Starting from scratch, Batman crushed my dream of getting rich

Chapter 417 There's no such thing as a free chicken leg.

When Ma Zhaodi pushed the food cart to the vicinity of Professor Stein's residence, he found himself to be in luck.

Unlike when he usually sells things, today he didn't cover the side panel of his cart. Instead, he let the aroma of fried chicken spread quickly from the cart and waft in all directions. There was a sign on the cart that read "One Dollar Fried Chicken".

The tricycle driver thoughtfully provided heating inside the cart carrying the fried chicken; she's been much more generous since receiving a large quantity of energy bars last time.

The scene before us was a little strange—this was a residential area where street vendors usually didn't roam around, but today, a young man driving a food truck suddenly walked by, seemingly wanting to do business in such a place.

Nevertheless, the city's residents on the street were not too surprised—Ma Zhaodi had already explored the entire city over the past few months, and people saw him in different locations every morning, noon, and afternoon. Over time, many people had even gotten used to the presence of such an omnipresent Asian food truck owner in the city.

However, every time he appeared, the food in his food truck was always sold out. As a result, the name "Old Ma" was only known in small circles such as the police station, Star Lab, and Liu Ziqun. No one knew what his food tasted like or who was buying his things. All they knew was that his food always sold out quickly and that his food truck always traveled a long way.

However, the smell of that fried chicken was really strong. Even just passing by, the enticing aroma lingering in the air was enough to make people turn around and look at the food truck. Just smelling that aroma, one could already imagine what the crispy golden skin and tender, juicy fried chicken looked like.

It was precisely because the aroma was so overpowering that when Ma Zhaodi pushed his cart down the street, half of the fried chicken in the cart had already been sold. Just as he was starting to worry that the fried chicken would sell out on the street, his long-unused Advanced Tracking Mastery suddenly made him instinctively realize that something was wrong.

"Is someone with me?"

Although he was aware of this, Ma Zhaodi did not react in any particular way, but simply continued to push the cart, letting the aroma of fried chicken waft along the way.

He walked straight past Stein's house, like an ordinary street vendor.

As he reached the street corner, Ma Zhaodi could faintly hear footsteps behind him. So he closed the lid of the food cart, and the aroma of fried chicken immediately stopped wafting out.

The footsteps behind him paused, then became urgent.

Ma Zhaodi ignored him and pretended to wait for the green light to cross the street. A few seconds later, just as he was about to step away, the person behind him finally couldn't wait any longer.

The man's voice sounded somewhat listless: "I'd like a piece of fried chicken, is that okay?"

Before the other person could finish speaking, Ma Zhaodi immediately turned around and gave a professional smile: "No problem, how much fried chicken do you want?"

Opposite him stood Ronald Raymond, who had been missing for a long time—or rather, Professor Martin Stein.

Ronald's face, Stein's mind.

Just as Caitlin had described, he was now dressed in filthy, ragged clothes, looking haggard and exhausted, and so thin he was practically skin and bones. Moreover, judging from his unnatural expression and demeanor, his mental state was also quite unstable.

"One dollar chicken?" he asked again. "One dollar?"

"Honest and fair dealings." Ma Zhaodi shrugged. "Any other questions?"

"It's like going back to the last century!"

Ronald's face showed a nostalgic expression, seemingly genuine—although at his age, he shouldn't have such sentiments and experience, but Professor Stein, who was currently leading the conversation, was nearly sixty. He had personally experienced America's golden age, and the one-dollar fried chicken in front of him couldn't help but remind him of his own spirited self back then. At that time, he had won his first Conway Medal of Science, and although he was already in his forties, for a scientist who had achieved such success, that age was by no means considered old.

Can I have half a dollar?

"no problem."

Ma Zhaodi readily agreed and took a chicken leg that was already in a paper bag from the cart: "While it's hot."

Stein instinctively took the fried chicken, but then hesitated for a moment before asking, "Are you really willing to sell it for half a dollar?"

"Actually, this isn't sold to you; it's a free gift—you don't look like you have much money."

Upon hearing Ma Zhaodi's answer, he awkwardly touched his pocket. Indeed, the downside of being engulfed in flames was that his banknotes were often burned, and even his coins would melt down. If it weren't for the occasional scavenging for a little money in a corner or finding a bit of food in a garbage dump, Stein and Ronald wouldn't have survived this long.

Even the half-dollar bill he has now was given to him by other homeless people when he passed by a homeless camp.

He couldn't collect subsidies or live in a homeless camp because his abilities and his mind were quite unstable. In fact, he had recently begun to occasionally lose control, and his flames would involuntarily erupt when his mind and Ronald's mind began to overlap and conflict.

When he woke up, everything within a few meters of him had been burned to ashes—luckily, no one was around.

Worse still, the military had long been watching his research, and Professor Stein was well aware that if he showed himself, he risked being captured and used as a secret experimental subject.

What he didn't know was that Admiral Erling was in deep trouble at the time, which was actually Professor Stein's safe period.

For the next few months, Professor Stein and Ronald lived a precarious life in Central City, hiding and living in constant fear. Their minds would occasionally clash, causing them to switch control of their bodies.

When Professor Stein's mind takes over his body, he goes to his neighborhood to see his wife; and when Ronald's consciousness takes over his body, he goes to the vicinity of Star Labs to see his fiancée.

It sounds terrible, and it really is terrible.

"Thank you, young man." He took a bite of the fried chicken in his hand, and then subconsciously began to devour it, not even bothering to say another word.

Only a dozen seconds had passed when he finished eating the fried chicken leg.

“You’re welcome,” Ma Zhaodi replied. “You do look quite hungry—by the way, how are you feeling now?”

"I feel much better." Stein looked at the fried chicken bone in his hand with some reluctance: "It's been a long time since I've had a proper meal. Good food really can calm you down."

That's for sure, otherwise the tranquilizer in fried chicken would be wasted.

(End of this chapter)