Starting from scratch, Batman crushed my dream of getting rich

Chapter 339 The Risks We Had to Take

As an innocent wheelchair-bound man who gradually integrates into Gotham and deals with various mentally sound Gotham citizens, Gotham criminals, and even Batman, Ma Zhaodi gradually acquires a bit of Batman's aura.

Of course, he also had his reasons. There aren't many normal people in Gotham. I've been there for so long; I can't exactly emulate supervillains or superhuman citizens. Besides, Batman isn't a person; he's a disease, and this disease is inherently contagious.
Ma Zhaodi doesn't know all the members of the Bat Family, but just considering the bat scent on the Robins of different generations, it's definitely something Batman passed on to them.

"I don't really like this," he sighed, looking at the images transmitted back by the nanobots, "but we have to prepare for the worst."

The following day, the Central City newspaper brought a major piece of news to all the citizens of Central City.

"Hey, hey, Caitlin, did you see today's news?"

In the lobby of Star Labs, Cisco, holding a cup of coffee in his left hand and a phone in his right, greeted Barry, who had just run into the lab, with a hint of gossip and mystery in his tone: "You'd never guess what earth-shattering news broke today."

"The news? I haven't seen it yet." Barry scratched his head. "What's wrong? Has a new superhuman appeared?"

"No, but you'll definitely be surprised by this. Look at Caitlin, she's a bioengineering expert, and she reacted to this news much more strongly than I did."

Barry turned around and saw Dr. Caitlin Snow staring incredulously at the news on her computer. She was repeatedly dragging the progress bar to read the entire report, and her face showed an expression he had never seen before—a mixture of shock and anger, even a hint of disillusionment at the shattering of her imagination.

"Alright, alright, I'll stop keeping you in suspense." Cisco picked up his phone and cleared his throat. "Let me read this headline to you—"

Swah——

In the blink of an eye, a strong gust of wind blew through the laboratory. Cisco felt his hand go from light to heavy, and the next second, Barry was standing in front of the computer screen with his mouth wide open, his expression bearing a striking resemblance to Caitlin's.

“I know what’s going on now,” Barry muttered, staring at the news on the screen, “but I don’t know what’s wrong with the world.”

"Hey, that's really rude of you, you know?" Cisco put away his phone, annoyed that his gossip had been abruptly interrupted. "I was about to read the headline out loud!"

Completely losing interest, Cisco muttered things like, "The Speed ​​Force isn't for this kind of thing," and "Can you stop undermining me?" But Barry was in no mood to comfort Cisco; he was watching the news and felt like he'd been hit with a second blow.

On the big screen, the bold headline, "100 Victims Jointly Accuse Steiger Group, Annual Best Award Turns into Annual Joke Award!?" was extremely eye-catching, and its content was even more shocking. Barry never expected that just a few days ago he was in Steiger's awards hall introducing the greatness of the company's research and inventions to Iris, and a few days later he would see such a bombshell in the newspaper.

"I used to admire Steig so much. I thought he was a very talented person, a genius in biology and medicine. I even considered working in their medical department."

Caitlin frowned, browsing through the cases in the newspaper with disbelief, her teeth clenched in anger: "Infringement, infringement, infringement—they actually stole so many people's inventions and intellectual property rights! Several scientists have even been countersued for defamation!"

"I can't even imagine how many talented scientists they've ruined, and their futures," Barry said, looking bewildered. "Why are all the labs and companies I admire collapsing lately?"

"Watch your words, young man."

Dr. Wells' wheelchair glided smoothly into the room from outside: "The Star Labs collapsed, and I'm heartbroken too—so I'd be better off if you could talk about it less." Cisco's eyes lit up when he saw the doctor: "Doctor, have you seen today's news?"

“I’ve seen it, Cisco,” Wells replied casually. “Are you surprised by the news? Actually, to me, Steiger’s petty nature has been an open secret for many years.”

Cisco's smile vanished instantly; his hopes for today's gossip were utterly dashed.

“There were even multiple cases of workplace harassment,” Barry shook his head. “It’s a good thing you didn’t go, Caitlin. Now that you read the reports, Steiger is a complete scoundrel.”

“I can’t say which option is better,” Caitlin sighed. “But I don’t regret coming to Star Labs.”

Besides Ronnie, she thought to herself, if Ronnie were still alive, she might be able to say those words with more peace of mind.

Cisco and Caitlin had known each other for years, and he was very familiar with Caitlin's expression at this moment—she always wore this sad expression whenever she missed her deceased fiancé, Ronnie.

"Alright, alright." He clapped his hands. "What happens to someone like Steiger is none of our business. We're not the kind of people who seek fame and fortune. We have important things to do—don't you think, Caitlin?"

Caitlin looked up and smiled at him, but there was still a subtle sadness in her smile.

Barry, oblivious to the shift in atmosphere, remained engrossed in reading the news: "Eamon Zachary sues Steiger for stealing his architectural designs, Rand Gilbert sues Steiger for stealing his new fire-resistant building materials, and oh, and the most groundbreaking cloning and organ transplantation technology recently—Denton Black."

He sighed: "Can you imagine? Before today, we had never even heard of this brilliant researcher. The news in the newspapers only reported on Steiger."

The doctor beside him, however, had two hawk-like glints in his eyes.

He recalled the altered newspaper headline he had once seen; it had originally been about Steiger's bankruptcy, but now it read, "Black Pharmaceuticals achieves another technological breakthrough, cloning therapy to record low medical costs."

Wells' sharp gaze vanished in an instant, and he asked with interest, "Danton Black?"

"Yes, Doctor, do you know him?"

"Oh, I don't recognize him. In fact, I've never heard of him before today."

Wells sighed, seemingly lamenting the wasted talent, but in reality, he was annoyed by his own carelessness.

Black Pharmaceuticals. I didn't even realize the connection between the name and this news when I was reading the newspaper this morning.

"Don't worry," he thought to himself, "I'll get to know this Mr. Blake soon."

(End of this chapter)