Old Wayne Tower

Old Wayne Tower.

As the elevator doors opened with a ding, Chen Tao had just stepped onto the fourteenth floor when he saw Lincoln March standing there like a silent, elegant statue.

"Bruce, I was just about to say how grateful I am that you came to meet with me. I can imagine how busy you must have been these past few days."

"Not too busy to meet with Lincoln March, the 'Next Gotham City Mayor'—"

"That's what the gossip is saying?"

"Something like that." Chen Tao smiled at him. "But I don't doubt the gossip is true. I've been reading the reports about you—a self-made financial prodigy turned philanthropist."

"Your story is fascinating, and perfect."

Lincoln March felt that when Bruce said the word "perfect," he seemed to be hinting at something else. But looking into those sincere eyes, he felt that this was probably just his own imagination.

"You've done good things too. You funded the Boys' Home and started after-school literacy classes."

Chen Tao pulled out a check and began writing on it.

"So what do you think? Does the figure look satisfactory?"

"Bruce, I didn't come here to ask you for money, but don't misunderstand me—every penny is appreciated."

Lincoln March said, "Damn it, Mayor Carlo has about ten credit lines operating around the clock. Even putting it as charitably as possible, the source of the funds is problematic."

"If you want public support, I'm afraid I can't give you that."

"I don't want public support either. What I really want is just your vote."

Chen Tao silently watched Lincoln March put on his act.

The other man looked sincere.

Tsk. Since he likes playing so much, why not play along with him?

"My vote. You came all this way just for one vote, Lincoln."

"Yes, but what you're doing now is also what I believe in, Bruce. The Gotham Reconstruction Project is a good thing. To be honest, when I look at you, I feel as if I'm looking at a friend."

"A cynic would say you see an opportunity."

"Yes, and a cynic would also say that you launched the New Gotham Project for the sake of your company's image—that it's a publicly held project serving private interests, and so on."

"That's what the gossip is saying?"

"Something like that. Maybe they're right. I should go. I'll leave the check on the table."

"Bruce, you know, I also lost both my parents when I was a child."

Chen Tao's footsteps halted.

Here comes the good part—the classic parents-opening.

No matter what, when you wanted to deceive Batman, you first had to steer the conversation into a subject the other party knew nothing about.

"Strange, isn't it? I only remember the details. I can barely recall my mother's face. But I remember that brooch of hers—I remember it perfectly.

"The brooch she wore on the day of the accident. I made it for her at school—a ceramic brooch, tiny and heart-shaped. It was completely lopsided, bigger on one side and smaller on the other. But she pinned it to her charming dress—my ugly little brooch.

"I can't remember the drunk driver who hit us.

"I don't really remember how the accident happened... But I remember that when the paramedics carried me away, I saw the brooch lying on the ground, completely intact. It wasn't broken or cracked. It just lay there in the road. I only hoped someone would pick it up."

"After losing everything I had that night, I was utterly hopeless for a long time. I hated the world."

"But later, I received a scholarship that allowed me to attend the city college. This city saved me, Bruce. Gotham saved me."

"When I was alone and without direction, this city gave me a purpose. I bet it gave you one too."

"When I look at you, I see an ally—a true ally. You must know that there aren't many allies in this city, and they're far apart, especially now."

Chen Tao smiled.

"Mr. March..."

"I've always believed that the best way to understand a city is to keep your feet on the ground."

He turned around, stood before the enormous floor-to-ceiling window, stretched his body, and gazed at the scattered lights of human life in the distant night.

"Feel the cracks in the sidewalk beneath your feet..."

An indescribable presence enveloped Lincoln March. He didn't understand what was happening. He only felt—

Just seeing Bruce Wayne standing there with a wineglass... made it somewhat difficult to breathe.

"The strangely bright silence of a snow-covered parking lot..."

"The elevated train passing over Third Street, sparks hissing and spraying."

"The ticking of traffic lights late at night..."

"But do you know what's most interesting?"

He watched Bruce Wayne turn around, the light shining into the room from behind him and leaving half his face concealed in shadow.

"Everything in Gotham is so obvious on the surface. But if you try to understand Gotham on a deeper level, you'll spend your entire life... and still know nothing about it."

"Isn't that right, Mr. March?"

"Gotham has an underground cave."

Lincoln March didn't know why the conversation had suddenly veered in this direction.

"Only one, actually. That one is in Kane County, directly beneath the Willow Creek Children's Aid Center. Many years ago, this was an affiliated hospital where Gotham treated children with mental illnesses and neurological disorders. It continued operating until eighteen years ago."

Lincoln March's expression changed little by little. This was a secret only he and the Court knew. They had concealed it perfectly all these years. How had Batman obtained this information?

Of course, Chen Tao knew because he had read the comics.

Chen Tao watched his grave expression and secretly laughed to himself.

He continued:

"I once had a younger brother, Thomas Wayne II, Mr. March..."

As he spoke, Chen Tao secretly observed Lincoln March.

He was secretly amused as he continued, recounting a story that had been drastically altered by a transmigrator:

"When I was three, my mother became pregnant with him. We were in a car accident. I don't remember the accident, but records were left behind. He was my younger brother, a premature baby with congenital defects."

Lincoln March felt his heart beating faster and faster.

Bruce Wayne knew far more than he had expected. That meant... every assumption he had previously made about the man had to be reconsidered from the ground up.

"Records from Gotham Mercy Hospital show that my younger brother, little Thomas Wayne, was delivered by emergency C-section. He was given a name and quickly placed on life support—but the doctors said he had severe neurological damage. It was so serious that he was highly likely to become permanently comatose as he survived the initial trauma."

"He survived."

"My parents secretly sent him to Willow Creek Hospital for treatment. They had always felt that the car accident was not ordinary. To protect that tiny baby, and to prevent any Black Hand who might be behind it from harming him, they sent him to Willow Creek."

Chen Tao stared intently at Lincoln March's face. "My parents loved my brother. But what no one expected was—"

"Half a month later, that tiny baby disappeared."

Chen Tao said, "My parents searched for him until the day they died. I've been looking too, all these years."

Lincoln March's hands were trembling.

"But we never found him."

"Tell me, March. Where do you think that child might be?"