As the elevator door dinged open, Chen Tao had just walked into the 14th floor when he saw Lincoln standing there, like a silent and elegant statue.
"Bruce, I was just going 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—"
"That's what the gossip is saying right now?"
"So be it." Chen Tao smiled at him: "But I don't doubt the authenticity of the gossip. I have been reading reports about you, a self-made financial genius turned philanthropist."
"Your story is wonderful and perfect."
Lincoln March felt that when Bruce said the word "perfect", he seemed to be pointing somewhere else, but looking at his sincere eyes, he felt that this was another illusion of his own overthinking.
"You also did good things. You funded a boys' home and opened after-school reading and writing classes."
Chen Tao took out a check and wrote on it.
"So what do you think? Does this number look satisfactory?"
"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 Carlo has about 10 credit lines operating around the clock, and the source of funding is questionable in the best possible word."
"If you want public support, I'm afraid I can't give it."
"I don't want to support it publicly. What I really want is your vote."
Chen Tao silently watched Lincoln March act.
The other party's expression is sincere.
Tsk. If you like playing so much, then why not play with him?
"My vote. You came all the way just for one vote, Lincoln."
"Yes, but what you are doing now is also my belief. 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 an opportunity."
"Yes, the cynics will also say that you launched the New Gotham project essentially for corporate image, because it is a publicly held project and so on but it serves a private purpose."
"That's what the gossip is saying right now?"
"Well, maybe they're right. It's time for me to go. I'll leave the check on the table."
"Bruce, you know, I also lost my parents when I was a child."
Chen Tao's footsteps paused.
The meat show is here, the classic parents start.
No matter what, when you want to deceive Batman, first bring the topic to an area that the other party does not understand.
"It's weird, isn't it? I only remember details. I can barely remember my mother's face. But I remember her - clearly.
The brooch she was wearing on the day of the accident. The ceramic brooch I made for her in school was small and heart-shaped. It was completely crooked. One side was bigger and the other was smaller. But she pinned the brooch to her charming skirt. I couldn’t see it.
small brooch.
I don't remember the drunk driver who hit us.
I don't quite remember how the accident 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 on the road. I just hope someone takes it
Pick it up."
"After I lost everything I owned that night, I was in a state of complete hopelessness for a long time. I hated the world."
"But then I got tuition and funding to go to City College, and the city saved me, Bruce, Gotham saved me."
"This city gave me purpose when I was alone, and I bet it gave it to you too."
"I look at you and I see an ally, a true ally. You must also know that there are not many allies in this city and they are far apart, especially now."
Chen Tao smiled.
"Mr. March..."
"I have always believed that the best way to understand a city is to be down-to-earth."
He turned around, stood in front of the huge floor-to-ceiling window, stretched his body, and looked at the dots of human fireworks in the distant night.
"Feel the cracks in the pavement beneath your feet..."
An indescribable momentum enveloped Lincoln March. He didn't understand what was going on, he just felt——
Just seeing Bruce Wayne standing there with a wine glass... made him suffocate.
"The strange and bright silence in the snow-covered parking lot..."
"The elevated train passed over Third Street, sparks flying."
"The ticking of traffic lights late at night..."
"But do you know what's most interesting?"
He saw Bruce Wayne turn around, and the light shone into the room from behind, causing half of his face to be hidden in shadow.
"Everything about Gotham is so obvious on the surface, but if you try to understand Gotham on a deeper level, you could spend your whole life...and still not know anything about it."
"Really, Mr. March?"
"There is an underground cave in Gotham."
Lincoln March doesn't know why the topic suddenly changed here.
"There is only one. In fact, the only one is in Kane County. It is located below the Willow Grove Children's Rescue Center. Many years ago, this was Gotham's affiliated hospital for treating children with mental illness and neurological disorders. Until
It was still running 18 years ago."
Lincoln March's expression changed little by little. This was a secret that only he and the court would know. They had hidden it very well over the years. How did Batman get this information?
Of course I know it from reading comics.
Chen Tao looked at his solemn look and smiled 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 secretly in his heart, and he continued, telling a story that was changed by a time traveler:
"When I was three years old, my mother was pregnant with him and we were in a car accident. I don't remember the accident, but there are records. He was my brother, a premature baby with congenital
Defects."
Lincoln March felt his heart beating faster and faster.
What Bruce Wayne knows is far beyond his expectation, which means...all his previous assumptions about the other party have to be overturned.
"Records from Gotham Mercy Hospital show that my brother, Thomas Wayne Jr., was forcefully born in an emergency, was given a name, and was quickly put on life-saving tubes - but doctors said he had severe neurological damage.
Because it is so serious, he is very likely to become a permanent vegetative state in order to get over 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 prevent the possible masterminds from harming him, they sent him there
Willow Forest."
Chen Tao stared closely 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 were looking for him until they died, and I have been looking for him for so many years."