In reality, the process of bringing the Rat Catcher out wasn’t difficult, since there wasn’t any reliable process when she was brought in.

The challenging part was the subsequent arrangements. It was then that Vivi realized that the City Hall provided housing allocations – low-rent and deferrable, available only to employees.

But why, as the mayor, did she have to live in a drafty room?

Fortunately, Millie had no roommate, so Vivi arranged for Sheila to share with Millie. During this time, they were flying over half of Gotham in a helicopter, but the girl sitting opposite Vivi showed no longing for the scenery outside the window.

The sun was slowly setting at the end of the coastline, and birds flapped their wings. In a back-and-forth instant, Gotham had entered the evening. Vivi always felt that time in the game seemed to be stealthily sped up; otherwise, how could a day always seem to pass in the blink of an eye?

An airship painted with slogans flew past them, comical yet somewhat charming.

“She’s really beautiful, isn’t she?” She was referring to Gotham.

Vivi exhaled slowly, looking at the flags fluttering wildly in the distance, the crows perched on the gargoyles, the clouds tinted with gold and red. She decided not to think about missions or gangs for the moment, simply enjoying the pleasure brought by the game itself.

“Yes.” Sheila’s response was somewhat mechanical, clearly the type who felt obliged to respond when spoken to. She thought for a moment, then took out a one-eyed grey rat from her bosom, saying, “Scott is also very cute.”

Vivi: “…Yes.”

Let’s not dwell on that.

After disembarking, Vivi handed Sheila over to Secretary Millie for arrangements and then returned to her office, where Shelk was indeed waiting, handing Vivi a ‘dismissal list.’

In addition to the seventy-two people Vivi had marked, another one hundred and eighteen parasites were caught from other units. However, Shelk hesitated before offering his opinion:

“Boss, it might not be good to dismiss them all at once.”

Vivi motioned for him to continue.

“Some embezzled public funds, some were frequently late or left early, some bullied other employees, and some were simply incompetent for their current positions… But they are all locals of Gotham. That is, besides being employees, they are also the economic support for a Gotham family.”

“The employment rate in Gotham isn’t high. Many foreign workers take jobs from locals, who, due to economic reasons, cannot receive adequate education, creating a vicious cycle. If these people are fired, the unemployment rate will surge again. To make a living, these deplorable parasites will become gang members or oppress women in their homes…”

Shelk seemed to guess what Vivi wanted to do; the intelligence attribute in his profile panel was indeed not fake.

The central idea of his advice was that mass layoffs would lead to social instability—although this city has always been somewhat unstable—the game design was detailed and made sense, but Vivi had her own ideas: ‘Even if we continue to pay them to maintain stability, will the money really reach their families? Will they choose to educate their children? Trash will always be trash, but… you’ve done well.’

Vivi opened the document, and all the information automatically loaded into her game panel and was quickly categorized.

Shelk could say all this because he had already investigated the family information of these people, even their private habits. For the same task, a reliable secretary never lets the boss instruct twice.

—In this regard, Millie still has a lot to learn.

Vivi quickly scanned these messages and swiftly marked on the document: “Marked with a C, direct dismissal; marked with a B, dismiss them and inform their wives or children to come to work, but as temporary workers, earning 70% of the minimum wage; marked with an A, let them choose between temporary work or dismissal.”

For C-level employees, she directly executed the dismissal on the panel. B and A needed Shelk to communicate, but they still had a chance to retain 70% of the minimum wage. After all, Vivi wasn’t a devil.

If they performed well (with a beautiful attribute panel), they might even get promoted.

“I was planning to call these people for a talk,” Vivi looked at the respectful man beside her, “but since you’ve investigated so thoroughly, I suppose there won’t be any oversights, so I won’t waste time.”

Delaying the dismissal would mean paying one more day’s salary.

But to Shelk’s ears, this was a reminder, and he considered it very reasonable, hence showing even more respect.

【Municipal Government Assets: 1,415,000 gold (activated)】

【Monthly Settlement [Water and Electricity Maintenance Fee 100,000 gold]/[Employee Salaries 1,000,000 gold] Fixed Allowance】

【Fixed salary expenditure reduced from 1,000,000 gold to 800,000 gold】

This was the first time the hidden fixed salary expenditure appeared, likely due to Vivi’s actions significantly changing this fixed expense.

She: ‘…’

“As the mayor, I can only get 5,000 gold at the end of the month…” Vivi weakly said, “Why do we have to spend 800,000 on salaries?”

And this was after she had laid off a batch of employees.

Shelk, who was working and didn’t hear clearly: ?

Vivi originally thought her 70,000 gold was a lot, but now, what could it really do?

The gold coin shop refreshed with only small items. If one day a generator set or a nuclear base appeared, not to mention whether to buy or not, she couldn’t afford it!

Cutting costs was no longer possible; she must find new sources of income!

But—

“I remember there was a young man among the five construction workers, he wasn’t a minion of Black Mask and didn’t participate in the previous chaos, right? Did he work, was he not paid?”

After all, there was no record of gold coin expenditure in the system.

The broken wall wasn’t repaired but was draped with dark curtains both inside and out, temporarily isolating the interior and exterior. The corpses and bloodstains had been cleaned up, only the spray-painted patterns under the wool carpet bore witness to what had happened here.

Hearing Vivi mention Peter, Shelk came back to his senses; “Although he is a temporary worker, he doesn’t have a stamped proof, so he doesn’t meet the process for issuing work subsidies. However, he followed the logistics team to complete the tasks you assigned, frankly, this work experience is already more valuable than any amount of money.”

Not asking for money, Peter’s name might be common, but his attributes were long, and Vivi’s fondness for him increased.

She hoped for more employees like him.

However, she didn’t want to fix this disaster-prone wall anymore. A normal wall wouldn’t cost as much as a mayor’s monthly salary (5,000 gold) to repair; it was entirely because the City Hall building itself had an artistic bonus, requiring a skilled engineering team to work on it. Anyway, a wall wasn’t necessary, just leave it as is.

…After reviewing the monthly fixed expenses, Vivi knew every gold coin in the City Hall had to be split in half to spend.

Cost-cutting had reached its limit; she had to find new sources of income.

Vivi took a deep breath and opened 【Financial Disposition – Business Investment】—”

【1. Become one of the shareholders of AT Construction Company】

【2. Become a supporter of the Sionis Family】

【3. Enter into a cooperative investment with Wayne Enterprises】

【4. Become one of the directors of Gotham Academy】

【5. Establish your own spray paint art museum】

【6. Start a sewer rat-catching domestic service company】

【7. Become one of the shareholders of the Iceberg Lounge】

Each activated business investment corresponds to Vivi’s gameplay actions: summoning the construction crew, Black Mask Sionis, learning about Wayne through the computer, the temporary worker from Gotham Academy, spray paint and banners, the tamed Rat Catcher, and the Penguin whom she angered… She directly clicked on the last option, being quite interested in both Black Mask and Penguin.

【Become one of the shareholders of the Iceberg Lounge】

【Option to invest openly or anonymously, under the game’s notarization, neither party can breach the investment contract】

【Introduction: The Iceberg Lounge is the property of Penguin, a.k.a. Mr. Cobblepot, located in Gotham’s wealthiest district—Diamond District, with high customer traffic and tremendous economic impact (current city rating too low to collect taxes)】

【Further information is for players to explore on their own】

【Recommended level of investment: Five stars】

“…Huh?”

Cobblepot… Why does this surname seem so familiar?

The room was still filled with an unsettled scent of blood. Shelk had returned to the secretary’s office for his remaining work (and was likely to work overtime tonight), Millie hadn’t brought Sheila back yet, leaving Vivi alone.

She walked around the room and chose to go to the study, pulling out the first body she had preserved well from under the bookcase.

【An unidentified body, with the letters “VV” etched on the back of the neck】

【Player’s choices—

a. Spend 1,000 gold (personal property) to cremate

b. Spend 2,000 gold (personal property) to buy a standard tombstone

c. Spend 5,000 gold (personal property) to buy a luxury tombstone (chance to encounter investor·Cobblepot)

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

【Current personal property: 78,200 gold coins】

Wow.

Is this the Cobblepot?

*

Peter had a day in his life that wasn’t too special.

Okay, although a lot happened today, since the day he was bitten by a spider, every day thereafter had been special.

So, today still doesn’t quite make the list.

Knowing that the deceased were not good people, Peter’s guilt of “they actually died right next to me” slightly diminished, but his mood was still low. He intuitively felt something was off, and his pure sense of justice made him wish that those guys had faced legal punishment, rather than dying in a ridiculous misunderstanding, um, in a brawl in City Hall.

…Whether it’s the beginning of the incident or the stage of its development, everything seemed a bit odd.

And he still hadn’t found the girl from last night, even though he had… a bit of a guess in his heart.

Sigh…

At this moment, they were in the logistics department’s vehicle, with Peter just helping out, painting slogans somewhere in the city.

Anyway, he was relatively free, and for some reason, after helping with curtains and tools in the mayor’s office, he was quite happy, even diluting the unhappiness caused by the “accident,” so he naturally blended in with the logistics team.

But… Hm!?

“That looks like…”

“Ah,” the senior leading him patted him on the shoulder, “that’s Arkham Island ahead!”

Peter: “?”

As everyone knows, there are only two famous buildings on Arkham Island, Arkham Asylum and Gotham Academy.

Peter swallowed nervously.

“We’re definitely not going to Arkham, it’s too dangerous. The next stop is the last place that needs slogan painting, oh, it’s Gotham Academy. Have you been there?”

Peter: ?!

Wait a minute—

“Ah, sorry, do you have a mask or a hat or anything, please lend it to me, thanks!”

How was he supposed to explain to his not-so-close classmates that he skipped the library to work at City Hall as a spray paint temporary worker on the weekend!

…And that he wasn’t even paid for it.

Half an hour later, wearing an oversized bunny doll head cover, Peter silently got out of the vehicle.

Even his silhouette exuded desolation.