There is no Batman in Gotham City comics.

Chapter 44 Port Black Market

The place Qin Wei was referring to is Miller Bay, located south of Port Bob Kane, a C-shaped bay within the Apollo Bridge.

It has Gotham's largest smuggling port, controlled by Falcone.

The port's shipping routes radiate across the entire East Coast of the United States, and theoretically you could buy anything there, from stolen antiques to decommissioned Soviet tanks and even rocket debris.

Victor, the actual manager of the port, is a highly reputable and responsible businessman. As long as the price satisfies him, he will do everything he can to get even Decepticons or the Infinity Gauntlet from the neighboring film set.

The two drove through the business district and encountered 36 red lights in the crowded Diamond District during the evening rush hour.

As they approached the port, Qin Wei's face darkened even more than the sky outside the car window.

He secretly made up his mind that once he finished this matter, he would definitely complain to the Gotham Roads Authority about the excessive number of red lights. If there was no response, he would blow up a few with a rocket launcher. He absolutely could not tolerate those lazy bums!

My phone vibrated in my pocket. I took it out and saw it was a call from Oswald.

"woke up?"

"Yeah! The investigating officer just left. He told me I was incredibly lucky last night; a rat had dug out the plaster behind my head, otherwise that weirdo would have broken my neck with one kick." With a neck brace on, Oswald's voice sounded slow and deep, like Marlon Brando with two wads of cotton stuffed in his cheeks.

Qin Wei was furious when he talked about it. He wanted to complain to the other party about how he almost got killed in the battle against the fake bats, but then he thought that now was not the time to chat idly. He decided to wait until he got back and had a couple of beers to talk about it over.

"Who's driving?" The roar of the sports car reminded him of Qin Wei's terrible driving skills, and Oswald asked again, still not entirely at ease.

"Uncle Ben."

The answer was quite unexpected.

"Him? What superpower do you have to summon him?"

"I'm rich!"

"Wow! Well then, you've really struck gold. You probably don't know, he originally..."

After whispering a few more words, Qin Wei hung up the phone.

……

Before they even entered the port, they were stopped.

The gangsters, armed with Thompson submachine guns, led the two to the side of the road. They searched the sports car inside and out, then scanned it with a metal scanner. After confirming there was no threat, they waved them on.

The port was unusually lively at night, with roaring forklifts coming and going, and various vehicles parked under the stacked containers. A casual glance revealed buyers arguing fiercely over price differences. Most of them came prepared, driving either pickup trucks or vans. It was rare to see someone like Qin Wei driving an eye-catching sports car.

It's no wonder that Falcone was willing to give Maroni his casino and drug businesses for free, since the majority of his funding had always come from the black market in this port.

A thin man wearing a top hat and walking with comically pigeon-toed gait ran towards the car headlights.

"I'm Victor, the person in charge of this port. How can I help you... um?"

Victor spotted the eye-catching sports car from the control panel. Knowing its value, he knew the visitor was a powerful boss he couldn't afford to offend. Fearing his subordinates might neglect their esteemed guest, he rushed down to personally greet him.

He bent down and rubbed his hands by the car window, and after hesitating for a long time, he finally fixed his gaze on Qin Wei.

Indeed, judging by his attire alone, Qin Wei, in a tattered suit with his arm in a sling, looked more like a thug. But what kind of boss drives while his underling casually reclines on the seat with one hand on his cheek? This aura alone was enough to outshine Royce, who was sitting upright with his hand firmly on the steering wheel.

"I don't know much about arms. If I wanted to rob a bank, do you have any good recommendations?"

Qin Wei made no attempt to conceal his purpose; he had asked Falcone a few days earlier and confirmed that Victor was a trustworthy businessman.

However, Reus, standing to the side, was clearly not mentally prepared, gripping the steering wheel so tightly that his eyes almost popped out of their sockets.

Good heavens! Didn't he ask me to be his driver? How did this turn into robbing a bank? Could it be the bank where I just withdrew money? That's the boss's property!

Victor also noticed Royce's strange expression and gave Qin Wei a questioning look—this guy you brought seems a bit unreliable!

"Just say it without hesitation, there are no outsiders here."

"Not brother... why are you so trusting of me! Am I really that trustworthy? I don't want to hear this!" Royce was on the verge of tears, desperately raising his hand to cover his ears.

Unfortunately, Qin Wei wouldn't even give this cowardly ostrich a chance to bury its head in its hands.

A hard, cylindrical object was pressed against Reuss's waist.

"Put your hands down and listen carefully to what he has to say."

……

Yes, after Qin Wei sold the manor, he had the capital to execute Plan A.

A pivotal event is approaching. Instead of being led by the plot, it's better to take the initiative and strike before the "Red Hoods" rob the bank.

The first step was to acquire a large quantity of powerful weaponry, and the second step was to recruit a group of capable subordinates under Oswald's name. Gotham is full of talented people; he didn't believe that such a large sum of money would go unnoticed.

But plans never keep up with changes, and when he expressed his thoughts, Victor shook his head.

"You should know that under Mr. Falcone's rule, Gotham has been very stable in recent years. No one dares to target large financial facilities. The demand for things like rocket launchers, TNT, grenades, and liquid bombs is much lower than before."

"Of course, if you had come to the warehouse a day earlier, there would still have been a meager amount of stock, but everything was ordered last night."

"Look, the person picking up the goods is right behind you!"

Following the direction Victor was pointing, a group of people were carrying boxes into the cargo van. Judging from their careful handling, the contents of the boxes must be quite irritable.

Upon hearing this, Royce felt a weight lifted from his shoulders. His spine went limp, and he slumped into his seat like a deflated balloon. He thought to himself, "I shouldn't have let money blind me. Luckily, the goods sold out, otherwise I would have been..."

But before he could be happy for long, Qin Wei actually dialed Falcone's number right in front of him.

"Mr. Carmine? Yes, it's me. I'm at your docks, requesting a pre-ordered shipment of weapons..."

If he had a choice, Reus would have loved to jump out of the car right then and there.

He knew that after he overheard this phone call, the long road of slacking off in his life would disappear, leaving him with only two thorny, narrow paths: one was to report him to his boss, and the other was to board Qin Wei's pirate ship.

Thinking about this, he became even more confused about what was going on in Qin Wei's head. How could any normal person be so confident in revealing a top-secret plan to someone he had only met a few times? Where did he get the audacity to be so sure that he wouldn't dare to expose it!

Hey, you've got a great eye for people!

Reus felt like he was being manipulated.

This is a really unpleasant experience.

On the other end, Qin Wei had finished his negotiations, and Falcone also expressed his helplessness.

He was a gang leader and a businessman who built his fortune on integrity and connections; he couldn't bring himself to betray his partners.

"I'm sorry, but the reputation of the Roman Empire is more important than our friendship..."

At this point, Falconet paused slightly before changing the subject.

"But we only protect our partners' safety within the territory. Once they leave the dock, we won't interfere with anything that happens to them."