"How do you describe in just one word what Gotham City is to me, to Bruce Wayne?"
"Home? Family? Purpose?"
"But in fact, the real answer is: I can't answer that question."
Amid the melodious music, Chen Tao, dressed in a tuxedo, stood in the center of the brightly lit hall.
The elites of Gotham City's upper class gathered together. This charity dinner, which was scheduled to be held on March 29 and hosted by Gotham's famous super-rich Bruce Wayne, was finally held after being postponed for six days due to Bruce Wayne's health.
“… As most of you here know by now, I lost both my parents when I was a child…”
“… Deep down, I knew that even though the pain was so deep, it would get better…
My point is that when we are in challenging or daunting situations, it is pointless to ask ourselves what our cities 'are', because when we look around at the streets and buildings that the Zhou dynasty built, they are all our fears and our frustrations—"
“The devil within us.”
"And if we stop looking at the present and stop looking back at the past and start looking forward to the future—"
“We ask ourselves what tomorrow can—will—be… Then we ask the right question. Because to embrace hope, to dream, to meet the future, is to shape the city, not to be shaped by it.”
Chen Tao's eyes swept over the people in the audience. They were judges, congressmen, entrepreneurs, and the righteous forces of Gotham that Bruce Wayne had accumulated over the years before he traveled through time. Bruce had almost pushed his plan to this point... and Chen Tao had to continue to stabilize their morale.
It's really weird.
Chen Tao thought so. In order to completely revive the rotten city of Gotham, Bruce Wayne almost relied on a long time and financial resources to rebuild a digestive system and life-support system for this rotten old man bit by bit from scratch. With these conscientious judges, congressmen and entrepreneurs in front of him, even if all the corrupt officials in Gotham died...
Well, Batman wouldn't kill people so brutally.
Alas. Chen Tao fully understands how difficult it is to build such a system. The energy and effort spent on it are simply unimaginable. This is the life-saving prescription prepared for Gotham by Bruce Wayne, who he traveled through.
Can a time traveler like him really overcome all difficulties and continue Bruce Wayne's plan
This kind of responsibility is the most difficult. But at least, before he successfully finds a successor, he has to maintain this plate first, so that Superman or Wonder Woman can come and take over the city.
Chen Tao calmed down and continued to read the manuscript written by Bruce Wayne:
"I know that everyone here may have doubts, because our city has been shrouded in violence, and countless criminals have even developed to the point where the army has to be mobilized to suppress them. Law and order have been destroyed to the point where it can no longer be sustained, but we know that this will eventually pass...
What we need to do is to eliminate the root causes of such riots and the soil that breeds evil in Gotham..."
"… I will back up my words with my money. After the riots subside, Wayne Enterprises will boldly and quickly begin investing in Gotham's future. We have teamed up with several local design firms to develop a reconstruction plan aimed at rebuilding Gotham's most dilapidated industrial residential areas… "
… Building on this foundation, we have plans for a major expansion and modernization of Gotham’s public transportation system. I am hopeful and excited about these plans. I can’t express how excited I am. We will reveal more in the coming days, but right now I ask you to look beyond what Gotham was and is and just take a moment to imagine with me…”
"The 'future is' in Gotham City."
"Thank you. Now, my friends, I ask you to invest with me in Gotham's future. I promise you that if we join hands, if we work together, then..."
"A better, brighter Gotham... is only one step away."
"Thank you, thank you..."
Amid the melodious banquet songs, Chen Tao picked up a glass of champagne and blended himself into the enthusiastic crowd.
"Well done Bruce, very inspiring."
Chen Tao didn't look back.
"Tim, how is Solomon Grundy doing?"
Robin, who was dressed in formal attire, held a glass of juice and shrugged:
"It's done. Our gray friend is now living well in the Slaughter Swamp. The locator is in place, and his daily food is provided by us. We can get enough powerful anesthetics at any time and drop it on any battlefield where it is needed. So now he is our human bomb."
He continued, "Poison Ivy was placed with the Suicide Squad, and as you'd expect, Ivy couldn't resist the rare chance to save plants, plus she and Harley were always hanging out together—"
"According to Ivy, the plant master Jason Wood is now basically severely damaged. Her original sentence was, 'Jason may be powerful, but he is definitely not a swamp monster. He will not be able to recover to his previous level in at least half a century.' In other words, the super tree spirit can only be a real piece of wood now."
"The rest of the Suicide Squad is keeping Gotham safe - and I have to admit they're pretty good at it."
Tim frowned slightly, then said, "At least they are more than enough to deal with those third-rate villains, especially the Deadshot. Although Poison Ivy's ability is easy to target, as long as you don't encounter particularly powerful characters, there won't be any big problems. But if it's the Joker, Two-Face, Riddler, etc..."
"We didn't expect them to deal with these freaks." Chen Tao replied: "Continue to report."
"Bane is missing and we have not been able to locate him yet. He is deliberately avoiding our bat cams, and the houses are not an obstacle for him at all, so he is not constrained by the traditional roads."
"As expected." Chen Tao said, "Continue."
"The National Guard was basically disbanded, and the battle situation was horrible." Robin paused: "The Joker kidnapped Mayor Carlo and threw a super-doubled Joker gas bomb into the center of the position at the last minute."
"About a third of the soldiers died on the spot, either from Bane's attack or from the Joker's venom, without even waiting for an ambulance."
Robin said: "And the other survivors were not much better. Mayor Carlo - well, it was Mayor Carlo who was controlled by the Joker who issued a crazy order, causing even the firemen in the army to go to the battlefield."
"As the bomb exploded, the wounded almost filled Gotham's hospitals. They would endure three or four months of continuous laughter and the sequelae of whether they could recover. The state government refused to provide any more support to the city..."
Tim paused.
"That is to say, Gotham has been abandoned."
"And there's one more thing."
Tim said, "Are you really going to ignore the challenge the Joker sent you?"