Savage wasn't a fool, he knew that in the Living Hell, the cost of living for regular people couldn't possibly be this high. However, he wasn't here to be a regular person, he had a mission to accomplish.
Savage started comparing in his mind. Previously, he had provided some funding for Master Mirror and Pied Piper to carry out their operations, but at that time, the funding always started in the five-figure range. Anything less than tens of thousands of US dollars would be unbecoming of the Great King, wouldn't it?
Not to mention ordinary people like Leon and Lady Goth under his command. Every time they requested funding or rewards from him, he would generously spend money without hesitation, even splurging on several collectible items.
Savage estimated that if all those items were converted into cash, he had spent at least several hundred thousand US dollars on ordinary people alone.
But what did these ordinary people and the superpower users he had hired before bring to him?
Almost nothing. Leon and Lady Goth disappeared entirely, and the whereabouts of Master Mirror and Pied Piper have also become uncertain. His several hundred thousand dollars had been wasted, gaining no valuable information in return.
On the other hand, he had spent a few thousand dollars and got a pretty clear understanding of the mob boss's tricks in the Living Hell. He found out their habits and weaknesses.
Moreover, the newspapers boys in the vicinity had become familiar to him and could provide him with valuable information from their conversations. He had also had a meeting with the boss of a medium-sized mafia and had begun to formulate an initial battle plan against the Living Hell.
He could achieve several times the result with only a fraction of the original cost, so the money was well spent.
Furthermore, once the money spent to hire others was gone, it was up to the hired people to use. But the money he spent here, in the end, was for his personal pleasure.
He was the one who ate the food, enjoyed the services, drank the alcohol, and passed the time. Even if the products themselves weren't worth the price, the extrinsic benefits he gained meant he still came out ahead.
Thinking of it this way encouraged Savage to move on to his next plan. He invested a sum of money into the boss of a medium-sized mob, for him to buy weapons and overthrow his own leader.
Unexpectedly, this move went very smoothly. With two shots, the medium-sized mob's boss had overthrown his leader, and had claimed the leadership of a large mafia.
Having realized the importance of a gold master, the boss became more dependent on Savage, obeying his every order. Not only did Savage get the most luxurious room in the region, but he also had numerous mob members at his disposal.
This was his biggest progress in Gotham so far.
Savage wanted to kill the mob boss and lead the mob himself, but after just a short time dealing with the mob, he found that they had their own set of rules.
If he killed the mob boss and took over, he would still have to bow and scrape to people from the Twelve Families, and he might even be snubbed by them.
Savage refused to be subservient, so he was forced to take a backseat role, remotely manipulating the mob boss to do his bidding.
Although the results were not as successful as he had hoped, due to long-term failures, Savage was surprised at this progress. After all, this was a city of madmen, and it was quite an achievement to take over a mob in such a short period of time.
Now that he had overthrown a major mob, his next step was to unify the Living Hell. But there were five or six major mafias concentrated in the Living Hell alone. To achieve unification, he would have to defeat all of them.
To compete with other major mafias for turf, there were two necessities: people and weapons.
Recruiting people required money, paying people salaries required money, buying weapons required money, maintaining weapons required money, and bullets shot out required money, so did stopping the bullets shot by the opponent.
The mob boss was savvy. He had taken over the business street first, obtaining a constant flow of funds from several shops. However, preparing for a war required a huge sum of money, and the income from the shops was far from enough, so Savage's spending had to be increased once again.
When mobs recruit, they usually recruit from smaller mafias. But if you want people to risk their lives for you, you have to give them some money upfront. An average adult male typically demands a one-time payment of 400 US dollars, and other jobs requiring special abilities are paid about 30% higher on this basis.
If he survives the war, he receives a stable salary, and the weapon he holds becomes his. Moreover, the mob has to pay for the maintenance and ammunition of his weapon.
Simply buying the guns for the soldiers was not enough; the Gotham mob's warfare was not about hiding behind a car and firing a couple of shots.
First of all, they had to set up a defense line, and the best choice was armored vehicles. If not, ordinary modified vehicles would do.
Then, they needed cross-fire and side-fire, needed fire coverage, might even need anti-air fire to deal with the police's helicopters, and if the opponents were from the Twelve Families, they might also need anti-missile defense.
Everyone knew that the arms business was a bottomless pit. When it came to firepower, there was no "too much", only "much more".
At first, Savage was reluctant to spend so much money on arms, and as a result, he suffered repeated defeats.
Then, he found that the result of losing a war was even more terrifying. The people he had recruited were gone, the salaries had been paid in vain, and all of the weapons had been lost , making prior investment a total waste.
With that being said, why not invest more money upfront and ramp up firepower? At the very least, after winning, they could seize the opponent's equipment.
Relying on intelligence advantage and heavy monetary investment in firepower, these gangs in the Living Hell were continuously beaten into retreat by him. Before long, all the major mafia moved away.
Constantly facing competition, Savage didn't have time to calculate costs. When he eventually achieved a phase of victory, he calculated his spending and was shocked to find out that he had invested at least 3 million US dollars just to make this gang the largest in the Living Hell.
The expenditure included but was not limited to, all kinds of available weapons in the market, untraceable Soviet-era tanks, and some seem-to-be-in-service armoured helicopters that could be bought with extra money. It even included two missiles whose batch numbers and logos had been partially scrubbed off.
Savage didn't even know how this mob boss could source these items.
At the time, his mind was consumed with the need for more firepower. As long as arms dealers approached him, he would buy their stock without hesitation. Now, he had a stack of strange weapons that he could not use or sell.
Previously, the tension fostered by the mob warfare had forced Savage to spend a lot of money. Whenever he was unwilling to pay, his opponent somehow got the money to buy these weapons, resulting in heavy losses for his own side.
After facing this pattern several times, Savage decided to collect and buy anything he could, regardless of their origins or whether they could be used later. As far as he was concerned, buying was the right move.
Upon calculating this expense, Savage felt somewhat guilty. In reality, the 10 million US dollars he told Captain Cold and Master Mirror about included the value of his collection. He didn't actually have that much cash on hand.
Although he was feeling the financial pinch, at the very least, he had made significant progress. His mob now controlled the entire Living Hell area – an unprecedented victory.
But soon, new trouble came along.
Many people know that conquering the world and ruling it are both difficult in their own ways. But when it comes to spending money, ruling the world is like a bottomless pit that can never be filled.
To conquer other areas, he had to recruit more people. Not only that, these people needed to learn how to operate the newly bought weapons. If you have a tank, can you drive it? If you have an armed helicopter, can you fly it? If you have missiles... well, without a launching bay, you can't launch them. But if you want to use them as deterrence, you should at least have some knowledge, right?
Moreover, Savage knew that if he wanted sustainable development, he could not be the only one pouring money in. He must make this area he controls capable of generating money.
To achieve this, he must upgrade the local industry and attract more consumers. Only by making money from businesses, can he collect more protection fees. But to make businesses profitable, he needs to upgrade the industry, and to upgrade the industry, he needs to invest more money...
Moreover, this time it is not a minor problem. The Living Hell has been developing till now, with increasing population and huge business potential. The early stage investment was also substantial.
Savage soon found himself in the same predicament as Bruce - he had assets, but not so much cash. Construction was in progress everywhere, and money was needed everywhere. Without urgently finding some money resources, the funds would get exhausted, and then it would be game over.
However, Savage had other ways to make money. Having lived for so long, he had casually picked up a bowl in his youth which had now become an antique. As long as he could sell his non-essential collections, he could quickly generate a large amount of liquid assets.
There are still many people in this world willing to collect. But for any item, once the words "urgent sale" are added, there is not much room for negotiation on the price.
Especially for collectibles, whose value cannot be measured by any rigid standards, when you are in a hurry to sell, the price can be greatly reduced.
At this stage, Savage felt victory was within reach. He thought that once the most populous East District was captured, the other areas would be inconsequential, not to mention that even if he held these people hostage, they would still have to negotiate with him. By then, he would be able to recover his investments.
What he didn't know was that in a conference room in Wayne building, Bruce sat at the head of the table, with the leaders of the Twelve Families seated around.
At the end of the table sat several heads of major mafias, of which two had just been sacrificed in the battle against Savage, while another had been sacrificed twice.
"Well, friends, I didn't lie to you, did I? As long as you cooperate with me and put on this show, Savage will definitely be forced to sell his collection at a low price."
"As long as you can secure the pieces through various channels, you can resell them at a high price making money simply by lying down." Bruce spoke casually.
The heads of the Twelve Families seemed eager, but Bruce went on to say, "However, we still haven't cornered him to the point of desperation, so the price may not be as low as you think."
The mob bosses understood quickly. They exchanged glances, and one of them said, "So you're saying that if we drive him to desperation, we will get our desired price?"
Bruce nodded and said, "The more desperate he is, the lower the price he will accept. Once he disposes of the more common items from his collection, it will be the turn of the real treasures..."
"The tighter you squeeze him, the more he will cough up."
All the mob bosses looked at each other, their eyes shimmering with a certain light.
In this world, the thing that most effectively stimulates human potential and enhances human wisdom is called interest.