Chapter 191 Chapter 191 [VIP]
Megan's wish is to help others. As for why she thought of starting a company, it is not difficult to understand. It can be explained by the fact that the Damon family once received favors from the Wayne Group.
While she knew other examples, like helping those whose lives and property were threatened, what could a child like Megan, with her weak limbs, do? Could she scale walls and jump like Wonder Boy, or fight crime with her fists and feet? That would be too much for a child without any martial arts talent. So, when she eliminated unfeasible options, she naturally thought of the daycare center, the Special Children's Care Fund, and the Wayne Group, which founded these two charities.
Once she found her reference target, she could also determine who she wanted to help.
It's not the special children group, because someone is already working on it and doing a good job, so she wants to help another group of people who are living in hardship.
As for helping everyone in need? Even Jesus couldn't do that. Fortunately, Megan wasn't that naive. For example, during that entire semester, she didn't do anything when she saw the clown, nor did she do any charity work herself, such as volunteering at church.
But the Joker didn't know that Jason and Megan said that he sometimes went to the church to volunteer, and he almost influenced her. However, this young man who had experienced difficult times and was a street child knew what the human environment in the slums was like. Even the children who settled around the church to receive relief meals and pretended to be good and helped their godfather repair the building were not very good.
They have keen observation skills and can easily identify who among the people they pass by has a good temper and is easiest to provoke. They can then judge to what extent they can provoke the other party and the approximate range of the consequences without causing serious threats to themselves. These are all necessary abilities for survival in the streets, but at the same time, their ambitions are not just to have enough food and clothing. They are eager to get more from other people's pockets, and they will stop at nothing and even commit crimes in gangs.
What about Megan? She has a soft heart and has always been well protected. Even at the age of twelve, she still has a childlike spirit, her eyes are still filled with innocence, and she always wants to believe in the happy ending in storybooks.
...Don't easily drag others into a worse vortex, and don't think that helping others "expand their horizons" and see the other side of society is a good thing to help them grow.
If you really cherish and care for someone, you will adopt a gentler approach, communicate with them in advance, seek their opinions, and finally make all preparations before setting out together.
It's impossible to directly put someone in danger, thinking that setbacks, pain, and suffering can temper a person's will. Maybe they can, but it comes at a considerable cost, and it's a painful experience, not a good education.
This is something Jason himself has realized. He cherishes and loves his friend and doesn't want her to be hurt. Of course, he also asked Megan about her thoughts on the dark side of society.
At that time, they were sitting on chairs outside the indoor karting field. They had just played a round of karting with great pleasure. Megan's face still showed the joy she had experienced in the game. They were chatting casually.
"Megan, do you understand those dark things and those bad people?" Jason asked, but didn't he know that Megan had some 'special' friends around her?
For example, Richard Long, Killer Croc, Bane, Penguin, Poison Ivy, Mr. Freeze, etc. Megan also has interactions with other mentally ill criminals in Arkham who are not her friends, such as the Riddler and the Mad Hatter. How does Megan interact with these people and what do she think of them?
Jason didn't think this question would offend Megan. They were too familiar with each other and most of the time they would just stick to the facts and would not deliberately make fuss or misunderstand anything. There had never been any conflicts or contradictions between these two friends who were not much different in age, and they would not deliberately make jokes about bad things.
Megan tilted her head in thought, and asked, "There are different kinds of darkness and badness, right?"
Sometimes storybooks also tell people a lot of things, just like in classic fairy tales, there are various villains, sometimes it is the witch queen out of jealousy, sometimes it is the prince and minister who do bad things with ill intentions, driven by interests or other reasons. Bad people are not all the same, and the consequences they cause are also different.
Characters like witches who curse others wantonly, cruel and vicious kings, vicious robbers, and despicable villains are bad, and the time thief in a storybook is also bad, but the darkness and consequences they cause are very different. However, for Megan, she cannot describe them accurately, but she feels it vaguely.
Hearing her question, Jason nodded affirmatively. Even though he could explain this from what he had seen and heard from Batman, as well as from his own knowledge of sociology and psychology, he would not directly tell Megan what to do or what was the right thing to do in many things.
They haven't conducted rigorous social research, so there's no need to argue over who's better, or to try to figure everything out.
Don't do this, because "truth" isn't completely correct or unshakable. Every idea has its limitations. There's no omnipotent, omniscient person in this world, and nothing is absolute. If someone is complacent about their own knowledge, they've probably looked up at the sky, only to see their own patch of sky, losing the ability to see beyond.
Jason would not make such a mistake. He and Megan sat side by side, their shoulders touching, appearing close but without any ambiguity. When other people in the venue saw them, they knew at a glance that they were a pair of very good friends.
Megan said: "Some bad things come from the bottom up, some bad things come from the top down, and there are also time thieves..."
"The time thief is bad. He is in the storybook and outside the storybook."
She's saying strange things. Megan has this self-awareness: she was raised by the Joker, so how could she be completely unaffected by his madness and neurosis? And she's a psychopath to begin with!
The expression on Megan's young face was clearly confused, but if there are people in the world whose wish is to "make those who are suffering no longer suffer", then when she traces the source of that suffering, and finds just a little bit of the root, she will discover some painful truths.
She felt that her father was right. She was just a little lamb in the herd, but everyone around her was her compatriot.
Even though she no longer feels the pain, empathy is a very irrational thing that makes it impossible for Megan to ignore the people around her who are still suffering.
"It's actually very difficult for damage from the bottom up to reach a large scale. Only rarely does it suddenly reach the top. Most of the time, it just spreads to the surrounding areas and further downwards. Damage from the top down, on the other hand, is like clothes on a hanger. When a basin of water is poured from the top, the water easily overflows and settles below."
Her green eyes were clear and flawless, and there was no hint of meaning in her words. She was simply expressing her thoughts, but her tone was so light and uncertain that it seemed as if she didn't understand what she meant.
Jason looked at her and smiled gently, praising her generously, "Wow! That makes sense."
Megan tilted her head and looked at him, a smile like his on her face. "I know they're bad, and I know there's a limit to what I can do. I can't be the same as you." She was talking about Jason's vigilante career, but she wasn't discouraged, let alone depressed. Her eyes were filled with a bright light.
"So," she suddenly changed her tone, "I don't really want to volunteer."
The little bear raised his chin slightly, but still looked a little depressed.
But what does the previous topic have to do with her decision to volunteer? Is it about powerlessness, the inability to cure it, or something else entirely? Megan said softly, "I know about these things, but I still don't want to get too close to them." People with strong empathy cannot get too close to suffering, as they are easily hurt. She herself doesn't understand this, but she instinctively retreats.
Jason tilted his head towards her and said skillfully, "What does it matter? Xiaomei, you are a little, wonderful idealist."
Megan was coaxed immediately. If she had a tail behind her, it would have been curled up long ago, "Yeah, I'm fine." The bad guy is very bad.
Even if Megan has not done anything so far and has only expressed her thoughts and ideas, it doesn't matter. Jason is a very partial person. He will unconditionally favor his best friend and firmly believe that she is the best.
…
The Joker was not going to drag things out. He wanted Megan to finalize the plan before Christmas. Feasibility was a secondary issue. He didn't want to see the child standing by and watching while he was busy with this.
The premise of all these plans is to maintain the identity of "Arthur Damon" and not be exposed due to mistakes in the details. After all, the Joker has not yet planned to hand over his child to others and let her fall into the hands of the Bat. You know, with her friendship with Robin, she can probably go to other people's homes with ease and it won't be a problem at all!
He was merciful by not targeting the two children. He didn't want to expose the connection between Megan and the Joker, which restricted him a lot. Now he just threw the same problem to Megan, letting her think and worry about it.
Megan hadn't even been to Richard's place for several days after her holiday. She stayed in the small building reading some information. Finally, one night when the clown came over, she leaned over and hung on his arm as a weight. Not wanting to deal with the clown's impatience, she said directly, "Dad, have you made up your mind?"
But how could she have made up her mind? The Joker, forgetting what he was still holding onto, raised his eyebrows fiercely, his face furrowed in deep wrinkles. He grinned and asked, "Have you thought this through? Are you sure you're not making fun of me, kid?" Before Megan could even begin to respond, he made his point.
"Don't tell me nonsense or lies. That will only make me think that your desire to quarrel with me is nothing but a joke."
His words were extremely harsh, but they didn't scare Megan. Instead, he dragged the Joker to the living room table and held up a map of Gotham.
"Dad, I've looked at it carefully. If we want to start a company, several of these points are not acceptable." She explained to the clown in a very organized and patient manner. She did not tell him the final result, but first listed the options that were eliminated and the reasons for them.
They had to maintain the Damon family's status, and considering their assets, it was impossible for them to develop businesses in certain areas.
For example, in wealthy areas, they do not have enough assets to start a business, and even the first step of renting a place and making initial investment is difficult; as for school districts, they may be able to find some small businesses to do, and if they are lucky, they can survive for a while, but they cannot help others there; economic zones are not places they can go, unless they invest in existing small companies and become a small shareholder; as for industrial zones, Megan thought of the East District.
The East District used to be an industrial area, but later the city's center of gravity shifted and most of it became abandoned. The initial investment to start a company there was also something they could afford.
The Joker laughed at her decision. He now believed that the child was smart and asked with interest: "But don't you see the current environment in the East District? It's not a very good place, or do you want me to lose money?" The East District is almost becoming a characteristic area of Gotham. This place can't be called stable in any way. It is far from peaceful and friendly, let alone investing here.
Megan wasn't annoyed by his questioning. She dug out a document from the pile of documents on the table that had been visibly flipped through many times, held it high, and refuted it seriously, "The East District is bad because of the bad people, but it looks like the conditions are pretty good."
The information Nelson found was sufficiently detailed and factual, clearly documenting the poor environment in the East District. This was because the subsequent disposal of the industrial zone had become a difficult problem.
Looking at the whole situation, the excessive population has gradually become a burden on the city, and the various problems caused by rapid economic development have been accumulated to the point where they can no longer be ignored. At that time, society focused on the development of new ports and the problem of illegal immigrants, while the lower classes of Gotham were in chaos.
The soaring economic index failed to bring positive results. Some people went bankrupt, while others soared to success. However, under the heavy pressure of the economy, crime and suicide rates began to rise. The seemingly positive situation did not alleviate many worsening social problems, and even triggered more conflicts. To solve the problem, the then-mayor "naturally" designated the abandoned East District as a "special zone". Through various policies and guidance, he brought in social unrest elements. As for the original residents? Of course, they became insignificant sacrifices.
This is all old news, but the city of Gotham has always been forgetful, and few people remember this part of history, but it is presented in the information brought by Nelson.
The author has something to say:
This part is hard to write -
Because Gotham doesn't have this part of history, I made it all up.
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