Chapter 3887

The Pale Knight arrived at the Batcave. Batman was conducting research on the nature of magical energy. He came down the stairs and lightly tapped the railing, drawing the other's attention.

"How is it? Is Fiona still okay?"

"That female agent from the Zhongqing Bureau seems to have a way to protect her. But that's not the point. Even if she won't be killed by assassins, we still need to find a way to clear her name. Normal means probably won't work. We need to think of something else. I happen to have some ideas—do you want to hear them?"

"Go ahead." Batman put down what he was holding and said.

"I believe we can indeed make Gotham physically independent, and then add an extra layer of protective shield..."

The Pale Knight briefly told Batman the two plans he had discussed with Natasha. Batman glanced at the equipment before him, then said: "You need to think this through carefully. Although the energy we've acquired is more than enough to establish a global magical defense network, backup power is never too much. If we use it to build a shield for Gotham, it will definitely consume a portion of it."

"Didn't you learn this at the magic academy? To get more energy, you can't just conserve—you must expand. Figuring out how to obtain more energy from elsewhere is what we should consider, rather than saving energy while ignoring Gotham's safety."

"Moreover, we need a stronghold—a secure, stable rear base free from federal threats." The Pale Knight frowned, saying, "Haven't you yet grown disappointed with those congressmen? Your grand visions of the Justice League and the cosmos cannot be realized under their control."

Batman clenched the pen in his hand and finally said: "Alright, we can also practice setting up the magical defense network here. We'll select the nodes—if we move quickly, we could finish tonight."

The Pale Knight followed Batman to the other side. Here there was a holographic projection sand table. Batman marked several locations, most of which were buildings under his control.

"Using these buildings as sanctuaries, we will inject energy into them, then, like a spider weaving a web, connect the defense network. There will likely be considerable disturbance, which will certainly draw the attention of the federal government and those agents."

"No problem. Once the shield is complete, who comes in and who goes out will be up to us. Those agents may be formidable, but they can't stay away from home forever—there will come a time when they seek us out."

Batman nodded. Having made the decision, there was no need to hesitate further. He first loaded all the materials needed for the support points onto the Batmobile, dividing them into several trips to the designated locations.

After working through most of the night, until the sky began to lighten. Accompanying the rising sun was a brilliant golden light.

Many people were awakened from their sleep. They pulled back the curtains, only to find that today's sky was brighter earlier than usual. Looking closely, they realized the brightness was not from the newly risen orange-red sun, but from a golden light curtain.

"Damn, what the hell is this?!" Agents who had been forced to stay at the nearby fire station due to the Gotham Police Department fire couldn't help but look up at the sky and say, "This isn't another one of Batman's tricks, is it?"

"Probably. We need to report to headquarters. I… damn it, why is there no signal?"

Gotham citizens soon noticed that at the moment the light curtain rose, all network signals were cut off. But shortly after, a wireless network named "Bat Emoji" appeared in the empty network search bar, and it was a public network anyone could connect to.

They quickly connected to this network. However, the accessible content was limited—only websites with servers located locally in Gotham, such as the state government's official site. When they opened the official site, a notice popped up directly:

"Notice to Esteemed Residents: In light of Congress's recent unwise actions, which severely infringe upon our state citizens' democratic rights, the municipal government hereby establishes a city shield to safeguard the personal safety and autonomy of our state's populace. During the shield's construction, external communication is temporarily unavailable. You may opt to use conversion software to connect to the external internet. Original mobile carriers will also be unable to provide direct external contact signals; later, usable mobile cards for external communication will be distributed to you. Please cooperate."

Gotham residents read it several times, actually not fully understanding, but regardless, they knew this was a strong rebuttal from the state government to the federal government. They had waited for this day for a long time, so they burst into cheers.

But some rejoiced while others worried. Those agents and many prominent figures were panicking. They began making frantic phone calls or seeking technical staff to try to climb over the wall. However, the shielding of ordinary electronic signals was actually a magical network, which cannot interoperate with ordinary networks and is unidirectionally suppressive—no matter how skilled the hacker, they cannot crack the magical network. All communications across Gotham State were completely severed.

The federal government realized Gotham State had lost all contact four hours later. To be frank, this efficiency was already quite fast—if not for someone in the nearby metropolis seeing the golden light over Gotham, Washington might not have known until 48 hours later.

Soon, state police and National Guard helicopters flew over, circling above Gotham but unable to land. This layer of magical shield is not solid, but rather akin to a force field: as soon as you approach it, you instantly lose kinetic energy and are then flung away by an inexplicable push.

After two helicopters crashed, no one dared approach anymore. Fighter jets also flew overhead twice, but being fragile, they didn't dare fly straight—just circled the edges twice. Armored vehicles on the ground also arrived, yet still couldn't enter. If one tried to force a bridge crossing, the vehicle would stall immediately upon touching the glowing shield layer.

Outsiders attempted and found this thing extremely domineering. Not to mention armored vehicles—even a toy car without engine or power couldn't be pushed in, and even throwing a pebble would bounce back, let alone bullets.

One might think this was already absurd enough, but just as reporters arrived at the Gotham Bridge shortly afterward, they suddenly discovered the bridge deck began violently trembling. To be precise, the entire Gotham Peninsula started to experience an earthquake.

At the time, everyone thought a tsunami was coming—those in cars and planes fled desperately outward. But soon they realized this tremor was rhythmic and did not trigger a significant tidal reaction, having little impact on surrounding cities.

The only issue was that the Gotham Peninsula was drifting away from the federal mainland at about one mile per hour, slowly heading into the Atlantic.

Soldiers and reporters were stunned. Reporters raised their cameras and activated time-lapse mode, preparing to record this historic moment; soldiers stood helpless, unsure whether to stop or allow it.

And in Washington, the commanders directing them were equally dumbfounded. Earlier, they had still been grandstanding in meetings, saying things like, "What can they do if they're dissatisfied? Within federal territory, can they just grow legs and run away?"

Now Gotham had truly grown legs and run away, and everyone fell silent again.

Compared to a city growing legs and running, what actually silenced them was the fact that "someone can make a city grow legs and run." With this technology, how many coastal cities could the federal government still retain?

Sure enough, after those unscrupulous journalists broadcast the footage live, the California governor immediately delivered a televised speech, calling it a "great journey of freedom," and declared the Gotham State government true "practitioners of democracy," while also expressing anticipation for such a "Pacific great adventure."

Congress members wished they could sew his mouth shut—even if you wanted independence, you should at least yield a little; haven't you seen the Lone Star Republic's flag already flying nearby? And take a look at Alaska?

The military ordered an attack, but whether it was machine guns on helicopters or missiles dropped by bombers, when they landed on the magical defense network, they vanished like a stone sinking into the sea—gone instantly without a sound.

Now they were truly frightened, scrambling to find a way to contact the Gotham State government to negotiate, but all signals were blocked by the magical defense network—there was no talk to be had.

Congress members gathered again. A white-bearded old man slammed the table and said: "Don't tell me you didn't receive that email! It's been nearly 20 years since the Cold War ended—when have you lot ever been this united in opinion?!"

"Didn't you also get threatened by that guy?!" A young congressman stood up, pointing at his nose and saying, "When the decision to restart the referendum was made, you were the loudest in cheering—now you want to push all the blame onto us?!"

"Cut it out! It's not because no one can trace who sent that email. Now think about it—it's absolutely Batman who did it!" A female congresswoman stood up and said, "He just wants an excuse to make Gotham completely secede from the federation. And only he has this technology—we've all been played by him like fools!"

Everyone fell silent momentarily. The old congressman sighed and said: "What now? I fear Gotham will soon achieve electrical independence, geographically and communicatively isolated from the federation. How are we to stop it?"

"Gotham's power system..."

"It's already independent. Wayne Enterprises excels at this. They built two large-scale nuclear power plants on such a small peninsula—do they really fear running out of power? The shield they produced alone consumes who-knows-how-much energy, and it certainly can't be restricted."

"Freshwater! For an island nation, the easiest thing to restrict would be freshwater, right?"

"No way. Batman has seawater desalination technology, and it's mature—he just refuses to commercialize it, so it hasn't spread. If he's doing this, he must have prepared for civilian use."

"Then what about submarines..."

"The bedrock of the Gotham Peninsula is extremely stable—even if it detaches from the continental shelf, it can remain stable. Moreover, Batman surely has support technology; otherwise, he wouldn't take this risk. Are you thinking of sending submarines to drop nuclear bombs? We don't have any missile-immune shield casings! If Batman retaliates in kind, Washington would suffer!"

"We can't restrict it, we can't attack it—what else can we do?" Someone said dejectedly, "Otherwise, just raise tariffs."

"You're crazy—that would amount to recognizing their independence."

"At least the president would have something to explain, and we'd have done something. Besides, I think: if independence is independence, then the federation just loses its second-largest industrial base, East Coast GDP cut in half, the IRS collects far less tax, the Stars and Stripes loses a star, and the federation loses a large tract of land..."

"Congressman! Congressman! What's wrong with you?! Call an ambulance—someone fainted!!"