American comics: Starting with replicating Superman's talent

Chapter 131 Bruce and Gotham

Gotham.

The silent night was accompanied as usual by the sounds of bullets and sirens.

Familiar industrial abandoned chimneys spew large plumes of industrial waste gas into the sky.

Anyone who stays here for a few years without effective protective measures will end up with a host of injuries.

In short, this is a city that makes environmentalists furious.

The filthy city is infested with rats.

However, if you look closer to the city center, both the security and environment improve slightly. After all, the places where the rich live are much better than the places where the poor live in Gotham.

Inside a conference hall, Bruce Wayne stood ready, dressed in a suit and tie.

He adjusted his bow tie with both hands, his deep blue eyes filled with weariness.

Alfred's voice came through the earphone in his right ear: "Young Master Bruce, I'm afraid no one can attend a banquet full of celebrities and dignitaries after a day and a night without rest."

"I understand, Afu, but this banquet is very important." Bruce closed his eyes, clenched his fists, and used the meditation method he learned from the League of Assassins to restore his energy.

Batman is Batman, and Bruce is Bruce.

He can use his identity as Batman to combat the dark side of Gotham City; similarly, if Gotham City is to improve, his identity as a billionaire, Bruce Wayne, is equally important.

"Okay, I know I can't wake someone who's pretending to be asleep, but you need to get ready, it's your turn soon."

Bruce opened his eyes and his gaze fell on the banquet hall filled with guests through the gap in the red cloth.

Following the Court of Owls incident, a large number of incompetent officials died in Gotham City.

This gave Bruce an opportunity, and he used his connections and wealth to get a large number of idealistic officials into new positions.

That's also the purpose of Bruce's party tonight.

He planned to use these people, along with the Wayne family's wealth, to completely improve the city of Gotham.

Bruce had studied economics, and he understood that the essence of urban crime was economic decline and resource scarcity.

If a person has a good job that can support them, then no one would willingly become a criminal.

What Bruce has to do is use some economic tricks to help Gotham's poor get jobs.

As the host's voice rang out: "Next, let's welcome Gotham's richest man, Mr. Bruce Wayne, the initiator of this banquet."

Thunderous applause erupted in the hall below the banquet hall.

People may look down on the poor, but no one will disrespect the rich.

Bruce took a deep breath, straightened his chest, and repeated "Gotham" before striding into the hall.

"A terrible city."

In the bushes behind the Gotham bench, a young man wearing a red and blue hood squatted on the ground, complaining about Gotham's awful weather.

Clark waved his hand, trying to dispel the ubiquitous smog, but to no avail.

"never mind."

Clark sighed and turned his gaze back to the tall building in front of him.

He crouched in the bushes, mimicking the methods of robbers, his large eyes fixed on Gotham Wayne Bank, which was a full road away.

After disembarking from the plane late at night, Clark had already obtained the information he wanted through newspapers and by beating up street thugs.

If we're talking about who's the richest in Gotham, then the Wayne family is undoubtedly the first name that comes to mind.

"It's time for me to live the life of a rich man." Clark picked up the newspaper that was on the ground, a newspaper he had brought from his small town.

Now, he was hiding outside the bank and no longer needed the newspaper.

Clark tore it to shreds.

Immediately, a strange red light flashed in his eyes, and he sprinted towards the bank.

He moved with incredible speed, like a whirlwind, crashing straight into the bank's revolving glass door at a speed too fast for the naked eye to follow.

"Over the years, I've often asked myself, 'Gotham is...'"

In the magnificent banquet hall, Bruce stood on the podium, with a miniature model of Gotham City displayed below him.

Behind him is a large photo of his father, Thomas Wayne, and mother, Martha, holding him.

The guests put down what they were doing and all looked at Bruce Wayne, listening to his every word.

"How can I, Bruce Wayne, describe Gotham City in just one word?"

"Home, family?"

The guests burst into good-natured laughter.

No one feels at home in Gotham City; even the locals loathe the city.

"Or is she a target?" Bruce looked around at the guests. "But the truth is, I can't answer that question."

"But I also thought about something, friends, I believe what my father said when he sometimes lulled me to sleep."

"I was just a kid back then. If I had a bad day, like falling into a pit or scraping my knee."

"Then his family would say to me, 'Bruce, tomorrow is just a dream away.' That's his motto, sentimental, but it works on me."

Bruce said, "As you all know, I lost my parents when I was a child, and they lost their lives in Crime Alley."

"You can imagine how much pain I was in afterwards. Anger, fear, and sadness surrounded me, and my father's words echoed in my mind."

"Of course, I've said all that to you." Bruce's gaze swept over the crowd—Sheriff Gordon, Thomas Elliott—his expression hardening. "The point is, I want to tell you all: when we're in challenging or daunting situations, it's pointless to ask ourselves what our city 'is.'"

"If we stop focusing on the present and stop looking back at the past, but instead look to the future."

Bruce walked around the podium to the Gotham model, opened his arms and palms: "If we ask ourselves what we can become tomorrow, then we've asked the right question."

"Because embracing hope, cherishing dreams, and envisioning the future means shaping the city with our own hands, rather than being shaped by the city."

"Therefore, I have decided that next month Wayne Enterprises will boldly and swiftly begin investing in Gotham's future."

Bruce's words immediately caused a huge uproar.

The crowd was noisy, but Bruce ignored it and raised his voice to make sure everyone could hear him.

He said, "We have partnered with several local design firms to develop a redevelopment plan aimed at rebuilding Gotham's most dilapidated industrial and residential area, and on that basis, to modernize Gotham's public transportation system."

Bruce raised both hands, and several huge city projections appeared on the original city model.

Bruce looked at everyone: "So, going back to the question, I would say, 'Gotham is the future.'"

As soon as he finished speaking, a thunderous chorus of applause and cheers erupted throughout the banquet hall.

Regardless of whether the plan succeeds or fails, at the very least, this young Wayne family heir is full of courage and conviction, and that alone is moving.

(End of this chapter)