Chapter 843: Cat Getan Renovation in Progress (Part III)

The renovation plan for the East District was in full swing, but soon, the first resistance came. The four gangs on Elizabeth Street jointly protested upwards, demanding that the Twelve Families give an explanation. The Wei En family was building things on their turf again without telling them, and even killed several of their people.

The leaders of the Twelve Families held a meeting and decided to call Bruce Wei En over to talk, although they didn't expect this playboy to give them any explanation.

Up to now, the Twelve Families still felt that Bruce Wei En was just having a brain cramp and suddenly wanted to save Cat Getan, so he started some renovation project on a whim. Perhaps, after playing for a while, he would lose interest.

Bruce no longer intended to pretend, so he led his staff team to the meeting site.

"Next, I want to introduce to everyone John, the main planner of this renovation plan. John, please introduce to these gentlemen what I am going to do and the benefits it can bring..."

Just as John walked up, a leader among the Twelve Families spoke up: "Mr. Wei En, we understand you, understand your kindness, and understand that you want to improve the living environment there, but you also have to give us some face..."

"The four leaders on Elizabeth Street have been bothering me for three days. They almost carried the dead men's coffins to my door. What do you want me to do?"

Bruce cleared his throat and said: "Elizabeth Street is 6 kilometers away from where I am going to renovate. How could that be their turf?"

"The people from the Blue Jacket gang told me that they killed the gang leader there, recaptured the turf, and became the new boss there."

"At the time when my project just went into production?"

Hearing the sarcasm in Bruce's tone, the gang leader had a gloomy face and didn't speak again. Soon, John began to introduce the entire construction project.

At first, when talking about the building part, everyone's expressions didn't change, but soon, they started talking about the overpasses that came with the building.

In the concept of a three-dimensional city, overpasses were the top priority. Three-dimensional traffic would bring a lot of convenience. As long as the technology was in place, there was infinite possibility for extension.

What were the gangs most afraid of now? They weren't afraid of change; they were afraid that they wouldn't be able to make money after the change.

Even if they didn't rely on the logistics industry to make money, more overpasses could alleviate traffic congestion, allowing them to free up more time to manage their businesses. Whether from the perspective of interests or feelings, they hoped someone could build roads.

The problem was that most people weren't willing to pay for road construction themselves, because once too much money was invested in public facility construction, their own families would weaken and then be divided and eaten by others.

Last time, the upgrade of Cat Getan's traffic system and the construction of the Living Hell were led by the Godfather, with the Twelve Families investing equally. As long as everyone was weakened equally, there was no worry that the other party would take advantage of the situation.

And this time, the Wei En family actually said that they didn't need them to pay, they only needed to cooperate with the construction. The price paid was only a little manpower, but the harvest was an extremely convenient overpass system covering the entire city.

It wasn't that Cat Getan didn't have overpasses, but they were built a long time ago, back when Bruce's parents were still around. Many overpasses were neglected and could no longer be used, occupying space for nothing.

There were also some bridges that were located in a degree where they could be used but were very uncomfortable to use. When they were built, it was often for temporary needs, and the planning wasn't good, leading to very awkward entrances and exits. Sometimes, after getting off the bridge, one had to make a big detour to get to the destination, which was no longer suitable for Cat Getan City now.

Everyone wasn't willing to pay. They could only make do with them, but now Wei En was willing to pay, and they had no reason to refuse.

"I must emphasize that building renovation is to cooperate with overpass renovation. Even with the Wei En Group's technology, there is no way to ensure that overpasses hundreds of meters high can stand out of thin air; they must rely on buildings."

"If I could directly let the overpasses float in the air, why would I renovate the buildings? Do I have money to burn?"

Bruce discovered that Schiller's way of speaking, which equally hated everyone, was really very useful. A mental patient could say whatever he wanted without having to care about anyone's face.

"I give those people houses, not out of kindness, but because if I renovate the building, there must be tenants in the building. Only with tenants will there be consumption, with consumption will there be commerce, and with commerce will there be money to make..."

Bruce Wei En crossed his arms and said: "Treating that group of people as redundant is a completely short-sighted idea. Only if the people at the bottom keep working can they create a steady stream of revenue for us. If they all disappear, do you intend to do the work yourselves? Go drive trucks? Go be porters?"

"What must be admitted is that the poor people you look down on are the foundation of the city. In order to let them work better, you also have to provide them with a house. If you drive them all away, no one will have a good time."

The leaders of the Twelve Families looked at each other, and one of them cleared his throat and said: "Since that's the case, then you should also say hello to us in advance, so as to avoid the people below looking for trouble..."

"I'm not worried about them looking for trouble, because I have installed defense facilities on every building. The gang members you mentioned were probably hit by it." Bruce knocked on the table and said: "The Wei En Group's property is my personal private property, and private property is inviolable. If anyone wants to break into my construction site to steal things or cause damage, I have the right to defend."

Bruce paused, feeling as if he hadn't learned the essence of Schiller, and one of the gang leaders spoke up: "You can't do this, you have to follow the rules here. If you want to have a gang war with that gang, you must..."

"Okay, okay, I'll go have a gang war with this gang, and then go have a gang war with that gang. Then you guys just wait. In ten years, I'll spend nine years catching thieves, then spend half a year having a gang war, and finally spend half a year dealing with the bridge, and it will collapse less than half a year after being put into use. By then, you guys can fix it yourselves."

The other gangs were also speechless by his rogue attitude. However, although Bruce was very aggressive, what he said made sense.

No one knew better than these gang leaders what kind of virtue their subordinates had. Let alone the Wei En family's construction site, even if a manure truck passed by the door, they would have to dip their hands in to taste the saltiness.

If those gangs used various excuses to harass the Wei En family's construction, they would have to provide people to protect it, otherwise, the bridge wouldn't be built. Everyone would have to be blocked together.

But if you provide people to protect it, it's inevitable to offend the people below, making them feel that you are favoring outsiders and not being fair enough.

But now, the Wei En family was very sensible and played the villain themselves. In fact, the Twelve Families just needed to pretend they didn't know anything.

The Wei En family cooperated with the government in a legal form, took out a large amount of funds to buy land, and invested countless manpower to build bridges. In the end, the ones who enjoyed it were the gangs, especially the Twelve Families, because they had the most industries and the highest transport requirements.

Since that was the case, why not let him build it? Isn't it just an overpass? It's not a nuclear weapon. He couldn't possibly threaten the gangs with just one bridge, right?

After Bruce deliberately blurred the focus, all the gang leaders turned their attention to the overpass plan.

However, it wasn't surprising. The three-dimensional transport system designed by Wei En was indeed very novel and very attractive. Compared with it, the building renovation, which was similar to the Living Hell, had no highlights.

At most, there would be a few more Living Hells. The leaders of the Twelve Families all thought so. The Living Hell didn't make any waves either, but the rent just went up a bit, and because the public security there was relatively good, there were fewer troublesome things, and the money collected was a lot. Having a few more such areas wouldn't be anything.

Just like that, the meeting ended with both the host and the guests feeling happy. The leaders of the Twelve Families indicated that I would handle those troublemakers on Elizabeth Street. You just build your bridge, build it quickly, and put it into use quickly. It's good for you, good for me, and good for everyone.

Bruce discovered that the anesthetic injected into it had taken effect. He quickly accelerated the construction speed. Before the first phase was finished, the second phase was ready to lay the foundation, and the construction materials for the overpass between the first and second phases were also put into production.

In fact, the technology involved in building renovation was all what was left over from the Batcave.

These techniques were not something he had squeezed out in a day or two; many problems had already been solved when he built the Batcave previously, and that chip authentication system was actually something Batman had intended to use later to provide defense for the Batcave.

If it were just him, he wouldn't need any authentication, but since he had already adopted Dick and Aisha, it would be inevitable for these two little assistants to enter and exit the Batcave later. Setting up an authentication system would also facilitate their entry and exit.

This authentication system could not only be used to implement the resettlement plan and prevent some people from over-occupying housing resources, but also provide a foundation for the subsequent permission system, so Bruce modified it and integrated it into the building.

Everything was developing very smoothly, and Cat Getan started to engage in large-scale construction, but soon, Bruce encountered another problem.

He discovered that he had no money.

This was a very terrifying fact, but it was actually reasonable. Although the Wei En Group had a large volume, the vast majority of funds were circulating in production, and there wasn't much liquid capital.

At this time, it wasn't just one or two construction sites that were working. With the first phase, the second phase, and the overpass project added together, there were over 130 construction sites working at the same time. Even the largest real estate developer in the United States rarely had so many projects working at the same time.

The Wei En Group had a professional engineering team, but they weren't professional real estate developers after all. Even if many raw materials were obtained through replacement and technology didn't need extra costs, just the labor and consumables had already emptied almost all of Bruce's liquid capital.

This was a very dangerous signal. Bruce knew that once an enterprise lost too much liquid capital, it meant that its anti-risk ability declined, it lost more trial-and-error costs, and its business strategy could only turn to being conservative. And if this went on for a long time, assets would inevitably shrink, forming a vicious circle.

And Bruce discovered that the projects he was working on now accounted for less than one percent of Cat Getan's entire city renovation project.

He knew that he had to find a way to make money now.

And then he discovered that, just as Schiller said, living in the upper class wasn't simpler than living in the slums. With the volume of the Wei En Group, wanting to go further was as difficult as ascending to heaven.

Make money, make money, make money...

Bruce never thought that he would have a day where he would have a headache over money.

Perhaps, this was retribution. It wasn't that there was no retribution, it was just that the time hadn't come yet. ===== CHAPTER 844 =====