"Indeed, the current situation in Gotham is grim. On one hand, the old rules have long become decayed, while the new rules are yet to take root. Time continues to advance, if we don't change quickly, we will definitely be left behind." Shiller summarised: "Our time is limited, but our troubles are plentiful."
"Gotham's deeply entrenched evil doesn't necessarily mean that the people here are inherently worse than others, there may be other unique reasons. Trying to save this city is like a blind man feeling an elephant; you never know how much darkness still awaits you."
"Generally speaking, I would not invest more effort into a mission that is practically impossible. However, I believe that Gotham still has potential for change because we have yet to play our strongest card."
Hearing Shiller's words, a puzzled Bruce asked, "A trump card? What other cards does Gotham have... one that can be called a trump card?"
His confusion was not surprising, as Gotham seemed to have played all its cards. The geographical location here was not irreplaceable, and its inhabitants were lawless.
The only advantage was its decent economy, which was only maintained after all the cards were played. That is to say, after playing most of their cards, they managed to gain this one advantage. It was clear that the city was nearly beyond saving.
But now Shiller was saying that Gotham still had a card, a trump card at that. What could it be?
Then Shiller proceeded to say, "The trump card I'm referring to is you, Batman."
Bruce froze in place, but Shiller calmly continued, "Do you remember, in our dream, we saw Cat City Gotham, which you thought was like a prison, right?"
"Isn't it?" Bruce questioned. "The owl posing as a cat, watching over all the cats. The entire city was under his control."
"But what if I say, with a slight change in form, that it actually represents the city of eternal peace in your dream, how would you feel then?"
Bruce paused, then looked down at himself, not understanding what Shiller meant. Shiller continued, "Suppose, and I just mean suppose, you had ample funds to transform Gotham into a future city like no other. Could you do it?"
"What do you mean by future city?" Bruce asked.
"Think of a city where everyone lives happily, with eternal peace, no conflict, highly developed technology, and convenient living conditions... "
Bruce shook his head, "You've just factored in one of the most difficult conditions into the assumption. No one in the world has such ample funds."
Bruce was not a true playboy. He had always managed Wayne Enterprises himself. He knew exactly how the family business operated, but because of this knowledge, he understood that achieving what Shiller had suggested, the biggest problem was the money.
Yes, Wayne Enterprises was wealthy, but Shiller's goal was too outlandish. Gotham wasn't some small county town. The actual land area of Gotham was greater than Metropolis, even if its city center wasn't as bustling as Metropolis, it didn't fall far behind.
The only significant difference was the number of permanent residents, Gotham had a third fewer than Metropolis, but it was still one of the most populous cities on the East Coast.
To transform a city of this size, the term 'astronomical amount' would be an understatement.
"What I mean is, assuming there's enough money, would there be any issues with the technology?" Shiller asked.
Bruce frowned. Shiller kept insisting, so he had no choice but to put aside reality and think about some far-fetched ideas. He said: "Professor, you gave me an outline a while ago on the concept of a three-dimensional city. Let's not discuss who proposed this concept, but the level of technology described in the outline is not low. The most interesting part is the technique mentioned for compressing and expanding devices."
"After receiving this outline, I focused my studies on this technique and made some progress." Bruce got up from his chair, fetched a small piece of paper from his pocket.
He opened his hand, the paper gently drifted down, and in the moment before it hit the floor, it expanded into a suit of Bat Armor with a swish.
Alberto's eyes were about to pop out. Shiller also stood up and circled around the Bat Armor. Bruce explained:
"This is just a prototype. I don't intend to use this technology on this suit, because it doesn't have much practical use."
"I hope this folding and unfolding technique can be applied in the field of architecture or building materials, to eliminate excessive transportation, moving and setting up processes. After the items are manufactured in the Bat Factory, they can be unfolded and fixed in place to form the finished building, just like fast food products."
"There are still some technical challenges that haven't been solved yet, such as the unfolding of massive objects, the stability of compression hasn't been tested, the safety tests for the unfolding process... "
"Problems with building treatment and building details also need to be improved further. Of course, if I could spend about a month on it, I could refine it even more... "
Shiller then asked: "How is your research on that Ark Reactor model I gave you earlier coming along?"
"I have also conducted some research," Bruce nodded.
"Apart from making improvements in miniaturization, there have also been some macro-scale experiments. For example, I've imagined transforming the Earth's core into a larger energy reactor."
Discussing technical issues seemed to be more fluent for Bruce than discussing psychological issues. He said:
"As long as this can be achieved, the human race will have almost infinite energy available, and these two technologies are complementary..."
"If Earth's interior gets transformed, the natural resources that humanity relies upon will no longer be finite, but will instead transform into something more reliable and infinitely replenishable..."
Shiller laughed, Bruce's answer was within his expectations.
Batman, this enduring comic character, his unique charm lies in the fact that his body is always human, not superhuman like some superheroes. His creators don't build him around physical strength or fighting.
Batman began as a detective, which set the tone for his character development as a hero with enhanced intelligence but no extraordinary physical strength.
Actually, in comic creation, characters with strong physical abilities are easier to draw. Many people may find action scenes difficult, but they are not hard for professional comic artists, as long as the plot is reasonable and the frames and actions are exciting.
On the contrary, characters with high intelligence test the skill of the scriptwriters because to depict a high-intelligence character in a comic with intertwined realities, they must ensure the foreshadowing connects, the logic is consistent, the setting novel, and the style prominent.
But comic writers often do not have such high intelligence. If a comic writer's IQ really matched Batman's, they wouldn't need to be a scriptwriter.
Therefore, editors of American comics usually prefer two approaches to creating intelligent characters. The first is to determine the answer and then work out the process, crafting a nested-style intelligent character. In simple terms, it's like I've predicted your prediction.
Of course, many people may think of Wei Yixiao, but actually, the creation of the Laughing Bat was disliked by many comic readers because the later scriptwriters didn't even bother to supply logical reasoning, simply attributing everything to predicting predictions, thus making him less attractive as a character.
Conversely, Batman's character was successful because once the editors completed a story, they used various methods to showcase Batman's predictive abilities.
But they usually provide the process. For example, Batman finds clues about the murderer through specific details. The editorial department already knows who the murderer is, they arrange such a plot just to highlight Batman's superior IQ.
Of course, today comic editors, due to increasing commercialization and fast production, are reluctant to use detective stories to create intelligent characters, as it is time-consuming and not crowd-pleasing. They have a simpler way — turn the character into a Doraemon.
First, give the character a string of academic titles to show their scholarly accomplishments. Then turn the character into an inventor who can always pull out bizarre inventions.
As long as the technological level is sufficient, the character's extremely high IQ can be displayed naturally. If they can invent all kinds of unbelievable machines that ordinary people can't, it naturally proves their superior intelligence.
It can be said that in the early days of comics, such characters were usually comic relief, pulling out all sorts of novel props from their pocket to add novelty to the comic story. Still, this setup later became a lazy way, another form of technological nesting.
You invent something potent, I invent something more substantial to restrain you, and then you develop something even more potent....
Essentially, there is no difference between this and the predictability of Laughing Bat. However, because it is wrapped in a layer of technology and added with seemingly plausible principles, it is more readily accepted by readers.
Batman also has similar properties. Technologically speaking, he can completely defy the laws of physics, even the laws of time. As long as he wishes, he can invent all sorts of bizarre Bat machines to beat whoever he needs to.
If you speak logically, a Batman in his 20s could not possibly possess such extensive knowledge unless his day had 48 hours. But he has this knowledge. What can you do about it?
Readers won't find it unprecedented that a protagonist can always pull out all sorts of magical machines because it's a comic. Plus, by employing these machines, the editors can save a great deal of work and avoid explaining some absurd plot developments. You could say both parties benefit.
And the fact proves that Batman is indeed worthy of the title of super genius. He had only had that data and model for two to three years, but he had already understood its secrets.
This also confirmed to Shiller that in this world, Batman indeed had the talent of a super inventor.
And this is a great advantage, a hidden trump much stronger than any card played before.
Now, the only question left is whether he's willing to play this card.