Chapter 3298: Blood-Stained New City (58)

Schiller stood on the top floor of the Municipal Building, overlooking the city. The concrete jungle, constructed of steel and reinforced concrete, was tilting, collapsing toward some unknown point. Everything was being drawn into an unknown vortex. And Schiller, who had single-handedly manufactured this chaotic situation, merely let out a sigh of satisfaction.

Although the process was somewhat complex, Schiller had come here to do only two things: first, to force the cowardly reformist faction out of the game; second, to thoroughly intensify the conflict between the upper and lower classes.

Through a series of actions targeting the municipal government, the Pale Knight was gradually excluded from the center of power.

Ever since the municipal government shut its doors at the very beginning, the municipal system had remained in a state of semi-paralysis, accomplishing almost nothing.

Although money had flowed in later, everyone was busy lining their own pockets, and very little funding or manpower was actually invested into municipal work. On the contrary, because Schiller had cleaned up the bad debts from before, they were able to embezzle even more brazenly, leaving them no time to care about their actual jobs.

Although Cat Getan's former municipal system had operated inefficiently, after the Napier Act was pushed through, it had still played some role: improving welfare for lower-class communities and seeing some improvement in public safety and sanitation.

Once the municipal system became paralyzed, all departments ceased to function. Communities were no longer maintained, the road system was left to fate, sanitation was ignored, and in the end, everything fell into disarray.

This simultaneously achieved the goals of sidelining the Pale Knight and making the conflict between the poor and the rich even more intense.

The series of moves against the GTO kept Batman busy running around, while also causing the organization that had improved Cat Getan's situation to become indecisive, leading to a decline in efficiency.

This also simultaneously achieved the goal of forcing Batman out of the game while making life even more difficult for the lower-class citizens.

Finally, the Death Gambling scandal provided the finishing touch, using the Pale Knight and Batman's feelings for Harley and Jason to kick them both out completely. Then, by exposing the scandal and using Gordon's failed arrest plan to provoke the upper class, the conflict was pushed to a point where it could no longer be reconciled.

With the plan at this stage, the main storyline was essentially complete.

In this step-by-step descent, the lower-class citizens of Cat Getan finally chose to stop relying on others, realizing what they truly needed to do. A thousand words could be summed up in one sentence: there are no saviors in this world, and we cannot rely on gods or emperors. We can only rely on ourselves.

Judging by Schiller's methods, he was even more ruthless than the upper class, causing the lives of Cat Getan's lower-class citizens—which had improved somewhat due to the Napier Act—to plummet back into the abyss.

Even the worst rich people in Cat Getan could not have caused the living standards of the city's lower class to drop so drastically or destroyed the order of the lower-class society so completely in such a short time. But Schiller had done it.

Yet Schiller was not a villain. He did not intend to torture ordinary people, so all of this was merely the first step of his plan.

If a person is kneeling, you must first make them stand up before they can learn to walk. But Schiller did not want them to walk slowly; he wanted them to run.

However, this person had been kneeling for too long. Their legs lacked strength, and their body was frail. If they were to run now, the consumption from such strenuous exercise would kill them.

Therefore, the first thing to do after making them stand was to provide support for their legs, then provide sufficient nutrition, and then proceed with moderate exercise, so that they could transform from a frail patient into a robust athlete.

To prevent them from kneeling back down the moment they stood up due to the weakness in their legs, the first thing Schiller had to do was to plate their kneecaps with steel.

There was a knock at the door behind him. Schiller turned around. Rose walked in with a stack of reports, handed them to Schiller, and said, "The bill from Cobblepot. He says if we have any other needs, we are welcome to visit again."

Schiller glanced at the bill. The items were various types of civilian-grade military hardware: rifles and handguns commonly found in gun shops, plenty of ammunition, and some hand grenades with low explosive power, but no heavy weaponry.

Schiller merely gave the bill a cursory glance before tossing it aside. He looked at Rose and said, "Tell him this isn't enough. Tell him to look into where that shipment of arms went from the maritime smuggling case that involved Balk."

Rose frowned deeply and said, "You're targeting that shipment? The people behind it aren't to be trifled with. Balk almost got himself thrown in jail because of it. Even though the New Jersey state senator isn't a big shot, Balk has been operating here for half his life. If even he couldn't handle it, can Cobblepot do it?"

"Don't underestimate him, ma'am," Schiller said, picking up a wine glass from the table. "If I'm not mistaken, he's probably already investigating. He knows the current situation in Cat Getan, and he knows that if he can get his hands on that shipment, no matter how much there is, I can take it all. There won't be a better deal than this in the next ten years."

"Then I'll go deliver these things first," Rose said. "That boxing kid named Hick has a lot of connections in the Lower City; he'll be willing to help us with this."

"Don't give them away; sell them," Schiller said. "You can sell them cheap, but you must charge for them. You decide how much capital to recoup."

After Rose left, Schiller began searching for news online. Although the television stations had closed down, there was still some news on the internet.

The most eye-catching news recently, besides the riots breaking out in Cat Getan, was the case where Harveyzer accused James Gordon of premeditated murder.

But the direction of the case exceeded most people's expectations. Public opinion was almost unanimously in favor of the idea that it was impossible for James Gordon to have murdered Harveyzer, and that this was a shameless frame-up by Harveyzer.

Seeing such news, Schiller knew that Gordon's move of "retreating to advance" had succeeded.

Gordon resigning from his position as Police Commissioner wasn't because he was truly disheartened and wanted to quit. If he were that easily defeated, he wouldn't be Cat Getan's last conscience.

He had done this precisely to turn the tables and make a comeback.

Over the years, Gordon's diligent work had accumulated a great deal of prestige. Both the underworld and the police gave him some respect. From the upper class to the homeless on the streets, he could contact anyone and solve any problem, making him Cat Getan's "Mr. Fix-it."

His resignation didn't just harm ordinary people. As the saying goes, even the most capable elites cannot handle everything themselves. Most of them employed professional managers or cultivated cronies to handle their affairs.

But these managers didn't handle things personally either; they mostly outsourced everything layer by layer.

Everyone knew that if you had any public safety issues in Cat Getan, you could go to Gordon. Conversely, without Gordon, there was no second person who could solve those public safety issues.

As soon as Gordon stepped down, the first people to panic were these managers. With pressure from above and no one to do the work below, all the big and small problems piled up on their hands. Gordon hadn't been gone for even a day before they were all anxious and stressed.

Despite being running dogs for the upper class, they were also the largest middle-class group. They themselves couldn't have predicted the power they would have if they united.

Everyone was cursing Harveyzer in their hearts. You said Gordon was doing fine, yet you forced him away. Now that there's so much work, who are we supposed to find to do it? Are we supposed to go door-to-door ourselves?

Fanatical spiritual converts were, after all, a minority. Most people just wanted more money and less work. Since you, Harveyzer, caused our workload to increase several times over, just wait until we finish with you.

To get Gordon back as quickly as possible, they used all sorts of methods to make Harveyzer shut up. This group had no other skills, but they were masters of dirty tricks. They even dug up things Harveyzer did to bully classmates when he was a child, shouting about it until even the kids on the street knew.

Because of the jury system, public opinion before the trial was a very important part of the process. The side with the worse public opinion would face immense pressure.

Regardless of whether the black history had anything to do with the case, since it could prove you were such a bad person, it could also side-corroborate that it was more likely you were framing someone else. If the jury didn't side with you, even if there was extremely favorable substantive evidence, you might not get a good verdict.

So Gordon's move was actually: the best way to make your boss realize how important you are is to take a day off. Once they realize they can't function without you, they'll naturally know how indispensable you are.

Secondly, Gordon resigning meant they couldn't accuse him of dereliction of duty. Although he was still the Commissioner when he took action, since he had resigned later, one could completely claim that the paperwork was being processed at the time. This was a very classic move.

Finally, this could fully arouse the sympathy of the lower-class people for him. After all, Gordon had just improved the lives of ordinary people through the GTO. Even if he had committed a huge mistake, he had at least six months of immunity from criticism.

Moreover, he had done it very cleanly when he took action. Harveyzer couldn't produce any particularly favorable evidence. On the contrary, the dashcam footage from some cars driving on the Cat Getan Bridge captured the scene of Gordon jumping off the bridge to save people, making public opinion even more one-sided.

Furthermore, after Gordon resigned, he was no longer bound by the duties of a police officer. He could do even more things.

According to what Schiller knew, Gordon was currently organizing the citizens in the Lower City to establish a self-defense force. With his high prestige, strong ability, and, most importantly, his wealth of experience, his efficiency was off the charts.

The communities in the very center of the Lower City had been forged by him into iron barrels. The people sent by the elites couldn't break through, and they were grinding their teeth in frustration.

And this, of course, was exactly what Schiller wanted. Someone had to go first to stabilize the panicked civilians, preventing them from kneeling back down the moment they stood up. Schiller had prepared all the subsequent support and nutrients; only the initial confidence needed to be built by them, which was something no one could help with.

Originally, Schiller had wanted to use the prestige of Fiona's father to lift her up, providing support from the shadows to make her the new leader. But since Gordon was willing to sacrifice his career to save the situation, this tough and seasoned Commissioner was the best choice.

Now, it was time to see how Cobblepot performed.

(End of chapter)