Gotham City's Simple Folk, Batman Close to Billions

Russell thought the identity assigned to him by the system was that of a terrible person, and he was right; it was indeed terrible, but he greatly underestimated the extent of the terribleness.

The original owner was a young master from a wealthy family. Before this unfinished building fell into disrepair, it was his family's property. As for how it turned into this impoverished state where even the toilet was desperately in need of water...

Examples to consider here include Batman and Iron Man, who inherited their family businesses after their parents' unexpected deaths.

Of course, compared to the two mentioned above, the original owner wasn't that rich; she was a low-end, poor version.

But it wasn't as poor as Spider-Man's!

This shows that the original body arranged by the system has some similarities with Russell. Both of them suddenly inherit a fortune, lose their goals, and become lazy and do nothing.

With such a perfect start, he should have risen against all odds. The difference is that Russell got the system, while the original owner lacked self-control, was deprived of parental guidance, and was corrupted by others, picking up some bad habits.

He indulged in eating, drinking, gambling, prostitution, and smoking; he cheated, swindled, and stole; he even cheated his friends out of money just to gamble a few rounds.

As we all know, if you get into these bad habits, not to mention the billionaires like Batman and Iron Man, even someone as wealthy as Black Panther couldn't resist them.

Unsurprisingly, the original owner squandered his family fortune faster than the Flash, then played the victim to swindle money from his friends, and finally ruined his reputation.

Having nothing, he opened a detective agency that was all show and no substance, taking on any job as long as he was paid.

Because of his terrible character, he often only collected deposits and did not do any work. Soon his firm closed down, and he was chased by creditors to the point of desperation, so he ran away to Los Angeles.

The above is the information Russell obtained by using Mind Stone to control a creditor and interrogate him. The extent to which the original owner of this body was rotten amazed him, and he remarked that he could even team up with Scummy Constantine.

However, that's unrealistic. Not just anyone can be friends with Scummy Constantine. First of all, you have to have value that can be betrayed.

The original owner of this body was heavily in debt, destitute, and had only a worthless life. Constantine had always looked down on people like this.

Scummy Constantine: You don't even have a pretty girlfriend, what right do you have to be my brother?

That evening, the creditors, having somehow gotten wind of the situation, came to each of their homes to collect their debts.

At first, Russell was quite nonchalant as he swiped his card to pay, but an hour later, he could no longer remain calm, because even if he used up his $1 million credit limit, he might not be able to cover the debt.

In particular, after learning that the original owner had also swindled money from a wealthy man named 'Bruce Wayne', she decisively used her Mind Stone abilities to play the victim and used her superb language skills to win the sympathy of her creditors, barely managing to get by.

The reason it's described as "barely" is because the wealthy people the original owner had deceived haven't come knocking yet, and the chances of them doing so are slim. For example, would Bruce Wayne care about $50 million?

Definitely not. The master is incredibly wealthy; if he had time to come knocking on debt collectors' doors, he would have earned back this small amount of money long ago.

Moreover, he probably wouldn't bother meeting with his self-destructive friends. He has plenty of similar cronies he made while pretending to be a playboy, so he wouldn't miss out on Russell.

Barely managing to pay off his debts, Russell was penniless, his purse as white as a wall. In desperation, he once again used his exceptional eloquence to borrow $500,000 from a kind creditor.

The creditor, a loan shark, generously stated that he and Russell had been brothers for many years, and since it was only $500,000, he didn't need to repay it.

As he spoke, the man took out his phone and started making calls, insisting on calling over a dozen of his colorful wives to keep Russell in the cold wind of the unfinished building.

Russell was deeply moved and declined the offer, which angered the man, who felt that Russell was looking down on him.

Left with no other option, Russell had to accept another $2 million as an apology to appease the man's anger.

But when he left, the man was still very unhappy, cursing and saying that Russell was not a good friend, and from then on they broke off all contact and never saw each other again.

So, after a night of turmoil, Russell paid off all his debts and inexplicably had an extra $5 million.

"Ah, Gotham City truly lives up to its reputation for its honest and kind people!"

Overwhelmed by the care and concern from all sectors of society, Russell broke down in tears, vowing that if anyone dared to Gotham again, saying things like "most people wouldn't survive two episodes," he would immediately stand up and fight them to the death.

These kind and benevolent faces have completely lost their dark aura; they've unleashed at least a dozen five-pin hairpin turns reminiscent of Marvel.

And so, Russell spent his first night in Gotham City filled with emotion.

The next morning, practically dawn, the renovation team that the kind creditor had helped find began work.

Upon learning that Russell was short of money, the creditors gathered together, thinking that since the brother's family had fallen on hard times, they couldn't just stand by and do nothing and had to find a way to help.

So a group of people tightened their belts, pooled together some money, and continued the unfinished construction project.

They would rather starve themselves than let Russell's building go unsold. Sure enough, after a lot of publicity, before the building was even completed, lease contracts piled up on Russell's desk.

"What a kind person!"

After seeing off the creditors who were truly unable to extract any profit, Russell crossed his legs and lay on the rooftop of the building, which was rushing to meet deadlines, basking in the sun.

Beach chairs, parasols, a table full of delicious food, and a hired personal assistant—it feels like life has suddenly lost its purpose. The World Quest haven't been triggered, and I'm too lazy to even try to find Batman.

"Just three more days, just three days. After that, I'll visit my old friend's Batcave Cave..." Russell took a small sip of red wine and gently swirled the wine in his glass.

"Meow meow meow~~~"

A cat sat on the ground, licking its paws and starting to wash its face.

"Huh!?"

Upon hearing this, Russell lowered his head, tapped the sunglasses on his nose, and asked in confusion, "Where did this cat come from? I don't remember buying one. Was it a gift from some kind creditor?"

The assistant shrugged, indicating that she didn't know either. Seeing this, Russell picked up the cat from the ground, put it on his lap, and started petting it.

Under Russell's skillful hands, the cat began purring happily in less than five minutes.

"Never mind, from today onwards, this is my cat." Russell waved his hand and said to his assistant, "Go, revise the building's interior design plans, and convert one floor into a cat shelter."

"Yes, sir!"

"Also, the cats have traveled millions of light-years to Earth, so we can't neglect these visitors from outer space. We should immediately spend $50,000 to buy a temporary set of equipment to make do."

"Sir, this probably won't cost 50,000 US dollars."

"Shut up, why don't you buy two sets?"

"..."

Three days later, then another three days!

Russell removed his hand from the cat's chin; the thing was addictive, once it started, it was impossible to stop, causing him to neglect his mission.

"Meow meow meow~~~~"

(′▽`)

"Okay, okay, put away that killer meatball. I'll do as you say, I'll masturbate for another ten minutes. Just so you know, only ten minutes, there are bats waiting for me over there!"

Two hours later, Russell picked out a black hooded sweatshirt, jumped from the fifteenth floor, and disappeared into the darkness in an instant.

The cat crouched by the window, scrutinizing the darkness, its eyes gleaming, before leaping from the fifteenth floor and chasing after the direction Russell had disappeared in a few flashes.

Finding Batman in Gotham City is both easy and difficult.

It's simple because wherever there's crime, there he is; of course, he's the one fighting crime.

The difficulty lies in the fact that Gotham, as a self-governing city, covers an area of nearly 1,000 square kilometers, and cases often occur at the same time in multiple locations. Batman cannot be in Cloning Technique at once, and even flying a plane cannot keep up with all the cases.

Russell's first night was a disaster; he didn't meet Batman, and to make matters worse, when he got home, he found that his cat was also missing.

"How could it be lost? This is the fifteenth floor, do you think it would jump down?" Russell pointed at the window and scolded, "Even if it jumped, we could find it even if it broke its leg!"

The assistant stammered and couldn't speak. Seeing this, Russell was greatly disappointed. "Post a job advertisement and hire a new personal assistant. Starting tomorrow, you'll be working at the property management office!"

The assistant left dejectedly. She had thought that being young, beautiful, and wealthy would allow her to snag Russell, a rich man, and live a life of leisure and easy money.

Yes, Russell has a bad reputation, but he's rich!

Unexpectedly, everything was ruined because of a cat. I wonder which little bitch will benefit next.

"Meow meow meow~~~"

Not long after his assistant left, Russell heard the sound of a cat and turned around in surprise.

The cat that had gone missing earlier jumped down from the windowsill unharmed, walked a few steps to Russell's side, and began to rub against his legs.

(一`一)

Russell frowned, realizing things weren't so simple. He lifted the cat high and examined it carefully.

There were no problems at all; it was just an ordinary cat, and Magic Power couldn't sense any difference between it and other cats.

The biggest problem is that there is no problem!

An ordinary cat might fall from the fifteenth floor if it loses a front paw, but it would never jump from the first floor to the balcony of the fifteenth floor.

"This cat..."

Thinking of Gotham City, Russell roughly understood the reason. He closed the balcony window and took the cat into the room filled with exercise equipment.

"System, use 'Item Card: Green Goblin Suit'!"

[Item Card: Green Goblin Suit (A super deluxe gift pack including the Green Goblin Armor, Vertical Takeoff Glider, Green Goblin Throwing Knife, Pumpkin Bomb, and more)]

It's impossible for it to be green, it will never be green in this lifetime, the Green Goblin gift pack must be overhauled.

Russell rummaged through drawers and cabinets but couldn't find a suitable hammer. However, it wasn't a big problem, so he grabbed the dumbbells next to him and started swinging them.

Ping ping bang bang!

The cat tilted its head and watched Russell busy himself. Perhaps knowing that he was doing very important work, it obediently squatted to the side and did not come forward to act cute.

Before long, Russell stopped what he was doing. The Green Goblin Suit was completely transformed, with black as the main color and dark red as the secondary color. The armor itself also changed its appearance drastically.

That's right, it's still the Deathstroke suit, but the suit he modified has added weapons such as a glider, throwing knives, and Pumpkin Bomb.

Russell fastened his armor and, in a deep, resonant voice, quoted a famous writer. "Ask not for whom the bell tolls, it tolls for thee!"