Chapter 145 Cobert's Happy Life (Part 2)

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

Oswald Copperhead was born into the Copperhead 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. Copperhead basically lived on these savings.

As he got older, the family's expenses increased little by little. Mrs. Copperhead used her husband's previous favors to find a job for little Copperhead 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. Copperhead 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 a mistake, 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 yet, but he was responsible for purchasing raw materials for a restaurant. Just think about it, you can understand that there is a lot of money here, which is not common in Gotham.

But this is not the end. Cobblepot received a good education in his childhood 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 collecting water fees.

It is called water fee, but in fact it is protection fee. After a gang takes over an area of ​​the living hell, the residents will pay all the water fees to them, and then these gangs will be responsible for maintaining the tap water system.

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

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

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

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

Although it sounds ridiculous, this is the fact. 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 head, life is of course better. Cobert doesn't even have to wander around the living hell himself. He just needs to ask someone to copy down the reading on the water meter, and he can accurately judge how much water a household uses and how much protection fee to collect.

However, it didn't last long. The gangsters also found that it was not enough to rely on a genius like Cobblepot, who was rare in 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 had enough things to take care of.

The middle-level gangsters 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. It was useless to send them to school.

So, these gang 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 tolerant conditions, they couldn't get enough 20 students.

There was no other way, the gangsters could only cast a wide net, even street kids, as long as they were good enough, they would be caught and sent to school.

So, Cobert, who was excellent in both 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 terms of learning.

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 where everyone was taught prenatally, he was simply outstanding.

But it was true that he was not living a good life.

Although he came to school, he was still responsible for the maintenance of the water system in his area. Cobert studied during the day and had to work overtime at night. These days, he lived directly in the office and did not even have the opportunity to go home.

Although he was no longer as poor as a drowned chicken, he had become a ruthless overtime machine.

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

Because the water system in his area was well maintained and the income was higher than other places, the gang leader planned to hand over Area 3 to him.

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

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

But it is true that he lived a good life.

Cobert now fully understood what it meant that knowledge changed destiny.

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

Because Cobert does not need others to help him calculate, others can only run errands at most, and they also have a commission for the water bills collected. Many people like to do this job. They rely on Cobert to make money, so they naturally flatter him.

Cobert now has his own small piece of land, and even if he saves some money, he and Mrs. Cobert 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 were 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, Cobert, who was fast-learning and focused, looked particularly cute.

Gloomy appearance? What does it matter? Look at these bastards. Anyone with less than ten metal rings on their heads is considered conservative.

Hooked nose? He didn't wear 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.

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

He seems a little timid and taciturn, which is considered unsociable by his peers, but in the eyes of teachers and professors, it is the performance of a good student who abides by the law.

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 looks at him differently and calls Cobblepot "lettuce in a carrot field."

Hearing Victor's evaluation, Schiller was somewhat 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 Penguin as a genius.

He didn't know whether this was arranged by fate or whether the villains appreciated each other. 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 threw all the work of organizing classroom discipline to Victor, and he drank coffee and fished in the office of Gotham University every day, which made Victor angry and called him an old-fashioned oil stick.

And Cobblepot, of course, he 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 thought about whether to go to college. When this thought came to his mind, he felt a little absurd.

Going to college? This is a very distant thing for every low-level person in Gotham.

But the thing that this future Penguin lacks the most is ambition.

－－－－－－－Digression－－－－－－

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