Chapter 4965

When Gotham's classical gloom meets New York's modern brightness, what kind of city would be born?

Shiler also pondered this question; after all, due to the influence of the dark clouds, Gotham simply does not resemble an American East Coast city. New York, Boston, and even Baltimore, which are geographically similar to it, enjoy plenty of clear weather throughout the year, so Gotham's climate prototype should be Seattle, known as the "Rain City," which is constantly overcast and rainy all year round, with temperatures not as warm as southern cities, giving a damp and cold feeling.

Moreover, Gotham can be considered a rather old American city, with a large number of European immigrants bringing much of the old world's culture; when people first arrived in this city, they felt as if they were visiting a museum with somewhat dim lighting, and the mysterious Gotham style brought a large amount of retro decoration, like the annual rings of a growing city. Walking down Gotham's streets, one would feel as if strolling through alleys during the time when the Black Death ravaged the Middle Ages.

New York, on the other hand, is synonymous with modernization; this city, once the most prosperous in the world, is the embodiment of modern society, and with New York's excellent lighting conditions and plenty of sunny days, everything is laid out under the sun, with lines blurred by light into extreme simplicity.

If one chooses a good day to visit New York, one would feel as if suddenly stepping into a toy box, everything simplified, that fast-paced heatwave sweeping over everything, modernist buildings devoid of any detail, as if entirely computer-generated data stacked together in the most efficient way, and even the most leisurely affluent neighborhoods cannot compare to the West Coast's charming sway.

Gotham and New York are like the contrast between maximalism and minimalism; when these two are fused together, what kind of change will occur? Shiler is also very curious.

The place where he currently is, called the "New Airport" by the people of Advance York, is indeed adjacent to an airport, but here they have constructed an additional multiverse arrival hall for receiving visitors from the multiverse.

Unlike what one might imagine, this is not a tightly guarded fortress, but a spacious hall whose style is not much different from that of the adjacent airport; the overall architectural style leans modern, yet it features a very beautiful hemispherical glass dome. The glass of the dome has undergone special treatment, so that when sunlight shines down, it casts rippling water-like waves on the ground, which effectively breaks the overly harsh lines of modern decoration, making it look much more lively and dynamic.

When Shiler arrived, it was noon, with ample sunlight, and the entire hall was very bright, but due to the filtering of the dome glass, it was not glaring. Shiler raised his head, carefully examining the glass, and he felt this design was very ingenious, very suitable for Gotham's renewed sun.

Or rather, Advance York City is also a kind of renewed-sun Gotham. After the two major cities merged, Gotham's perennial overcast clouds dispersed, giving way to New York's bright sunshine.

To make this perpetually dark city accept such sunshine, however, requires considerable effort. Many buildings that posed no problem in overcast or rainy weather would malfunction under the scorching sun. Insufficient shading structures could also lead to heatstroke, all of which are issues city builders must consider.

Shiler could tell that this arrival hall must have undergone special design; although it conforms to New York's modern style, this circular architectural structure and the Roman-style dome form, however, lean toward Gotham's retro feeling, and the fusion is quite successful.

"Professor Rodriguez," a female voice came, Shiler turned around, and a dashing female agent walked over—it was Sharon Carter. Shiler stepped forward and shook her hand.

"Hello, Lady." Shiler instinctively addressed Agent Carter as "Lady," because in that greedy universe, Sharon Carter had already become Mrs. Rogers.

However, this universe's Carter shook her head and said: "I have already returned to being single; call me Ms. Carter, or if you don't mind, Sharon is also fine."

Shiler instinctively glanced at her hand; there was no ring on her ring finger, but there was a ring mark, and combined with her wording, Shiler felt she might have been divorced. But he did not press further, instead saying: "Sorry, I mixed you up with the Carter Lady I knew in another universe."

Carter smiled; she still appeared quite capable, but there was a hint of fatigue between her brows: "It's nothing; the whole world refuses to believe I divorced Captain America."

Shiler indeed did not feel very surprised; in comics, many heroes are constantly breaking up and getting back together, their emotional lives full of twists and turns, and even many very famous couples have experienced breakups and reunions, or marriage followed by divorce.

Even from a realistic perspective, the emotions between superheroes are indeed harder to maintain than those between ordinary people; their lives are truly too tumultuous, and often they are helpless, making love and friendship more prone to rupture than for ordinary people.

Many times, that seemingly neurotic breakup in comic plots is not entirely due to the screenwriter insisting on finding a reason to kick off the story. If you fight aliens on Monday, deal with an insider threat on Tuesday, get stabbed in the back by the government on Wednesday, barely avoid drowning in a tsunami on Thursday, and fight sixteen low-level villains on Friday, then by Saturday and Sunday, you would also find it hard to give anyone a pleasant expression. Especially since the other party might be even busier than you, when two powder kegs meet like this, not exploding would be strange.

"I believe you once had good times," Shiler said, "so you are merely suffering rather than resentful, and I think this is a good thing."

Carter blinked slightly, then smiled at Shiler and said: "You indeed have eased my mind, Mr. Let's first go to our place of residence."

Carter led Shiler outward, walking and introducing along the way: "This is the new airport built by the second-phase land reclamation project, fusing the styles of New York and Gotham, which we call 'Neoclassical Style'."

"Oh?" Shiler said, somewhat curious.

"Obviously, Gotham possesses more cultural depth; that city is so classical it's almost unbelievable, as if an English city had been packed up and shipped over. One cannot deny that such a city style is very beautiful, but it clearly lacks practicality." Carter shook her head.

"New York, however, is somewhat too modernized," Carter continued, "to adapt to the fast-paced style, urban development has evolved away from all details, all buildings look identical, streets lack any distinguishable features, and there is a lack of human concern."

"Thus, we fused these two styles, using Gotham's classical style as the framework, employing modern materials, simplifying certain complex and hard-to-maintain decorative elements, using various means, and creating a Neoclassical Style belonging to Advance York City. This beautiful dome is our proud achievement."

"Indeed excellent," Shiler praised sincerely, "I don't know how you managed to make the light like it's underwater, like that shallow sea area where light faintly filters in..."

Carter looked at Shiler with some surprise and said: "You are still the first person to perceive our design concept so accurately. This building's alias is just called the 'Ocean Hall,' intending to simulate the shallow waters of a tropical ocean, where light passes through seawater, giving that clear yet hazy feeling."

"You have achieved it," Shiler said, looking up at the dome, "If I still had to associate it, I would also think of the stained glass of church windows. I don't know if you have ever been to London's St. Stephen's Church, where the dome design shares a similar ingenuity with this; standing beneath the dome, the light becomes soft, which well counteracts the church's stern and rigid atmosphere, making one feel as if truly bathed in divine grace."

Carter frequently glanced sideways, she said: "I indeed heard the design staff say that the dome's lighting arrangement references Gotham Cathedral, but I am not someone who can easily feel religious atmosphere."

"Is this land reclaimed from the sea?" Shiler asked, "Why not build it on the shore?"

"There is no space left on the shore," Carter said, "although the Earth has become larger than before, the population has also increased. After the two major cities merged, to prevent a real estate bubble, many duplicate functional buildings were demolished to make way for residential housing. Even so, it is still barely enough. There is no choice; we can only reclaim land from the sea. Fortunately, the ocean has also expanded, so reclaiming a little is no problem."

"I have a question," Shiler said, looking at her, "Who led all of this?"

"The Revival Alliance," Carter said, "after enduring prolonged disputes and wars, the superheroes of the two universes united and formed an organization called the 'Revival Alliance,' which includes not only superheroes but also agents from S. H. I. E. L. D. and the Sky Eye Society."

"That is to say, you have merged the Justice League, the Avengers, S. H. I. E. L. D., and the Sky Eye Society into one?"

Carter nodded and said: "Yes, now the Revival Alliance is the sole superpowered law enforcement agency in the United States, and can even be said to be that of the entire Western world."

"What about the East?"

"They don't need to merge; the situation in the East of the two Earths is almost identical." Carter lightly shook her head and said, "I am not entirely clear about their specific designation there, and the one we have been in contact with has always been the director of the God Spear Bureau. But even the God Spear Bureau is merely their external self-designation; internally, what the situation is, no one knows."

"Was the fusion process not smooth?"

"Of course," Carter sighed deeply, "it nearly triggered a large-scale war capable of destroying the entire Earth. Fortunately, we pulled back from the brink, and now we have stabilized."

"I cannot lightly say that fusion always brings pain; this kind of impact on ordinary people could very well affect a lifetime." Shiler glanced meaningfully at Carter's fingers.

"But it can also teach people many things," Carter said, "allowing people to grow, become more mature, or even more independent and strong. For superheroes, becoming stronger seems unnecessary, but for us who constantly deal with superheroes, realizing certain matters and maintaining clarity is important."

"Indeed so," Shiler nodded and said, "Without hiding it from you, I am very interested in this newly established organization; could you tell me about it in detail?"

"Certainly. Let me start with myself." Carter revealed a faint smile, this being her first smile upon seeing Shiler. "To prevent further estrangement and to avoid superheroes becoming too isolated and distant from ordinary people, we did not divide departments by group, but by function."

"Currently, I am the head of the Multiverse Team in the Foreign Affairs Department, mainly responsible for handling multiverse-related affairs and receiving all multiverse visitors. My colleagues in the Foreign Affairs Department are Superman and Captain Marvel, who both belong to the Extraterrestrial Team, while Loki and the Martian Hunter are members of the Mystical Realm Team."