[Welcome, player [Vivi] to the game ‘I Am the Mayor’. Build and manage your own city. Please choose ——]

[A. Build a new city from scratch]

[B. Take over an existing city and improve it]

Vivi didn’t want to start building a city from choosing the land and constructing roads; it was too slow a process.

Having played many infrastructure games before, and having built cities more than once, the basic gameplay no longer appealed to her.

She chose B.

[You have chosen to take over a city with basic infrastructure already in place. Of course, you know this city has many problems, and that’s why you are here, to save it.]

[Randomizing —— You have obtained the city: Gotham]

It seems Gotham is the name of the city.

The image of the “Mayor’s Office” appeared before Vivi.

It was a large room, yet it didn’t feel empty, with one wall made of transparent floor-to-ceiling glass, and sunlight spreading across the long table.

The mayor’s long office table was curved, its wood grain exquisite. Behind the table was a glass curtain wall, and opposite the table was a deep red carpet, flanked by smaller rooms marked on the map as a lounge and study.

The crystal chandelier overhead twinkled with an expensive glow, and the room was decorated in a style that was understated yet luxurious.

As the game finished loading, the image in front of her seemed to suddenly shift from 2D to 3D. Although not as realistic as the real world, it was more refined than most holographic games.

Vivi gained control over her body, appearing directly in the mayor’s chair, with the current panel of [Gotham] in front of her.

[Current [Gotham City Overall Level -2]]

[City’s overall level is related to ‘City Prosperity,’ ‘City Population,’ ‘City Security,’ and ‘City Reputation.’]

Wow… Although she guessed that there were issues with this city “in need of saving”, to start with a negative overall level?

[Current [City Prosperity 8]]

[Gotham is a prosperous city with a developed economy and a full range of architectural facilities, but it’s not necessarily friendly.]

[Current [City Population 7]]

[Gotham is a major port city with a substantial population and convenient transportation.]

Considering the negative overall level, the high levels of the first two attributes seemed to foreshadow terrible levels in the upcoming ones.

As expected —

[Current [City Security -10]]

[Gotham’s security is not good, or rather, it’s terrible. The instinct to avoid danger seems ingrained in the bones of Gotham’s people, with danger always lurking.]

[Current [City Reputation -7]]

[Gotham is a great city, but not everyone thinks so.]

[All attributes are settled once at the end of each month.]

“I feel the same way,” an option named 【New Player Guide】flashed frantically, asserting its presence to Vivi, “But now I am the mayor.”

Now this city was hers, and she would certainly change Gotham.

Before that, she needed to familiarize herself with her city.

The new player guide was essentially about leading players through the operations, like how to open the map, summon the panel, view other characters, etc. With Vivi’s experience, she mastered everything in just a few minutes.

And the final step was —

[Checking world background, calibrating world difficulty, searching for the Silver Wall…]

[Current world difficulty is high.]

[—— You have a chance to draw a special ability.]

[You have obtained a basic ability (which cannot be removed): Special Glasses]

[Basic Ability: Special Glasses]

[Wear ‘special glasses’ and in the eyes of others, you will become a person of a different ‘identity’.]

[Description: ‘Becoming another person by wearing glasses’ is a behavior allowed by the rules in your current world.]

[How to obtain ‘Special Glasses’: Diamond pool draw, system reward, achievement gift pack.]

As Vivi finished reading the ability description, the system also gave her a corresponding beginner’s reward, which went directly into her inventory.

[Mayor’s Glasses]

[Description: Wear them, and you become the mayor. It’s really easy to become the mayor of Gotham City.]

[Bound item, cannot be destroyed.]

[The mayor’s name is ____]

She put on the glasses, a pair of non-prescription gold wire glasses. It seemed that besides the player’s registered name, a name was also needed for the identity of the mayor. Vivi casually entered “AA”, just like her name “VV”, and the system automatically expanded it to “Anna Alek”.

With the new player guide almost done, she put on her glasses, stood up, looked around, and then walked to the floor-to-ceiling windows to gaze into the distance —

Outside the window was a light rain, with the spires of Gothic buildings visible in the distance, and the tail lights of trams on the elevated road casting blurred yellow lights in the rain.

At the top of a building hundreds of meters away, something seemed to flash by, as if it was a reflection of light on the glass.

— Vivi’s vision blurred for a moment.

“Bang ——”

The glass shattered suddenly, fragments reflecting the rain curtain. Her body fell backwards.

[You have died]

Vivi: “……?”

Is this what it’s like in a city with [City Security -10]?

The screen turned gray, the rain and falling glass outside the window froze at that moment, and an option appeared in front of Vivi —

[Do you choose to resurrect (please make a choice within 30s)?]

[Resurrect Immediately][Wait a Moment]

The perspective was still inside the room, unable to go out. Obviously, she was shot directly from hundreds of meters away while standing by the window.

She opened the map first.

On the map, [Killers] were represented by red dots, nameless.

The system did not provide a marking function, but since it was a red dot, it should be quite obvious, right? If the other party appeared again later… Vivi thought for a moment, and zoomed out her view, the scale of the map enlarged, revealing more buildings —

At least one-third of the city’s residents were enemy red dots.

Vivi: “?”

Something seemed off about Gotham.

And if the killer isn’t immediately caught after the resurrection, they will vanish like a fish into water, hiding among the red shoal of fish — this description somehow made Vivi feel as if she were the villainous dictator who should be eliminated.

Left with no choice, she chose to resurrect, and once again found herself on the chair. But the shattered glass still lay at her feet. Considering she was unarmed — and not everyone in City Hall was an ally, she refrained from approaching the window to seek the brazen sniper.

Vivi’s toes twitched slightly, then kicked something. She looked down —

“…” What was this now?

Before her lay a familiar female corpse.

She had clearly resurrected… but the body from her recent shooting hadn’t vanished, her foot just now kicking her own “corpse.”

It was an eerily strange feeling.

The corpse’s head had a large hole, a girl with brown medium-length hair, eyes wide open — When she used her Mayor identity, she actually had blonde hair. At the moment of her resurrection, the 【Mayor’s Glasses】automatically went into the system inventory. Losing the enhancement of the glasses, the body reverted to the appearance she had set when entering the game — but there was no gory scene as blood was absent in the game, and no blood was on the carpet.

However, possibly because her initial identity didn’t purchase additional appearances, the dead body wore the default simple white robe available in the login space, not even a pair of shoes.

The body not disappearing after resurrection… was this a game bug?

She had never heard of a game behaving like this. Did others experience this when playing?

Dragging the chair back for cover, Vivi touched the “corpse” of “herself” —

【An unnamed corpse, with the letters “VV” etched on the back of the neck】

【Players can choose —

a. Spend 1000 gold (personal property) to cremate

b. Spend 2000 gold (personal property) to buy a regular tombstone

c. Spend 5000 gold (personal property) to buy a luxurious tombstone (chance to encounter investor · Cobblepot)

d. Spend 50 diamonds (personal property) to buy a super luxurious tombstone, and publish an obituary in all Gotham newspapers (chance to encounter investor · Wayne)】

“…Personal property?”

Vivi turned her gaze to her personal panel.

【City Government Property: 1.5 million gold (inactive)

(Loan from First Bank at the beginning of each month, to be repaid at month’s end, monthly interest rate 3%, doubles if not repaid)】

【Personal Property: 0

(Mayor’s salary of 5000 gold issued at month’s end)】

【The current date is April 1st.】

“So, I’m so poor that I can’t even afford to dispose of my own body…” She massaged her temples in resignation. Before the bug was fixed, she couldn’t just leave her body lying there. Vivi put on the 【Mayor’s Glasses】, single-handedly picked up the lightweight corpse, opened the desk’s secret compartment, and temporarily stuffed the body inside.

After making sure no foot was sticking out of the cabinet, she summoned her NPC assistant through the system interface —

After all, she was the Mayor.

*

The new Mayor, Ms. Anna Alek, was a cold person.

Almost no one knew her. Her past was quite mysterious, and there were many rumors —

Some said she was “demoted” to the unfriendly city of Gotham for political reasons. Others claimed she came from a wealthy family in New York. True or false, these stories quickly became the talk of the town.

But honestly, as an air-dropped Mayor, how long she would last was uncertain — at least those who ambitiously sought this position would hardly be pleased, and Gotham was not welcoming to outsiders.

Under these circumstances, Ms. Anna came without a secretary. Before the Mayor’s arrival, the city’s main work had already been divided among some people.

As a marginal figure in City Hall, Millie found herself bizarrely becoming this lady’s secretary — heaven knows she had never met Mayor Anna!

Now the Mayor had messaged her, asking her to come to the Mayor’s office immediately.

Millie hurried to the location, but previously being just an ordinary clerk, she was somewhat unfamiliar with some routes. While hurrying, she bumped into the former Chief of Staff of the previous Mayor, Mr. Shelk — now the ex-Chief of Staff.

He was at least a head taller than her and stepped back, watching her coldly.

Millie’s breath hitched, she quickly apologized, and seeing no reaction from him, she hurriedly lowered her head and bypassed him towards the Mayor’s office.

She didn’t know that Shelk turned his head to watch her leaving, then suddenly smiled.

[Letting this girl discover the Mayor’s death isn’t bad… She’s just an ordinary person, more suitable for this.]

His steps firm, he proceeded forward.

[But…] Shelk suddenly paused [Who sent her to the office?]

In his memory, Millie, no, he had no impression of her, indicating she was an invisible person in the office, not shirking her work, but also never taking initiative — not taking initiative meant no mistakes.

So, who called her, making her so hurried?

Shelk suddenly had a bad premonition and quickly made a call.

*

Millie knocked on the door, and upon receiving a response, pushed it open, only to pause in surprise.

The glass window was shattered, rain pouring in, and near the door, a young lady stared at an antique vase, seemingly lost in thought.

She wore a sapphire blue suit, impeccably wrinkle-free, her platinum blonde hair coiled up neatly, every strand in place, and the gold-rimmed glasses added a touch of ladylike grace.

— She seemed rather unapproachable.

“Secretary,” the lady, evidently the Mayor, gestured, “Contact the best engineering team. I want all the windows in the office bricked up.”

Millie: “…Okay!”

All of them? Not even leaving a single window?

But her life’s wisdom was not to contradict her superiors. She immediately bowed her head and started making calls.

Vivi watched the tool-like secretary and the system interface between her and the NPC.

【Mission: Summon your secretary once (completed)】

【The office door is now open】

【Mission: Tour City Hall】

【Reward: Unlock the fund allocation module】

【You have spent 5000 gold (government funds) on office renovation.】

Changing the office layout didn’t require personal funds; it could be covered by the public account.

But Vivi remembered… the public account was on a loan.

So currently, the government funds should be -5000.

Great, she thought expressionlessly.

Since it’s already spent, might as well do it right —

“Don’t brick it up,” Millie suddenly heard the lady say, “Replace it with the sturdiest steel reinforcements.”