Chapter 106: Day Lantern, Night Fire, Fools' Village_6

Gordon pulled Bruce to the side towards the Gotham map hanging on the wall. He said: "This is recent statistics I've gathered. You see, traffic is relatively good in some neighborhoods, and the crime rate has significantly dropped, because the mobs usually hire local drivers familiar with the routes."

"These drivers are essentially members of the Local Snake Gang, the main force behind local crime. But because there's a shortage of manpower now, the mobs are willing to pay high prices to hire these people to deliver goods overnight for them. They don't even require a driving license since most people don't possess one anyway."

"They are busy delivering goods in trucks all night leaving zero time for committing crimes. Moreover, the money they earn from just a couple of runs is equivalent to the loot from two months of robbery. Mostmob members who can drive have found similar work. I heard there's even a small gang that collectively changed careers to become truck drivers and they're now fervently recruiting."

None of this surprised Bruce. The Batman also often patrols at night, but the present wave of activity means there is less and less to patrol as the streets are filled with people working.

If truck drivers don't rest, they still need to eat and drink. Once they've completed the night shift, they can stop for a late-night snack. So, the restaurants, taverns, and street stalls no longer close for the night. If the restaurants sell out of their daytime offerings, they still need to have stock for the night-time. As a result, they require more stock, more drivers to deliver it, and more chefs and waitstaff.

But regular restaurants, in spite of their rent, tend to sell more expensive food, while the food prepared by their chefs doesn't necessarily suit the taste of the gangs who have grown up accustomed to the flavor of street food.

Many people have started to set up street stalls of their own and Gotham doesn't really have any city administration to enforce where they set up.

With many street stalls, the already narrow lanes have become even narrower. Most people had to tear down their illegal constructions in front of their houses in order to widen the roads and facilitate the formation of the night markets.

These overnight drivers suddenly started earning good money, which sparked their interest in spending more, so casinos and dance clubs started operating round-the-clock. Consequently, bartenders, dancers, and card dealers all began working through the night, creating further demand for service industry facilities.

Ultimately, the streets around every transport hub have been ablaze with lights through the night these past few days, busier than during the day. When the citizens of Gotham gather together, they find ways to seek excitement and set up competitive games. In this era bereft of video games, the options for recreation are limited to playing basketball or soccer, or getting together to engage in boisterous chatting.

Who is Batman? He is the Dark Knight of Gotham. The point is he is associated with the darkness.

Wherever you move in the alleyways adjacent to the main roads, you will find at the start, a group of loud, amateur soccer enthusiasts, and at the end, truck drivers sitting on stools around tables gorging on food while indulging in exaggerated chatter. The street is strung with power lines, with various strings of lights hung between street lamps and poles. Even high-powered spotlights have been mounted to illuminate the ground. Stunned by the blaring light, Batman could hardly adjust his eyes to the sight immediately after descending from the dim rooftop.

As these streets near the transportation hubs became excessively lively, Batman did not find a space to intervene, hence he moved towards the quieter, less crowded streets.

But what commercial aggregation brings with it is not just a bustling city life, but also a mobile population. Even the most vulnerable groups in Gotham, such as single mothers with children, can find jobs like dishwashing or plate serving in these all-night-open restaurants.

The stronger labor force tended to find better-paying jobs, and since these restaurants were short-staffed, they craved more workers. The citizens of Gotham were not isolated communities. They are essentially interconnected, and via the grapevine –one telling ten and ten telling a hundred– many of the weaker groups living in far-flung regions would find and work occasional jobs in the bustling night markets close to them. Even picking up the waste could earn them one or two US dollars, enough to afford a meal.

However, due to the considerable distance between their previous residences and their workplaces, which was likely to disturb their work schedule, most of them decided to move somewhere closer.

The rents are higher near these areas, but the landlords are not fools. They could collect 100 dollars by renting a room to one person. But now, by dividing one room into three for three different occupants, each paying 50 dollars, they could earn an extra 50 dollars. And, in return, those dwellers would feel grateful.

Therefore, lots of landlords in the streets with night markets have started to divide their houses into smaller compartments. And these vulnerable groups don't mind how small and crumbled their rooms are, as nonetheless, they are much better than where they used to live.

The mobs that ran and ruled these streets discovered that they could attract more newcomers by creating more of these kinds of rooms, which would improve the overall operational efficiency of the streets and increase their protection racket profits.

So, they initiated turning attics in their properties or some vacant rooms into smaller apartments, specifically prepared for these outsiders attracted by the industry.

Some poor souls didn't have a penny to their name, so the mobs allowed them to move in first and pay back monthly. Certain mobs, in dire need of manpower, would even waive the interest. They wouldn't charge rent initially; as long as you worked for them on the streets, they wouldn't merely refrain from charging interest but would also subsidize you — after all, what they earned wasn't constrained to your measly rent.

Batman then noticed that Gotham had surprisingly quieted down. The city started slowly developing new commercial zones that radiated from the transportation hub and included various night markets.

In these new commercial areas, there was rarely any trouble because in the past, if you killed two people in a pitch-black alley, it might take the police half a day to find out, or even stay a cold case if you had some special tricks. But such incidents were nearly impossible in these bustling night markets. Even if you tripped someone during a football game, the news would spread around the neighborhood the next day. If you tried to commit a robbery, you would best hope the police arrived quickly, else the local mob would certainly dump you into a sewer.

Because if you were to murder in broad daylight, wouldn't the cleanup require time? The police would come to investigate, and you'd have to cooperate. The surrounding eyewitnesses would have to be subpoenaed — how much time would that take? How much business would be lost? How much less protection money would be collected?

If you were far away, the mob might be too lazy to care, but at this close range, with a dozen mobsters patrolling the streets, you'd be riddled with bullet holes before you could finish saying "rob" after drawing your gun.

Buiness is business, but Gotham's tradition of shooting first and asking questions later mustn't be lost.

So, on one dark night after another, Batman stands alone on rooftops, observing the dimly lit nights brighten up gradually. Now, standing atop the Wayne Building, in the heart of Gotham, he overlooked thousands of household lights.

He wondered if he was witnessing a miracle unfold so close to him. This chaotic, disastrous city began to sprout amidst chaos and grew, blooming into a peculiar and extraordinary flower.

It flourished unrestrained in the dark night, unapologetically showcasing its disorder and malevolence. Batman thinks, this black flower will still bloom towards the sun, albeit towards a black one.

As for himself, Batman, he doesn't feel defeated. A new power surges in his heart, a new idea, a wider concept than darkness and revenge, for the first time, surfaced in his heart.

The peculiar hunch that this world, this cosmos, just like Gotham, was undergoing transformation for something.

And next time, he speculated, in the miraculous change, he would no longer be an observer, but definitely a participant.

He watched, as after every onset of night, one by one, the lights started to glow. Then, apart from the chilly winds and darkness high above, twinkling lights began to swiftly spread across the streets until they illuminated the entire city.

Right here, right now, the solitary bat perched above the city, finally understood how to illuminate a light.