Old Wayne Building.
As the elevator door dinged open, Chen Tao just walked into the 14th floor and saw Lincoln March standing there like a silent and elegant statue.
"Bruce, I was just about to say how grateful I am that you came to meet with me. I can only imagine how busy you must be these days."
"Not too busy to meet with Lincoln March 'the next mayor of Gotham'—"
"Is that what the gossip says right now?"
"I guess so." Chen Tao smiled at him: "But I don't doubt the truth of the gossip. I have been reading reports about you, a self-made financial prodigy who transformed into a philanthropist."
“Your story is wonderful and perfect.”
Lincoln March felt that when Bruce said the word "perfect", it seemed to be pointing to something else, but looking at his sincere eyes, he felt that it seemed to be an illusion that he was overthinking. "
"You've done good things, too. You've sponsored a boys' home and started an after-school literacy class."
Chen Tao took out a check and wrote something on it.
"So what do you think? Do these numbers look satisfactory to you?"
"Bruce, I'm not here to ask you for money, but don't get me wrong—every penny is appreciated."
Lincoln March said, "Hell, Mayor Carroll has about 10 credit lines that operate around the clock, and the source of funding is questionable at best."
"If you want public support, I'm afraid I can't give it to you."
"I don't want to publicly support you either. All I really want is your vote."
Chen Tao just watched Lincoln March perform silently.
The other person looked sincere.
Tsk. If he likes playing so much, why not play with him
"My vote. You came all this way for one vote, Lincoln."
"Yes, but what you are doing right now is also what I believe in. Bruce's Gotham reconstruction plan is a good thing. Frankly speaking, I look at you like I see a friend."
“A cynic would say you saw opportunity.”
"Yeah, and cynics would say you're launching New Gotham for corporate image because it's a publicly held project and so on and so forth, but it serves a private purpose."
"Is that what the gossip says right now?"
"Sort of. Maybe they're right. I should go now. I'll leave the check on the table."
"You know Bruce, I also lost my parents when I was a child."
Chen Tao paused.
The sex scene comes, a classic parent-child opening.
In any case, when you want to trick Batman, start by bringing up an area that he doesn't understand.
"It's strange, isn't it? I can barely remember my mother's face, just the details. But I remember the brooch - I remember it vividly.
The brooch he was wearing on the day of the accident. A small, heart-shaped ceramic brooch I had made for him at school, all crooked, one side bigger than the other, but she pinned it on his charming skirt, my ugly little brooch.
I can’t remember the drunk driver who hit us.
I don’t remember much about how it happened… But I remember when the paramedics took me away, I saw the brooch lying on the ground intact, not broken, not cracked, just lying there in the road, and I just hoped that someone would pick it up.”
"After I lost everything I had that night, I was in a state of total hopelessness for a long time. I hated the world."
"But then I got the tuition money to go to City College, and this city saved me, Bruce, Gotham saved me."
"This city gave me purpose when I was alone, and I bet it gave you too."
"I look at you and I see an ally, a true ally. As you no doubt know allies are few and far between in this city, especially now."
Chen Tao smiled.
"Mr. March..."
“I always think the best way to understand a city is to get down to earth.”
He turned around, stood in front of the huge floor-to-ceiling window, stretched his body, and looked at the twinkling fireworks in the distant night sky.
“Feel the cracks in the sidewalk beneath your feet…”
An indescribable aura enveloped Lincoln March. He didn't understand what was going on, he just felt -
Just seeing Bruce Wayne standing there with the glass was... choking him a little.
"The strangely bright silence in the snow-covered parking lot..."
"The elevated train passed over Third Street, hissing and flying sparks."
“The ticking of traffic lights late at night…”
"But you know what's the most interesting thing?"
He saw Bruce Wayne turn around, and light shone into the room from behind him, hiding half of his face in shadow.
"Gotham is so obvious on the surface, but if you try to understand it from the inside, you can spend your whole life... and still not know anything about it."
"Isn't that right, Mr. March?"
"There's a cave underground in Gotham."
Lincoln March didn't know why the topic suddenly turned to this.
"There is only one. In fact, the only one is in Kane County, located below the Willow Grove Children's Rescue Center. Many years ago, this was a subsidiary hospital for Gotham to treat children with mental illness and neurological disorders. It was still in operation until 18 years ago."
Lincoln March's expression changed little by little. This was a secret that only he and the court knew. They had kept it well hidden over the years. How did Batman get this information
Of course I learned this from reading the comics.
Chen Tao looked at him with a solemn expression and laughed secretly in his heart.
He continued:
"I once had a younger brother, Thomas Wayne II, Mr. March..."
As Chen Tao spoke, he secretly observed Lincoln March.
He laughed inwardly, and continued, telling a story that had been modified by a time traveler:
"When I was three, my mother was pregnant with him and we were in a car accident. I don't remember the accident, but there is a record of it. He is my brother, born prematurely with birth defects."
Lincoln March felt his heart beating faster and faster.
What Bruce Wayne knew was far beyond his expectations, which meant... all his previous assumptions about the other party had to be rewritten.
"Records from Gotham Mercy Hospital show that my brother, Thomas Wayne Jr., was born under emergency circumstances, given a name, and quickly put on life support—but the doctors say he has severe neurological damage. So severe that he will most likely remain in a permanent vegetative state to get through the initial trauma."
"He managed to survive."
"My parents secretly sent him to Liulin Hospital for treatment. They always felt that the car accident was unusual. In order to protect the little baby and to prevent the possible mastermind from harming him, they sent him to Liulin."
Chen Tao stared at Lincoln March's face: "My parents love my brother. But what no one expected was-"
"Half a month later, the little baby disappeared."
Chen Tao said: "My parents kept looking for him until they died, and I have been looking for him too, for so many years."
Lincoln March's hands were shaking.
“We didn’t find any.”
"Where would that child be, March?"