Chapter 282: Letter from an Old Friend

After seeing the children and Solomon, Ma Ma Zhaodi went to meet Chief Gordon and Harvey Dent, as well as Mr. Freeze and Poison Ivy in the prison.

Regrettably, everyone still had their own affairs to attend to; Ma Ma Zhaodi, an idle person, appeared particularly detestable in the eyes of these people working late into the night. Moreover, since they had only been separated for a few days, basically no one liked this fellow with nothing to do. Everyone, busy to the point of splitting apart, unanimously drove him out, believing that out of sight, out of mind.

"Chief Gordon said the surrender cases he needed to handle were endless, then he personally ran out of the police station, saying 'too polite' while snatching the snacks I brought over, and immediately dismissed me, not even letting me enter the police station."

"Prosecutor Harvey was also processing prisoners into categories and sentencing them with an assembly-line speed, working on the Juan Sect files with extra vigor. We sat opposite each other for ten minutes without exchanging a single word; when I left, that guy didn't even notice."

"The prison was equally a mess. Mr. Freeze and Poison Ivy seemed to have developed some workaholic tendencies too; their mouths only produced 'uh-huh,' 'ah,' 'oh,' and 'hahaha,' perfunctory to the extreme."

"Sigh, in the end, it has faded; no friendship can withstand time."

Ma Ma Zhaodi drank a mouthful of tea with melancholy and sighed at Alfred, who was working at his desk.

"By the way, Alfred, what are you doing?"

"Sharing Master Bruce's workload—Mr. Ma, allow me to give you a small piece of advice."

"What?"

"Go home immediately and find something proper to do."

Bang!

Holding his teacup, Ma Ma Zhaodi stood dazed at the entrance of Wayne Manor. At this moment, the black tea in his hand had not even cooled down yet.

"Wait, why?"

That night, Ma Ma Zhaodi finally decided to run back to find the children—at least this time, he wasn't kicked out.

At this time, Gotham was still undergoing transformation. Ma Ma Zhaodi rested well for a few days and found that without gangs, Hunger Spirits, or super-villains causing trouble, the city was exceptionally peaceful. Thus, he secretly calculated doing some business in Gotham.

A worker stopping work is impossible; it is impossible to not work in this lifetime. One can only look for high-paying jobs to earn more asset points.

At least, that was what he thought half a minute ago.

【System Notification: 200,000 asset points credited】

"Holy crap?" Ma Ma Zhaodi widened his eyes: "Where did this come from? I haven't even started working again yet."

【Detection complete: This is your first salary and partial dividend for participating in the 'Gotham Transformation Project'】

"Batman, you did well, you did very well."

Ma Ma Zhaodi's eyes filled with tears. If not for this, how could one say 'seize the landlords and divide the land'? Those corrupt officials and gang bosses were simply too rich.

Hit them harder, hit them hard—come on, big brother Batman with the pointy head.

He rolled over contentedly in bed, deciding to give himself a few days off—then felt the charging cable was a bit short and rolled back again.

What's the rush? Work is not the whole of life. It's three-something already, have tea first.

On the other side, Bruce Wayne was still working at his desk in the manor.

Just as he was writing furiously, a television news broadcast caught his attention.

"Today's news: Scientists have recently discovered that a peculiar square cactus has begun appearing in a certain arid region of Sudan. Its growth ability is extremely terrifying. Currently, its numbers are increasing rapidly in the desert. According to our reporters on the scene, as of today, large numbers of local Sudanese tribal residents are competing to plant this giant cactus as one of their water sources. Therefore, the planting range of this species is expanding in the desert at a speed of over ten meters per day."

"Such a growth rate is quite bizarre; it is currently impossible to determine whether this phenomenon is an invasive species. We will continue to follow up and provide investigative reports for you."

Bruce looked at the small desert map on the television, where cacti stood like a forest, and pondered for a moment.

"Alfred." He said to the butler beside him: "Have the cactus samples been brought back?"

"They have been brought back, Master Bruce—but that compost bin could not be bought; the tribe's shaman was unwilling to sell it."

"Then forget it."

"With all due respect, Master Bruce," Alfred asked: "Do we really need to check every single thing around Mr. Ma?"

"Alfred, Sudan is about to be occupied by cacti. Not just cacti; the green forests around that tribe are also expanding crazily."

Bruce replied: "I am not sure what kind of chain reaction the things Mr. Ma brings out will produce, but I can be certain that he has the ability to make the world go mad in a way we no longer recognize."

"Watching him is to prevent this world from becoming a runaway horse."

When Bruce's mind was full of runaway horses, some things really did run wild.

On the second day after receiving the 200,000 US dollars, Ma Ma Zhaodi got up very early; he planned to go to a gold shop.

Previously, while in London, England, he noticed that although the 【San-Dropping Ugly Golden Pumpkin Head Mask】 he carved could be stored in the system, clearly, that thing was not convenient to carve and retrieve. If he wanted to cut a piece off it whenever he needed money, it would no longer be recognized by the system.

Fortunately, this matter was not difficult to handle. After returning to Gotham, he thought of a good method—commissioning the people at the gold shop to melt and process the big pumpkin according to his carving skills, replicating it into small pumpkins one by one. In this way, every golden pumpkin could be stored in Shangcheng, and it would also be convenient to retrieve.

This plan won't go wrong, Ma Ma Zhaodi thought to himself. Basically, no one in current Gotham City would dare to have evil intentions toward his gold—let alone anything else, his reputation as a calamity star is already known to everyone here.

He hummed a tune and walked out the door, intending to go to the small garage to drive out his beloved Death Car, but after casually opening the mailbox, he stopped in his tracks.

"Hmm? Who sent me a letter?"

Ma Ma Zhaodi curiously took out an envelope with a stamp on it. Since arriving here, the only function of the mailbox had been to receive bills and notices—after all, very few people in Dongda write letters nowadays; mobile phone text messages have become dedicated to verification codes and notifications, and video calls and chat software are much more convenient. Therefore, he had no habit of writing letters to people.

The only time Ma Ma Zhaodi received a letter was on the eve of Christmas, written by Harvey and personally handed over by someone else, rather than placed in the mailbox.

"So who exactly wrote me this letter?"

He opened the mailbox, tore open the envelope, and found that the handwriting on it looked quite familiar.

"Old Ma, it has been a long time since we met, and I haven't received any news from you. I wonder how you are doing in Gotham City.

Previously, I told Camilla that I wanted to move back to Metropolis to continue living, but now, if you want to come find us, do not come to Metropolis—because it is crazier here than Gotham right now."

PS: Sorry, I lagged until now.

(End of Chapter)