I need to go to the rooftop to turn on the Bat-Signal and find Batman."

"Alfred, is Bruce around? I have something to discuss with him."

Right, before leaving, he had approached many people; basically, everyone in Gotham knew he was taking a long trip. To cover his tracks, he casually bought a plane ticket and then secretly slipped back into his rental apartment.

"No, but you didn't have to send me all the way to London. Was it really necessary?"

【Your plane ticket's destination is London, and the system has detected that Batman is heading to the rental apartment. To prevent exposure, initiating emergency countermeasures.】

"... How long have I been gone?"

【Time elapsed during business trip in the universe: twenty-five days, twenty-one hours, eight minutes, forty-seven seconds.】

Time elapsed in this universe: zero seconds.】

"Does the business trip come with built-in time stop? Why didn't you say so earlier? If I had known, I wouldn't have used such a lousy excuse."

Ma Ma Zhaodi looked around. It was a gloomy, drizzly day. Puddles of thin water had gathered on the street, where wet trash fragments and gum stuck in patches to the asphalt, looking like ugly scabs growing on the earth. In the distance, a flock of pigeons, utterly unafraid of people, was rummaging through a large pile of garbage bags dumped beside a sidewalk trash can—the debris was likely washed out of those bags by the rain.

"There seems to be quite a lot of trash," Ma Ma Zhaodi frowned. His sense of smell was too sensitive, and at this moment, the foul stench of the street garbage was forcing its way into his nose.

Fallen leaves, cardboard boxes, cigarette butts... Hmm? Why is there a bicycle that has been completely dismantled?

Ma Ma Zhaodi shifted his gaze from the road to the streetsides. The tall buildings in gray, blue, and white were all beautiful, featuring stone carvings and chimneys; some in Gothic style even sported pretty little spires. Warm light filtered through the large, round-arched white windows, giving passersby a slightly reassuring feeling.

Looking at the beautiful buildings, Ma Ma Zhaodi's mood improved slightly; he might as well treat this as going out to enjoy the scenery.

There were many people on the street, and colorful lights hung on some trees and garden plants. Ma Ma Zhaodi tried asking them how they felt about it, but in reality, the plants seemed to have no reaction at all—they were merely vegetation and did not possess such complex emotions as humans; their instinctual craving for water and sunlight was probably their greatest emotional fluctuation.

When turning a street corner, Ma Ma Zhaodi saw two homeless men sitting by the roadside, with cushions under their bottoms, heads bowed, staring silently at the ground. They neither spoke nor begged, whether out of exhaustion or lack of strength, it was unclear.

Ma Ma Zhaodi thought for a moment, pulled a US dollar from his pocket, and after a long silence, he simply turned and headed for the bank.

"Let me think. I need to get a British bank account, then a passport, and then..."

【You can spend 10,000 Asset Points to upgrade "Local Identity" to "Global Local Identity." The system will upgrade based on your Gotham Citizen status, providing a global account, automatic visa processing, relevant documentation, communication phone cards, etc.】

"Awesome."

Ma Ma Zhaodi spent 10,000 points to choose the upgrade, but he still went to the bank afterward. After all, the cash on him was not in British pounds, and the US dollars he had obtained in another universe had all been exchanged for gold, which couldn't be spent directly and was currently lying in his Shangcheng space.

Don't misunderstand; the system cannot accept ordinary items, but Ma Ma Zhaodi got clever and carved those gold bars into a golden pumpkin.

【Sanity-Dropping Ugly Golden Pumpkin Headgear】

Price: System does not accept trash.】

Note: It is hard to imagine the mental state of the person who carved such a thing—but given that its material is gold, probably no one would refuse to own it. In a sense, it possesses a numerical beauty.】

Ma Ma Zhaodi didn't care at all about the system's evaluation; being able to store it was already good enough. There was no need to specifically buy a storage bag or storage ring for this.

Spatial-type items were simply too expensive.

When Ma Ma Zhaodi walked out of the bank, his bank card already held over seven thousand British pounds, which he had exchanged for ten thousand US dollars. Although he didn't know how long this money would last in Britain, it should be enough for about a month of living.

Anyway, he certainly wouldn't stay here for the full two years of the visa. In fact, Ma Ma Zhaodi planned to play around for a while and then return directly to Gotham. He still needed to go back and check on the progress of the renovation. Bruce had promised that once the plan progressed for a certain period, if things went smoothly, a share of the profits would be deposited into his account, with the specific amount depending on the plan's profitability.

Thinking about these matters, Ma Ma Zhaodi stepped back onto the streets of London. He happened to spot a food cart by the roadside and walked over to it.

"Let me see if British food is as weird as they say in legends."

However, he never got the chance to taste it.

Just as Ma Ma Zhaodi was halfway there, a Mediterranean man in a suit suddenly rushed out from the side of the road. He was covered in sweat, looked extremely urgent, and shouted at the man beside the food cart: "Gino, give me six Super Energy Burgers!"

"Six? Henry, what's wrong? Did you skip lunch?"

"Don't ask, just give it to me quickly!"

Ma Ma Zhaodi, standing nearby, suddenly stopped. Besides superhumans with enhanced constitutions, he had never seen anyone who could eat like this. Yet this fat man in front of him had a staggering gait and a sluggish reaction to surrounding information; he looked nothing like a super-villain or a super-hero.

Maybe some people are just naturally big eaters?

As Ma Ma Zhaodi was thinking this, the man had already grabbed a burger in each hand and started eating.

"Slow down, Henry, slow down."

Henry opened his mouth, bit off half a burger in one bite, then swallowed the other half. After finishing six, he wanted six more. It was as if a huge, hungry chick was waiting to be fed inside him; a mountain of burgers could not fill his starving stomach.

"Is British food really that weird?"

Ma Ma Zhaodi sighed. But thinking that this was the DC universe, where strange people and extraordinary beings lived among the common folk, a big eater didn't seem so strange. He simply stopped paying attention and turned back to walk toward a restaurant on the street.

"Fish and chips are also a national dish of Britain. Giving it a try wouldn't be a bad idea."

Both Britain and America spoke English, so Ma Ma Zhaodi had no language barriers. After ordering, he sat on a chair and took out his phone, wanting to check the news for the day.

However, three minutes later, the sound of hurried footsteps rang out again outside the restaurant.

(End of Chapter)