Shiller adjusted his coat and walked out of the laboratory. Jenna lowered her voice and asked, "So who is it?"
"An old rival from earlier days. By the time you came to Gotham, he was already dead. Hugo Strange, the original head of Arkham Asylum."
"Your defeated foe?"
"You could say that," Shiller shook his head and said, "He's the kind of person who only answers psychology questions on a psychology exam."
"... And what about you?"
"At that time, I was the Super Villain Scarecrow."
The group drove to Gotham's original central roundabout. Traffic had greatly improved here, but it was still the center of Gotham.
Victor set up the equipment at lightning speed. Before Brainiac could even assess the situation, a jet of icy vapor shot into the sky. Amazingly, no one felt cold, just a weak airflow passing by. Then, a thin membrane dispersed in the air until it became a hemispherical shield, covering the skies of Gotham.
"This doesn't look like ice at all," Jenna marveled, "It looks more like magic, like those shields in cartoons."
"It's not ice," Nora explained, "The scientific name for dense ice is actually 'Static Atomic Barrier.'"
"What?" Jenna didn't understand for a moment, but she knew these professional terms were far more advanced than ice, so she widened her eyes and asked.
"Victor invented dense ice over a decade ago. Given his technical level, what do you think he could have turned it into over those years?" Shiller asked.
"The original dense ice generally isolated heat, meaning it isolated most forms of heat exchange, just barely qualifying as ice. But now, it's more like an atomic manipulation technology that allows the atoms in a certain region to reach a balance. Victor calls it 'Stasis.' This prevents atoms inside and outside this region from reacting with it, achieving complete energy isolation."
"Sounds impressive," Jenna said, "So he shouldn't be called Mr. Freeze, but Atom Man?"
"Atom Man has another nickname," Shiller said.
"What?"
"God."
Nora shook her head and explained, "Victor certainly can't completely control atoms, or else he would be no different from God. He can only make atoms in an area slow their movement, or even maintain relative stillness. But that's already very impressive. Who would have thought that his initial goal was just to surpass absolute zero and create the world's most perfect ice?"
After deploying the dense ice barrier, Gotham's temperature stopped dropping and finally stabilized around minus 10 degrees. It's already very cold, but still bearable. Especially since Gotham is a former industrial city, rich in thermal energy.
But apparently, other cities weren't so lucky. The sun failing to rise had already triggered mass panic. The rapidly decreasing temperature incited chaos.
"I need a large amount of raw materials," Victor said. "It seems we can't avoid freezing the entire Earth. God forbid, I hope I won't top the 21st-century terrorist list."
However, saying this, he quickly returned to the lab to begin his research. Freezing Gotham was something he was experienced with, but freezing the Earth certainly wasn't. There were too many things to confirm.
The good news is that raw materials aren't much of a concern. Brainiac can mobilize global production lines, and everything could be ready in as fast as two hours. Meanwhile, the surface temperature was decreasing by about 5 degrees per hour, so a drop of about 10 degrees in two hours was entirely acceptable.
The biggest issue is gravity. After the sun declines into a black dwarf, it doesn't completely lose its gravitational pull, but it will significantly weaken and eventually cease movement. Yet, for the moment, the orbits within the solar system are stable, likely due to the Justice League's intervention.
After all, with such a major incident, they couldn't just do nothing. Whether it's Bruce's power of darkness or Green Lantern energy, both could adjust planetary orbits. The solar system's velocity through the cosmos might slow, but it won't completely stop, nor will a gravitational issue cause major chaos.
Of course, using these two energies to wrap the Earth and isolate heat exchange is feasible, but the biggest problem is that Earth's people haven't experienced a magical baptism. Using such energy to cover the globe might lead to mutations or cause issues, which no one can guarantee against. Especially that power of darkness, even Barbados wouldn't dare to treat Earth like that.
Fortunately, Gotham's talent pool showed its advantages at this time. Victor's research on dense ice had reached a pinnacle, and he wielded it skillfully and with great artistry. First, secure the headquarters of Gotham, and then begin to freeze the Earth. As long as the temperature could be stabilized at a level barely suitable for human survival, the problem wouldn't be too great.
And the trouble that still needs to be solved is the problem of plant photosynthesis. If plants cannot carry out photosynthesis and wither, the food chain will quickly collapse. This damage to Earth is also irreversible. Obviously, this relies on Pamela and the All Things Green to handle it.
Under normal circumstances, plants can only obtain energy through photosynthesis. But if the All Things Green intervenes, sustaining plant power for a period is not impossible. When Shiller made the call, Pamela didn't answer. It seems she was negotiating with the All Things Green. Shiller wasn't worried about failure because, clearly, the power of darkness and green lantern energy can't be used on Earth, but they're still effective against these mysterious entities.
As for Clark's inability to replenish his energy. Kryptonians like Clark and Kara do indeed lose their superpowers without the energy of the Yellow Sun. But not Hal.
Hal was a Superman on Krypton. This means that the Red Sun and Yellow Sun make no difference to him. He was already a superpower user, strong even without sun exposure. He usually isn't a Superman because there's already a Superman. But if there were no Superman, then the counterpart would face a stronger Superman.
Clark's weakness is Kryptonite, Hal's weakness is having no weakness. Additionally, he has mind reading technique, teleportation, transformation, time travel, and other abilities that Superman doesn't have.
It can be said that all the good karma that this universe has accumulated in the past has today reaped good results. If Nora hadn't been saved so quickly, Mr. Freeze wouldn't have developed such powerful atomic manipulation technology, and wouldn't have the ability to freeze Earth. If Brainiac had been destroyed or driven away, resource allocation would also be a big problem since even the best housewife cannot cook without rice. If Bruce hadn't removed himself from his identity as Batman, he wouldn't have actively contacted Barbados to gain the power of darkness. If Hal had not become the authoritative Prince Jade, he wouldn't have had so much green lantern energy to use for orbit adjustments. If Hal hadn't stayed on Earth and joined the Kents, he wouldn't have been able to stand in for Superman. And even if the madmen in Arkham Asylum and all the prepped madman from Gotham weren't properly settled, when the night falls, it would be the end of the city.
And it is precisely because these things have been invisibly resolved, so Shiller doesn't need to run around, just needs to be an armchair detective in the office. His main goal now is to find the hiding Hugo Strange.
If nothing unexpected happens, this guy's first target is himself, and the second target should be Arkham Asylum. He's already been there to warn Brand, and properly arranged Edward. Hugo would find it difficult to seek a breakthrough from that side. Then he would probably still come for himself.
Shiller stared into space at the blank wall. After a moment, he stood up, took out his phone, dialed a number, and said, "Hello, Waylon? What are you doing? Helping with some deliveries? Do you have some time? I need you to help me with something."
Half an hour later, Mrs. Edison stood at the door of Shiller's office, staring in shock at that large piece of felt board: "My goodness, Professor Rodriguez, are you planning to hold a paper exhibition here?"
Shiller directed Waylon to pin that piece of felt board on the blank wall, turned his head and said, "I just need to pin some clues and evidence to organize my thoughts."
"You don't look like the kind of person who needs evidence, sir," Mrs. Edison said, "But I still hope this helps, and that there isn't another little Chick."
After finishing, Waylon clapped his large paws, and then said, "Alright, Professor, how does it look?"
Shiller stepped back a few paces, looked, nodded and said, "Not bad, thank you for your hard work. How's it going recently?"
"Not bad, just that I can't adapt to the cold environment." Waylon wrapped himself in layer upon layer. His figure was already tall and burly, and wrapped in so many clothes, he had completely turned into a giant ball. He sighed, "I'm a cold-blooded animal, minus ten degrees is still too cold for me."
"Then go back and rest," Shiller said. "Hibernate if you can. Maybe when you wake up, it'll be bright."
Waylon grinned and said, "No way. The worse the weather, the more overtime pay. I'm busy making money."
Shiller watched Waylon leave, returned to his office, studied the piece of felt board, and then started pinning things onto it. Once he completely filled the board, he turned and left the office, heading towards the cryogenic lab.
"Why are you here again?!" Victor poked his head out from behind the lab table, "Mrs. Brainiac! Kick him out!"
"Considering your incorrect reference to me, I cannot do that," Brainiac said.
Victor rolled his eyes, "You don't dare, just admit it, instead of finding excuses."
"It's very important. If Super Body hears it, she might misjudge my marital status..."
"I'm not really feeling bothered. Actually, this reminds me of the days before Nora woke up, when I stayed in the lab with Shiller like this. The equipment back then wasn't as advanced as now, making things very tricky. But I still enjoyed it. Shiller continued to be sharp-tongued, always piercingly pointing out the real thoughts hidden in my words while writing papers and lesson plans, just like now. Maybe I should have my thoughts interrupted by him, but in reality, I've gotten used to it. It makes me feel not alone. Although I'm not alone now, revisiting old memories is always beautiful…"
"Shiller! I didn't think like that!" Victor roared, "I didn't borrow my own pen to beautify myself like that! Don't you have any shame?!"
"Even though I pretend to be embarrassed and angry, it's actually just to cover up my shock at Shiller once again guessing what I was thinking, and maybe a little shy because he once again knows that I'm in awe of his insights..."
"Oh!! God!!!"