Who Would've Thought of Finding Legal Work in Gotham

Cold, trembling.

A clanging sound echoed in his ears, and Ma Zhaodi, groggy and disoriented, felt a sharp pain in the back of his head from the jolting of the ground.

"Sir."

In a state between sleep and wakefulness, a voice seemed to reverberate around him repeatedly.

Who is this?

"Sir!"

Who is this voice calling?

Me?

"Wake up! Sir!"

The cold, damp air hit him, filling Ma Zhaodi's nostrils. The air also carried a faint scent of blood and a strange sense of danger.

This scent seemed to travel from his nostrils straight to his soul. Ma Zhaodi's mind, as if being yanked from the depths of the sea to the surface, instantly became clear.

He suddenly opened his eyes and saw an unfamiliar ceiling.

No, it wasn't a ceiling.

The ground swayed rhythmically, accompanied by clanging sounds. The thick, dark clouds outside the window beside him were also moving at high speed. Rows of seats lined both sides, and he was lying on the floor in the aisle between them.

He was on a train.

But why was he here?

Ma Zhaodi, now somewhat lucid, pushed himself up to a sitting position, propping himself up with the floor. Rows of empty train seats surrounded him, and a conductor stood beside him.

"Sir, are you all right?"

Why was a foreign conductor asking him questions in English?

When the hell did I get on a foreign train?

No, no, I wasn't on a train before.

Ma Zhaodi shook his head vigorously, trying to confirm that everything before him wasn't a hallucination.

Unfortunately, everything before him appeared incredibly real. The slightly chilly air, the cold train metal, the scratches and damage details on the train car, and the roaring sound of the train all proved the reality of this world to him.

"But I was up late writing, wasn't I?"

Ma Zhaodi tried hard to recall his last memory. It seemed he had fallen asleep on his keyboard while writing.

I must have been too tired from staying up late and fell asleep. Am I dreaming now? Or is some bored variety show crew pranking me?

He thought to himself.

While thinking, Ma Zhaodi stood up and sat in a nearby seat. At this moment, the conductor was still asking about his condition. Seeing that the Asian passenger remained silent, he couldn't help but feel a little scared.

Ordinary passengers were certainly not frightening, but the train only had one stop left, the final destination.

That final destination was called Gotham.

Normal people might go to Gotham City, but it was unlikely for normal people to go to Gotham City.

He gritted his teeth and asked again, but the passenger still didn't respond, merely staring at him with a strange gaze.

That gaze was incredibly eerie. Just one look was enough for the conductor to buckle under the psychological pressure. He apologized and fled in a panic.

Ma Zhaodi watched the conductor leave, then turned his head to look out the train window. On the slightly misty glass, he could see the gloomy sky outside, and beneath the rain clouds, the dark city. The towering clock tower, the densely packed tall buildings, the strange Gothic architecture, and faintly visible in the distance, clusters of messy, low-rise buildings, along with various English slogans and signs.

Clock tower? Slums? English signs?

Judging by the style of these buildings, this city was clearly not in Dongda.

"Where did I end up? Is this even my country?"

Ma Zhaodi mumbled unconsciously.

"Woo--"

Just as he was still wondering why he was dreaming of a foreign country he had never visited, the train's whistle blew, and it began to slow down before pulling into the station.

Looking at the unfamiliar station style, and the Western faces with blonde hair and blue eyes standing nearby, Ma Zhaodi froze by the train window.

"Clang."

The train doors opened, and passengers carrying luggage and packages of all sizes disembarked from the carriages, heading towards the platform outside.

Ma Zhaodi was swept along by the crowd towards the exit. At this moment, he felt like a rootless duckweed, drifting aimlessly towards an unknown distance.

"Why am I not waking up yet? Why isn't this dream over?"

He walked off the train in a daze. After only a few steps, he suddenly stopped, staring blankly at the English sign above the platform.

Gotham City

"?"

Ma Zhaodi, who had been trying to deceive himself for a while longer, instantly broke down. Although he didn't know much English, he had watched some superhero movies, so he naturally understood the significance of this word.

"Damn it, which heartless bastard sent me to this godforsaken place!"

Ma Zhaodi covered his face with his hands, feeling a sense of despair. He strongly suspected he would be skinned alive, dismembered, and eaten by criminals in a back alley on his very first night in this city. As one of the cities with the highest crime rates in America, normal people here were rare, and those who were honest and upright could be considered nonexistent.

If a simple thief were in any other city, they would undoubtedly be a common criminal. But if someone in Gotham City only stole, without robbing, killing, or arson, they would be fully qualified to run for the title of a good citizen.

Seventy percent of the people in this city were gangsters. Besides them, there were some world-class terrorist organizations, world-class assassin groups, and the remaining were some children, the wealthy, capitalists, and a few lone supervillains, topped off with Gotham's biggest psychopath.

And then there were the world-class unlucky souls – those pure bystanders who knew nothing about this city and accidentally stumbled into it.

As for the police? There wasn't a single officer in the precinct who hadn't collaborated with gangsters or psychopaths. This was a city steeped in darkness. If there was any part of this city that wasn't dark, it was probably only Ma Zhaodi, who had just arrived.

"Ding"

"Self-Made System has finished loading. Please work hard to earn money and get rich through diligence. As the saying goes, money makes the world go round. Before you are penniless, you will always have another chance."

"Current Assets: Seven Dollars"

"Current Mission: Rely on your own hands to find a job in Gotham City and earn your first pot of gold after transmigration."

"Newbie Bonus Options are as follows:

Can Purchase:

Basic English Proficiency

Price: $1

Note: How do you spell 'abandon'?

Local Identity

Price: $1/copy

Note: In Gotham, I am the boss. All day long it's just shootouts and stabbings, nothing else!

Rapid Life Recovery

Price: $1

Note: Buy again if it's good. Next time, 99.99% off.

Save Point

Price: $1

Note: Acting fee is 100 million, can't afford it next time."

"Please note that you can only earn assets through legal work. Be down-to-earth and get rich through diligence."

Seeing the system and its contents, Ma Zhaodi's mood roller-coastered. His mind raced with a thousand thoughts, finally settling into a sigh.

"What kind of lunatic would think of finding legal work in Gotham?"