The urban renewal plan for the East District was progressing at full swing, but quickly, the first setback arrived. Four mob factions from Elizabeth Street lodged a joint protest, demanding the Twelve Families provide an explanation. The Wayne family was building something on their turf again without informing them, even killing a few of their men.
The leaders of the Twelve Families called a meeting and decided to bring in Bruce Wayne for a discussion, although they really didn't expect this playboy to provide any real answers.
Up till now, the Twelve Families still believed that Bruce Wayne just had a whimsical thought to save Gotham. Thus, he enthusiastically started this redevelopment project. They thought maybe, after playing around a little, he would lose interest.
Bruce decided not to pretend anymore. So, he brought his staff to the meeting.
"Now I'd like to introduce everyone to John, the chief planner of this renovation project. John, please explain to these gentlemen what I plan on doing and the benefits it will bring…."
John had barely stepped forward when one of the leaders from the Twelve Families spoke: "Mr. Wayne, we understand you, your goodwill, and your desire to improve living conditions there. But you've got to give us some face…."
"The four bosses from Elizabeth Street have been harassing me for three days. They almost carried a coffin containing a dead man to my doorstep. What do you want me to do?"
Bruce cleared his throat: "Elizabeth Street is six kilometers away from my site of renovation. How could that possibly be their turf?"
"The Blue Jacket Gang told me that they've ousted the mob boss there, reclaimed the territory, and became the new boss."
"Just as my project starts production?"
Recognizing the sarcasm in Bruce's tone, the mob boss fell silent. Soon, John began to introduce the entire construction project.
In the early discussion about the construction part, no one showed any change of expression, but soon, the conversation shifted to the supporting overpasses.
In the concept of a three-dimensional city, overpasses hold significant importance; they bring much convenience, and as long as the technology is compatible, endless extensions are possible.
What are the mobs most afraid of now? They are not scared of change; they're afraid that after the change, they couldn't make money.
Even if they don't make money through logistics, more overpasses could relieve traffic congestion, allowing them more time to tend to their business. For both practical and emotional reasons, they all hope that someone would build roads.
The problem lies in the fact that the majority of people are reluctant to invest in road construction. If too much money is invested in public facility construction, their family power will weaken, leaving them vulnerable to being poached by others.
Last time, the upgrade of Gotham's transportation system and the construction of Living Hell were led by the Godfather. Each of the Twelve Families made an equal contribution. If everyone was weakened equally, there is no worry about others taking advantage.
This time, the Wayne family claimed that they do not need their money; all they need is cooperation with the construction. The cost is just manpower, but the gains are a highly convenient overpass system that covers the entire city.
Gotham is not without overpasses, but they were built a long time ago when Bruce's parents were still alive. Many of the overpasses have been neglected and are now unusable, occupying valuable space.
Some bridges are functional but uncomfortable to use. During their construction, they often addressed immediate needs rather than being well-planned, leading to awkward positioning of the entrances and exits. Sometimes, after exiting the bridge, one would need to take a big detour to reach the destination; these bridges are no longer suitable for Gotham City.
People are reluctant to invest money but they still need to use the facilities. Now that Wayne is willing to pay, they have no reason to refuse.
"I must emphasize that the building renovation is to accommodate the overpass renovation. Even with Wayne Enterprises technology, we cannot ensure that overpasses hundreds of meters high can stand on their own; they need to rely on buildings."
"If it was possible for overpasses to hover in mid-air, why would I renovate buildings? Do I have too much money to burn?"
Bruce found that Shiller's approach to speak his mind, hating everyone equally, was particularly useful. As a madman, he could say anything without worrying about offending anyone.
"I'm giving those men houses, not out of pure benevolence, but because if I renovate a building, there have to be tenants. Only when there are tenants can there be consumption, and only when there are businesses can there be profit..."
Bruce Wayne, folding his arms, stated: "Those people you tend to overlook as redundant are indispensable. Only when the working class continues to work, can they create a constant stream of profit for us. If they all disappeared, would you do the work yourselves? Drive trucks? Become porters?"
"The irrefutable truth is, the poor souls you find contemptible, are the cornerstone of this city. To get them to work better, you need to provide a room for them. If you drive them all away, no one would have the last laugh."
The bosses of the Twelve Families, glancing at each other, one of them cleared his throat to say: "In that case, you should notify us in advance to avoid causing troubles…"
"I'm not worried about them causing trouble because I've installed defense systems on every building. The supposed mob members you brought up were likely hit by it." Bruce tapped on the table saying: "Wayne Enterprises' property is my personal property. Private property is inviolable. If anyone tries to steal from my construction site or cause harm, I have the right to defend."
Bruce paused, it seemed as if he thought that he didn't learn from Shiller's essence. One of the mob bosses said: "You can't do that, you have to comply with the rules here. If you want to engage in a turf war with that mob, you have to…"
"Fine, I will deal with this mob, then that mob. You might as well wait. In ten years, I will spend nine catching thieves, then half a year dealing with the mobs, and finally half a year to manage the bridge. If the bridge collapses less than half a year after use, you will have to fix it yourselves," he said.
The other mob bosses were somewhat rendered speechless by his brazen attitude. However, despite Bruce's aggressiveness, his words did have a certain degree of validity.
No one understood better than these mob bosses what kind of people they commanded. Not to mention the construction sites of the Wayne Family, even the dung carriers that passed by their door would have to take a taste test.
If those mobs used various pretexts to harass the construction of the Wayne Family, they would have to provide protection themselves. Otherwise, the bridge would not be built, and everyone would be stuck together.
Yet, if you were to provide protection, it would inevitably offend your subordinates, making them feel that you are favoring outsiders, which is unfair.
But now, the Wayne Family has wisely taken on the role of the villain, meaning that the Twelve Families can simply pretend to know nothing.
The Wayne Family, through legal means and government cooperation, put forward a huge sum of money to buy land, committed countless manpower to build bridges, and in the end, it is the mobs, especially the Twelve Families, who benefit the most, because they own the most industries and have the highest transportation requirements.
Given this, why not allow him to build it? It's just an overpass, not a nuclear weapon. He can't threaten the mobs with just one bridge, can he?
After Bruce deliberately blurred the focus, all the mob bosses turned their attention to the plan for the overpass.
It's not surprising, the three-dimensional transportation system designed by Wayne is indeed novel and very eye-catching. In comparison, the Living Hell-like construction transformation has no highlights.
At most, it would just create a few more areas like the Living Hell. That's what the heads of the Twelve Families thought. Living Hell didn't cause any waves. It just raised the rent a bit, and with the relatively good public order there, there's less trouble and more money is collected. Having a few more such areas wouldn't hurt.
So, the merry meeting ended, with the leaders of the Twelve Families saying that they would deal with those troublemakers on Elizabeth Street. Just go ahead and build your bridge. Hurry up and complete it; the sooner it's operational, the better it is for everyone.
Bruce discovered that the anesthetics had taken effect and hurriedly accelerated the construction speed. Before the first phase was complete, the foundation for the second phase was being prepared. The building materials for the overpass between the first and second phases were also put into production.
In fact, all the technology involved in the construction transformation came from the leftovers in the Batcave.
These technologies were not churned out in a matter of days. Many of the problems had already been solved when the Batcave was being constructed. The chip certification system was actually designed by Batman to provide defense for the Batcave in the future.
If it was just him, nothing else was needed. But given that he had adopted Dick and Aisha, these two little helpers inevitably had to enter and leave the Batcave. Implementing a certification system would facilitate their access.
The certification system can be used to implement the resettlement plan, prevent excessive occupation of housing resources, and pave the way for a subsequent authority system. So, Bruce adapted it and incorporated it into the construction.
Everything was progressing very smoothly. Gotham began to flourish with construction. However, very soon, Bruce ran into another problem.
He realized he was out of money.
This was a terrifying fact, but it was also reasonable. Although Wayne Enterprises was huge, most of its funds were circulating in production, and it did not have much liquid capital.
At this time, it was not just one or two sites that were under construction. The projects of the first phase, the second phase, and the overpass, added up to more than 130 construction sites being in progress at the same time. Even the largest real estate developer in the whole of America rarely had so many properties under construction at the same time.
Wayne Enterprises had a professional construction team, but they were not a professional real estate developer. Even though many raw materials were obtained through exchange, and the technology required no additional cost, labor and consumables alone had drained almost all of Bruce's liquid capital.
This was a very dangerous signal. Bruce knew that once an enterprise loses too much liquidity, it means a decreased ability to resist risks and it loses more trial and error costs. The business strategy can only shift to conservatism, and over time, assets will inevitably shrink, forming a vicious circle.
And Bruce found that the projects he was currently working on made up less than one percent of all the construction projects throughout Gotham.
He knew he had to find a way to make money now.
Then he found out, just as Shiller said, living in high society was not any simpler than living in the slums. With the scale of Wayne Enterprises, it was incredibly difficult to take another step forward.
Earn money, earn money, earn money...
Bruce never thought there would come a day when he would be worried about money.
Perhaps, what goes around comes around. It doesn't mean it's not repaid, the time just hasn't come yet.