Ignoring and the Banquet

"For me, for Bruce Wayne, how would I describe... Gotham City in just one word?"

"Home? Family? Purpose?"

"But in truth, the real answer is: I cannot answer that question."

Amidst melodious music, Chen Tao, dressed in formal attire, stood in the center of a brightly lit hall.

The elites of Gotham City's high society had gathered. This charity gala, finalized three months prior and originally scheduled for March 29th, spearheaded by Gotham's renowned super-billionaire Bruce Wayne, had been postponed for six days due to Bruce Wayne's health reasons. It was finally being held.

"...At this moment, most of you here know that I lost my parents in my childhood..."

"...At the time, deep down, I knew that even though the pain was so profound, things would get better...

My point is, when we are in challenging or daunting environments, asking ourselves what our city 'is' is meaningless, because when we look around at the streets and buildings we've built, they are all our fears and our frustrations—"

"The demons in our hearts."

"And if we stop looking at the present, stop looking back at the past, and instead look to the future—"

"We ask ourselves what tomorrow can—will—become... then, we are asking the right question. Because embracing hope, holding dreams, and encountering the future is shaping the city with our own hands, rather than being shaped by the city."

Chen Tao's gaze swept over the people in the audience. They were judges, councilmen, entrepreneurs. They were the forces of justice in Gotham that Bruce Wayne had accumulated over so many years before Chen Tao transmigrated. Bruce had almost pushed the plan this far... and Chen Tao had to continue, to keep their morale steady.

Damn it.

Chen Tao thought this. To completely revive this rotten city of Gotham, Bruce Wayne had, through immense time and wealth, painstakingly built a digestive and life support system from scratch for this dying old husk. With these conscientious judges, councilmen, and entrepreneurs before him, even if all the corrupt officials of Gotham were gone...

Cough, Batman wouldn't kill people so brutally.

Alas. Chen Tao could fully understand how difficult it was to build such a system, the energy it consumed, the effort put in was simply unimaginable. This was the life-saving remedy that the Bruce Wayne he had transmigrated into had prepared for Gotham.

Could he, a transmigrator, truly overcome all difficulties and continue Bruce Wayne's plan?

Such responsibility was the most unbearable. But at least, until he could find a successor, he had to maintain this situation until Superman or Wonder Woman could take over the city.

Chen Tao steadied himself and continued reading Bruce Wayne's prepared speech:

"I know many of you here may have doubts, because our city has been shrouded in violence, with countless criminals reaching a point where even the military needs to be mobilized to suppress them. Public order has been so severely damaged that it's unsustainable, but we know all this will pass...

And what we need to do is to eradicate the roots of such riots and the breeding ground for Gotham's crime..."

"...I will back my words with funding. After the riots subside, Wayne Enterprises will boldly and rapidly begin investing in Gotham's future. We have partnered with several local design firms to develop reconstruction plans aimed at rebuilding Gotham's most dilapidated industrial residential areas..."

"...Based on this, we plan to aggressively expand Gotham's public transportation system, making it more modern. These plans fill me with hope and excitement, I can hardly express my feelings in words. In the coming days, we will disclose more information, but at this moment, I implore you to look beyond what Gotham was and what it is now, and just spend a moment with me to imagine..."

"Gotham City's 'future is'."

"Thank you. Now, my friends, I implore you to invest in Gotham's future with me. I promise you, if we join hands, if we work together, then..."

"A better, brighter Gotham... is just one step away."

"Thank you, thank you..."

Amidst the melodious banquet music, Chen Tao raised his glass of champagne and melted into the eager crowd.

"Well done, Bruce, inspiring."

Chen Tao didn't turn around.

"Tim, how is Solomon Grundy?"

Robin, dressed in a suit, held a glass of juice. He shrugged:

"It's handled. Our gray-white friend is living well in Slaughter Swamp now. The tracker is in place, we provide his daily food, and we can administer a sufficient dose of potent tranquilizers at any time, then throw him onto any battlefield that needs him. So now he's our human bomb."

He continued, "Poison Ivy and the Suicide Squad are housed together, just as you predicted. Ivy couldn't resist the opportunities to save cherished plants, plus she and Harley are always together—"

"According to Ivy's confession, Plant Master Jason Wood is basically crippled now. Her exact words were, 'Jason may be powerful, but he's no Swamp Thing. He won't be able to recover to his previous state for at least half a century.' Meaning, that super treant is now just a piece of wood."

"The other members of the Suicide Squad are maintaining order in Gotham—I have to admit, they've got some skills."

Tim frowned slightly, then said, "At least they're more than enough to deal with those third-rate villains, especially Deadshot. Poison Ivy's abilities are easy to counter, but as long as she doesn't run into anyone too powerful, it won't be a big problem. But if it were Joker, Two-Face, Riddler..."

"I never expected them to deal with those freaks," Chen Tao replied. "Continue the report."

"Bane is missing. We can't locate him yet. He's deliberately avoiding our Bat-cams. Buildings are no obstacle to him, so he's not bound by traditional roads."

"As expected," Chen Tao said. "Continue."

"The National Guard's ranks have been basically shattered. The situation was horrific," Robin paused. "The Joker hijacked Mayor Carlo and, at the last moment, threw a super-charged Joker gas bomb into the center of the position."

"About 1/3 of the soldiers died on the spot, either from Bane's attacks or from Joker venom, without even waiting for an ambulance."

Robin said, "And the rest weren't much better off. Mayor Carlo—well, Mayor Carlo, controlled by the Joker, issued a mad order that even the cooks in the army were sent to the battlefield."

"With the bomb's explosion, the wounded have almost filled Gotham's hospitals. They will suffer from continuous, uncontrollable laughter for three to four months and potential long-term side effects. The state government has refused to provide further support to the city..."

Tim paused.

"In other words, Gotham has been abandoned."

"And there's one more thing."

Tim said, "Are you really going to ignore the challenge Joker sent you?"