Chapter 3332: Bloody New City (92)

"Extra, extra! Pharmaceutical giant Ponlag has been arrested on Lila Avenue! FBI agents state they will charge him with obstruction of justice!"

"Today, the news of Ponlag's arrest has spread through every street and alley. The FBI is still conducting a detailed investigation into his case of illegally handling carcinogenic materials. Informed sources reveal he will face at least 27 serious charges..."

"Good evening, viewers. Today's major news: Ponlag has been arrested, and FBI police have found definitive evidence of his tax evasion at his residence. IRS officials state they will certainly prosecute to the end, never allowing him any possibility of escape..."

"Next, let us connect once again with Attorney Dent to hear his views on Ponlag's charges..."

News report after news report drifted across the entire East Coast like snowflakes. Christmas had not yet arrived, but this fertile land was already bustling with activity.

After the program investigating Cat Getan's taxes spread to the entire East Coast, it became the hottest topic in the American public opinion sphere. Everyone was discussing the scandals of the wealthy.

In order to strengthen their own prestige and further promote tax obligations, the IRS struck very hard; they investigated everything that should and should not have been investigated.

Originally, they did not have enough manpower to investigate so thoroughly, but unfortunately, Schiller had already done the mass work for them. At first, it was just gamblers who wanted to win some money participating, but later, those who had been bullied and oppressed joined in spontaneously. In the end, even those teenagers who did nothing proper every day would find ways to collect evidence to use as capital for their own bragging.

As the saying goes, you can't investigate everything; what if you really find something? Cat Getan was in this situation now.

You don't know until you investigate, and you get a shock once you do. No wealthy person could have only the scandal of tax evasion; their viciousness exceeded anyone's imagination. And once this opening for investigation was made, it could never be stopped.

All kinds of criminal evidence and clues were submitted to the FBI and IRS. Seeing that the evil deeds were becoming more and more outrageous while the evidence was becoming more and more sufficient, both the FBI and IRS felt a bit terrified.

By the time they realized they couldn't continue the investigation, it was already too late. The downfall of Carter and Ponlag gave countless oppressed ordinary people in Cat Getan hope, so they became more and more active, using all their spare time to collect data, holding their breath, wanting to take revenge for their own destitute selves.

Chandler swore that when he received the order to stop the investigation, he immediately stopped all search activities, but it was already too late.

If the FBI won't investigate, then we'll investigate ourselves. If Cat Getan TV won't report it, then we'll go find Metropolis TV. If official TV stations won't accept submissions, then we'll go find individual media figures. If that really doesn't work, we'll go find Clark Kent; no one can stop us from exposing the ugly deeds of this bunch of people.

More and more scandals were dug up, and the outrageous degree of the evil deeds became increasingly shocking.

The audit action against the Wei En Group became the last straw that broke the camel's back.

It wasn't that Bavier didn't want to stop, but this pirate ship had already set sail and reached the middle of the ocean. If she couldn't rush all the way to the shore, she didn't know what would happen to others, but she would definitely be the first to be thrown off the ship to feed the fish.

Just as she had promised Bruce, she led the special team members and joined forces with FBI agents to knock on the door of every Wei En Group executive.

One month before Christmas arrived, police cars blockaded the Wei En Group. The executives in suits and leather shoes were taken away from the shareholders' meeting scene. Looking at the meeting hall that was more than half empty, Bruce revealed a satisfied smile.

Batman finished watching the live broadcast of this arrest in prison. Looking at the criminal evidence listed by the host, he suddenly felt that it was quite good for him to squat here for two more days. It would be even better if Bruce could come to accompany him.

The audit against the Wei En Group was the one that truly shocked the world. There were not many people in this world who dared to move against big capitalists, and the name Bavier Smith was destined to go down in history.

But with the deepening and expansion of the investigation, the American upper class gradually realized something was wrong. They wanted to investigate taxes to give those damn parasites some warnings, but they certainly didn't want to make the scandals known to everyone. That would make them very unfavorable in the international public opinion sphere.

They ordered the FBI and IRS to stop the investigation, but they still couldn't stop the spread of the scandals. The cases even stopped being limited to Cat Getan and began to widely involve wealthy people in other regions, as well as involving themselves.

When the fire burned to themselves, they were naturally anxious. They hurriedly thought of ways to curb public opinion, wanting to suppress the matter.

But unfortunately, the main force of this exposure was named Clark Kent, also known as Superman. Humans had no way to bribe the sun, and assassination was even more out of the question. Thus, the situation deteriorated more and more severely.

After using both soft and hard tactics, but Clark was impervious to both, the backs of the Congress lords were completely broken. They had to find the Pale Knight and demand that he solve the problem from the root.

What is called solving the problem from the root? Actually, to put it bluntly, it was to let Cat Getan stop investigating; wasn't it enough to have investigated so much? Could it be that they had to kill them all?

The Pale Knight agreed on the surface, but in reality, it was just one word—drag.

After the Wei En Group's problems were handled almost completely, Batman was finally released. This announced that his leisurely prison time had ended. What he would face next was the upper-class society that had been completely destroyed almost overnight, and the legacy they left behind.

There were not many rich people who walked out of Arkham Asylum alive, and the personnel structure and ecology of the upper-class society had completely collapsed. Unowned assets were like resources floating on the ocean, just waiting for someone destined to salvage them.

Although the most essential ones had already been stripped clean by Schiller, quite a lot were still left. As soon as Batman was released from prison, he began to work overtime to gather the legacy and integrate resources, ensuring that these things would not fall into the hands of bad people.

This bad person specifically referred to the Penguin.

Originally, the Pale Knight felt that it was also a bit dangerous to let Batman control so many resources alone, but when he discovered that Cobblepot was also taking the opportunity to loot wildly, he immediately ran to Wei En Tower, opened all the green lights that the city government could open for Batman, and indicated that you should just eat this meal; even if you eat yourself to death, it's better than eating the Penguin to death.

Batman was indeed stuffed quite heavily.

The upper-class society was swept away overnight, and half of the Wei En Group's shareholders were caught. And Batman was almost the only survivor; his control over the Wei En Group, and even over the entire upper-class society, was unimaginably large now.

And those remaining rich people, in order to avoid repeating the same mistakes, were simply crying and begging Batman to save them. Since they couldn't have both wealth and power, it was naturally most important to find a way to preserve their glory and wealth.

This bunch of people had seen big storms and waves in Arkham Asylum. If the other choice was Schiller Rodriguez, then we feel that it is also excellent for Batman to lead Cat Getan; compared to Schiller, he is simply too normal.

Batman had no special feeling about the crown that suddenly fell on his head. In fact, he still didn't quite understand what Schiller's fundamental purpose was in doing all this.

Until a Congressman suddenly called to say that he agreed to his conditions.

Batman didn't know what his conditions were, but he knew very clearly who had proposed the conditions for him. He dialed Bruce's phone.

"What did you talk about with Congress?"

"Is this important?"

"Of course, you'd better not..."

"I said I wanted to add another star to the American flag."

"What???"

When Batman hung up the phone, he felt a bit dazed.

The content of Bruce's negotiation with Congress was very simple: he demanded that Cat Getan become an independent state, incorporating three subsidiary cities, including the outskirts of Cat Getan and Blüdhaven, into the scope of Cat Getan State. The current Cat Getan city government would transform into the Cat Getan State Legislature.

The United States is a federal system; every state is equivalent to a small country, and the legal systems and regulations are all different. The differences between states are sometimes even greater than the differences between countries.

It can be said that if Cat Getan became an independent state, it would be equivalent to this city becoming directly independent. Because the state legislature not only has legislative power but can also collect its own taxes, establish its own army, and even formulate border management regulations and ocean management regulations. Basically, it can do whatever it wants.

At this moment, Batman realized that the ambition of these two visitors from another world might be much greater than he had imagined. They not only opposed reform, but they might also fundamentally oppose the current nature of society.

Because if they only wanted to carry out an economic revolution, there was absolutely no need to fight for such great autonomy. Wanting to become an independent state meant that they wanted to move the foundation of the nature of society.

Batman realized that the star they wanted to add didn't seem to be white.

But Batman also didn't think that Congress would easily agree, because this was simply too absurd. Even if they agreed on the surface, they would definitely drag it out as long as they could, and in the end, it would be nothing.

Unexpectedly, on the second day after this news came, the New Jersey State Legislature launched a referendum, announcing that if more than half the votes were cast, they would kick the now notorious Cat Getan out of New Jersey to show their determination never to be associated with it.

Batman didn't even need to look, didn't even need to think, to know who the hell proposed this proposal.

And he also didn't need to think at all about what the result of the referendum would be.

Having worked at Wei En Tower for three consecutive days, he knew very well that in the situation where the upper-class society was almost completely wiped out, the assets he obtained were less than 40% of the original, and the remaining 60% was earned by which middleman.

More than 60% of the wealth of a city that was almost the richest in the world, used to influence the result of a state referendum, was truly a bit of overkill.

Batman was even afraid that when he opened his eyes tomorrow morning, Schiller would notify him to go be the president.

Finally, three days before the Christmas bells rang, Congress and the State Legislature completed all the processes of the referendum with amazing efficiency and integrity, officially announcing the independence of Cat Getan State. A star was about to be added to the red, white, and blue stars and stripes flag.

Cat Getan's tax audit case thus came to an end. On the day Bavier left, Cat Getan had its first snow of winter. And just as she got off the car, she saw the crowd packed into the airport, shoulder to shoulder.

They called her the "greatest tax officer."

Schiller was waiting for her in the departure hall, his eyes still calm, his face wearing a smile. This time Bavier gave him a hug. Looking at the crowded people outside the hall, she said: "Perhaps you are right; only by aiming the muzzle at the strong can I obtain everything I want."

"I am very glad you think so, Madam." Schiller walked side by side with her toward the boarding passage. He said: "No matter what your starting point was, you indeed brought hope to this city. I don't know what else can repay you; I can only tell you that you don't need to worry about the small flaws in your father's tax problems anymore."

"Believe it or not, I have never worried. If they want to use this matter to deal with me, it just proves that they are at their wit's end."

"Very confident, Madam. Wishing you a Merry Christmas in advance."

"Merry Christmas, Mr. Rodriguez."

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 3333 =====