Chapter 111

After the winter in Cat Getan City passed, the temperature began to warm up. This is a rare season in Cat Getan when it doesn't rain much. Although the weather is still very overcast and there are no sunny days at all, and the city is always shrouded in a thin mist, the weather is still much better compared to winter.

The first reform measure after Mayor Luo Yi took office was, naturally, to govern Cat Getan's traffic.

Of course, this is not because the previous mayor died in a car accident, but because with the cooperation with other coastal cities, Cat Getan City has ushered in a new round of development. Various warehouses and supporting facilities have sprung up, and a large number of cargo ships are docked at the port, lining up and waiting to transport goods in.

However, the traffic situation in Cat Getan can only be described in one sentence—if it had even a little bit of traffic rules, it wouldn't be the case that it has no traffic rules at all.

This has led to a very headache-inducing situation: the transport capacity of cargo ships is sufficient, and the warehouses under construction, although still somewhat imperfect, can actually accommodate those goods, but the problem lies in the road from the docks to the warehouses.

Warehouses belong to different gang families. Everyone wants to transport goods, and basically, they are all transporting goods 24 hours a day without interruption. But Cat Getan has no traffic rules, and no one says who should go first. The way this kind of thing is solved in Cat Getan, naturally, is whoever has more guns and whoever has more bullets in their guns, then they go first.

But there is another problem: although the drivers driving the cars are also gang members, they are not combat members. When two cars get stuck together and the gang members escorting the goods start a shootout, the drivers and other technical personnel in the cars will also get hurt.

Originally, Cat Getan is severely lacking in such professional personnel. When everyone starts fighting, they don't care about anything. The final result is that both sides are out of commission at the same time and end up lying in the hospital.

It doesn't matter that they are in the hospital, but the trucks they were using to transport goods are still stuck on the road, and as a result, the people behind are blocked even more tightly, unable to move at all.

Under this vicious cycle, Cat Getan's traffic is almost in a state of complete paralysis. Although it's not a problem for most goods to wait a few days, if it continues like this, it's completely burning money—labor costs, warehouse costs, as well as the maintenance costs of cargo ships and the liquidated damages for delayed delivery. The leaders of the Twelve Families are so anxious they are losing hair.

Among them, there is actually no shortage of high-achieving students who graduated from universities, but in this mud pit of Cat Getan, everyone has lived for so many years, and no one has realized where the most important problem of this city lies. Whenever everyone thinks about how to coordinate the relationships within this, they think about how to deal with other gangs and make them yield the road to themselves.

But everyone wants others to yield the road to them, so no one yields, and everyone just gets stuck on the road together.

In the end, Cat Getan is a disorderly and chaotic city, and the evil order built here by gangs is essentially still disorderly.

Fortunately, the new mayor, Luo Yi, is a sensible person. He didn't instruct them on what to do when the gangs were at their angriest, but let them fight in a mess, and in the end, the entire central street was blocked tight, and no one could leave.

Until Cat Getan's most important central roundabout and the four second-ring intersections were all beaten into ruins, the gangs finally had no temper at all. The money was right in front of them, but they just couldn't get it. No one could make the things in the cargo ships grow wings and fly to the warehouse by themselves. No people, no cars, and now there are no roads.

In the end, there was no other way but to invite the old godfather to come out of retirement. When the leaders of the biggest families sat at the negotiation table, they were all as quiet as cicadas. The goods stuck on the road also included goods from the Falcone family. The old godfather's prestige was as strong as ever, and the leaders also knew they were in the wrong, so they were basically in a state of keeping their heads down and being scolded.

The problem now is already very obvious: continuing to fight will only make the situation worse. By then, let alone roads, the entire city will be almost gone. Then how will they make money? Wait to starve to death?

With the situation developing to this point, this situation indeed requires a proper solution to improve traffic.

Therefore, on the second Sunday when Cat Getan's temperature warmed up, Mayor Luo Yi Brown held a televised speech on Cat Getan TV.

Luo Yi on the screen was no longer wearing a trench coat and a felt hat like he was in Chicago, but like the gangs in Cat Getan, wearing a suit and tie with a flower pinned to his chest. He sat in his mayor's office and said in a calm tone:

"Dear citizens of Cat Getan City, I am your new mayor, Luo Yi Brown. I believe everyone should already know me."

"The main purpose of my speech today is to advocate for everyone to follow traffic rules, and also to explain the new municipal administration I am about to implement in Cat Getan."

"As everyone knows, in this ancient city with a long history, we have worked together to get to where we are today, and now, Cat Getan City is about to usher in another revival, and a good development opportunity is placed in front of everyone again."

"Therefore, as mayor, I once again propose a new municipal service for the citizens of Cat Getan."

"The name of this new policy is the Cat Getan Civilized City Construction Plan. The main contents of this plan are: starting from tomorrow, Cat Getan's 6 major important traffic hubs, 17 main roads, and 22 secondary roads will begin to implement the 'Cat Getan Traffic Civilization Day Action'."

"During this period, there will be professional traffic guides to direct traffic. Please be sure to follow traffic rules, otherwise, you will bear the consequences."

Yanqing Novel Bar free reading

The televised speech ended here. Bruce turned off the TV, and he suddenly had a bad premonition.

And facts have proven that Batman's intuition has always been accurate, or rather, Cat Getan's First Law is: Yu Getan, no matter how correct your starting point is, how brilliant your methods are, and how perfect your plan is, in the end, they can turn it into a pile of shit for you.

The next day, at the central roundabout in the downtown area of Cat Getan City, a sports car with flashy paint slowly slowed down. The person inside rolled down the car window, poked his head out, whistled at a beautiful woman standing on the side of the street, and a hippie youth covered in tattoos shouted loudly: "Hey! That beauty! Look here, look at Cat Getan's Racing Kid..."

Before his voice had even faded, that girl turned around directly, threw the cigarette butt under her feet, picked up the rifle placed behind the lamppost, and fired a shot at the sports car's tire.

The "bang" explosion sound startled the two people in the car. Just as they were about to get angry, the girl walked over carrying the gun. She looked young, not over 20, had a great figure, and her skin was also a wild dark color.

She lit another cigarette and put it in her mouth, then took out a small notebook from her jeans pocket, rolled her eyes, looked up and down at the two people stunned in the car, and said: "Racing Kid, right? Bipolar disorder, nervous headaches, plus signs of schizophrenia. Suggest a three-month treatment period."

While she was talking, she was writing and drawing in that notebook. After finishing, she tore off the piece of paper and threw it directly into the car. The tattooed youth picked up the piece of paper and took a look; at the top, it was written "Arkham Asylum Diagnosis Slip".

He immediately showed a fawning smile and said: "Sorry, this lady, I didn't know you were an intern at Arkham Asylum. How about giving us another one of these?"

"By the way, what they said is true, right? We can use this diagnosis slip to get to the big... I mean, effective medicine for treating headaches."

That girl looked him up and down again and said: "Yes, go to the attending physician's office at the hospital within three days for a face-to-face consultation and wait for ward assignment."

"Can I have another one? I think I have some mental illness too," another youth shouted.

That girl ignored him, took down the walkie-talkie from her waist, and said: "Avenue No. 4! Avenue No. 4! A modified supercar, left front tire leaking, two passengers, they are... whose people are you?"

"Old Smoker from the East District, our boss is Smoker!"

"It's Old Smoker from the East District's people. Damn it, why is it the poor ghosts from the East District again? Don't the rich fat cats from the West District drive on the street anymore?"

Not long after she finished speaking, two people rode police motorcycles over. One of them was wearing a police uniform, gave a perfunctory salute, and then said in a very impatient tone: "Speeding, illegal lane change, running a red light, fine 300."

Glancing at the rocket launcher hanging on their motorcycle, the youth still reluctantly paid the fine, and then the other person who came with the motorcycle also walked over and said: "Hello, Doyle Towing Company, may I ask if you need towing service?"

"Doyle, why is it you? You damn bastard! Why are you wearing a suit? And since when does your family have a towing company?"

The youth named Doyle straightened his suit tie. It could be seen that this suit of his should have been bought just yesterday, and it didn't fit very well.

He leaned against the sports car and lit a cigarette, saying: "Don't talk nonsense, this is my family business. My family has been doing this for eight generations. For the sake of being acquaintances, I'll give you a 30% discount, 150 bucks to help you tow it to the nearest avenue. You know, only I know which avenue isn't blocked right now. You should be in a hurry to go to the warehouse on the east side to check the factory, right?"

The youth in the car curled his lips and said: "Alright, it seems your boss really values you, giving you such work to do. You help me tow the car over, and the two of us will walk to Arkham to get some medicine."

While they were chatting, the girl turned her head and saw a black Mercedes about to make a U-turn. She picked up the megaphone at her waist and shouted: "STOP!!!! YOU VIOLATED TRAFFIC RULES!!!"

Within a few seconds, there was another gunshot. The police and the towing company people didn't need to move, and they directly negotiated another deal.

Continuing forward along this street, there were two interns at every intersection, specifically responsible for stopping cars and issuing diagnosis certificates. They all held walkie-talkies. Once a traffic accident was discovered, police and towing company people would quickly ride motorcycles to the scene, issue tickets, fine them, and sign towing agreements all in one go. In less than ten minutes, they could directly take the car away from the scene.

Of course, this was only on ordinary main roads and intersections far from the central city area. In the six major battlefields near the central city area, the battle situation was much more intense.

Bruce said to a bodyguard behind him: "You go and stop that red Lamborghini, tell him he turned wrong just now, go back and walk again, and come to me later to get the diagnosis certificate."

"Also, where did that person who was swearing just now go? Grab him and beat him up, just say it was Wei En who beat him."

Just as he finished speaking, he heard a "whoosh" sound. Bruce took two steps back. Not far in front of him, a car exploded directly. The driver scrambled out and shouted at the person holding a rocket launcher on the high platform in the middle of the intersection: "Are you blind?!! I was clearly going straight!! He was changing lanes! He stole my spot, why did you blow up my car?!!"

Before he could finish speaking, the aftermath of the explosion just now seemed to have blown up the car that was changing lanes as well. The hood of that car also made an explosion sound, and then flames flared up.

The driver who changed lanes also scrambled out of the car. The two looked like they were about to fight, but seeing that the person on the high platform had reloaded the rocket and was aiming this way, the two left while cursing. Soon, they each met a guy who claimed to be from a towing company, and the wreckage of the two cars was quickly taken away from the battlefield.

"LISTEN!! To that group of bitches on the opposite side! Are you deaf? It's our turn to go on the next green light!! Did you hear that?! It's our turn to go!!"

"Haven't you watched TV shows?! Look at my hand! What is this?! Cat Getan Driver's Manual! Do you see it? You've already gone two rounds! It's our turn next time!!"

On a row of trucks opposite the roundabout, a burly tattooed man got down, also carrying a rifle in his hand, gave the middle finger to the person shouting loudly, and then said: "Is your brain stuffed with dog shit?! If anyone is going, the road on the east side goes first! Then it's us, you still have to wait for a round!"

Bruce listened to them swearing at each other there. He tried hard to think about it and found that his genius brain couldn't find any evidence of the so-called traffic rules that these two were so righteous about.

He asked a bodyguard behind him: "Cat Getan Driver's Manual? Is there such a thing? Go get me one."

That bodyguard said: "There is one, but it was just reprinted yesterday, and it's a handwritten copy version. When our mayor wrote this manual, he seemed a bit drunk..."

However, as he said that, he still went to find a car and got one. Bruce opened it and took a look. What the bodyguard said was indeed correct. Even if you drank one less sip of a one-catty bottle of vodka, you couldn't write such an outrageous driver's manual.

On it was Luo Yi's extremely sloppy handwriting. This mayor also came from a grassroots background, hadn't read much, many words were spelled wrong, let alone the incoherent grammar. After writing wrong, he would scribble randomly with a pen. Some lines were squeezed together, and some lines were far apart.

Bruce shut down his brain and tried hard to read this driver's manual from the perspective of these mentally challenged people. He found that although the handwriting was sloppy, the content was chaotic, and there were more swear words than the main text, what it said was very reasonable.

The central idea of the entire driver's manual is one sentence: There are no traffic rules in this rotten place of ours. Anyone you see here holding a steering wheel doesn't have a legal driver's license. If you want to drive here, you only need to know one thing: hold the steering wheel, step on the gas, and then pray to God.

After a while, Bruce's phone rang. He picked up the phone and said: "Hello? Oh, Professor... Yes, the internship is going smoothly. I'm at this intersection on the east side of the central roundabout right now. The road conditions here are not bad, the west side is more chaotic because there are too many sports cars there..."

"Yes, I also think this internship method is very good. I heard them say that they have memorized dozens of specialized terms for mental illnesses at the very least. This is already a miracle. I believe they can score at least 5 points higher on the final exam..."

"Evans? No... no, he is not directing traffic, he has more important things to do."

Bruce said while looking up. He saw not far away, a person wearing a black suit, looking like a leader of the Twelve Families, was nodding and bowing to Evans, and in a few moments, he moved the car that was blocking the road, and the traffic that had just been somewhat blocked quickly became smooth.

Although Bruce said it like that, in reality, this so-called Cat Getan Traffic Civilization Day was basically as chaotic as a mess of paste.

Luo Yi built a small observation deck in the center of the intersections of all major traffic hubs. The traffic guides on them were basically carrying machine guns and holding rocket launchers, bombing wherever things went wrong.

Under this kind of deterrence, the vast majority of cars were willing to follow traffic rules, but the problem was that Cat Getan simply didn't have a unified traffic rule. People here had never learned traffic avoidance codes, so Luo Yi added someone who had driven normally in other cities to the observation tower to guide them.

However, in the United States, the traffic rules of almost every state are different, and the content of the driver's manual also varies, which led to the traffic rules used at each intersection being different.

Although this situation is much better than the original situation where nothing could move at all, in reality, it still cannot meet the needs of logistics operation.

In the teacher's office of Cat Getan University, Advanced Mathematics Professor Anna covered her forehead and said helplessly: "The calculation error of transport capacity is really too big. Do you have any clues on your side? Victor..."

Victor looked even worse, two big dark circles covered half of his face. If you didn't listen to him speak and just looked at his current state, you would think Mr. Freeze had already awakened.

He said: "Don't forget, we also have to consider the freshness preservation time. The cargo ships at the second dock are all goods that urgently need to be put into storage. They must have an express lane, otherwise, the goods might be damaged. There are also fragile goods at the third dock, which can't be opened too fast. When these cars join the central roundabout, it will affect the overall speed..."

At this time, the door was pushed open with a "bang". Luo Yi rushed in carrying a gun, in a hurry, and said: "How is the logistics system formulated? There are more than a dozen big leaders waiting for my news. Their goods are all piled up at the dock, I can't hold on anymore!"

"We are currently calculating manually. Have you ever seen manual calculation be fast?"

"They can pay more, any amount of money is fine! 100,000? 200,000? As long as you can get the results as soon as possible, business doesn't wait for people! Friends!"

Victor put down the materials in his hand and said: "Last night I already called several of my old classmates. They are all professors of mathematics, physics, and biology. You have to offer a price that satisfies them, and then they will come here. You know, the reputation of this city is not very good..."

"Give me their phone numbers, I guarantee it will satisfy you!"

On the other side, just as Luo Yi said, most of the leaders of the Twelve Families gathered in a conference room, anxiously waiting for the processing results. Sitting in the main seat was the leader of the Spencer family. He held a phone in his hand and said:

"The goods in Warehouse No. 3 are damaged? Why? Aren't they frozen properly?"

"The temperature detection device didn't work as usual? Then why didn't anyone go to check?... Can't understand the gauge? Damn! You bunch of illiterates! That's tens of thousands of dollars of my goods!!!"

"The quality of the cold storage is also not good? Then what should we do? Where is that expert we kidnapped... no, hired with a high salary before? Tell him, double the salary promised to him before! Tell him to think of a way quickly! Forget it, let him answer the phone!"

"Who? Professor Fries? Who is that again? Cat Getan University? No... I can't get into that place, that's the godfather's territory. Contract-based? Is he very powerful?"

"... What? A living person? His wife? No... this is not important!"

"You mean, he froze a living person in a cold storage, and can still keep her alive?!"

"Ha... oh, no... no... I mean, this is really too regrettable, what a sad love story. God bless this poor lady, I am willing to donate for this, I will invite him to come tomorrow. You know, I am also a person who believes in love..."

And at this time, Schiller was sitting in his office at Arkham Asylum. There was a long line in front of him. Schiller didn't even lift his head and shouted: "Next!"

A black man with a face full of flesh walked up. The piece of paper for the diagnosis slip pinched in his hand wasn't even as big as one of his fingers. He carefully pinched that diagnosis slip and handed it to Schiller. Schiller glanced at it and said: "Congenital infantile paralysis?? Which guy who doesn't listen in class wrote this again?? Didn't I say long ago to find terms in the textbook to memorize?"

He glanced at that black man and said: "Ward 3, 2nd floor." Then he picked up a pen and quickly crossed it twice on the diagnosis slip, signed his name, wrote another prescription, handed it to that person, and continued to shout: "Next!"

At this time, Brand, wearing a white coat, rushed in and said: "We can't accept any more! We really can't accept any more patients! We don't have any wards left!"

"Let them squeeze in, there are still more than 100 people here."

"But even if they squeeze, it's impossible for one ward to hold 30 people!"

Schiller looked up and thought for a while, then said: "Let them be released on medical parole. Cat Getan Prison should still have space, right?"

Brand was stunned and said: "Released on medical... what?"

"But most of them were originally here for medical parole!"

"Then set up a medical station in the prison, let... let Bruce go over. Intern doctors are also doctors, he has experience. Let him apply the model here. If the hospital has no space, go to the prison; if the prison has no space, come to the hospital. That's it."

After Schiller arranged all the remaining patients, he returned to the Cat Getan University office. It was basically already in chaos. Everyone with a university degree or higher had been grabbed to calculate.

In this era without supercomputers, relying on human calculation to calculate the most perfect logistics route, the amount of calculation required is terrifyingly large. The leaders, Victor and Anna, were already almost crazy.

Schiller, relying on having a symbiote, also participated. In order to avoid traffic jams on his way to and from work in the future, he was quite willing to work overtime here for a while.

But soon, Luo Yi came again. He was still holding a gun, holding a phone in his hand, rushed into the office in a hurry, and said: "Two of the three financial staff in the city government ran away, and one was buried by sand leaking from a sand truck. They are still being rescued. Who among you is coming with me? The financial statements are almost piled up like a mountain!"

One of the local professors in Cat Getan said: "This job isn't something just anyone can do. Yu Getan, although the mayor lives a short life, the financial staff don't live long either. Everyone knows what they are doing..."

Hearing this, Schiller wasn't sleepy anymore. He rolled up his sleeves and said: "Let's go, I'll go with you!"

Luo Yi hesitated and said: "Forgive me for being offensive, Professor, but aren't you a psychology professor? Does psychology also include finance?"

"Of course it does. You have to know, psychology encompasses everything, and it just so happens that I personally have very rich experience in this..."

Luo Yi had no choice but to agree half-believingly.

The next morning, Luo Yi stood in front of all the gang family leaders and said: "Now I have some good news and some bad news."

"Tell me the good news first, I've heard enough bad news," one of them said. "I still have three trucks blocked on Fifth Avenue."

"The good news is that if there are no accidents, the city's GDP this year may be expected to surpass Metropolis and become number one in the United States."

There was an instant uproar below. The gang leaders whispered to each other, saying: "How did it become number one so quickly? My goods haven't been sold yet!"

"Wasn't it fifth or sixth before? How long has it been? Are you sure there's no problem with this data statistics?"

Luo Yi waved his hand, signaling them not to be impatient, and then said: "The bad news is that this is not because our city has developed, but actually because there is a problem with the report."

"So now it's up to everyone to decide whether we really want to be this number one."

The rest of the people were even more confused. How big must the problem with the report be to allow them to surpass Metropolis and directly parachute to number one?

To tell the truth, Luo Yi didn't understand this problem either. Anyway, he just watched Schiller organize that pile of financial reports for a whole night, and then gave him a set of statistical data that was exceptionally reasonable but also exceptionally outrageous.

Then he told him that he was about to become the mayor in the history of urban development in the United States who led the city's economic development the fastest, improved the most, and improved at the fastest speed.

Luo Yi said: "According to a financial staff member who did not want to be named, if we are this number one, we will become more famous and increase more investment opportunities. If we are not this number one..."

Luo Yi stuttered, then took out a piece of paper and read from it: "Certain errors allowed in the understanding of macroeconomics will bring more regulatory space to the actual data, including... stabilization means for false growth, redundant space left by crisis shocks, and..."

Reading and reading, Luo Yi couldn't read anymore himself. He said: "Sorry, there are too many words in this passage behind that I don't recognize. In short, if we don't want this reputation, everyone will have more..."

Luo Yi made a gesture commonly used by gangs, and all the leaders understood. They unanimously chose the latter.

Of course, this must not be for the convenience of official money laundering; it's mainly because Cat Getan citizens are not vain, humble, and low-key.

And at this time, in the Cat Getan Police Department, in Gordon's office, Bruce really couldn't hold it anymore. He said: "You mean, you want to borrow my Bat-Signal? What do you want to use it for?"

Gordon was also a bit embarrassed. He said: "There's no other way. I don't know which bastard had a crooked idea yesterday and actually modified the only dilapidated old-fashioned traffic light at the central intersection, causing quite a mess."

That's right, after the traffic just improved a little bit, it really caused trouble again.

Most intersections in Cat Getan don't have traffic lights because this thing was useless before. Only the big roundabout in the most central city area still retains an old-fashioned traffic light pole.

Although it was useless in the past, under the deterrence of force, Gordon found that this thing was indeed more convenient than relying on shouting.

Therefore, most of the traffic in the central city area is directed by traffic lights. The person on the observation tower only is responsible for force deterrence.

But it is worthy of being Cat Getan City with simple folk customs. There is never a shortage of absurd geniuses in this absurd city.

I don't know which little genius of physics and engineering went to modify this old antique traffic light that has been around for I don't know how many years in the middle of the night.

Under the direction of the wrong traffic light, the situation at the central roundabout yesterday was that the left side finished walking, the right side walked; the front finished walking, the right side walked; the back finished walking, it was still the right side walking...

After a day, the entire road on the right was unobstructed, and the other three intersections could only stare blankly.

Originally, the drivers in Cat Getan City were all in the late stages of road rage. If everyone couldn't walk, that would be fine, but others were walking forward one after another, and they had to be blocked here, so they were definitely not happy.

As a result, the central roundabout that had just been repaired a little bit was almost beaten into ruins again.

Later, the traffic light was repaired, but after so many tosses, this old-fashioned traffic light basically didn't light up anymore, and ordinary traffic lights, I'm afraid the outcome would be about the same as this traffic light. By the evening peak, they basically wouldn't survive for three hours.

For Cat Getan citizens, such a completely inconspicuous thing is difficult for their somewhat crazy brains to distinguish, so Gordon thought of a way. He planned to get a high-power one.

Then the question comes, where is the highest power light in all of Cat Getan?

Bruce looked at Gordon speechlessly. Gordon rubbed his hands and said: "Actually, this can also be considered fighting crime. After all, if everyone is transporting goods at night, most people won't go out to find trouble."

Gordon dragged Bruce to the Cat Getan map hanging on the wall. He said: "This is the statistic I made recently. Look, the crime rate in several blocks with relatively good traffic conditions has dropped significantly, because generally, gangs will find drivers who are familiar with the route locally."

"These drivers are basically members of local gang bosses, which is the main force of local crime. Because transport capacity is insufficient now, gangs are willing to pay high prices to hire these people to help them deliver goods overnight. It doesn't matter if they don't have a driver's license; anyway, most people don't have a driver's license."

"They are driving trucks to deliver goods all night, so of course they don't have the energy to go out and commit crimes. Moreover, the money earned from two trips can offset the gains from two months of robbery. Now most gangs who can drive have basically found a decent job. I heard that there is a small gang that collectively changed jobs and became truck transport drivers, and they are still recruiting people frantically."

Actually, this didn't exceed Bruce's expectations. Batman has also been patrolling at night recently, but there is really nothing to patrol recently because the streets are full of people working.

Truck drivers don't rest, so drivers also have to eat and drink. After finishing a night shift, they can just go for a midnight snack. Then restaurants, taverns, and street stalls don't rest either. Restaurants have to sell evening things after selling daytime things, so they need more raw material reserves, which means they need to hire more drivers to deliver goods to them, and they also need to hire more cooks and waiters.

But formal restaurants have rent after all, the price of things sold will be relatively expensive, and the things made by cooks may not suit the tastes of those gangs. They have been used to street stalls since they were young.

So many people who can cook also set up street stalls. Cat Getan doesn't have any urban management, so of course, they want to set up wherever they want.

Once there are many street stalls, the alleys that were not big originally become narrower. Most people have to demolish the illegal buildings in front of the building to widen the road to facilitate the formation of the night market.

These night shift drivers suddenly earned big money, so of course, they would be keen on consumption. Casinos and dance halls simply didn't rest either, and bartenders, dancers, and dealers all had to work overnight. These people eat, drink, and poop, and also need more service industry facilities.

In short, in the streets near every traffic hub, the recent days have basically been brightly lit, even more lively than during the day. Once Cat Getan citizens gather together, they will try every means to find excitement and engage in confrontational sports. There are no video games in this era, and the ways to find excitement are nothing more than playing basketball, playing football, or gathering to brag.

Who is Batman? He is Cat Getan's Dark Knight, and the point is dark.

You walk into any alley near the main road now, the beginning is a group of folk football masters shouting there, and the end is a group of truck drivers sitting on small stools around a table, eating and drinking while bragging. The entire street is filled with wires, various light strings are hung between street lamps and street lamp poles, and high-power spotlights are hung in mid-air shining on the ground. Batman just landed from the dim roof and was stunned by the glare.

Because the streets near these traffic hubs are really too lively, Batman doesn't have much room to play, so he walked to those more remote and less populated streets.

But what commercial gathering brings is not only the prosperity of the city, but also the flow of population. Even the most vulnerable groups in Cat Getan, such as single mothers with children, can find a job washing dishes or serving dishes in those restaurants that are open all night.

Strong labor generally goes to do more profitable work. Restaurants are short of manpower and are eager for more people to do this kind of work. The people of Cat Getan City don't exist in isolation. Basically, there is contact between groups. One passes ten, ten passes a hundred. Many vulnerable groups living in more remote and distant places mostly find a lively night market nearby to do odd jobs. Even if it's just picking up trash, they can earn one or two dollars, enough for them to eat a meal.

However, because the place where they live is far from the place where they work, it will delay their working time, so most of them will move to a place closer.

The rent for houses near this kind of place will be more expensive, but the landlord is not stupid. Originally, he could collect $100 for renting a room to one person, but now he partitions this room into three, renting them to three people, collecting $50 each. He can earn an extra $50, and those people will even be grateful.

So a large number of landlords on night market streets began to partition their houses smaller. Those vulnerable groups didn't care how small or broken their rooms were; anyway, they wouldn't be more broken than the places they originally lived in.

Then the gangs that manage and rule this street discovered that if they could create more such rooms, they could attract more outsiders, improve the efficiency of the entire street's operation, and collect more protection fees.

So they began to take the initiative to convert the attics or some vacant rooms of the industries in their hands into smaller apartments. These apartments are specifically prepared for these outsiders attracted by the industry.

Some poor ghosts really don't have a penny, and the gangs allow them to move in first and then pay off the debt every month. Some gangs that urgently need people don't even want interest, and even waive the rent for the period just after moving in. As long as you help me work on this street, not only do I not collect interest from you, but I also give you a subsidy. Anyway, what I earn isn't the small change of your rent.

Then Batman discovered that Cat Getan had become eerily quiet recently. With traffic hubs as the center, new commercial areas radiating outward from various night markets began to develop gradually.

In these new commercial areas, few people will cause trouble, because if it were in the past, if you killed two people in a pitch-black alley, the police might not discover it for a long time, and even if you knew some special techniques, this might become an unsolved case.

But in this kind of lively night market, this kind of thing is almost impossible to happen. Even when playing football, who kicked whom black, it could spread throughout the entire block the next day. If you rob on the spot, you'd better hope the police come quickly, otherwise, the local gangs will definitely stuff you into the sewer.

Because if you kill someone on the street, it takes time to clean up the scene, right? The police come to investigate, and they have to cooperate with the investigation. The surrounding eyewitnesses have to be summoned one by one. How much time does this delay? How much turnover is lost? How much protection fee is collected less?

If you were far away, that would be fine, the gang might be too lazy to care, but at such a close distance, more than a dozen gang thugs patrol on one street. Just as you took out your gun here, before the word robbery was even spoken, there might already be more than a dozen holes in your body.

Business is business, but Cat Getan's tradition of shooting first and asking questions later still cannot be lost.

Just like this, night after night, Batman stood alone on the roof, watching those nights that used to have faint lights begin to be lit up slowly. Now, he stands on the roof of Wei En Tower, the center and highest point of Cat Getan, with ten thousand lights under his feet.

He thought, perhaps he was witnessing a miracle so closely. This chaotic and terrible city that could not be saved began to sprout in chaos, grow in chaos, and then bloom into a strange and bizarre flower.

It blooms wantonly in the dark night, without concealing its chaos and malice. Batman thought, this black flower will still bloom toward the sun, it's just a black sun.

And he, and Batman, Batman didn't feel frustrated. A brand new power surged in his heart, a new thought, a thought broader than the dark night and revenge, appeared in his heart for the first time.

He had a strange premonition that this world, this universe, is just like Cat Getan, changing for something.

And next time, he thought, in this miraculous change, he will no longer be a bystander, but must be a participant.

He watched as the night came again, one light after another gradually lit up, and then, except for the cold wind and darkness above this high altitude, the flickering light spots began to spread rapidly on the streets until they lit up the entire city.

Right here, right at this moment, this bat standing alone above the city felt that he had finally learned how to light the lamp.

－－－－－－Aside－－－－－－

10,000 words today!

Because the plot is relatively coherent and the storyboarding is relatively compact, it's finished in one chapter.

Asking for votes!