Chapter 146 Cobert's Happy Life (Part 2)

Cobblepot has been having a bad time recently, or from another perspective, he has been having a good time.

Oswald Cobblepot was born into the Cobblepot family, one of the four major mafia families in the East. His family was relatively wealthy when he was young.

However, when he was young, his father, the pillar of the family, died of pneumonia, and his family fell into decline since then.

Now, the era of the four major mafia families in the East has passed, and he and his mother live in an old house on a street near the living hell.

His father made some money when he was young, and Mrs. Cobblepot basically lived on these savings.

As he got older, the family's expenses increased little by little. Mrs. Cobblepot relied on her husband's previous favors to find a job for little Cobblepot in the Mooney Gang.

The Mooney Gang was originally the largest gang in the living hell, but now, their boss Fish Mooney is a woman with a bad temper, and no one can disobey her. Cobblepot is short and timid, and Fish doesn't like him very much.

Therefore, Cobblepot was often sent out to work as a doorman or umbrella boy for other people in other streets.

This was not a good job. Being beaten, scolded and teased by customers was commonplace. Moreover, the money earned not only had to be handed over to the gangs in the area where the industry was located, but also to the Mooney Gang. Not much fell into Cobblepot's hands.

At work, Cobblepot was often humiliated and ridiculed by others. He could only hide aside with a gloomy face and try not to attract the attention of those people. However, he often angered some customers because of his short stature and lack of strength, and was beaten and scolded by the foreman. When he returned home, he was always like a drowned chicken.

Originally, Cobblepot thought that he would have to endure such days for a long time, but what he didn't expect was that Gotham changed almost overnight.

Construction began everywhere, the whole city was recruiting workers, and all industries were short of people. Since this change, Cobblepot has worked as a bartender, sweeper, counter, waiter and other various occupations. When he walked on the streets of the living hell, he would meet people asking him if he had a job.

Before that, he worked as a waiter in the largest night market around the Living Hell. Although he was called a waiter, he was actually just helping people at the roadside barbecue stalls, helping to wash barbecue plates or open beer bottles for customers.

Although this job was not easy, it was much better than being a doorman. One was that he earned more money, and the other was that he could often eat the leftovers of barbecue.

Moreover, the customers were generally various drivers. They were often in a hurry. They wanted a barbecue and a beer, and left after eating. They never procrastinated, and they had no time to embarrass the waiters. Occasionally, they could receive some tips.

Originally, Cobert was quite satisfied with this kind of life. At least he had taken a big step forward, but the next change was even more unexpected.

Later, the transformation of the Living Hell began. Although Cobert did not live inside the Living Hell, he lived not far away. He saw with his own eyes that this crowded and dilapidated city had changed.

But then, his life rhythm was completely changed.

Due to the transformation of the living hell, many gangs set their sights on this piece of fat meat. The Muni Gang was outnumbered, and more gang forces poured into this poorest area and divided up the area here. The original Muni Gang was left with only a small piece of territory in the southernmost part.

After the transformation was completed, the gangs began to build a management system here, but the problem was, where could they find so many people who could manage the living hell?

Although this place has been transformed, it is still complicated. These foreign gang bosses themselves don’t understand the terrain here, let alone collect protection fees.

Cobert is considered a half-local. He often goes to the living hell to buy things. In addition, he was originally a member of the local snake Muni Gang. The gang boss took a fancy to him, and Cobert began to work with them.

At first, he was responsible for counting at the entrance of the freight channel. As a result, the small leader in charge of freight found that he was good at mathematics. Even if he counted manually for a whole day, he would not make mistakes, so he introduced him to the commercial area of ​​the living hell to collect protection fees.

Because he had worked in a stall at a night market before, Cobblepot soon became acquainted with the owner of a restaurant in the commercial district and was responsible for delivering ingredients to the restaurant.

Originally, Cobblepot's life had improved a lot when he came here, and he was at least a small leader.

Cobblepot was not even an adult, but he was responsible for purchasing ingredients for a restaurant. Just think about it, there is a lot of money here, which is not common in Gotham.

But that's not all. Cobblepot received a good education when he was young, and even lived in a wealthy area in the south. Therefore, he can write in a neat English font, is quite talented in mathematics and statistics, and can even do fast calculations, which is a rare talent in Gotham!

Not long after, he was spotted by the leader of a big gang and transferred to the water management department of the living hell.

The so-called water management department is the place responsible for connecting and maintaining tap water, and then collecting water fees.

It's called water fee, but it's actually protection fee. When a gang gets a district in the living hell, the residents will pay them all the water fee, and then these gangs are responsible for maintaining the tap water system.

However, the water source of the living hell after reconstruction is not like the previous wells. The modern water supply system is very complicated, with tap water pipes, various pipes and valves, and water meters of several specifications. These things the gangs can't figure out at all.

Once, in the process of collecting water fees, the gangs and local residents had a conflict. It was Cobert who took a look at the water meter reading and stopped the possible fight.

That's right, in the entire water source management department, only Cobert can read the water meter.

So he was promoted to the person in charge of the tap water system in the North District 2 of the living hell.

Although it sounds ridiculous, it's the fact that Cobert's promotion path is so smooth, not because this underage little penguin is so powerful now, but mainly because other people are too bad.

As a department manager, life was certainly easier. Cobert didn't even have to wander around in hell. He only needed to have someone write down the readings on the water meter, and he could accurately determine how much water a household used and how much protection money to charge.

However, this didn't last long. The gangs also found that it was not enough to rely on a genius like Cobert, who was rare among a hundred people, to maintain the operation of the entire system.

So, they began to prepare for the vocational school in a vigorous manner.

According to the second law of Gotham, when the school site was selected, the staff was prepared, and even the teachers were found, the gang bosses found that they had no students.

The gang bosses themselves definitely didn't have time to learn these things. They already had enough things to take care of.

The middle-level gangs generally didn't know anything. They could even spell their own names wrong. Moreover, they all smoked, drank, and gambled. Their brains had not worked for many years, so it was useless to send them to school.

Therefore, these gangster bosses could only choose from the second generation of gangsters, or the children of some young leaders, preferably in their teens, with some strange hobbies, as long as they didn't damage their brains by drinking or taking drugs.

Even with such lenient conditions, they couldn't get 20 students.

There was no other way, the gangsters could only cast a wide net, even if they were street kids, as long as they were good enough, they would catch them to go to school.

So, Cobert, who was both good in character and learning, became the first batch of students in the vocational school, and as soon as Cobert entered this class, he was the top student in the first place.

He received a good education when he was a child. Not only did he have beautiful handwriting and was good at mathematics, he could even play a little violin. In this environment of prenatal education for everyone, he was simply outstanding.

But it was true that he didn't have a good life.

Although he came to school, he was still responsible for maintaining the water system in his territory. Cobert studied during the day and worked overtime at night. These days he lived directly in the office and didn't even have the opportunity to go home.

Although he is no longer as poor as a drowned chicken, he has become a ruthless overtime machine.

The main theme of Cobert's life recently is one word, busy.

Because the water system in his area is well maintained and the income is higher than other places, the boss of this gang plans to hand over Area 3 to him.

Although this gang is a big gang, it is far worse than the Twelve Families. It does not have the ability to hire professionals. The entire system is maintained by Cobert alone.

It is also the first time that Cobert knows that working in an office is not easier than working outside in the wind and sun.

But it is true that he lives a good life.

Cobert now fully understands what it means that knowledge changes destiny.

Because he is good at mathematics, he has been promoted all the way. Not to mention being bullied when he was a doorman, he now manages more than 20 gang members.

Because Cobblepot doesn't need others to help him calculate, others can only run errands at most, and they also get a commission for the water fees collected. Many people like to do this job. They look to Cobblepot to make money, so they naturally flatter him.

Cobblepot now has his own small piece of land, and even if he saves some money, he and Mrs. Cobblepot can move out of the dark old house and find a nice apartment to live in.

Moreover, most of the teachers invited by the gangsters are quite troubled by the situation here. Before they came, they didn't expect that the students they were going to teach would be like this. In this environment, Cobblepot, who learns fast and concentrates, looks particularly cute.

Gloomy appearance? What does it matter? Look at these bastards. If they have less than ten metal rings on their heads, they are considered conservative.

Hooked nose? He didn't put a bunch of nose rings on his nose, which shows that he pays attention to his image.

Short height? That's better than jumping up and down in the classroom every day with thorns on his buttocks.

The image of students that teachers like mostly have the same temperament, and Cobert just happens to have this temperament.

He seemed a little timid and taciturn, which was considered unsociable by his peers, but in the eyes of teachers and professors, it was the performance of a good student who was obedient and law-abiding.

Facts have proved that the Penguin, who can occupy a place on the future Gotham stage and compete with crazy geniuses like the Joker, is of course very outstanding. These courses in vocational schools not only cannot stop him, but also give him a considerable space to play.

Even Victor looked at him differently and called Cobblepot "lettuce in the carrot field".

Hearing Victor's evaluation, Schiller was a little amused. It was difficult for him to describe the wonderful feeling of a person who had read the original comics when he heard Mr. Freeze evaluate the Penguin as a genius.

He didn't know whether this was a plan in the dark or a mutual appreciation between villains. In short, Victor and Cobblepot began to appreciate each other gradually.

In Victor's eyes, Cobblepot became a studious genius who was untainted by mud, while in Cobblepot's eyes, Victor became a good teacher who treated students equally and did not discriminate against him.

As for Schiller, after he finished that class, he left all the work of organizing classroom discipline to Victor, and he drank coffee and slacked off in the office of Gotham University every day, which made Victor angry and called him an old-fashioned man.

As for Cobblepot, he certainly did not forget that Schiller was a special guest he met at that time.

At that time, Schiller's words and deeds made him quite fond of the profession of professor, and now, Victor has also proved that reading more books is indeed different.

Cobblepot even had the idea of ​​whether to take the college entrance examination. When this idea appeared in his mind, he felt a little absurd.

Take the college entrance examination? This is a very distant thing for every low-level person in Gotham.

But the future Penguin, what he lacks the most is ambition.

Ten thousand words are sent today!

The eggplant man is here! Asking for votes and rewards!