"My dear friend, I don't think my creations are any worse than those monsters, so you really don't need to worry about me bypassing you to work with Victor."
Two-Face was clearly taken aback when he saw Black Gold.
"How about... I invest in you too? You make a hundred of these robots for me, what do you say?"
Harvey Dent suddenly felt that Black Gold was even more appealing than Titan.
He understood that Hardy was showing his power to him through Black Gold.
"I'm sorry, but Penguin said the same thing to me. The truth is, I'm the only one in this world who possesses the ability to control these big guys."
Hardy glanced at the Two-Face Gang thugs outside, who were distracted by Black Gold but had raised their guns again.
"I see. Just like Pamela, this is a talent unique to you."
Pamela is Poison Ivy's real name.
Noticing the commotion outside, Two-Face opened the car door and waved for his men to put away their weapons.
"Victor is currently living in a central warehouse in Burnley. I bought a cold storage facility there as his research base. Go to the nearby Swore Street, and my men will take you to him.
As for what you want Victor to do, I don't know. But I can tell you, Victor is different from us criminals who seek wealth and power. Other than reviving his wife, there's almost nothing in this world that can move him."
Harvey Dent said to Hardy as he stepped out of the car.
"Thanks for the warning, I'll keep it in mind. But can you tell me what exactly Victor's wife is suffering from?"
The medical methods of this world can't cure Mrs. Freeze's terminal illness, but perhaps medical ninjutsu from the Naruto world could be tried.
"A rare chronic neurodegenerative disease. I'm not too clear on the specifics either."
Harvey Dent continued:
"Alright, my forces will withdraw from those territories today. Arrange for your people to take over. One million dollars in cash and those weapons and vehicles will be delivered by tomorrow night. I expect a straightforward exchange—money for goods—at Victor's cold storage. How does that sound?"
"Deal."
The Two-Face Gang quickly got into their vehicles and left, leaving behind Kerman Cole, who was clutching his hand and had his mouth stuffed with a rag.
"Boss, what should we do with this guy?"
Aman pressed Kerman forward and asked Hardy.
"Put him in a sack, fill it with cement, and dump him under Gotham Bridge."
Hardy's gaze was cold; he didn't even look at Kerman Cole, just nodded to Aman and went to find the accountant.
"This afternoon, take some men and take over Rosania Street, Shockwave Street, and the Aylesbury community. Tomorrow, Two-Face's guys will deliver weapons and vehicles—coordinate with them when the time comes."
The accountant was stunned.
"Boss, how did you pull this off? Not only did they hand Kerman Cole over to us, but they're also giving us territory and weapons. You didn't..."
"It was just business. Don't look at me like that—it was a proper deal. As for Kerman Cole, Two-Face is just using us to clean house for him."
Hardy flicked the accountant on the head and went back into the abandoned factory to continue modifying Black Gold.
This time, he was installing a type of artificial muscle in Black Gold—multiple inner bladders made of composite rubber and an outer woven fiber layer—to replace the original, relatively primitive pneumatic cylinders.
This not only increased the power of the pneumatic system and boosted output, but also gave the body some flexibility, allowing him to control the puppet more efficiently.
However, this material was produced by Wayne Enterprises and was almost unavailable on the market.
It was exclusively supplied to the military.
Only Penguin had the connections to buy leftover stock from military logistics personnel.
But he charged a high price and told Hardy that without a Wayne Enterprises channel, what he had was one of a kind.
Processing composite rubber was a meticulous job.
Even with various tools to help, it still took Hardy a lot of time.
It wasn't until evening that Hardy finally finished his work.
The modifications were complete, with some scraps left over.
"I can use these to make some new parts for Black Gold, or save them for the next puppet."
Hardy snapped his fingers and sat in his swivel chair, admiring his masterpiece with satisfaction.
[Puppet Name]: Black Gold
[Overall Parameters]:
Height: 2.04 meters
Weight: 201.2 kilograms
Materials: Industrial alloy, ceramic composite fiber, artificial rubber, silver, copper...
Power Source: None
Control Method: Chakra threads
[Puppet Rating]: B (B+)
[Overall Assessment]: An armored combat puppet—a product of combining puppet techniques with modern engineering and materials science. Excellent performance, powerful in close combat, and with some ranged attack capability. When merged with the puppeteer, overall combat power can be further enhanced.
Although the materials used don't mesh with puppet techniques as well as those for Formentor, thanks to the abundance of high-tech industrial products in the DC world, Black Gold's overall combat ability is probably no less than Formentor's.
What excited Hardy wasn't just Black Gold's improvement, but also the increase in his Fortune Bar.
When his main body became a Chunin, the Fortune Bar had shot up, and it had been slowly growing ever since.
By the time he met with Two-Face, the Fortune Bar had reached 49.7%. Now, with the Hogg Union swallowing up two districts and a community in one go—more than doubling their territory—
Perhaps because the accountant and Aman had already taken people to take over the territories, the Fortune Bar had soared to 54.6%.
"Excellent. Next, once Two-Face's stuff arrives, with money, guns, and turf, it's time to start recruiting more people."
This matter is actually quite simple.
Poor neighborhoods, bars, nightclubs—these are all prime locations for gangs to recruit fresh blood.
In these places, you'll find the unemployed, delinquent youths, and immigrants from outside.
However, Hardy still hoped to recruit some more capable members. After all, the current Hog Union now controls four blocks and one neighborhood. Just judging by its territory, it already ranks as a medium-to-large gang in Gotham's slums.
And if you want to attract truly skilled people, you definitely can't offer them worse treatment than others.
So right now, Hardy is seriously short on cash.
If he were to launder the one million dollars Harvey Dent provided through Penguin's channels, that guy would probably skim off more than half.
Fortunately, the current Hog Union does have some money laundering capabilities.
This is all thanks to the generous legacy left behind by the Spalletta family.
Bars, nightclubs, and freight companies—these businesses are all excellent for laundering large amounts of money.