Chapter 1236: The Farm of Justice (XVIII)

Thomas was puzzled. If Bruce bought a Lamborghini sports car, he could barely understand it. Who among the young people doesn't like luxury cars and yachts? But why did you buy a Lamborghini tractor? Are you showing off your wealth to the scarecrow in the field?

Thomas couldn't help looking down, and then he was even more confused.

The previous consumption record of the Lamborghini tractor was a children's slide, which was normal, after all, there were four children in Wayne Manor.

Children of this age are hated by people and dogs, simply because they are too noisy and have endless energy. They always need some entertainment facilities to vent their energy and promote parent-child relationships.

But the one above the children's slide is a large cow bone teething stick, and the one above is still a children's slide, and the one above is still a children's slide. Looking down, the next five or six are all children's slides.

Judging from the product description on the transaction record, these are not several different models of slides, but seven or eight of the same model. No matter how big the garden of Wayne Manor is, it doesn't need seven or eight identical children's slides, right?

The previous consumption records are not much better. They are all repeated non-consumables, either stair handrails or sofa pillows. The floor was repaired sixteen times a month.

Thomas stared at the bill and began to think about the possibility that Bruce had falsely reimbursed his account.

But this is actually completely impossible. What's the point of forging your own transaction entries? No matter how you forge, the money comes from your own account, doesn't it?

With a lot of questions in his mind, Thomas temporarily put this question aside, because Bruce's personal account has not had any large-scale consumption in the past few years except for the Lamborghini tractor. Even luxury goods such as sports cars were bought four years ago.

Thomas turned his attention back to the public account of the Wayne Group. The items on it are very particular.

From the expenditure of building materials, it can be seen that Bruce is interested in real estate business, but the items written on it are not the cost of building development projects, but other investments, and combined with the income projects, all investments have not yet paid off.

This means that Bruce is not doing commercial real estate development anymore, so what did he build with these things?

Looking down, there are some obvious road and bridge building materials, and the specifications of the materials are very high and the quantity is also large, which is obviously not for building community roads.

In addition, there are power grid and water pipeline construction, street lights and solar energy equipment, flower bed masonry, road landscaping plants, etc.

This means that Bruce is not building a building, but tearing down the infrastructure of an entire area from scratch.

Thomas touched his chin and memorized all the material quantities in his mind, and then began to estimate how large an area could be built with such an astonishing cost of building materials.

Soon, he came to an astonishing conclusion that such a sky-high cost could at least rebuild about 30 square kilometers of infrastructure, residential and commercial construction in the most densely populated area of ​​such a megacity.

Thomas jumped up from the bed immediately after reaching this conclusion, but as soon as he sat up in shock, he felt a blackness in front of his eyes.

He felt like a big stone was pressing on his chest, and he couldn't breathe smoothly, and blood rushed to his head.

Morey, who was standing by, hurriedly helped him lie down again. Thomas lay on the bed and gasped for two minutes before he recovered a little.

During this period of time, Thomas did not rest well, but he did not rest at all, and "this period of time" was counted from the time when the Flash went to his universe.

When he learned that he might be able to revive Bruce, Thomas worked for several days without sleep with his courage and enthusiasm.

When his excitement reached its peak, he was hit hard. Bruce would become Batman after resurrection, which instantly extinguished his enthusiasm.

Originally, at this time, he should have rested because of decadence, but there was another stimulation that made him unable to stop. The death of the clown Martha caused him to suffer a heavy blow to his body and mind.

Later, Thomas came to this world and was busy all the time. He was first fooled by Schiller to go against Bruce, then he learned that his son might have a congenital mental illness, and then he found out that the Wayne family's industry was in danger.

Any of these blows would be fatal to ordinary people. Thomas was able to hold on because he was Batman.

But in fact, this is not the main reason. The main reason is that Thomas is not young anymore.

He is not the Batman in his prime, but just an old man who has been devastated by fate.

Thomas's living habits are not good. He smokes and drinks. For a long time, he has a habit of alcoholism. He stays up late every day, day and night are reversed, and his life span is shortening at a speed visible to the naked eye.

Lying on the hospital bed, Thomas had a sense of panic for the first time.

But for some reason, after experiencing countless pains and almost giving up, he came to this world, and there was a new thing that supported him to overcome the physical pain and stand up again.

Perhaps in the final analysis, it is still worrying.

The consequence of excessive control is that children cannot be independent, and parents are afraid to let go. Thomas is worried about Bruce.

There is a kind of parent in this world who spends his whole life in fear, always worrying that his children will not live well and will die in the rush to provide for future generations.

Thomas took a deep breath and held it in his chest, stood up with strength, looked at Morey and said: "Send me back to the company and find the newspapers, current affairs magazines and news records from the past six months, especially the pages related to the international situation. and local trends in Gotham.”

Morey quickly followed suit, and over the next two days, Thomas began to make up his mind about the universe, and there was indeed much more to this universe than Thomas knew.

For example, the big country in the distance is still lingering on, such as the fire at the door of the United States, which almost burned its buttocks, and another example is the development of tourism and gambling in Gotham, as well as the most vividly described Gotham reconstruction project.

Thomas frowned and looked at the Gotham renovation project buildings photographed on the front page of Gotham Daily. He said to Morey, "Get the car ready. I want to go see this place myself."

After a while, the car arrived downstairs. Thomas got in the car and drove in the direction of the completed renovation project of Gotham's East End.

Soon, the car drove to the place where the East District project was underway. Now the residential renovation project is slowing down, mainly increasing infrastructure construction. All residential buildings that have been renovated have a 100% occupancy rate, so although the construction machinery is still in operation He was alone, but there were many people around him.

When Thomas got out of the car, he instinctively looked up at the exterior of the building. If he looked at the renovation project building from a distance, he would think there was nothing special. At most, there were a lot of green plants planted on the terraces between the buildings. But this is not uncommon in many communities in Italy.

But if you look closely, you can find many clues. First of all, all the buildings in the fourth phase of the renovation project are all connected, and many places that appear to be terraces are also wrapped in the building, like greenhouses made of glass.

The building is not very high and cannot reach the level of a skyscraper, but because all the buildings are connected together, there is another kind of shock, as if it has become an independent world.

The people and plants living in this world all appear so small, like the remains held in the mouth of a giant steel beast, with a decadent but ethereal beauty, full of people's fantasies about the end of the world.

If you get closer, you can see the high-tech weapons fixed on the wall, the cool lights emitted by the patrolling drones, and the dazzling white light emitted by the automatically rotating searchlights. The ultimate technological style is like A head of cold water extinguishes all people's illusions.

In addition, those shiny and dreamy neon signs and the traditional Gothic patterns of Gotham retained in the stone parts of the building make people feel even more weird and confusing, as if they have fallen into a world where the past and the future are unclearly intertwined. Dream.

Thomas slowly stepped into this dream. The weapons ignored him and the bright lights did not shine on him. So he fell into sleep step by step, but the moment he stepped into the building, he suddenly became enlightened.

What surprised him was that it wasn't crowded at all. The walls of the building were incredibly thin and didn't take up much space at all. And because the building structure was reasonable and the windows provided good lighting, the space seemed even larger.

There is nothing to say about the structure of the house. It is more like a hotel than a mansion or an apartment building. The difference is that each floor will have at least one large terrace. Most of the terraces are closed on two sides, and the remaining sides are light-transmitting. The glass wall is equivalent to a sun room.

The rest of the paths are all gardens of planted plants. There is only a narrow path that can pass through. After walking through the initial reception hall and taking the elevator to the upper floor, you can see people.

What surprised Thomas the most was that most of the people here didn't have any overreaction when they saw him, a stranger, appearing in their living area. They just looked at Thomas with a somewhat strange look, and then went about their own business. Went.

Of course, it might not be too strange for this situation to happen in any other city in the world, but this is Gotham.

This is a place where gun-toting gangsters or explosive maniacs can rush out at any time. Thomas also came to the East District in his early years. Crime was not so rampant at that time, but no citizen would relax their vigilance to this extent.

Thomas then took the elevator to a higher floor, where to his surprise he saw the school.

It is a genuine school, and it is not an aristocratic school. Those who attend school here are not young masters and ladies from wealthy families in the South District, but children from ordinary families in the East District.

Thomas didn't go in, he just stood outside the door and peeked in secretly, with a hint of guilt and a hint of luck.

The old hand holding the door frame began to tremble slightly. This old man who had gone through many vicissitudes of life and suffered all the tragic hardships in the world, his pursed lips and reddish eyes were telling what he had seen. That is the best blessing and the most vicious curse in the world. Its name is "Hope".

Thomas's hands clenched into fists, and he lowered them hard toward the door frame, but when he touched the surface of the building, he relaxed again. Finally, when his palms touched the wood grain, the force was as light as stroking his lover's hair.

Thomas was still for a moment, then walked quickly towards the elevator, took the elevator downstairs, strode out of the building, got in the car and returned to Wayne Tower as quickly as possible.

Sitting on the chair in the office, Thomas gasped with a hideous face, and then slowly closed his eyes. From the corners of his eyes to the edges of his lips, every wrinkle told of his struggle.

Losing his son, his wife, and leaving his hometown, walking on this road of suffering for most of his life is like being half buried in the vortex of quicksand. This kind of despair cannot be understood without experience.

When the most miserable tragedies in the world are piled on one person, there is no will that cannot be destroyed, and no hope that cannot be erased.

Many images flashed before Thomas' eyes, the look in Bruce's eyes, the doctor's warning to him, the focused expressions of the children in the East District...

Faced with suffering, smart people should learn to give up early, but there are a group of fools in this world. No matter how many times they are hit on the head, their pride cannot be broken, and no matter how many basins of cold water are poured on their heads, their hearts cannot be extinguished. Thousands of sufferings cannot cool their blood.

When the old Batman opened his eyes again, he breathed a sigh of relief as if he had made an important decision.

In an instant, fragments of the international situation flashed through Thomas' mind, breaking into fine points of light and interweaving into countless complicated lines.

Thomas tapped his fingers lightly on the table and asked Morey expressionlessly, "Is Lieutenant General Abels still alive?"

"Are you talking about the army general you knew in the early years? He is still alive and has been promoted to general." Morey replied.

Thomas took a deep breath, his eyes as cold as a crocodile before shedding tears. When the deep voice of this experienced capital tycoon sounded, it was like sharp teeth grinding flesh and blood.

"Contact Mexico, Wayne Group is willing to provide internationalist assistance to the new democratic fighters in Guadalajara."

"Tell General Abels that the military expenditure will increase by 50% next year, and Wayne wants 70%."