Starting from scratch, Batman crushed my dream of getting rich

Chapter 610 Who is Superman?
Is 6.3 million a lot? Is 300,000 a little?
This question has different answers depending on the circumstances, but for Batman in the Martial Universe, his Gotham City has never had a population of 6.3 million in its past history, and even at its peak, it didn't reach 1 million.

In Gordon's words, the remaining 300,000 people are indispensable personnel in various important facilities in Gotham City, who cannot be further reduced, such as doctors, police officers, and workers at the city's hydroelectric power stations—but to Batman in the Martial Universe, this already represents more than half of the entire population of Gotham City.

When the two universes began to overlap, it was the first year of the Gotham Reconstruction Project. Over the past few decades, the city had experienced the open and covert struggles between the Falcone and Marone gangs. Although it had not completely lost its order on the surface, its internal economic structure and urban atmosphere had deteriorated to an appalling degree.

Anyone with a brain, or even a slightly timid normal person, would have left Gotham long ago. This city, whose economy has been growing year by year, has actually seen its population decline year by year. And now, it has been less than two years since Bruce, Gordon, and Harvey took over the city. These two years have been almost a process of leveling the ruins and then rebuilding, and the population growth has been quite slow.

Six million three hundred thousand—this population figure left Bruce momentarily stunned.

Will our Gotham City ever face such a day?

“If the Gotham Police Department doesn’t have enough manpower, we can ask our people in Gotham for help,” Ma Zhaodi added. “With at least 100,000 people, it would be difficult to move them out of the city immediately. Just give them my name, and they will cooperate.”

“Don’t worry about the transportation. Batman has almost never made a mistake.” Gordon waved his hand. “My officers just told me that a patrol car from Sector Two has gone missing, and a squad has lost communication there. I suspect it was the Riddler who did it—ordinary thugs can’t make an armed squad disappear silently.”

Where is Zone Two?

"Oh, you need a map of Gotham City."

Gordon pulled out his phone: "Ma Zhaodi, you know how to use a smartphone? I'll send you the map. You take Batman with you—"

"No need."

Bruce reached for Gordon's phone, examined it closely for half a minute, and then returned it to him.

"That's it? You only glanced at it a few times?"

"I will contact you again after I find the car."

Batman ignored Gordon's question and turned to walk into the shadows.

"Why are they all like this, one or two of them?"

Helpless, Gordon turned to Ma Zhaodi: "Where is he? Where did he go again? Did he learn that from Batman too?"

“Being a slacker at a time like this isn’t my style.” Ma Zhaodi’s voice came through Gordon’s waist communicator: “Both Batmen are doing what they’re supposed to do, but I’m very interested in your Gotham Batman. I’ll go help him and get the people out of here as quickly as possible.”

"."

Helpless, Gordon could only turn around and go downstairs to continue directing the city's police officers to continue patrolling and carrying out their duties.

"Oracle, tell me the locations of those extra citizens in the city."

"Oh, wait a minute, let me check the city's security cameras for comparison. Just looking for people who 'appear out of nowhere' is a bit too broad a requirement. Do you have their names, photos, or any other easily identifiable features?"

"Let me ask—"

"Yes, I have some friends."

A familiar, slightly masculine girl's voice was talking to Batman from Arkham. It sounded very familiar. At that moment, Ma Zhaodi's voice suddenly rang in Batman's ear: "There have been a lot of people on our side recently undergoing social rehabilitation activities, so there are quite a few people wearing prison uniforms."

Batman was startled and turned around to see a crow carrying a speaker in its beak, flying beside him.

"I'm sorry." Ma Zhaodi's apology sounded quite sincere: "Your encryption system is a bit too much. I can't sneak in unnoticed, otherwise you'll mistake me for a super criminal and I might get a beating."

"You can control animals." "I can," Ma Zhaodi replied. "But that's not important. I want to know, you call her the Oracle—is her real name Barbara?"

A cold glint flashed in Batman's eyes.

He doesn't mind being listened to, but he is very concerned about the people around him being spied on. The Batman fan club at Arkham Asylum found that Batman himself was almost invincible, so they quite liked to use his friends and family to deal with him.

Barbara's lower body was completely paralyzed, turning her into a purely logistical and informational hero known as "Oracle" who could only sit in a wheelchair all day, all because she got too close to Batman—the Joker came to her door and shot her in the spine.

What happened after that was nothing short of a nightmare, and Gordon and Barbara were able to get through it entirely because they were strong enough.

Batman couldn't help them at all.

Besides Barbara, there's also Jason.
Bruce gritted his teeth, pulling himself out of his nightmarish memories, his voice as cold as iron: "You've crossed the line. That's not part of our cooperation."

“I don’t,” Ma Zhaodi replied. “We come from another Gotham, and he is you from another universe. In that case, how could we not know anything about you?”

"."

Batman from Arkham was extremely relieved that Gordon couldn't hear their conversation.

“Prison uniforms, huh?” Barbara’s voice suddenly broke the tense atmosphere: “This information is very useful. There are about a dozen groups of people in the city who fit this description, and they do seem to be new faces in Gotham. Half of them are people the police haven’t discovered.”

"Could you tell me the location? I'll send the birds to gather this group of people."

“No problem,” Barbara replied immediately. “You specifically asked about my identity; is there something you need from me?”

"That's a long story." Ma Zhaodi thought of a famous comic he had once read: "Can you still walk?"

"."

Barbara fell silent.

The light in Arkham Batman's eyes grew even colder; he now desperately wanted to take action.

"Okay, don't get me wrong, there's one more question—do you have an older brother?"

"No, why do you ask that?"

“Our Gotham Sheriff Gordon has two children, an eldest son and a younger daughter.”

Barbara's heart skipped a beat. Could it be that she actually had an older brother here?
“There’s another question,” Ma Zhaodi continued. “Don’t get me wrong, I’m not trying to reopen old wounds, but I want to clarify the differences between the two Gothams. This is very important.”

"go ahead."

"Superman, how is he?"

"Superman."

Barbara asked in confusion, "Who is Superman?"

(End of this chapter)