hotmtlnovel Chapter 2482: Battle for the Cloak (38)
Chapter 2482: Battle for the Cloak (38)
Chapter 2482: Battle for the Cloak (Thirty-Eight)
However, as if to gain the trust of the two buyers who had finally arrived, the man began his story. In fact, there was nothing much to say. It was just that one day when he was cleaning, he lifted the vacuum cleaner in an irregular manner, causing the vacuum cleaner mouth to deviate, and the label happened to be hanging outside, and then it was sucked in.
Although the label was finally freed from the vacuum cleaner's mouth, the rope was torn and the label was scratched. The man obviously had no way to reconnect the rope or forge a new label. When he was off work, he was discovered by his boss and was asked to buy the damaged product.
Jason read two doubts from it. First, Batman couldn't be so stupid that he couldn't use a vacuum cleaner. Even though Alfred took care of him in his daily life, Batman's mechanical operation skills were maxed out. Not only could he operate the Batmobile and Batplane, but any mechanical equipment would be very obedient in his hands.
Second, even if Batman really did such a stupid thing, he has ten thousand ways to make up for it before anyone finds out - including but not limited to instantly twisting a rope that is exactly the same as the original one and connecting it to completely restore the scratched label. At the very least, he can at least convince the store owner who arrives so that he doesn't have to bear the compensation.
But the man in front of him, who looked exactly like Batman, was helpless and waited for the worst outcome. This was too far from Batman.
So Jason began to ask the man his name and his past in a roundabout way. There were no other customers in the store and the man looked extremely bored, but he actually started chatting with Jason.
The man's name was Bruce, but his last name was Gordon, not Wayne. He said that his parents were indeed the Waynes, but after they were killed, the Wayne Group collapsed completely. He was adopted by Gordon and went to school like an ordinary person. Because he had no money to go to college, he attended a community college and then went out to work.
Because Gordon was impartial and wanted to investigate the cause of the Wayne couple's death, he was attacked by shareholders who wanted to divide the profits. When Bruce was just in middle school, he suffered a serious gunshot injury and is still paralyzed in bed.
Because he had to take care of Gordon, Bruce couldn't hold a long-term job and could only do odd jobs here and there. This toy store was one of his odd jobs, but unfortunately he got into trouble not long after he arrived.
Jason could clearly see that the man in front of him hoped to move them with this story so that he could sell it at a higher price. This was similar to psychological manipulation, but it was too straightforward and superficial, and the Robins didn't want to play it.
Jason felt that according to this setting, this Bruce had some talent but not much. He was not able to take on the responsibility immediately after his parents' death like in reality, or he tried to do so but failed, which led to the collapse of Wayne Group and he was kicked out.
He was able to take care of a paralyzed patient while doing odd jobs, and he was relatively strong and could keep himself clean, which showed that he had some abilities, but they were only slightly better than ordinary people.
If we look beyond all these stories, we are now in a dream, which means that if the Bruce in front of us is really the Batman of his universe, then this is his image in the dream.
Does Batman wish he was just a normal person?
Jason had never thought about this before, but there were many moments when he felt that Batman was hypocritical. Was the death of his parents really enough for him to care about it for so many years? Even if he witnessed it with his own eyes, was his willpower that could make him overcome everything not enough to help him overcome the shadow?
Jason also knew that his thoughts were a bit superficial, and he didn't have to experience other people's suffering. It was not because he had seen more bad things at the bottom that he had the right to demand that others should not suffer. So he only thought about it and never said it out loud.
But at this moment he really felt that Batman was a bit pretentious. The self-consciousness that the image in his dream used to escape the painful reality turned out to be just an ordinary person who was nothing.
Jason always felt that Batman had too many unrealistic and beautiful fantasies about the lives of ordinary people, just like those rich people who always said that rich people also have rich troubles, and sometimes it is nice to be an ordinary person.
Jason knew very well that this was what they thought, but they did not see them giving away all their property. From the perspective of ordinary people, he often thought, since you feel troubled, why not give all your property to me, I will worry for you, and you can live the happy life of ordinary people.
So Jason often sneered at the fantasies of these rich people about the lives of ordinary people. Even if it was Batman who thought so, Jason would only laugh at his stupidity in his heart. If the lives of ordinary people were so good, why did everyone want to become rich? Why did everyone complain about not having money?
The fact is, money is really important. The extra worries that come with financial difficulties when all added up are much heavier and more exhausting than the occasional earth-shattering worries that rich people have.
Time is never a butcher's knife, but the years of poverty are. Rich people all seek immortality, but if life is really hard and there are so many worries, are they self-inflicted and want to prolong these painful days?
Jason sneered in his heart, he didn't expect Batman to have such a cowardly and evasive side, and this guy over here is even more heavyweight. Jason glanced at Spider-Man next to him, who didn't fight back when being bullied, and was ready to wait for the social rules to teach those people a lesson. I want to see how good this kind of life is.
Jason counted out the change and slapped it on the counter, then took the dolls. He examined them carefully and found that except for the labels, every part of them was intact.
Then he quickly squeezed through the messy counter, took a brand new Christmas bathtub duck from the shelf under the window, and stuffed it into Spider-Man's arms.
He turned to Bruce and asked, "Where did you rent a house? I'm coming to New York for a few days and I need a place to stay. If you can recommend a good place for me, I think I can come here more often."
Bruce acted a little surprised, but soon became embarrassed. To be honest, it is quite rare to not have a house in the United States. Although there are many rental houses in big cities like New York, most people just don't want to go back to their hometowns to work, and they at least have a house belonging to themselves or their parents in other states.
After all, the United States has such a large territory but a small population, so there is no shortage of housing. In Europe, you can still see people living in crowded buildings, but in the United States, except for megacities, the worst housing in a city is a small single-family house.
Anyone who doesn't own a house in the entire United States is either a homeless person or an illegal immigrant. The lower-class Americans are living in a poor situation, their houses may be old and they still have to pay taxes, but they are not so poor that they have to rent one.
Of course, there is another possibility, that is, if one cannot repay the loan or pay the tax, the house will be confiscated by the bank. This is also the main source of homelessness, because if one cannot repay the loan, the credit score will definitely be at the bottom, and it will be difficult to find a job again. Without a job, one cannot rent a house, so naturally one becomes a homeless person.
When Jason asked, he found out that it was true. Gordon was not injured in the line of duty, but was attacked on his day off. He had no compensation and needed medical treatment, so he had to borrow a loan.
Due to the severity of his injuries, the insurance could only cover a limited portion of the reimbursement, and most of the loan was used up. However, he had lost his ability to work and was completely unable to repay the loan, so he had no choice but to hand over the collateral to the bank.
At that time, Bruce was not yet an adult and could not work, so the two of them stayed at Gordon's old colleague's house for a while. After Bruce became an adult and earned some money, he rented a house and moved out with Gordon.
"Where's Barbara?" Jason asked.
"They're divorced." Bruce just finished speaking before he realized that he didn't know how Jason knew about Barbara.
"I mean, don't they have kids?"
"Yes, but the girl has been with Gordon's ex-wife and is now studying in another city. Gordon doesn't want to drag them down, so he has never contacted them."
After understanding the basic situation, Jason couldn't help but think in his heart, even if you want to be an ordinary person, it is not so easy to take care of a patient who is paralyzed in bed for a long time. If he is paralyzed all over, it would be even worse.
"I can introduce you to the place I rent, but don't expect anything good from the environment. I only have one requirement for renting a place, and that is to be cheap." Bruce wiped his hands on his apron and said, "Thank you for buying this, otherwise I would have lost a lot of wages. It's getting late, I have to go to the restaurant to work, bye."
Jason watched his back as he walked towards the back door and sighed deeply. For the first time, he felt what it meant to be disappointed in someone. You have a good chance to be rich and a super genius, but you have to do this to escape reality. Others escape reality by fantasizing about a better life, but you come here to work at Cyber Dollar.
Wait, even in the fantasy, he was only adopted after his parents died, not that his parents were still alive. Has the psychological trauma become that serious?
Jason was filled with emotion, but Spider-Man had already hugged him and cheered, "You are awesome, Jason! You only spent half the price and bought two toys, and they are both limited editions! It's so cool!!!"
Jason looked at the two toys Spider-Man was holding with some disdain. He was already past the age where he needed a duck to take a bath or a doll to sleep. Besides, even at this age, he didn't need these things to comfort himself. It was simply too childish.
Looking at Spider-Man's happy smile, Jason was still a little confused. Why is it necessary to put a duck in the bathtub when taking a bath? What is the purpose of this thing? Is it just for the sake of appearance?
Jason didn't care, as he and Spider-Man walked out of the gift shop together. Spider-Man happily held two toys and said as he walked, "Actually, this gift shop is a bit far from my community, but it's closer to our school. However, this limited edition Christmas item is only available in this store. Fortunately, I came early."
Jason agreed with this point, because when he went to pick up the Christmas duck just now, he found that it was the last one except the one in the window. It is also possible that there is only one in the store, and if he came later, he might not be able to buy it.
As they walked out of the gift shop street and turned a corner, they heard a voice shouting, "Isn't that poor little Peter? Why are you here?"
Jason looked over and saw a classic American bully group of three people walking towards him, led by a big guy - at least compared to Spider-Man, he was a big guy.
"Thompson??? You...you didn't have training today? I I I I I I I...I also...I..."
(End of this chapter)