Chapter 835: The Children's Struggle (Part 1)_1

"Boss! Boss! We've got a problem!" In a room on the top floor of Living Hell, a youngster bursts in, addressing Cobblepot at his desk, "There's trouble on the three streets associated with the first phase of the East District renovation project!"

Cobblepot, not looking up, asks, "What kind of trouble? What's got you all riled up?"

"It's... that is to say..." The boy seems fearful of reproach. After hesitating for a moment, he finally spits it out, "In the past few days, the guys who are in charge of the situation over there have been running wild, without anyone watching them. As a result, five or six bosses of local mobs got killed, and we have no idea how they died..."

"Five or six of them?" Cobblepot raises an eyebrow and looks at the boy, asking, "From what I know, there shouldn't be any big mafia on those three streets, just a few smaller ones. Are you saying all of their bosses were killed?"

The boy swallows nervously before replying, "Yeah, more or less. Not only that, but some junior members also died..."

"How did they die?" Cobblepot asks.

"They were quite flashy, some were shot, some were strangled, and some were drowned. All of it... it doesn't seem like the typical mob retaliation," the boy scratches his head, seeming confused.

The person who reported this incident to him was weirded out too. Normally, if a mob boss is killed, most of the time they're shot in open combat, and sometimes they're ambushed and shot from behind.

But now, so many mob bosses are killed in such a short period of time and in such peculiar ways, which is very peculiar indeed.

"Any anomalies in the vicinity?" Cobblepot asks.

"Anomalies? Nothing major. However, it seems like the Children's Gang in the area has dwindled significantly. Maybe they were driven out prematurely by these mobs," the boy replies.

"They were driven out by the mobs?" Cobblepot put down his pen and sat upright, asking, "Why would the Children's Gang be driven out by the mobs?"

"Because... Boss, you know, Wayne Enterprises' renovation proposal treats everyone fairly. Regardless of age, every resident is entitled to a house."

"Recently, we've been sorting out the situation around Living Hell. We know that rents there are high. If we could control one more room, we could make much more in rent. If we drive the kids out, then the rooms allotted to them would become the property of the local mobs."

"Initially, they gave us small change..." The boy shrugs, "We run errands for them for a few cents, but now, when it involves several hundred dollars, they certainly won't let these children stand in their way."

Cobblepot sighs, "So, who do you reckon we represent?"

The boy is at a loss, not getting what Cobblepot is saying, who sighs again before instructing him: "Alright, go call Tire."

After a while, Tire, who seems to have put on weight and now has a healthy flush to his cheeks, indicative of him eating well, walks in. He greets Cobblepot, asking, "Hey, Cobblepot, what's up? What do you need me for?"

"Heard about the recent construction renovation project?" Cobblepot asks.

Tire nods, "Of course. I think my house is listed in the second phase, which won't start till after two or three months. My mom plans on paying extra to trade our place for an apartment with two bedrooms and a living room. After all, I recently got a girlfriend. If we got married in the future, we could still make use of the house."

"Any moves from your local mob?" Cobblepot inquires.

Tire recalls, "They seem to be recruiting like crazy. Apparently, for each person they take in, they'll be given an extra room. Once they kick these people out, they'll gain control over a large amount of real estate. Renting them out would make them quite a bit of money."

Suddenly, Tire frowns, "Oh no, when it's actually implemented, wouldn't people like me and my mom be driven out too?"

"No way, I have to hurry back home, tell my mom to buy more bullets... No, that's not a solution either, it's too dangerous. If all else fails, we'll pay to buy a house in Living Hell. There's no need to get into that mix..."

Cobblepot sighs, "You're in the second phase, that's why the mobs are frantically recruiting in order to gain more places. However, for the first relocation phase, the mobs have already begun driving people out."

"The places in that phase have been assigned. The mobs are pushing the easily bullied people out of their houses so that they can control the real estate, rent them out and make a profit. How do you think we should handle this?" Cobblepot asks.

Tire thinks for a moment. He's quite resourceful. "To completely solve this problem, Wayne Enterprises would need to take action." Tire suggests, "But that's easier said than done. After all, it's not like they can assign a person to monitor who's living in each house all the time..."

"If there's just one tenant left unseen, they'll definitely be driven out, not to mention the kids from the Children's Gang. Even if it were me and my mom, armed with guns, bullets, and a fair amount of money, we'd still probably have to lay low,"

Tire sighed, "At the end of the day, profit moves people. The current situation in the Living Hell is there for us all to see. Everyone's waiting for property prices to rise. If there were a new construction plan, everyone would be rushing in to buy more houses. Even if they couldn't sell, they could rent those out. After all, the rent in Living Hell is quite expensive."

"If you could have ten good houses, you'd have an income of several hundred US dollar more each month. If you had hundreds of them, the profit would be tempting even for the Big Mafia. After all, the logistics industry is always at the mercy of the weather, but renting is a guaranteed profit."

"You're right, to solve this problem we have to approach it realistically, and I believe Wayne Enterprises does have a solution."

"What if the person who proposed this renovation plan had a superb method to prevent this from happening, and we found out about this beforehand. What should we do now?" Cobblepot asked.

Tire frowned, thought for a moment and said, "Those mobs on the land of phase one renovation plan, madly evicting people, driving out the Children's Gang, even dismissing their own backup troops. When it comes time to deliver the houses, they'll realize they won't be able to get those reserved houses and they'll definitely be very dissatisfied."

"But it seems like they don't have any means to deal with Wayne Enterprises. After all, these are minor mobs, they can't even meet the top executives of Wayne Enterprises."

"If Wayne Enterprises could let the original owners live in those already reserved houses, they'll certainly vent their anger on these original owners, it's bound to cause a conflict."

"But they've evicted all their own gang members, they won't necessarily have the upper hand, it's more likely to be evenly matched,"

Though Tire hasn't studied much about these theories, like all children in Gotham, he has been surviving here since he was young. His mother, who ran a gas station without depending on the mobs, was extremely formidable.

With these influences, Tire knew perfectly well about the mob's logical behavior. He said, "The original owners of these rooms must be dissatisfied with the mobs who evicted them, and the mobs are not satisfied with them either. Their conflicts can't be reconciled, and when the time comes there is bound to be chaos."

"At this point, which side the Children's Gang stands on is very important..." Tire suddenly said as if enlightened, "The mobs will gradually break into several factions. If they want to gain an advantage here, they must rely on these familiar children. We could completely lend a hand to those kids in advance,"

"If that's the case, after several phases of the project, the Children's Gang of Gotham might correlate more closely together, instead of operating independently like it does now."

Shaking his head, Cobblepot said, "It's not just this, you must have been in contact with the members of the Children's Gang when you were young. If they each got a room, do you think they would live by themselves? Or would they cram together and rent out the other rooms to earn money?"

"Even though I'm not a member of the Children's Gang, I think they would certainly compromise and live together, renting out some of the rooms. In this way, living conditions would improve and they would also earn money."

Tire shrugged, "I don't quite understand it, but they really care about 'brotherhood'. They would rather sacrifice themselves to buy food for the children in the gang, so they would definitely choose to earn money."

"The rooms that the children got, are actually the best ones to rent out," Cobblepot analyzed. "The majority of Gotham residents don't really need a living room. Having a bed and a window is already quite good, there's no need to pay extra to rent a one-bedroom apartment,"

"If we don't get involved, the mobs will definitely interfere with who they rent the rooms to, maybe even take a cut. But, this is something we can do," Cobblepot tapped the table gently with his finger, "Unite all the children, no longer to be exploited by those mobs,"

"Once they start earning from the rent and get some extra cash, we can encourage them to go to school, just like the school in Living Hell. Send some kids there, have dedicated teachers guide them in learning and playing."

"Once they enter school, all schools provide dormitories, it will then free up more rooms to rent out and earn more money. Perhaps those older children can also lead a normal path to education."

Tire nodded, "The wish is indeed beautiful, but the only problem is, how can Wayne Enterprises guarantee that everyone can live in their own houses? If the mobs are blocking the door with guns, who dares not to come out?"

Cobblepot laughed, "You underestimate the technical strength of Wayne Enterprises. In two months or so, the first building of the first phase of the renovation project will be completed. At that time, you can see who can move in."

Scratching his head, Tire said, "If that's real, it's actually alright, no one can rob anyone else's house, we can finally relax."

"Like my mom and I, doesn't every family just desire safety? If the mobs are good to us, it's not a problem to pay some protection money. If Wayne Enterprises could really do this, we could pay them a little protection money, it's the same,"

"Or rather, we would feel it's weird if he doesn't charge us," Tire shook his head, "My mom often says, there's no free lunch in this world. If he takes the money, he'll protect us continuously. If we don't have to pay anything, we'd surely have to pay in other ways."

"Perhaps, they don't want money for now." Cobblepot turned to look out the window, "Perhaps, the secure and free day you spoke of will eventually arrive. But, when that day comes, what we have to sacrifice might be something else,"