There is no Batman in Gotham City comics.

Chapter 45 Royce Ben

"Uncle, can you do me a favor?"

Qin Wei leaned his head close to Royce.

That sinister look on his face practically screamed "I'm going to scheme against you," which sent chills down Royce's spine.

The middle-aged man's voice trembled; he was truly terrified.

"You've already poked me in the kidney with a gun... and you're asking for my opinion?"

"A gun? I don't have a gun. What are you talking about... Oh, you mean this!" Qin Wei pulled a sausage out of his pocket. He had bought it at a convenience store while waiting for someone, but forgot to eat it and it was cold now.

Qin Wei opened the paper bag and took a big bite.

He was starving.

Royce strongly suspected that Qin Wei was playing a trick on him, but he had no evidence and couldn't afford to turn against him.

"Fine, just tell me! What do you want me to do?"

"See those guys? I want to know who they are, and where this shipment is going. Go ask them for me."

"You want to rob me..."

Reus was so excited that he raised his voice, but then, as if doing something wrong, he covered his mouth, hunched over, and looked around. Only after making sure no one was paying attention to him did he mutter to himself:

"You want to rob us?! You want to drag me to my death with you! You clearly said I was here to be your driver, you liar!"

"It's not exactly lying to you. If we had actually bought the goods, all you'd need to do would be drive one trip. But the problem is, we didn't!"

Qin Wei glanced at the mountain of money piled up in the back seat, then looked at Royce.

"You took so much money from me, and all you did was come into the private room and sing a couple of songs with a sour face? You wouldn't even let me touch you, that's so unprofessional!"

"You're not just trying to take my hand, you're trying to take my life!" Royce didn't understand Qin Wei's analogy, but that didn't stop him from understanding the true meaning of the words.

Qin Wei chuckled upon hearing this.

He also mentioned something similar: when he recovered five million dollars in gambling debts and earned his first money from Maroney, it was this incident that caused him to turn against Maroney.

Having suffered hardship, Qin Wei knew better than anyone that death and threats could not win people's hearts.

Perhaps only sincerity will work.

"To tell you the truth, I want to take down Maroni." He scratched his head, looked out the car window at the flashing crane lights, and sighed softly.

Seeing that Qin Wei had suddenly become serious, Royce wisely shut his mouth.

"Twenty-eight days from now, I will lead my men to rob Maroni's bank. The bank's private vault contains irrefutable evidence of his crimes. Once I have it, I will have the upper hand."

"The arms deal is my first step. Without it, the rest of the plan cannot proceed. So I must get this stuff tonight, whether I buy it or steal it!"

Royce licked his lips:

"You can try negotiating with those people; they should be willing to pay you if the price is right."

Qin Wei shook his head. He knew that these people had the same purpose in buying weapons as him. Besides, the clown was involved behind the scenes, and that madman was not someone who could be appeased with money.

"I can't reveal more details to you for certain reasons, but please believe me, this is the only feasible method."

Qin Wei glanced sideways, his sincere gaze meeting Royce's eyes.

Royce had changed; he no longer forced a pitiful act. He rolled down the car window and lit a cigarette. The smoke, like a pair of soft hands, floated up along his features, soaking his stubble, clinging to his long eyelashes, and finally blending into his blond hair, outlining the profile of a slightly decadent, mature man.

"One last question: why do you trust me so much?"

"I need to recruit people in the lower district. Now that Madman Baron is dead, only you will be able to leak the news to Maronny, so I must bring you on board before then."

"As for why I believe you, at first I also thought of bribing you with money, but Oswald's phone call just now made me realize that we may have been in the same boat from the beginning."

Qin Wei pulled the crumpled pack of cigarettes out of his pocket.

After sitting idle for so long, it can finally be put to use—to add flair to a conversation between men.

……

Perhaps no one hated Maroney more than Royce Ben.

Especially when he served twenty years in prison for Maroney out of loyalty, only to find his wife missing and his former friend a gang leader when he got out.

Twenty years ago, they were all leaders under Falcone, just like Oswald is now, governing a tiny area in Gotham's Lower District, busy collecting rent every day.

At that time, Maroney was only nineteen years old. He was ruthless, violent, and murderous, and his eyes could not hide his hatred for Gotham and his yearning for power.

He always told Reus that one day he would climb to Falcone's position, and he would have countless riches and women. If he couldn't, he would rather die!

As for Reus, he was five years older than Maroni, taller, stronger, and more agile. Life was much harder when the Romans occupied the lower district, but it was his fearsome fists that kept the troublemakers and drunkards from daring to raise their heads.

Unlike Maroni, he didn't have much ambition. For him, the joy of life was smoking, drinking, and settling troubles for his irritable friends.

Royce frequented a bar where the top hostess was very beautiful.

Jennifer, a name as bright and captivating as her eyes.

Upon seeing her for the first time, Royce blushed, and the absurd idea of ​​getting married immediately popped into his mind.

But he was the kind of carefree jerk who immediately rushed out of the bar, wanting to find a bouquet of flowers to give to the girl he liked.

It was late that day, and the flower shop had closed. Royce unlocked a bicycle and rode towards the suburbs. He rode through most of the night, crossed the rushing Gotham River, passed the Brown Bridge, and climbed over into a suburban estate, where he picked a bunch of flowers still wet with dew from a flower bed.

As expected, he was discovered by the servants and surrounded and chased by seven or eight Dobermans, whose beams of flashlights illuminated him so that he had nowhere to hide.

He eventually managed to escape, but scraped his thigh while climbing over the railing.

Overjoyed, Reus ignored the pain and, limping, laughed loudly as he rode away on his bicycle amidst the barking of the hounds.

The next morning, as Jennifer was on her way to work, she encountered the dying Royce at the entrance of the bar.

The poor fellow's legs were stained red with blood, and his lips and face were completely bloodless. He lay slumped at the door like a plaster statue that had been half melted.

Jennifer was terrified and was about to call the police when "Plaster" reached out a hand.

"Beautiful girl, please marry me!"

Royce held up the bare flower stem, his frozen, eerie smile sending Jennifer into a scream.

This was a failed courtship attempt, but fortunately it had a heartwarming ending.

Royce eventually married Jennifer in that very bar, where the newlyweds received the most heartfelt blessings from the patrons.

Maroni, who was supposed to be there, was absent—he met a mysterious person on his way to the tavern who would change his life forever.

The turning point in the story is the riot.

Royce's honeymoon was not yet over when the turmoil that swept through Gotham City began.

Perhaps because of his renowned martial prowess in Gotham, no one dared to bother Royce that night. Hiding in the attic with Jennifer, Royce witnessed the terrible disaster firsthand while secretly worrying about Maroney.

That brat went out after dinner, muttering something to himself like he was possessed:

"I'm going to succeed! I can finally escape this kind of life!"

The next morning, a distraught Maroni knocked on the door.

"I killed someone..."

Maroni spoke, then knelt down with a thud.

Royce was puzzled. Although they weren't exactly heinous thugs, they still had a few lives on their hands.

But what Maroni said next made his pupils dilate.

"It was Wayne, I killed the Wayne family..."