amaotonovel Chapter 3898 The Nameless Bat (68)
Chapter 3898 The Nameless Bat (68)
Chapter 3898 The Nameless Bat (Sixty-Eight)
The Pale Knight arrived at the Batcave. Batman was conducting research on the properties of magical energy. He descended the stairs and gently tapped the handrail, drawing the other's attention.
"How are you? Is Fiona alright?"
"That female CIA agent seems to have a way to protect her. But that's not the point. Even if she isn't killed by the assassin, we still need to find a way to exonerate her. Normal methods probably won't work. We need to think of something else. I happen to have an idea; would you like to hear it?"
"Tell me about it," Batman said, putting down what he was holding.
“I believe we can indeed make Gotham physically independent, while adding another layer of protection…”
The Pale Knight briefly told Batman about the two plans he and Natasha had come up with. Batman glanced at the equipment in front of him and said, "You need to think this through. Although the energy we've acquired is more than enough to establish a global magical defense network, you can never have too much backup energy. If we use it to build a protective shield for Gotham, it will definitely consume some of it."
"Didn't you learn at the magic academy that if you want more energy, you can't just cut back on it, you have to find new sources? We should be thinking about how to get more energy from other places, not putting Gotham's safety at risk just to save energy?"
“Moreover, we need a base of operations, a safe and secure rear area free from the threat of the Federation,” the Pale Knight said, frowning. “Aren’t you disappointed in those congressmen yet? Your grand visions of the Justice League and the universe cannot be realized under their control.”
Batman gripped his pen tightly, and finally said, "Alright, we can practice building the magical defense network here too. Let's select the nodes; if we're quick, we can finish tonight."
The Pale Knight followed Batman to the other side. Here, there was a holographic projection model. Batman marked several locations, most of which were buildings within his control.
“Using these buildings as sanctuaries, we will inject energy into them and then connect the defense network like a spider weaving a web. There should be quite a commotion during this process, which will definitely attract the attention of the federal government and those agents.”
"It's alright. Once the shield is complete, we'll decide who comes in and who goes out. No matter how capable those agents are, they can't stay away from home forever, can they? They'll come begging to us eventually."
Batman nodded. Now that the decision was made, there was no need to hesitate any longer. He first loaded all the materials needed to build the support point onto the Batmobile and delivered them to the designated location in several trips.
I worked for most of the night until dawn. Along with the rising sun came a dazzling golden light.
Many people were awakened from their sleep. They drew back the curtains and found that it was getting brighter than usual today. Upon closer inspection, they realized that what was shining was not the newly risen orange-red sun, but a golden curtain of light.
"What the hell is that?!" The agents, who had to spend the night at the nearby fire station because of the Gotham Police Department fire, couldn't help but look up at the sky and say, "Is this some kind of Batman mess again?"
"I'm afraid so. We need to report to headquarters. I... damn it, why is there no signal?"
The citizens of Gotham quickly discovered that the moment the light screen rose, all network signals were cut off. But soon, a wireless network named "Bat Emoji" appeared in the empty internet search bar; it was a public network that anyone could connect to.
They quickly connected to the network. However, the network had limited access, only to websites hosted on Gotham's local servers, such as the state government's official website. When they opened the website, a notification immediately popped up:
"Dear residents: In view of the recent unwise actions of Congress that have seriously infringed upon the democratic rights of the people of our state, the city government has established a city shield to protect the personal safety and autonomy of the people of our state. During the shield's construction, communication with the outside world will be temporarily unavailable. You may choose to use a switching software to connect to the internet. Your original mobile carrier will also be unable to provide a signal for direct communication with the outside world. SIM cards for communication will be distributed to you later. Your cooperation is appreciated."
The Gotham residents read it several times, though they didn't quite understand it, but they knew it was a powerful response from the state government to the federal government. They had been waiting for this day for a long time, so they cheered.
But while some rejoiced, others grieved. The agents and many celebrities panicked. They frantically made phone calls and sought technical assistance to try and bypass the firewall. However, what was blocking ordinary electronic signals was actually a magical network; the two could not communicate, and the suppression was unilateral. Even the most skilled hacker could not crack the magical network. Communication throughout Gotham State was completely cut off.
The federal government only became aware that Gotham was completely out of contact four hours later. To be fair, that was fast enough—if it weren't for people in nearby metropolitan areas seeing a golden light in the sky above Gotham, Washington probably wouldn't have known for another 48 hours.
Soon, state troop and National Guard helicopters arrived, circling over Gotham but unable to land. This magical shield wasn't rigid; it was more like a force field. Anyone who got close to it would immediately lose kinetic energy and be thrown away by some inexplicable force.
After two helicopters crashed, no one dared to approach anymore. Fighter jets flew overhead twice, but they were too fragile to even fly directly at the edge, circling around it twice. Armored vehicles arrived on land, but unfortunately, they still couldn't get in. Trying to force their way in from the bridge resulted in them stalling as soon as they touched the glowing shield layer.
Those outside tried it out and found it to be incredibly powerful. Forget armored vehicles, even a toy car without an engine or power couldn't be pushed in. Even throwing a pebble would cause it to bounce back, let alone bullets.
What seemed absurd enough turned out to be something else entirely. Shortly after reporters arrived at the Gotham Bridge, they discovered that the bridge surface was beginning to shake violently. In fact, the entire Gotham Peninsula was experiencing an earthquake.
At the time, everyone thought a tsunami was coming, and people were rushing to get out of the city, boarding cars and planes as fast as they could. However, they soon discovered that the tremors were regular and did not cause significant tidal effects, having little impact on the cities surrounding Gotham.
The only problem is that the Gotham Peninsula is moving away from the Union mainland at a speed of about one mile per hour, slowly heading towards the Atlantic Ocean.
The soldiers and reporters were stunned. The reporters raised their cameras and started time-lapse photography, ready to record this historic moment; the soldiers were at a loss, unsure whether to stop it or let it go.
Meanwhile, their superiors in Washington were dumbfounded. Just moments before, they had been making arrogant remarks at a meeting, saying things like, "What can they do if they're not happy? They're just on federal territory; they can't just run away, can they?"
Now Gotham has really grown legs and run away, and everyone is silent again.
More than the fact that a city could grow legs and run away, what silenced them was the reality that "someone could make a city grow legs and run away." With this technology, how many coastal cities would the Federation have left?
Sure enough, after those unscrupulous reporters broadcast the footage live, the Governor of California immediately gave a televised address, claiming it was a "great journey to freedom" and stating that the Gotham state government was a true "practitioner of democracy," and that California was looking forward to such a "Pacific adventure."
Congressmen wanted to sew his mouth shut—even if you want independence, take a step back first. Didn't you see the Lone Star Republic flag already waving over there? And look at Alaska!
The military ordered an attack, but whether it was machine guns mounted on helicopters or missiles dropped by bombers, they all disappeared instantly upon hitting the magical defense network.
Now they were truly frightened and quickly tried to contact the Gotham State government to talk, but all signals were blocked by the magic defense network, making it impossible to even talk.
The members of Congress sat down again. An elderly man with a white beard slammed his fist on the table and said, “Don’t tell me you didn’t receive that email! It’s been almost 20 years, since the end of the Cold War, when have you bunch of bastards ever been so united in your opinions?!”
“Weren’t you threatened by that guy too?!” A young senator stood up and pointed his finger at him, saying, “You were the loudest when the decision was made to restart the referendum, and now you want to shift all the blame onto us?!”
"Stop arguing! It's because no one can trace the origins of the guy who sent the email. Now that you think about it, it was definitely Batman!" a female senator said. "He just wanted to find a pretext to make Gotham completely secede from the Union. Only he has that kind of technology; we've all been completely fooled by him!"
A moment of silence fell over everyone. The old senator sighed and said, "What do we do now? I'm afraid Gotham will soon declare independence, geographically and communistally isolated from the Union. How can we stop it?"
"Gotham's power system..."
"They've been independent for a long time. That's what the Wayne Group excels at. They built two large-scale nuclear power plants on such a small peninsula, so why would they worry about not having electricity? Just the shields they created alone took an enormous amount of energy; they can't possibly contain anything."
"Fresh water! For island nations, fresh water is probably the easiest thing to restrict, right?"
"No chance. Batman has seawater desalination technology, and it's quite mature. He just hasn't wanted to commercialize it, which is why it hasn't been made public. If he dares to do this, he must have already prepared for civilian use."
"That submarine..."
"Gotham Peninsula's foundation is very solid; even if it were to break free of the continental shelf, it would remain stable. Besides, Batman definitely has the technology to support it; otherwise, he wouldn't take this risk. Do you expect me to send a submarine to drop a nuclear bomb? We don't have those missile-immune shields! If Batman retaliates in kind, Washington will be in trouble!"
"We can't restrict them, and we can't fight them, so what else can we do?" someone said dejectedly. "Maybe we should just raise tariffs."
"You're crazy. Doesn't that mean admitting their independence?"
"At least it's easier to explain to the president, and it'll be considered that we did something. Besides, I think, so be it. It just means the Union loses its second-largest industrial base, the East Coast's GDP is halved, the IRS collects a lot less tax revenue, the Stars and Stripes loses a star, and the Union loses a large piece of land..."
"Sir Congressman! Sir Congressman! What's wrong?! Call an ambulance! Someone has collapsed!!"