novelonline Chapter 3868 The Nameless Bat (38)
Chapter 3868 The Nameless Bat (38)
Chapter 3868 The Nameless Bat (Thirty-Eight)
"Hello, your pizzas have arrived." Schiller dialed the number on his usual delivery driver's phone and said, "You'll probably have to send someone down to pick them up, because there are quite a lot. I might not be able to deliver them all at once... Okay, I'll wait for you here at the gate."
He had just hung up the phone when he saw a flash of gold. A young man in a red uniform appeared before him and said, "Oh, thank you for your trouble, sir. Where's our pizza?"
"My God! You're the Flash? Are you?!" Schiller's tone completely changed, sounding like an enthusiastic young fan with a slight southern accent.
“Yes. But are you my fan? I have fans in Gotham too?” The Flash seemed surprised. “I thought you all liked Batman.”
"Don't joke around, why would I like that rich guy? He's so out of touch with reality. Only a young hero like you is my idol! By the way, I saw you used a great 18 yuan coupon when you ordered pizza, you must have used it, right?"
"Oh my god, you actually found out!" The Flash practically jumped for joy. "That's what I earned from completing three days of missions! I even placed two wrong orders because of it. Everyone said I was wasting time, but I saved a whole 18 dollars!"
Schiller walked up to him, put his arm around his shoulder, patted him on the back, and said, "Don't worry about those people. They're all rich people who don't care about worldly things. I only make 8 dollars on this fare. 18 dollars is already a lot!"
The Flash was clearly delighted. He said, "That's great! Finally, someone understands me. But this coupon isn't actually that hard to get. You just need to check in for three consecutive days and do a few small tasks. Let me show you..."
The Flash pulled out his phone from somewhere. Schiller also took out his phone. The Flash took Schiller's phone and started operating it for him, so his phone ended up in Schiller's hands.
Schiller pressed a button randomly, turning on the screen saver, and then said with some surprise, "Oh, is this... uh, the Justice League? This is Batman, and this is Superman?"
The Flash leaned over for a look, nodded, and said, "Yes, we just filmed this. To celebrate the completion of the new base."
"So this must be Wonder Woman? I heard she's an Amazonian princess and a very important person." Schiller shook his head, feigning admiration.
"Ah, don't think too badly of them," the Flash said while operating the device. "They are all definitely richer than me, but we still work together, and it's great to be colleagues with them. Look, that event I told you about is right here..."
Schiller quickly learned how to claim the coupons. Then he returned the phone to the Flash, retrieved his own, took several pizzas for several people from the trunk, and said, "You probably can't carry all of these by yourself, right? Want me to bring them up for you?"
"No need, I'll just make one more trip. You know I'm fast." The Flash smiled at him, then vanished in a flash, only to reappear quickly and take the rest of the drinks.
"Oh, by the way. Your tip should have arrived by now. Have a nice day," the Flash said, waving at him.
Schiller waved to him, smiled and said goodbye, then drove away from the new base.
On the way back, he pressed the earpiece and said, "The backdoor program has been installed on The Flash's phone. Check his phone for any important clues, and then arrange for wiretapping."
There was a moment of silence on the other end, then a voice came through: "Sorry, boss, there's absolutely no signal. It seems they've blocked the network signal. We can no longer connect to the backdoor program."
“As expected.” Schiller wasn’t surprised at all. “Go find Miss Gordon and have her try to infiltrate the new base. See if she can manage it.”
Just as Schiller drove the car back to its original position and put the deliveryman back in the car, he heard his subordinate's voice through the earpiece: "Absolutely not, boss."
"Miss Gordon is unwilling to cooperate?"
"No. She tried, but the network signal there is heavily blocked and completely impossible to hack. She suggested that you find someone to physically destroy the signal jamming device before she can try again."
"Will her prophetic system be able to locate the shielding device?"
"She's checking, but it doesn't look good. The cameras around the base haven't captured anything suspicious... Ah, wait. Anomalous optical phenomena. I'll send it to you, boss."
Schiller's phone quickly received a video. It appeared to be taken by a camera on one of the lifeguard seats, primarily pointed at the area of sea covered by the safety officers, with a corner of the new base visible in the lower right edge.
Because a new base was being built, and magically at that, the nearby beaches had been cleared out. The seats were, of course, empty. Barbara had undoubtedly hacked into the cameras through some illegal means, but considering she worked for the FBI, the methods weren't important.
At the three-second mark of the video, a beam of light flashes across the sea. Immediately afterwards, the image becomes severely distorted. In the final second of the video, Schiller sees an arc-shaped light shield rising from the sea.
He knew that Batman's trip to the magic school in the Marvel universe hadn't been entirely fruitless. It seemed he'd added a small magical defense network to his new base.
Barbara called soon after, saying, "I'm inclined to think this is some kind of energy shield that Batman is developing. I've seen something similar in his Batcave before, but it seems to have been shelved for a long time due to energy efficiency and output issues. Perhaps he has made new progress."
“Thank you so much for the information,” Schiller said. “This thing should be able to completely block network signals, right?”
“Yes,” Barbara said with great certainty. “That’s the biggest weakness of cyber intrusion. Once there’s no signal, even God can’t help you.”
"What if that electronic life form left a backup in something during the construction of the base?" Schiller proposed a hypothesis.
Barbara remained silent for a long time before saying, "I think you should call Batman and warn him. This possibility not only exists, but if it is true, it would be terrifying. That unknown entity could directly control the base's electronic systems."
“I don’t think Batman would be unprepared,” Schiller said, shaking his head. “I got a set of architectural drawings from one of my colleagues. Would you like to take a look?”
"What design drawings? For the new base? But I really don't know much about this. You've already sent them over? Let me take a look... Wait a minute. Why is the building structure of this base so strange? Where are the elevators? Where's the parking lot? Where's the hangar? And where's the maintenance workshop?"
"I'm sure you've already figured it out, Miss Gordon. Apart from the building's exterior, it's completely a medieval castle, with no electricity at all."
“Jesus,” Barbara exclaimed, “Batman is abandoning modernization altogether to prevent the intrusion of electronic life? Isn’t that throwing the baby out with the bathwater?”
“Really?” Schiller countered. “Does the Justice League really need electronic systems that much?”
“Uh…” Barbara hesitated for a moment before saying, “If Batman could give up all his equipment and modern technology, it wouldn’t be impossible for him to be a caveman.”
“That’s a wise choice,” Schiller said. “You can never defeat cyber life on the internet, so the only option is to abandon the internet. Batman isn’t that powerful because of modern technology, is he?”
“What you said makes sense. But even if he can’t control the network in the base, he can still cause trouble outside. There’s no point in just running away without researching ways to counter him. Batman can’t stay in the base forever, can he?”
“You should know that Batman is not the kind of person who runs away,” Schiller said after a pause. “There must be a reason why he would do something that looks like a cowardly act.”
"Are you being sarcastic?"
“I don’t have that time, Miss Gordon. Now I need you to tell me—if there is an energy, I mean, a completely new electrical signal, unlike any other electrical signal that humans can detect—is it possible for Batman to build a completely new network with it?”
Barbara was silent for a moment, then said, "This idea sounds like something out of a sloppy science fiction movie, where they assume there's some kind of all-powerful 'ether force' or something. But if it really existed, it wouldn't be impossible."
"Your answer is 'yes'?"
"Hmm. If this energy really exists and has the same properties as other electrical signals, then of course it can be used to build entirely new networks. But there's a problem: if it has the same properties as other electrical signals, how can it stop an electronic life form that can move freely among radio waves and signals?"
“Through a firewall, of course,” Schiller said. “Just like you stop your colleagues. It’s entirely possible for Batman to create a special firewall to withstand attacks from cyber life.”
"I'm afraid it's not that easy. If he can't code it on the existing network, how can you guarantee that he can code it on the new network?"
"What if he has a reference? I mean, suppose in another universe there is a well-developed firewall..."
“That’s just unbelievable,” Barbara said. “If you didn’t look like the type to go to bars during the day, I would have thought you were drunk.”
"Haven't you received any invitations?"
“An invitation? Who would send me one of those? I’ve never been popular growing up; they called me a ‘keyboard-typing freak.’ I’m not the kind of person who would attend a party that requires an invitation.”
"Check your mailbox, miss. Don't keep the door to a new world waiting too long."
Just after hanging up with Barbara, Schiller received a call from Luther. Sitting at his desk, he picked up the phone and said, "Hello, Mr. Luther. You're more efficient than I expected."
“I’ll take that as a compliment,” Luther said in a hoarse voice. “You almost shot me dead and nearly caused me to break up with my sister.”
"'Almost'. Congratulations."
“I don’t want to waste my breath on you. You’ve known about that thing for a while, haven’t you? Lina was fooled by him. I admit I didn’t teach my sister much about the internet when I was teaching her. But I have to tell you, it’s a very strange thing. Neither I nor the technicians at Luther Corporation could find anything about it.”
Have you investigated that photo?
“Of course. Lina told me how she took that photo. According to her, she got into Wayne Enterprises through Abidonis's connections, and then stood behind a security information intern directing him to take the picture. Because the president and Mrs. Romanoff's meeting was too brief, they didn't have time to make any selections. They just took a random shot while controlling camera number 14.”
"Is Miss Luther in control?"
"No, it was the intern. But even the intern couldn't remember how he operated the camera."
"He probably doesn't even know how to operate it; someone else is controlling the camera. But that intern is probably the only one who has had direct contact with that guy."
“I’ve met him too, and he even saved my life.”
“There’s nothing to be proud of, Mr. Luther. If he’d rather expose himself than not save you, it means you’re of great value to him. And considering that all his actions have been directed at the President, he might very well be trying to use you against him.”
“Why not?” Luther seemed to have finally regained some control. “If this thing is intelligent enough, why can’t I cooperate with it and teach Bruce Wayne a lesson?”
"Of course you can't. Do you think human technology can create such intelligent electronic life? If not, where did it come from? What's the difference between it and Superman?"
Luther fell silent.