Chapter 44 is all acquaintances... This is a game of acquaintances.
Jason picked up the paper and looked at it with great suspicion.
"This is the contract?" He glanced at it and realized he couldn't understand it at all.
“Of course not. The content above is not rigorous, and your signature has no legal effect.” Thomas put the pen back on. “Strictly speaking, I should have a lawyer draft the contract and then have your guardian sign it.”
“I feel like I’ve been tricked, F…W…” Jason struggled to decipher the huge cursive signature next to “Jason Todd,” “What’s after those two letters? I don’t even know your name now…I’m going crazy.”
"If you're referring to my name, the first letter of my name is actually 'T'. My name is Thomas."
“Thomas, Thomas…” Jason seemed to realize something, stopped swinging his leg, and asked him warily, “You don’t happen to have the last name Wayne, do you?”
"That's right."
"..." Jason's expression was a bit like he'd just eaten a lemon. "You're Thomas Wayne, the guy who collects protection money from gangs?"
"How could that be?"
"Aren't you that Thomas?"
“I didn’t collect protection money,” Thomas clarified seriously. “I’m a law-abiding citizen. That money should be called a penalty for breach of contract.”
“Now I understand what kind of people can unite those gangs that are always fighting over territory.” Jason felt a wave of dizziness. “You wouldn’t…”
“Don’t worry, I’ll give you the money.” Thomas put the pen back in his inner pocket. “I’ll have someone come and give you the money tomorrow.”
This is like a windfall, but the better it is, the more dangerous it can be.
Money is for exchanging, but Jason couldn't think of anything worth $240,000 in his life so far.
"Do you really need me to do that? Infiltrate the gang and pass on messages for you?"
This was Jason's carefully considered answer; he strongly suspected that this wealthy man had offended too many people and desperately needed an inside man to help him escape danger.
The faint sound of screams could be heard, indicating that Batman's situation was probably nearing its end.
Thomas wanted to end this quickly, so he stood up and went to see who dared to be dissatisfied with his work.
"What future can you have in gangs?" Thomas denied absentmindedly. "Those scumbags aren't even my enemies."
"There has to be a reasonable reason, right? Otherwise, I wouldn't accept this money."
"What would be a reasonable reason?" Thomas turned to look at him, his light blue eyes meeting his.
“Money is for buying things,” Jason looked into those eyes. “What of value do you want from me?”
“If you insist on asking, I can only say that I have no worthwhile reason. This matter is obviously absurd and meaningless,” Thomas replied coldly. “I don’t even understand what I’m trying to do. This time, I’m probably just having a sudden burst of enthusiasm and wanting to figure something out before I die. I don’t need you to do anything; just being alive is enough.”
"This guy is really strange," Jason thought. "Is this his true nature?"
When the two first started talking, Thomas just seemed a little dazed, but when he said that last sentence, he was downright cold.
But this coldness actually relieved Jason. The sudden enthusiasm was unsettling, but this kind of inexplicable coldness was exactly what he was good at dealing with.
“Then it’s a deal,” Jason said seriously. “I’ll try my best to give you the money after I start working.”
Thomas waved dismissively to indicate that he had heard, then walked toward the alleyway without looking back.
"Goodbye," Jason said to his retreating figure.
"goodbye."
"He's quite polite." Jason rubbed his head, looking a little worried.
Jason planned to stay a little longer in case someone waited for him outside.
He idly rummaged through Thomas's wallet... Franklin, Franklin, it's always Franklin. No wonder he's one of Gotham's top tycoons, there's not a single penny in his wallet.
Apart from that, there was only a small piece of paper covered with numbers, letters, and various abstract symbols; there wasn't even a single photo in the wallet.
Since he had nothing better to do, Jason pulled out a small piece of paper and tried to decipher it.
"Wow, where did this wallet come from?"
A voice came from beside him, startling Jason so much that he jumped off the crate and nearly twisted his ankle.
He quickly steadied himself and rushed towards the alley entrance without looking back.
But someone grabbed him.
“Don’t be afraid, kid,” the person who grabbed him seemed to be a woman. “I’m not going to eat you. I just want to know where the original owner of this wallet is. I received information that someone is trying to murder this gentleman.”
Jason turned around and quietly observed the person who had grabbed him.
This is clearly a young woman with thick hair, wearing an outfit that is obviously decorated with bat motifs.
This relieved Jason a little. Batman had been doing well among the kids in the area lately, and one of his acquaintances had even gotten candy from him.
But... was Batman originally a woman?
Upon reflection, he realized that none of the people he knew had actually seen Batman's figure clearly, including the lucky person who received the candy.
Then why call yourself Batman?
Jason mentally scoffed for a moment, then immediately replied, "I don't know where he went, and I didn't steal this wallet; he gave it to me himself. I have proof."
After he finished speaking, he waved the "contract" that Thomas had signed with him.
“Okay,” Batman released Jason, “no one can fault this, so Thomas Wayne actually came? Doesn’t he have paranoia…”
Jason stealthily moved backward, but bumped into something.
He turned around again and found a grown man dressed in a black bat costume behind him, like a wall, almost completely blending into the darkness. Jason could only make out his figure with the help of a dim light.
?
So this is Batman?
"Can I take a look at this piece of paper?"
Batman spread his hands to Jason.
To be honest, that shrug is exactly the same as Thomas Wayne's.
Jason gave him both pieces of paper, since they were useless anyway, as Thomas had told him personally that they had no legal effect.
“The wallet does indeed belong to Thomas Wayne,” Batman seemed to be talking to himself. “He is an expert in quantum mechanics, and the contents of this wallet are related to a paper he wrote last year.”
“And the handwriting matches,” Alfred added in the communications, “but I guess you don’t seem to want to reveal that you’re familiar with young Thomas’s handwriting?”
"Ugh! Ugh!" Dick struggled desperately, but it was no use. Just as he was about to slip out of Wayne Manor, Alfred caught him and tied him tightly to a chair in the Batcave. "Alfred, you're no ordinary person after all!"
“I’m just an ordinary person, of course, Mr. Dick, but practice makes perfect,” Alfred fed him a sip of milk. “I’ve been in this business for almost twenty years.”
"bodyguard?"
"No, nanny."
While Dick and Alfred were arguing about whether a butler with such skills could be considered an ordinary person, Batman finished reading Thomas's two "handwritten notes," returned both papers to Jason, hesitated for a moment, and then said to Jason, "You can try to trust Thomas Wayne."
“Thomas Wayne seems to be a decent person,” the red-haired woman said thoughtfully. “At least as far as I know, he’s a man who takes the law quite seriously. Have you discovered anything, Bat… Oh!”
In the blink of an eye, Batman disappeared.
-
Thomas wandered aimlessly through the streets of the East End.
Thomas rarely looked at Gotham's streets at eye level. Most of the time, he would look down at Gotham from above. From that height, cars looked like beetles, and people resembled ants dyed in color, trapped in a meaningless cycle: foraging, resting, wandering around, briefly touching antennae when they met, fighting with another ant colony, foraging...
Now Thomas walks down the street, carefully observing the people around him, and he comes to a conclusion—
Humans and ants are really very similar.
Therefore, when Thomas arrived at the designated location, he was not surprised to see a hysterical ant... no, a human.
But what's the difference between the two? This person's life seems no different from that of an ant, except that he has a few more ridiculous pursuits than an ant.
The man, brandishing a gun, excitedly recounted how Thomas had used illegal means to destroy his company, and that the GCPD and prosecutors were in cahoots with him. He declared that he would make Thomas pay the price today, and that fate would decide who would go to hell...
In short, he was just that kind of annoying, fly-like person. Thomas listened patiently for a few minutes, then impatiently interrupted the man's long-winded explanation: "If you can't integrate these gangs, who's the real mastermind?"
Thomas didn't even claim to be a law-abiding citizen. He didn't bother to argue that his methods of squeezing out other companies were entirely legal; Thomas only resorted to extreme measures when dealing with certain shareholders of Wayne Group.
His calmness infuriated the man, who yelled at the distracted Thomas, "I'm the mastermind!"
Nobody would believe that.
Thomas shifted his weight to his other leg and watched the "thug's" anger with the eyes of someone looking at a monkey.
"There's one bullet in this gun," the thug said, seeing that Thomas had calmed down a bit, "Let God decide our fate..."
“Ah, I see. You want to kill me, but you don’t dare use a knife. You want to use a gun, but you don’t dare violate the Night Owl’s curfew. So you plan to circumvent it by playing Russian roulette.” Thomas smiled. “You’re a coward who succumbs to power, sir. You don’t even understand guns. Guns give the weak the power to overcome physical disparities and the possibility for the weak to resist the strong… But you only think about leaving it to fate and gambling on the possibility that I’ll be foolish enough to listen to you and play Russian roulette. You’re not even willing to try to take me down with you.”
He easily snatched the gun from the thug's hand, gripped it skillfully, and casually surveyed his surroundings: "How ridiculous. Tell me, who's behind this... Alright, I don't need you anymore."
Thomas didn't even bother to fire a shot at the so-called thug; instead, he walked around him and kicked over a brightly colored gift box.
A bomb rolled out of it.
-----------------------
Author's Note: Guess the character:
The loyal old butler, whose name begins with the letter A, has a military background, is exceptionally skilled in combat, kind-hearted, handsome, and possesses considerable wealth. He will treat the injuries of the master he serves. The previous master he served died a violent death. His family has served a powerful clan for generations. This clan is the pioneer of the region and controls enormous wealth and resources.
What I'm referring to is...
That's right! Abelad Wilson!
(In short, it's just a bit of a mystery I had while playing the Merchant Ronin game; the more I looked at the character design, the more familiar it seemed.)
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