Chapter 164 The Long Easter (4) (Patreon)

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In Gotham's police station, Gordon swung his coat, pushed open the door, and quickly walked into his office. He found Schiller and Batman waiting for him. Gordon said with a headache, "From my colleague's report, the situation is not optimistic."

He walked to his desk and sat down, saying, "Honestly, your move was effective, but the problem is that the loss is too severe. Gotham's entire underground water system has been destroyed, and many building foundations have also been damaged."

"Of course, we anticipated this." Schiller nodded. At this time, Victor walked in with a material and Gordon stood up, pouring hot coffee for everyone.

The other people sat down at the table, chatting and drinking hot coffee, only Batman stood alone in the corner of the room.

"The loss is indeed significant, but it is within our estimation." Victor pointed to the lines on the report and said, "The process of condensation from water to ice will result in volume expansion. We considered this, so the degree of damage to the sewer system is within our estimation."

"How much damage are we talking about?" Gordon asked after taking a sip of coffee.

"It's everything," Victor replied.

Gordon sprayed his coffee out, exclaiming, "I knew the loss was severe, but now you're telling me that Gotham's entire underground water system has been destroyed?"

Batman's voice came from the side, "In fact, it's even worse. Not only the underground buildings, but many of Gotham's building foundations are not cold-resistant, and many buildings have cracked. They all need to be rebuilt."

"This loss is too severe. Didn't you consider this before devising this plan?" Gordon asked in confusion, "Our logistics system has only just begun to take shape, and now we have to start from scratch."

"We anticipated this, but as the saying goes, you have to break something down to build it up again."

Schiller sighed and said, "Detective Gordon, you should know that although the construction of the logistics system has brought some improvements to Gotham, it is still far from enough."

"Perhaps we have some advantages here, but no absolute advantage. We don't have any leading industries, nor do we have anything that can't be replaced by other cities."

"What we need to do now is to artificially add an advantage to Gotham that no other city in the world can imitate."

"I understand what you mean, but I don't understand what this has to do with the losses caused by freezing Gotham."

Schiller gave Victor a look, signaling him to explain. Victor said to Gordon, "I think you should be aware that the low-temperature generator capable of freezing the entire Gotham in an instant is not an ordinary ice maker."

"The reason the low-temperature generator can achieve this effect is because its 'ice' is different."

"Ice? What's different about the ice?"

"Have you ever heard of 'super ice'?"

Gordon shook his head. Victor said, "You don't need to know its principle. In short, I used a newly developed super ice in the low-temperature generator."

"After contacting water, its crystallization speed exceeds 1,000 kilometers per hour, and it can still exist at temperatures above 1,000 degrees Celsius. If further improved, I think I might be able to freeze all the oceans on Earth within a day."

Hearing this, Gordon gasped. He looked at Victor again. This scholarly professor always seemed gentle and elegant, but his words had a strong villainous vibe.

"This is not the kind of small ice cube we usually add to our drinks. Its hardness and stability are no less than that of metal. You can actually think of it as a kind of artificial diamond structure, just slightly less hard and with the low-temperature characteristics of ice."

"So..." Schiller concluded, "The reconstruction problem you are worried about does exist, but it is not an ordinary reconstruction problem, and it will bring an unexpected benefit."

"Treating this kind of ice is indeed very difficult, but at the same time, once we utilize it, the entire underground of Gotham will become a natural, massive cold storage."

Following this, Schiller revealed the entire Gotham reconstruction plan to Gordon.

The reconstruction of Gotham City does not involve melting all these ice blocks, as that would be very difficult. The ice created by Mr. Freeze, Victor, is not ordinary ice for consumption. This dense ice is extremely hard and requires very high temperatures to melt. Instead of being used for cooling, it is more like a sturdy material.

This ice has replaced the rock layers beneath Gotham, making it as if the entire city is now situated on a massive block of dense ice.

As a result, during reconstruction, there is no need to consider melting the ice. Instead, pathways are created directly within the ice blocks, transforming the entire underground of Gotham into a huge natural cold storage.

Processing this ice is difficult, and the construction progress will be slow, but the good thing is that it can be used as needed, with construction carried out in stages.

For example, to build a cold storage, choose a location, set up the above-ground buildings, and then start digging downwards. Once a room is excavated, products can be thrown in to be frozen, and then other rooms can be dug out slowly.

Although the process will be slow and consume a lot of manpower and resources, once completed, a natural cold storage will be available with almost no maintenance costs and ample space, fully meeting the storage needs of large quantities of goods.

More importantly, Victor's freezing technology has unparalleled preservation capabilities. In the comics, he has frozen Batman into an ice block multiple times and then chatted with him.

Batman emerges from the ice unharmed and can still beat Mr. Freeze. Apart from Batman's inherent protagonist aura, Victor's excellent preservation ability with his freezing technology is also an important reason.

Gotham's villainous geniuses have such unreasonable technology, but if used for good, it would be an unparalleled powerful productivity.

In a city where the cost of cold chain storage is minimized, it becomes impossible not to be a logistics hub, as producers eager to reduce logistics costs will flock to it.

Gordon showed a thoughtful expression, and then he said, "You mean, instead of fixing the sewer, we use these ice layers as natural cold storage?"

"The sewer is still necessary, but we can rebuild a new drainage system, and these dense ice layers that can exist at room temperature will become Gotham's secret weapon for development."

"This massive underground cold storage can accommodate the entire East Coast's cold chain product storage, making Gotham an indispensable location for nationwide cold chain transportation."

Gordon looked at Batman, who was silent for a moment before saying, "According to my calculations, this is indeed possible. Although there are still many technical issues and reconstruction will take a lot of time, once successful, Gotham will become a world-class logistics distribution center."

"Other cities will find it difficult to replicate this success. Even if they have Victor's freezing technology, it's hard to find such a cooperative Court of Owls."

"Their artificial rainfall technology is indeed impressive, with long duration and heavy rainfall, capable of gathering enough water to create stable ice layers in a very short time. This is quite rare," Schiller commented.

Gordon almost felt sorry for the Court of Owls, as they were being used and still helping others profit.

"Originally, I was a bit interested in the Court of Owls' artificial rainfall technology," Schiller continued. "After all, as you've seen, their technology is quite effective."

"But after thinking about it, even if we could obtain the technology, we would have to spend a lot of resources to implement it, and the federal government would not agree to flood Gotham just to build an underground natural cold storage."

"So it's best to let the Court of Owls work for us."

"They're doing a good job now, initiating a flood and creating the world's largest underground cold storage, making an outstanding contribution to the future development of Gotham City. I think we can definitely award them with some kind of outstanding contribution prize or something."

"But there's also a problem," Gordon hesitated. "I don't mean to rain on your parade, but you mentioned earlier that dealing with this ice layer is extremely difficult and expensive, and rebuilding the sewer system will also require a lot of money."

Schiller placed his hands on the table and suddenly changed the topic, saying to Gordon, "Gordon detective, have you dealt with kidnapping cases before?"

"Kidnapping cases? I've encountered a few in Chicago, but since coming to Gotham, there have only been murders and no kidnappings."

"Even if it were a kidnapping case, the hostage would already be dead before the police arrived, so it wouldn't really be considered a kidnapping."

"It doesn't matter, as long as you understand the principle behind it."

"Principle? What do you mean?"

Schiller took a sip of hot coffee and let out a satisfied sigh as the warm liquid flowed into his stomach. He then said, "Don't worry, let's first analyze the current situation."

"Gotham is in danger of flooding due to several days of continuous heavy rain, and we have taken a series of emergency measures. Although we suffered huge losses, we saved countless citizens' lives and property."

"Now, after our investigation, we have found out that this flood was a man-made conspiracy. A group of terrorists used weather weapons on Gotham, and now..."

Schiller trailed off before continuing, "The mastermind is currently frozen in a huge block of ice underground in Gotham. Gordon detective, what do you think is the most important aspect of a kidnapping case?"

Gordon pondered for a moment before saying, "What? Persuading the kidnapper? Protecting the hostage?"

"That's for the police, but now we are the kidnappers."

Schiller banged the table and emphasized, "It's about demanding ransom."

"Obviously, now that we have the hostages, we can start talking about money, right?"

Gordon opened his mouth wide and looked at Schiller, Batman, and Victor, saying, "So this is your ultimate goal, using the flood caused by the Court of Owls to freeze everyone underground, and then... demand ransom??? "

Schiller gestured to Victor, who held up a stack of materials and said, "The location of the cryogenic generator has been carefully designed to ensure that all rooms and passages connected to the surface within the scope of Gotham's underground will not be overlooked and will be filled with hard ice blocks."

"That is to say, there are only two ways for the trapped people to leave Gotham underground."

"Either dig downward into the rock layer, open a tunnel in a place where the cryogenic emitter cannot reach, and dig out of Gotham."

"Or dig upward, break through the hard ice layer, and then leave underground."

"But in fact, they probably don't have this ability, right?" Gordon heard Victor's implied meaning.

"I'm not arrogant," Victor put down the materials and said, "but digging upward is definitely not possible. They cannot destroy the ice layer I created. As for digging downward..."

Schiller continued, "Given the size of Gotham City, it would take at least a year to dig out."

"Ultimately, these people are living on conspiracies. In terms of physical strength, they are probably not as good as the street thugs who often fight."

"Their claws are assassins, not excavators. Even with ten times their numbers, they cannot dig out by manpower alone."

"So, we kidnapped the Court of Owls?" Gordon showed a strange expression and said, "I thought they were such a difficult organization to deal with, but now they are completely trapped."

"So..." Gordon paused for a moment, seeming a bit uncomfortable with his role, and said, "We are now kidnappers, asking for ransom from them?"

Schiller shook his head and said, "That's just a metaphor, detective. You haven't grasped the essence. We are not kidnappers, we are only acting in self-defense."

"This group of terrorists called the Court of Owls, yes, terrorists."

"They used large-scale weather disaster weapons, threatening the safety of all citizens in the city, causing such great losses. We should legally and reasonably claim compensation from them, right?"

Gordon glanced at Batman, who remained silent and showed no surprise at this statement. Apparently, this was something they had planned for a long time, and Batman was also one of the informed parties.

"So, Detective, how's the damage at the police station?"

"Um...the police station didn't suffer any damage. This wasn't a gang shootout. We just helped evacuate some citizens and adjusted the traffic routes for the construction team..."

"Is that so? But these terrorists were so vicious. Didn't they send assassins to attack you?"

Gordon looked at Schiller and asked tentatively, "Uh...did they send anyone? Oh, they did, they sent...two squads of assassins?"

"No, no, at least a battalion."

"This is too exaggerated!"

"They've been operating in Gotham for hundreds of years. If they don't even have this kind of manpower, how can they be the biggest and oldest terrorist organization in Gotham?"

"Well, but..."

Schiller raised his voice and said with ups and downs, "The brave warriors of the Gotham police station fought with them all night and forged the immortal glory of Gotham with their blood! Three thousand police officers sacrificed their lives, more than half of them died after a night of fighting, and the remaining half were all seriously injured. Their greatness deserves our remembrance..."

"But...the entire Gothampolice station didn't even have 300 people..." Gordon touched his chest and seemed to feel a little guilty.

"It doesn't matter, Sheriff Gordon. We are victims. We can say we have as many as we want."

Schiller suddenly changed the subject and asked, "What about the high-end apartments on Gamo Street?"

"Of course, they're fine. They're top-notch on the outskirts of the wealthy southern district. At that time, I..."

Gordon suddenly choked up, his face turning a little red, and looked at Schiller and said, "I'm not that kind of person. You can't bribe me like this. I am a conscientious police officer..."

"Let conscience be left to those who need it."

Just then, Mayor Roy rushed in, holding a walkie-talkie and covered in mud on his boots, clearly having just crossed the street. He said, "Guys! Good news! Personnel losses are very light..."

Roy said incredulously, "Gotham City's emergency evacuation ability is too strong. We released a danger notification three hours in advance, and within three hours, almost all citizens were evacuated to safe high-rise buildings. Even Metropolis can't match this mobilization ability, right?"

Roy exclaimed, "In such a big disaster, less than 20 people died, most of them were drunk or high on drugs. Although there were thousands of injuries, most were not serious, and even a first aid kit was enough."

"Can't you see how many gang shootouts happen in Gotham every day?" Gordon whispered. "Those who run slowly have already died."

Schiller tapped the table and said dissatisfiedly, "Mayor Roy, you're not here at the right time. We're discussing the losses in Gotham City."

"What's wrong? Isn't it a good thing that the losses are small?" Roy asked, staring.

"Mayor Roy..." Schiller smiled at him and asked, "Do you know about the kidnapping case?"

Gordon covered his face with both hands.

Ten minutes later, Roy took a tissue and blew his nose hard. In front of him, the table was already covered with crumpled tissues soaked with snot and tears. He said mournfully, "This catastrophic disaster has left me grief-stricken! Hundreds of thousands of living beings have been killed, and the great achievements of human civilization have been destroyed!"

"These inhumane terrorists! They carried out a massacre in Gotham City, and more than 10,000 of our people have died. All of Gotham's hospitals are full, and countless people cannot get medical treatment due to the shortage of medicine. Oh, God, save us..."

Roy blew his nose hard again, crying as he said, "This is the largest-scale terrorist attack in federal history! The spirits of hundreds of thousands of dead people will forever nail the name of this terrorist organization, the Court of Owls, to the pillar of shame!"

Gordon stared at Roy, seemingly surprised by his acting skills.

"Do you think it's better to gradually show sadness, or to burst out strongly from the beginning?" Roy grabbed another tissue and wiped away his tears. "I think the latter should have more impact."

"Okay, then, you'll be the one to open the press conference tomorrow. The journalists have already been contacted, and the largest newspapers and media outlets on the East Coast will be present. You'll have about 30 minutes to express these emotions."

Then Schiller tapped the table and attracted everyone's attention, saying, "Okay, let's contact the victim... I mean the culprit."

He looked at Batman and said, "They should have a unique signal transmission device to communicate with ground surveillance. If you can intercept this..."

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