"Boss."
The secretary glanced at the message on her phone and leaned close to Shimizu's ear.
"That person sent a message saying the Penguin has died, and his head has been delivered to the Rattlesnake, who will personally hand it over to you."
The smile on Shimizu's face grew wider.
It was truly a double blessing.
Now, the newly appointed Mayor Hamilton is his puppet. Even though his foundation is still shallow, with a bit of planning, he can easily wield significant power in Gotham's political circles, making it no problem to secure a Gotham City councilor position for himself.
The Penguin is dead, the Iceberg Lounge is destroyed, and the Two-Face Gang is now in a semi-vassal state to the Hogg Syndicate. With the Hogg Syndicate now wielding absolute power, Harvey Dent will have to drop the "semi" if he wants to survive.
On the surface, he will have unified most of Gotham's underworld.
As for completely unifying Gotham's underworld, that's not something that can be done in a short time.
Gotham City is full of talent, with numerous villains, none of whom are easy to deal with. There are countless gangs, big and small, and you never know when a formidable character will jump out from some corner.
However, with Shimizu's current strength, he is more than capable of crushing most ordinary villains, it will just take time to clean them up one by one.
In the future, in terms of influence in Gotham, perhaps only the Wayne Group, rooted in the everyday lives of Gotham's citizens, in areas such as food, clothing, housing, transportation, medical care, and education, can surpass Shimizu.
After the mayor's inaugural speech, Shimizu also attended the subsequent banquet.
Gotham's business and political elites, as well as the members of the mayor's team that he had selected for Hamilton, were all in attendance.
Shimizu's future plans require him to build relationships with these people.
For example...
"Mr. Wayne."
Shimizu, sitting on the sofa with a wine glass in hand, addressed the tall, handsome man walking towards him.
The latter should have arrived when the mayor's inauguration ceremony was held, but he was late.
As for why he was so late, it was, of course, because he was dealing with the troubles caused by the Red Hood.
Of course, Wayne's butler, Alfred, said that the master had overworked himself last night, working until dawn, and slept until dark.
Bruce Wayne slapped the buttocks of the two beauties in his arms.
"Go wait for me in the private room I booked. After I finish discussing business with Mr. Walter, I'll come and discuss another deal with you."
The two women gave Bruce Wayne passionate kisses and obediently retreated.
They knew that the two important figures had something to discuss. As women who could accompany such upper-class figures, they were very sensible.
"Are you the person behind Jason?"
Bruce Wayne questioned in a low voice, but with a smile on his face, he accepted another glass of wine from Shimizu, as if the two were truly good business partners.
"Not entirely. You should have found out about my cooperation with Ra's. He gave me this, and it just so happens that I also need a good knife to help me do some things."
Shimizu shook the wine glass and smiled.
"It was Cobblepot."
"Don't slander me for no reason. How could the death of the esteemed entrepreneur, Mr. Cobblepot, have anything to do with me?"
Shimizu took a sip of the expensive red wine and said to Bruce Wayne.
"It was you after all."
Bruce Wayne affirmed.
Although there was no evidence, how long had it been since the Penguin died?
The people present, from the inauguration ceremony of the new Mayor Hamilton to the current banquet, had no chance to leave, so how could they have learned of the Penguin's death so quickly?
Unless someone was specifically watching, or the person who did it sent a message to Shimizu.
"I told you, don't talk nonsense without evidence."
"What you're doing is getting more and more dangerous. Many people won't want to see someone controlling Gotham's darkness, let alone affecting the center of Gotham's power."
Bruce Wayne put down the red wine he hadn't even touched.
Shimizu didn't answer directly, but changed the subject.
"Ah, Mr. Wayne, you know, our newly designed TSL new energy vehicle with a new concept will definitely have a very broad market in the future. If you are willing to cooperate, we can jointly invest in research and development with Wayne Enterprises..."
Because Commissioner Gordon, wearing glasses, also approached with a glass of wine.
"I'm sorry, Mr. Walter, to interrupt the business you and Mr. Wayne were about to discuss, but I have some questions about the new police weapons sponsored by Wayne Enterprises that I would like to ask Mr. Wayne about. You see..."
"It's okay, you guys talk."
Shimizu raised his glass and toasted Commissioner Gordon.
Gordon also politely clinked glasses with Shimizu, drank it all in one gulp, and then took Bruce Wayne away.
Shimizu smiled and chatted with a newly arrived member of the mayor's team, while using his ability to perceive the true nature of things and manipulate air currents to eavesdrop on Bruce Wayne and Gordon's conversation.
"You guessed right, those people have indeed started to move, but the target is not yet determined."
"I know, but they are very cautious. However, I have already listed several potential targets and have warned them in various ways to increase their vigilance."
"It would be best if I sent some people to protect them."
"There is one who doesn't need it. His strength is enough to handle it."
"That's good. Wait, I'll take a call. Important information from an informant..."
After seeing off the soon-to-be-appointed official of the new mayor's government, Shimizu took a sip of red wine and fell into deep thought.
Moving, warning... His strength is enough to handle it.
Clearly, this refers to himself.
Bruce Wayne had previously told him that some people didn't want to see someone controlling Gotham's darkness and told him to be careful.
In other words, in his opinion, those people have the ability to threaten him.
But with his strength, as long as he is careful enough, he can handle it.
Thoughts flashed quickly through Shimizu's mind.
Soon, Shimizu used his ability to perceive the true nature of things to see that Bruce Wayne made up an excuse and left early, less than ten minutes before the end of the banquet.
Presumably, Batman was about to move out again.
"Being a hero is really a life of toil..."
Shimizu took another sip of red wine and thought to himself.
Fortunately, I'm not.
The banquet ended quickly, and Shimizu got into a modified armored car, accompanied by several bodyguards, a convoy of three cars.
The nights in Gotham are very dangerous, even Gotham's former richest man, Thomas Wayne, could be killed in an alley.
Although Shimizu claimed that ordinary methods couldn't threaten him, the necessary preparations still couldn't be lacking. The White Knight's construction was now quietly placed in the trunk of the car.
