Chapter 17: This First Customer is Intense, How Are the Rest Gonna Be?

Cody wasn't lying. Everyone who's been through exams knows the deal with last-minute cramming – a whole semester's worth of knowledge gets crammed into a few days before the test, memorized, and then promptly forgotten. Even though this guidebook was pretty thick and nobody had highlighted the important parts, he still managed to memorize most of it.

Just to be safe, he even spent a dollar of his asset points in the car to save the content on the system's record board, so he could look it up whenever he needed.

The supervisor casually asked him a few questions, and after confirming he wasn't bluffing, he took him straight to the changing room, pulled out a waiter's suit that fit his size, and told him to change.

To be honest, this was Cody's first time wearing a suit.

"Emm... not bad, not bad."

The supervisor sized up Cody, who looked sharp in the well-fitting suit. He was tall and well-proportioned, with a respectable face and handsome features. Overall, he looked the part – except for a hint of coldness and cunning lingering in his eyes, and a touch of fierce wildness.

"But you're on the day shift, not the night scene. That face of yours still looks a little too menacing."

Hearing this, Cody relaxed his mouth and tried to smile. This immediately made his aura even more subtle, like a wild beast in a suit giving a predatory grin. If he were wearing a proper Italian suit, most people would probably mistake him for a high-ranking mob boss.

"...Ever considered joining a gang? I think that face of yours would fit right in."

The supervisor muttered to himself, then turned and left. A moment later, he returned holding a pair of gold-rimmed, non-prescription glasses.

"Here, put these on. But you better not drop them on a customer or in the food while you're working."

Cody took the glasses and put them on. The coldness and wildness in his expression were instantly softened by the touch of refinement the glasses added.

"Looks much better now."

The supervisor then ran through the procedures for greeting guests, taking orders, serving food, and clearing tables a few times with him. Cody's demeanor and movements generally met the standards, his etiquette had few flaws, and his answers to questions were accurate. Or rather, most of his mistakes were glossed over by his intimidating face and calm demeanor.

"Not bad, not bad. You learn quickly. In that case, you can officially start at ten o'clock."

Cody watched the supervisor disappear with a yawn, probably going back to catch some sleep. The night shift last night must have been busy, otherwise, he wouldn't have stayed up this late.

He'd already had breakfast and didn't want to eat again, so he simply took off the glasses and went to a newsstand down the street to buy a newspaper. He wanted to see if anything big had happened in Gotham.

"Two robbery-murders, tsk, Gotham's got no shortage of scumbags; a bunch of bikers got taken out by a road-raging truck driver in a big rig, tough luck, can't say I feel sorry for them; a few pharmaceutical company employees were found frozen into ice sculptures, definitely Mr. Freeze's handiwork; some Maroni goons had all their bones broken and ended up in the hospital, and the evidence of their crimes was handed over to the Gotham PD. That's just how it goes when you're in that li—"

Wait a minute? All their bones broken?

Cody warily flipped back to that page and carefully looked at the gruesome state of those mob members.

Limbs broken, ribs fractured, and they were suspected to be the perpetrators of the two robbery-murders.

Good job, he thought silently. Even if it was a psychopath, at least it was a psychopath doing some good.

It's just that the Maroni family is practically a vassal of the Falcone family, and the Falcone family is still Gotham's top crime syndicate. No wonder the supervisor stayed up all night; there must have been some big shots meeting here yesterday.

But what does all this have to do with me, a regular restaurant waiter?

He shrugged and continued flipping through the newspaper. The rest was nothing more than a dozen or so thugs who got their jaws broken and were sent to the hospital after a robbery, and a few drug dealers who were tied up and dumped in front of the Gotham Police Department. Ignoring the major incidents that probably wouldn't make the news...

Yesterday was a relatively peaceful day in Gotham.

"Huh?"

Just as Cody closed the newspaper, he suddenly noticed several colleagues who had also changed into their suits standing behind him, staring at the news with what seemed like a hint of schadenfreude.

"H-hello?"

"Hello, my name is Santos, Claude Santos."

"Lloyd Rick."

"I'm Bridgette Castro."

"Hi, hi, I'm Cody – would you guys like to see the newspaper?"

"Thanks."

Santos took the newspaper and began reading it carefully. Cody stood up and realized that he and his colleagues were looking at the news about the Maroni family members being taken to the police station. Suddenly, things started to click.

It made sense, didn't it? Drake had said that the person behind Donald was powerful, and considering what Donald was doing on the phone, there was no way he wasn't connected to the biggest local crime family, the Falcones.

But he really hadn't expected that even the waiters in the restaurant would have family ties to the mob. This level of connection was much deeper than he had imagined.

"The Maroni family, huh?"

Santos spoke first, his tone mocking.

Rick shook his head. "So embarrassing, getting thrown into the Gotham PD like that."

Castro asked, "Are we just going to stand by and watch? What about the Godfather's reputation?"

"Maroni's reputation doesn't concern the Godfather. Besides," Santos continued, a dark humor in his voice, "you always have a chance fighting a lion, a tiger, or even another person with a gun. But what about fighting ghosts, nightmares, or fear?" This almost sounds like something Batman, who often deals with the psychological aspects of crime, might say.

Santos folded the newspaper and shook his head. "None of our business. We're just lowly waiters. Still, today's paper is pretty entertaining."

He stood up, a smile spreading across his face as he joked, "Speaking of which, Cody, you really look like a mob boss like that. You wouldn't happen to be with the Falcone family, would you?"

"No, no, I'm not in any gang, I just look a little mean," Cody quickly waved his hands, casually taking out the gold-rimmed glasses and putting them on. "See? Much better like this."

The expressions of the three subtly changed. Santos's smile, however, widened. "Haha, just kidding, don't mind me."

Rick and Castro secretly glanced at Cody's exposed wrists and neck, confirming that he didn't have their family's tattoos.

Why didn't Donald tell the supervisor beforehand? They almost mistook him for one of their own.

What the others didn't know was that the situation with their family yesterday was even more urgent than what was reported in the newspaper. The supervisor and Donald had been up all night and had completely forgotten about this small matter.

"It's almost time for work. The chef's already here. Shall we go get ready together?"

"Sure, I just got here, so it's a good chance for me to learn from you guys."

They didn't have to wait long before a man in a sharp suit walked into the restaurant.

Cody didn't move, wanting to see what the experienced staff would do. But the expressions of the three and the other colleagues stiffened for a moment, and they directly pushed him forward.

"?"

"Good morning, sir. Do you have a reservation?"

"Just one."

"And your name, sir?"

"Dent, Harvey Dent." This name is significant in DC Comics, as Harvey Dent is the alter ego of the villain Two-Face, a character known for his duality and obsession with chance. His appearance here suggests a potentially important storyline involving organized crime and the legal system in Gotham.