American comic book: After mastering resurrection, I became incredibly popular.

Martha gently removed her hand from Bruce's cheek and placed it on his shoulder.

"What's his name?"

“Jason, Jason Todd.”

“Todd?” Martha narrowed her eyes in confusion. “It shouldn’t be the possibility I’m thinking of, Bruce.”

“No, Mom,” Bruce laughed awkwardly, “he’s my adopted son. I have two adopted sons, the older one is named Richard Grayson, you can call him Dick, and the younger one is named Todd. I… I couldn’t protect him.”

“Yes, you didn’t protect him, Bruce. You’re not a good father.” Martha’s eyes were already red, but her tone suddenly changed.

"Mother……"

"So, go and find that chance for redemption now."

Then, Martha pulled Bruce forward half a step and gently hugged him. Bruce stiffened for two seconds, then slowly bent down and buried his face in his mother's shoulder.

“I suddenly feel so tired, Bruce. I feel like I’m about to close my eyes again. It’s such a shame I couldn’t talk to you a little longer. I still have so much to tell you.” Martha gently patted his back. “But I can’t take up too much of this young man’s time. He must have his own things to do. I really want to kiss you, but alas, this isn’t my body.”

Bruce laughed and released his arm, wiping the corner of his eye as he straightened up.

“If I really do that, my friends will definitely not let me off the hook.”

“You must cherish this precious friend.” Martha smiled slyly. “Finally, please give my regards to your father. We all know this is not the last time we will meet.”

Martha smiled and closed his eyes. When he opened his eyes again and stood up, his entire demeanor was completely different.

His shoulders relaxed, the curve of his chin changed, and his eyes were once again under the control of their physical owner.

"Wow, I feel like I'm severely dehydrated right now. My eyes are so sore and dry. Do you think I could develop a 'underworld phone' business?" Wang Baixi shook his head.

“It should be very popular,” Bruce said with a smile.

"But I imagine the phone bill will be quite high. By the way, how did your conversation with your mother go?"

"I benefited greatly."

"Ah, I've learned a lot." Wang Baixi repeated his words with a smile, "Did you ask her about Lincoln March? Did she really sponsor him?"

"What do you find suspicious about Lincoln March?"

“Well, how should I put it,” Wang Boxi said, flexing his wrists, “I always felt something was off about this guy. The business card the Bowers gave me had his name on it.”

“Then I’ll leave it entirely to you.” Bruce’s tone returned to its calm and confident tone. “I know you’ll be fine.”

"Yes, I believe it too!"

"...Can't you be a little more humble?"

Chapter Ninety: It's you again, Uncle Crocodile!

The next day at noon, Wang Baixi did not go to see off Dick Grayson or Bruce Wayne, because he had more important things to do.

The Iceberg Club has now been renovated and renamed "Gotham City Development Forum" by Wang Baixi. This strange facility with its incongruous name has welcomed its first batch of invited guests.

The inner council chamber. Wang Baixi stood at one end of the long table, with Joshua sitting to his right.

Those invited today are remnants of Gotham's previous era, such as representatives of the Kane family, the Cobblepot family, and others. In addition, the Elliott family, the Raymond family, and other families are also among those invited.

However, the people they sent were not important figures.

What Wang Baixi wanted to discuss with them was also some real estate transactions. Although these aristocratic families were old, they still held property rights in many places and made the territories with their names on them as old as they were.

How could he create a beautiful new Gotham with such scoundrels around? So, he spent a few days arranging to meet them here to talk about real estate purchases and to boast about his grand plan. If all went well, once he dealt with the Raymonds, all would be over.

"Where are the Elliott family members?" Joshua asked Wang Baixi in a low voice.

He had barely finished speaking when the conference room door was pushed open.

To everyone's surprise, the Elliott family didn't send some fringe member, but Thomas Elliott himself. Now a doctor, he may not be able to make the Elliott family, which once controlled Gotham's media and financial industries, great again, but at least the family fortune wasn't squandered under his watch.

He strode confidently toward Wang Baixi with a smile on his face, casually placing the briefcase in his other hand on the corner of the table as he reached out.

"Mr. Wang, I've heard so much about you. Bruce praised you to the skies on the phone, and today I finally get to meet you in person."

Yes, as far as Wang Baixi knew, this Mr. Elliott was Bruce's good friend, although Bruce always felt something was off about him. It wasn't that he hated rich kids and foreigners; it was purely based on his intuition.

“Mr. Elliott, it’s so good to have you here.” Wang Baixi shook his hand.

Ah, social etiquette.

“Bruce’s friends are my friends.” Thomas walked around the table and sat down in the empty seat next to the Kane family representative, his movements as natural as if he were always entitled to a place in the room. “The Raymond family hasn’t arrived yet?”

“They always like to be the grand finale, don’t they?” Wang Baixi said with a smile.

Wang Baixi glanced at the wall clock, then at Joshua.

Joshua shook his head slightly.

“Then we won’t wait.” Wang Baixi said directly, “Everyone is very clear about the issue we are going to discuss today.”

"Wayne Group intends to acquire a total of eleven abandoned industrial sites currently held by the families present here."

"Most of these plots are located along the route of our planned underground pipeline renovation project. After the acquisition, we will conduct a unified geological survey and foundation reinforcement."

"And the specific acquisition price and replacement plan? They are all in that blue folder in front of you."

"Please take this away, Mr. Wang. We've sampled enough," the Kane family representative said, opening the folder first. "I just want to know, how much of a commotion does your Wayne Group plan to make underground?"

“Very large,” Joshua continued, “large enough to allow the city’s sewers to leap from the nineteenth century into the twenty-first century.”

Everyone laughed.

The discussion that lasted forty minutes went quite smoothly. Representatives from the Kane and Copport families stated that they would sign the agreement as long as the acquisition price was no less than 85% of the market valuation.

After all, the Kane family and the Wayne family have a close relationship, and the notorious head of the Cobblepot family has been sent to prison. For the sake of money, everyone has no choice but to use their brains and make appropriate compromises.

Thomas Elliott did not raise any objections throughout the entire process, and even applauded twice when Wang Baixi presented the 3D simulation of the underground pipeline renovation.

The Raymond family's seats were the only ones that remained empty from beginning to end.

Nobody comes at all!

Just as Joshua was about to announce the start of the open discussion, Wang Baixi's phone vibrated. He glanced down at the caller ID.

You need to answer this call.

"Excuse me, everyone."

He got up and walked to the floor-to-ceiling window in the corner of the conference room to answer the phone.

A young woman's voice came from the other end of the phone, "Is this Mr. Wang Baixi?"

"It's me, what's up?"

“I am Mrs. Raymond’s personal assistant. I’m sorry that Mr. and Mrs. Raymond are unable to attend your meeting today… Young Master Raymond was kidnapped this morning.”

"How are Mr. and Mrs. Raymond this morning?" Wang Baixi asked with feigned concern.

"Yes, just this morning, someone said they saw a huge green guy near the sewers take the young master away. The kidnappers are demanding a ransom of ten million and forbidding them from calling the police... Madam is completely out of control now, and Master is handling all this by himself..."

The green thing? The sewer?

Were you kidnapped by the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles?

"Please tell Mr. and Mrs. Raymond that the Wayne Group will do everything in its power to assist them." Wang Baixi said in a deep voice before hanging up the phone and turning back to the long table.

What a pity! He said he was going to crack down hard on Gotham's criminal forces! It's always kidnapping cases! They're asking for a ten million ransom every time—they're even more ruthless than him!

We can't just make up an excuse to lie to them and deliberately not come, can we?

……

A few minutes later, the meeting officially ended. Wang Baixi smiled and saw off each guest until only Thomas Elliott remained in the meeting room. He sat in his seat without moving, as if he still had something to say.

“Mr. Wang, I noticed you looked a little off after you finished that call,” Thomas asked kindly. “What happened?”

After thinking for a moment, Wang Baixi decided to voice his doubts, perhaps this highly educated man knew more about the major families. "Dr. Elliott, how much do you know about the Raymond family?"

“Raymond?” Thomas raised an eyebrow slightly. “Their family started in the chemical industry and began researching cosmetics after the war. However, in recent years, their focus has shifted away from conventional chemical products. According to some inside information I’ve gathered, they’ve been secretly researching certain… how should I put it, certain sensitive military products.”

He paused. "Do you know Lex Luthor?"

"That bald guy?" Wang Baixi blurted out.

Thomas paused for a moment, then couldn't help but laugh out loud. "Yes, that bald guy. The Raymond family and the Luther Group have quite a few connections in the military industry. But why are you suddenly asking about them?"

“They didn’t come today, so I was a little worried about them. You know, I’m an outsider, and there are some things I don’t know as well as you old guys in Grindelwald. Thank you, Dr. Elliott.”

“Just call me Thomas.” He stood up and picked up his briefcase from the corner of the table. “Oh, and give my regards to Bruce.”

"I will definitely pass on the message."

After Thomas left the conference room, Joshua looked thoughtfully at the closed door. "That guy was a little too enthusiastic."

“How many of Bruce’s friends aren’t like that?” Wang Baixi replied while tidying up the documents on the table.

"So what exactly happened to the Raymond family?"

“I received a call a few minutes ago from the Raymonds’ assistant, who told me that the Raymond family’s young master had been kidnapped. What can I say… they saw a huge green guy taking him away near the sewers.”

“A big green guy? That must be a killer crocodile,” Joshua said without hesitation.

“Killer Crocodile?” Wang Baixi was both amused and exasperated. “Mr. Joshua, I know very well what Killer Crocodile’s current mental state is. How could he possibly have the brains to plan a kidnapping right now? But what you said makes sense. I’ll talk to Tim about it later.”

Saving Gotham is what they should be doing. He also needs to investigate the Court of Owls!

But suddenly, something occurred to him.

sewer……

Wang Baixi opened his mobile browser and entered the keywords "Raymond" and "missing" into the search bar.

As expected, this matter has been blown up!

The first search result was a news article published by Gotham News Live 20 minutes prior:

The heir to Raymond Chemicals is suspected of going missing near a sewer entrance; police have cordoned off the area.

The drainage outlet in the accompanying picture happens to be located within the "Priority Refurbishment" pipeline area publicly displayed by Wayne Group.

He frowned; his brain had never processed information so quickly before.